161: Death Sentence, Part Four

Death Sentence, Part Four

After casting that {Fireball}, the first thing Neve did was mark herself and then Thomas. 

Once that was out of the way, the battle began. 

Thomas became invisible up ahead. 

[Into The Shadows? This early? Does he want to try to end this in one quick hit?] 

Neve was going to dodge to the right, having to guess Thomas's position. However, Erin's presence meant that she did not need to do that. The lamia dashed behind Neve. Her claws collided with something metallic before Thomas appeared a moment later, backing away. 

Immediately, Neve cast {Healing Beacon} on Erin. 

MP: 990/1050

She did this so that she wouldn't have to heal Erin actively. Instead, she could put all of her focus on the thing she mainly wanted to do for now. Observe. 

She did not see Thomas as a human being. She saw him as just another monster. Thus, the best way to approach this battle was to treat it the same way she would one of those mindless beasts. 

[Patterns, movesets, tendencies... What are you going to show me?] 

Thomas tried to strike Neve again. This time, however, he did not become invisible. Instead, he blinked out of existence and reappeared above her. 

He must have believed that Neve wouldn't be able to dodge an attack from above so quickly, but while he certainly was faster than her, Neve's 38 Speed did prove to be enough for this. 

She stepped back, firing off 4 casts of {Iceball} at the same time. 

MP: 950/1050

One of them landed, as Thomas had been too surprised by Neve's dodge to react in time. All the other casts missed, though. 

Erin got between them again, and Thomas moved away. 

This time, he spun and launched five magical knives in Neve's direction. 

MP: 175/200

Unable to deflect each of the projectiles in time, Erin shielded Neve with her body, tanking all of the spectral daggers. 

They disappeared after embedding themselves in her back, and {Healing Beacon} soon made it look like she'd never been hit, to begin with. 

Not only thanks to the Angel Set, currently buffing all healing and shielding by 100%, but also thanks to one of the gifts. 

Healer's Mercy

{Accessory - Necklace} 

{Uncommon}

{Increases healing and shielding by 10%}

{Val: 750 WST}

For a few seconds, both parties stood before each other in the rain, taking in what they'd seen. 

It looked like Thomas quickly understood that, in order to get to Neve, he'd have to get through Erin first. 

Accepting this, Thomas changed targets. 

[Hmph. If he's doing that, then I can get away with this now.] 

As the two warriors collided up ahead, Neve brought out her Priestess Dagger. 

Raising it up, she brought it down and stabbed herself in the stomach. 

Maybe it was thanks to the new traits she'd received upon activating the Hollow Soul, or maybe she'd just been through so many awful things that she didn't care, but she barely felt any pain upon doing so. 

Then, she cast {Rorvan's Spirit} to boost her mana regeneration. 

MP: 900/1050 (60% regen)

{Rorvan's Spirit} was currently only providing 50%, though. The other 10% was thanks to yet another gift. 

Ring of the Prolific Mage

{Accessory - Ring} 

{Uncommon}

{Increases mana regen by 10%} 

Val: 500 WST}

Already, Neve was getting a lot of use out of these items she'd been donated. The question, however, was: 

[What has he been given? I doubt he's using anything special right now. He's just trying to see how much effort it'll take to-] 

Suddenly, a clone of Thomas appeared. 

[What!?] 

MP: 125/200

The clone, as indicated by its magical aura, ran up to Erin's side and tried to cut through her midsection. 

Erin, although shocked, managed to almost react in time, saving herself from the full swing, but ending up with a mean-looking gash. 

A gash that {Healing Beacon} should have removed quickly. 

However, as a few seconds passed and the wound was not cured, Neve's brows pulled together. 

A couple of casts of {Great Healing Dart}, as Erin deflected the two enemies' strikes, confirmed her suspicions. 

[Anti-healing,] she understood. [Hm. That spell he used earlier was definitely healed away, though. This must be a passive effect from those daggers he's using. Okay, annoying, but now I know.] 

Thankfully,  even if Neve couldn't heal any wounds those knives caused, she could do something else. 

[Timing... Timing...] 

Erin defended herself as best as she could, but two quick, agile enemies proved to be too much for her. 

Thomas, the original, blinked behind her and ran up, looking to stab her in the back while his clone kept the lamia busy. 

Just before his knife touched her body, though, Neve cast one of the new spells she'd received. 

Flash Shielding - 25 MP

{Spell} 

{Common}

{Class Req: Priestess}  2

{Create a shield for 1.5 seconds. Shield strength scales with Healing Magic} 

MP: 875/1050

Neve had no idea how much Strength or Precision Thomas had, but with this spell scaling off Neve's Healing Magic, and the two aforementioned shield buffing items, the daggers he tried to thrust inside of Erin bounced right off of a blue barrier. 

He did a double-take, looking back and forth between Erin and Neve. Then, as his clone kept Erin busy, he went after Neve. 

Neve took a step back calmly. Her patience remained the same as Thomas made his way to her. 

He used that same spell from before, spinning and launching 5 daggers aimed at Neve's chest.

MP: 100/200

The instant he started the spell, though, Neve was already ducking under them. 

His image disappeared. Neve didn't need to see her opponent to know what he was probably doing, though, so she took a guess and rolled forward, just barely managing to avoid a stab in the back. 

[... I'm doing good, but if I keep trying to rely on dodging attacks from someone who's faster than me, I'm bound to fuck up at some point. I may as well just spend the mana and do this.] 

Neve cast two spells in quick succession. 

Field of Brilliance, right in the middle of the intersection, and then she re-summoned Erin in front of her. 

MP: 525/1050 (+65% regen)

[I'm going to spend a lot of mana now, but with this much regen I should have time to get a lot of it back. Fuck it. I'll deal with whatever happens.] 

Neve then cast every single buff-type spell in her arsenal. The ones she already had and the ones she received from gifts. 

Those being, Sacred Ground under Erin, Hard Target on Erin, and these two: 

Encourage - 25 MP

{Spell}

{Common}

{Class Req: Priestess} 

{Increase the damage of allies recently affected by healing or shielding by 5%}

Bolstering Presence - 25 MP

{Spell}

{Common}

{Class Req: Priestess} 

{Boost one ally's Speed and Precision by 3 for 1 minute} 

Casting all of these spells brought her mana down to 350. 

[Even though those values aren't exactly high, my staff's passive along with Field of Brilliance should make those spells pretty damn strong. Plus, having Sacred Ground and Hard Target on Erin should be enough to let me rest a little.] 

Just to make sure this was worth her time, Neve checked her mana regen once more. 

MP: 360/1050 (+65% regen)

[It went up?] 

Seeing that, Neve looked down at herself. 

The Angel Set was soaked in red. 

[Oh, right. I'm bleeding. I forgot. I barely even feel it.] 

With all of these buffs on her, Erin was able to take both Thomas and his clone on at the same time. 

Thomas tried to move past her. He tried to lunge at Neve but was cut off by a slam from Erin's tail that sent him rolling back, sliding along the wet road. 

He picked himself back up and tried to blink to Neve's position as he'd done before, but Erin pushed his clone away and grabbed his daggers in midair. 

Erin headbutted him. Three streaks of red fell to the ground as Thomas was pushed away. One from Thomas's broken nose and two from Erin's hands, as they'd been partially cut just now. 

Once again, the two parties ended up standing a fair distance away from each other. Neve and Erin, Thomas and his clone, all of them sizing each other up. 

Thomas smiled. 

"You've really-"

"You don't care much about what he has to say, right?" 

"Nope." 

Erin instantly activated {The Lamia's Hunt} and ran up to him, mid-speech. 

The assassin reacted quickly enough to avoid getting his head lopped off by her claws, but his clone did not. 

Erin stood before the clone and put her palms together, opening them up so that she could use {Dragon's Divine Breath}. 

The clone was reduced to ashes by the draconic flames that poured out. Thomas was left alone, then. 

Quickly, Thomas summoned the clone again, taking his MP down to just 50. 

[Things are going well,] Neve thought. [A little too well... He's got more to show, doesn't he?] 

Once again, both parties ended up standing opposite each other in the intersection, as the storm currently raging on got even worse. 

"Admittedly, I did not want to do this," Thomas uttered. 

Erin ran forward, intending to cut him off again. 

The clone stopped her, however, blocking her way by wrapping its arms around her, ignoring the way her claws immediately broke into its chest. 

"Tamira," he whispered. "I accept your terms." 

And, the man plunged both daggers into his body, just as Neve had done earlier. 

pqdm.com