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202. Give Me Your Gold
🕑 Added 2024-10-29 14:00:03 +0000 UTCThe winged boy in red darted down at them, baring his formidable claws in their direction. Ike and Wisp drew their swords and charged. At the last second, Wisp rolled over the ground instead, throwing herself under the boy’s strike. Ike met it head on, while she jumped back up behind him. Leaping off the bones, she struck at his wings.
His wings glowed with red light, then turned to steel. Her sword bounced off the shiny feathers harmlessly. He swept his wings toward her, using their now razor-sharp edges to cut at Wisp. Gritting her teeth, she battered his wings back. She struggled to block two wings with one sword. The edges of the wings sliced at Wisp’s body. Even when she successfully blocked, his flexible wings folded around her blade, and the feathers still sliced her open.
At the same time, Ike fought his claws. A flurry of mad strikes beat down at him, almost too fast to see. Not only was the Magpie King strong, but he was also fast. Ike still had the edge on speed, but barely. He couldn’t rely on his speed to save him here. Sure, if he only had to fight one claw, he would have outsped it, but with two? He struggled.
Ah, dammit. This isn’t the time to hold back! He activated Storm Clad. Lightning flickered and winds raged. Tiny rainstorms swirled around his body, and clouds chased after his motions. His strikes sped up, and his strength grew. He swung heavily, forcing the boy back into the air.
The Magpie King’s eyes widened. A joyous smile spread across his face. “Wonderful! I can use my full strength.” Red light surged over his entire body. He charged at Ike again, dropping down from the sky. This time, his blows were heavier than before, and even faster than they’d ever been. Ike gritted his teeth. With Storm Clad, he could barely keep up with the Magpie King, but only barely.
And at the same time, the king battled Wisp with his wings. She scowled, making much the same face as Ike knew he was making. “Die already, asshole!”
“But why? I’m having so much fun!”
“Wisp!” Ike shouted.
She blinked at him, and then her eyes widened. She nodded. Pulling back, she spat a wad of white at the Magpie King.
He darted into the air, dodging it. “Something that slow could never stop the—”
His head banged into an invisible thread. Wisp spat again, and this time, the web enveloped him. She laughed. “You fool. Did you think I was only fighting you with this pitiable sword all this time, like a human would? I’ve inundated the battlefield with my threads. There’s no escape for you anymore.”
The Magpie King struggled, fighting against the threads. They snapped, but one at a time. Wisp spat more, coating him thicker. “Stop it!” he complained.
Wisp stuck her lip out, thinking. She shook her head and spat another wad. “No.”
Ike drew back his fist. Green shockwaves built up on his forearm, while red light built around his fist. The Magpie King scowled. He fought harder. His bladelike wings sliced at the threads, and his razor-sharp claws cleaved through them. “Don’t you dare—”
“I dare.” Ike unleased his fist, slamming the so-called king in the chest with shockwaves and Exsanguination at the same time.
Shockwaves rolled through the Magpie King’s body, visibly distorting his torso. He flew backward and slammed into the throne. Lying in a heap atop it, he coughed and spat blood. He struggled to stand, but fell back to the seat.
“Wisp!”
“Already on top of it!”
Wisp and Ike closed in on the king, raising their swords in concert.
The king’s eyes flashed. His power surged, piercing through the barrier of Rank 4. The damage to his body vanished, and with one flap of his wings, he surged up into the sky. He flew into the sun, putting its light behind him.
Ike cut through the upper half of the throne, while Wisp slashed the lower half. Yanking his sword free, Ike lifted a hand and squinted up at the boy. “What was that?”
“What, the Rank surge?” Wisp asked.
Ike nodded.
“If you’re super close to the next Rank, you can temporarily push over the edge into the next Rank without permanently reaching it. It’s mostly done by people who either can’t quite reach the next Rank yet, or who are waiting to perfect their current Rank and build a better foundation for reaching the next Rank.”
“Ohhh,” Ike said, nodding.
“Haven’t you done it a few times?” she asked.
“Not consciously,” Ike said.
“Showoff,” Wisp muttered.
“What?”
Overhead, the sky grew dark. Birds gathered tight around the sun-anointed figure of the Magpie King. They spun around him in a tight spiral, a vicious knot of feathers and hate. The Magpie King pointed down at Ike and Wisp, and the spiral unwound. A thousand birds hurtled out of the sky like a rain of arrows. Each one burned with the power of Rank 3.
“Did he give the birds his Rank?” Ike asked, shocked.
“It must be a skill that lets him empower projectiles. They’re pretty common, honestly. Like how you empower your sword with your sword skill,” Wisp explained.
“I empower my sword?” Ike asked.
“Yeah? How else did you think that mantis blade survived until Rank 3?”
Ike raised his brows. “Huh.”
Wisp shook her head. “You’re ridiculous. I don’t know whether to be angry or roll my eyes.”
The birds closed in on them, and there was no more time for talking. Ike threw his hands out, activating Tempest. Winds surged around him, intensifying with the storms that clad his body. It charged far faster than it had ever charged before Storm Clad. Aether surged out of him and into the skill. A ball of wind rocked around in his palm, barely contained. Ike tossed it underhand into the path of the charging birds. A small ball of wind floated gently into their path, then exploded with the fury of a hurricane. The winds blasted the birds around, knocking them out of the air. They dropped to the ground, blown aside.
The last of the birds dissipated as Tempest blew itself out. Still hovering over them, the Magpie King scowled. He circled over them and gestured with his foot. Although it looked like a bird’s foot, it was arrayed with white dragon scales, shiny as pure ice. He pointed a knobbled claw at them. “So that wasn’t enough to take you down, huh? It seems it’s time to take you seriously. Taste my full strength!”
Behind him, red light surged. It bloomed into a giant magpie—not the kind as described by the Magpie King, part crow and part dragon, but an ordinary giant magpie. The projection of a magpie flapped its wings and flew forth, racing toward Ike and Wisp. The aura of a 4th Rank attack pressed down on them, oppressive as it was deadly.
Ike shivered despite himself. From the core of his being, he knew it would kill him if he didn’t block or divert it somehow. Mustering his strength, he stepped forward.
Wisp grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back. She winked, a confident grin on her face. “I’ve got this."
