Chapter 109: Kumite

Several things happened at once.

More, even, than James could keep track of.

Somebody started yelling.

He summoned Dikastís. The Avatar of Justice came pouring through space and time to flood James with its power.

You have Summoned Dikastís, the Virtue of Justice

15 of your Arete have been Claimed in His Name

You Are Invested with the Avatar of Dikastís:

+60 to all Stats (Includes Holy Zeal Bonus)

Benedictions Activated:

Holy Zeal | Dispel Illusion | Remove Fear

Even as the power of the Virtue thundered into him Jane crushed his throat, snapped his neck, pulping the muscles and bones between her talons, and tossed him aside.

But James had already summoned his first Heavenly Assault. White lightning blasted town, shot through with Gloria, to consume Jane utterly within its riotous center.

Serenity opened fire with her Sigs, both guns blamming out a blur of Smite-enhanced rounds into the heart of the lightning strike.

James hit the ground, consciousness fading, blood bursting out of his ruined neck, but before Denzel could intervene with Martyr’s Cry James burned an Aeviternum and healed up completely.

All in a couple of seconds.

Lying on his side James stared at where Jane had stood. The lightning disappeared as quickly as it had come, taking Jane with it.

Was she dead?

No. She’d transported herself to his crew.

Yadriel loomed massive in his demonic form as Jane appeared before him, blood-slicked and lithe, her hair hanging in crimson ropes. He howled and dove down at her. James dropped another Heavenly Assault, burning off a chunk of his Divine Pool. Jason flared his Nova. His aura blasted out, Bronze and bright, exploding out in every direction, expanding in a glorious sphere. Serenity swiveled and kept firing.

Jane laughed.

She leaped up and punched through Yadriel. Dove through his chest as if he were made of nothing more substantial than cardboard. Left a hole two feet wide behind as she flew upward, the blood burning off her body, leaving her pale and faintly charred from the attacks, to turn and hover overhead.

Kimmie pointed her hand at the demon. “All right everyone. Let’s kill this bitch.”

Holy Zeal crashed into James like a cresting tsunami. His stats all jumped another +10 and his focus narrowed so that nothing was as important as slaughtering the demon.

Yadriel had dropped to his knees, but the white flare of Aeviternum swept over him as he healed himself.

Olaf raised their Circle of Protection, the sphere manifesting as it pushed Jane back, but she laughed and struck the glowing surface, shattering it and driving Olaf to his knees as blood burst out of his nostrils.

James rose to his feet. He was shaking. Too much power. Dikastís rode him, imbued him with might. The Virtue of Justice’s Holy Zeal was doubled by Kimmie’s, with both of their Indomitable Resilience Benedictions layering over each other.

James felt feverish. Like he was hopped up on cocaine, possessing far too much energy within his skin. He felt like he was going to burst.

“Kerim!” he shouted. “Get my skeggox!”

The professor shadow stepped away.

James sprinted toward his friends. It had taken him minutes to cross to the halfway mark of the cavern. He ran back in seconds, leaped, soared into the air as if shot by a cannon right at Jane.

Who opened her arms as if to embrace him, then disappeared.

“No you don’t,” shouted Miriam, and her Benediction flooded forth, dispelling the illusion.

James twisted midair to hit a stalactite with his ass and the soles of his feet. Gravity seemed to have lessened. He hit the ribbed, damp stone and saw Jane flitting around, her invisibility dispelled.

“Get the fuck outta here!” yelled Jelly, flying into her from behind in a whirl of blades. Where the first Anima had busted up its sword-arms, Jelly managed to cut into the demon, his Gloria-infusion making him far more powerful.

Jane hissed and sped through the air toward Miriam.

James dropped a third Heavenly Assault on her, bringing his divine pool down to half. Serenity was hitting Jane with every bullet, turning in place like a gun turret. Miriam screamed as Jane flashed past her, claws tearing through her throat.

Just like that Miriam’s head sailed free in a gout of blood.

Denzel screamed in pain and her head flew back, re-attached, leaving her hale and whole.

Olaf busted out the Circle once more and raised his M4. Miriam did the same, as did Kimmie.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. James saw the direction Jane was flying, and even as he began to fall, he shoved off the stalactite and flew to intercept.

The huge rock pillar cracked behind him from the power of his shove. He flew through the air and hit her in a Sacred Strike infused tackle, his Silver Aura flaring and searing her skin, the world crackling white as he wrapped his arms around her waist and knocked her out of her trajectory.

She screamed, more in fury than pain, and punched her fist through his spine and out of his stomach.

James’s whole body went rigid. She grabbed hold of him by the shoulder and from within and spun, hurling him away.

James windmilled through the air, Silver Aura trailing a foot behind him, blood and viscera unspooling, but burnt a fourth Aeviternum even as his vision darkened. His spine healed, his stomach sealed, his strength flooded back into him, and he hit the ground a dozen yards away in a crouch, sliding back till he came to a stop.

Jason flared his aura in Nova just as Jane went to strike Olaf’s Circle; several Shields appeared at the same time and this time the demon bounced off, unable to shatter their defenses. Yadriel howled and hurled himself at her, massive in comparison to her slight frame. He raked her twice with his sword-arms, failing to break her skin but knocking her back with the sheer strength of his blows.

Jane hissed, caught herself midair, then burst forward to punch her fist straight through Yadriel’s face. She embedded her hand inside his head, slammed it down his throat, and grabbed him where this collarbones met. With a shriek she flung him down. His huge Nem3 body bounced off the rock, flared white with Aeviternum as Denzel screamed again. Yadriel healed instantly, bounded to his feet, leaped at Jane, but she swerved to avoid him.

Kerim appeared beside James, skeggox in hand. “Here, James.”

James closed his fist around the golden axe. It felt good. It felt right.

“All right bitch,” James rasped. “Let’s try this again.”

With Miriam up and inside the Circle, Jane couldn’t disappear. Everyone but Yadriel and Kerim were inside the protective hemisphere. Jane paused, considered, then the whole cavern went dark.

James didn’t know how he could tell, but he sensed Infernum gathering within her, faster than he could track.

“Watch out!” he yelled as he sprinted forward.

Jane extended both hands and crimson lightning burst from her fingertips. A dozen bolts as thick as her wrist hit the Circle.

It burst.

The lightning bolts slammed into those within. Serenity, Olaf, Miriam, Denzel, Kimmie, and Jason were lifted off the ground and hurled back, their clothing bursting into flame, their eyes bursting out of their heads, their skin splitting, their bodies charring.

James faltered.

The six bodies hit the ground.

All six flared white with Aeviternum, and all six picked themselves back up.

Jane hissed in displeasure. “You’ll not be able to heal forever!”

She was ten yards ahead of him, up in the air.

“Bless James!” he roared. His own Bless raised his stats by +5. Yadriel, Jason, and Kimmie hit them with their own, raising him another +15.

Dikastís had raised all his stats by +60. Kimmie’s Holy Zeal had raised all his stats by +10. Jelly had raised his Power by +10. The skeggox gifted him another +5. +6 from the Major Rune, and +10 from his Eradicating Crusader Class. The Mark of Justice raised him another +10, and the combined Blessings and synergy bonus raised him another +22.

James grabbed the skeggox with both fists, drew it back behind his head, then jack-knifed with all his strength and hurled it at her.

Power 143, Strength 141. Agility 131.

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The skeggox flew from his hands like a gift from the gods. It blazed with the power of the sun, a burning brand, and hewed into Jane’s back, its bearded blade sinking deep between her shoulder blades, cleaving deep.

The demon shrieked in shock and pain and scrabbled with both hands at her back, trying to reach the axe.

James leaped.

Summoned a Heaven’s Assault just as he hit her with Sacred Strike, his knees crashing into her back on either side of the axe.

His Silver Aura flared and her skin began to char.

Serenity opened fire. Jason unleashed a third Nova.

Jane screamed as James rode her to the ground, grasping her by the nape of the neck, and when they hit the rock he slammed his chest into the back of the axe, driving it deeper.

The demon no longer looked like Jane. The damage was adding up. Her skin was seared black and crimson, her hair had lengthened into crimson snakes, and her musculature had grown even as she’d become leaner. Her fingers were elongated and tipped with four inch talons which dug grooves into the raw rock.

The Heavenly Assault faded. James tore the skeggox free, raised it on high to cleave in the back of her skull, his Aura raging all the while.

One second Jane was lying face down beneath his knees. The next she was face up, her mouth split wide into a horrific grin, her eyes twin burning orbs of red. James screamed, tried to bring the skeggox down, but she vomited a geyser of blood up at him.

Not blood.

Lava.

It lifted him off her, propelled him up into the air, his whole front melting, his face ruined, eyes blinded, his scream buried by the burning liquid rock which flooded into his mouth.

James crashed to the ground. The pain was such he couldn’t even think, couldn’t reach for Aeviternum.

I got you, James! Jelly power! An Aeviternum rushed into him from the Anima Sola, and the pain disappeared, the front half of his skull regrew, the lava chunks that had embedded and seared themselves to his body fell away, and James hopped back up into a crouch.

Jane had risen into the air once more. “Tenacious bastards. Time to end this.”

“Everybody, hit her with everything you got!”

The whole crew had summoned their own Virtues by this point. Kerim, Kimmie, and Denzel burned with Empowering Light, each blazing like the skeggox with pure white sunlight. Serenity and Yadriel were encased in Angelic Armor, while Olaf and Miriam had Gold Bucklers floating before them. Both raised their fists, and the cavern filled with Seraphic Web, the Bronze threads ranging in thickness from spider silk to as massive as James’s thigh.

Jane hissed as she dodged and wove between the huge strands. She raised both hands to unleash more lightning but Kerim appeared behind her, having Shadow Stepped into the gloom at her back. He locked an arm around her throat and a second over her eyes, his Bronze Aura wrapping over her. Jane yowled in fury and clawed at his arms. Her talons cut his flesh and bone as if they were butter, but his Mass Solace and Martyr’s Cry caused the wounds to heal back just as quickly.

Jason raised both palms and unleashed his Aura Mastery, pouring a beam of Bronze as broad as a car straight up and through the demon - then kept it there, burning her in place.

Yadriel bounded up and clamped his jaws on her left thigh and set to carving her chest and stomach with his sword arms.

Serenity cursed as she kept firing, her Smite-enhanced bullets punching into Jane over and over and over.

James ran forward even as Jane erupted in a crimson Nova of her own. Infernum-tinted power seared those around her, charred away their flesh, revealing bone, but Kimmie and Denzel’s Avatar-bestowed Mass Martyr’s Cry caused them to heal back up, and their Mass Solace did the rest.

Again Jane screamed and flared her crimson Nova. This time Yadriel fell away to crash to the ground, insensate. Kerim’s arms burned away completely, leaving stumps that emerged from the shoulder, and with a cry he fell to the ground.

Jane swooped out of Jason’s beam of Bronze. She was wrecked, her body charred and broken, but her hate yet burned bright in her eyes.

She turned, catching sight of James at the last moment.

Aflood with power and impossible might, he leaped. Faster than an arrow he hit her, slammed into her chest, and placed a palm against her brow as he called down another Heavenly Assault.

He unleashed the Sacred Strike point blank, right into her skull, his Silver Aura washing over her at the same time.

She screamed, writhed, and everything around them went electric white as the Gloria-infused bolt hit them both.

Jane lost the power of flight and they hit the ground. James’s insane Agility allowed him to remain atop her, palm still pressed against her brow.

Without hesitation he used his last Aeviternum to call another Heavenly Assault and loosed another Sacred Strike right into her brow.

Draw on me for power! Called Jelly. James had stored four Aeviternum in the Anima the night before, and now he reached for that divine power.

Jane screamed.

James called down a Heavenly Assault, flooded her mind with a third Sacred Strike.

She bucked, went Nova and hit him with Infernum Lightning at the same time.

The strength of her attack killed James instantly.

But he blinked right back to life as both Kimmie and Kerim screamed and took the blow.

Another Heavenly Assault. A third. Another Sacred Strike right into her brow.

Jane bucked her hips, tore James’s shoulders and arms and chest open, but his doubled Indomitable Resilience healed the wounds right back.

A fourth Heavenly Assault. James lost track of the number of Sacred Strikes. He just kept flaring them right into her face along with the constant burn of his Aura. He sank his fingers into her eye sockets, gripped her by the front of her skull, and started slamming her head into the rock, pounding her down as he unleashed each Sacred Strike.

Jane’s screeches rose in pitch. Jason loomed over them both, gasping, and went Nova one last time. Serenity stepped up and fired both Sigs at Jane’s head at point blank.

One last Heavenly Assault. James reached deep, took the last of Jelly’s power, and with a roar he raised Jane’s head and slammed it down into the cratered rock with all of his Strength 81.

The rocky floor shattered as Jane’s head burst.

With a cry James reeled back, rising to his knees as he stared in manic horror at the demon between his legs.

Serenity kept firing, pouring Smite into the demon’s ruined skull.

Olaf stepped up, the golden skeggox in hand, and with a roar he brought it up and around and then straight through the demon’s neck with impeccable skill.

The demon’s head was too embedded in the rock to roll free, but the neck separated and James felt the last of its essence flee its body.

Jason ceased his Nova, the burning Bronze fading away, and Olaf staggered back, his mustache and beard crimson with his own blood, leaving the skeggox buried in the stone.

Serenity fired another score of bullets into the ruined head that was pasted into the rock and finally put up her guns.

Everybody stood around breathing harshly, gasping, and only then did Kimmie’s Holy Zeal fade, allowing some form of clarity and lateral thinking to return to James.

“Holy shit,” gasped Kimmie. “We did it.”

James rose shakily to his feet. He looked around at his friends. They stood in torn and ruined clothing, wild-eyed, their bodies sooty and blood-smeared, their chests heaving, but alive.

Alive.

He grinned, unable to restrain himself, and then let out a primal roar of conquest. Olaf joined him immediately, hunching his shoulders as he thrust his fists together, and then Yadriel howled, Serenity let loose a primitive scream of victory, and then they were all bellowing and roaring their defiance down at the dead demon, the being who’d held Belanger hostage, a creature they should never have been able to kill but whom they’d slaughtered as one.

Text appeared in James’s vision:

Your rank is now Disciple 1

As the global first to reach this rank,

your new Benediction will be empowered with Gloria:

Shield of Faith

Dark Vision | Deadeye | Dark Energy Siphon | Aura Mastery | Inspiration

Empowering Light | Fortuna Aeviternum

You have 5 unspent points.

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