Wish upon the Stars chapter 401

It was a testament to how distracted I was by the attackers that I  didn't notice Jessie vanishing. Luckily, no amount of distraction was  enough to make me miss the giant fuck off BEAR exploding from the snow  at one of the hidden attackers. Apparently Jessie had noticed them and  used her Shape of the Wild Skill to attack the closest one head on with  all the animal fury of her big fuzzy companion. Or would that be animal  furry?

Either way, the ambusher wasn't expecting that shit  at all, nor was the one to his left expecting my girlfriend to step  from the darkness cast by his shadow and jam a black bladed dagger into  the base of his spine (enough to paralyze him but not beyond Jessie's  ability to fix). Sadly, expecting it wasn't necessary when you were  wearing armor, and the dagger skidded off the thin breastplate with a  shower of sparks.

Callie's outline blurred as she  activated her armor and then vanished in a blur of motion as six clones  of hers took off int six separate directions, her victim freezing as he  became spoiled for choice. My cousin had faded out of existence, I'd  seen her flip her hood up and somehow render herself invisible rather  than just concealing her face. I had no clue where she got that, but it  was pretty cool.

My own staff came free with a swish,  toxic flame crawling down it as I imbued it with my standard skill  combo. I could feel the death energy humming inside it, but I could also  feel it was nowhere near full. I had no interesting in burning my  strongest shot early, so I'd charge it up more before I dropped the  hammer, so to speak.

Valk had backed intercepted a trio of  fighters alongside Perit, and seeing those two actually fight in  conjunction was kind of terrifying. And finally Celine and Benny were  backup up Mel, the three of them fighting a pair of big fighters who  looked like brothers, leaving me with two fighters of my own to handle.  We'd gotten the drop on them mostly, I was glad to see. Jessie had  initiated and the other revealed themselves through sheer surprise.

The  two I needed to fight were distracted, not having focused on me yet as  they reacted to the mass attack. I triggered double trouble, bringing my  Stygian branch up and around in a whirling smash aimed at the taller of  the two's head.

Rather than block, which I could have  phased through with my weapon, the tall man dropped boneless, the staff  flying over his head as he hit his hands in pushup position, then kicked  up his long legs in a whirling attack aimed at my neck.

With  State of Grace still active, it was easy to slide aside, triggering  Moonlit Night in the surrounding area. The fog filled the space around  us, completely translucent to me, but more than enough to obstruct their  view as I took them both in for weaknesses.

The tall one  I'd attacked was a pale man with long crooked teeth and stringy hair.  The other one, who was circling around us, was a pretty dark skinned  girl with long wavy hair and big hazel eyes. She ALSO had a really  disturbing smile on her face, and her fingers appeared to be literal  knives, at least at the moment.

She  dove in for an attack, and I whirled my staff into position, grinning  internally as her claws sparked off one of the metal endcaps and I felt  the thrum of life force entering the storm of converted power inside the  staff. It was almost unnoticeable, but I'd realized over time that the  staff had been slowly adapting to me as I used it.

The  weight had been lessening, my grip seeming more sure, and the power  seemed more in tune with me the more I worked with the item. It was a  powerful and dangerous weapon, and I absolutely loved how it felt as I  got more and more used to it. It still wasn't LIGHT, granted, but it  almost felt like it was learning to suppress its Impact most of the  time, only releasing it when in combat.

My  pondering was interrupted sadly, by the big guy lashing out with a pair  of whips made of ACTUAL blood, which seemed to be on fire as it flowed  freely in crimson rivers from his open wrists. The scarlet flames were  pinging my Danger Sense hard, so I knew touching them would be a bad  call.

Rather  than dodge normally, I planted my staff and shoved off, using the  combination of force and State of Grace to soar up into the air. They  continued attacking the same spot, though once they didn't land a hit  they eased up, and I realized that they'd seen the beginning of my dodge  as I activated my concealment and they'd inferred my destination from  that. They couldn't ACTUALLY see me in Moonlit Night, which was a  relief.

I  bounced off nothing, Ripple Running still active, though that was my  last step with it, and landed softly on the grass behind them. Tall guy  didn't notice, but claws girl whirled and lashed out at me with her  knife fingers. Knife fingers which created literal TEARS in the air that  rushed toward me, even temporarily clearing small lines in the fog.  They sealed themselves right after, but the girls grin told me she'd  noticed it too.

So  I had to spend the next five minutes dodging hails of air slashes as  she did her best to tear enough holes in my fog to be able to spot me,  which she didn't because any time she tried I just jumped over them and  her both. I considered closing in, but I'd triggered my overlay here,  and I could see the ways my attacks would probably fail if I went in too  soon. So I just waited, letting her tire herself out and accidentally  cut up her buddy at least once, much to my amusement.

He  seemed much less amused, and after the third time he lashed out with  one of his whips, and she yelped as it cut into her. Eyes wide with  rage, she whirled on him and lunged, and I took the chance to put her  down. I used Double Trouble, arriving in the air behind her back as she  dove forward, parallel to the ground. I triggered Mercy Kill, Marked for  Death, and Flurry of Blows, then slammed my Stygian Branch straight  down into her spine, doing my best to avoid any vital organs.

I  managed to do that, but I did NOT avoid pinning her to the ground like a  butterfly on a card. She screamed, and the other guy lashed out with  the whips, only for me to use double trouble again and appear behind  him. The whips didn't hit the girl, he had way too much control, and he  yanked them back once they passed through the space I should have been  in.

Backing  off, I kept an eye on him as he crept closer to her to check on his  fallen teammate. She was lying on the ground, eyes wide and pained,  shuddering like she was cold as her lips basically turned blue.

It  took me only a minute to realize exactly why. The staff drained life  force on contact, and I'd driven it INTO her. It had been sucking up  life energy until I vanished, and while she was clearly still alive, it  had obviously not been a pleasant experience. I winced in sympathy, but  the roaring of deathly power in my staff had grown louder by a  substantial amount.

Apparently  that was a faster way to absorb the stuff. I didn't bother to use the  death burst on the tall guy. He was disturbed and alone, and it only  took me a few minutes to smash his elbows and knees in one at a time  with hit and run tactics.

Moonlit  Night made stealth attacks more deadly, and the staff was heavy and  brutally powerful. It was a deadly combination. Once my battle ended I  looked around to find the others mostly done. Abel was still going, but  the rest of them had already subdued their own, or driven them off. From  counting some of them had clearly run off, which was amusing, but it  also meant they could come back at any moment with backup.

I  let Moonlit Night drop, striding out of the dispersing fog as I stowed  my staff. Above us, Palms and fists crashed against a giant axe phantom,  and seemed to be getting the upper hand. Expert vs Intermediate was a  big gap, even if I suspected Raul had higher stats. I looked around,  finding Callie leaned against a tree, wincing and holding her side. I  was next to her in an instant.

"Are  you ok?" I asked in a panic. Her face was pale and bloodless and her  eyes were a bit hazy. I planted a hand on her shoulder and triggered a  scan heal and heal burst combo. She shuddered as the energy flowed into  her, and I felt the break in her ribs through the scan as I watched it  mend. I sighed in relief then looked around. "Ok, where is Jessie? Why  didn't she come fix you up? Is she still fighting?"

I  couldn't see my friend for a second, but that was because I expected  her to have turned back. It only took a quick look to notice she had NOT  done that, and was currently mauling a tree viciously while ignoring  everything else. I blinked at her savage attack on the local flora for a  second before realizing what had happened.

Jessie  had put down her two opponents and even managed to keep herself from  killing them (though she hadn't been gentl judging by the bloodstains  and the two trails leading off into the mountains), she had not however,  had full control. She was attacking the tree to keep from attacking  anything else.

After  I made sure Callie was healing (it would take some time, my heal bursts  were G-rank still, at least until I refilled) I strolled over to the  massive ursine form of my friend. "Jessie." I said calmly as I arrived  next to her. She glared at me, snarling madly before returning to her  tree murder. I sighed, slipped out my staff, and infused it with a tranq  blow before slamming it down on the base of her bear skull with  everything I had.

She  yelped, stumbling away. Instead of whirling and trying to kill me like  I'd half expected though, she started shaking her head. One shake, then  two, trying to clear out...something. Finally, she fell to her haunches  and threw back her head for a roar that turned into a scream of pain as  she changed back. "Fuck!" She yelled at the top of her lungs as she  slumped back into the snow clutching her head. "Ow, ow, ow."

I winced. Bear or not that wouldn't have been pleasant. "Sorry." I said sympathetically. "I thought it might help."

She shook her head roughly. "No. It did. That was...fine. Maybe next time just punch me. How did you know that would even work?"

I just shrugged. "You looked like you were going crazy, figured being calmed down might help. Sedative and all."

"Well  it did, thanks." She grunted. "My head is killing me, but at least its  not full of bear rage. Seriously. Bears are REALLY angry. Not  like...some kind of blood rage. Just grumpy and pissed off almost all  the time. And very easy to ignore. Remind me to give Randall a hug for  being such a good boy."

I  laughed, helping her up and walking with her over to Callie. "Cal got  messed up pretty bad. I did what I could but my heals are weak. Older  stuff you know. Can you look her over?" She smiled gingerly and nodded  before kneeling next to my girlfriend. Above us the sunlight axe  shattered under a barrage of punches. I hoped she hurried up. We needed  to go before the ray went down. I didn't want another fight so soon if I  could help it.