It had been perfect. Rufus had backed up from me suddenly, breaking the formation of the black and silver Griidlords. The opening had laid Remus bare before me. We were of even level, and I could smell the momentum shifting in my direction. I wanted so badly to cross swords with another Sword that was on par with me. I wanted a chance to match up against one who didn’t have more skills or attributes than I did. I wanted to prove myself at least the better of my peers.

  Even as Remus turned, his bearing uncertain, to face me, the others fell beautifully into place. Olaf found the opening to barrel into Rufus as he moved back from me. Olaf’s level was a fraction of the Oakland Axe’s, but type advantage, compounded with a blindside strike, staggered the more powerful suit. Tara had found their Shield isolated and was shredding at his defenses. It was clear his level substantially exceeded hers, but her type advantage seemed to be more than closing the gap. Even as I watched, he backpedaled, scraps of mystorium peeling from his shield under the tempest of her assault.

  And Remus was trapped. He had turned to face me, but I could see he sensed the approach of Magneblade. Our Axe had circled, stepping beyond the shower of sparks and misery that was Tara’s assault on the Oakland Shield. In that moment, he was poised to claim his prey, and Remus knew it.

  When two teams of Griidlords meet and one team manages to align all their forces with total type advantage, with each of the opponents matched against a suit that is their bane, it is called a natural 20. I don’t know where the term arose; it makes little sense to me. We couldn’t quite call it such with Rosegold hovering on the fringes of the fight, but it was as close as we were likely to see. Such an outcome was exceptionally rare, as it was the last outcome any team strove to see.

  There lay the problem for me. Even as sparks showered in the air, as my enemies seemed to recoil, I couldn’t stop thinking of Rosegold. I had been forbidden by Enki from engaging her. But even though she hadn’t stepped into the fight, she could do so at any moment. Enki had promised she would leave me be, but he had made no promise that my friends would avoid her wrath.

  I think I reasoned that she was a danger to them. Her level was so insanely high, she could maim or kill any of them in a moment. Her level was vastly greater than my own even, but at least I had type advantage.

  I had been forbidden from tackling her.

  Remus seemed to notice my hesitation and turned to defending himself from Magneblade. The Axe fell on him with a wild and savage glee. Remus moved well enough and defended to the best of his ability, but there was an air of the inevitable about the combat. He could Detonate still, but for now, he was too close to his own Griidlords to risk the move.

  When I turned to Rosegold, I’m sure I was assuring myself that it was necessary. She could upend our advantage in a moment, and I was the only one among us with even a chance at slowing her. If she could be kept at bay for just a short time, then there was a strong chance that Magneblade and Tara would win their fights. Then they would be free to help Olaf, and in a moment, it would be the four of us standing against Rosegold.

  I may even have convinced myself that I was trying to take sly advantage of Enki’s assurance that he had meddled with her weakened mental state—that she wouldn’t fight me.

  So many thoughts bounced around the inside of my brain. The danger to my teammates screamed in my ears. She could maim or kill any of them with a thought. The knowledge that I had surprise, type-advantage and Enki’s protection drove me forwards. But I remembered Katya’s words, how Enki could control my faith, how I was less than an equal partner in our arrangement. Rebellion burned in me. The need to show Enki I wasn’t its toy.

  It flipped the switch.

  I had been forbidden.

  I couldn’t abide being forbidden. Not any longer.

  She was truly startled when I charged her. Her whole body twitched in surprise, her stance terrible, her defenses lowered. My CUT soared towards her center mass like an eagle descending on unsuspecting prey.

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  I felt the tip of my sword bite into the surface of her armor. Orange bloomed in a blinding eruption, a line of terrible abrasive force. I felt the impact rattle the length of my blade and shake the joints of my elbows and shoulders.

  I had type advantage. I had the element of surprise. It had struck true.

  She barely staggered.

  Enki’s voice was in my head. What the fuck, man?! What the ever-living fuck?!

  My own eyes widened in fright behind my visor. I hadn’t imagined that her level, high as it was, would afford her such power. The Arrow was the frailest of the suits save for the Scepter. I hadn’t really imagined that the blow would incapacitate her… but I had hoped for more than this.

  She stood for a moment, chin tilted down, regarding the deep score in the chest plate. It was a terrible moment of stillness, pregnant with the violence that can only be bestowed by a maddened god.

  Her head snapped back up, and a shriek burst from her as she came for me. I went airborne, letting AGILITY carry me away from her. Her claws glowed with the inner light of the sun. Even as the mass of bladed talons swept below my retreating leap, I could feel the heat pulsing from them. Death rested uneasily at the tips of each of those blades.

  Enki’s voice was terrible. It wasn’t a booming rage or a snarling reprimand. It was disappointment, and betrayal, and something like scornful hurt. We had a deal, kid. We had it all worked out. I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here, but you need to learn—you don’t hold all the cards. Sometimes, with me, you won’t hold any of the cards.

  I felt the earth beneath my feet again and brought my sword up, wielding CUT defensively to deflect the next blow. She was fast. So terribly fast. The universe had no place combining such speed with such terrible power.

  Enki’s words: I could let her gut you. How quick would this all go south if she put you down? You’ve turned her on now, boy. She could slice you in half, and then she’d turn on your friends. When was the last time a Tower lost all of its Griidlords in a single battle? It doesn’t happen often, not with that yielding bullshit you meatsacks came up with. But she doesn’t strike me as the sort to accept a yielding. She doesn’t strike me as able to process the notion right now, does she?

  BEAM leapt from her claw tips. My CUT and my SHIELD did what they could to dampen the impact. It was less than I could have speculated. The flow of concussive kinetic energy swept through and around my defenses. The impact was a tsunami of force crushing me, deflating me, lifting me. I spun in the air, arching away from her, the snowy ground rushing up to meet me.

  Enki said, Are you counting on the fact that I need you?

  I hit the ground in a plume of powdery snow. I tumbled, my lungs pressed empty by the force of her BEAM and the impact on the ground. As I smashed into the surface of the snow, a stone skipping on a lake, seemingly finding every rock and outcrop that could be spared to hurt me, my lungs spasmed. I choked and struggled to find the wind to fill me. My eyeballs bulged, even as my body cracked against the hard ground.

  Enki said, Maybe it’s time we made this clear. You think I need you. I don’t need you, kid. I want you. I even fancy you’re the best prospect I’ve ever seen. You might be the best hope I’ve ever had. But I don’t need you. If I wait another thousand years, there’ll be another.

  I slid to a halt. Finally, my lungs clenched and released, and the sweet relief of air flooded my chest. I could hardly move. For a moment, I only cared that I was breathing.

  But then she was there—the angel of death. Muttering incoherently under her breath, she came for me. I raised my sword. It was futile, but I needed to do something. I could have yielded, but I could see it would do no good. She was barely present. Her body was driven toward me by scattered impulses that barely perceived reality.

  Enki said, You crossed me. You went against me. I’m trying to get you to trust me so hard it never occurred to me that I couldn’t trust you. My mistake.

  She stood above me, claws raised in a pose more reminiscent of a demon from an illustration than any physical gesture a human could portray.

  I braced myself for what could only be an unsurvivable blow.

  Crazy But Coping [Sci-fi - Progression - Military Drama] | Royal Road - is launching hard! There's going to be tonnes of material, really really well written and I suspect this is a chance to latch on to a story that is destined for Rising Stars!