Chapter 223: Push

Chapter 223: Push

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattles publishment at threads/rwby-the-gamer-the-games-we-play-disk-five.341621/. Anyway on with the show...err read.

Push

"You" Gilgamesh growled, though I'm not sure why. If not for my sensory abilities, I wouldn't have been able to hear him, moving as fast as we now were. I struck my one side and my counterpart from the other, forcing him to split his attention between us. I struck high first, aiming a fist for his temple that he pushed aside with the back of a hand, before aiming a sucker punch at his side with my other that he was forced to lower his elbow to smack down. My other self swung a low kick that he stepped over and, while he was balanced on one leg, pushed himself upright with a flex of will to aim a kick for Gilgamesh's chin that the legendary Grimm jerked his head out of the way of. Gilgamesh's free hand came down, swordsmanship superb even while so off balance, but we both focused on him before the blade could hit home.

A hammer of Psychokinetic force slammed into the Grimm, knocking him several steps back and into the air. Seeing our chance, my double and I teleported into the same spot, lining up with Gilgamesh, and I gathered my strength into an Agniyastra, the legendary weapon made even more potent by its namesake and out dual nature. We layered our existences such that I was 'interposed' between the attack and my other self, shielding him from the consuming flamesI, after all, was completely immune to fire. It took only a moment to charge the attack and then I hurled it with all my might, sending the spear of supernatural flames careening towards the airborne Grimm.

Gilgamesh grunted a moment before the attack hit home, hands snapping up to catch the spear out of midair. He made a pained noise, the touch of the Agniyastra scorching even to him, and held it away from his chest even as it pushed him back through the air. He flew nearly halfway across the crater before somehow leveraging himself enough to throw the spear away while still airborne, using the impulse of the strike to send himself back to the ground where he continued to skid across the ground until he dropped a hand to the dirt to slow himself down.

Needless to say, we were already upon him by the time he rose, Fluctuating to either sidethough this time, we kept our distance. Firing spheres snapped into existence around us, filling with our weapons of choicenamely, the ones that benefited the most from our current Elemental Embodiments. I called up a small swarm of Agniyastras while my counterpart filled the air around him with Gungnir's and we cut loose before Gilgamesh was even fully back on his feet. He snapped back, trying to leap out of the kill zone we'd established, but we both gestured at him and dual Gravity Crashes slammed him back into the ground before he could get far.

Then, it was just a matter of our attacks converging on a targetand we both had really good aim. And while he was pinned down, we converged ourselves, appearing right in front of him. This time, my other self took the lead, crafting a Longinus in our hands. The spear glowed brightly with the power we infused within itbut because of that same power, it wasn't something we could waste. Unlike Gungnir, Longinus couldn't follow a target and while it could pierce any defense, it could still miss; when we could afford to use it, me had to make sure it counted. Thanks to the Mathematician's Answer, I was reasonably confident I'd never miss a stationary target, but Gilgamesh was far from stationary and aiming got more complicated against a foe who could move fast enough to dodge an attack after it was fired.

Even so, I saw a shot and I took it. We stepped forward once and threw the spear towards the center of his bodytempting as it was to aim for the head, against a target as fast as this, it was better to aim for the center of mass and trust that putting a gaping hole in someone's body was bad for their health no matter where it was.

The moment it left our hands, space began to waver around Longinus, twisting violently around the blade as it flew without seeming regard for air resistance or much of anything else. The ground seemed to curve slightly as the blade flew over it, as if pushed down by its passage, and in the midst of the smoke I saw Gilgamesh's eyes snap up to the spear in recognition. He tried to react, to get out of the way, but there was a reason we'd struck from this closenear enough to minimize his chances of dodging, far enough to avoid attempts at disrupting our attackand his attempted dodge did nothing but cause the spear to pierce through the left side of his chest instead of where a human's heart would have been. His hand came up to close over yet another hole in his chest, but his eyes were intent and fierce.

The burst of speed that followed was surprising even to meto such an extent that we only dodged because we'd expected reprisal and had already been in motion. We went in opposite and then up, appearing such that we hung over Gilgamesh at an anglesomething we promptly exploited by using Bane of the Prometheans at his open back, layering every speed booster we had in the process. We reached him at the same time, each grabbing one of his arms and sinking our claws into it before pulling back as hard as we could as the second phase of the Bane took hold. Between the two of us, we not only halted Gilgamesh's forward momentum but drew him into the air, the force and timing of our attacks drawing him right into our midst, and we floated in a quick arc until we intersected, existences aligning with one another as we occupied the same space.

When Gilgamesh was right in front of us, we took a deep breath and crossed our metaphorical fingers.

Then we used Ohr Ein Sof.

It wasn't the same as before, at least not quitewhich was both a good and a bad thing. We were united and divided, at once less than perfect and more than the sum of our parts. Thaumiel was about more than just giving a physical form to my counterpartit was about giving him true selfhood, life and power. There was a difference between our separated existence and our combined one, odd as it might be; in truth, we were always divided, as we remained two distinct souls that happened to occupy the same body, but when we were like thiswe were something else.

Stuff like that mattered to the Light. Apparently, so did the two of us activating the skill twice.

This was one of them. Even if I couldn't use observe to see the truth of the matter, I could tell that the effects of the Brahmastra were still there thanks to my Third Eye; he'd treated the symptoms, perhaps, but not the disease. I'd also been able to see the nature of the process itself, with countless tiny shapes squirming across and into his twisted flesh, breaking things down and spewing them forth. It was an interesting trick, but there was more to it than there might seemit was just a matter of figuring out what. Important as time was to me now, it was worth a second or two.

"Surprised?" Gilgamesh said when I didn't attack. Perhaps he was feeling chatty, still, but it was more likely that he was just buying himself time to heal and wear me down. Now that I'd seen the nature of his power, I debated whether or not I should press my assault again, butno, even this wasn't enough. My perceptions were all but shouting warnings to me, telling me of approaching danger, and so I kept still.

Besides. Time limit or not, I benefited for a breather, too. Divided nature or not, that assault had taken power and I could use a few seconds to recover what I'd lost with Dust crystals and my natural MP regeneration. Thaumiel gave me two pools of MP, but that came with a fair bit of maintenance when we went all out.

"A bit," I allowed, giving him a slight nod. "I'd begun to wonder when you would finally take this seriously. Did I manage to make an impression, perhaps?"

"Quite so," He answered, cracking his neck. "I'll admit, you took me by surprise as well; you came prepared, I see. I'd been a touch concerned about breaking you on accidentthere has been a time or two when I overestimated the durability of my playmates, you see, and I thought it would be unfortunate if I ended up tearing you to pieces needlessly. I can see that was arrogant of me and so you have my apologies. As you said, I will now take this seriously."

As he spoke, the armor of his chest rippled, tiny waves of black crawling over the white armor as though someone had thrown a stone into a pond. Whatever it touched shifted and changed, edges smoothing and surfaces growing with each passing moment. He was preparing a trick of some kind and it was only the knowledge that it'd be easier to react from a distance that kept me from shooting something at him then and there. Instead, I gathered my returning power and focused it into the ground around both of us, preparing while I had the chance.

"This is my ability, you could say," Gilgamesh continued. "While I am not so fortunate as to have powers such as yourself, I was created with things that set me apart from my brethren and this is one of them. I'm sure by now you are familiar with my fellow's nature; to steal a phrase, that which does not kill us, makes us stronger."

"You learn and adapt," I replied. "Learning from your mistakes to exploit other's weaknesses. It's more than that, though; you change physically as you recover, growing to become more effective killers, whether that means changing size, shape, or whatever else."

"Just so," He agreed. "In that regard, I must concede somewhat to your earlier pointthat which does not learn, dies. Both of our species know that, for after all, it is only through learning that one can truly master the art of killing. You still have your schools, do you not? Where you train the young to fight and die? Alas, we don't have anything quite the same; our lessons tend to be learned in battle and over time. Not the most efficient way, but we develop differently from you and yours. Those who grow enough to truly understand have no need to learn; those who cannot learn have no hope of understanding. Such is our way."

I didn't answer him, watching him quietly. My MP was full again, my traps had been laid, and I took another moment to check on my allies. Adam and Raven were still doing well, but Gou had begun to suffer from the effects of the Brahmastra himself. Should I break off to heal him real quickly? I could fight Gilgamesh without my other, if it was only for a short time, and there was the effect on Autumn to consider. But

"However, as I said, I am different from my brothers and sisters," Gilgamesh interrupted, an edge to his tone. "There is a reason I was created with this form. I was not created through chance or natural processes; I am the result of Intelligent Design. And that, in turn, is my power."

His armor began to burst in random places, taking shape around him as he stepped towards me. His previous armor seemed to melt away, flowing into a different shape along with his body. His forearms and hands widened and lengthened into bulky columns, fingers replaced with jointed blades. His body grew a pure white covering, armored and yet streamlined with odd modifications to his legs. Even his mask shifted, leaving his face and head covered by a smooth, featureless helmet. It didn't look biological, like the Grimm tended to; if anything, it looked technological, akin to the power armor I'd spent quite some time imagining.

Something that had been created instead of grown.

In the next moment, Gilgamesh flickered, closing the gap between us in a meaningless fraction of a second and bringing a massive arm down with force enough to beat down mountains.