(15.2) Fight the Changeling

The changeling leaps forward.

At the same time, a flame-covered wooden beam falls in front of them, illuminating the changeling's crocosaur form with an intimidating orange underglow.

Aki notices the changeling flinch back rather violently from the flames and smiles.

Intimidating as the changeling is, the things it changes into are still animals, so it should bear some of the instincts of those creatures.

They roar angrily and quickly side step around to get to Aki.

Already, Aki is sprinting into the plaza centre. Raising her amulet in front of her, she rapidly charges as much mana as she can before turning on the spot.

"Run! Ahaha, I'll still bite you into pieces!" The changeling opens its great maw wide.

"Minor Illusion," Aki throws her arms wide open, launching the mana like a net. "Bite this, fireball!"

The mana immediately forms into hundreds of little flames between the two of them.

She sees the changeling's eyes dilate and it pulls away from the fire in a panic. If it had gotten any closer, they would have probably realised it was no more than illusions, but instincts are instincts.

Moving away from fire is natural, but for the changeling to respond immediately like that, the crocosaur must not do well with fire to begin with.

Unfortunately for the changeling, the sudden attempt to escape damage resulted in it slipping on a pile of bodies and falling into a still burning building.

The changeling howls in pain, shifting rapidly through a variety of creatures before settling into the horned creature again. They rise with an angry howl.

"Acolyte!" They spin to face her. Lowering their head, it charges at her. "Fire won't work against the might of a rhinilla. Your demise is near!"

"No!" Aki doesn't manage to form a complete shield this time around.

She feels her arms buckle from the impact before she gets sent flying once more. She crashes into a pillar, cracking it down the middle quite completely.

The wind gets knocked out of her on impact.

"No?!" The changeling jeers mockingly. "Expecting me to say 'you're right, allow me to just not kill you' and leave you be? Pathetic."

Already, the changeling is charging again. It's all Aki can do to crawl out of the way to avoid getting crushed.

She scrambles back to the centre of the plaza, almost laughing at the novelty of being locked inside a 'battle arena.'

The changeling backs away from the pillar and shapeshifts again, turning not into a beast but a person.

Or its approximation of a person. Their arms are thick, brutish and swordlike spikes extend from the forearms. Powerful-looking legs with dangerous claws clack along the flagstone. Long white hair flows halfway down their back and ashen skin covers the entirety of their body.

Rather than eyes, all Aki can see is pitch black where the sclera should be.

The changeling grins a toothy grin as they approach her.

"Occurs to me we haven't properly met." The changeling says in the same tone of voice they had spoken in as the vibrash woman.

With a mocking bow, they introduce themselves. "My name is Fremont. I'll be killing you now."

Fremont refers to themselves as he, Aki notices. She has no time to contemplate the dissonance she suddenly feels because Fremont is slashing at her with incredible speed.

She can't see his attacks. His movements are far too fast to keep track of. Were it not for the dizzying amount of precognition activating over and over again, she would have been skewered dozens of times already in a few seconds.

Aki dodges a swing that would have surely decapitated her only to get kicked in the stomach. Luckily his claws didn't cut her up but she was still sent flying. Aki crashes into some boxes across the market.

Pain shoots up her back but she doesn't yet faint.

"I can't…" Aki wobbles to her feet. "I need some distance to switch titles."

"Show me what an Acolyte can really do!" Fremont morphs into a gigantic raven-like monster.

His beak is serrated and his wings have claws on them not unlike a bat. The difference is, this monster's hands are quite human-like with long claws.

Fremont falls forward to stand on all fours and leaps at her, spreading his wings as if to glide.

"No time!" Aki balls the amulet into her mana-charging fist. "Heart Shock!"

Her legs buckle, causing Aki to fall sideways and avoid getting swallowed up. Still, Fremont's bird form soars practically on top of her and the moment his head is in range, she punches Fremont right in the eye.

Aki doubts such a spell could kill or injure such a large monster, but she recalls her friend Rayla said something along the lines of birds being badly affected by electromagnetism.

A terrible cawing screech escapes the bird monster's beak as Fremont goes haywire, flapping his wings wildly and smashing into buildings and the flagstones. As if he can't gather his bearings atop of the pain of getting socked square in the eye.

"So it is just like a bird." Aki scurries away but keeps an eye over her shoulder on the rampaging Fremont.

"Title switch."

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[MP: 300 -> 250]

[Agility: +1]

[Speed: +1]

[Mobility increased by 80%. Clothing reduces actions by 10% each.]

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Heart Shock is a simple and rather basic spell, relying on releasing an electric charge to restore a normal heart rhythm.

Due to how it functions, it's weak enough to be cast without any sort of conduit or focus but can be lethal if used improperly. It isn't quite electromagnetism but it worked well enough.

"Still keeping me safe even now, Rayla…"

Fremont craters the flagstones with a direct landing and cries out in pain and rage.

A disgusting mass of grey flesh morphing into different shapes and sizes springs forth amidst the smokescreen and still burning fires.

"My form!" Fremont shouts, his head stuck halfway between the raven monster and the rhinilla. "I can't keep my form."

His eyes bulge out in anger as he searches for Aki. "This was just a job but now… Now! I'll rip your head off and feast on your flesh! I'll use your skull as a chalice and drain your blood like a pig!"

Fremont's amalgamated form slowly reshapes itself as he rushes Aki in a blind rage.

Aki throws spells out at the changeling with abysmal accuracy, almost always flying wide. Fremont's taunting laughter at her failures is probably the only reason Aki can gather enough time to get out of harm's way.

The ground rumbles and a powerful wave of miasma cascades over the square. Both Aki and Fremont shudder, temporarily thrown off balance by the wave of power.

Aki recovers first and circles Fremont's recovering form. He has almost completely gained back control of his shape, settling into that of the rhinilla.

"Is it because a rhinilla is resistant to electrical attacks?" Aki takes cover behind a busted stall closest to where she came in from.

"Out of ideas already? Show me that impressive magic of yours, Acolyte." Fremont grunts. He stomps the flagstone, fracturing the stones with his powerful hooves. "Or give up and let me crush you."

"You're gonna have to try harder than that." Aki raises a corner of her cloak tauntingly. Pain arcs through her head as she speaks again. "Here, torro."

Fremont bellows, shaking his furry head and charging again. For the next few minutes, Aki and Fremont are locked in a tight game of cat and mouse. Fremont repeatedly charging and Aki just barely dodging, or at least avoiding more direct hits.

Whenever Aki feels as though she won't be able to dodge in time, she throws one illusion after another. Fires ignite or explode. The ground shoots up like spikes or opens into deep pits. Illusions one and all.

Still, Fremont is incredibly skilled. His shapeshifted forms are far more agile and controllable than the crocosaur body was, so no part of the illusions ever touch him nor do they provide much of a hindrance.

Aki suppresses a grin as one of her 'fireballs' misses Fremont and explodes a building's flat wall.

She doesn't need to rely on the passive skill Tactician to get out of this. As long as she can hold out long enough and keep his attention on her, she may be able to take him down.

Or at least, find a way to retreat if possible.