Boy Meets Ai

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

An onslaught of bullets barraged the healer. Hendricks strummed a fast paced tune, his spell imbuing Marquis with higher attack potency. Gun smoke filled the air with the acrid smell of burnt black powder and ozone. The assault was merciless. The Ai could reload his pistols in the blink of an eye and create an endless stream of gunfire. However, something gave Marquis pause. He stopped suddenly, watching the swirling black miasma surround the healer. All of his rounds began to drip out of the smoke, plinking on the tile floor. Not even a single shot had touched the healer. Thomas felt much different to them now. The passive, kind child now gave off a much more serious energy. His personality had completely changed.

"It's not gonna be that easy." Thomas said with cold determination.

"Zerfallen is more potent than we anticipated." Marquis noted.

The Skull mask that Thomas wore contained a simple effect. A shield that intercepted ranged attacks. This wasn't so terrible as all shield effects in the game could be broken with enough damage pumped into them. However, unlike other shield effects, this one had its own hp pool. IT was as if it was its own living entity, as if the spirit of the Death Knight himself protected the wielder. The danger came in two parts. The first; Zerfallen was able to mitigate damage to the shield itself as well, if it was nonmagical damage, reducing attack potency by nearly 50%. The second; if a healer was wearing the mask, they could keep replenishing its health pool with their holy spells, keeping the shield active indefinitely. What had seemed like a manageable fight at first, had become an uphill battle for Hendricks. He cursed under his breath. They would need to chip away at his mana reserves, but they couldn't win a war of attrition with a healer. There wasn't time to dwell though as the ai monk stepped forward. Aramais put himself in front of Thomas. His robes swayed gently. His fingers twitched slightly as electricity arched between them. Hendricks could detect the faint scent wafting from him, the odor you would smell just before a storm. The monk moved gracefully, walking as if he were strolling through a tranquil garden and not a battle arena. In the next moment, there was a flash followed by a thunderous boom.

Blue lightning cascaded down, striking Aramais. The brilliant flash lit up the coliseum, some players had to shield their eyes. Before Marquis could even think to raise his guard, a fist crashed into his jaw, sending him sprawling. The gunslinger quickly got back onto his feet. His pistols were aimed at his assailant, or at least he thought they were. Another flash of crackling lightning struck behind Marquis. He winced as a kick caught him between the shoulder blades. Dozens of flashes followed by even more punches and kicks. He was absolutely swarmed by the monk's overwhelming speed. Hendricks looked on in concern but didn't have much time to worry about his companion. marquis would have to figure out counter measures on his own unfortunately. Thomas pulled a heavy mace from its place on his belt and charged the bard. His intensity coupled with the skull mask made the bard want to retreat but he held fast. As Hendricks had predicted, his enemies wouldn't be giving him space to cast for long. He threw the guitar aside just as Thomas was upon him. The mace raised over his head, ready to mash the bard into jam. As it came down, Hendricks' fists came up, crossed in an "X" to catch the blow. The heavy strike GONGED against the brass gloves, reverberating down Hendricks arms in waves of amber energy. A confused cheer rose from the audience. No one except for him knew what had just happened. Hendricks was fairly certain neither of them had seen a bard fight like this before.

Thomas swung again and this time Hendricks blocked the mace with a straight on punch. Each time an attack was blocked, the echoing sound from the brass gloves filled Hendricks with more energy, buffing his attack potency, his agility. The fight became a performance in and of itself. The bard twirled around his opponent, deflecting and blocking hits at the last second, building a sort of rhythm from the strikes. The battle became the song from which Hendricks could wield his magic! It became harder and harder for the healer to keep up. Hendricks was able to get a couple of shots under his guard before dancing away. He felt elated. It was actually working! His gamble was paying off! Maybe they could win this after all! He looked to Marquis who didn't seem to be faring well though. The monk was basically toying with him at this point, more of a blur than anything, flashing in and out of view as lightning struck. Marquis fired off rounds but always just a second too late to hit him. Meanwhile he was getting pummeled. The punches were getting more vicious by the second.

Hold on just a little longer. Hendricks pleaded silently.

He turned his full attention back to his opponent. He had to wrap this up but an enemy with healing abilities was going to want to drag things out. Thomas circled around Hendricks, and he had to watch the little damage he did, evaporate as the healer's magic kicked in. Something more potent, he'd need to hit him hard and fast. There was always an ultimate. But he wouldn't have time to just sit there and cast it. The reaper scythe melody took about ten seconds to fully channel. Unfortunately, it was his only option. Hendricks dashed forward engaging Thomas again. This time, every strike sparked a soft amber light that started to enrobe the bard. More and more stacks of shield energy built around him. When he felt he had enough, he backed away again. He slammed his gauntlets together and the sound wave expanded outward into a perfect sphere. His defenses in place, Hendricks started a steady percussive rhythm with his gauntlets. Each hit was louder than the next. The magic swelled and tore out from him in jagged blasts of raw power. The healer realized what was happening and charged into the shield barrier, attacking it ferociously. It started to crack and splinter under his assault but held fast. 3 seconds. Another barrage of strikes left the shell on the edge of breaking. 7 seconds. The Barrier went down. Hendricks' body glowed, still covered with a shield buff himself. He laughed as Thomas' mace glanced off his magical protections.

"See ya!" He pulled his fist all the way back as his ultimate reached full charge. There was a brilliant explosion of purplish light. Hendricks could barely hear Marquis calling out to him. It sounded like he was saying "Look out!"

Hendricks went to throw his punch, but all of his momentum was shifted backwards as a heavy hit dug deep into his stomach. Aramais had appeared seemingly out of nowhere between the two players. His fist pressed into the bard's vital organs before the force behind the punch sent the bard flying. Hendricks tumbled backward like a ragdoll, skittering across the ground.