Arc 1 P7

Ambrosia slammed the staff to support herself. Her legs felt like jelly. The world was spinning. Hungry. She felt so hungry and thirsty. Her body burned. Her throat burned. Her hands… she couldn't feel her hands anymore.

"Sweetie, you can do it," The guy on the other side of her communicator tried cheering her on. However, Ambrosia barely heard him now. All her remaining strength was focused on the towering man before her.

"Finally, a worthy opponent has arrived," She smiled. Her mouth tasted weird. Like medicine.

She's using the staff as a support. She could barely move now.

"Ambrosia…" Leroy stepped in front of her.

"Nuh-uh. Leroy shouldn't… cough… take the spotlight…"

"You've done enough."

"I don't think… so… hurk—" She lurched forward and hurled reddish-black fluid. Blood of the tainted.

Shiska supported her. "You're overdoing it. How will you sing for us if you're sick? Today's Tuesday, remember? Vegan Tuesday."

"Ah… yes… vegan… let's finish up early then…"

Shiska hailed her operator. "Hey, operator. This is an emergency, right? I mean, nobody's gonna save us, right? We're on our own, right?"

Leroy pulled out the weapon slung behind him, undoing the bandages in the process. The black blade wrapped underneath shone as he swung it once.

Channeling all her resentment she chomped down hard on her hand, enough to taste her own flesh. Once she taste the iron of her blood, Shiska clenched her fist.

Leroy then took her bleeding hand and drank the blood and saliva pooling at her palm. The black blade on his hand vibrated, recognizing the new blood mixed in his veins.

"We're ready," he said.

Just then, Shiska lost balance and plopped down with Ambrosia in her embrace.

"Shiska…"

"Sit down and let us get some action," She turned to the communicator. "Hey, that corrupted was kind enough to wait out all our pizzazz. Mind telling us why?"

There's a lot of white noise. The dumb students must be freaking out. "O-Oh, right! According to the data the corrupted seemed to be guarding the top floor. I'm detecting a strange frequency above."

Shiska scoffed. "Dimwit. Tell us more about that later if we're still alive. What we need now is information. The relic, operator, sheesh…"

"The relic… yes. It's a mass-produced sword capable of sending out shockwaves. While the air itself isn't damaging, the landing could potentially be fatal."

"It's not moving," Leroy said. "Shiska, take the chance and drag you and Ambrosia away from here."

"I… I can still..!"

In a desperate attempt, Ambrosia pointed the staff at the corrupted and focused hard. Something warm trickled from his eyes, nose, and mouth but she didn't care. Imagine a ball forming on the space you designate, then release. Those were the instructions to use this staff.

"Hah!" With a shout, she released the ball she visualized and the space around the giant distorted.

In that moment, time seemed to slow down. As if the almost instantaneous effect of the staff was slowed, the giant swung his buster sword and the space distortion shattered, its invisible shards shooting all over the floor.

Leroy's instinct were sharper. He immediately moved in front of the two and made a big vertical slash. As if cutting reality itself, the shards disintegrated and nothing hit them.

Ambrosia's eyes lit up. She always found it cool whenever Leroy wielded that sword. "Wahr, black blade of the Ender," she muttered the relic's name with admiration like the day she first saw it cut reality.

With that exchange, the corrupted seemed to take them seriously now. It now assumed a defensive stance.

"Not too shabby for a mass produced relic," Leroy said.

"It's not gonna let us off the hook through flattery, you know?"

"I know," he tried circling around the corrupted. As expected, the giant left no gaps for them to slip past. He truly was guarding the access point to the top.

Due to the destruction spree of Ambrosia earlier, most of the floor turned into a pile of rubble. Leroy scanned the area for possible routes of escape. None. There's no emergency stairs here. New safety standards made stairs and exits obsolete. He didn't know how they did it during that time, but it seemed to work until the tainted grew in numbers to brute force their defenses.

He blamed himself for letting his guard down. He never intended to let the young girl solo the mission. The relic on her hands was simply too powerful he doubt Wahr could put up a fight if someone attuned to the relic actually used it and not a random girl they picked up on the defense camp.

"Might as well try a few jabs."

Without taking position, he suddenly kicked up and lunged to the corrupted, sword ready to stab.

"Fast!"

Despite using a heavy weapon, the giant managed to use the shockwave to repel him. He tumbled back and landed on his feet.

As the operator said, the shockwaves were merely gusts of wind unlike the targeted space-crush of Ambrosia's staff. She also said it's mass-produced, meaning it's ability must be simple and straightforward so parts engineering wouldn't be costly. It also meant that issuance and training of personnel would be easier. They couldn't simply toss Wahr into them and say it cuts reality. Leroy hadn't faced anybody who understood what Wahr truly did.

He dashed again, this time zigzagging randomly. The giant didn't react. Once he's about to step into striking range, the buster sword was already there to meet him. He twisted his body and evaded the slash by a hair's breadth. Clenching the sword, he slashed awkwardly. Inflicting damage wasn't his plan but landing a hit was. Unfortunately, the shockwave was faster. He flew back again.

"Hey," he said through the communicator. "This thing can't fight."

"Um, you haven't inflicted any damage into it either so…"

"You don't understand, operator. This thing isn't meant for battles. It can camouflage itself, but rather than jump on us, it stayed guarding the door standing like an idiot. Next is the shockwave. You can't kill anyone with decent training. Heck, even Ambrosia could take this thing down if she's in top shape."

To prove his point, he attacked again. This time, he simply focused on slipping past. However, a steel-grip grabbed his leg and threw his away. Obviously, he still landed perfectly.

"It's true," Shiska said, amazed. She never knew the tainted could be this disciplined despite losing their sense of judgement.

"In other words," He raised his sword, pointed it to the corrupted and then up. "There's something up there that the humans want."