Rune Seeker

Hiral activated his Rune of Time Dilation before anybody moved, and everything slowed so much it almost paused around him. Individual raindrops hung lazily in the air, while bolts of lightning left bright scars across the sky and crawled along the Spear of Clouds. Off to Hiral’s left, the raging battle between the two Shaper sides was little more than a globe of color and death. Energy, smoke, and body parts soared through the air, and punches flew in slow motion between the titans.

But taking all that in wasn’t the reason Hiral had brought himself into a timeout. Fitch probably wasn’t lying about being B-Rank, but the fact he assumed they were D-Rank meant he couldn’t read their power level. Why was that? Fitch had gained the View ability along with the rest of them, and even the basic version of it could give approximate Rank of anything less than a Mid-Boss.

Are we considered Bosses? Or did Fitch lose some of his normal abilities when the Enemy infested him?

Looking at the sword and its writhing tentacle hilt, Hiral settled on the latter: Fitch’s abilities had changed somehow. But if he was anything like Picoli or the Infested from The Buried City, his physical stats would be through the roof.

The Infested from the city, Dr. Benza said the original man had been able to control animals. We saw something like that with the adds, but he mainly relied on his weapon and brute strength. If that holds true here, Fitch will probably have some kind of warped version of his normal abilities, but perhaps less overall.

That still didn’t give Hiral a good idea of what to expect, but at least it was something. And, what about from the other side of things? What did Fitch know about them?

He’d known Seena and Seeyela before their abilities really evolved and they took on advanced classes. Fitch would expect Seeyela to use Gravity Wells, and Seena to use things like Spearing Roots. The new armor and flames were probably giving away some of their tricks, but there was no way he would be ready for Seeyela’s teleporting or the sheer firepower Seena could bring to bear.

And what about for him? Fitch knew about Left and Right—though definitely not how strong they’d become. He’d seen Hiral use his RHCs plenty, so no surprises there, and they’d still been together when Hiral had gotten the Emperor’s Greatsword. Hiral tried to think how much Fitch might know about what the sword could do, but it was impossible to guess. The man had never seen him using the weapon directly. Then again, who knew what one of his party members had shared about their dungeon run?

It probably wasn’t much. As soon as they’d come out of the dungeon where he’d tested it the first time, they’d had to flee. Fitch had… vanished shortly after. No, thinking about it, the man couldn’t possibly know much about it. As for the Ring of Amin Thett, Hiral had gotten that later, along with all the weapons stored within it.

Still, despite the confidence in his own abilities, Hiral looked back to the Spear of Clouds. That weapon was the biggest wildcard. How much of its power could Fitch bring out? And how practiced was he with it in a fight? No way he was as good with it as Yanily, but would he even need to be? It was an S-Rank weapon in the hands of a powerful B-Rank user.

Their first priority had to be getting that spear away from Fitch. As long as he had it, he was a major threat—not taking into account that he needed it to break the Fallen free. And, even in the slowed time, as Hiral stared at the weapon, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. A voice in his head screamed there was something he was missing—something he should know—but he couldn’t place it.

Along with the voice was the pounding from slowing time, though, and Hiral had no choice but to let his Rune of Time Dilation fade. Falling rain and sound burst back to life as the two sides faced off.

“Fitch’s abilities aren’t the same as what they used to be,” Hiral said quietly into the party chat while he moved out wide to flank their enemy. “I don’t think he has View anymore.”

“Sword is way creepier too,” Seeyela said, shuffling out to the side opposite Hiral.

“Spear is our primary target,” Seena said, staying in exactly the same place.

“Left, Right…” Hiral started.

“We’re going first to feel him out,” Right said before Hiral could finish.

Purple flames flared up the double’s arm and across his Meridian Lines as he lunged forward, so fast he was barely a blur. WHAAAM! Rain and air exploded outward in a sphere at the impact of Right’s fist colliding with… the Spear of Clouds positioned perfectly to parry it.

Fitch’s feet hadn’t even moved at the punch that should’ve sent him flying, and he shifted slightly as Right quick-stepped to the side. Lines of purple traced through the air—the only sign Right was throwing punches, he was moving so fast—while miniature booms like thunder sounded rapid-fire. And yet, somehow, the spear’s haft was always where it needed to be to turn aside the stone-powdering strength of Right’s blows.

Right’s assault continued for one second, two, three, pockets of rain popping like bubbles underwater from each collision, and then a howl split the air. Six massive, infernal hounds and something else shot towards Fitch from behind Seena. The Pack charged at Fitch but was quickly forced back by the snapping blade in his other hand. Quick as a viper, the sword chased away the hounds, small licks of flame trailing where he’d cut them, then came in line perfectly to parry a descending Dagger of Sath.

“I didn’t forget about you,” Fitch said to Left—despite him being sheathed in the Touch of Night.

Coal-red eyes stared down at the Infested while the trailing stream of water caught up to the dagger and then exploded outward.

Fitch, again, didn’t even more. No, instead, he flicked his wrist and tossed Left back like he’d wound up and swung with all his strength. And, all the while—without even looking—the Spear of Clouds continued to turn aside every single one of Right’s attacks.

Flipping head over heels through the rain, a wing of frosty, blue flame burst out of Left’s shoulder. A single flap brought his flight under control, and he twisted in the air to land on his feet, then charged straight back in. Thrown over fifty feet away by a simple flick of Fitch’s wrist, though, it’d take the double long seconds to get back to the fight.

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And, in those seconds, Fitch turned his full attention on Right. Spear still completely negating Right’s assault, Fitch’s sword came around like a lightning-fast headsman’s axe. So strong and quick was the blade, Fitch didn’t even bother watching the full swing, turning his attention back to Left as the sword reached Right’s neck.

Except Right hadn’t been going all out. At the last second, with a burst of absurd speed, he bent backwards to narrowly evade the sword’s tip. Then, with abdominal muscles like forged steel, he snapped up and threw a punch at the back of Fitch’s unsuspecting head.

WHAAAAAAM! Even the ground shook at the impact of the blow—and the Spear of Clouds quivered where it’d caught the punch.

Fitch’s head turned in surprise just in time to spot Right’s follow-up attacks. Even with his speed turned up a notch, the Infested managed to turn aside each and every punch or kick. But, by the look on Fitch’s face, he was just as surprised as everybody else.

Then Left was back, the claws on the end of his shadow-encrusted hands growing like daggers. Violent slashes tore across to disembowel Fitch, though the man’s sword flicked left and right to smoothly turn away both attacks. More followed, only to get parried as well.

On both sides of Fitch, the doubles attacked in what should’ve been an overwhelming flurry. Their punches, kicks, and slashes came so fast there was no way one person could keep up with them. Even with his high Atn, Hiral would be very hard pressed to split his attention between the two separate attackers. And that only became clearer as The Pack once again joined the fray.

Nipping and lunging at every chance, the hounds sought to tear flesh or at least catch a limb to pin the elusive man. Yet they couldn’t. Between the eight attackers, they’d finally forced Fitch to move his feet, though he stayed in the same place, circling and twisting as he deflected everything coming his way.

“Enough of this,” Fitch said.

Within the blink of an eye, the sword’s speed easily tripled, bisecting one, two, four wolves before they even had a chance to react. Back and forth he rocked, countering Left and Right’s blows just enough to steal their balance. In that heartbeat, his sword whipped out to disperse the other two wolves, then snapped around to finish off the doubles.

A pull of Attraction barely hauled Left and Right out of danger before the blade caught them, and they skidded to a stop beside Hiral.

“He’s fast,” Left said.

“And strong,” Right added.

“He’s using the rain like the Enemies do, and his partner can control his body at will,” Hiral explained over the party chat. “We’re fighting two opponents here who didn’t use their full strength. Watch out for those tentacles of solar energy behind him. I doubt they’re just for show.

“Definitely at least B-Rank unless he was holding back. High Dex, and with the rain acting as absurd Atn, he’s going to be very hard to hit.”

“So, kind of like fighting you?” Seeyela asked.

“Basically.”

All through the small discussion, Fitch hadn’t moved an inch, his head cocked to the side like he was listening to something. Then his head snapped up to look in Hiral’s direction, and he nodded. “Yes, him first.”

That was all the warning Hiral had as Fitch launched himself forward. Covering the forty feet between them in an instant, Hiral barely had time to pull both triggers before the other man was on top of him. Even then, Fitch’s sword snapped down and up so fast he literally slapped the two bolts of Impact out of the air like they’d been standing still. Then, as soon as his feet touched down, he twisted at the hip and thrust out with the Spear of Clouds.

No slouch in the speed department, Hiral was already leaping back as the spear shot for his heart. The moment he was on the ground again—just out of reach of the spear—Fitch’s hand loosened on the weapon’s haft. Powered by the man’s forward momentum, the spear slid through his fingers like it was on rails and continued for Hiral’s chest.

Buckling at the knees, Hiral toppled backward to evade the seeking blade. And, for once, he wasn’t fast enough. The spear’s blade caught his chest and sliced up across his shoulder as he fell. He thudded onto his back, rolling hard to the side just in time to avoid the stabbing blade that pierced the earth right where his head had been. A second roll got him away from a quick follow-up thrust, and then Left and Right were there.

The doubles charged at Fitch, though the man spun in place to turn aside their attacks. Worse, he didn’t stay on the defensive as he had before, quickly counterattacking after the doubles made their moves. Spear and sword both thrust and sought the doubles’ lives, only their practiced teamwork keeping them from falling immediately.

That few seconds, though, bought the rest of the party time to get involved. Seena’s flaming hands clawed across in front of her as she let loose with Cinder+. Seeyela appeared with a bamf, glowing-green daggers stabbing for Fitch’s back. Hiral pulled the triggers on both RHCs before slamming the weapons onto his thigh plates and pushing energy into the Ring of Amin Thett.

With all five of them attacking at the same time, Fitch would never be able to…

Out of nowhere, the dancing sabre came across to cut through the previously unblockable attacks from Cinder+ and slap aside the two bolts of Impact, all in one fluid motion. At the same time, the tentacles of solar energy hanging behind Fitch solidified and converged on Seeyela like a net. The Spear of Clouds, a blur of spinning crystal, deflected Right’s punches, came across to jab Left in the gut with the butt of the weapon, and swung back to swat Right out of the air.

Both doubles hit the ground at the same time, but, bamf—Seeyela barely managed to escape the closing tentacles.

Without even missing a beat, Fitch charged forward at Hiral, the Spear of Clouds and sword coming around in a coordinated fury of attacks to overwhelm him. But Hiral had seen this trick before, and his Sho-Val of the Valley already spun in his hands. Lightning sparked as the blades twirled and met between the two of them, neither side willing to give up ground.

Hiral pushed his body and mind to their limit without activating any of his abilities, just barely able to keep up with Fitch’s lightning-fast assault. And in that moment—like back in The Buried City—Hiral saw the Infested’s frustration at its failure to outright overwhelm him. Whether it was Picoli, the Infested from the dungeon, or Fitch, they were all overconfident. How could anything or anybody stand up to their power?

Well, truth be told, Hiral wouldn’t be standing up to it for long, already falling behind as Fitch’s spear and sword got closer to him with every strike.

Good thing he didn’t need to.

So focused on Hiral, Fitch didn’t react in time to the Cinder+scarring across his back, and his mouth clenched in pain or fury. Probably the latter, by the way his attacks sped up. A brutal one-two combo sent Hiral flying—even though he’d parried both blows—and then Fitch spun and launched himself at Seena.

Her next Cinder+ got cut out of the air by the blurring sabre, and then Fitch was almost on top of her. There was no way she’d be able outrun him, even with the phoenix’s sheath increasing her physical abilities. Except, she didn’t run. She smiled.

Spearing Roots erupted from the ground in front of her like a pincushion, completely filling the space. Fitch, barreling forward with the momentum of his leap, had no way to avoid it. No way to prevent himself from being impaled.

One swing of his sword completely proved Hiral wrong. The Spearing Roots parted as easily as wheat before the scythe, leaving a surprised Seena vulnerable right behind them.