139 Turning the Tide (1/2)

Korga snapped, “I told you we didn’t bring an army.”

Yawm raised his eyebrows, “Really? Then whose army is it...We’ll discover soon.”

The conduit links built up in the back of my head. Countless links to people I didn’t know came up. A message appeared in my status.

Torix Worm, of Darkhill(Time: Undefined) - We’ve arrived. Don’t let Yawm stop us.

I turned towards Yawm and shouted, “Can you bring the eldritch here?”

Yawm nodded, “For what purpose? As Fodder perchance?”

I shook my head, “I can use them-”

A bullet punctured my neck again. With skipping a beat, I covered the wound with my armor, letting me speak again “For mana. I...It will help us.”

Korga tapped the edge of his helmet. He mouthed words, but no sound came out. He pointed at me. Brim turned towards me, running over towards Frode. Before they rallied further, I charged my runes and exploded from the ground. Yawm dashed towards Elessah. She dodged with grace before Korga met Yawm’s charge.

I couldn’t watch any more. Frode stood up, his limbs regenerated. I wooshed right past Brim, reaching the architect first. I grabbed the enigmata and launched us into a metal telephone pole. The rod bent, uprooting from the sidewalk.

Our momentum dragged us further, bashing us against a concrete wall of a gigantic bank. Along the all of the high rise, a granite panel crumbled from our impact. As the pieces of stone fell, they exposed a bent steel girder.

I grinned, Frode’s head smashed into the metal. I reared back a fist, getting my first punch off of the damn fight. A telekinetic bolt slapped into Frode’s helmet, cracking the glass. His helmet whipped around like a bobblehead toy during an earthquake.

With a savage intent, I reared my fist back hit him over and over. The cracks spread across his face until the helmet broke. A face appeared as the foggy water rushed out of the helmet.

The enigmatta looked like an anglerfish, long teeth sticking out of a jutting bottom jaw. Large, black pupils stared back at me. I lifted my fist for the finishing blow, but a chain wrapped around my arm. Frode raised his hand, placing a circular piece of metal on me.

Lightning consumed me, its teeth jolting through my nerves. I fried, stiffening like a board. I fell off the bent girder. As I landed onto the sidewalk, Frode leapt away. Once again, my body failed me. I learned from this fight however. Even if my body didn’t respond, my armor still did.

I created curved spines and pierced the taser thing that fucker put on me. I tore it apart with spines of my armor. Even with my body immobilized, I controlled my armor over my skin. Like a puppet, I lifted my limp body and moved towards Frode. I shambled like a zombie.

Frode squelched out his choking voice, “It won’t stop. I can’t kill it.”

A few seconds later, and the electricity ceased. I fell onto my feet. As I bent over, I dashed towards him again, my pursuit relentless. Behind Frode, Brim came towards me. Yawm and Korga faced one another.

Yawm’s entire body was a moving wound. Three bullet holes stuck through his chest. Deep trenches of exposed flesh showed all across his bark skin. His glowing green blood drenched the ground below him.

And yet, he still seemed invincible.

He stood tall, his height dwarfing those around him. He heaved for breath, exhausted yet unafraid. Elessah floated behind Korga. The assassin paced behind Yawm, a deep fear over her face. They all looked puny compared to him. Even in this kind of state, Yawm was invincible. Here on a battlefield, he was whole.

Here, he was home.

Yawm chuckled at his wounds, the ground crackling beside him, “I’ve already stolen two of your revivals. How many more lives will Schema give you?”

Fear clouded the eyes of the Breakers. They circled him, looking for some kind of opening. They found none.

Yawm spread out his arms, “Your minds are your weakness. You lack resolve. Faced with a true death, you falter. You fail. You fall.”

Yawm raised his hand, absolute confidence radiating from him, “I am the slayer of armies. I am the eater of worlds. I am the defier of false idols. You all worship a robot who believes himself a god.”

Yawm clasped his hand into a fist,

“I am no sheep. I worship no one, and no one is worth my worship.”

Brim interrupted Yawm’s words. He sprinted in front of Frode, protecting him. The thirty second lull in combat nearly healed my entire health. My chest healed. My stamina filled. Thank god for Yawm’s charisma. His presences affected even the Breakers.

This kind of back and forth, it was my strength. Taking breaks would be their downfall. However, Yawm lost blood with every passing second. If he fell, I was next. Korga took a step towards Yawm, his footing less bold than before. Yawm clasped his massive hands into fists,

“Be ready, Korga. You won’t survive my next strike. Unlike before, Schema’s little perks won’t get you back up.”

Yawm swatted his hand, deflecting a passing bullet. As he did, Korga and the assassin charged him. I detonated my runes, dashing towards Frode and Brim. Frode threw a vial towards me, Brim slapping a chain arm towards it. Before it made contact, I swatted the vail with a wave of gravity.

Frode pointed at me, “Affirmative. I verified it Brim. It has gravity magic.”

I got within ten feet of them, stomping the ground. With a wave of telekinesis, I sent the force of my stomp into the chin of Frode. His fishy head whipped up, blood shooting out of his mouth. Brim whipped his chain towards me. I grabbed it. From between the links of the chains, a vial of liquid emerged.

The other vial was a distraction.

A sniper’s bullet drilled through my back and came out my chest, detonating the vial. A discharge of green dust went over me. I covered my eyes, ears, and mouth with my armor just in time.

Acid sizzled on my skin. Three more vials lodged into the bullet wound on my chest. Another bullet pierced through my back, blowing up the black mana jars. Eldritch seeped deep into my wound.

It was eldritch energy. I uncovered my mouth, laughing a bit as I absorbed it. Brim grunted,

“It isn’t the armor Frode. His flesh eats the eldritch...What in the hell did Yawm do to him?”

I roared, “He did nothing. I did this to me, to live through hells like this.”

I put up an act, but their combination attack hurt me. My health dwindled again already, reaching 30%. I stumbled a bit, and Brim rushed me. I shot out a stiff jab at him, but he deflected my strike and struck my stomach. I belched blood, his fist heavier than a ball of iron.

He was weaker and smaller than before, however. Having his arms taken and his arcane blade stripped from him made him easier to beat. I ignored the damage he dealt, spinning on my heels. I struck his side with a left hook, whipping another strike right after into the lower part of his head.

Considering it was all mirrors, it was the closest thing to a jaw he had.

Brim’s face wobbled, but he overcame the pain and countered. He struck my head with a bludgeoning right. His fist dislodged three of my molars. I grit the rest of my teeth and hit him with a right uppercut into the gut.

He covered his stomach with his arms, his mirror face sticking out. I shot out two slicing hooks into his head. He stumbled backwards, but I reached out a hand towards him. A tendril of armor wrapped around his neck, jerking him back towards me. I detonated my runes, leaping up with a flying knee.

The mirrors across his face shattered, my knee caving them in. As Brim flew backwards, Frode tossed a vibrant, violet colored wire at my neck. It landed, wrapping around me. The wire sunk into my neck, tightening around me.

Behind Frode, Yawm was carnage. More blood than bark, he withstood the technique of Korga, pushing him back. Korga blocked with his left arm, the bone snapping. The sniper redirected its aim, a bullet firing through the chest of Yawm. Yawm ignored it, throwing another heavy blow at Korga.

Korga’s other arm broke. Yawm raised his fists slamming them down onto Korga. Korga blocked with both his arms, a blue energy shield materializing above him. A panel of green energy formed beneath Korga as Yawm’s fist landed. The shield acted as a block of metal, preventing Korga from dispersing the impact of the strikes.

Instead, Korga absorbed the kinetic force of Yawm’s blow, but both of his shin’s snapped. Yawm raised his fists again. Another crushing blow hit Korga’s blue shield. Korga’s spine crunched, his body deforming sideways. Yawm roared, his final blow coming down. I rasped out as the wire tightened around my neck,

“Look behind you.”

A dagger stabbed into the back of Yawm’s neck, piercing out of his throat. It left a tar substance on him, the black invading his body. Yawm swiped his arm backwards, but the assassin ducked, cutting at Yawm’s heels. The red blade sliced through the tendons at his feet. Yawm fell down onto Korga, a bloody mess.

Yawm wrapped his hands around Korga’s neck. A pillar of yellow light appeared over them both, but Yawm roared in defiance,

“And so you fall.”

Yawm crushed the revenant's neck before his stamina was drained. The assassin dashed in, slicing towards Yawm’s neck. Yawm swiped his arm, back handing her side. His hand was the size of her hip. The revenant assassin’s back broke. She flew backwards, slamming into a jeep several blocks away.

Yawm continued his chokehold. Before the yellow light drained all of Yawm’s stamina, he snapped Korga’s neck like a twig. With vicious intensity, Yawm gripped further, squishing the boned and meat between his fingers. Korga’s head rolled away from his body, decapitated by blunt force.