Malice’s arrow met the slash of power from Yerin’s sword. Both were swallowed up.
[That’s not encouraging. But cheer up! If you were a Monarch, your hit would be better. Maybe. That one was pretty good.]
While Yerin switched back to ordinary techniques to keep Malice under control, Malice had already moved on to another target.
Even with the numbers advantage, Yerin didn’t see how they could win easily. Malice was an unfair opponent.
With her armor, she waded through black dragon’s breath. She had the speed to avoid Mercy’s arrows. Her Striker techniques crushed Ziel’s shields, and she canceled out Charity’s workings before they formed.
She was as impossible to pin down as a shadow, but tough as a diamond and with all the strength of a falling star.
Still, this much they could keep up with.
Until Malice opened her void space and began pulling out constructs.
A whirling ball of shadowy blades unfolded, pursuing Orthos of its own accord. Yerin couldn’t tell if it was made all of madra or if there was a physical component, though she could feel the sword aura, but she didn’t have time to save Orthos because there was a construct on her too.
Hers was a phantom of shadow and dreams, a ghost made from Remnants of at least Archlord, but it tore at her mind and whispered lies. She slashed at it with a Striker technique, but the Rippling Sword passed right through it.
The blood component of her madra was better at tearing flesh, but that made it slightly worse at everything else. Normally, that didn’t come up. But now she needed something that was better to use against spirits. Like pure madra. Or shadow.
The phantom-puppet erupted in tendrils of shadow that reminded her of Dross, and she had to dodge back to avoid them. Dross showed her what would happen if they touched her; they carried something like a spiritual poison.
Yerin’s frustration grew. She could break this thing, but it was taking far too long.
In the meantime, Malice had thrown out constructs to deal with the others. Charity fled from a plodding dark juggernaut, Ziel was under attack from all directions from a swarm of obsidian butterflies, and Mercy faced down something that resembled a shadow of herself.
Malice focused her personal attack on Little Blue.
[I can’t simulate all this!] Dross cried. [I’ve never seen these constructs before! I don’t know what they’re made of! She’s a famous Soulsmith, but there are no records of her fighting like Reigan Shen!]
But she could.
Yerin couldn’t prove it, but she was stone-certain that Malice had prepared these countermeasures against each of them specifically. It was what Lindon would have done.
And it fit what they knew of Malice to think that she might have plots in place against everyone, even those she thought to be her allies. Or her children.
Little Blue was taking a beating. She was hit in the gut, kicked in the side of the head, sent flying and hauled back. Still, she hung in there. An Empty Palm dissolved an arrow, and she caught more and more blows with the Soul Cloak.
Not that she would last long.
Malice had everything. She had the defenses of an earth artist, the subtlety of a shadow artist, the strength of a sword artist, the flexibility of a Soulsmith, and the resources of a woman who had ruled most of a continent for hundreds of years.
So Yerin needed more.
The Phoenix Song sang through her, and she danced to its tune. Red-and-silver madra blazed in her sword.
She needed more speed. More power. She needed to react faster. Better. She had to think more moves ahead.
Dross showed her how the phantom would move, and Yerin tore it apart. Her Goldsigns extended, each with a Flowing Sword Enforcer technique.
The first slash didn’t destroy the ghostly construct, so she went with another. Then another and another and another.
Yerin tore it to shreds, then activated the Moonlight Bridge.
She appeared in Malice’s path and pushed her Steelborn Iron body to its limits.
The edge of her sword met an ice-blue bow, and both of them were blown backwards in the air.
More, Yerin thought.
[Information requested,] Dross began.
And Yerin heard those words echoed by four other identical voices.
[Information requested: combat solution against Akura Malice,] five Drosses say at once.
[Beginning report…]
Everything in Yerin’s sight freezes like a winter pond. Everything but four balls of purple…and one red.
The Drosses spin around the otherwise-still scenery, five eyes gazing at the situation from every angle.
[You’re going to like this,] one Dross says happily. [I have great confidence that I can help you survive the next ten seconds.]
The future plays out before Yerin’s eyes. Malice launches an arrow at Mercy, which is weakened by a shield from Ziel and breaks on Mercy’s bloodline armor. Little Blue uses a Hollow Domain to disrupt one of Malice’s constructs enough for Orthos to blast it apart with dragon’s breath, and all the while Yerin herself keeps up a barrage of techniques on the Monarch.
[That’s how long we expect Malice to continue fighting like this before she pulls out another trick,] another Dross says.
Ziel’s voice echoes in Yerin’s mind. Do we know what her other tricks are?
If Yerin could move her body, she would jump. Before hearing Ziel, she hadn’t realized the minds of the others were stuck in here with her.
The red Dross, hovering by Yerin, shrugs. [I can make some educated guesses.]
Malice opens a pitch-black void space, from which more constructs of shadow and death boil out. They unfold into incomprehensible shapes, moving to support the other constructs.
The image freezes again and reverses. This time, instead of opening her void key, Malice speaks a command that echoes with greater authority than she’d ever shown before. All their techniques disperse, just for an instant, but the enemy constructs take that opening to kill them.
The world reverses again, and this time Malice pulls an even more powerful bow from her void key. This one shines bright purple and has a string of darkness.
Mercy gasps. I’ve never seen that bow before!
[I made it up,] Dross says proudly. [Do you like it? I consider it likely that she has a backup weapon, and it may be stronger than the one she’s using.]
So she has more weapons than we thought, Yerin says. If she had hands, she’d tick points off on her fingers. She might have more techniques than we knew. And we don’t know her weaknesses.
The red Dross gives her a look of wide-eyed surprise. [Oh, of course we do. She’s outnumbered.]
Another Dross moves over to Malice and spreads his tendrils wide. [We have a good understanding of her personality. Now that she’s been betrayed by Charity, she won’t call in anyone else. She’ll take care of this herself. We can wear her down.]
Time plays again. Yerin sees herself engaging the Monarch alongside the others. Each of them ward off the constructs with most of their attention, every now and then throwing a technique against Malice.
It all hinges on Yerin.
The Yerin in Dross’ projection engages the Monarch with sharper movements than Yerin had ever shown in reality. She moves like she can see the future.
Yerin tries to shake her head. You rely on me to fight like that, and you’re hanging all our lives on a bad bet. I can’t keep that up for more than a breath and a half.
She’d fought Malice before, and that was with Lindon taking up most of the Monarch’s attention. Yerin can’t win while protecting the others.
All five Drosses focus their eyes on her.
One points at the image of her matching a Monarch blow-for-blow.
[If you want to win, all you have to do is fight better than you ever have.]