BXBX NOVEL Chapter 525: Falling Apart
Chapter 525: Falling Apart
Even in slow motion the cracks spread fast, sounding like sounds of raindrops all concentrated onto a few small areas as the crystal broke away. They spread out into a thin spiderweb pattern, all deepest around the middle and thinning out as they got away from the strike zone. Small chips of crystal were dislodged but for the most part things stayed in place. Only around the impact zone were things more serious.
Right where the naginata impacted was the clear line between the head and the body. The line allowed for more cracks to spread along it rather then being purely limited to a circle. The spot the naginata had made contact with had chipped off slightly. It was a large wound for a human, with a chunk the size of a hand being knocked free. Sadly, for something the size of Crystal it wasn\'t anything more than a mild inconvenience. The naginata blade didn\'t seem to have found any real purchase either, the chunk of crystal that had gone flying prevented what little blade was buried from being covered on both sides.
Kat and Kamiko shared a look in this slowed time and together as one brought the weapon back up for a second attempt. It was slow going as neither dropped their sped up perception, somehow just seeing the other\'s movements and syncing them together. The enhanced speed meant there was virtually no lag between their thoughts.
When the blade came down a second time, Kat felt a very slight pause, a fraction of a moment, where the blade stopped moving and she nearly readied herself to raise it once again, but before that moment could be fully realised the blade descended once more sliding in, producing a sound more akin to nails on a chalkboard then the semi-pleasant sounds before.
Kat wanted to flinch back at the sound, but kept herself steady, her muscles focused solely on making sure that the naginata went as deep as possible into the rat. Each subjective second felt like it was stretched far beyond her usual limits, the world had basically frozen and all she had was the slightest downward motions of her arms and that horrible sound.
Then a thunk.
A heavy solid sound, signalling the end. Kat felt her arms pull down further on the weapon but her fingers were sliding down instead of the weapon. Kat stepped back and away letting her perception return to normal and releasing a breath she didn\'t realise she was holding. Taking in the sight before her, the blade wasn\'t in quite as far as it felt. It was only in about half the length of the blade, but it stayed put. "We did it" said Kat somewhat breathlessly.
Kamiko grinned back and said, "We did it." Kamiko held that grin for a few more seconds before turning to Kat. "Now I believe you should use the hammer for the final part"
"What?!" hissed Kat. "This is your weapon Kamiko, and even if that hammer is Sue\'s I don\'t see why you shouldn\'t be the one to hammer it in. I don\'t know I trust myself not to damage it."
Kamiko just waved Kat off, "If Sue\'s fine with it, I think you should deal the final blow… or however many it needs. You\'re a bit stronger than me. We proved that at Wrath. You should"
"Yeah Kat" said Sue with a grin "I\'m perfectly happy to hand over my shaft to your tender mercy\'s. While Kamiko is nice and all, she didn\'t carry me down from my hide away on the roof you know. I\'m sure you\'ll do fine" Sue even handed the weapon over to Kat to prove the point.
When it was dropped in her hands, Kat had expected for her hands to drop a little with the weight off the weapon. She found this was not the case, it simply dropped into her hands and stayed put. It took her a second to realise she could simply hold something like this now. Stepping back slightly Kat gave it a few test swings and it was a strange experience.
She could feel the weight of it as she swung it around. Even if it didn\'t strain her muscles much she could feel how heavy it was, especially when she changed direction and the mercury centre was forced against the walls.
*Ok I can do this. It\'s not too hard. Just gotta hammer it in. Just like hammering a nail. You\'ve done that before, it\'s nothing too serious. Hmmm… but I\'m probably going to do this more like those oversized hammers at a fair ground. Ok. I might not have done that but I know the way it works and with slowed perception I can make sure it hits the right target.*
Kat brought the weapon back and braced her legs. She knew enough to know that this wasn\'t supposed to be an arm operation but with the whole weight of her body. Letting her instincts guide her Kat started the hammer at the ground and brought it up and around. Once it hit the peak of its arc Kat let gravity take over for a second before twisting her body and pulling the hammer down as hard as she could forcing it down onto the naginata.
Kat wasn\'t sure what she expected, but the effect was far beyond her expectations. The hammer slammed into the flat end and pushed the sword in deeper sending waves of cracks across the rat\'s head flowing all the way to the front of its face nearly reaching to its mouth. Kat felt the world pause for a second before the weight of the liquid metal forced the hammer down again.
The growing web of cracks was jolted by this second impact and screeched out. The cracks grew other cracks of their own, covering the entire head in thin cracks that meant there was hardly any untainted crystal, then it started to really change once it reached the mouth. A loud thunk sounded out, and before Kat could register the change the face of the rat split from its mouth all the way to its neck and then the head just shattered, falling to pieces.
Kat felt herself slipping slightly as the naginata, now with nothing below it starting falling as well. Kat pulled back, using her natural grace to stop herself from tripping forward and Kamiko came in and swiped her weapon to prevent it from dropping.
Just as Kat regained her footing, the whole rat jolted, dropping down and causing her footing to slip forward. Kat flared her wings in an instinctive response but Sue was acting nearly as quickly. She dismissed her weapon and reached out to stabilise Kat.
The issue was, Sue was falling herself. In the end, Kat felt herself being pulled sideways as Sue dropped. *Shit I\'m going to need to catch them both.* Kat pulled Sue up with her arm and shifted her to a fireman\'s carry over her shoulder, ignoring the wing now in her face as she did something similar on the other side.
Reaching out with her tail she wrapped it around Kamiko who noticed what was going on and reacted as well, using what little stability she still had to push over towards Kat and reached out an arm and rolled into Kat\'s embrace.
Two demons together was a bit much for her, but Kat could at least take the impact on her legs, using her wings to push them to the side slightly. It was a short drop, but the weight of full to grown demons meant her knees buckled a bit. Still, nothing too serious and Kat put the pair down quickly afterwards.
"You guys alright? What happened?" asked Kat
Sue flicked her head backwards to get the hair that had fallen out of her face and glared over at Stone. "I\'m fine, dunno if Stone will stay that way though. Doesn\'t he know anything about giving a lady warning before dropping on them?"
Stone levelled a glare at Sue and said "I will admit to being unprepared for the rat simply dropping. I was freezing the equivalent of its muscles so when the head shattered and the body stopped responding the muscles relaxed and because I was already trying to induce that state, it simply dropped."
Stone continued his walk over to the stone dome he had created before placing a hand gently on it and clenching it into a fist. In an instant the whole structure shrunk to the size of a baseball, blood oozing out of the cracks. "It is done"
Kat\'s eyes flew open wide. *What the heck! Holy shit… he… he just totalled this last enemy. Oh dear me… HOW STRONG WAS THE CRYSTAL RAT. If Stone was kept in place by that thing… but he can just… just oneshot the Summoner when it isn\'t interfering… woah. That\'s… that\'s pretty hardcore Stone. I didn\'t… wait… why couldn\'t he just do that before! I wonder… hmm… could the bigger crystal rat have been helping in some other way? Maybe spreading its toughness out or something? I mean… Stone wouldn\'t mess with us but… now I\'m more confused then impressed I think.*