Rune Seeker

Hiral dashed across the strange, stone floor of the glass and metal building, explosions ripping the space apart behind him as he went. One after another, the deep percussions shredded everything caught in the blast radius of the self-propelled cannisters the Mecha-Armor G14NT fired from its shoulder-mounted launchers.

As dangerous as they were, though, they weren’t fast enough to catch him, and Hiral barely paid any more heed to them than making sure the G14NT was focused on him. As for his attention, it zeroed in on his true target, and a pulse of Rejection ahead of him shattered the glass, outer wall of the building as he burst outward.

Hand reaching, he caught the faceplate of the flying, Mecha-Armor W45P as it whipped down the alley between buildings. The torque of snagging the fast-moving, winged armor yanked Hiral’s shoulder, but his new and improved stats showed their worth, and Attraction kept him practically glued to his target. There, before the flyer could really figure out what the hell was going on, Hiral pulled himself in close, knees against the big pack on the armor’s back – to avoid the powerful jets keeping the thing aloft – and slashed down with the claws of Separation on his other hand.

Aimed not for the heavily-armored wings or torso, he instead sliced through the thick belt connecting the backpack to the dangerous rifle in the thing’s hand. The belt that supplied ammunition to the rapid-fire weapon fell apart in multiple pieces, finger-sized rounds raining behind them as they went. With that done – in case his next plan didn’t work – Hiral fed energy into a combination of his rune, several versions of himself climbing off to wrap themselves around the Armor’s limbs and body.

A pulse of Rejection launched Hiral back into a flip a second before the six clones exploded in a serious of vicious explosions. Far more powerful than the ones he’d tossed off the side of the tower earlier in the day, these still weren’t anywhere enough to take down the A-Rank enemy that continued out of the plume of energy.

Even as shattered glass from the buildings on both sides fell around like rain, the thing twisted in the air like a top – shedding its rifle as it went – to do a complete one-eighty. Momentum carried it further down the alley, blades popping out from its left forearm, and then it was coming back in Hiral’s direction.

Tears had been ripped in its armor from the explosions, the leg didn’t look like it would bend again considering how crushed it looked, and half the helm still smoked. None of that was enough to make the pilot give up, and it tore straight at Hiral with a vengeance.

Too bad it was so focused on him, it fell for the same trick a second time.

Right came out of the opposite building, purple-and-red-flaming fist leading the way to slam into the armor’s torso. Where Hiral had been forced along by the armor’s forward momentum when he’d done something similar, this time it was the armor that bent sideways at the blow, before shooting into the nearby building.

Like a an out-of-control carriage, the Mecha-Armor shattered a line down the glass wall, twisting and flipping as it went before finally coming to an upside-down stop. The trail of destruction left behind had hardly damaged the powerful, A-Rank W45P, but it clearly couldn’t say the same for the collapsed chest armor. More of the glass broke at its back, the weight of its legs flopping it down onto its back.

Which lined it up perfectly for Hiral to arrive with the Weight of Tomorrow.

Weight of Tomorrow – A-Rank

Effects: Grants user access to Ability – Here Today, Gone Tomorrow and Ability – No Time Like the Present

Ability – Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Call on the advanced technology of Tomorrow to enhance your next strike with the weapon, increasing velocity and power, at the expense of accuracy. Damage and critical hit damage each increased by 30%; hit chance and critical hit chance each reduced by 20%.

Ability – No Time Like the Present: At the moment of impact, trigger a mechanical facsimile of Tomorrow’s breath to devastate your target. Damage based on combined total of Str, End, and Dex.

Note: Weapon features are mechanical in nature, not magical.

Having learned from experience with the large hammer’s abilities, Hiral slid the moving handles along the hafts and pulled the triggers to activate the two abilities an instant before he struck. Inches away from the W45P’s exposed chest, powerful jets of flame and force fired from the back end of the hammer, rocketing it forward. At the same time the maw of the dragon-shaped face of the hammer hit, the second ability – No Time Like the Present – a blast of pure, raw energy erupted. As always, the terrifying energy – like the epitome of the end – sent a shiver down Hiral’s spine.

It was worse for the Mecha-Armor.

The combined effects of the hammer drove it straight down like a nail, smashing through the thirteen floors to the ground in rapid succession. None of the stone floors did a thing to slow the descent, the smashes coming so hard and fast they sounded like a single crash even as the W45P cratered the black stone of the alley.

Broken metal from the torn wings, and shards of stone from the building, rained down in the path following the A-Rank armor, and Hiral moved to pursue. Sure, the thing lay in a crater made by its own body, but it wasn’t dead yet. He had to…

Dun-dun-dun-dun echoed through the alley, and Hiral shot across it from one building to the next as high-powered rounds from another W45P tore apart where he’d just been. Stone broke like cheap ceramic where the shots hit – and his body would’ve fared even worse if he hadn’t dodged – and he flared Rejection to speed his flight through the empty space of the open floor. Behind him, he heard the roar of the engines powering the W45P after him – the thing raising its weapon again in his sensory domain – and he cut hard to the side.

The rifle bellowed out its payload, the dun-dun-dun echoing off the bare, stone floor and ceiling, while the burning rounds traced the line of fire. Hiral sped right while the rapid shots blew holes in the ceiling as they chased him. Then, just as they were about to catch him, he ducked low and rolled under the fire as it went over him. Swerving around one pillar, then another, he used the thick stone to block the shots long enough to twice more cut across safely before he reached the far end of the floor.

Another burst of Rejection ahead of him shattered this wall of glass, and he burst out above the wide street. As soon as he was clear of the building, a pulse of solar energy sent a wave of clones spreading out in all directions – like he’d burst apart – before he arched his back and bolted for the sky.

Predictably, the armor chasing him emerged from the same building he had not a second later, then seemed to pause – just for an instant – at all the clones around him. Unfortunately, it didn’t take the thing’s sensors long to lock onto Hiral’s expenditure of solar energy, and it looked straight up at him.

The barrel of the rifle followed a heartbeat later, more of the burning rounds blasting up to tear Hiral apart.

Despite how fast Hiral was going in a straight line, he still wasn’t faster than the rounds chasing him, and the first that caught him tore into the bottom of his foot. Finding little resistance, the A-Rank shot bored into his leg, shattering it as it went, before ripping apart his torso and exiting his shoulder. Just like that, his entire body exploded in burst of solar energy, and the Mecha-Armor paused for another fraction of a second.

Just long enough for Hiral to hit it from the side where he’d Exchanged himself for one of his clones. Out and around came the fallen-star form of the Greatsword of Amin-Thett. S-Rank weapon versus A-Rank opponent – even though Hiral was still only B-Rank himself – he’d put his money on his sword every time, and it seemed like the W45P agreed.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Caught too flat-footed to dodge, the W45P did the only thing it could in time; it moved its rifle in line to parry the massive, glowing sword. Left arm coming up to brace the back of the barrel, the metal of the gun buckled under the Gravity-enhanced weight of Hiral’s attack, even as the Mecha-Armor’s arms pressed backward, unable to resist the force of Hiral’s swing.

Somewhere in that second of collision, the A-Rank enemy seemed to realize contesting the blow was going to be a losing battle, so its jets cut off to let it get hurled back by the attack. Better to get thrown into a building than get cut into little pieces by the legendary sword.

Expect, Hiral wasn’t the only one he’d Exchanged, and Right’s fist slammed into the upper-back of the enemy at the same time Hiral’s sword crushed it from the other side. Caught between the two nearly unstoppable forces, something had to give.

A-Rank armor against B-Rank opponents, the W45P should be able to withstand all but their most devasting blows. And, while the twinned attack was undoubtably powerful, the fact neither hit had immediately punched through meant it did have a chance.

Until darkness fell across the trio, like something had passed in front of the sun high above.

Across Hiral’s body, each of his runes connected to his Edicts bled black, vein-like lines leaking out through the glowing white of his pseudo-aspect. It wasn’t the full Rune of Eclipse – he couldn’t do that yet – but it was enough to tilt reality in his favour.

And, there, in Hiral’s version of reality, the PIM adjusted his strike every so slightly to line it up with a flaw in the A-Rank armor for a critical hit.

Solar energy flashed across his body – his solar channels roaring inside him – as the Greatsword of Amin Thett likewise pulsed. At the same time, Hiral released all the built-up power he’d gathered dodging the Mecha-Armor’s shots the whole time as he activated Right Back at You+.

Class Ability – Right Back at You becomes Class Ability – Right Back at You+

Right Back at You+: When you or those connected to you avoid or block attacks, a calculated portion of damage that would have been suffered is instead stored for later use by you.

Note: Calculated damage has limits.

Note (2): Stored damage can be used on an attack or ability of your choice.

Note (3): Stored damage can be maintained for up to 3 minutes per Rank.

Note (4): New instances of stored damage refresh storage timer.

Note (5): Due to interaction with advanced class: Vanguard of the Runic Cycle, those chosen as your Sword and Shield of the Vanguard are considered ‘connected’.

Unsurprisingly, the rifle blocking the edge of its blade parted, as did the arm bracing the barrel. Next came the chest, stressed and spread from the way Right hit the back.

Slipping into a space between armored plates, there was one more flash before Hiral was past his target, a glowing arc of Energy and Separation – along with a spray of blood – following the blade. Arm shorn apart into three separate pieces – only one still attached to the body – the broken Armor spun in the air from the two hits twisting it like a top.

Blowback from forcing the Rune of Eclipse lanced through Hiral as his feet skidded across the stone of the floor Right had just exited. His whole body seized for a second, the solar energy itself outright stopping inside his channels like it didn’t know where to go. Some of it wanted to keep moving forward. Other parts of it tried to go backward. The worst of it attempted to move out.

The pain of his channels ballooning inside him while he fought for control of the dozens of tiny streamers of solar energy left him wide open. He couldn’t dodge. He couldn’t block. He couldn’t even move.

And though he’d landed a crippling blow on the Mecha-Armor, it hadn’t been a fatal one. Coming out of the spin, jets of flame and force stabilized the Armor in the air, while its eyes locked on Hiral. Its rifle was destroyed. Its left arm – and the blades there – was still falling to the ground far below, along with an alarming amount of blood. The Armor’s most dangerous weapons had been destroyed. But, it was still an A-Rank opponent, and its fingers clenched into a fist as it saw its chance to give Hiral back a little of the punishment he’d given it.

With his solar energy running rampant, there wasn’t anything he could do about it either.

There sure was something Right could do about it though, the double’s feet landing on the shoulders of the hovering Armor. Before the thing could act – or even fully realize the double was there – fingers plated in the Auroran Conquerors slipped under the lip of the helmet. Meridian Lines flared purple and red, flames of both colors jetting into the air around Right like he was a volcano erupting, as his muscles bunched.

Then he pulled up.

With a roar of effort and his titanic strength, Right ripped the helmet… no… not just the helmet – the whole head – off the Mecha-Armor. Viscera, blood, and bone came with it, the body below the double’s feet spasming even as crimson fountained into the air.

Like even he was surprised with that he’d done, Right froze as the crimson liquid showered him. A second like that – the Armor’s jets beginning to sputter – before he looked at the head in his hands, then tossed it aside. A bend and flex of his legs hopped him off the headless corpse, and he landed lightly on the floor not far from Hiral, red dripping down him. Behind him, the jets – and life – of the Mecha-Armor finally gave out, and it dropped like a rock to crunch on the ground below.

Through it all, Hiral had regained control of his solar energy, forcing it all to go in the direction he intended it to, and he looked at his double.

“Thanks for the save,” Hiral said.

“I… didn’t exactly mean to do that,” Right said. “I thought the helmet would come off. Same result, regardless, I guess.”

“Was a bit more dramatic than your usual, punchy style,” Hiral said.

“The weakness of just about any armor,” Right said. “Is how far it will bend, pull, or twist before whoever is inside it breaks.”

“We should probably get back to finish off that first one,” Hiral said.

“Taken care of,” Left said, landing on the same floor with his Wings of Anella spread. “The others also managed to finish off the G14NT and bring down two more W45Ps.”

“Oh?” Hiral asked, immediately moving to check the quest status.

Dynamic Quest: Update

Hidden Trial (A-Rank): Mechanized

Tomorrow’s 0M3G4 W34P0N stirs. Defeat more Mecha-Armor to initialize its systems. Defeating it will result in a hidden schematic unlocking new defenses and advanced classes.

Tomorrow’s Mecha-Armor, Mark G14NT Defeated: 3/5

Tomorrow’s Mecha-Armor, Mark W45P Defeated: 16/30

Tomorrow’s 0M3G4 W34P0N Defeated: 0/1

Hiral nodded. They’d made good progress since they’d returned to the city. Carefully choosing their battlegrounds – and targets – had meant they didn’t deal with more than one G14NT at a time, or more than three of the W45Ps. At least, not until this last fight, when four of the flyers had found them before they’d finished off their initial, huge target.

All in all, they were now past the halfway mark in the quest. And it had been good experience so far. Much better than any of the B-Rank trials, likely thanks to the Rank-disparity, even though Hiral had a pair of abilities that ignored some of it and made it really worth their while.

Party Interface: Aim High – Allows all party members to ignore up to 1 Rank of Rank disparity.

Note: Party Interface: Aim High can be resisted by adequately powerful opponents.

Class Modification: It’s What’s Inside That Counts

It’s What’s Inside That Counts: When fighting enemies of higher rank than yourself, gain 10% bonus experience per stage of rank difference (low, medium, high), or a flat 30% for unknown ranks.

Between those two raid-group-wide abilities, the party was basically fighting A-Ranks like they were B-Ranks, but getting another thirty-percent experience for doing it. Really, if the groups could find a reasonable wave-type, A-Rank trial, they could clean up.

Then again, looking at the levels in the Party Interface, they wouldn’t even need that. Almost everybody was level twenty, or damn close.

“I take it you’re okay over there,” Seena’s voice came over the party chat.

“We took care of the two W45Ps, yeah,” Hiral said.

“No surprise there,” Seena said. “Need you to come back, though. Got some surprisingly good news.”

“Oh?”

“Wule got an advanced class option.”

“Time for some of that sweet, sweet Evolutionary Inspiration,” Yanily cut in. “You don’t want to miss it.”

“No, I certainly don’t,” Hiral said. While a good number of people had gotten advanced classes in their party, a lot of them had happened within The Playhouse trial, where Hiral’s party hadn’t been around to witness it. In other words, they hadn’t gotten the bonuses from it.

He sure wasn’t going to miss the chance with Wule’s class evolution now!

“Let’s go,” Hiral said to his doubles, and he grabbed on to them with his scarves, before dashing back to where the rest of the party was.