(15.4) Fight the Changeling
Aki gets struck by the flap of Fremont's amalgamated wings of feather and flesh and nearly loses her balance. By some miracle, she manages to stay upright and dash past him.
The flattened buildings leading to the other marketplace are there to her left but her bag and more importantly, the magic pouch are behind her.
She turns around to face Fremont, his changeling self morphing from the bird back into the rhinilla. His favourite form apparently.
"Getting tired already, Acolyte?" Fremont whips their horned head and aims at her. "That second wind was all show, huh? Your back's wide open. No escape now."
He's right. As far as can be seen, behind her is a flattened pile of rubble too far from the opened path to the marketplace and flanked by nothing defensible at all. She's a sitting duck with nothing to rely on. In spite of this, Aki stands there quite brazenly. As if taunting the changeling to come at her.
"The rhinilla is simple. Fast. Beautiful." Fremont tells her, padding the ground like an impatient lecturer. "On completely flat land, nothing can avoid its charge."
He stomps his front feet and back hooves in a quick rhythm before charging full speed.
Aki can't hide her grin anymore.
"Title switch."
------------
[MP: 300 -> 250]
[Agility: +1]
[Speed: +1]
[Mobility increased by 80%. Clothing reduces actions by 10% each.]
------------
Rather than dodging, she unhooks her cloak and swings it in front of her.
Tattered though it is, the cloak completely blocks Aki from view, preventing Fremont from seeing what happens next.
She hops up, her legs coming into contact with the seemingly thin air at her back.
The air ripples at her feet, solid stone shimmering briefly into view before vanishing again. Using it as a baseboard, she leaps off the invisible wall, throwing her tattered cloak at the changeling's face to further obscure their vision.
Aki soars over the blinded changeling, landing roughly on the flagstones, but ultimately unharmed. Fremont on the other hand, has barreled through the wall, breaking the illusion Aki had been building up since the start. A building largely untouched by flames comes into view and collapses onto Fremont and burying them beneath the rubble.
Immediately, Aki puts her amulet to her chest and goes through her repertoire of healing spells, restoring herself as much as possible. Once mostly healed, she runs to collect her bag. Unfortunately, it is torn too badly to be used as one anymore. Her pitiful amount of supplies lay scattered and broken across the plaza near the bag.
Aki's waterskin, old food, medicine, and camping gear are nearly unrecognisable from being tossed around. But that isn't what she's looking for.
"There," Aki scoops up the small pouch containing the briarwood axe. "Got you."
Roars and growls erupt from the rubble behind her. Fremont is already shapeshifting into different things to try and escape the fallen building.
"Time to go." She needs time to recover and come up with a strategy.
Aki sprints away from the square, heading towards the other marketplace, seeing hope in the largely undamaged, untouched stalls and buildings.
Even from here, she can see it had been barricaded defensibly. Likely from the New Pinaccan guards holding down Polaris Plaza not far from there.
If she continues to rely on precognition and instinct alone, the dizziness is sure to overwhelm her and her instincts are bound to fail. So, a change in location should help refresh her mind and give her an idea on how to win.
Aki feels grateful such destruction opened the way to a chance for survival. Her thoughts race as she thinks about her next move. "Winning isn't impossible. That guy is kinda simple. He's strong and can shapeshift but the problem is he's just way too fast. My eyes can't keep up!"
------------
(Tactician Lv. 2 - Insight granted)
------------
"...Ah. That's right. It's the only way."