"So, they're on their way, then?" Perun asked, waking almost immediately at the sound of the artificial Blade returning to their temporary camp.
The mechanical girl nodded. "Poppi spot small group of tiny little boats approach island. Count seven Drivers and Blade pairs on board based on thermal and ether detection."
Sitting up on her bedroll, Nia let out a loud yawn as she stretched. "It sure took them a while to get their act together, didn't it?" She asked.
It had been several hours since the group had arrived on the island. The first hour, while they had set about establishing a temporary camp, had been tense, with the group expecting to be jumped by enemy Drivers at any moment, even with Poppi keeping a watch for them.
Once it had become apparent that any potential pursuers were further behind them than expected, they had decided to take advantage of the opportunity to allow some of the group to take a rest. By this point, it was late enough at night that many of them had been up for the better part of a day, and considering the outlook of the near future, it would be smart for them to be as well-rested as possible.
They had settled on two sleep shifts, with Ciaran, Tora, and Rex, sleeping first, while Perun and Nia kept watch for Poppi's return. The former two, being a completely normal human and nopon respectively, lacked the endurance that a Core Crystal provided and thus were more susceptible to fatigue, even considering that Ciaran was used to operating without sleep due to his mercenary trade. Not that they were enlightened to this reasoning—neither was aware of Nia's Flesh Eater nature, after all.
The official justification was that the latter two were the most experienced with going days without rest and, as such, were the obvious choice for the first watch. Should the group be attacked before they were able to rest, then they would have greater combat effectiveness than the others in the same situation. It was a believable enough explanation that neither questioned it, and they soon settled into their bed rolls alongside Rex.
Fortunately, it had taken close to six hours for anyone to attempt a crossing. That had given the first group a full three hours to sleep, and the second group the better part of two. It was far from ideal, but with the circumstances being what they were, it was better than the alternative.
"Must have taken them a while to figure out how to get their whole group across the bay in a single go." Rex said, getting to his feet.
"Yes, I'm sure they were being mindful of that." Azurda agreed. "Had they needed to cross the bay in smaller groups, they would have been in danger of us taking them out piecemeal. That is never a position a fighting force wants to be put in."
"As shame, that." Lyta said. "It would have been far more convenient."
The diminutive Titan chuckled. "Alas, it is rare for one's enemies to make things so easy." He lamented. "We will have to manage."
"Speaking of managing," Nia asked, quickly packing her things away. "What was the word on the backup you and Ciaran called for?"
Lyta's head inclined slightly. "When we contacted them just after arriving here, they reported that they were no more than ten hours out." She replied. "We informed them of our current location, and they promised that they would push their vessel as fast as possible, but we cannot assume they will be in a position to assist us in the coming fight."
Rex frowned. It wasn't going to be easy. He had been in more than a few fights since beginning this journey, but this would be the first time he was going into a battle knowing for certain that they would be outnumbered.
"Do you believe it will be possible to render the circumstances more amenable?" Dromarch suggested. "Perhaps we could sink one of their transports as they cross?"
"Poppi already try." The artificial Blade revealed. "Launched boom biter at head boat when see, but was blocked by barrier from Blade on board."
"And there's not a lot of options here, either." Nia gestured around for emphasis. "Maybe Pe-Tokiha," she quickly corrected herself, "could ice over the approaches to make it harder for them to get to us, but one of the Blades they had last time was fire element, so there's nothing stopping them from melting the ice."
The vigilante shook her head. "I believe I would be better served using my powers to create fortifications." She stated. "If the previous encounter with the mercenaries under the kidnapper's employment is anything to base our assumptions off of, then they may attempt to capture Taion while we are busy fighting them. I can create a place for him to shelter in, to deny them the opportunity."
Rex nodded at the idea. "That sounds smart." He agreed. "It will mean we can focus on the fighting without worry."
He glanced around the clearing. Everyone had mostly gotten their stuff packed, the only real exception being Ciaran, who was carefully disassembling the transmitter for his communications terminal with Tora's help. "How long do you think we have until they get here?"
"Poppi not certain." The artificial Blade replied. "Were four-hundred-and-eighteen-point-five-five-two-zero-eight peds from shore when Poppi departed from observation point, with estimated time until landfall approximately forty-seven seconds." She explained. "Not able to estimate ability to traverse island in dark, but Poppi not think take longer than fifteen minutes."
"So probably ten at most by now." Nia concluded.
"Less, considering they will be able to see the lighting we've been using." Azurda pointed out. "That will cut out the need for them to search for us."
Rex glanced up at the orbs of ether he had launched into the air. The first ones he had created, back when they first arrived on the island, had been dismissed while he was napping, but upon waking up, he had created a new set to illuminate the area. "Should we get rid of these, then?"
"I don't think it will be worthwhile." Perun noted. "Even if they were extinguished, the chemical lights Ciaran and Lyta laid out are noticeable enough in the dark."
"S-sorry about that." Ciaran muttered, slinging the bag containing his transmitter over his shoulder. "I just figured that, you know…" He trailed off uncertainly. "We could use the light."
The vigilante shook her head. "It was the correct decision." She said. "It is better that we have a light source not reliant on a combatant maintaining his focus."
As they talked, Tora waddled up to Poppi, taking the Drill Shield from the artificial Blade. "What going on?" He asked. "Are baddiepons coming?"
"Yeah. Poppi spotted 'em." Nia pointed over her shoulder toward the jetty on the other side of the island. "You ready for another fight?"
Tora's eyes glittered with excitement at the prospect. "Tora born ready!" He exclaimed enthusiastically. "Poppi too busy playing with puppy Blade earlier to demonstrate, but Tora and Poppi want show friends fruits of training!"
"I-I am as well." Ciaran stuttered slightly, pulling what appeared to be the collapsed handle of a jousting lance off of his back. "Lyta and I… we're not the best fighters in Garfont, but we'll do what we can!"
Suddenly, Nia went still, her ears twitching as she focused on some distant sound. "Quiet down a minute." She hissed, waving for everyone to stop talking. "I hear them."
Perun's expression hardened. "How far away are they?" She inquired, the air around her cooling as she drew in ether.
"Maybe a hundred peds down the path?" The Gormotti girl replied. "It's a bit hard to judge; it's not a straight shot." She paused for a moment, frowning as she continued to listen. "I don't think they're trying to sneak up on us, though. They're being far too loud for that."
Kneeling down, the vigilante placed a hand against the ground, releasing the ether she had built up. Ice began to crawl along the surface, creeping upward in a thick, curling sheet. "I will prepare a shelter for Taion." She said, focusing on her work. "Can I rely on you to keep them distracted while I work?"
Rex nodded, pulling the Aegis Sword out from behind his back. "I bet we can do that."
Taion, who had been standing near the vigilante since she had woken up, ducked behind her. "I'll stay out of the way." He muttered just loud enough to hear.
"Don't worry." The salvager gave him a reassuring smile. "We'll send these guys packing again, and then go rescue your friends!"
He nodded uncertainly, apprehension visible in his eyes even with Rex's reassurances, but didn't say anything further.
The group, minus Perun, formed up in the middle of the clearing. Rex stood in the middle, Aegis Sword drawn and ready, while Tora and Ciaran flanked him, their respective Blades at their sides in position to either engage or assume a rearguard position as the situation demanded. Nia stood slightly back, keeping an eye and an ear out for any sign that the approaching enemies might try to pull something over in them.
It didn't take long for Rex to hear them approaching too. As Nia had claimed, they were not trying to hide themselves. Whether or not that was a good thing was up for debate, but it made them easy to locate. The sounds of their shoes crunching against the ground heralded their arrival long before they entered view.
Shortly thereafter, they entered the area lit by Rex's ether orbs. There were fourteen of them in total, seven Drivers and Blades, all approaching with their weapons drawn. Distantly, the salvager noted that three of them were members of the group that had attacked them earlier.
They were noticeably more wary than the rest. The lead Driver held his shield close to his chest, keeping minimal distance between himself and his Blade, while the Gormotti woman with the knives kept throwing cautious glances over at Nia. The Greataxe wielder was the opposite, pointedly not looking at Rex, even as one of his hands unconsciously brushed against where the salvager had slashed him earlier.
He didn't recognize any of the others, though. There were four more pairs, flanking the ones they had fought earlier. On one side, a shapely Urayan woman wearing a pair of Knuckle Claws stood, arms crossed, with a normal-looking male common Blade beside her. Slightly in front of her was a short Ardainian man wielding a Shield Hammer, a burly male Blade with a disapproving look on his face standing behind him.
On the other, a skinny Ardainian woman was bouncing a Bitball between her feet as she pranced up alongside a feline animal Blade, and a man with pointed ears hefting an Ether Cannon, being assisted by a female common Blade that barely looked half of Taion's age, took their positions further back than the rest of the group.
Upon seeing the party already formed up, the enemy Drivers tensed, the combatants with defensive weapons stepping to the front, while the Bitball and Ether Cannon wielders stood back.
"So, are you planning on warning us off again?" Nia asked sarcastically, activating her rings as she crossed her arms in front of her. "Or are we just going to get into it?"
The lead Driver chuckled. "Not really a point." He replied. "New orders won't allow it, and you wouldn't listen even if they did."
"You've got that right." Rex replied, a scowl on his face. "But we'll give you one: turn around and leave." The boy threatened. "I don't know how much they're paying you, but it isn't worth it!"
"Hah! If that's what you think, you've not seen how much they're giving us for this job, then." The man replied, casually dismissing the boy. "But that's not really my concern now, is it?"
Flames rolled around the head of his hammer as he made a signal with the hand holding the shield. There was a split-second ether fluctuation behind him before a crackling bolt of electric ether shot past him, aimed directly at Rex.
The salvager belatedly pulled the Aegis Sword into a guard, hoping to defend against the attack, but never got the chance. Before he could project a barrier, a wall of ether crystal filled his field of view.
"I-I guess we're jumping right in, then." Ciaran chuckled weakly, gripping the handle of his weapon with both hands. Rex had to blink in surprise as he saw it. When they had been forming up, the Nothian mercenary's weapon had been a large jousting lance, the six-foot blade composed entirely of ether crystal.
Yet at the moment, the blade of the weapon had reconfigured itself, separating and sliding back to form a shield large enough to cover a full-grown man on either side of him.
On the other side of the shield, the lead Driver growled in annoyance. "Split up and watch each other's backs!" He commanded. "That damned vigilante is around here somewhere… I don't want her jumping in at an inopportune time."
The other Drivers charged in, circling around Ciaran's shield, as they prepared to engage the party.
Nia only barely managed to cross her Twin Rings into position to block the opening strike from the lead Driver, flames rolling off of his hammer. The man was fast—far faster than someone of his burly build had any right to be. She had believed that, using a defensive hammer-type weapon, he would be comparatively slow, but that wasn't the case in the slightest.
And that speed was matched by strength, too. Despite the fact that his attack was only single-handed, the other occupied by the shield he held, the strike carried enough force to almost break through her two-handed guard.
When she had seen how much trouble Tora had dealing with this guy earlier, she had just assumed he needed to put more time into training. After just a few blows, she was quickly reassessing that conclusion. The nopon probably deserved more credit than she had realized for handling him so well earlier.
The man grinned at her as he saw her struggle to block the attack. "So, you're the one that diced Hef up earlier?" He laughed, applying more pressure to the weapon lock. "You sure don't look like all that much to me!"
She gritted her teeth, but didn't snipe back. In the current position she had found herself, the best way to break this lock should be…
"Maybe she's just losing her touch." The man replied, adding more pressure to his weapon. "I guess I'll have to-"
Nia twisted her arms to the side, redirecting the hammer away from her chest. She winced as flames from the hammerhead licked her offhand as the weapon scraped against her glove, but happily took the hit as it opened a hole in his guard. The Gormotti girl lunged forward without hesitation, drawing one of her rings against his flank.
The strike was shallow, an unfortunate side effect of the position her weapons had ended up in after breaking the lock, and wasn't even enough to make it through the leather backing of his armor. It did, however, leave her in a better position to attack him.
Spinning around, she lashed out with her mainhand ring, hoping to catch the man in the back before he could turn to face her. A shield like his was annoying to deal with under normal circumstances, so an opportunity such as this could possibly be the only chance she would have to-
A sudden flash of movement in her peripheral vision forced the girl to backpedal as the man's Blade lunged at her, a hellish glow building inside of its throat. She was taken aback by the turnaround—normally it was her enemies that found themselves having to deal with the jaws of an angry animal Blade—and did not particularly enjoy the experience of being on the other side of it for once.
She slid back, weapons at the ready, as the Volff-like common Blade touched down and immediately turned to face her. The Gormotti girl frowned as she prepared for the next strike. Why wasn't Dromarch keeping it locked down?
The Blade didn't give her the opportunity to look around for him. With an angry howl, the beast spat a chain of ember-like fireballs in her direction.
"Nia-Nia look out!" Was the only warning the girl received before Tora suddenly appeared in front of her, Drill Shield raised as he placed himself between Nia and the ether attack.
"Wha- Tora?!" She looked around wildly. Didn't he have his own opponent? He shouldn't be wasting time protecting her; she could-!
Her chain of thought was cut off as she was forced to dodge another strike from the Volff Blade's Driver. "Don't be forgetting about me, you little shit!" He snarled, lashing out with the spiked end of the hammer.
"Like I could forget an ugly mug like yours." She retorted, batting his arm away as he attempted a followup strike. Behind him, she saw Dromarch finally make an appearance, tackling the Volff Blade as the stream of embers petered out. His appearance came just in time, as Tora was suddenly beset by the Driver with the Greataxe.
Nia slashed at the man with her offhand ring, only to find that he was already prepared to block it. She couldn't help but grimace as the impact of her weapon on the shield rattled her hand. She didn't have a solid plan in place for dealing with him yet.
Under normal circumstances, she would prefer to use her rings to disarm him before trying to wedge the shield out of her path, but that wasn't going to work here. The man was too fast for her to trap his hammer, and was apparently wise to her tricks thanks to using them on one of his companions earlier.
She stepped back as he attempted to bash her with his shield, trying to figure out the best way to handle this. None of her Arts would be particularly useful here, not with how fast he was, but maybe she could bait him into opening a hole in his guard?
The man swept low with his hammer again, trying to sweep under her guard. Seeing an opportunity, she countered the attack with her mainhand ring, catching the head in the center of her weapon. Before he could react, she twisted her hand, trying to wrench the hammer from his grasp.
It was an almost instinctual move, honed by years of using Dromarch's weapons. It was so ingrained in her combat style that she had done it without even considering that it might be bait.
A sudden shock of pain ran through her arm as the enemy Driver brought his shield down on her forearm like a guillotine. It wasn't enough to break the limb, reinforced as she was by ether, but it was more than enough to bite into her flesh.
She cried out in pain, the ring dropping from her hand as the shock of the injury made her lose her grip. The injury wasn't too deep—Blade weapon or not, the edges of the shield were too blunt to do more than cut superficially—but Architect did it hurt!
"My Lady!" Dromarch called in alarm, feeling her surprise through their bond. The tiger leapt to the defense of his Driver, smashing the smaller Volff Blade out of his path with his bulk as he lunged at the unprotected back of her foe.
Nia withdrew from his range, ether building in the ring she was still holding as she weaved a healing Art together. "Stupid!" She cursed herself. "That was such an obvious bait!"
The pain in her arm began to fade as she released the Art, barely pausing before summoning a new ring to her mainhand. Her tendons twinged in discomfort as she gripped the still-forming handle, but she brushed it off; she didn't have the luxury of waiting for her arm to finish healing right now.
Leaping back into the fight, she could see that the man was trying to maneuver around Dromarch. For his part, the tiger was clawing angrily at the man's shield, trying to keep it pinned in one place.
Never one to miss an opening her Blade had given her, Nia charged forward, rings held at her sides as she moved to strike the man. He must have seen her in his peripheral vision, as he twisted his torso in an attempt to put the shield between him and the Gormotti Driver. Unfortunately for him, Dromarch chose that moment to bite down on the edge of the shield, keeping it firmly out of position.
She came in low, around the partial cover of the shield, and lashed out with her rings. In retaliation for the earlier shield bash, she slashed one ring toward his exposed elbow, while the second was aimed at his torso.
At the last minute, he gave up trying to win against the tiger, releasing his grip on the shield and stumbling back out of the way of Nia's strike. He wasn't completely successful; the strike from her offhand was still able to cut through the leather armor over his elbow before he backed out of range, but it did allow him to avoid the promised abdominal injury.
The Gormotti girl prepared to pursue him, but an ether fluctuation from behind the enemy line caused her to stop short. Dromarch didn't so much as pause as he threw himself in front of his Driver, roaring in defiance as he projected a barrier.
An attack that she hadn't been expecting struck the wall of force. The temperature plummeted around them as ice condensed on the other side, centered on a spiked Bitball that had been stopped cold.
Nia's teeth chattered as the ice ether filled the air around her, blanketing both herself and Dromarch. She could do nothing but watch as the man's Blade returned to it's Drivers side, standing protectively in front of him as he hastily downed a healing potion.
She gathered ether into her rings, glaring at the man even as she kept a wary eye out for another attack by the Bitball user. She really hoped Rex was having a better time of this.
"Duck!" Azurda called out in warning as Rex blocked a haymaker from his current opponent.
He didn't even think twice about listening to the Titan, dropping as low as he could the moment his brain processed the words. The air crackled with electricity as a bolt of ether passed through the space that had been occupied by his head a moment earlier.
"There's gotta be something we can do about that Ether Cannon." He muttered, blocking another strike from the brawler. It was more difficult than it appeared on the surface, the woman accompanying each strike with small bursts of flame to increase the effect.
"I-I'm trying to keep us covered!" Ciaran insisted, his lance caught in a shoving match with a Shield Hammer. "Y-you must've done something to piss them off, though; it feels like half the group's gunning for you!"
Rex was preparing to reply to that, but was forced to disengage from his fight with the brawler as a flurry of wind projectiles, courtesy of the Gormotti woman with the Dual Knives, attempted to skewer him.
Honestly, that sort of proved the Nothian boy's point.
After all the sparring they had done the last week, Rex liked to think he was getting the hang of fighting against agile, dual-wielding fighters like Nia. After his poor showing against the Special Inquisitor, Azurda had all but demanded he learn how to properly fight against someone who wouldn't just stand there and take the blow.
In his opinion, he was even making good progress. But that didn't mean he was prepared to go up against two at once.
The moment the wind cutters were clear, the brawler charged back in, her fists wreathed in flames. "Come on, love!" She called cheerfully, even as she threw a punch at his face. "Surely you can figure it out!"
"Figure what out?!" Rex replied, blocking the strike with the flat head of his sword. "All we did was step in when those three were causing trouble earlier!"
She threw another punch, this time lower on his torso. "You've gotta have done something else!" She replied as Rex stopped the second strike as well. "Whatever it was, somebody found it real interesting~! They made you a priority target, don't you know?"
Bouncing back to avoid a counterattack, the woman continued to taunt him. "So just be a good kid and take your lumps, okay?"
Rex's expression darkened. He had a fairly good idea of what had earned him that 'priority target' designation. The kidnappers had a tracking Blade, and there had been hours between him first encountering Perun and Taion and the woman shrouding them from the trace. The Blade must have discovered what he was.
He didn't have the opportunity to consider it any further. The woman leapt forward again, one arm pulled back in preparation for a powerful blow. Behind him, he heard the footsteps of the Gormotti woman with the knives approaching from behind.
It would be really convenient if he had worked out how to make barriers in a direction other than the one he was facing right about now.
With no good options for blocking, he countercharged the Urayan woman, the Aegis Sword angled as if he were planning to strike her with the pommel. He could hear a confused gasp as he ran deep into her engagement range.
The woman lashed out with a fist, the bladed knuckles of her gauntlet aimed at his head, but he was already too close for the blow to properly land. Instead, the blow ran across the flat of the Aegis Sword as Rex drove the pommel into her gut.
She staggered back, the air driven from her lungs by the strike, as Rex immediately wheeled around to face the second combatant. In theory, the woman with the knives was a greater threat than the brawler, especially considering she was behind him at the time.
But he didn't need to worry. The woman was several feet away, dealing with her own problems. Apparently, while he had been tackling the brawler, Lyta had stepped in to even the numbers against him.
Ghostly arms of dark ether rose out of the ground, grasping at the woman's legs. She was panicked, using her weapons to slice at the apparitions holding her in place. Had it not been for her own Blade engaging Lyta in a fistfight, she would have been left open to an attack.
Satisfied that he wasn't going to be literally stabbed in the back for a second time, Rex turned his attention back to the brawler. If he could knock her out of the battle now, then it would go a long way toward evening the odds of the battle even before Perun was ready to join the fi-
A flaming fist struck him in the jaw, knocking the boy off his feet. He tumbled to the ground, momentarily stunned by the impact. Who had hit him?! The brawler should still be…
He looked up as he scrambled back to his feet, using the Aegis Sword as a handhold. Standing between him and the Urayan woman was her Blade, his Knuckle Claws blazing on his fists as he stood defensively in front of his still-recovering Driver.
Ether rolled off of the Blade as his ether lines quite literally burned, a suffocating heat washing over Rex as he hastily resumed a combat stance.
The Blade leapt into the air, flames whirring around his fists like a hurricane. He raised his arms over his head as he began to descend, as if preparing to smash the ground on impact.
In response, Rex raised a barrier between them. The fire Blade brought his fists down against it, and a wave of ether flowed out across the energy field. In an instant, the air around them rose to near volcanic temperatures as whatever Art his opponent had intended to use safely released against his protections.
As the Blade rebounded, Rex gathered ether for his own Art in response. He coiled his legs, preparing to leap after his opponent…
…Only to stumble forward as he was struck in the back of the shoulder by a bolt of electric ether, courtesy of the gunner behind the enemy line.
He winced in pain, nearly dropping the Aegis Sword as the electric shock caused his arm to spasm. That damned Ether Cannon was going to keep being a problem the whole fight, wasn't it?
The shot hadn't caused him to release the ether he had been gathering, though, so on a spur-of-the-moment decision, he pointed his weapon at the gunner and fired off a Sword Blast. It probably wasn't the smartest tactical decision at the moment, but he really just wanted the gunner to quit targeting him for a minute!
It was a distraction that nearly cost him, though. Just as the bolt of light left his sword, Azurda called out a warning. "In front!" He yelled, pointing back toward the brawler and her Blade.
Bringing his sword into an immediate block, Rex turned to face his original foes again. The Urayan woman was on her feet again, the Knuckle Claws back on her fists as she laid into him with a flurry of blows.
He didn't have to do much to block them—with the energy Blade engaged, the Aegis Sword was broad enough that holding the blade across his body shielded him from most strikes—but it did pin him in place rather effectively. She was striking too fast for him to have the opportunity to counterattack, and blocking her was leaving him vulnerable to being shot in the back again.
"Ciaran, I need a hand here!" He heard Lyta call from behind him. He hadn't been able to keep track of how well she was distracting the knife wielder, but if she was beginning to struggle, then he might have another melee attacker on him in a moment.
Space. That was what he needed. If he could just get a moment of reprieve from the flurry of unarmed strikes, he could try to seize the initiative from the Urayan brawler.
Rex twisted the Aegis Sword slightly to knock one of the blows off course, before leaping back as far as he could. It might have been a little overkill for the situation, but he wanted to give himself as much space as possible. As he flew through the air, a crackling hiss of electricity crossed the battlefield as yet another shot from the Ether Canon targeted him, passing through the space he had occupied a moment earlier.
He touched down just behind Ciaran, as the Nothian boy was spinning around to help assist his Blade. From the look of it, he had been handling the Shield Hammer user just fine in a shoving match, the extra range his lance afforded him an advantage in the exchange.
The Nothian boy twisted the weapon in his hands, causing the head of the Shield Hammer, which had been in a lock with him, to slide down the blade of the lance and off to the side. As the short Ardainian man holding the hammer stumbled forward at the sudden lack of resistance, Ciaran stepped into his guard, pulling the lance as close to is body as the angle would allow, and swept it downward.
With his footing so unstable, the man could do nothing to prevent his feet from being swept out from beneath him by the strike. He collapsed to the ground with a grunt, leaving him vulnerable to a follow-up that never came.
Instead, the Nothian boy ran past his fallen form, a spectral cloud of dark ether spiraling around the head of his lance as he charged in to assist Lyta.
But Rex didn't have the time to pay the boy any further mind. He charged forward as well, Aegis Sword held low and light ether rolling off of the energy blade as he reengaged the Urayan brawler.
The woman brought her arms together in a block as she watched him charge, preparing to take whatever blow he had planned head-on. He didn't know what the woman's defensive capabilities were, but he had no intention of merely striking her with a frontal attack.
As he entered melee range, rather than immediately attack, the boy curled his legs in mid-stride and leapt into the air, sailing over the woman and bypassing her guard.
He would be the first to admit this was a risky move; it was going to put him in a prime position for the woman's Blade to attack. But in doing so, he would put the Urayan woman between him and the gunner that kept trying to snipe him, which he considered worth the risk.
No sooner did his feet touch the ground, just behind the woman, than he spun around, Aegis Sword trailing light ether, and slashed her across the back.
The woman howled in pain as the energy blade bit into her skin, easily bypassing the light armor she was wearing. Behind him, he could hear a scream of rage from her Blade, but Rex ignored it as he moved to capitalize on the strike. He continued the slash, spinning around his axis as he came in for a second strike.
Regrettably, the woman's response to the blow was to drop under the angle of his swing, leaving his follow-up bereft of a target. Rather than cleaving into the Driver again, his sword parted nothing but air.
On the other hand, it allowed him to see a new threat approaching: a Bitball glowing with ice ether that had been spiked in his direction.
Rex pulled back, out of the path of the incoming projectile. It slammed into the ground between where he had been and the Urayan Driver, releasing a pulse of ether that…
…Didn't do anything?
He frowned, trying to assess what the attack had been meant to do. After the earlier battle with the Greataxe welder, he was naturally wary of Arts that didn't have an immediately obvious effect. This wasn't going to freeze him in an iceberg or something, was it?
A groan of relief drew his attention as the Urayan woman, who had been curled over, holding a hand to her injured back, slowly stood up straight. As she did, chunks of ice, stained red with the woman's blood, flaked off of her back.
That wasn't an attack—not directly, at least—but a healing Art.
"Oh, that's much better!" The woman said cheerfully, assuming a combat stance again. "Too bad for you, though; you almost had me there!"
Rex tightened his grip on his weapon. They weren't making any headway against these Drivers. Sure, Perun hadn't taken the field yet, which was exacerbating the situation, but even without her, it was indicative of the larger problem: as outnumbered as they were, they were struggling to keep their opponents down. Every time they tried, another enemy was there, ready to heal them or give them a moment to catch their breath.
Behind the Urayan woman, the Ardanian man with the Shield Hammer was being helped to his feet by his Blade. The Driver was already turning his attention back to Ciaran, no doubt intent on rejoining the fight with him after being 'ignored' by the Nothian in favor of helping Lyta.
An ether fluctuation, accompanied by a rapid drop in the nearby temperature, made it clear that wasn't going to happen. The Ardanian man's Blade threw himself in the way of the incoming attack, projecting a barrier just in time to defend against a massive icicle.
The projectile struck the wall of force and shattered into a scintillating cloud of diamond dust, obscuring both Driver and Blade from view. It did not, however, hide Perun's entrance into the fray.
She had leapt from somewhere, presumably by the fortification she had been making for Taion, and managed to cross the entire length of the battlefield in a single jump. She was moving so fast that, had she not passed close enough to one of Rex's light orbs to cast a shadow across the clearing, the boy wouldn't have noticed her.
Her trajectory carried her into the center of the cloud of shattered ice, where the Shield Hammer welder and his Blade were blinded. With vision inside obscured, Rex couldn't see what happened next, but from the sudden cries of alarm from the Ardainian and his Blade, he hoped it would be a well-needed knockout.
Spirits bolstered by the knowledge that the melee fight was now even, Rex charged forward, Aegis Sword alight once more. He weaved around yet another bolt of electricity that threatened to take his head off as he ran. Soon, he'd be able to return the favor, but he needed to take the woman out first.
The impact of the Greataxe against the surface of the shield physically shook Tora, yet he stood firm regardless. The whine of rockets filled the air as he pulsed the shield's thrusters just enough to keep him from being pushed back.
Leverage had been a major concern of his during the design phase of the JS loadout. While a shield as big as he was seemed like the obvious choice for a beginner like him, it was accompanied by an obvious problem: How did a nopon, even as large a specimen as he was, resist being thrown around whenever the shield was hit?
His answer, as the answer to all questions should be, was rockets. Stabilization thrusters, to be precise, the same sort that the Ardainian military used for their torpedoes. Grafted onto the back of the shield, they were able to provide sufficient thrust to counter an impact that would otherwise send him flying.
It had only been once he began field testing his prototypes that he discovered the potential to use them for propulsion as well, rocketing into the face of anyone who dared threaten his friends! During the testing phase, it hadn't been a particularly viable tactic due to the limited fuel reserves, but he had kept it in mind for later.
With the finished product, however, it was a different story. These thrusters were powered by a remote energy link synchronized with Poppi's ether furnace, intended to mimic a Blade's ability to transfer ether to their weapons. Unshackled from the limitations of fuel capacity, he could easily use the thrusters to jet around the battlefield.
As such, the moment he felt the pressure against the face of the shield begin to abate, Tora kicked the rockets to full burn and shot forward, drill auger on the front running at full spin. The Greataxe of the enemy Driver was knocked aside by his sudden advance, leaving the man in front of him vulnerable.
"Meh meh meh!" He called out a battle cry, drowning out the yelp of alarm from his enemy as the tip of the drill zeroed in on the man's throat.
Tora's shield rocked as it impacted the man. From behind its cover, he couldn't see exactly where he had hit, but it was clear the enemy Driver had made at least an attempt to dive out of the way. Obviously, it hadn't been completely effective—his cry of alarm morphed into a howl of pain as the drill bit into something—but it was probably more of a glancing impact than what he had aimed for.
Impacting off-center like that, the nopon was sent spinning behind the enemy Driver. Immediately, he cut power to the thrusters, giving him a semblance of control over his tumble. It wouldn't do to leave himself as a target, even with Poppi keeping the man's Blade occupied for the moment.
The mechanical girl was currently in a shoving match with her burly counterpart, demonstrating to the much larger woman that, when fighting against a robot designed with superhuman strength, size had very little bearing on the outcome. The enemy Blade was putting her full weight behind her, the arcs of electricity crossing her frame making it clear that she was boosting her physical strength far beyond normal, yet despite that, Poppi wasn't so much as budging from her position.
He took the Drill Shield in one wing, using the weight to cancel out the momentum of his spin as he rotated around to face the enemy Driver again, a maneuver he had spent several long hours practicing over the last week under Azurda's watchful eye. The man was holding his right shoulder, blood running down his arm where the drill had easily pierced the armor and shredded the ether-reinforced flesh beneath.
"What is it with you brats and this shoulder?!" The man hissed, fury burning in his eyes as he glared at Tora. "That's twice of you have tried blast it off! Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is for-!"
"Hoel, enough!" His Blade barked in frustration. She disengaged from Poppi, summoning her Greataxe to her hand as she landed. "Pop back to the healer and get your shoulder patched up. I'll keep these two busy."
Poppi fell into position behind Tora, focusing entirely on transferring ether between her and her Driver. "Poppi not think likely." She commented skeptically. "Big Bladey not handle Poppi by self; how think handle Poppi and Masterpon at same time?"
Electricity crackled around the woman in response as her ether lines began to glow. "Don't get cocky." She growled. "You'll find that there's a difference between fighting a Blade bare-handed and one that has her weapon in hand!"
The artificial Blade took a half-step forward, sliding in front of Tora defensively. "Poppi think welcome to try." She said.
Tora was beaming, even as he tried to keep a serious look on his face. Poppi was finally using the battle quip module! He knew the two weeks of combing through pulp action novels for the seed data weren't a waste of time!
With a crackling boom, the Blade in front of them blurred in place, one moment standing at the ready, the next only a foot in front of them, Greataxe raised over her shoulder to strike. Although much slower than Zeke had been, Tora was barely able to register her moments. The same could not be said for Poppi, however.
Her hand shot out, catching the haft of the axe in mid-swing. Despite the amount of force behind the blow, both from the burly Blade's physical strength and the speed she had been moving at, the weapon was stopped cold.
Then, the built-up electric ether discharged.
"Poppi!" Tora cried, shielding his eyes from the blinding flash. He was worried by the amount of ether the artificial Blade was being subjected to.
On paper, her systems should be capable of neutralizing almost half-again the maximum quantity of ether a standard Blade should be capable of outputting. He was confident that was true—the math worked out, at least—but he was aware that it didn't account for outliers. In particular, he had never had the opportunity to run the numbers with elemental interactions taken into effect.
Poppi currently had an earth ether chip installed, but the enemy Blade was using electric ether. Would her systems be able to stand up to a conflicting ether element like that?
As the light dimmed, he opened his eyes hesitantly. "P-Poppi?" He asked, almost fearfully, as he looked up at where the artificial Blade was stood.
Smoke drifted lazily from the mechanical girl's joints, accompanied by intermittent sparks arcing across the metallic portions of her chassis. Her fingers, still wrapped around the haft of the axe, twitched erratically from the electrical discharge.
But she was still clearly standing.
"Y-you're…!" The burly Blade stammered, eyes wide as she realized that the artificial Blade had been nearly unharmed by the Blade Art. She pulled back on the axe, trying to withdraw, but found that Poppi still held it firmly in her grip.
"Is all Bladey do?" Poppi asked innocently, increasing the pressure on the Axe. "Poppi disappointed."
She squeezed, and the Blade weapon crumbled under her grip. Deprived of resistance, the woman stumbled back, only to stop abruptly as Poppi's hand shot out again, this time wrapping around a protrusion sticking from the Blade's helmet.
"Poppi think should go to sleep now." She stated.
Before the woman could process the message, Poppi yanked the Blade's head down, her own knee rising at the same time to meet it. There was a sickening clang of metal on bone as the two collided.
The Blade went limp, Poppi's metallic knee driving her into blissful unconsciousness. She let go of the helmet, a pleased expression on her face as she watched the woman fall bonelessly to the ground.
Satisfied that the other Blade wasn't going anywhere, she turned around to face her creator. "Is Masterpon okay?" She asked.
He nodded, stars in his eyes as he stared up at the artificial Blade. "Poppi is coolest Blade ever." He whispered under his breath, awed by her quick takedown of their enemy.
Poppi smiled. "Masterpon all to thank!" She replied. Her face only held the expression for a moment before looking around. "But should probably help friends with battle."
Tora perked up at the reminder. "Tora not forget!" He insisted, hiking the Drill Shield back up as he checked the condition of the others. Nia-Nia was still fighting the hammer and shield Driver, not seeming to make much headway but holding relatively well. Rex-Rex, on the other hand, was struggling to handle his own opponent while simultaneously dodging fire from an Ether Cannon outside of melee range. Maybe helping him would be the best-
A sudden pulse of ether drew his attention. Turning his head, Tora saw that Ciaran was doing… something with his weapon. The Nothian boy had raised the lance aloft and was waving it over his head like a flag. A spectral trail of darkness followed the tip like a pennant, sending out waves of distorted, unnatural-feeling ether.
Whatever he was doing, it was drawing attention. The Bitball and the Ether Cannon Drivers had apparently become unnerved because they had switched from harassing Rex-Rex and Nia-Nia to firing upon the Nothian boy. In an instant, his lance reconfigured into a massive shield, easily absorbing the blows.
Tora was a little jealous watching, to be honest. That was what an actual shield-type Blade weapon was supposed to look like. As much as he loved the Drill Shield, seeing their ally wielding something capable of protecting more than just himself was a little…
He slapped himself, knocking the thought out of his mind. So what if his shield was smaller? That didn't mean it couldn't protect his friends just as well!
"Poppi, Tora is going to help Nia-Nia." He stated, priming the thrusters on the Drill Shield. "Enemies on Rex-Rex distracted for moment."
"How Masterpon want handle?" She asked, watching the Gormotti girl's battle intently. She was using an Art, her rings glowing with ether as they struck against the Driver's shield. On the fourth hit, one of the bladed segments caught the shield's edge, wrenching it out of position. The enemy Driver stumbled slightly as he fought to keep control of it, leaving him briefly open to attack.
"Poppi Drill!" He replied, tossing the shield to Poppi. "Tora want see how baddiepon handle that!"
The artificial Blade nodded. "Roger!" She chirped, grabbing the shield out of the air. The whine of thrusters spooling up echoed from her legs as she shook before shooting into the air. The status indicator on her chest glowed a brilliant orange as her ether furnace worked at its maximum current capacity, flooding her circuits with ether.
Mid-air, she aimed the shield down at the Driver fighting Nia, the auger of the Drill Shield spinning at top speed as Poppi transferred the building ether into the weapon. The man seemed to realize that he was in danger, shooting a panicked look up at her even as he parried a blow from the Gormotti girl with his hammer.
"Yokoro, to me!" He warned, batting a second strike away.
His Blade, which was struggling against the much larger Dromarch, rolled under a bite from the tiger and scampered over to its Driver. Poppi kicked on the thrusters of the Drill Shield, screaming the name of her attack as she raced in.
"POPPI DRILL~!" She cried, a corona of earth ether swirling around her.
The Volff Blade reached its master in time, sliding to a halt in the path of the drill. It let out a loud, resounding bark of challenge as it projected a barrier in the way of the attack.
Just moments later, Poppi slammed into the energy field. Sparks flew wildly as the drill head skittered across the surface, trying to find purchase as the rockets drove it forward. The barrier shone like the sun as it struggled to resist the power behind the attack, unable to send the artificial Blade rebounding while under thrust.
And then, just like that, the barrier failed. With the sound of shattering glass, the tip of the drill pierced through and carried Poppi with it.
Both the enemy Driver and his Blade leapt clear of the attack the moment it became obvious she would get through. With most of the built-up ether expended, by the time Poppi crashed into the ground, her foes were out of range of any of the effects of the attack.
They did seem wary of the mechanical girl, though, as the Driver held his shield in her direction while he regained his footing, the animal Blade at his side. After her attack, Poppi had become the primary focus of their attention.
It was something that Nia seemed more than happy to take advantage of. In fact, from the sudden look of eagerness on her face, Tora suspected that the Gormotti girl was thinking of this as an opportunity.
"Dromarch, let's go!" She called out to the tiger as she began running parallel to their opponents. "We can't let Tora and Poppi have all the fun!"
"Of course, my Lady!" Dromarch replied, galloping over to his Driver.
As he ran by, the Gormotti girl leapt onto his back, securing her position with her knees as she brandished her Twin Rings. The Driver and Blade looped around their foes, moving into the blind spot behind them.
Then, something Tora had never seen before occurred. Both Nia and Dromarch began gathering ether—something that wasn't entirely unexpected—but it was strange. The ether lines across the tiger began to glow as expected, but… so did Nia. In fact, both of them were glowing as a shimmering aura of golden ether ran across them.
In perfect synchronization, the two attacked. Nia tossed her rings in a style akin to the new Art that Azurda had been teaching her, while Dromarch let loose a thunderous roar of ether. Their opponents had begun to turn in their direction, the ripples of disturbed ether drawing their attention, but neither was able to do anything to prevent the attack.
Nia's rings struck first. Edged with swirling water ether, they cut through the formation of the Driver and Blade. One ring bit into the Driver's arm, while the other cut a deep gash across the Blade's flank. Both cried in pain at the injuries as the rings continued on, looping around like a pair of boomerangs back to the Gormotti girl's hands.
Then Dromarch's attack hit.
A solid column of water and sound struck them mere moments after the rings did, the force carrying both Driver and Blade off of their feet. The two were thrown back, landing a full five feet from where they had once stood before skidding at least another three.
It wasn't the end, either. As the rings spun around to their point of origin, Nia leapt from Dromarch's back towards one of them, while the tiger leapt for the other. They grabbed them mid-air, their trajectories carrying them towards their fallen foes.
The Driver was trying to lift himself up from the ground, clearly disoriented by Dromarch's attack, while the Volff Blade was still rolling to its feet. Neither were in a position to defend as the Gormotti girl and the tiger flew in, their weapons at the ready.
As she landed, Nia struck. Holding the ring with both hands, she brought it down on the Driver's head with all of her might. Beside her, Dromarch did much the same, the ring held in his mouth smashing into the other animal Blade's cranium.
It proved to be too much for them. Already disoriented by the ether attack, the Driver and Blade collapsed to the ground, so still that only the subtle rising and falling of the Driver's torso made it clear he was still alive.
"Well," Nia said, placing a hand on her hip as she accepted the ring from Dromarch with the other. "Been a while since we've used that one, hasn't it?"
Dromarch nodded in agreement, rolling his neck. "I dare say it has." He replied. The tiger glanced around, checking the status of the battle.
"That amazing!" Tora cried in glee, running up to the pair. "Tora never hear of Driver and Blade do something like!"
Nia grinned at the nopon. "It's a bit of a more advanced Driver trick." She revealed. "I bet you and Poppi'll be able to do it one day, too."
"My Lady." Dromarch spoke up before Tora could inquire further. "It would appear that Master Rex is in the most need of assistance next."
Poppi glanced over at the boy, who was currently fending off both the Urayan woman with the Knuckle Claws and her Blade at the same time. "Would not be better to fight Bitball and Ether Cannon Drivers?" She asked. "They heal enemy injuries and sneaky-shoot Rex and Ciaran when focused on baddiepons in front."
The Gormotti girl winced as she saw Rex. "You guys can start tackling those too, but he'll need the help first." She insisted, already breaking into a run. "Looks like he's taken some bad hits. He'll need some healing before I feel comfortable hitting anyone else."
As she ran off, Dromarch at her heels, Tora and Poppi broke away from them to engage the two unoccupied enemy Drivers. The way the battle was turning, they wouldn't be alone for long.
A column of flames washed over Rex, breaking against the hastily deployed barrier the boy had thrown up in front of himself. Even protected, he couldn't help but grimace at the wash of heat that accompanied it.
Even as the barrier held, he was preparing to dodge out of the way. For the amount of fire that the Blade had released, there hadn't been all that much ether pushed into the attack. He suspected it had been done primarily as a feint.
"Three… two… one…" He counted, mostly to himself, as the fire began to die down. Behind the thinning flames, he could see a flicker of movement to his left as the brawler approached.
"Zero." Rex rolled to the right, dropping the barrier just as the last embers of the Blade Art licked against it. The moment was a little awkward, requiring him to temporarily deactivate the Aegis Sword to prevent himself from gouging out his torso with one of the crossguard beams, but it left him in position to punish the woman who had thought she could get the drop on him.
A flaming fist passed through the air where his head had been a moment earlier as the brawler lashed out with a right hook. Positioned as he was, he could see the shock on her face as she realized he had not dodged in the direction she had been expecting.
The Aegis Sword blazed to life as the boy lunged out of the crouch, launching a two-handed thrust at the Urayan Driver. She attempted to twist her body out of the way, but between her overextended position and the sheer size of the weapon, the woman could not avoid being struck in the flank by the blade.
She hollered in pain, stumbling past Rex as she attempted to regain her balance. It would have been a perfect time to follow up on her, but unfortunately, her Blade was already in position to protect her.
Rex ducked under a punch from the Blade, slashing at him as he came in for a second blow. Unlike his Driver, the Blade didn't hesitate to take hits. With Blade regeneration, he was more than capable of taking a hit and didn't seem to mind the pain so long as it gave his Driver a chance to recover.
That also meant he could be far more aggressive in his assault, ignoring slashes to his chest and arms in order to land a blow that nobody else would have so much considered. Flashes of regeneration filled Rex's vision as he fended the Blade off, any semblance of style breaking down as he slashed wildly in hopes of hitting something the Blade would consider important enough to protect.
Ultimately, he was the one forced back. Dodging under a sweep that had fully entered his guard, Rex leapt backward, out of the Blade's immediate engagement range. His shoulder throbbed as he landed, still singed from the Ether Cannon shot earlier. He thanked the Architect that the gunner wasn't focused on him at the moment, still occupied with Ciaran after… whatever it had been the Nothian boy did to draw his attention.
He took a defensive stance, ignoring the pain, as he watched his opponents form up again. The Urayan woman had taken full advantage of the opening her Blade had given her, based on the discarded flask at her feet, a few drops of glowing green liquid still clinging to the bottom of the container. She accepted the Knuckle Claws back from her Blade as she took a ready stance, preparing to engage again.
Rex frowned as he watched. His current approach wasn't working. This was the third time he had landed a solid blow on the woman, just for another one of the combatants to prevent him from knocking her out of the fight for good. At this rate, the battle was going to become one of attrition, and while he suspected that it was one they would win, how long would it take?
Off to the side, Rex felt a fluctuation of ether from where Perun was fighting the Shield Hammer Driver and his Blade. A wave of cold washed over the battlefield as a massive spire of ice rose from the ground, accompanied by a cry of alarm from her opponents.
...Well, okay… It probably wouldn't become a battle of attrition with her on the field, but he still considered it important to be able to take down his opponent on his own. He was the Aegis now, for the Architect's sake! How could he live up to Mythra's expectations if he couldn't even handle a single Driver in a one-on-one setting?
A twinge of pain from his shoulder reminded him that this was not, in fact, a one-on-one battle, but he elected to ignore that. His pride was on the line, dammit!
Ether built up in his sword as he considered the situation. The brawler was fast, but she wasn't the most skilled. Between her and her Blade, he would definitely consider the latter to be the bigger threat here. His willingness to take advantage of his regeneration to get into Rex's guard made him dangerous in a way the other Drivers and Blades they had faced before, even Morag and Brighid, weren't.
But at the same time, he couldn't ignore the Driver either. She was still an active combatant, and with the amount of effort it might take to deal with her Blade, Rex wasn't certain he would be able to defend against her at the same time.
Seeing him seem to hesitate, the Urayan woman charged forward, fists wreathed in flames again. "What's wrong?" She mocked. "Losing your nerve?"
Rex ignored the barb, raising the Aegis Sword in her direction. He could see the woman's Blade running up behind her, ready to throw up a barrier as needed, but that might be to his benefit. If he could bait him into protecting against a weaker attack…
A compressed bolt of water ether shot past him, aimed at the approaching brawler. The woman dug her heels in, eyes wide as she stopped only just short of the unexpected attack. "Nia?" Rex asked in surprise, not taking his eyes off of his opponent.
The Gormotti girl didn't immediately respond, instead sliding to a halt right next to him. Despite having just used an Art, ether still swirled around her rings as she built up another. She spun the weapons around as a pulse of gentle, healing energy suffused the air around her.
Immediately, the throbbing pain in his shoulder and the ache of his muscles began to diminish as the healing Art did its work, washing over him like the rolling waves of the incoming tide. He let out an involuntary sigh of relief at the sensation, even as he remained focused on his opponents.
"How are you holding up?" Nia asked, taking a defensive position to his side.
"I'm managing." He replied, lowering his sword slightly. The Urayan woman had fallen back a few feet, posturing defensively next to her Blade. It seemed that Nia's sudden entry had caused them to reconsider their aggressive strategy. "Did you already…?"
The girl nodded. "Poppi distracted them long enough for Dromarch and I to finish them off." She responded. "She and Tora already finished theirs as well. They've gone after the healer and gunner."
"Good." That would mean Ciaran wouldn't have to constantly be on the defensive, taking fire from two ranged opponents while his Blade tackled the melee combatant.
Not that it would be a concern for much longer. He didn't think that the Shield Hammer Driver was capable of keeping Perun occupied for more than a minute or two, and with Nia assisting him, Ciaran would be the obvious person for the vigilante to aid.
"Can you keep the Driver distracted?" Rex asked, shifting his weight slightly. With Nia and Dromarch here, his options for taking his opponents down had increased.
She nodded, twirling her rings idly as she began sizing the Urayan woman up. "Sure." The girl replied. "Dromarch and I can take her down, no problem."
He tensed, ready to charge. "If you can get the Blade to use his barrier, I'll split them up." Rex said, before sprinting forward, the blade of the Aegis Sword shining with ether.
The enemy Blade, seeing Rex charge, stepped in front of his Driver, preparing to unleash a barrier. In his peripheral vision, he saw Nia and Dromarch swing around the side, moving to flank them.
As he took a step, Rex curled his legs and sprung up into the air, sword held overhead as he prepared to smash it down into the ground. At the same time, Dromarch, gathering ether of his own, unleashed a powerful roar, drawing the attention of the Blade.
Thinking it was an attack, the Blade threw the barrier up in Dromarch's direction almost on reflex, only to immediately realize it had only been a challenge. His eyes swiveled back towards Rex, suddenly full of fear as he realized he and his Driver were now fully exposed to the boy's attack.
Rex slammed the Aegis Sword into the ground, unleashing a brilliant column of light ether in the direction of the enemy Driver and Blade. Both of his opponents dodged out of the way of the ether, the Driver to one side and the Blade to the other.
It was exactly the situation that he had been hoping for. He raced forward, charging the fire Blade even as he gathered more ether for his next Art. The power was a little sluggish to accumulate, his Rolling Smash Art being such a power hog, but he wouldn't need much for what he had planned.
His opponent came to his feet, wheeling about to face Rex. The Blade seemed ready to summon his weapons onto his hand, only to pause, giving his Driver an uncertain glance. He must have realized that the Urayan woman was going to need them more than he was.
Charging in, Rex opened with an over-the-shoulder swing, a haze of luminous ether trailing the blade as he swung for the enemy Blade. As before, his opponent didn't bother dodging, instead happily accepting the strike in order to get further into Rex's guard.
The energy blade of the Aegis Sword bit into his chest, cleaving a deep gouge that crossed only a hand-width below his Core Crystal. The Blade grimaced in pain at the blow but didn't withdraw. After the number of times he had seen Rex use this Art over the course of the battle, the Blade was already anticipating what would happen next.
Double Spinning Edge was Rex's favored Art, a two-hit spinning strike that used the momentum of the first strike to lead into the second. Even before becoming a Blade Eater, it had been an easy Art for him to chain, thanks to relying as much on the weight of the weapon for striking power as ether enhancement.
As much as he used it, however, it had a glaring weakness. Due to the nature of the attack, between slashes, the spin that gave the Art its name meant that he temporarily exposed his back to his opponents. This normally wasn't as big of a problem as it would seem at first glance—even with his old sword, the blade was long enough that any foe would be out of range to take advantage of the brief opening, and with the Aegis Sword that distance was even greater—but against a Blade willing to take the hit, it could prove to be deadly.
Had he actually been using that Art, of course. As the Blade stepped into his guard, already lashing out to strike the boy as he turned, it quickly became apparent that Rex had something else in mind.
Rather than allow the momentum of the slash to spin him around, he used it to carry himself forward, rolling under the Blade's strike and coming to his feet behind him.
Turning around as fast as he could, Rex brought the Aegis Sword back up, this time held across his body. Bracing the flat of the weapon with his free hand, the salvager shoved the sword at the Blade's head.
Already twisting around himself, the fire Blade was entirely unprepared for an attack of that nature, his own movement only aiding it as his head, still turning to face Rex, slammed into the flat of the sword.
Despite his willingness to take a hit, the blunt impact to his head proved to be too much for the Blade. He crumpled to the ground unconscious, the only sign of movement being the flashes of regeneration in the deep gouge across his chest.
Rex let out a breath of relief. Without the Driver acting as a spoiler, that had been much easier!
He turned around, looking to see how Nia was handling the Urayan woman. Not that he was particularly worried, of course—Nia was the most experienced combatant out of their group, and probably only second to Perun of everyone in the battle—but he didn't want to leave her to deal with what was, for all intents and purposes, his own mess.
The boy was just in time to see her finish the Driver off. The Urayan woman threw a punch at Nia as the Gormotti girl slashed out. Her offhand ring batted the blow aside, while the mainhand struck the brawler in the temple.
It wasn't enough to take her down, but as the Urayan woman reeled back from the blow, Nia followed up by raising her weapons up, crossing them above her, and slamming the blunt sides down on the crown of the Driver's head.
The woman collapsed to the ground in a heap, letting out a low groan of pain. Nia glared at her, as if challenging the woman to get back to her feet, but after a moment of no movement, the Gormotti girl prodded the brawler with her foot to see if she was still conscious.
"I think she's down." Rex deadpanned, seeing that there was no response from the woman.
"Just making sure." Nia replied, glancing over at him. "You finished with the Blade, then?"
He nodded.
"Good, then let's go help Tora." She said, turning toward what had been the enemy's back line. "He's dealing with two Driver teams, and I'll bet Ciaran and Lyta will be fine.
A wave of cold rushing toward the Nothian and his opponent as Perun moved to assist him only served to emphasize her point.
"Right." Rex agreed, taking a look at where Tora was fighting. He watched as the nopon used his shield to block a hit from the Bitball, causing the weapon to bounce off to the side. A little further away, Poppi was weaving between strikes from the Great Axe Driver, sans Blade, while the gunner was sat behind him, taking shots at the mechanical girl.
"I'll take the gunner!" Rex volunteered, already charging forward. After the trouble he had caused over the course of the battle, Rex was more than a little eager to get some well-deserved payback against the man.
He sprinted toward the man, drawing in ether once more. As a large, ranged weapon, he didn't think the Ether Cannon would be particularly useful in close combat, so he was hoping that the gunner would give him less trouble if he got the drop on him.
There was always the risk that the Driver would have Arts meant to give him the chance to disengage, but it wasn't like Rex was useless the moment he was too far away to hit someone with his sword, either.
As he closed in on the gunner, the man's Blade, a small, childlike figure, noticed his approach. She called out a warning to her Driver, drawing the man's attention. His eyes widened as he saw Rex charging him, and turned his Ether Cannon on the boy.
Rex didn't pause, blocking the off-the-hip reaction shot from the gunner with a barrier. Ether trailed from the Aegis Sword as he prepared to strike, raising the blade over his shoulder.
His sword swept through the air, aimed at the enemy Driver. His Blade stepped between them, throwing up a barrier to block the strike. Rex's Art hit and rebounded, but he had been expecting that she would block him. As such, he was properly braced to avoid being thrown back by the rebound, and lashed out again the moment the barrier fell.
The Blade ducked under the strike, letting out a squeak of alarm at being targeted. The sound on its own caused Rex to pause. Even though he knew academically that the girl was his opponent and that, as a Blade, her appearance didn't reflect her actual age, fighting someone who appeared to be a child was not something the boy was comfortable with.
Unfortunately, the enemy Driver was more than happy to take advantage of his hesitance. Electricity coursed over the barrel of the Ether Cannon as he leapt back out of melee range, charging an Art.
A wide pulse of electricity fired from the weapon, expanding in a cone in front of the Driver. It was too close and too wide for Rex to dodge, forcing the boy to take the attack head-on. He grunted in pain, gritting his teeth as the electricity crawled across his armor.
It said something about how the last day had gone that he was getting used to being hit with electrical attacks.
While he was stunned, the childlike Blade scurried out of reach, running over to her Driver. Despite being in the effect envelope of the Art, she was completely unaffected, apparently immune to the effects of her Driver's attack.
Upon reaching the gunner, she looked back at Rex, sticking her tongue out at the boy. "No hitting my Driver, you meanie!" She called.
The gunner didn't register what she had said. He looked around, seeming to suddenly realize just how badly the battle was going for their side. "W-we need to withdraw." He said, taking a half-step back.
His Blade looked up at him. "But we're at the best part!" She pouted angrily. "Can't we play with them a bit longer?"
"No! Most of the others are already down!" He yelled, taking another step back. "If we stick around any longer, we're going to-!"
A sharp ripple of ether was the only warning the man got before a needle-thin beam of darkness shot out at him. Already on the verge of fleeing, the man was primed to react. He grabbed his Blade by the scruff of the neck the moment he saw her react to something he couldn't detect and yanked her out of the line of fire, just moments before the beam passed through the space occupied by her head.
Rex turned around just in time to see Lyta toss her lance back to Ciaran. Behind them, Rex could see the torso of the Gormotti woman they had been fighting sticking out of a block of ice, shouting profanities at Perun as she tried to wriggle her way out of the ice.
"Surrender." The vigilante ordered, slamming the butt of her Megalance against the ground.
The man's eyes tracked to Rex's other side, in the direction of where Nia and Tora were still handling the final group. Rex wasn't quite sure of the state of that battle, but it couldn't be good because the Driver broke and ran.
"H-hey!" His Blade squeaked, pounding her little fists against his chest. "I still wanna play with them!"
"Screw that!" He yelled, ignoring her tantrum. "I'm not sticking around to get arrested! Let the others take the fall, for all I care!"
Perun raced after him, Ciaran and Lyta at her heels. "Stop fleeing at once!" She commanded, raising her weapon over her head as if she intended to throw it. "You will not escape justice by running!"
Rex took a step forward to follow as well, but paused, looking back over his shoulder. Nia and Tora were cleaning up the last three fighters, and while they had that well in hand from the look of it. The Greataxe Driver was already down, his weapon shattered on the ground in front of him, while Nia and Dromarch were corralling the Bitball Blade in, preventing the smaller feline Blade from rescuing its Driver, who was struggling to avoid Poppi's fists.
It didn't look like they needed his help, but then again, neither did Perun. As he looked back, the ice Blade was quickly closing on the fleeing Driver.
A sudden ripple of ether down the path, in front of the gunner, drew Rex's attention. The fleeing Driver halted, trying to arrest his momentum as some new obstacle appeared in front of him.
The childlike Blade threw up a barrier just in time to stop a barrage of crimson feathers from impaling them, but it left them open to attack from behind. Seeing them distracted, Perun threw her weapon like a javelin, piercing the ground just behind the Driver.
Both Driver and Blade cried in alarm as a floe of ice washed over them, entombing both up to their necks. Almost simultaneously, he heard the sound of a body collapsing behind him as Tora bashed the Bitball Driver in the face with his shield, knocking her out of the battle.
Rex didn't deactivate the Aegis Sword yet, though. He hadn't been able to see the source of the feather attack that had stopped the fleeing Driver. While that told him it was probably an ally, under the circumstances, he wasn't quite willing to assume that outright without at least getting a view of whoever it was.
Neither was Perun, for that matter. She walked up to her lance, pulling it from the ground. "Who's there?" She asked, not aggressively, but clearly on guard.
"Well, well!" A gruff voice called; the owner just too far around the corner for Rex to see. "Ciaran said that he'd picked up some help, but I wasn't expectin' somethin' like this!"
"B-Boss!" The Nothian boy cried in relief. "Y-you…! I didn't think you'd be the one coming to help!"
As if on cue, a small group of figures stepped out from behind the rocks and into Rex's view. There were six of them: three Drivers and three Blades. Four of them were unremarkable, an Ardanian woman and a Gormotti man with a pair of common Blades, watching for any sign of danger.
The man in front, however, was far more distinct. He was an Urayan, the largest one Rex had ever seen. He was covered in muscle; his arms almost the size of tree trunks, and chest as broad as an Ardanian Titanweapon. The man was definitely on the older end of his prime; the wrinkles in his dark gray skin visible even at a distance, while his untamed hair was almost entirely devoid of color.
He had obviously seen a lot of action over the years, though; his skin, easily visible beneath the flak jacket he wore, was covered in scars. Yet none was more prominent than the x-shaped one across his face.
Beside him was an animal Blade that looked like a cross between a man and a Rhogul. It was covered in striking red and orange plumage and wore no clothing beyond a thick, ornate cloth hanging over its shoulders. The Blade strutted up to its Driver, offering a pair of wicked-looking scythes to the man.
Silently accepting the weapons, the man chuckled as he considered Ciaran's words. "Who else d'you think I was gonna send?" He responded, sheathing the scythes. "Didn't exactly have a whole lotta men ready to drop everythin' and come along when you called."
"S-sorry." The Nothian boy responded a little sullenly. "I-it's just... when we found out things were going to be a little more difficult here than expected…"
The Urayan man guffawed at his subordinate's response. "Don't worry about it, kid!" He laughed, patting the boy on the back. "Y'made the right call! If you hadn't given us a buzz, then…" He looked around the battlefield, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "…Well, I guess you woulda managed." The man said ruefully. "Looks like we were a bit late to the party."
"You can say that again." Nia spoke up, startling Rex. He hadn't heard her approaching. She must have finished off the other animal Blade while he was distracted by the new arrivals.
She came to a stop next to Rex, eyeing the man with a skeptical look. "We could've used you guys like an hour ago." She responded, placing a hand on her hip.
The man merely laughed. "You must be the mushes these two roped into helpin'." He said, assessing the pair of Drivers. "You don't look like much, but you must've put up a good enough fight if you took this lot out before we got here."
"We're good enough." Rex confirmed, holding out a hand. "I'm Rex, and this is Nia. You're Ciaran's boss, right?"
"That's right." The man replied, grasping Rex's hand. "Th' name's Vandham. I run the Garfont Mercenaries." Looking around again, he continued. "Now then, I'm a few hours behind on what's goin' on, so would you mind getting me caught up?"
Author's Notes:
This chapter was a bit of a doozy to write. After some of my disappointments with how the fight in Chapter 26 turned out, I wanted to make something that wasn't so focused on just one perspective. I think it worked out, but at the same time, it was substantially more effort than I had anticipated. Still, I'm pleased with the result, so I can't complain.