43 Chapter Forty-Three – Ah, Little Raven King… (1/2)

Packing up actually didn't take all that long.

I did, after all, have a good toolset with me, and it was enough for me to make to make some Compression stuff, and my Floating Forge could support about ten tons, easily able to support everything.

Interlinking, cog-connected cabinets folded up, thinned, shrank down, linking to form a sort of barrel around the edges of my Forge. In went the ingots I'd smelted down, and with the disk and its barrel on it, I Saluted the Morning, and headed on out of there.

Of course, Noir Rabe wasn't going to leave it at that. He was waiting down close to the outflow area, his wooden sword out and in hand.

”Ah, couldn't resist, could you, Erlking Noir Rabe?” I asked, seeing him standing there.

”Your Song was a potent thing, but if I were to allow mere words from a human girl to vanquish me, what sort of king would I be?” he asked coolly, his confidence somehow restored.

I pushed my Forge away. His army was a respectful distance away, watching with great interest, and probably not believing I had anything resembling a chance against him.

”Ah, yes, humans are your favorite opponents, and you are a master at killing them. We are what we call a Favored Enemy to you, one that you are better at fighting then any other.” His eyes narrowed slightly.

”It does not deter you, I see.”

”Of course not, Erlking. Favored Enemy bonuses are morale bonuses. Morale bonuses are easy to remove. You just have to frighten the person bearing them, and they evaporate with the loss of confidence.

”Would it surprise you to know that I will no problem whatsoever intimidating you?” I asked archly.

He looked me up and down warily. I was giving off some very nasty vibes right now as his Sword came up. ”Being afraid of a child seems unlikely,” he said loftily.

”Mmm. Then there's the fact you consider yourself a swordsman, but you use an inferior Sword that's relatively easy to hack apart. On top of that, you're a Sword Specialist, but you're not a Melee. Counter Mastery easily negates all your Sword skill as I ply mine directly against yours.”

And I put my foot down.

He flinched as something swept past him. He looked all around sharply, wondering what had happened.

”You've probably never considered that you violate every law of aerodynamics with those piffling wings of yours. You can't fly right now.” He tensed despite himself, his wings snapping out and beating at the air. He bounced a few inches off the ground, but otherwise didn't move, when he should have been shooting into the sky.

I definitely saw his lips pale.

”Dimensions are locked down. You can't Summon, you can't dimension hop, and your little personal temporal acceleration field isn't working.” I flicked a stone up to my hand, dropped it back down. I saw his lips move as it fell at normal speed, not the slow speed he'd see if his natural Quicken field was still active. Living life 50% faster naturally meant nothing to nigh-immortal fey.

”On my first strike, I'm going to use a Hawk's Strike, mixed with Pierce Magical Defenses. The magic on your wooden armor is going to go away. If you don't evade with everything, you're going to die, and my Sword is Blooded, your fast healing isn't going to heal the wounds until tomorrow morning.”

I straightened up and stared into his dark eyes. ”But the most important thing is that you are a Fey, and Fey suck at fighting. Compared to Soulborn, pre-incarnate species are pathetic experientialists, with no hard-wiring for combat. You stand at the apex of the Fey, and your counterparts among Angels, Devils, and Demons would hand you your ass. To put it bluntly, for the great powers that can hit Twenty, Fey are the weakest of the whole lot.”

And I drew Tremble as he tried to muster outrage in his eyes.

Tha-thump. Thump thump. Tha-thump, thump thump...

”Tremble, She comes…” we sang together, and Tremble lit up with an awful light to his eyes, the hue of Fey blood. His blood. ”Came the crows, black on wing…”

Greater Spiritbound. Bane to Fey. Enmity to Samsaran. Courageous. Blooding. And just for him, Bane of Legends, since he was one of the great powers of the Fey.