Chapter 285: No Water This Time
With Robert’s Crystal Warhammer already in his hands, Martin tried to slip past Raze and cut off the second guard before he reached Rias.
Deadmaw cut across his route before he made it two steps.
Martin brought the warhammer across and caught the flat of the greatsword with its crystal head. The impact drove both arms toward his chest and shoved him half a step sideways. Raze had barely moved his feet.
"You don’t get to run around me this time," Raze said.
Martin pushed Deadmaw away and turned the Worldshell plate toward the hooked edge. Raze drew the greatsword back without bothering to test the armor, changed the angle, and cut at Martin’s exposed thigh instead.
Martin dropped the warhammer’s shaft into the blade’s path. Gold light burst against the weapon, and the hooked edge scraped down the crystal before catching the outside of his leg.
Pain shot from his thigh into his hip. His HP dipped, followed by a second warning.
[Deadmaw has applied Mangled.]
[Movement Speed reduced.]
[Healing received reduced.]
[Physical Defense reduced.]
Martin tested the leg with a short step. It answered late, and Raze adjusted Deadmaw before the movement was complete, closing the angle Martin would have used to compensate. The response confirmed what the first attack had already suggested: Raze had studied Martin’s later battles closely enough to skip probing attacks and cut straight for an armor gap.
"No water," Raze said. "No turtle. And you’re still wearing one piece of armor."
His gaze settled on the warhammer. "You don’t even have the shield you used in Cascade Valley."
Martin shifted his injured leg behind him and checked Rias’s position instead of answering.
The other guard had nearly reached Rias. Darkness gathered around her boots, but Raze drew Gravefang and swept it behind him without turning.
Rias abandoned Shadow Step and dropped flat. The greatsword split the edge of the formula cabinet, sending slates and shelves crashing between her and the guards. Ashjaw’s jaw burned brighter as Raze caught her scent through the mess.
"The shadows won’t hide her from Ashy," he said.
Martin tightened his grip on the warhammer. "You still call it Ashy?"
"Ashy got me here. Its nose works better now that I don’t have to wait for a pet to understand what I want."
As the wounded guard shoved a broken shelf aside, Rias slipped around the collapsing cabinet and left both guards on the same side of her. The route to the central cauldron opened for a few seconds.
Martin moved to keep the opening clear for Rias, but Raze stepped into the gap first. He angled Deadmaw toward Martin while Gravefang guarded the aisle behind him, keeping his weight centered with one blade covering each route.
"You kept the part you wanted," Martin said.
"Ashy was mine," Raze said. "The bond made it my decision."
Raze kept his eyes on Rias, but Gravefang shifted a fraction in his grip before he steadied it.
Martin stopped trying to talk to him.
He drove forward with the warhammer held close, denying Raze room for another wide swing. Deadmaw’s guard caught the first strike. Martin turned with the rebound and hammered Gravefang aside before Raze could sweep it back across Rias’s route.
Rias entered the opening the instant it appeared.
She reached the next cabinet shadow, but Raze caught her scent and slammed one boot into Martin’s wounded thigh. The Mangled leg folded. Martin caught himself on the warhammer while Gravefang swept back toward Rias.
Rias caught a loose black wisp above her shoulder with Cloudhook and pulled herself over the blade. She landed on the central measuring table, one hand inches from the sealed blood vial.
The unwounded guard raised his axe beneath her. Rias kicked the vial across the table toward Martin and jumped down on the stair-facing side before the axe split the surface. The vial rolled toward Martin, but Raze planted Deadmaw in its path. Dark-red blood spun inside the glass before it stopped against the Legendary blade.
"You’re not taking that upstairs," he said.
The exchange had moved the vial out of the alchemist’s reach and left both guards behind Rias, but Raze still controlled the final step to the stairs.
Martin forced himself upright. His injured leg was slow to straighten, and Raze noticed the delay.
"I watched our first fight until I understood why I lost," Raze continued. "You never overpowered me. You gave me one path and made me take it." He lifted Deadmaw away from the vial without taking his eyes off Martin. "This room gives you nowhere to lead me."
Raze brought the two greatswords together. Their jagged inner edges locked with a metallic crash, and gold light burned through both blades as he shifted into the first rotation.
[Death Wheel]
The first rotation tore the central measuring table apart.
Black steel and gold light ripped through the wood and glass, then carved into the copper frame beneath the tabletop. The bonded-beast blood vial bounced across the stone before the spinning blades could reach it. Rias landed beside the formula cabinets while the two Just Die guards threw themselves behind cover.
Martin advanced toward the spinning blades. During their first fight, Death Wheel had cut on its opening turn and recovered on the second, when Raze had the least control. The third rotation let him correct his path again.
Martin waited through the first sweep. As the second rotation filled the central aisle, he drove Robert’s Crystal Warhammer toward the joint between Deadmaw and Gravefang.
The weapons separated before he could reach them. Raze killed the spin before the hammer landed, releasing the locking joint while his body kept turning. Deadmaw drew Martin’s block while Gravefang came from the opposite side and struck his exposed forearm.
Pain forced Martin’s fingers open, and the hammer fell from his hand. The cut weakened his grip, while Mangled kept his footwork sluggish. Raze kicked the fallen weapon aside and let the remaining momentum carry him across the aisle, stopping just short of a sealed cauldron without losing his balance.
"I told you, Emperoar. I learned from that fight too."
In Cascade Valley, Raze had canceled Death Wheel only before striking a trap. This time, he broke the skill apart in the middle of Martin’s counter and finished with each sword covering a different angle.
Martin’s old opening was useless now.