CHAPTER 25

Somehow, I can sense what’s going on my back. It feels as if I have an eye on the back of my head. At the same time, something stopped the knight’s blade from reaching me. Floating words?

DETAIL CHECK
Once, there was an effort to turn magic
into physical object. The objective was meant
to create an unlimited material for golems
out of magic. The project was a success.
However, only one bloodline may inherit
this ability. The bloodline was named
after the magic: Cubic Leash.

Not the lore! What can I do with this?

DETAIL CHECK
Check failed.

What did I expect…

The knight pulls their blades back. Then, they strike again. I set my intention to block them. Suddenly, the blades stop.

I turn around to see two floating cubes a bit smaller than my palm. Wherever I aim, the cubes fly to that spot. So I can control them with my mind! Sweet! Let’s see what else can I do with you two.

The knight swings their blades. The cubes hit their head, rattling it. This slowed the knight, and I take this chance to deliver a spiky and fiery fist to the face!

The knight is still alive. Whatever the blue armor was made of, it’s quite sturdy. Let’s try something else!

One of the cube is floating in front of me. I punch it to send it flying. It goes through the knight’s armor and body, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of its body. I put one cube into the hole so that the knight won’t regenerate.

“Nostrades! Nostreidon!” I scream. “Take their gauntlets! We have to fight our way out!”

Another knight comes to us. I only have one cube right now. I need to buy time for the Nostra brothers to get the gauntlets. If they don’t want to, then I’ll leave them here!

The knight tries to stab me but my cube is faster. The cube blocks one of the blade. One of my arms block another blade. With my free hand, I punch the knight right on the face! It’s not enough to kill them, but it’s enough to distract them as I hit his face with my cube.

The knight stops moving. Whoever it is, they fall down to the floor. I put one foot on top of the knight in case they revived back. They are Ambrousian after all.

Two knights come in. The knight underneath my heel is starting to move. This one is revived!

I punch my remaining cube to one of the new knights. One missed and one hit! I don’t know if it penetrates the head or not, but I have to focus on the knight under me. I stomp and stomp as fast as I can with my spiky and burning legs. The armor is too tough to break without my cubes!

The second new knight is swinging their blades. I was too focused on the knight under me to notice that. I can’t block on time!

Suddenly, two bladed gauntlets stab the knight from two different directions. It’s the Nostra brothers! They actually take the weapons to fight! Good for them! It seems that the knight’s weapons is good enough to destroy their own armors. One second. I have to stomp—done. The knight doesn’t move anymore.

I remove my first cube from the earlier knight. As the knight begins to revive, the Nostra brothers stab the knight. That’s another one done.

With my cubes, I smack two bladed gauntlets from the dead knights. Then, I take a blade and put it on the flat side of my metallic arm. I use the limited shapeshifting ability of my forearm to cling on the knight’s blade. Now, I have the knight’s blade attached to my metallic arm. I repeat the process on my other forearm. I just hope that my makeshift new weapons work without breaking apart.

Two more knights enter the house. You just want to be tested, huh?

I try to block the knight’s blade with my blade. That seems to work. Then, I use my other arm to stab the knight’s helmet. The orange blade pierces through the helmet smooth like butter.

The Nostra brothers are doing fine too against their knight. One of them block the knight’s blade while the other stabs the knight from the back. When both of our knights began to revive themselves, we end their existence.

We can win this. All we have to do is keep moving forward. I lead the way forward while the Nostra brothers watch over my back.

To get out, I need to climb stairs. Fortunately for me, that means that the new knights will have to climb down the same stairs. This is good for me because their bladed gauntlets can’t reach us without crouching. At the same time, I can hit their knees with my cubes.

One punched cube, and the knights fall like a shelf full of vases that refuse to break. No matter. My two unofficial party members end them while they’re on the ground.

Now there it is, the smoke bombs. I wear my harmonica gas mask to take on all the smokes away from the rest of my team. I have to move fast before going blind!

More knights are coming downstairs. Since they come after throwing the smoke bombs, that must mean that their masks can actually make them unaffected by the smokes. I need to tell the other two.

“Take their masks! It’s the only way you can survive the smokes!”

I use both of my cubes to push two of the knights up. This creates a chokehold where they cannot advance further without killing their comrades at the front.

“Done!”

Good they are wearing the masks. I can inhale less smokes now. Wait. I can just wear their mask too!

It is a bit uncomfortable to wear and there is no visor for me to see through. If anything, there’s a screen showing me everything I need to see and hear. It automatically filters the smoke out. The Ambrousian… they can program reality?

My cubes push the knights upstairs. The three of us use this chance to kill as many knights as we can while climbing upstairs. We kill the knights at the front, then double kill them, then I move my cubes to push other knights to block the rest. Rinse and repeat.

We are out of the underground cave! I can see the dusk almost settling in. The rest of the knights retreat. That means that even they cannot deal with the night without amnesia.

The three of us get back inside the underground house. I activate my solid steam all the way to the front door to protect us from anything that want to invade us. We survive today. There’s no telling what tomorrow will bring to us.