Smelly Old Man vs. Raven Boss

The boss fight.

(Please stop calling it that.)

What else am I supposed to call the mysterious hooded guy who showed up right after all his disposable henchmen got flattened?

(A problem.)

Fair.

Across the ruined street, Zaw and the Raven leader stared at each other while lightning crawled across the old man's arms.

The hooded man remained perfectly still until his fingers moved.

SHNK!

The sword he'd thrown earlier ripped itself free from the dirt road and flew back toward him.

I blinked.

"...What?"

Instead of returning to his hand, the weapon stopped beside his shoulder. The Raven raised two fingers, and the sword began bending.

Steel twisted like wet clay, stretching apart before splitting into several thin strips that floated around him.

My eyes widened.

Metal?

(Looks like it.)

I glanced from the floating steel to the lightning crawling around Zaw's arms.

Is this guy an idiot?

(What?)

He's using metal against lightning.

There was a brief silence.

(Oh.)

Exactly.

Maybe this boss fight wasn't going to be particularly difficult after all.

The Raven flicked his wrist.

Loose nails tore themselves from ruined stalls, bent weapons lifted from the street, and damaged armor peeled away from his unconscious subordinates. Chains, spearheads, iron brackets—anything metallic nearby rose into the air until a storm of steel surrounded him.

Zaw watched it gather.

"So that's your Core."

The Raven tilted his head. "Disappointed?"

"A little."

SEE?

Even Zaw knew.

The Raven raised one hand, and every piece of floating metal turned toward him.

"Let's fix that."

His fingers snapped shut.

SHNK! SHNK! SHNK!

The entire cloud launched.

Zaw didn't move. Lightning gathered around his palm before exploding across the street in one enormous bolt.

KRAAAAAK!

White-blue light swallowed the incoming metal and continued straight toward the Raven.

Yep. Fight over.

The Raven moved both hands.

Every loose piece of steel slammed together in front of him. Swords flattened, armor folded, and broken weapons fused into one enormous shield while several thick metal spikes extended underneath it and drove deep into the road.

Then Zaw's lightning struck.

KRAKAAAAA!

The street disappeared behind white-blue light.

I threw an arm across my eyes until the brightness faded and smoke began drifting away.

The Raven was still standing.

"...What?"

His shield glowed faintly from the heat, but the man behind it looked completely fine. Thin trails of electricity crawled down the metal spikes and disappeared into the earth.

I stared at them until it finally clicked.

He grounded it.

(Exactly.)

The bastard hadn't actually blocked Zaw's lightning. He'd simply given the electricity somewhere else to go.

Straight into the ground.

Those spikes had formed before Zaw's attack even reached him, which meant he hadn't improvised the defense either.

He knew Zaw used lightning.

Suddenly, bringing metal into the fight didn't seem nearly as stupid.

The Raven lowered his shield.

"Something wrong?"

Zaw gave him a tired look. "No."

Lightning intensified around his body.

"Just checking something."

Then he vanished.

CRACK!

The stone beneath his feet shattered as a streak of blue-white light tore across the street.

I couldn't follow him.

Somehow, the Raven could.

His head snapped toward empty space a fraction of a second before Zaw appeared with lightning wrapped around his fist.

BOOM!

A metal plate whipped between them just in time. Electricity exploded across its surface and raced into another spike driven into the earth while the Raven slid backward several feet.

Zaw disappeared again.

CRACK!

The Raven turned before he reappeared.

CLANG!

Another shield intercepted him.

Zaw immediately changed direction and attacked from behind, only for a second plate to swing around and catch the strike.

BOOM!

I leaned forward.

"What?"

Zaw was moving so fast that I could barely see anything except flashes of blue-white light, yet the Raven kept reacting just before every attack reached him.

He wasn't keeping up with Zaw's speed.

He was somehow figuring out where Zaw would appear.

How?

(I don't know.)

That answer bothered me more than I would've liked.

Zaw flashed left, changed direction halfway through the movement, then attacked from the opposite side.

The Raven's eyes snapped toward him.

CLANG!

Metal barely reached the attack in time. The plate bent inward and the Raven staggered, but he'd still blocked it.

He's actually following him.

(Looks that way.)

Before I could figure out how, the Raven twisted one hand and reshaped the edge of his shield into a blade.

SHNK!

Zaw pulled back.

A thin red line appeared across his cheek.

My stomach dropped.

"Zaw got hit."

Beside me, Amachi tightened his grip on my sleeve.

"...Yeah."

It was the first time I'd seen anyone touch the old man since the attack started.

The Raven lowered his hand.

"You've slowed down."

Zaw wiped the blood from his cheek. "Have I?"

"Retirement, perhaps."

Oh, screw you.

Zaw's expression flattened.

Lightning flashed again.

He attacked from one side, immediately switched to another, then came from above. Metal intercepted each strike, though the Raven was barely keeping pace now.

"What the hell is this guy?"

He wasn't remotely as fast as Zaw, but his eyes kept finding him.

There had to be something I was missing.

The Raven suddenly spread his fingers, reshaping several pieces of floating metal into long spears.

SHNK!

Three shot forward.

Zaw dodged the first and shattered the second with his forearm, but the third sliced across his shoulder and left a line of blood across his shirt.

My chest tightened.

The Raven wasn't overpowering him. At least, I didn't think he was. But Zaw's long-range lightning kept getting grounded, and every time he closed the distance, the Raven somehow knew where he was coming from.

For the first time since the fight started, an unpleasant thought entered my head.

Can Zaw actually lose?

My other self didn't answer.

That made it considerably worse.

Hey.

Nothing.

HEY.

(Watch.)

Watch what?!

Across the street, Zaw rolled his injured shoulder while the Raven's metal circled around him.

"You seem confident," Zaw said.

"I came prepared."

"Yeah."

Zaw glanced toward the metal spikes buried throughout the road.

"I noticed."

The Raven raised one hand. "Your lightning won't work on me."

Zaw stared at him for a moment.

Then he laughed.

It wasn't loud, just one tired little chuckle.

"That's what you think?"

Lightning began crawling around his body again, spreading across his shoulders, arms, and legs exactly as it had before.

I frowned.

Seriously?

The Raven immediately pulled his metal together. Plates folded over one another into a heavy shield while thick spikes drove into the earth beneath it.

The same defense.

He was waiting for the same attack.

He's doing it again.

(Looks like it.)

Why?

The Raven had already stopped that approach multiple times, and judging by the smile beneath his hood, he knew it too.

Zaw lowered his stance.

KRAAAAAK!

Lightning exploded around him and cracked the street beneath his feet.

Then he moved.

BOOM!

Blue-white light tore across the road.

The Raven's eyes followed him immediately as more layers of metal folded into the shield and the grounding spikes dug deeper.

Zaw closed the distance.

Lightning covered his entire body as his arm pulled back.

The Raven braced himself.

This isn't going to work!

Zaw punched.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The shield exploded.

Chunks of twisted metal blasted in every direction as Zaw's fist tore straight through the center.

CRACK!

The punch slammed into the Raven's face and launched him backward. He bounced across the road before crashing through the remains of a wooden cart.

For a moment, I could only stare.

Something about that hit had been wrong.

There had been lightning everywhere while Zaw charged, but the instant his fist struck the shield, I hadn't seen any electricity running across the metal.

Nothing had gone into the grounding spikes.

My eyes moved toward Zaw's hand.

Dense blue Orka covered his fist.

No sparks.

Just Orka.

Oh.

(There it is.)

"That wasn't a lightning punch."

Amachi looked at me.

"What?"

"That wasn't a lightning punch!"

It finally made sense.

Every time Zaw had attacked up close before, he'd used lightning. The Raven had learned the pattern, so when Zaw charged again covered in the exact same electricity, he'd prepared the exact same grounded defense.

Except the lightning had only been there to move Zaw.

The actual punch had been pure concentrated Orka.

The spikes could redirect electricity into the ground all they wanted.

They couldn't redirect Zaw's fist.

"He tricked him."

Amachi looked toward the ruined shield.

"...Oh."

"Yeah."

And worse, I'd fallen for it too.

The remains of the cart shifted as the Raven slowly pushed himself upright. Part of his hood had been torn away, and blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

"You..."

Zaw shook a few pieces of metal from his hand.

"What?"

"The lightning..."

Zaw glanced toward the sparks still crawling around his legs.

"What about it?"

"You only used it to move."

"That time? Yeah."

The Raven's eyes dropped toward Zaw's Orka-covered fist.

"You made me expect the same attack."

Zaw shrugged. "You kept blocking it the same way."

I stared at him.

So did the Raven.

Zaw cracked his knuckles.

"Lightning's useful."

Orka gathered around both fists.

"But I've had these longer."

Okay.

Maybe worrying about the old man losing had been slightly premature.

(Slightly?)

Shut up.

Across the ruined street, the Raven leader slowly stood as the floating metal around him began trembling again.

He wasn't smiling anymore.

Zaw lowered himself into a fighting stance, lightning sparking around his legs while both fists remained wrapped in Orka.

For the first time since arriving, the Raven didn't look completely confident.

Zaw smiled.

"Round two?"