Chapter Three Hundred and One - True Colours

I glanced around the old city, peering through the darkness while searching for something I could use as a makeshift weapon. There wasn’t much, unfortunately. Some of the homes had gutters which I imagined I could rip off. (Why did they have gutters? They were underground, it couldn’t rain here right?) Some had windows on their fronts with sharpened jaws of broken glass opening into the deeper darkness in the abandoned homes. A cart or two was left to decay along the roadsides.

Nothing easy to grab, no obvious gardening tools, no street lamps or a handy pile of buckets and spades.

I grit my teeth and gave up on the search for the moment. If I stumbled on something, then that’d be great, but I couldn’t lose sight of what I was here for just for that.

Rainnewt was maybe halfway down the street, walking at a brisk pace towards the far end of the little city.

I grunted as I shot after him, pouring a bit of stamina into my legs to give me a bit of an edge. I’d need it.

Rainnewt was a lot stronger than I was, at least with raw levels. The only person I’d fought who was that far ahead of me was Bastion, and he kicked my butt in every spar while also clearly holding back.

Hopefully Rainnewt's abilities weren't combat oriented. He seemed focused on deception, so it was a possibility that I could gamble on.

I hopped up and onto the flat roof of one of the nearby homes, feet thump-thumping on rusty old tin as I ran for all I was worth.

Rainnewt turned and looked up just as I jumped off the roof and came flying towards him. I put my heels together and kicked down.

My feet passed right through Rainnewt, as if he was made of so much smoke.

His body dissolved, leaving me to crash feet-first into the ground.

I turned the rough landing into a roll and bounced back onto my feet.

“You’re pretty fast,” Rainnewt said. He was standing a few feet to the right of where I’d tried to kick him. “But you’re a little... What would be a polite way of putting this? Loud? Unstealthy? Obvious?”

“Was that a clone?” I asked.

“What? Oh, no, that was just an illusion. Do you have any idea how many dungeons I’ve cleared?”

“Uh,” I said. “A dozen, maybe?”

“A few more than that,” he said. “Most of them solo. Now, to be fair, I try not to overestimate myself. I do know the value of preparing for a fight, but still, perhaps underestimate me a little less?”

I swallowed back a pout. “I wasn’t underestimating you, I’m fighting you knowing that you’re probably way stronger than me.”

“Ah, so it’s... bravery, then, not stupidity. Though I guess there’s a little bit of that as well.” He nodded as if he understood something that was obvious. “That’s entirely fair. In either case, I don’t intend to fight you, so perhaps you could just move along? I’m almost certain that this part of the old city won’t be destroyed by those bombs, and there are a few tunnels leading back to the surface here. You could be safe.”

”I don’t want to be safe,” I said. “I want to... I don’t know.” I shook my head, ears bending back while I brought my hands up in two little fists. I didn’t know how to box or anything, but I’d figure it out. “I think you’re wrong. Super wrong, and I don’t want you to continue.”

“So, what’s your plan exactly, Broccoli? I do think I’m stronger than you, I’m definitely more experienced, time is on my side, and even if you do beat me, then what? You’ll unexplode the king?”

I frowned at him, then whipped a spray of Cleaning magic at him.

It sliced right through whatever mana he was using to make his illusion.

“So, you’re not a shapeshifter,” I said as I started to look around for Rainnewt. He had to be close... I hoped.

“Oh, I am a shapeshifter,” The illusory Rainnewt said.

I jumped to the side and flung out a big wave of Cleaning magic. It spread out, washing across the ground and walls and finally over the real Rainnewt, who looked like he was just standing there next to one of the homes along the street.

“That’s interesting magic,” he said, this time in person. “Cleaning, right? You mentioned it being good against Evil Roots. I can believe it. What rank did you take it to?”

“Rank S,” I said.

“Oh, your ranks are letters too? Interesting!” He smiled genially. “Well, that’s pretty impressive. Most of the locals don’t bother investing everything into one skill. It’s too much of a pain to wait for so long to invest all of your points later. I think our rapid growth kind of negates that disadvantage.”

I spun towards him, then knelt down to pick up a pebble off the street.

Rainnewt blinked as I flung it at him and he casually batted it aside. “What was that for?”

“To see if you’re solid,” I said.

“Oh, clever.” He nodded along, then glanced back down the road. “I think I really will be heading out now. It was fun chatting. I don’t get to talk to too many people, at least not honestly.”

“So you’re lonely?” I asked. “Is that why you’re being so mean? Because, well, you did a lot of bad things, but I guess I might not be so nice if I was very lonely too.”

“Oh no, I doubt that’s the case,” Rainnewt dismissed, but I felt like it was a bit too easy of a dismissal. “I’m pursuing my goals, I don’t have time for people. I’ve always considered myself a nice guy, but, well, people get in the way.”

I nodded, then mid-nod, I lunged forwards and towards Rainnewt. I tried to hit him with my shoulder, but he stepped to the side.

Planting my foot, I slid to a stop, spun around, and launched myself back toward him. My right arm fired a punch straight at his face while I hid my left behind me and formed fireballs around it.

Rainnewt ducked under my swing, then when I tried to elbow him he shoved my arm aside with a hard smack.

I grit my teeth, brought my other hand around and fired the six fireballs I’d made.

Rainnewt hissed as all six blasted him in the chest. He stumbled back a step, his hand rubbing at the burning spots on his suit. “That was expensive, you know!” he said.

“So’s the building you’re trying to bomb!” I shouted back.

Rainnewt huffed as he bounced back a stop and moved out of the way of a swift kick towards his knee.

I bounced forwards and, with a quick smack forwards, finally managed to touch him. It was only a moment, but I did what I could to scramble his magic.

Rainnewt’s eyes widened for a moment as raw mana poured out from the side of his chest. It was a bit strange, not a smoke or a stream, but a flickering mass of colours and reflective surfaces and strange textures. It was almost like a visual glitch.

I didn’t have much time to inspect it before he ducked to one side, and also the other.

I was confused for just a moment as two Rainnewts moved in two directions, but a pair of flung Cleanballs revealed that both were illusions as the Cleaning magic disrupted the images.

“Dang it!” I cursed before shoving a big heap of my mana into a burst of Cleaning magic that exploded out of me and raced across the street.

It revealed that Rainnewt was a good ways away, quietly jogging off towards the far end of the city.

I grunted as I sprinted after him. I was vaguely aware that I had used up a lot of mana in that short tussle, and some stamina too. My heart was pitter-patter racing in my chest.

I jumped at Rainnewt, hand wrapping around the fabric of his suit. “Got you!” I said.

Then the floor skipped out beneath us.

A loud bang roared across the room and long-settled dust came pouring down from the ceiling.

I was so surprised that for a blink my lightball faded, leaving us both in the trembling dark.

“What?” I asked.

Rainnewt spun out of my grasp and shoved me back. “Seems like your friend wasn’t all that skilled at disarming things,” he said.

“No!” I said.

“That was very premature, there’s not much else it could be. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“No!” I said, louder. Awen was fine. She had to be.

I blinked hard, then jumped towards Rainnewt.

He weaved around my grasp, then slapped me across the face.

I squeaked as I crashed to my knees, the world spinning and a sharp, burning pain across my face. It hurt. Thinking that Awen might be... no, I couldn’t be distracted.

“Alright, now you’re just annoying,” Rainnewt said.

I got up, a hand cradling my cheek and the side of my face. It still hurt, the pain only ebbing away slowly. “You’re not a very nice person, are you?” He’d hurt Awen, maybe. Probably not. Awen was good. She was a great mechanic. She knew what she was doing.

“You were literally attacking me,” he said. “Besides, What I do I do for a reason. I’m a nice guy, I swear.”

I glared at him as hard as I could. “No, I don’t think you are,” I said. “I... I don’t like fighting people. I don’t even like fighting things. But you’re just mean enough that I think fighting you is the right thing to do.”

He rolled his eyes at me, and that’s when I spun and kicked out towards his chest.

Rainnewt caught my leg. A hand gripping tight around my shin with a meaty thwack. He pulled me forwards, then, when I struggled to regain my balance, he punched me.

I coughed as the air was blown out of my lungs. His fist stayed buried just below my ribs. I tried to disrupt his mana, but I couldn’t think straight, I was too slow. He let go of my leg and shoved me back.

“Shut up, Broccoli,” he said. “You’re such a self-righteous little child. Going on about... friendship and whatever. Grow up.”

“No,” I said, then I kicked him in the shin.

He was wearing greaves though, and other than a wince, it didn’t look like I’d done much to stop him at all.

“I’m done here. If you survive the blast, then maybe we’ll see each other again. Honestly, I’m not sure if I want you to or not, but I don’t have it in me to kill a fellow Riftwalker.”

“What? What makes me so special? You’re going to kill a ton of people with your bombs, you’re going to start a war!”

He shrugged. “Maybe. But they’re the products of the World. They’re... I suppose less people.”

“That’s not true,” I said. I spun over onto my stomach and coughed a few times, then, with a wipe of my nose, I climbed to my feet. I felt a little nauseous still, and the world was wobblier than I’d like, but I wasn’t going to let him insult everyone everywhere like that. Those people were my friends. “You’re a liar, you know?”

“Yes, obviously,” Rainnewt said.

His voice sounded faint, and it took me a moment to realise that it hadn’t come from his mouth.

A weak splash of Cleaning magic washed over him, disrupting whatever illusion magic he was using enough to reveal the trick. The jerk! Another fake!

I groaned as I fired off another big blast of Cleaning magic, revealing Rainnewt, on the edge of an alleyway a dozen metres away.

My mana was almost spent.

“You’re persistent,” he said.

“She is.”

Rainnewt and I both glanced down the street to see a very familiar face. Bastion, in his ceremonial armour, cape fluttering out behind him like someone out of a poster. Behind him, and still much closer to the doorway, was Awen and a few guards who were working on creating balls of light to illuminate the dead city.

“But she’s got a good heart,” Bastion continued. “Which is more than I could say about you. I’m supposed to formally ask that you surrender, but I would much rather you resist.”

***