(15.3) Fight the Changeling

"Enough of this!" Fremont suddenly shifts back into the humanoid form as he's charging.

The inertia carries him forward with incredible speed. Fremont nearly cleaves Aki in twain only to be left slicing through the cloak and a bit of her leg. Blood splatters in a wide arc but Aki remains mobile.

Even so, the longer this game carries on, the faster Aki's stamina depletes. Her cloak is heavily shredded now and her arms and legs are covered in bruises.

She's panting from the exertion. Aki is more than fast enough to react and evade the charging attacks. She's done that so far. Avoiding bladed attacks however, is another matter entirely.

"I need to switch back if I want to properly heal myself," Aki grits her teeth as she narrowly avoids getting her arm cut off.

"Your life is mine!" Fremont lunges forward, his spiked arm elongating at an incredible speed and stabbing Aki in the stomach.

He cackles gleefully as he hoists her up, aiming to fully pierce through her frail body. Aki, however, grips her bloodied hands tightly around the spike.

"Title switch." She spits bloody saliva into Fremont's eyes.

"Again with the eye!" Fremont, in a panic, flings Aki away. 

His throw sends Aki colliding into the newly risen Dead serving as an audience to their fight. "Struggle then! It'll make killing you all the more exciting."

Ethereal chains sprout from the ground and air, encasing the risen Dead and crushing them with a brilliant flash of light.

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(MP Overflow!)

(Temporary MP overtakes maximum!)

(Minor Heal Lv. UP! Lv.3 -> Lv.5 - Power increased)

(Healing Touch Lv. UP! Lv.3 -> Lv.5 - Power increased)

(Restore Stamina Lv. UP! Lv.3 -> Lv.5 - Power increased)

(Spectral Bind Lv. UP! Lv.4 -> Lv.6 - Can drain HP and MP from the Dead)

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Aki rises from the rubble, dirty and tattered but no longer covered in injuries. The Dead fall silent, unable to have put up a fight from how quickly Aki felled them.

"Second wind, eh? That won't be enough." Fremont shapeshifts again, turning into a whirling mass of flesh and rage.

He stampedes her way, swiping at Aki with suckered tentacles and toothy extremities.

Fremont's rampage flattens buildings and destroys many others. His indiscriminate flailing destroys nearby Dead that were shuffling toward the commotion and opens a path to what looks like a farmer's market space nearer the centre of the city.

"I think that way leads to Polaris Plaza. If I can bring him to the market, maybe I can get some backup."

Aki gets struck square in the stomach by one of the tentacled limbs and gets sent flying backward, away from where she needs to go.

She crashes through the broken window of a mostly undamaged shop, her fall broken by an extraordinarily soft mattress. Bouncing off it, Aki lands roughly onto the lacquered wooden floor of the shop.

"Lucky…" Aki rises onto her knees, shaking her head to free herself of the stupor.

Torn brown leather and scattered materials catch her eye from outside the window.

Her bag lies in pieces on the flagstone. She can see her supplies on the ground but not the little magic pouch containing the axe.

Fremont is already coming at her again. Still, she allows herself a few precious seconds to search in spite of her better judgement.

It is there, next to some rubble not far from where her bag is.

"Found you!"

"That I did, pipsqueak!" Fremont leaps through the window, swiping his spiked arm at Aki.

The slash cuts her just below the left eye socket and rips into her nose but does no more damage.

Were it not for Aki's precognition and instinctive reaction that allowed her to avoid the brunt of the damage, she would have been decapitated.

Death was avoided but unfortunately, all that she previously recovered is quickly getting cut back down.

Already she feels herself panting from the exertion. She has only two or three more good dodges left in her. Yet the time spent avoiding hits isn't without merit. She managed to get a lay of the land and located her bag, as well as a solid escape route. All she needs to do is recover herself and stun Fremont long enough to get away.

Fremont lashes out again, aiming for her head with his vicious looking claws.

"Shockwave."

Aki feels her cheek get torn and splattering blood gets into her eye from the air pressure of her mana at the same time her power swells.

The damage is painful and significant but it also means Fremont can't raise any form of shield or avoid such a close range expulsion of mana.

Fremont cries out as the blast rockets him backward out of the building.

Dust and debris cloud the air, obscuring her vision but that doesn't matter all that much to Aki. She already knows where her belongings are and Fremont was blasted away. If she keeps on her toes, everything will be just fine.

Aki slaps her face together and heals her more significant injuries. Once she doesn't have her face's flesh hanging loose for the breeze like some sort of freak show attraction, Aki jumps back onto the street and makes for her belongings.

Flashes of the future appear again, stopping her mere centimetres from Fremont's snapping beak.

"How long can you hold off?" Fremont caws, his deeply resonant voice not matching the bird head he currently has.