This isn’t working. Cass and 29 stared at one another across her ice field. He was unarmed and panting from exertion. His sword lay on the ice behind her. His shield lay under a layer of ice in the opposite direction.
Cass had limited methods of injuring him and an ever-decreasing budget of Focus with which to work.
Stamina: 120/138
Focus: 248/549
Meanwhile, Salos continued stabbing Lvl-32. His dagger plunged into an already bleeding gap in the armpit, twisting to widen the wound further.
32 retaliated with a swipe of his own, his sword scraping across Cass’s chest plate. Salos returned with a torrent of slashes. Nothing remained of the paladin’s tabard.
Yet the man refused to fall.
No, it’s not, Salos agreed. But I don’t have any other ideas.
Cass didn’t either. But she needed to do more than watch.
29 acted first, running at her. Or his sword behind her? No. She couldn’t let him have that.
She darted back, summoning water and freezing it over the sword.
Focus: 228/549
He skidded to a stop, ice scraping up into a pile along the sides of his feet, and darted the other direction. Toward his ally and Salos.
Why? He was still unarmed. What could he do against Salos?
She Sprinted after him, even as she strained to understand his plan. Even as she struggled to think of a way to stop it.
Salos’s dagger skidded across 32’s breastplate, the tip scratching an ever deeper line across the metal, before darting out of the way of the next sword strike.
29 stopped hard on the ice beside his shield. Under his Strength, the ice cracked.
He was freeing his shield? Why?
An image of the previous paladins blasting aura from their shield filled Cass’s vision.
Right. In their hands, a shield was an even more dangerous weapon than a sword.
He snapped the shield up, ice still encrusting either side. His aura glowed through the shield.
Aura Bash
[A Skill concentrating one’s aura into an object to empower a weapon or tool.
Estimated time to execution: 2 sec]
He aimed it at Salos and Lvl-32. He was willing to risk friendly fire? Or was he counting on 32’s Frt being high enough to take the hit?
Salos, look out! Cass warned.
He glanced her way out of the corner of an eye as he darted around to the far side of 32, his dagger digging into the back of a knee.
Would that be enough? Cass had lost 50 Stamina with Liminal Dodge turning a glancing blow of that attack into a miss. Salos didn’t have the same skills and his Frt was almost certainly lower than hers.
[Estimated time to execution: 1 sec]
Cass leapt onto 29’s shoulder. Her claws scraped against the metal of his pauldron.
It was not enough to stop him. Not enough to even distract him.
She could channel fire through her paws or freezing ice, but fire had yet to phase them and the pauldron wasn’t enclosed enough to crush with the expanding ice.
His aura burst from his shield. The recoil threw her back from his shoulder and blew the ice away.
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Cass, with her Alacrity sped mind, watched in painfully slow motion as the blast of aura flew. As 32 disappeared in a burst of silver mana to reappear on the far side of Salos.
[Unknown Spatial Warp Skill]
Salos’s eyes widened as the blast approached, his cover suddenly behind him.
No.
Shifting Mind!
The world shifted. There was a dagger in her hand. She could feel 32 behind her. A wall of green aura filled her vision.
CASS! Salos screamed.
Color inverted. Her body shifted to the left.
Stamina: 45/138
The blast continued through her shoulder. Cass flew into the wall behind her. The air left her lungs.
Cass wheezed. The floor shifted underneath her.
That had cost 75 Stamina? And it hadn’t even completely negated the attack? Hell. What would those do to her if she took that straight on?
Was she falling?
Her head hit glass. Everything was sideways.
Salos was yelling.
The paladin stepped toward her.
Cass, switch back!
Oh. That was a good idea.
Shifting Mind.
The world twisted around her. Her vision swam. The ringing in her ears continued. But she was standing on her feet, all four of them.
Cass blinked.
She watched her body—Salos—shoot back to his feet. He lunged forward, his dagger planting deep in 32’s chest in the wound he’d made earlier. He twisted the blade, widening the gouge. He sneered with her face.
“What?” 32 grunted.
Are you alright? Salos asked her as he pulled his dagger free again.
I think so, Cass said.
29 stared at Salos, perhaps surprised by her body’s apparent recovery speed. Had they expected her to be stunned for longer?
What possessed you to swap in for that? Salos asked, ducking around another sword strike. His concern blazed across their bond.
Could you dodge it? Cass asked, purposefully ignoring his emotions.
Well. No. His concern pressed harder against her mind.
Liminal Dodge mitigated the damage. She’d made the right call. That would have killed you.
Instead, it nearly knocked you out.
Cass shook her head. Don’t say that like that’s worse.
I don’t know if I can swap us back if you pass out and I’d rather not find out today. I doubt you would have lived much longer if you had.
29 shook himself. His eyes shifted from Salos and 32 to the floor. Scanning for his sword? Why not just spam Aura Bash from range? Was there a cooldown? Or maybe a cost?
He staggered across the broken ice field, his gait unsteady and his body sluggish.
Definitely a cost.
Do aura attacks cost Stamina or Focus? Cass asked Salos.
Usually Stamina. Why?
How else does Stamina drain?
Salos’s gold eyes on her human face flicked over his opponent to 29, his eyebrow raising. Look at you. Anything that tires out the body. Physical exertion is the primary way. Some poisons. Extreme temperatures.
Cass grinned. She could work with that.
She darted under 29’s legs, summoning more water and freezing it into ice with every bound. The ice crept up his legs.
He kicked the ice away.
Cass climbed up his body, leaving a trail of ice over his armor. None of it would hurt him. None of it would touch his Health.
Focus: 188/549
He swatted at her. She dodged around his hand, slipping around to the left shoulder. She encased the joint in frost.
Focus: 168/549
He flexed his arm, and the ice broke, but Cass had already re-coated his legs.
Focus: 148/549
He was slowing. Every new layer of ice sapped at his Stamina.
But her Focus was fading fast too. Who would outlast the other?
He was teetering, his body sagging. But he still had the energy to kick apart the next layer of ice.
Focus: 128/549
There had to be more she could do.
Something else she could Manipulate? She was already doing everything she could think of with water. Fire would run counter to her current strategy. Wind didn’t cut them and she wasn’t sure she could create a cutting blade with Elemental Manipulation. There was no stone to manipulate, and even if there was, she wasn’t sure what she’d do with it that she wasn’t already doing with ice.
She added another wave of ice to his sword arm.
Focus: 108/549
He swung his arm against the wall behind him, breaking the ice away.
His breathing was ragged. He stooped in his armor. His eyes burned as he glared at her.
But he didn’t fall.
What else did she have?
She couldn’t do anything more with Elemental Manipulation. She had no weapon to summon Tempest Blades on.
Did she?
Salos had been very careful when he’d picked this cat form. It had been a priority he could use his Blade Mastery Skill in it. Were her claws considered blades?
Tempest Blade sprang to life along her extended claws, lightning dancing along the tips of her paws.
She cackled, flexing her claws and shooting the lightning into the paladin’s body.
His muscles spasmed beneath her. His knees gave out. His body fell to the ground.
He groaned, still awake, though the exhaustion and the pain were finally kicking in. He tried to push himself back up, but Cass lay down another layer of ice, again freezing him to the floor.
Focus: 78/549
