Shit.
"Down!" Llewellyn yelled, yanking me behind an overturned market stall just as the enlarged keys shot forward like bullets.
Wood exploded around us.
I peered around the stall. The keyring hung in the air, still spinning fast, while the metal cat prowled in front of it, growing larger with each spin.
Another volley of keys shot past.
I jumped back, but one grazed my cheek. I felt the sting, then warm blood.
Llewellyn let out a curse. His eyes zeroed in on the cut, then a wall of Earth rose instantly between us and the artifact.
"Stay here," he ordered, then jumped back into the fight.
Like hell.
The metal cat leapt toward Llewellyn, who just sidestepped it. At the same moment, Penguin rushed forward, used Llewellyn's sword as a springboard, and slammed into the cat's face.
The cat reared back, shrieking.
...Well. Penguin was definitely holding his own against the metal cat.
I drove my sword into the ground, channeling every scrap of Water Magic I had. The pavement cracked, the water pipes burst, and a geyser of water erupted, drenching the keyring.
The metal sizzled, its magic faltering—but it didn't last long.
Llewellyn looked displeased that neither Penguin nor I were behind his Elemental wall anymore, but vanished it quickly, following up my Water attack with Fire.
More keys flew past. One sliced across my arm, drawing more blood. Fuck.
Llewellyn yelled something, but the pain had snapped me into focus.
It's true that most of my skills were Knot or Thread-related but…
Not all of them.
I activated Exploratory Analysis.
[System Notification: Exploratory Analysis is active!
Analyzing: Destabilized Artifact – Keyring
Current threat level: Escalating
Structural weakness: Central binding ring]
"The ring!" I shouted to Llewellyn. "Ignore the cat, it's a distraction! We need to attack the ring!"
"Got it," Llewellyn yelled back.
He raised his hand, and a lance of compressed Air shot toward the floating keyring.
But just before impact, the metal cat leapt up and took the hit instead.
The cat exploded before reforming into two smaller cats.
Penguin let out a chirp of war and immediately engaged both—keeping them occupied.
My Crisis Management pinged urgently. The artifact's energy levels were rising exponentially. At this rate—
"We've got maybe thirty minutes before it starts affecting a wider area," I panted.
Llewellyn nodded—he definitely knew that already—and released an Earth attack that would have obliterated any normal threat.
Unfortunately, the keyring absorbed it all. It grew, spinning faster and faster, generating a vortex that started pulling in everything in its wake.
The metal cats merged back into one, now the size of a small car.
Penguin darted back to us, chittering in frustration. Even his multi-Elemental attacks weren't helping.
The giant metal cat prowled closer. Keys swooshed through the air again.
Llewellyn grabbed Penguin, and we took cover behind a wall.
"Why isn't it working?!" I asked, equally frustrated.
"Destabilized Artifacts don't follow normal rules," Llewellyn said, sweat beading on his forehead. He turned to peer at it. "Looks like Elemental Magic just feeds this one."
Great. Fucking hell.
We rushed into the fight again.
Trying to test something, I grabbed a chunk of broken concrete and hurled it at the keyring. It bounced off harmlessly.
Okay, so physical attacks didn't work either.
The metal cat pounced.
I dove left, Llewellyn went right—and Penguin shot under it and hit it in the balls again.
The cat shrieked, eyes flashing madly.
Wait, surely that couldn't be the only course of action here?!
The metal cat lunged at Penguin this time. I snatched him away, but the cat's claws caught my sleeve, tearing through fabric and skin.
Penguin chittered angrily.
He darted under the cat again and this time hit him so hard even Llewellyn beside me flinched at the sight.
Unfortunately, aside from making the cat mad, it didn't seem to have weakened it.
Still, it did slow it down.
Penguin chirped defiantly, and rushed back to my side.
More keys shot past and we scattered again.
Shit. We needed to focus on the keyring, but we couldn't with the cat's constant attacks!
It was still prowling between us and the ring, growing larger still.
Think. Physical attacks don't work. Elemental attacks feed it. What else was there?!
I scanned the destroyed street, eyes jumping across the wreckage, looking for anything.
Water pipes had burst from our earlier attacks, flooding parts of the road.
My eyes landed on a destroyed shopfront—an electronics store. Exposed wires sparked in the rubble.
"Penguin!" I called.
Penguin seemed to have understood before I even finished. Maybe because of the bond? Either way. He turned into a fire fox, darted to the wires, and carefully grasped them in his mouth.
They sparkled, but the electricity didn't seem to bother him.
"What are you doing?" Llewellyn yelled.
"Trying something stupid!"
Penguin dragged the live wires toward the flooded area where the keyring hovered. If we could electrify the water with the artifact in it...
The metal cat noticed Penguin's movements. It crouched, ready to pounce.
"No you don't!"
I ran straight at it. I couldn't hurt it, but I could be annoying. I slashed at its legs, low and hard enough that it turned on me. That was the point. I struck again, reckless, keeping its attention on me while Penguin worked.
Llewellyn caught on. While I worked on the cat, he started creating obstacles and Earth walls that forced the keyring to move where we wanted.
Almost there.
Penguin had the wires at the water's edge. Llewellyn grabbed me and leapt onto one of his Earth walls, then jumped and slammed the keyring down into the water.
The moment the keyring hit the water, I yelled, "Now!"
Penguin dropped the wires into the flooded street. Electricity coursed through the water and the keyring convulsed, sparks all over across its metal surface.
The giant cat froze mid-leap, twitching as electricity arced between it and the ring.
Yes!
Unfortunately, it only worked for a few seconds. Then, the keyring started absorbing the electricity too.
"You've got to be kidding me." I gritted my teeth.
The artifact glowed brighter, spinning even faster. The electrical current seemed to supercharge it. More keys materialized from thin air, dozens of them, all crackling with electricity.
"Move!" Llewellyn shouted.
We scattered as electrified keys shot in every direction. One grazed my shoulder, sending a jolt through my entire arm.
My muscles spasmed. I dropped my sword and nearly screamed.
Penguin chirped urgently. He rushed to breathe fire at the exposed wires, incinerating them completely before they could cause more damage. Smart little guy.
"Well, that backfired spectacularly," I gritted out, retrieving my sword with my non-tingly arm.
Llewellyn gave me a sharp look that clearly said 'no kidding'.
"How bad?" he asked. My arm was twitching. "I can still evacuate you."
No, this again?!
"If you say that again, I swear I'm going to punch you myself," I said through clenched teeth. As if I'd leave him here alone. I'd rather stab myself. "I'm okay. I can move again." I forced my fingers closed around the sword again. "We don't have time."
The metal cat grew another foot taller. Its eyes now glowed with the same electric blue as the keyring.
The cat charged.
This time when Penguin tried his signature move of darting underneath, the cat anticipated it. Its paw slammed down where Penguin would have been if I hadn't yanked him back by instinct.
"It's learning," Llewellyn said grimly.
An adaptive murder artifact. Great. Just what we needed.
Penguin chirped angrily.
More keys launched and we dashed and hid.
What else could we try? We'd hit it with every Element, with physical attacks, with electricity. Nothing worked. It just kept absorbing everything and getting stronger.
The metal cat prowled closer to our hiding spot.
Suddenly, Penguin seemed to have thought of something. He turned into his Metal hedgehog form, rolled between the cat's legs, making it stumble and, once there, hit it again, Metal spikes and all.
Ouch.
The cat howled. Penguin rushed back to my side, looking proud of himself.
"Remind me not to anger him," Llewellyn muttered.
I snorted.
Fuck. We still needed to get to the keyring.
As I was trying to come up with an idea, the cat's eyes locked onto Llewellyn and something in its stance changed.
My Crisis Management screamed and my eyesight sharpened.
The current batch of keys burst apart, then reformed into microscopic metal keys, invisible to normal sight. They hung in the air for a heartbeat before whirling toward Llewellyn, all drawn to his massive magical signature.
In seconds, they'd pierce through.
Llewellyn seemed to have sensed something, but he couldn't see them. His focus was on the visible threat.
A new volley of giant keys was growing too, almost ready to detach.
"Strengthen your shield now!" I yelled, as I stuffed Penguin inside my pocket and did the same.
Shit, shit.
Llewellyn looked startled, but did so.
Except that judging from the state I was in, shields hadn't exactly worked so far.
If all those mini keys hit him at once—
Cold sweat broke across my skin. My heart slammed once, then stuttered.
He was going to die.
Elemental Magic didn't work and my skills were useless.
What could I do?!
As soon as the next volley of giant keys detached, I launched myself at the keyring and shoved both hands into it.