Epics of Noche 1, Anchor

EON CH 85

INSTANT RIPTIDE.

1774, OCTOBER 29th SATURDAY 3:45 am.

Noche's blade extended more and more – she approached the mountainside fast.

"Stop! Stop, stop, stop, stop, STOP!"

The blade retracted and returned to its original, short sword size in an instant; Noche hit the ground, skidded up to the wall, and stopped with a faint thud. She stood and raised her sword, lower eyelids raised as she stared at the blade. Noche let out a breath, stabbed it into the rock wall, and tightened her grip.

"Please, don't fuck me over," she whispered.

Noche grabbed one of the gold fishing poles and planted a foot on the blunt of the blade – it rocketed off. The sword grew and grew as Noche soared over the small town; far below Boots watched. With a deep breath, Noche imagined the sword shrinking, and it did so. She aimed the tip at Boots, held her breath, and imagined it extending.

A black pillar shot down towards him like a beam of light – he barely dodged. Boots jumped and flew like a missile towards Noche. She shrank her sword and it zipped right past him, before returning to its normal, short sword size. Aiming for the mountain again, the sword extended hundreds of feet in a flash and pushed her away from Boot's mid-air kick.

"It grows and retracts like a tape measurer," Noche grinned. "Instant Riptide! That's what I'll call this ability."

Boots ran on steps of air – Noche aimed her sword at him.

"Instant Riptide!"

He ducked under the blade's rapid growth, the sword extended beyond the clouds, and he charged. Noche shrank the blade, used the momentum gained from the retraction to spin, and dodged Boot's kick. Still spinning, Noche extended the blade – she scratched his neck with her weedwhacker attack; both fell to the ground.

Noche was huffing for air, Boot's eyes flickered to his throat.

"You almost killed me," he muttered. "If I didn't dodge at the last second."

Noche flinched.

"I didn't mean – No! You attacked me!" She got into a defensive stance and aimed her sword at him. "Are you ready to surrender?"

Boot's gaze hardened, he took a few steps backward and jumped beyond the cumulus clouds. Noche's eyes scanned the gray lining 3,000 feet up – but Boots was out of sight. With a jump, she rose hundreds of feet, but nowhere near enough to match his height. She aimed the sword down, used Instant Riptide, and rocketed towards the sky.

Clouds parted from falling meteors.

"What the actual fuck!" Noche screamed.

She retracted her Omni-Oar, swung towards the nearest meteor, and used Instant Riptide. The space rock was cleaved in two like wet clay. More came after it, Noche wrapped her sword's ribbon around her wrist and tied it into a knot.

She retracted the black blade and when it returned to short sword size the momentum sent her spinning in mid-air. Noche extended her sword and it became a massive helicopter blade – slicing multiple meteors like fruit in a blender.

Burning rock fell past Noche and landed on the grass below; fires began to emerge.

"Shit! Time for a new move," she shouted. "Foggy Coast!"

On the ground, prismatic energy became a massive plume of fog that covered the outskirts of town. The small fires began to die out as Noche landed in the mists below. Hurricane winds parted the fog, Noche acted on instinct, she raised the Omni-Oar in time to block a dropkick from Boots.