BXBX NOVEL 191. Rank 3, Rank 4
Llewyn got the first strike in Ike\'s surprise. His claw struck Ike\'s chest, then bounced off. The storm winds blew it sideways, turning a head-on strike into a glancing blow. He drew a small amount of blood, but the cut healed before their eyes.
Ike laughed. He tossed the remains of the sword aside and charged at Llewyn, no longer afraid. The two of them battled back and forth. Their strikes flashed, as fast as lightning. Neither Shopkeep nor Wisp could keep up with their blows, so fast were their hands. Scratches appeared on both their bodies, but never more than a superficial wound. As usual, Llewyn was stronger, but Ike was faster. Ike\'s speed let him batter Llewyn\'s strikes away and land light blows on Llewyn, and Storm Clad whirled around Ike\'s body, so that Llewyn\'s strikes that hit were weakened to scratches and scrapes.
The two of them parted. Ike eyed up Llewyn, and Llewyn eyed up Ike. They circled one another, both of them taking stock of one another.
He isn\'t using all his strength. He\'s holding back. Or maybe, he has no option but to hold back? He eyed Llewyn in silence, thinking. I can\'t lose sight of the obvious fact that he\'s a puppeteer, either. I should expect him to use puppets at some point. I don\'t know where he\'d pull them from, but I know he has no shortage of puppets at his disposal.
"So, you\'ve tapped into powers beyond the System\'s control. You\'re playing with fire, boy," Llewyn said, expression serious.
"I\'d rather play with fire than sit sadly on the sidelines and watch my chances to Rank up go by," Ike declared. What does he mean, powers beyond the System\'s control? It\'s true that I called the storm to me without having a specific skill for it, and technically, reforging my body the first time happened without a skill, but whenever I do something like that, I\'m simply developing a new skill.
Maybe it\'s Llewyn who\'s misunderstanding something fundamental here. Maybe he\'s never created a skill before, so he doesn\'t know it\'s possible, and thinks I\'ve committed some kind of aberration. Ike shrugged to himself. In any case, battle is not the time to doubt myself.
Ike nodded at Llewyn. "And what about you, puppeteer? All your grand plans, and now what? Not a puppet to show for them. I destroyed all your puppets in the city. I destroyed all your mages outside of it. What card do you have left to play?"
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Llewyn chuckled. He snapped his fingers, and the black-robed mages rose from the earth. "Many cards, my young and foolish friend."
A black bolt descended from the heavens. With an earth-shattering THUMP, a giant spider smashed down behind Llewyn. Wisp\'s voice emerged from its vicious fangs. "Don\'t worry, Ike! I\'ve got \'em!"
"Even if you strike them down, they\'ll only rise—"
Wisp pounced on the first mage and tore it limb from limb. Tossing back her head, she threw the black-robed mage\'s lifeless, tattered body into the air and snapped it down. It crunched and squished in her jaws. With relish, she swallowed, then skittered to face Llewyn. Ike had never seen a smug spider before, but he knew he was looking at one now. She giggled. "What was that?"
"That is but one of my puppets," Llewyn declared. He snapped his fingers. The remaining mages rushed at Ike.
"And I\'m still hungry!" Wisp leaped into the fray. She kicked out with her long legs, scattering the mages in every which direction. "Ike, focus on Llewyn. I\'ll take care of the little guys!"
"Thanks, Wisp!" Ike shouted. He turned back to Llewyn, glad to put his back to the monster. Even if he knew the giant spider was his ally, he still didn\'t like to look at it too much. Spiders were creepy.
Wisp darted across the battlefield, shattering the mages\' bodies, then chewing them up. In the center, Ike and Llewyn faced off. Ike laughed. He spread his arms. "You have any more puppets for Wisp to eat? She\'s always hungry."
"Oh, I have plenty more. More than you could know." Llewyn chuckled. He looked up.
A blue light burned across the sky. A beautiful woman in blue robes stood overhead, looking down at them.
"Clarina! You came?" Ike asked. He didn\'t really need her help anymore, but he appreciated her coming anyways. She could help him corner Llewyn. Make sure he never got away, never turned anyone else into puppets ever again.
Clarina turned toward him woodenly. Her expression didn\'t change. The broom that she stood on circled toward the ground, slowly lowering her to the floor. She landed beside Llewyn and stepped off the broom.
Ike backed away. No. How? We destroyed the puppet-making machines. We dismantled the New Republic. So why…?
The sky blackened. Ike stared up. Clarina\'s parents stood at the head of a swarm of the black puppets. At the head of the puppets, other people he recognized from the feast flew alongside Clarina\'s parents. Just like Clarina, they moved rigidly, as if their bodies didn\'t belong to them. As if they didn\'t know how to properly move. As if something else was inside them, forcibly moving their limbs.
Ike turned back to Llewyn. He stared, brows furrowing. "How?"
Llewyn chuckled. "You left, didn\'t you? What stopped me from returning the second you left?"
"But… if you were that strong, why not take out Clarina\'s parents from the start?" Ike asked, confused.
Llewyn shrugged. "There were too many high-rank mages, initially. So I turned them against one another. Her own city took out half its own strength, and once it was that weak, it was easy for me to destroy the half that remained…alongside the puppets I\'ve added to my arsenal."
Ike lifted his lip. "You disgust me."
"You should be proud. Initially, I didn\'t plan to bring these puppets to the fight. You forced my hand to this extent." Llewyn spread his hands, stepping backward.
"You aren\'t going to fight?" Ike asked.
"Why would I? I built these armies for a reason," Llewyn said, smirking. The puppets landed all around him, dropping out of the sky. They landed all around him, as thick as heavy rain.
Ike tensed. He narrowed his eyes. "No."
"Hmm?"
Lightning crackled all around Ike. His eyes flashed. "No. You aren\'t getting away."