Chapter 32: Result

Chapter 32: Result

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Result

The speed my new technique granted me was both a blessing and a curse and for similar reasons. Things happened, strangely, both more quickly and more slowly, in several different ways. On the Brightside, obviously, I attacked and moved much faster then I'd ever dreamed of doing, exchanging hundreds of blows, doing attacks that would have been too quick to see before, shifting through the chaos with an easy grace. Despite that speed, everything seemed slowed down to my eyes and mind, allowing me to think about, plan for, and react to things I might otherwise barely have noticed. All of that was tremendously useful and were literally lifesavers.

On the other hand, attacking five times faster meant spending energy five times faster, too. Even with my greater speed and attack power, truly matching or pushing back Penny required drawing on my other skills as wellLunging at great speeds to close or create distance, Power Strike to strengthen my blows, using my Elementals to assist me in subtle ways, and much more. In fact, it was even worse than that, because of Double Strike, which effectively allowed me to hit twice with a single blow, but with each blow needing to be enhanced individually. The base damage of each hit was lower than a normal attack, but still high enough to make it advantageous, especially when I was leveling it up so quicklynone of which changed the fact that it drained MP like a sieve.

My entire strategy was enabled by my situationon easy access to an effectively endless supply of restorative items. Any chance I had of victory was founded entirely on the fact that I was able to cheat like a son of a bitch, giving myself effectively infinite HP and MP so long as I didn't run out of items, didn't let my MP hit zero, and wasn't taken out by a single blow or quick series of hits. Without that, without the removed concern of how much damage I could take or power I could spend, I would have lost this fight very, very quickly. If I had been using solely my own power, I think I would have run myself dry in about a minute. Maybe less, possibly a bit more.

I hit fast but tired fast, as was normal with all of Bai Hu's techniques. As it was, I needed to restore myself every twenty to thirty seconds and occasionally turn off my Aura to tank blows physically just to keep myself going. Things went fast and so did my power.

But they also happened painfully slowly. They had before, of course, as I'd known they would; with a ship as big as the White Whale, a lack of hydraulic stairs was a painfully serious issue. I'd worked to compensate with Levant, had trained to do it as quickly as possible, but I'd known it would take a while, just as I'd known that it was unlikely we'd get out before there was a response. If Levant moved at top speed, there were no complications on either side, and the passengers cooperated perfectly, she might have been able to get everyone loaded in about fifteen minutes. Realistically speaking, odds were better that it would have taken twenty, twenty-five minutes instead, allowing for difficulties and general stupidity. Far from ideal, but there's only so much you can do when you have to transport a large group of people while lacking a lot of infrastructure and under fire.

Given the circumstances, thoughit might be pushing higher than that. I'd gotten back Dreary Midnight fairly quickly, but I'd also had to split her focus occasionally. Because of that, it may well push as high as thirty, though I held out hope I was highballing it. That's a lot of time to buy in any situation.

When your perceptions were enhanced as high as mine were, it was a length of time that seemed to drag on forever.

Penny and I traded blows beyond counting, metallic impacts filling the night air in a symphony that brought to mind the marching of soldiers and the hammering of drums. It was hard not to lose myself in the battle, simply because a large part of me wanted to, wanted to let time flow past around us as we clashedbut I had to pay attention to the details and the moments, so it stretched on endlessly instead. I felt bullets beat a steady rhythm on my skin as we came together and heard metal ring as we parted. Every touch carried with it staccato images I perceived through Crocea Mors and Vulturnus, images that flickered and vanished in almost the same instant they were made, an instant of perception. I felt pain and power flow through me as I was wounded and healed, exhausted and invigorated, and Penny and I fought like tireless machines.

And all the while, I counted the glacial passage of seconds. I had to, needed to pay attention to every moment, focusing my thoughts towards their intended purpose even as I kept track of the slow boarding of passengers. I monitored the skies around me even as I watched every move Penny made, on constant alert for new threats regardless of source. Penny swung her blade in an arc I ducked under it, left arm coming up to brace itself against the androids reaching free arm even as I stuck a blow to it further up with my claws. Her sword stopped more abruptly then it should have been able to before it changed directions, coming back for another swing at my head that I stepped away from, driving a palm into her forearm as I went.

Penny followed, advancing as I retreated, never stopping or slowing. She swung her blade again, gun firing above her as her free fingers flexed. She was silent again, green eyes wide and almost glowing as she stared at me intently, taking everything in, processing it, reacting. At first, her swordsmanship had been very clean and precise, almost literally textbook, but also very basicsomething I suspected may have been literally programmed into her. She was good at it, but not great, because every attack was too exact, too precise. Predictable and formulaic, responding to problems in the exact same way.

Within a minute, that had changed. She began to vary her attacks as they proved ineffective, incorporating things she'd tried before to improve it. In mid-swing, she released her blade, letting it fly from her fingers in a wide, sweeping arc that I ducked under. Almost the moment I did so, she moved forward, jumping forward and coming down with enough force to lift small slabs of concrete. I leapt into the air the moment Sense Danger alerted me and touched earth the same moment she drew her sword back to her hand and swung it over her, releasing it once more to bring it down on me. It bit deeply into the ground at my feet as I stepped back, but she just used that to reel herself towards me.

An open-palmed strike passed through where my head had been a moment before as I ducked low, driving the heels of my palms into her knees and thighs in a series of quick blows before leaning back as she drew her sword from the concrete and brought it back up, tip arching just before my eyes. I turned the motion into a handspring, coming back to my feet as she took a step forward and swung her sword down again. I brought up both my hands, touching her forearm as I leveraged myself to the side before letting go. My right hand clenched into a fist and my open right covered it as I drove an elbow into her chest. Her other arm rose, outlined clearly to Crocea Mors and Vulturnus' senses as I touched her, and I dropped to a knee as it tried to seize me, guiding it over my head with a pair of gentle touches.

There was a moment's pause as I drew to the side, subtly palming a crystal from my inventory and consuming it to keep myself going as she turned to continueand we were back in the fray.

All the while, I kept my attention on her, as she did to me. Every moment I looked for a way in or a way out, a way to strike or to defend. Penny was crushing power, unending strength, a machine that never tired or faltered, and yet, for all that, intelligent and methodical. Every mistake she made was corrected, plans were modified on the fly. Successes were noted and incorporated into further actions as she drove endlessly, relentlessly forward. Penny may have been innocent, but she wasn't stupid and she learned quickly. She drew ever closer with each attack, every failure building towards the hope of future success. I kept just ahead of her, slightly out of reach, and hit her a hundred times to seemingly no effect. I saw the damage it did, chipping away at her in almost meaninglessly minute amounts, and kept going anyway, deeming it unimportant. I was speed, precision, great power applied accurately, carefully, deliberately, all leading towards the same end, each blow making careful progress, however smallnot trying to match her power or even compete with it, but aiming for something else.

We were different designs leading towards the same goals. I watched her grow stronger as we fought, learning and improvising with each moment. I did the same, skills improving quickly just to stay that one step ahead, considering her, predicting her, striking her as best I could to drive forward. We were like blades being tested against one another, being driven to our limits just to learn how to surpass themand for a minute we seemed matched.

The battle ran on, through the streets, atop the sides of buildings. The gun floating behind Penny took to shifting, sprouting into six controlled swords again, attempting new tactics as she tested new things. For a moment, she moved through them, blades driving into the ground and walls to pull her this way and that, drawing her through the air and altering her path. I drew her into a building, engaging her in close quarters and evading a dozen swords as I continued to pound into her. They consolidated into another sword afterwards as we dueled in limited space and I weaved in between blades to get to her until she drove me back toand througha wall. The blade returned to its gun form in the streets as I had more room to dodge and maneuver, keeping on me with steady, mild damage as I drew closer again. We exchanged hundreds of blows as the minutes passed and still seemed matched.

We went up and down the streets, over and through the buildings, came together and parted a thousand times, and through it all seemed matched. Each of us was building towards something, drawing closer with every success and failure alike, yet seemed even through it all. To an outsider, it must have looked like it could go either way.

Looks can be deceiving. As the fight drew on, things slowly changed as planted seeds began to grow. I kept her in the center of my attention, but the nature of it began to change, shifting with every action as we drew closer and closer to the end. What started as a battle became more of a dance and I found my place in the dangerous, shifting steps and felt completely calm, with perhaps just a hint of something that might have been anticipation and might have been dread as the flow quickened and rose. All I had to do was

"Let's stop," I said as we fell down to the streets, drawing away suddenly instead of stepping forward. "There's no point in taking this any further."

"What?" Penny asked, hesitating in her advance.

"There's no point to taking this any further," I repeated. "This fight's over."

Penny tilted her head to the side, blinking slowly.

"Are you surrendering?" She asked.

"I'm afraid not," I said. "I'm just winning. The ship will be loaded soon and I will depart. There's little reason to continue this fight anymore. It was fun playing with you Penny, but I'll need to leave soon, so let's end this here, okay?"

"I cannot allow that," She replied, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, but I still can't let you go."

"It's not a matter of allowing," I corrected. "I've already won and I'm going to leave nowI don't want to hurt you to do so, though, so please. For my sake. Stand aside. You've already lost."

"No, I haven't," She said. "I am combat readyand I will never give up so long as I can still fight."

She took a step forward and then began to run, but I didn't move. I didn't turn away, I didn't back down, and I didn't flinch.

I just sighed quietly, stepped forward, and whispered just high enough to be sure she would catch it.

"Right arm," I said as I stepped just to the side of the blade, dodging along the outside of her arm. My left hand came up to grasp her wrist, my right her shoulder. With each hand, I used the Tiger's Jaws, doubled with Double Strike, multiplied with Power Strike, Rip, and Crush, pulling it back behind her with all my might.New novel chapters are published on

But really, that was just the final blow, the straw that broke the camel's back. What happened next had been long in the coming. Penny and I had both been working towards something, trying to guide the battle in our favorbut the advantage had been mine, for I held the most powerful weapon of all.

Information. I knew, if roughly, what she was capable off, but there were many, many things she didn't know about me. Her plan had been to wear me down, to improve her strategies and plans to fence me in and push me back, all leading up to a final blowbut my plan had literally been built with every blow, every exchange, whenever I touched her. It had been in gentle touches, seemingly pointless strikes to her defending arms, to her legs, a work in progress from the very beginning striking at weak point she hadn't even known to defend.

So though I applied careful pressure and force, put my entire body into accomplishing on thing, and hammered, grasped, crushed, and tore with all my might, what happened next wasn't a matter of my strength. No, that was a small part of it, in all honesty. In truth, it was a matter of careful build up, minute applications of Crocea Mors in a thousand instants of contact and flickering images, the buildup of many minor changes through her Aura as the minutes dragged on, all leading up to one moment, one final push, an instant of strain that even her soul couldn't compensate for.

And with a crack and a pop and a groan, with a small rain of bits of metal, with a sudden force giving waywith all of that, I tore off Penny's arm.

She stumbled then, as her body came free of her arm, and then fell. She tried to catch herself, realizing a moment too late that one of the arms she'd sought to do so with was absent, and then fell on her face.

"I'm sorry," I said honestly, looking at the arm for a moment before setting it down on the ground. "I'd hoped to avoid that. But with this, it should be clear. Your father can fix that when you're retrieved, so just sit this one out for now, okay? I've won, Penny."

Penny lay prone on the ground for a moment, not moving or saying a word. Ideally, she'd see this as a sign of overwhelming power and give up, or wonder how it was possible, or any number of other things butafter that moment of stillness passed, I saw her lift herself carefully with one arm, compensating for the absent one as if it were natural for her and slowly rising to stand.

"No," She said, looking at me with her green eyes. She didn't seem hurt or even scaredshe didn't seem different at all, really. "I already told you, I will never give up so long as I'm able to fight. Something like thisit doesn't even hurt."

The sword in her dismembered hands grasp twitched once before withdrawing. I watched it return to the side of its mistress, floating in the air near where she would have held it, and sighed again.

"Penny, you are amazing," I told her. "To get up, despite that, to refuse to give upyou are simply amazing. But there is a difference between being brave and being reckless. There are times when you need to put everything on the line and fight, but for youthis shouldn't be one of them. Whether it hurts or not, don't put yourself at risk for something like this. This shouldn't be a battle you need to stake your life on. Accept your defeat."

"I haven't lost yet," She said stubbornly, striding forward more warily this time. "I won't accept defeatno matter what, I will fight until my body is broken. For my fatherI have to protect this world. I am readyI am. So I won't lose to anyone."

I looked at her quietly, Observing her resolve, and exhaled slowly.

"This really means a lot to you," I noted. "I hope you father knows how proud he should be of you for that. Butyou can't always win Penny. And if you tear yourself apart trying to anyway, imagine what that will do to the people who care about you. You're still a child; you don't have to protect the world by yourself. Walk away from this fight, get stronger, and we'll play again some other day. But give up, Penny. Sit down and watch me leave. This isn't a battle you can win; you should know that already."

"I know no such thing," She said, stump of an arm sparking. "It's only minor damage. I am still combat ready."

"Pennydoes your father love you?" I asked.

She looked up at my, surprise in her eyes. Even so, she answered without hesitation.

"Yes," She said. "Very much."

"I see," I nodded slightly, deciding to trust her and shelves my concerns, hard as that was. I didn't see any signs of dishonesty or worry with Observe, so "I guess he'll probably be terrified when he sees what happened to you."

"Yes," She said, eyes suddenly downcast. "He worries a lot, even though he knows I'm strong. When he found out I was being sent on this mission, he was so scared, and I"

Had probably told him it would be fine. That she'd stay safe and be smart and that nothing would happen. Like I'd told my father.

I guess that made us both liars.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, closing my eyes. "I guess I'm causing you both a lot of trouble. Butthat's why you need to understand, Penny. You can imagine it, right? How scared your father must be and how he'll feel when he finds out what happened? And if you died"

She looked, if anything, even more miserable, but nodded again.

"Yes," She said simply, but one word was enough for this. I could hear it in her voice and see it with Observethe sadness she felt, the honest sorrow at the pain she was causing someone she cared about.

I patted her head again, understanding completely.

"It's fine as long as you understand," I said. "Butsince you got hurt because of me"

I sighed slightly, musing as I palmed a blue Dust crystal. Imight have been able to heal her, though I wasn't certain of how Soulforge Restoration would interact with such extreme wounds, much less a robotic body. In fact

"I suppose your Aura doesn't heal you normally, does it Penny?" I asked, look over her status screen. She had a fair number of status effects I'd never seen before, like 'Ex Machina,' which I assumed had some effect of preventing natural healing. Though she still had some Aura left, even her smaller wounds, like her torn skin, had yet to close. I suppose that shouldn't have been surprising given it was artificial skinno, more than that, dismemberment wasn't something many people could recover from regardless of their Aura. The fact that Penny could get new arms was itself amazing and I knew she wasn't in pain. I could just leave her here and she'd most likely be fine.

On the other hand, it just felt wrong to tear off a girl's arms and legs and abandon her in the middle of nowhere with no way of doing anything until someone came to get her.

Gee, I wonder why.

"No," Penny replied. "Because I'm a machine."

I sighed slightly, feeling bad but still thinking.

"Something like that" I mused.

I might have been able to heal her with Crocea Mors, though I wasn't completely confident in my Craft ability or knowledge of how she worked. I'd only caught glimpses after all, her Aura fighting my control and blurring my vision each timebut it was possible. Of course, then her limbs would be functional again, which was itself a potential problemI didn't want to leave her wounded but if I healed hershe probably wouldn't continue the fight now, but even so

However, that made me wonder. Even if it made sense for her to be unable to heal normallyno, rather, because of my power, even something like this?

Yeah, after all, how many robotic teammates have I had in games? And healing spells always worked on them despite that, too. For me, whose powers worked off abstract things like HP rather than physical damage and biology, what did it matter if she was a robot? She had an HP bar, after all, and my skill didn't say it couldn't be used on robots. The issue of her getting up remained, but if it was me

I looked at my Dust crystal. I'd devoured dozens of the crystals while fighting Penny, drawing life and power from them to sustain myself. I'd felt the power within, used it to fuel my Aura and color it to change myself, again and again and again. Because I'd experienced it so many times, perhaps it was possible? Certainly, I'd done far stranger thingsand I'd considered the idea, as the fight wore on.

I closed my eyes for a moment, falling into a trance in a moment, my senses focused on myself, the patterns of light that shot through my Aura, and the crystal that blazed like fire in the palm of my hand. I knew how the process worked, had experienced it so many times during the fight, and I knew how it felt. When I used a Dust Crystal as part of Soulforge Restoration, I drew the energy out of it to replenish my Aura and colored myself with its light in the process. The buff I received was a side-effect, really, if a very useful and powerful one.

But did it have to be that way?

I focused and felt my Aura change and it felt almost familiarboth because of how I'd felt something similar recently and because of Xihai. I guided my Aura along its course and watched as it came together, an imitation of what I'd seen and felt.

A skill has been created through a special action! Through the manipulation of Aura's form and nature, you have created the skill 'Regeneration'!

Regeneration (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 100

A skill to manipulate the body through the alteration of Aura. By imposing the element of Water, swift healing can be granted.

+50 HP per minute.

+50 SP per minute.

Duration: 30 minutes.

I drew in a deep breath, smugly self-satisfied. As expected of my bullshit powerthe effect wasn't as quick as the status Soulforge granted which restore ten HP per second for twenty seconds, but as an effect with a much longer duration?

"Something like that," I said more confidently. "Means nothing to me."

I touched Penny's forehead and felt my power flow over her. Her eyes widened slightly at whatever she felt and my tail uncoiled from its place at my waist, wrapping around the arm I'd placed beside her body and bringing it closer to her stumpand smiled slightly when I same her HP go up a point after a second, metal edges twitching unnaturally. I did the same with her other limbs, reaching over her body to bring her legs closer, and then stood.

"I have a few things to take care of first, but it's about time I take my leave. It might take some time to heal, but you should be mostly healed in about half an hour," I said, brushing dust off my pants. "Until then, try not to do anything to aggravate your injuriesand remembered what you learned today, Penny."

"But" Penny asked, looking honestly surprised for the first time. "How?"

"It's the nature of the soul to try and return an altered body to normal," I said. "As the nature of your body kept your Aura from doing so, I gave it a little help."

"That'simpossible" She said, lifting her head to look down at her still separated limbs with wide eyes.

"Impossible?" I asked. "Why would it be impossible for a real girl? Difficult, perhaps, but you have a soul like any other, Penny. Rather than something as small as this, remember that."

I smiled at her and turned to walk away.

"You never told me your name," She stopped me before I could go. "Iyou already know it, but my name is Penny Polendina. What's yours?"

I paused in my stride for a moment, glancing over my shoulder contemplatively. I considered leaving her in silence, the mystery man who appeared and then vanished without a trace, or giving her a meaningless lie. I certainly wasn't going to tell her my real name, but

The vague concern I'd felt niggled at me, a quiet, hopefully baseless thing.

She'd seen the fake tattoo on my back, I reasoned. Maybe. I had no idea what she could truly see through Lenore's effect, or if it work on her, or what it's limits where. She'd probably seen my tail, at least, and she retained details about the fight. And, given the situation, would it do anything but strength the mask? Given I actually was a Faunus like this, the odds of people making the connection were

I closed my eyes for a moment and chuckled slightly. No, more than any of that

"Jian Bing," I said. "Should something ever happen, should they forget that you are a person rather than a weapon, search for that name. Goodbye, Penny, and fair thee well."