Chapter 286: Just Pixels
Rias stayed out of the shadows. The uninjured guard broke from cover and angled toward Martin’s fallen hammer, so she intercepted him before he could kick it farther down the aisle.
His axe came down, and Rias caught his weapon wrist with her free hand. She turned beneath his arm and drove her shoulder into the back of his elbow. As the joint buckled, she thrust Gloamneedle through the gap beneath his arm, tearing a large chunk from his HP bar.
The guard with the split shoulder armor rushed her from behind.
Rias cut toward Raze’s downwind side at the last moment, letting the charging man cross between them. Raze turned without seeing her and swept Gravefang along the trail he smelled. Rias dropped beneath the blade, but the charging guard ran straight into its outer edge and crashed into a bank of copper coils.
Raze barely glanced at the guard. "Get out of my swing, or the next one hits you too."
He had followed every turn Rias made without looking at her, but Gravefang stayed low, cutting along her trail on the floor. Martin could use that.
While Raze faced Rias, Martin retrieved the hammer by hooking its shaft with his boot and dragging it within reach. With the weapon back in his hands, he opened their private channel.
[Emperoar: Make him follow your scent along the floor. Once Gravefang commits, take the exhaust frame.]
Rias looked toward the twisted frame hanging over the cauldron, then back at Martin.
[Flash Fang: Your left arm is losing strength.]
[Emperoar: I know. Take the first opening.]
Raze adjusted his weapons. Deadmaw came down toward Martin’s head while Gravefang remained low, ready to hook his injured leg if he dodged.
Martin raised the warhammer with both hands. The massive blade struck the shaft near the crystal head and drove him to one knee. Raze had aimed high enough that the Worldshell plate could not absorb the force.
Gravefang swept in a moment later.
Martin twisted his wounded leg inward. The hooked edge missed his knee but carved through the outside of his calf. His HP fell low enough for the edges of his vision to darken, and Mangled slowed his attempt to regain his stance.
Raze pulled both swords free. "Use Hold the Line if you want. I know what it needs."
Martin tightened his numb fingers around the shaft.
"You had an army feeding that armor and thirty seconds to stand your ground," Raze continued. "You have neither here."
A handful of attacks would barely stir Leviathan’s Will. Martin kept the skill ready anyway.
Raze stepped closer as gold light ran through both swords.
Martin looked at the pale eye on Raze’s shoulder. "Ashjaw followed you into the lake."
Raze’s next step slowed just enough for Martin to notice.
"It couldn’t breathe there," Martin continued. "The water was killing it, and it still kept clawing toward you."
"Just pixels."
Raze answered too fast. The words had the flatness of something practiced.
Martin shifted his warhammer toward his good side. "Then why are you wearing Ashjaw’s face?"
Deadmaw struck before Raze’s other foot settled.
The blade came in wider and faster than Raze’s earlier swings, abandoning the careful angles he had used moments ago. Martin moved inside its arc and caught the weapon’s guard with his warhammer. The impact tore the cut in his forearm wider, but Deadmaw passed beside his ribs instead of through them.
Raze slammed Gravefang toward his head.
"I said it was just pixels, Emperoar!"
Martin let his injured knee buckle and dropped beneath the swing. The hooked edge tore through a cooling line and bit into the wall behind him, blasting steam and powdered stone across the central aisle.
The cloud hid Rias from Martin’s sight. He kept his eyes on Raze and trusted the token.
The red direction line swept toward the broken cabinets.
Rias moved.
Shadow Step carried her through the darkness beside the broken cabinets. Raze caught her scent and whipped Gravefang across the point where she would reappear at floor level.
Rias anchored Cloudhook to a black wisp beside the twisted exhaust frame. The red direction line snapped upward as she launched herself over the blade. The Shadow Nimbus Set’s loose clouds compressed around her back and legs while she lined up Gloamneedle with the deepest crack beneath the pauldron’s jaw.
"Blackfall."
Darkness erupted behind her as Rias drove down. Gloamneedle punched through the crack and into the armor below. The orange tracking glow went dark as the strike tore away a visible chunk of Raze’s HP, jerked his shoulder back, and pulled Gravefang away from Martin.
He drove his shoulder upward, trying to throw Rias off before she could pull the blade free.
Rias ripped Gloamneedle free, planted one boot against his shoulder, and pushed off toward the central aisle. Martin met Deadmaw before Raze could turn after her. The hammer struck the hooked blade from below and lifted it across Raze’s body, trapping Gravefang behind his own weapon for half a second.
"Now!" Martin shouted.
Before the damaged pauldron could relight, Rias dropped beside the broken measuring table and snatched the sealed blood vial from the floor. She stopped the recording, stored the recording crystal and vial in her inventory, and turned toward the stairs. The axe-wielding guard tried to close the aisle, but she entered his shadow before he could fill the gap and emerged beyond him.
The path to the service stairs stood open, and Raze abandoned Martin the moment he saw it. Whatever he had said about waiting for their rematch, keeping the evidence underground mattered more.
Martin struck the floor with his warhammer and used the rebound to throw himself into Raze’s path. The Worldshell plate met Raze’s shoulder. Neither man fell, but Martin slid backward with his Mangled leg dragging across the stone.
"Go," he told Rias.
Rias reached the first step without stopping.
[Flash Fang: You can’t win in this room.]
[Emperoar: I know.]
She was right. Martin no longer needed to win.
Martin adjusted his grip before answering through their private channel.
[Emperoar: The brace is holding the upper shelf. Reach the public quarter and get the recording and vial in front of the central licensing desk. Keep both, and don’t stop at the storefront.]
[Flash Fang: How much time can you give me?]
Martin checked the route map for the distance to the public floor, then looked at the two blades in Raze’s hands.
[Emperoar: I don’t know. Keep running.]
The distance counter climbed another meter as Raze tried to force his way past. Martin planted Robert’s Crystal Warhammer into the stone between them. He had no army behind him, only Rias climbing toward safety. By the time she gained the next meter, Raze was still on Martin’s side of the stairs.
Gold exploded from the impact. A bright curtain rose across the service-stair entrance, leaving Martin in the laboratory with Raze and both guards while Rias continued upward.
"HOLD THE LINE!"
[You have used Warden’s Signature Skill: Hold the Line (Epic)]