Rise of the Living Forge-Chapter 371: Force

Ursa’s features tightened with anger as Art continued to advance toward him. His lips pulled back in anger and he snapped his fingers.

“Lilly, Ash, step in,” Ursa commanded. “The boy has something that lets him cancel out magical power. Deal with him yourselves.”

“But the plan—”

“Better to reveal some of your abilities than the full extent of mine. You’re not going to need to go all out. It’s a cripple, not a deadly warrior,” Ursa said through a cold laugh. “And I refuse to believe any one man has enough power to cancel out the abilities of every one of us. Every technique has a weakness.”

Art’s lips twitched. That was true enough. There was always a way to turn the tides of a fight. There was no ability that was absolute. With enough time, even the impossible could be accomplished.

And that was why he had absolutely no plans of giving Starforge’s team enough time to figure out how they could deal with his magic. The greatest advantage he had right now was that absolutely nobody knew how his powers worked. Art planned to keep it that way for as long as he could.

Lilly and Ash — the twins — darted out from behind Ursa and dashed for him. The two of them ran in what was clearly a practiced formation, leaving just enough space between them to maneuver whilst they each still covered the other’s blind spots. Neither of them tried to activate their magic. That was clever. By hiding which one used what kind of power, they could save it for the last moment and effectively guarantee a difficult to block attack from at least one of them.

A faint scuff on the ground beside Art marked Vix’s presence. She’d slipped into her camouflage and was ready to meet their charge. Art doubted she’d be able to deal with both of the twins at the same time.

Vix’s specialty was taking people out that didn’t know she was there, not protecting him. Against opponents like this, there would be no time for her to isolate ideal moments to strike. She’d be forced to fight on their terms. But even still, he was confident she’d be able to take out at least one of the two.

As for the other one…

A form flowed forward. That was the only way to describe it. Kien slid across the ground with the grace of a rushing river, the top of his head practically drawing a perfectly straight line through the air as he cut through it.

The twins were fast.

Kien was faster.

He slammed to a halt between them, his arms extended to either side to make a T shape with his body. Both of the twins let out a surprised wheeze as their throats collided with the walls of flesh in their path and they both snapped to a stop, nearly knocked from their feet.

They recovered nearly instantly and jumped back, dropping into fighting stances as Kien stared at them silently.

“What was that?” one of the twins demanded. Art decided that she was Ash, as it really didn’t particularly matter which one was named what. Until he saw what magic they used, their name was only useful to differentiate which one he was thinking of. “How did you move like that?”

“I don’t think that was an ability,” the twin that was now relegated to Lilly replied. “Ursa, we might need to use more than what we’re hoping for. This guy knows what he’s doing.”

“The idiot with a broom?” Ursa asked in disbelief. His eyes flicked to Art, who was still ponderously advancing towards him, one click of his crutch against the stone at a time. The Starforge team’s leader thinned his lips. “Do what you have to do, but don’t overextend. If we reveal our full abilities in this round, then we’ll struggle more than planned in later ones.”

“I would advise against that,” Kien said quietly. “I actually suggest that you stand down until Art and your team leader have completed their fight… though I suspect my words fall on deaf ears.”

“You want us to just sit back?” Lilly let out a snort of laughter and reached behind herself, pulling a thin dagger free from a sheath at her side. “What kind of joke is that? No way. The weak fall first. That’s the way of the world. Out of our way, janitor.”

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She and Ash exploded into motion, moving even faster than they had before. Kien’s free hand snapped out and he snagged Ash by the arm. He twisted his entire body in a blur, bringing her whipping around like a massive flail.

Lilly’s eyes only had an instant to widen before Kien slammed her sister into her and sent the both of them flying back. They rolled across the ground in a tumble of flailing limbs, only managing to disentangle themselves and slide to a halt inches before they fell off the ring.

“What the fuck is this guy’s deal?” Ash hissed as she cracked her neck. “Ow. That hurt like shit. I think we might need to deal with him first.”

“Smoke him?” Lilly suggested. “Deal with the kid and the invisible chick after?”

The other twin nodded. They both turned back to Kien. Art thumbed over his deck. The moment he got a chance to see what magic they used, he could…

His thoughts trailed off. Kien was shaking his head. Even though the man wasn’t looking in his direction, there was no missing the message. He was telling Art not to bother interfering. ŘАɴȯ₿ËS̩

Is Kien insane? He only got his class a short while ago. There’s no way he can actually deal with two Adept tier enemies on his own. Maybe he’s just determined to accomplish his task on his own?

The back of Art’s neck prickled and he jerked his head to the side an instant before a dagger streaked through the air, narrowly missing his ear. His eyes snapped back to Ursa, whose lips pulled back in a smirk.

“Attention on me, boy. You got what you wanted. My girls will deal with your man while I deal with you. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? Or are you getting cold foot?”

“Haven’t heard that one before. I’ll have to remember it,” Art said, starting toward Ursa once more. He couldn’t spare any time wondering what Kien was up to. Something told him that, no matter how improbable it was, the man would hold up his word. Neither of the sisters would get past him.

***

“This is not a wise choice,” Kien said as the twins advanced toward him. Each of them held an identical dagger. Everything down to their movements was practiced and synchronized. The two of them were practically thinking in unison.

Impressive. It is evident they have a lot of experience fighting together. It’s almost mesmerizing. There would have been a time when I’d have been thrilled to take a challenge like this. They seem quite competent.

“Oh, is the big man worried about hurting a woman?” Lilly asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

“We’ve gotten that one too many times to count,” Ash said. The air between her and her sister turned hazy as magic mixed within it. “Drooling idiots never learn.”

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A flicker of surprise passed through Kien. Their magic was synchronized. That was actually quite impressive. It was one thing to match your movements with somebody else. There was a certain margin of error that humans just weren’t going to detect — but magic was different.

Interweaving abilities with each other was a surefire way to blow up something that you didn’t want to. There were so many minute factors that came with messing with the Mesh… and Kien was pretty certain neither of the twins had somehow gotten a class that relied on the other.

There was a chance they had a Title or the like aiding them, but there was probably a much more likely reason. It didn’t take him long to find it.

Each of the twins wore a thin metal band around their wrist. It just looked like a normal piece of plain jewelry, but power burned within the metal like heat within a molten furnace. They had magical artifacts helping them synchronize their movements.

That can’t be a simple thing to make. A pair of bracelets that allows its wearers to completely link their magical abilities? I have learned how little I know of blacksmiths in recent days, but that is not an easy item to make. They have a very powerful backer.

The air between the twins shimmered. For a brief instant, tongues of flame and streams water flowed from the women’s palms. Then it collided together, releasing an enormous explosion of thick steam that rolled past Kien in a thick white wall.

“One more to the list,” one of the twins said, her voice muffled by the hot steam.

“Just don’t play too long with your food this time. I don’t want to hear too many screams for mercy,” the other said. “We have a schedule to keep.”

***

A loud crunch tore through the air from within the thick cloud of steam that had completely obscured the portion of the arena that Kien and the twins stood in.

Ursa’s lips twisted into a grin.

“It sounds like my girls got your man. I hope you didn’t like him much. They like to take their time.”

“Is that so?” Art didn’t even dare fully turn to look back to assess the situation properly. All he could do was glance at the smoke out of the corner of his eyes. He and Ursa were only a dozen feet away from each other now. Getting distracted could spell his end.

There’s no way Kien went down that easily, right?

“The mist is already fading,” Ursa said with a chuckle. “They’re done with him. If you’d prefer, I could let them handle you. I’d imagine a runt like you hasn’t had the chance to feel the touch of a woman… though I doubt you’d enjoy the twins much.”

Ursa was right about one thing. The mist was peeling back.

And, out of the corner of Art’s eyes, he caught a glimpse of a figure standing over a body in the remains of the rapidly fading mist. A figure that was taller than either of the twins. His lips twitched in amusement.

“Are you so sure?”

“I apologize,” Kien said, lowering his broom. Blood dripped from its handle to fall on the crumpled figure at his feet. “I may have given you the wrong idea. I have no more moral quandaries striking women than I do to striking men. I was just distracted wondering if this would warrant using any real amount of force. It did not.”