The doppelganger sneered back at Sammy as the final moments ran out. “You and your ‘Donkey Kong’ will be my dinner, fool!”
Sammy had some brief amusement at that. That would be quite a mouthful.
Sammy knew her enemy was going to have the drop with the speed bonus, but there was no way to know exactly what was going to be cast without giving away more time. All she could do was adapt, endure, and hope to trade blows. She guessed that there would be high aggression immediately: violent spells in a quick and decisive flurry. It wouldn’t be an intricate, subtle dance at such low levels.
It was likely meant to be a brutal example and reminder of what ‘real world’ violent duels in battle would be like. Dirty, vicious, merciless, and aiming to take one down in as little time as necessary. Fortunately, both Ozra and Sammy already had some experience with life-or-death combat. So to speak.
From Hyper Aura’s description, her turn will come quicker and quicker. If I’m a ‘1’ she’s a ‘0.8.’ Or 4 seconds to my 5. In four rounds, she laps me?
Ozra began moving evasively to the side while beginning her own casting, knowing she needed to start attacking to have any chance. But Ozra was also a rogue and very agile, which could mitigate or even outright avoid physically relevant attacks. That made her wonder if she had a certain thing, so she mentally took a split moment to multitask and ‘feel’ for it…
Yes! She has [Rogue’s Luck]. Well, it’s quite the classic, isn’t it? Could come in handy.
Runes traced in the air, incantations roared over each other from their mystical speech, with her opponent more like she was slightly fast-forwarded.
Has to be OP [Time] shit. See, this is why I wanted the domain! But nooo…
The doppelganger’s spell dropped first, and Sammy was shocked and maybe a little horrified by the surprise of it not being an overt attack — instead it was a targeted dispel. Normally it was a level 4 spell, but that was AoE and this was, after all, a test of custom spell designs.
Sammy mentally moved her shield out of the way in case there was a small radius, knowing her armor was doomed, but her other protection — her only real protection — was hopefully not at risk…
The dispel hit her and overcame her resistance easily, banishing her glorious bronze armor in an inglorious flash before it had even stopped a single wound. But she supposed it had done its job: forced something other than a direct attack right off. She’d taken no wounds in round 1 and was not completely defenseless or one-shottable. Hopefully.
That’s another level 3 spell. Come on, Ozra, I don’t have a 70% chance here! Am I supposed to lose?! Well, I’m still not going to.
It was her turn, and she wove her spell into reality with the triumphant final notes of her incantation. Sammy couldn’t help herself — the final bit was in verbal translation. “Double-barreled Repeater Magicannon!”
A double-barreled monstrosity like a miniature cannon appeared attached over her forearm, bronze and silver metal gleaming, with windows showing blue energy contained inside. As she aimed it, the crowd ‘oohed’ and the doppelganger’s eyes went wide.
It was designed for the particular purpose of the brute-force cutting through of layers of protections like wound negations — very specifically, it could fire two lower-potential bursts immediately upon casting and each was like its own spell. The idea of countering wound negations was not novel, as she’d read about it in thaumaturgical theory and seen it in higher-level spell summaries. It was a noted good idea for lower-level custom spells.
But a single-target damage spell with that benefit was more like level 2. She used the level 3 benefits to make it semi-persistent. Bursts equal to caster level, and when one wasn’t also cramming in casting the spell, the full five seconds gave 3 bursts instead of 2.
A barrel blasted out a succession of fiery blue bullets, recessing inward as it fired and began to smoke — the burst hit the doppelganger’s Spell Shield and was absorbed. Immediately after, the other barrel fired at its target…
The doppelganger was trying to get out of the way, but between accuracy bonuses and Ozra’s high base with [Rogue] and [Wizard], there was no chance. The burst exploded over her torso, penetrating the shield-like armor that flashed and then… getting absorbed by a wound negation. A burst of the small mana bullets could only do Minor Wounds at most, but that was perfectly fine for the current purpose. The physical armor should’ve also been damaged.
There was nonetheless little to feel victorious about. She was still behind, and it was likely going to be her time to pay the piper.
Despite her foe’s casting beginning even in the midst of the attack, Sammy was just shy of being able to detect it before she had to begin her next spell. But… it was almost certainly going to be an attack.
It was obvious that Sammy was just going to have to take it on the chin. She opted against any defensive spellcasting and went all-out with her magicannon. Perhaps it could break concentration…
But the spell effect was roughly simultaneous with the first burst, and that burst just did the same as before — it hit home and exploded on her torso but merely wiped the last wound negation.
The runes carved in the air in wicked red, their meaning clear as the spell began materializing: Marring Bolt.
Sammy pumped everything into that moment of defense, knowing how key it was and how vulnerable she was. She interposed the warding shield, she dived and rolled to avoid with all she had, and she utilized [Rogue’s Luck] to gain another +2 ELs to either dodge or mitigate like Armor by taking a glancing blow, possibly even for negligible damage…
It still wasn’t quite enough, as a green-and-black ray of lightning energy arced like a branching horizontal tree for one brief moment in time. The primary arc exploded and bounced off the shield in a splash of sparks. That at least did not hit her, but one branch extending from it caught her in the side under a rib as it arced around the shield. True to its name, one tiny little finger of it also arced even further up, slashing her cheek enough to draw blood.
Agony shot through her like a continuance of the lightning in her brain and body, making her cry out — suddenly, she feared for her life in a visceral, instinctual way. She fought it off desperately, fought to be aware and focused on the fight because to succumb felt like death.
Gotta attack! I’ve got to keep firing! The cannon — the cannon!
“You have been dealt virtual injury equivalent to a Minor Wound on the Torso. Actual damage is Superficial, but it is recorded as injury for purposes of further future injury. You are at -1 Effective Levels to any actions for the next 5 seconds.”
“You have fought off the additional penalty to actions due to intense pain with a will vs. will contest. Your next such contest within the next minute will be penalized.”
The messages were superimposed over her own desperate, gritted-teeth, focused barrage of magicannon fire. Two more crammed in until the spell was done completely, and she had to make them count. -1 ELs had better not be enough to miss…
Boom! An explosion of magical force into the torso of the Medrei look-alike and she reeled backward with a snarl, even while already beginning her casting… the spell continued.
Damn it! How did she maintain concentration?!
Sammy could see the spell enough to know what it was — another Marring Bolt. But she still had a burst of blue magic bullets aimed, firing, and striking home despite the monumental effort of the doppelganger to juke her out.
At the same time, the doppelganger was trying to complete the last bits of her spell amidst the relentless assault. The burst was aimed once more at the doppelganger's torso, and if it hit, she’d be stuck with a second Minor Wound, which would upgrade to Major and stun her…
At the last moment, she managed to pivot and take the bullets in her arm. A pained scream issued from her, and the last-ditch effort necessitated the ruin of the incomplete spell, which fizzled, the runes evaporating like smoke. A lesser of evils to the greater damage.
Yes!
The Double-barreled Repeater Magicannon was technically still on her arm with its barrel smoking… but it was empty. Another casting would be needed to reload, and she wasn’t sure that it was ideal for a finisher.
Time and action order were thrown out of whack — Sammy had the tiniest jump as the other combatant stumbled, but she knew her opponent was quicker once she started. It was… even, at that point in time. She needed something decisive and instantaneous rather than its power focused on attrition.
Time to come up with some bullshit! Then there’s the shield… Ah ha! I know exactly what to do. Risky, though…
Sammy quickly and haphazardly designed her spell and cast it, even as another Marring Bolt was coming ready to dish out the pain. The rune forms she wove cut off abruptly, and a bronze sphere materialized, dropping to the floor and rolling some distance away… to sit and do nothing.
The doppelganger sneered as she cast her spell. “Pathetic! Setting up, thinking you’ll survive?!”
The jagged bolt arced across the distance promising its anguish again. Sammy interposed the shield even as she prepared to dive… and when the dark lightning hit the shield she activated Mysterious Wadjat Ward’s sacrificial effect. It flashed with its own baleful energy, absorbing and converting some of the energy: a little more defense, and…
Sammy made sure her dive was complete to the ground and trailing her legs and feet to offer as targets instead of her wounded torso, while praying internally she was not outright dealt a Major Wound… was the bonus of sacrifice enough? Was her foe still under penalty?
Pain arced up through her body from her legs as the lightning tormented her and almost overwhelmed her completely. Once more, a bit of energy fired up and licked her face tangibly, scarring right over the other wound like a brand being stamped. Overall, the agony made her writhe on the ground… among the worst things she’d felt in her life.
“You have been dealt virtual injury equivalent to a Minor Wound on the Left Leg. Actual damage is Superficial, but it is recorded as injury for purposes of further future injury. You are at -1 Effective Levels to any actions involving the leg for the next 5 seconds.”
“You have failed to resist the agony of your injury. You are at -1 Effective Levels to all actions for the next 30 seconds.”
From the ground, Sammy forced herself to twist and continue her little plot. The doppelganger was grinning victoriously even as she prepared to cast again like a one-trick pony. Technically, they probably would ‘begin’ at the same time, and once more the doppelganger would be faster.
But Sammy wasn’t casting.
An orb of dark energy hovered in the air, which was the remains of the captured portion of spell mana by her shield. As an instantaneous mental thing, she directed it at her foe and unleashed it, which caused it to swirl and form a terrible eye that cast with its gaze an aura of malignance — an unavoidable curse penalizing her next contest.
Just a little inspiration from another world’s Fate spells.
Ozra grinned and called, “Magirocket Turret: Activate!”
The sphere made a popping noise and the top half slid under the bottom, revealing a miniature bronze rocket with a glowing blue tip, sitting on a platform. It immediately launched with a screaming ‘FFHHJJJHUT!’ sound akin to fireworks — very briefly, because its surprised target was almost point-blank.
And she got hit point blank — with an 'explosion effect' not under penalties when the doppelganger herself was penalized by a curse and the circumstantial ambush.
The top half of the doppelganger of Medrei Eth exploded into a fountain of strange green and black gooey gore that sprayed everywhere in the small chamber.
Ozra laughed as she wiped the goo off of her face and watched the smoking bottom half of her enemy flop to the ground.
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