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The Gamer Chapter 1218 – The Fate of Another Kingdom 4 – The second tactician [Momo POV]
🕑 Added 2022-05-16 05:46:19 +0000 UTCOblivium, the black metal that represented fire among the Collimets, shimmered in the crimson red mist wafting from Arkeidos’ form. Like all of his bodies, it was a titan of a humanoid. The limbs were hovering in their sockets. The helmet skipped even the illusion of a solid whole. Fire energy created an ephemeral outline of a neck, connecting the helmet to the rest of the body.
The armour was intricately designed. Fires burned in basins on top of the shoulders. The fingers were hollow tubes, likely to serve as flamethrowers. Other such forms, albeit usually rigid, jutted out of the plates. At any angle, this body of the tyrant could envelop his enemies in Hellfire.
It was prudent to assume that the fire body could unleash the same level of energy the main body could. ‘Common sense is more like it,’ Momo corrected herself, eyes wandering to her fellow maids. Both of them displayed their new draconic powers in their fully activated state. There was no reason nor opportunity to hold back. Between the three of them, they had a good chance to defeat this specific body of Arkeidos.
Aclysia stood at the front of their formation. Directly opposed to Arkeidos in more than just position, the first maid’s scales were covered in ice. The translucency of the material tinted it the same colour as the black underneath. Same was true of the tail that extended from the upper edge of where her hips met the spine. It was a whip of black, thin at the core, with blades jutting out in regular intervals. Those blades were then covered in spikes of ice, while the in-between stayed clear, avoiding the magical ice to not inhibit the limb’s flexibility. At the tip was a thagomizer of four icicles, fused to a black stinger. Holding Salver at the ready, Aclysia was entirely focused on Arkeidos.
Beatrice was perched on a statue close to the first maid. The short-haired ‘twin’ of Aclysia constantly discharged electricity. Dancing over her white scales, between her horns, and the tips of her newly added draconic scales, she was as visually impressive as the tank of the group. Those wings, halfway opened in anticipation of the upcoming combat, had membranes of blue-tinged white, more lightning dancing through the flesh. She held Perfect in one hand and used the other to help balance herself on the statue. Occasionally, a powerful arc of electricity jumped to a nearby bit of metal, turning it incandescent.
Momo, for her part, knew that she looked comparably out of place. Because of the Gamer’s stupid choices, she wore an adorable maid outfit. Not that it made any real difference. Whatever clothes she wore, they were only decoration. Her body was already made of metal and other sturdy stuff. All she had that made her outwardly different were the firefly wings on her back, currently glowing with fae light that banished the darkness of the tunnel they descended at an almost vertical angle.
There were many other aspects under her skin than metal. Momo could feel the touch of the feywilds inside herself. They were with her now and there was nothing unusual about it. A fairy could never truly be disconnected from that shifted plane of existence.
Arkeidos knew that she was dangerous, despite her cute maid outfit. The red glowing eyes that were fixated on her spoke to that. “Could you stop staring at me? It’s creepy!” Momo shouted.
“In the entirety of this world’s written history, it has never known gods,” Arkeidos responded, his words crackling from the fire that was pushed out of the bars, located where the mouth would be. “Gods were a futile illusion, created by minds too weak to shoulder the misery of their being. I broke all faith, for misery is the womb of the Ironborn, and it has to be absorbed in its entirety.”
“Okay, mister psychopath, but what does that have to do with you staring at me?” Momo asked, moving her staff of black Mithril and Astrotium to obscure her thighs as best she could. She was proud of those thick, pale legs, but they weren’t for some absurdly evil tyrant to stare at. ‘They’re for the absurdly smug nerd.’
“As I broke the faith of this world, I burned the forests and took captive the creatures of sickening whimsy inside. I trapped them. I tortured them. Tried all I could to deprive them of their secrets. From them, I learned to distort the insides of this, my domicile. You remind me of these creatures.” His eyes flickered. “I wish to see you dead.”
“Feeling is mutual,” Momo assured.
“You threaten Master’s property. For that alone, you shall die,” the first maid growled, cold mist pushing out between her teeth. By now, even the ground all around her was covered in a thick layer of ice. The -50 degrees Celsius of her skin sapped all of the heat out of the air around her, crystalizing the moisture.
“I appreciate the support, but could I not be branded as property?”
“Statement: you’re into it.”
“No, I’m not!”
“Sarcastic agreement: Suuuuuure”
“Being branded as Master’s property is an honour.”
“Aclysia, I love you, but sentences like that are why I left back in the day.”
“…My apologies, I will withhold such comments in the future.” While their outward banter continued, Aclysia presented a question through their mental connection. ‘Why are we not immediately murdering this horrible barrier between m- us and Master?’
‘We have no idea how this transportation system cuts through the inside of this warped structure. Best to wait until we’re at an endpoint so we don’t mess with things and get lost in the middle of nowhere.’
‘Statement: we have teleportation.’
‘Yes, YOU have teleportation. I have to find my way.’
The sixth of the original dome they were on eventually slid right into a room. It settled neatly into the chamber, completing the landscape of fiery sculptures and artificial volcanoes. The wall segment between them slid closed. Immediately thereafter, some sort of massive mechanism descended on the middle of the chamber and connected to a hole there.
The statues, previously thought to be pure decoration, suddenly spewed fire. The ones around the centre first, as the energy that was pumped down into it spread outwards underneath the floor. “Very impressive,” Momo said drily, the inferno approaching. “You have some brimstone with that fire?”
“Only more flames,” Arkeidos declared and pointed his hands at the three of them. A crimson cascade of heat spilled around them. First around Aclysia, then Beatrice, and finally Momo. None of them moved. None of them screamed. None of them even felt any pain.
‘Who wants to reveal it to him, ladies?’ Momo asked, her vision dominated by the flames.
‘I shall punish who so deeply troubled our Master,’ Aclysia announced. Tapping into her vision, Momo followed the first maid rushing forwards. The screen of fire broke. Helmet descending at a speed that implied surprise, Arkeidos looked at Aclysia just as the first swipe of Cutting Flurry dragged over his chest. At the end of the first motion, Salver was replaced with Eclys. While ducking underneath a descending strike of the Emperor’s right arm, Aclysia dragged the weapon over his side. Rapidly turning around behind him, she raised Tiemarath and brought the massive cleaver down on his back with the increased speed.
The many individual segments the armour consisted of lost some of their cohesion in response to the impact. Fire blasted out between the gaps, enveloping Aclysia’s face. Again, to no effect. “Interesting,” Arkeidos’ voice boomed with excitement. Beatrice launched at him. With Sunder, the strike that connected to the Emperor’s arm only scattered the plate as much as the Tiemarath impact had done. Arkeidos unleashed a massive wave of fire, while throwing Beatrice off, and then launched a fireball at Momo. Without any active buffs, his speed was superior to all but the passive maid.
Still, Momo was far enough away that she could have dodged if she had so desired. Instead, all she moved out of the way were her Firefae. They laughed as much as the grinning lemur that hung off Tiolyst. For her part, Momo only gave it a sassy smile. A smile that soured as Arkeidos met the laughter of her familiars (and that animal that had randomly appeared). “Is this why the only women around you are those you enslaved? Creepy laughter?”
“When Reetha reported your immunity to influence of the mind, I was impressed, yet sceptical,” Arkeidos explained himself, every pronounced syllable reverberating with amusement. The Hellfire he exuded toned down, until the crimson energy only described the outline of a titanic humanoid body within the armour. “Fire immunity. What a splendid ability to have. Oh, how I rejoice the challenge. The necessity to think around your strengths.”
Arkeidos whirled around, smashing his fist into the chest of Aclysia. Her assault failed, the first maid smashed into a nearby statue, unleashing a pillar of flame that was, just like the rest of the flame in the room, inconsequential to the three of them, who had all ingested Nathalia’s scales.
‘Get the feeling Gaia really did hand out bonuses that were a tad too powerful early on,’ Momo thought, while directing three Firefae, two to buff her allies, one to hit Arkeidos with a Black Dart. The spell enveloped the little fairy with a blade of black mana. The damage was negligible, but it would apply Tarred, which would slow Arkeidos down for five seconds. ‘Even Nathalia herself isn’t completely immune to fire damage.’
To start with, due to Hellfire being capable of leaving permanent wounds on organic individuals, it had always been optimal to send either the elementals or the Artificial Spirits in towards this body. Because the three of them shared Fire Immunity, putting them up against the fire Arkeidos had been the kind of decision someone braindead could make. Unlike many of the other match-ups, they were absolutely favoured to win, unless Arkeidos manifested something to deal with them.
‘I jinxed it,’ Momo thought, witnessing the Emperor extend his hand to the side. A motion that while useless at the face of it could not have been useless. ‘Back off!’ she instructed the other two maids, who rapidly retreated.
The six-bladed mace of the Emperor appeared in that hand. Instantly, he swung towards Aclysia, narrowly missing her. “This weapon was meant to cull your master! Be proud, servants, your strength forces me to divest!” Arkeidos shouted and swung the mace at the floor. “Let this be a brawl of the utmost brutality! Violence, as it is meant to be!”
The raw force of the impact cracked and a second swing shattered the several metres thick slab of stone. Magma burst out from underneath. ‘Just watch for now,’ Momo instructed her fellow maids. ‘Bae, get into the air. Aclysia, be ready to cast either Juggernaut or Master’s Shield.’
Arkeidos reached down into the crater he had made. His fist sunk into the molten rock was visibly sucked upwards into the arm, controlled and kept liquid by the fire magic. “How courteous to wait, or are you prudent of my schemes?” Arkeidos wondered, as he rose back up. “Powerful as you are, you lack AMBITION!”
The Emperor jumped up and then charged straight at Aclysia. Eclys at the ready, the weaponized maid’s frigid form turned translucent, the mace trailing right through her. The left arm, the one filled with liquid rock, suddenly ejected some of the lava. Arkeidos whirled around and pointed his five fingers at Momo. The hollow fingers were filled with stone, turned solid from the cold enveloping Aclysia.
‘Oh, that clever bastard!’ Momo thought, unable to restrict all of her admiration for what had just transpired. ‘Master’s Shield, now!’
The white and black wave rippled outwards from Aclysia, just after she had returned from intangibility. Arkeidos was strongly encouraged to return his attention to her and he heeded that encouragement. The hand was pointed at Aclysia instead.
With a boom like artillery shells, the firepower that had been building up inside the fingers was released in a burst of flame. While that passed by harmlessly, the rocks did not. Three of the five projectiles slammed into Aclysia point blank, cracking ice, breaking scales, and diminishing her HP considerably.
More of the magma stored within his arm flowed towards the fingertips and chilled immediately, Arkeidos letting Aclysia’s aura overpower his own heat for that specific segment for just one moment. The same cold that constantly damaged those around her was now used to let the enemy create ranged projectiles. He raised his mace overhead, ready to punish Aclysia further.
‘Now!’ Momo gave Beatrice the signal.
Folding her wings, the passive maid dive bombed at the Emperor. Pulling a path of crackling electricity behind herself, she rapidly approached. With the aggressive intent aimed at him, Master’s Shield no longer disincentivized him from attacking Beatrice in kind. Turning from Aclysia, tanking the attack of opportunity she threw at him, he swung at the passive maid with his mace.
Where her head had been, there was only thunder. Her body dissolved into yellow and light blue electricity, cascading over Arkeidos’ form, and consolidated in a flash on the other side. Unsteady Limb let her assume the perfect thrusting position. Perfect connected, pieces of Obsidium disconnected. Action and reaction. Question was only how often they had to repeat this process to exhaust the bonding enchantments.
Arkeidos attempted to hit Beatrice with a full 180-degree swing of his mace. While he forced Aclysia to back off with the fury of that motion, he did not hit Beatrice. The passive maid had Chronoshifted back into the air behind him. Sadly, that was only a return in position, not a reclamation of the momentum she had lost. Her attempt to land on his shoulders and strike at the crystal lining within the chest segment of the armour was literally shrugged off.
Momo kept an eye on her mana and cast a shield only when she was about to top off. For now, Aclysia and Beatrice had a handle on things, and so her best course of action was to hang back, provide tactical guidance, and buff them as was appropriate.
A scattershot of supersonic rocks blasted at her, one hitting her in the head, the other punching through a wing. Both impacts were more bothersome than harmful, unless she got hit repeatedly. Which, given that Arkeidos ‘reloaded’ almost instantly, was a very real option.
‘When the staying gets rough, the fairy gets moving,’ Momo thought and dashed off to the side. Her body was encapsulated in glittering dust for a moment. A copy of herself was left behind, sticking her tongue out at the Emperor, before a second salve blasted it apart. “HAH!” Momo laughed, alongside her Firefae.
This would be a drawn-out battle, whatever they did.
