CHAPTER THREE
The fop glared at him, three newly risen golims by his left, the pile of dirt to his right a reminder of what had happened to his previous golim.
'So you wish to challenge me for real, then?'
As the students rapidly backed away, Brent suddenly realized what he'd got himself into. It wasn't a matter of the thread the golims posed. It was the students. They weren't anywhere near far away enough to be safe from his gun. He wasn't sure what effect it'd have on a human, but he was sure it wouldn't be pretty.
But there was no time to type out a warning, the fop was already motioning for his golims to encircle him, swords out. He switched to pistol, and started pedaling backwards, attempting to keep the golims within view. But this wasn't Counterstrike he was playing – his character couldn't reverse as fast as he'd like in this situation, which meant...
His train of thought was cut off as one of the golims leapt at him, sword coming down in a brutal overhead swing. Brent pumped two shots into it's chest, before sidestepping the expected attack from the golim now at his rear. He wasn't disappointed, as a sword whirled end over end through the space he had just been occupying. Brent narrowly prevented himself firing at the now defenseless construct – a crowd of students stood behind the thing, apparently oblivious to the danger. He cursed, and backed away, pumping a few shots into the downed sword - which gained a few bullet-hole sprites, but was otherwise unharmed.
There was a whiring sound, and Brent suddenly remembered there had been a third golim. Far too late to prevent the over sized sword sliding right through his thigh and into the ground below. By all rights, it should have pinned him to the ground, but this wasn't exactly a real body he was playing with. As his damaged leg forced him prone, Brent actually smiled – the grolims were all above him now. No danger of friendly fire hitting any of the students.
The fop was already puffing himself up, demanding his surrender in the most insulting terms possible, while Louise was calling for a healer. The fops words were cut off by two shots – followed by a further two. The remaining golims staggered... then collapsed. There was silence... broken by inarticulate sounds of fury as the fop realized what had just happened.
'Fine! You want to fight to the end? You won't surrender? I can deal with that.'
This time there were five golims, and no sooner had they burst from the ground, than they sprang into the air towards him, drawing their swords in the process. Brent barely had enough time to react, switching weapons and clicking the mouse, before the golims landed. The swords were oversized broadswords – way too heavy for people to weild, but quite fine for magical constructs. They sliced through his arms, legs, lower torso... everywhere but his head and heart. Completely ignoring the dirt-coloured metallic sphere their target had dropped just before they landed.
KRUUMP
There was a fountain of dirt and flame, and the student body instinctively ducked, covering their ears. When they cautiously raised their head, the golims were gone. Not even piles of dirt remained. They approached the site of the explosion... and one of the students giggled, before being shushed by her friends. There wasn't any crater... but there was a very well painted 'explosion' painted on the ground – the grass waving cheerfully through it. As they got closer though, all brevity ceased. The remains of Louse's familiar lay at the center of the explosion, [Guiche Killed Ub34L33t1] floating above the mutilated body.
If there was silence before, it was even deeper now. Luise silently started to cry. Guiche himself was pale – the offense for killing a familiar was quite severe. Never mind that he had only aimed non-lethal blows. It was hard to say who was more in shock – Guiche, or Louise. Most of the students were quietly slipping away now, but one or two with healing talents went forward to the... what could only be a corpse. There was always hope, after all...
As they examined the corpse, thoughts of expulsion filled Guiches mind. He'd be lucky if that was all he got away with. His friends had already slipped away, reluctant to associate with someone who had killed a familiar. Louise, for once, had company in her misery. Even if the cause was different. She hardly knew her familiar, and had found it unsettling – frightening even. But the prospect of gaining a powerful familiar – and just as quickly, losing it again...
Both students watched dully as the trainee water mages attempted their healing magic. Watched as they frowned... attempted some other spell... frowned further, and looked confused...
Neither Louise or Guiche had taken eyes off the healers for the past five minutes, all other students had now slipped away, and the healers themselves were busy attempting various spells on the fallen body. Thus, none saw the figure approaching from the direction of the academy until it slid past them, coming to a stop before Guiche.
[ Ub34L33t1: So did I win, or what?]
AUTHORS NOTES:
Yes, I know, I'm already falling away from that 'short but constant updates' plan I was having. But I've been enjoying myself with other projects too much. I think I'll have this in a sort of anime / tv show format – a series of short arcs.