288 (II)

  Dodge

  He considered her words and realized there was likely a good deal of truth there. Through combat, his primary skills were advancing fast. He'd gotten much stronger. He'd gotten more destructive. But his Biomancy remained mostly a one-trick thing, a blunt instrument for him to wield. However, he had grown under instruction when faced with situations that weren't direct combat. His Atlas of the Flesh Scryer allowed him to detect people from far away and specifically select for people based on their biological traits and organic architecture. Furthermore, it was only by focusing on and learning how another system or function worked—like when he had time to examine the siege spells meant to strike him from the sky over Ur-Abathur—that he learned how to perform a counter-spell and gained insight into magical theory.

  In the throes of a desperate struggle, it was hard to gain these insights. But now that he had time, he could delve further into how things worked and why they worked. That was part of the reason why he'd been jealous of Adam before. He was a whole person. An educated person. A person that had a life beyond mortal struggle.

  "And now that can be me," Shiv said, realizing Jessica's point. He breathed in deeply to suppress his disappointment. "Alright."

  He lowered his Last Morsel but noted a final notification. His Dodge was on the precipice. All the times Jessica had cut him down had placed it right at the point of an imminent evolution. Shiv's face tightened as he prepared to make a final request. "Hey, Jessica? How about one last time. Just for good time's sake."

  He considered being honest with her about why he wanted to do one final duel. But part of him still suspected Jessica. Suspected that she didn't want him growing too strong too fast. Because there were more than even odds that they would see each other as enemies once more sometime down the line.

  Jessica and Rusty both groaned.

  "If you are to continue driving me against this humanoid lump of orichalcum, I demand an extended massage," the Legendary blade declared.

  "I can give you a massage," Shiv said.

  "No!" Rusty nearly cried. "The greatest gift you can provide me is distance. I do not want to slam into your body any more than I already have to. You are a very uncomfortable creature to kill. And you do not know the ways of the Blade Massager."

  Shiv blinked. "Blade Massager?"

  "Oil polishing, whetstones, all that." Jessica sniffled. "There's a whole lot going into caring and maintaining your blade. Now, Rusty doesn't actually need all that because he's a Legendary-Tier sword, and this is basically like me eating food and drinking water every other day. It's unnecessary. But he deserves it, and I deserve it."

  "Come on…" Shiv pouted harder, trying to seem as innocent as he could. "Just one more."

  Sage of the Enkindled Heart: We look ridiculous right now.

  A Glimpse of Perspective: A low knave such as our user is always ridiculous, made more so when this contemptible beast of a man pretends to be a petulant puppy.

  Jessica stared at him flatly. "You know, it occurs to me how fucked up this conversation is. I've never had a kid beg me to kill them like they're just asking for another coin so they can eat today. Shiv, I mean this wholeheartedly, but there's something deeply, deeply wrong with your brain."

  "Is that a yes?"

  "Just do it," Rusty groaned. "Just cut him down quickly so that we can leave, and so that I can see my bruises and dents tended to."

  "Okay," Jessica said. "But the same rules apply as before. Don't you go boosting your Pillar of Orichalcum before I come in. If you make me work for this, I'm going to do the Upcreek Special again, and I'm going to do it completely."

  "You didn't do it completely last time?" Shiv snarled. "I blacked out. You have any idea what it takes to make me black out from pain?"

  "Not even close," Jessica said. "If I did it completely last time, you would have died for good. Besides, why are you blaming me? Didn't your vampire friend ram a literal flood of Biomancy shit up your ruined ass?"

  "After you tore it wide open!"

  "Yeah, well, if you don't want to experience that again, don't increase your Toughness." Jessica shrugged.

  Shiv agreed with a nod. He didn't intend to use his Toughness to soak this hit either. He wanted just one final death. Or at least one good dodge that would push him over the edge and make him gain a skill evolution.

  Once more, Jessica reached down with her left hand. She gave Shiv a final look, as if trying to convince him to forfeit and spare her the effort. But the Deathless remained resolute. "Alright, come educate me."

  Jessica just laughed. "If you make it past three seconds—"

  This time, he was the one to initiate the ambush. But he lacked her skill. He couldn't draw nearly as fast as she could. And more importantly than that, she would likely kill him on the riposte.

  So, Shiv decided to initiate with something that wasn't an attack. Black ink exploded out from Shiv, obscuring everything around him, even Jessica. This wasn't enough to blind her Awareness entirely, but it was a distraction, something that provoked her to action. It was pure instinct that saved him, ironically. He threw himself to the side and spun his whip around his body wildly. Her strike cleaved through his armor, leaving a long gash across his chest. A bit of his sternum was missing, but otherwise, he was spared fatal harm.

  At the same time, her follow-up strike, along with Rusty's teleported blows, rang and carved pieces away from his cancerous whip. A final one split its flail part down the middle and sent it flying off into the distance, but Shiv simply replaced it with his Vitae strands. It cost him life force every time she struck, but he endured a while longer.

  The first second ended, and Shiv wasn't dead.

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  But he wasn't dodging cleanly either. Every time Jessica cut, she drew blood. Shiv stayed ahead by the barest centimeters, suffering wounds aplenty, but never enduring a mortal blow. Even so, his continued survival proved merit enough that he felt more power entering his Dodge skill, pulling it further and further toward that inevitable precipice.

  And the moment finally came as Jessica's thrust found its way home. The blow slipped between his guard, sliding past his bicep, chipping through his shoulder, spearing past his collarbone, before embedding itself in his carotid. Blood filled Shiv's throat immediately. His body spasmed. But his magical fields still worked. He seized himself using his Biomancy, flooded the wound with a concentration of Vitae, and lasted as long as he could, even as her cut slowly began to glide through all of his additional protections. He could feel the edge of Rusty kiss his spine. He could feel his nerves get severed, feel every bit of tissue parting and death draw close, its cold breath whispering along his nape.

  Just one more second, Shiv thought, pushing against Rusty using every bit of his biology. Dense clumps of cancer hardened, fusing his ruined neck together. He couldn't feel anything beneath his head, couldn't even feel his lower jaw. But still, he wielded himself, using his flesh magic. He pulled himself away, buying every microsecond he could, just so that he could evolve—just so he could finally achieve that final skill evolution he so desired.

  A half-second passed. His neck was half-hewn through. In another instant, Jessica was going to decapitate him. She shifted her weight, and the cut accelerated. The Deathless knew that the end was upon him, but maybe with this death, it would be enough that…

  Dodge 50 > 51 (Skill Evolution Reached)

  Skill Evolution: Dodge (Initiate) > Phase Frame (Adept)

  The evolution took hold in an instant. Shiv's body flickered for exactly half a second. Jessica's blade passed through, nothing holding her back now, but as she spun, she let out a yelp of surprise as she found herself off balance for the first time. By the end of that half second, Shiv had returned, as surprised as the Giantsbane was. His throat was flooded with blood; he was choking on his own death. But still, he had done it. He had achieved a skill evolution.

  And it seemed like Jessica was none the wiser, for she immediately swung her blade again, her backstroke digging into the opposite end of his neck, bringing him even closer to death. But once more, the death was dodged. This time, though, it was accompanied by a painful feeling inside of him, like bits of him were being ripped away. He tugged his body away at an angle, willing himself to avoid the blow using his new Skill Evolution. Once more, he flickered out of existence, teleporting in place for approximately a half second. When he emerged, however, it felt like he was being scrubbed raw. Like every teleportation was taking something from him when he performed it with too high frequency.

  "What the hells?" Jessica cried out in disbelief. She stomped forward, thrusting high, aiming to skewer him from under the chin and pierce his brain.

  Shiv dodged once more. This time, it felt like an entire section of his body was being flayed away. And it was. His back vanished before his chest did, and his internal organs were promptly exposed. A spray of gory mist painted the air, and Shiv let out a cry of pain, which turned into a final choked gasp as Jessica buried the tip of her blade home.

  Yet he died satisfied this time, more than pleased with this Skill Evolution.

  As Jessica wrenched her blade free from his corpse, Shiv's Vitae strands slithered away and emerged from the miasmic veil of blackness.

  "What was that?" Jessica demanded, waving her sword around animatedly.

  “What was what?” Shiv replied telepathically, playing dumb.

  "Don't bullshit me, kid. I got you. I cut halfway into your neck. What the hell—oh, you dirty little prick." She started chuckling and wagging her finger at him, chastising him like he was a small school child. "You did that thing where you leave reality for a moment. That's how you surprised me."

  “Uh, yeah, you got me,” Shiv said, letting out a laugh.

  And his satisfaction only grew, for Jessica had no idea what she'd given him. In her defense, it was quite like Non-Sequitur, except he didn't leave any decoy. He simply teleported in place. He wasn't there for a moment. At least physically. It gave him a moment of absolute invincibility, maybe. He also had a good grasp of the skill's consequence. He couldn't use it more than two times in a single second, or within the span of a few seconds. Even now, he could feel an ache inside of him, somewhere deep, somewhere connected to the skill. He suspected that only after the pain faded could he use it again without risking harm.

  Always a downside with you, isn't there, System? Shiv asked internally.

  The Giantsbane let out a long, tired exhalation. "Alright, cheating aside, that wasn't too bad at the end. You managed to avoid getting cut apart immediately, so feels like I didn't waste my time."

  She held her head high and smirked toward the sky—well, the cavernous heights of the Abyss, more like. "Pretty good teacher, aren't I?"

  "Yeah, sure you are," Shiv said. "So, you gonna feed me some beans or what?"

  Jessica eyed Shiv’s sprawling mess of a body for a moment. "You're really willing to eat my beans?"

  "Of course. A deal's a deal. Besides, I want to see how good a cook you are. And if I'm disappointed, that's not all bad either. You… you wanna learn some cooking at some point? I'm currently Cursed, but I might have a way around that."

  "Alright, fine," Jessica said after a moment’s hesitation. "Maybe in a long while. In the meantime, I need a place to stay. I don't think being around Roland's a good idea for him or me."

  "You can stay on top of my Court Leviathan if you want. There's a bunch of rooms there. Maybe not too comfortable, but frankly, it needed to be remodeled anyway."

  "Aren't there a bunch of orcs there too?" Jessica asked, narrowing her eyes.

  "Yeah, but isn't that a positive? If they annoy you, you can just kill them. That's what I do, anyway."

  She smacked her lips. "You know what? Fine. I'll stay in your giant monster for now. But later, after everything's done, you and I are going to need to have an actual conversation about Veronica and the Capital. And especially about what Gate Piety's going to do for the rest of the Republic."

  "I didn't realize we were part of the Republic," Shiv said. "Thought we were still enemies."

  But his comment wasn't met with laughter or a joyous remark. Instead, Jessica's expression hardened. "Not when it comes to the Jotun. Listen, I know you have your problems with the Ascendants, but the Frost Giants take priority. Especially if that bastard Udraal really gave the fuckers the Tarrasque."

  Once more, the looming threat of reality and war on the horizon greeted Shiv. Good times never got to last. "Right, fine. I'm due to write her a letter anyway. Shit, what am I even supposed to tell her?"

  "You know my advice," Jessica said. "Be honest with her. Play the game. But try not to overreach, like you did with me earlier. Dream big, but know your limitations. Temper your hubris, kid. That's how you get away with things."

  "And did you do that?" Shiv asked. "When you were being trained, did you temper your hubris?"

  But that comment broke through the gloom. Jessica threw her head back and let out a bark of laughter. "Absolutely fucking not! But do you really want to be like me?"

  Shiv considered that for a moment and hummed. "You know what? You’re not half bad. If I grew up to be someone like you after a life on the streets, I think I would have been pretty happy."

  And the third mood shift hit the conversation. Jessica clenched her teeth and swallowed. "Yeah, so, let's go… go back inside. Let's get some orcs stationed out here too. Just so the vampires don't bother us in the meantime."

  "Yeah," Shiv said. "Let's."

  And as they made their way back inside, Shiv's Sage of the Enkindled Heart triggered.

  Sage of the Enkindled Heart: And learn from her mistakes too. You were too close to being a monster, but she is too much of an individual. She yearns to be liked and likes being around people. She enjoys your company. In growing close, she has left herself open to the worst draw of them all. Be mindful, Deathless. You will have the potential to hurt her severely in the future. If not physically, then, before that, emotionally and psychologically.

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