A ball of fur, like a small feral cat, exploded out of my palm and rocketed into him with a feline screech. It exploded like glass just before it hit to send fur needles spearing into his torso. Normally, it would shred him to bits. Instead, I saw a thin shield of yellow sparks flash as they tried to pierce his flesh.
Holy Shield.
Still, he'd winced when it hit. That was something. I hadn't expected more than that, to be honest. This part of the fight was just foreplay.
"Mental damage?" The paladin said with a snort, obviously seeing a notification. "Figures."
I ignored him. Dialogue was over. It was fight time and the bell hadn't rung to end the round.
"Furball."
Another blast smashed into his shield to do almost no damage. Still, one needle of hair had scored a line of blood across his cheek, which he wiped away without much of a glance.
"You know, I was afraid," he said. "Before you arrived. But if this is all you got, I don't think this'll take long."
He charged towards me, relatively slowly. I managed to tumble to his left, avoiding the wild swing of his machete.
As the blade passed my ear, I could feel the weight of his swing.
Strength.
He'd put everything into Strength.
"Idiot," I muttered. "Kitty Litter."
The ground under his feet exploded like he'd stepped onto a landmine. Shrapnel screamed out in all directions. Again, the yellow shield took most of the damage.
I felt a mild satisfaction as he turned and hobbled towards me. One of his boots had been torn open and blood was flowing.
"That hurt," he growled. "But what kind of spell name is that? Kitty litter? Jesus, kid. That's so dumb."
I grinned at him. "Catcall."
Then Tippy's voice pierced the air. "Icebolt!"
"Fuck," the paladin gasped as the icy bolt slammed into his back like a frozen knife.
I sneered at him as he stumbled on his feet, coughing blood. He felt that one for sure.
"Your mistake was thinking I fight alone," I told him.
Wincing, he took another step towards me. "Doesn't matter. That didn't even tickle." He hefted his machete. "Redemptive Flames."
"Your shield lasts fifty seconds," I reminded him as the machete was suddenly coated in bright dancing flame. "Then you'll have about ten seconds until you can cast it again."
"Better kill you before then," he said grimly.
"Yeah, good luck with that." I glanced at a small sapling just wide of our car. "Teleport."
The universe flickered around me as my body was unmade and made again. In that frozen moment, everything looked to be made of small flickering lights.
I blinked as I rolled on my heels. It didn't matter how much you got used to teleporting, you always needed a second to recover.
"Furball," I slurred, sending another screaming ball of fur at him.
His shield lit up as fur needles whipped past his torso. He reached behind his back as he stomped towards me.
Whipping his hand back, I felt a wave of horror crash over me as I realised he had a gun. I'd forgotten he was a cop. Of course he'd have a gun.
"Icebolt!"
Tippy's dagger speared into his chest, causing him to drop to his knee even as he fired his first shot. A bullet punched into the ground less than half an inch from my foot.
"Shit," I shook my head and lifted my arm. "Kitty Litter."
This time, his shield didn't work.
He screamed as shrapnel tore into his flesh. Then threw himself backwards, rolling across the ground to avoid another Icebolt. When he got to his feet again, his pants and legs were a mess of tiny holes and the expression on his face was one of grim rage.
I smiled at the sight of his blood. There was more of it than I'd expected. Which meant he couldn't mitigate any of it. He wasn't a high enough level.
He'd taken every point of damage.
"Asshole," he snarled, bringing up his gun.
He might have shot me.
It might have really hurt me.
But Shadowpaw chose that moment to stab him firmly in the back.
"Furball," I snapped, not hesitating.
Splinters of fur exploded across his chest and shredded his flesh.
The corrupted paladin wheeled around, confused. He wasn't sure who to shoot first. But then something clicked in his head and he snatched Shadowpaw by the throat while swivelling to aim at me.
"Icebolt!"
"Holy Resist! Ice!" Clearly, he thought this was his moment. His eyes lit with hope as he tracked me while I tried to throw myself behind the car for cover.
"Paws!" I shouted, intending to freeze him in place for 3 seconds. Then groaned inwardly as nothing happened. I didn't have that spell, yet.
He squeezed the trigger.
The bullet hit.
I felt it burrow into me like a hot slug. Right into my side, just above my hip.
"Fuck!"
"Holy Shield!"
Shadowpaw had given up struggling against his Strength-empowered grip and instead pulled out a gun of her own and pressed it to his temple.
She pulled the trigger until there were no bullets left while he yelped like a kicked dog. While the damage could be absorbed, he was still feeling the impact of each projectile.
I glanced down at the wound in my side. It was pumping blood.
"Ah, great," I moaned. It really hurt. I should have just lay there, in shock or something. "Just terrific."
The thing is, I'd been hurt so many times. I knew there was only one thing you could do. Kill whatever hurt you so you can heal yourself.
I moaned, rolling onto my side. "Kelsi? I need heals."
But Kelsi wasn't here. My head swam. She was in Neyteria. I was on Earth. I didn't have a healer Neko yet.
I reached for a potion.
No potion.
"Fine," I sighed. "We'll do it the hard way."
I lurched to my feet, using the car to drag myself upright.
The corrupted paladin was struggling with Shadowpaw, whose face was turning bright red. "Tippy," I coughed. "Melt him."
"But Shadowpaw…"
"Friendly fire," I told her. "It's mitigated. Just melt him."
"Firebolt!"
A small ball of fire about fist-size, rocketed into him like a meteor. As it hit, it exploded like my Furball, but instead of fur, it left thick globules of molten rock which flared brightly.
"Again," I said, holding my side and feeling my blood slide between my fingers.
"Firebolt!"
This time, she cast more confidently. I nodded. It'd be a few seconds before she could cast again. "Keep it up. Don't stop. Furball."
With a roar, he threw Shadowpaw aside. She careened into the trailer and hit it with a sickening crunch before slumping motionless on the ground. Blood trickled out of her mouth and down her chin.
"Flash heal!"
I grimaced as he healed himself. This was why paladins of any kind were a pain to deal with. They just kept shielding and healing.
So annoying.
Hit by another firebolt, he aimed himself in my direction and came at me. He moved unsteadily, but with a heaviness that spoke of a higher Strength stat than mine.
"Phase," I breathed as he tried shooting me again. A bullet smashed into my face, disintegrating with a violet hiss and dealing no damage.
He fired again.
Same result.
He ran out of bullets just as Phase dropped off.
Unfortunately, he was right on top of me with the machete. Teleport was on cooldown.
So, I punched him in the gut as he reared up over me.
I had 3 points of Strength.
I'm sure he had more than that, but 3 points is still respectable when you're both low levels.
He doubled over my fist. Then I caught the blur of his own and was sent sailing away. Yeah. He had a lot of Strength.
I tumbled over the ground and landed on my back, my mouth full of blood which I had to spit out. He'd got me in the chest and I was finding it hard to breathe.
"Ugh," I wheezed, trying to get to my knees.
I heard him coming towards me.
"Kitty Litter." I had to push the words out. Each syllable took more air than my lungs felt capable of drawing.
The meagre damage didn't stop him, but it made him pause a half-second. Long enough for Tippy to toss another firebolt into his back.
"I just gotta kill you," he panted. I was pretty sure he was talking to himself, though. He was closing in with a drunken swagger. "That's all. Kill you and it's over."
His shield was the problem.
We'd only get 10 seconds between it going down and back up again to do any serious damage. Flash Heal, while it wouldn't heal him all the way back again, would keep him going for hours.
And I didn't have those hours.
"Kelsi," I hissed, confused as to why I still hurt so much. "Where the fuck are you?"
Neyteria, that's where. And I was here. On Earth.
Home.
I felt something squirm inside me at the thought. I didn't want Earth to be my home. I hated it here. Neyteria was where I'd felt more at home.
Home.
The word called to me in a way I hadn't felt before and a sudden shocking thought occurred to me.
It couldn't be that easy.
No way it could be that easy.
The corrupted paladin took another stumbling step as a Firebolt almost knocked him down.
I looked up at him, my body wracked with pain. Gently, I placed my hand on the ground, palm down, and smiled at him through bloodied teeth.
"Mark Territory."
Unclaimed Territory Identified.
Would you like to claim this for your own?
"Yes."
Initiating.
Complete.
Connecting to Claimed Territories.
Pending…
Connection Acquired.
The corrupted paladin lifted the flaming machete above his head. He was breathing hard, and blood was sliding from a thousand cuts caused by Kitty Litter.
I started to laugh and let myself fall onto my back.
For a moment, I'd thought the System had forsaken me. I had honestly questioned whether it had been really trying to kill me by giving him so much knowledge and power over me.
But, as the connection established and I saw some familiar options begin to unlock in a stream of notifications, I remembered there was always balance. It was always fair.
"It's not right you should be laughing when you die," he growled, kicking me in the ribs. "I want you to beg first. Beg for your worthless fucking life."
My laughter choked off, but I was still grinning.
He crouched beside me and took a fistful of my hair, jerking my head up so he could stare into my eye. He looked so intense. Like he was channelling Clint Eastwood. Or Rambo.
Either way, it made me giggle.
"This is for all those girls," he said, pressing the machete to my throat. "They didn't deserve what you did to them."
A shrill familiar voice shrieked; "Master!"
"Yes," I rasped, grinning even wider. Everything was perfect now. "You understand, right? For the Nekos. Everything I do, it's for them. The Nekos."
"Crazy bastard."
"Void Blast."
***
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