The revelation was ridiculous and yet simultaneously poetic, almost too much so. Poetic in who it was that had caught his trail, and ridiculous in that the difficulty level of his escape had been high enough without someone with a legitimate bone to pick with him joining the fray. He supposed it should’ve been expected though, given the universe’s propensity for stacking mishaps when least expected. He’d just have to see if he could contend with the universe long enough to defy its machinations.

◆◆◆

…

Johnny looked down at Luke, his long axe slack in his hold, its head resting on the floor. Luke stared back up at him, and though he could see hints of alarm and tension in the man’s eyes, a calculating curiosity played on the edges, too bright to be veiled.

He’d always thought he hated that quality of the man, but if he were honest, he’d kind of envied him for it, wishing he could remain calm enough when crunch time came to think his way out of any challenge.

Well, he thought, that was only true up until… he trailed off in thought, the memories of that day threatening to undo all the poise he’d been working on from that day. That had been the first time Luke had looked so utterly defeated, without recourse for any better outcome, and it hadn’t helped that Jimmy had fallen to their shortcomings that day. It had been a tough 3 months since then, but he’d made the best of it, channeling his grief into quests and training, and all that experience culminated in him getting the drop on their former commander.

Three months ago, he would’ve expected his moment of triumph to be cathartic in the least, and borderline euphoric at most, and if that wasn’t cathartic enough, he would’ve sought more in eliminating the cause of his grief, Luke; but time had a way of providing perspectives, and from his current one the moment rang hollow.

The Wind Sword he’d tracked and bested wasn’t even half the shell of the man who’d led them, so he couldn’t find much pleasure in the win, but a contract was a contract, so he’d just have to see this one through.

◆◆◆

Luke broke the silence with a single word of address to his assailant, “Johnny.”

“Commander,” Johnny responded in a flat tone. Although it’d seemed plain, it still came off with respectful regard, mismatched with the tone of hostility in their previous interactions. This would’ve been a solid vote for a non-violent resolution were it not for the circumstances of their last quest. Johnny cut into his contemplation then, providing the parameters for the rest of their encounter.

“It’s good to see you in good health, although your skills seemed to have dulled a bit,” he started. “Just so that we’re clear, this has nothing to do with that Hatchery debacle, as they’ve chosen to call it. I’ve had time to mull over those events, and the blame cannot fall sorely on your shoulders, as wide as they are,” he said with a smack.

That smack was as much of the old Johnny as he’d ever get, since the man didn’t waste time in switching back to his business tone. “My interest in your capture is purely a business matter, so you’d understand if our prior friendship can’t cover the charges for my services,” he finished.

From the way he’d worded that, it seemed to Luke that Johnny was now freelancing, to put it politely; and he’d taken a contract for Luke’s capture. What he couldn’t figure out was when he’d accepted the contract, and he voiced as much to Johnny, who answered easily.

“The mayor’s lackeys have kept me close with all the stints on protective detail, but the formal offer only came in earlier today with the news of your first escape.”

“… And what’s the reward on the contract?” Luke asked, more for the time the response would buy him than for curiosity’s sake.

1 x retrieved.

Johnny gave him a predatory grin in response to his question about the reward, and that told him it wouldn’t be that simple. He hadn’t banked Johnny would be open to accepting a counteroffer for Luke’s freedom, even when the price was right, since as a mercenary, his livelihood depended on his reputation, which was in turn linked to the contracts he completed.

Johnny’s weapon arm had slackened at that question, and Luke, seeing as he’d gleaned as much as he could from Johnny, chose to make his next move then. He held Johnny’s stare while simultaneously pulling the pin off the flash bomb concealed within his sleeve. He then lifted his hand above his head and Johnny’s eyes followed it in response, and his hand instinctively found the end of his axe, grip tightening around it.

He brought his eyes down to meet Luke’s and there was warning in his glare, but beyond that, a smile played at the corner of his, and he caught what he assumed to be hints of anticipation expressing themselves as twitches on his temple and cheeks.

All the while, Luke had been counting down the time to detonation and at a second from the flash, he let his sleeve drop, revealing the vial in the early stages of free fall. He’d hoped the sight of the vial would grab Johnny’s attention even for a split-second, but the mercenary’s eyes stayed trained on him. He shut his eyes the moment the vial dropped to his eyeline, involuntarily blinking out of phase as a consequence.

The flash followed immediately, inundating the area in a blinding light that was sure to alert people all-around of their location. He was sure Johnny would strike at his position in reflex, so he tried shimmying to the left to clear the axe’s reach, but a notification popped up, presenting a major kink to his strategy.

Phase boundary encountered, unable to phase through. inapplicable to lateral movements in your current phase.

He’d expected, even banked on the first, but the second had been totally unexpected and inconvenient even, given how he desperately needed to move out of the way of the attack he expected incoming by now. Since falling on his back during his first phase blink pointed to him having shifted stance mid-air, he’d assumed he could freely move left and right when out of phase.

The word ‘intent’ went towards explaining the difference in this situation and free-falling, but there was also the matter of the single step he’d intentionally taken towards forward when he’d attempted to phase through the wall in Gertie’s room. He supposed that might’ve been permitted due to it being an attempt to phase through, and not a simple movement, or there was more at play here.

Since phase blinking follows some of the natural laws like gravity, and as consequence a calculable rate of acceleration, would momentum also be maintained through phases? he thought.

He didn’t have much time to mull over that though, as the next few notifications brought him back to reality, faster than was expected. Johnny had been wielding a long axe so Luke had assumed it would take a bit of wind-up time to levy an attack his way. It was because of this mindset that the next attack found him unprepared.

[Unknown Hatchett] has phased through you. [Unknown Hatchett (II)] has phased through you. A moving phase boundary has made contact with you, [Phase Blink] forcibly cancelled. Minimal damage taken from [Moving Phase Boundary (Knuckles)]

The fact the weapons had phased through was a blessing, but the speed at which they’d reached him, and the fact there were now two weapons to content with made matters worse for Luke. The range and damage of a long axe was counterbalanced by the wind up and restrictions in tighter spaces, but hatchets were contrary to both these advantages and detriments.

Pairing them would go a long way toward bridging the gap in damage potential, and even though they had a shorter range, that wouldn’t matter as long as Johnny could maintain a short distance from him. Now back in phase, he had no choice but to contend with Johnny’s barrage, which didn’t seem affected by the blinding effects of the flash bomb. He dodged a few times before retrieving his colichemarde, baring the flat face to parry all attacks that came too close to dodge confidently.

Fast approaching a wall, Luke had to find a way to turn the tide before Johnny could pin him to that wall, and with Johnny having the size advantage, it wouldn’t be easy to overpower him and put him on the backfoot. Instead of attempting to find a way of temporarily gaining the higher ground, he leaned into the circumstances of his smaller frame, stepping into Johnny’s chest before he could pull the extended hatchets back.

Johnny reacted almost immediately, but not immediate enough, and Luke’s point saw to snuffing his response, pinning his foot to the ground. A doubly-amplified charge flowed to his foot, stunning the man for but a split-second, but he’d begun shrugging it off the next second. A mad grin took over Johnny’s expression as his arm twitched in its defiant ascent, despite the stun effect, and Luke had the good mind to skip witnessing the outcome below Johnny’s bosom.

He retrieved a flash bomb and held it by the index of his weapon arm, channeling an extra charge for good measure and releasing the flash’s pin as a consequence. Next, he stood up to three-quarters of his full height and using Johnny’s thigh as a foothold to leap away from that position.

has resisted the extended effects of [Minor Shock (doubly-amplified)]. [Minor Shock (doubly-amplified)] has been cancelled prematurely.

Johnny was proving to be an endless bag of unpleasant surprises, and Luke arched his vault early and blinked in anticipation of an early attack from behind. As anticipated, notifications confirmed slashes through his retreating form and this time he’d also felt it as a slight discomfort in his ankles where the blades had passed. The flash detonated sometime during his blink, but he could still see the mad grin plastered on Johnny’s face when he opened his eyes, its intensity threatening to split his face through his cheeks.

Upon landing, Luke backpaddled towards the building on the west-end which stood above a wide drainage pipe that spilled out of the town. All the inlets fed into channels that eventually joined into that pipe so he would be guaranteed of its width, and given it was the wrong season for rain, he would be guaranteed a minimum amount of fluid in the pipes.

He kept his eyes on Johnny, who stared back confidently while surprisingly holding his position. His eyes briefly shined with an overpowering yellow glow, but nothing came of it and Luke continued watching him. As Luke approached his point of egress, he slowed his steps but had to abruptly holt his progress upon noticing something in his periphery. He slid to a holt, managing to stop just in front of the Gob Smacker, which made no movements to intercept or attack.

A yellow glow appeared in the Gob Smacker’s eyes as well and Luke finally decided to pay closer attention to the phenomenon. He invoked his appraisal on the dragonoid and focused it on its eyes and he did so, he noticed a second, familiar human pair staring at him from within.

A foreign skill adjacent to yours has been recognized.

+--------------+

|Personal Alert|

+--------------+

|“Shadow Blink”|

+--------------+

|Limitations|

+-------+----+

|Unknown|

+-------+

|Details|

+-------+-------------------------+

|- - “Blink through a familiar’s -|

|- - - - - - shadow.” - - - - - - |

+---------------------------------+

Luke had become quite familiar with blinking, and from that he knew that glow and ocular recognition did not bode well for his escape. He blinked in response to Johnny’s impending blink, but a quick notification filled him with dread in knowing he wouldn’t be able use the pipes below for his escape.

The uncomfortable feeling assailed him over and over as Johnny’s hatchets ravaged the space his body occupied in a different phase. Johnny, wizened to the limitations of the blink, halted his assault, and shifted stance to present his shoulder, moving forward in a violent leap. The shoulder-check was caught Luke in the chest, cancelling his blink immediately.

What followed was a violent barrage of slashes that had Luke in a consistent backpaddle, and every time he tried to blink to reduce the pressure, a shoulder would slam into him, cancelling it immediately. Luke repeated the futile strategy multiple times, but not because of stupidity or his stubbornness, but as a way of lulling Johnny into a predictable rhythm.

Unfortunately for him, Johnny was quick on the uptake, and instead of shoulder-checking him for the fifth time, he’d kicked low, bringing his hatchets in an upward slash to meet his materializing form. Luke leaned back in response, beginning his blink once he’d cleared the hatchets’ reach, but Johnny’s stomp saw to closing that avenue as well.

Johnny chased his falling form as Luke, instead of attempting to halt the fall, leapt into it, creating some space between them. Luke’s deliberate trip had him tumbling backwards and as he reached the ground, he brought one hand to meet the ground and expended all the accumulated force in that spot to simultaneously produce a deep dent on the floor whilst pushing him off into a backwards leap.

Johnny’s foot managed to miss most of the dent, but his heel meeting its ends was enough to sent him into a slight tilt, presenting a well-needed opportunity for Luke to exploit. He quick-drew the sickle before falling towards Johnny’s foot, blinking to collect that momentum for a more effective attack. The blink was cancelled upon his sickle contacting Johnny’s foot, and he was lucky enough to mentally voice his intent, forcing the momentum onto the sickle’s curved point for a wet but effortless plunge into Johnny’s foot.

Johnny only grunted in response, despite the sickle’s plunge, and as he made efforts to kick Luke through the pinning force, Luke retrieved his sickle to his inventory. The momentum sent Johnny tumbling backwards and as he fell, Luke made for the closest wall, but a gob of decelerating goo hit him smack in the middle of his retreating form.

[Unknown Goo (Debuff)] has inflicted on you. All movements and metabolic processes have been slowed by 60% for the next 3 seconds.

The Gob smacker sprang into action, aiming a whipping tail towards his slowly moving form, but Luke had an answer for this, and it was all thanks to the Gob smacker. He willed an increase in expenditure of the stamina capsule, banking on his slower metabolism, and his gamble paid off. The capsule was expended immediately, but the pay out was all he needed.

The large volume of stimulants in his system managed to overcome the debuff, albeit at a risky future cost that was sure to damage his recovering system. The debuff had made it possible by confusing the automatic limiter on the utility glove’s catheter, making it possible to circumvent the usual regulations.

The boost caught the Gob Smacker unawares, and he presented the flat end of the sickle as a surface for the tail to wrap around, before quick-drawing his colichemarde for a slash at the base of the tail. The tail flew upwards, and Luke reached for it, storing it in his inventory on contact.

The dragonoid croaked loudly before bloating up its neck pouch to an alarming bulge and expelling another gob his way, but this time the effect was corrosive. It exploded upon contacting his chest area, eating away at his hoodie. Luke screamed in agony as the fluid reached his chest, eating away ate at his skin at an alarming pace. The stamina capsule had already been expended and Luke had no choice but to endure for the last split-second of the debuff’s duration, which finished as Johnny was making to push for him again.

Luke knew he couldn’t maintain his efforts a minute longer, so he looked around himself, spotting the manhole 3 steps away. Johnny caught his eye and the mad look in his eyes intensified even further upon catching onto Luke’s next move. He made to intercept but it was already too late, with Luke making it to the hatch before Johnny could begin his assault.

Luke stood over the hatch and waved a clenched hand at Johnny while grinning slyly before blinking into the sewers. Johnny made a last-ditch effort to at least intercept the phasing hand, although he could only intuit its current position.

[Phase Blink] voluntarily cancelled. ERROR: User cannot straddle phase boundaries! Corrective measures will kick in. Correcting… 96% of users body is below the boundary so the user will be moved down. [Coin Purse (100 Silver)] has been released above the boundary, momentum applied. [Flash Bomb] has been released above the boundary, momentum applied. 5 x released. Multiplicative effect applies.

+--------------+

|Personal Alert|

+--------------+

|“Scatter Boom”|

+-----------+--+

|Description|

+-----------+---------------------+

|“A custom charge that utilizes a |

|- concentrated flash, amplified -|

|- sound and multiple reflective -|

|- surfaces to confuse and stun - |

|- - - - multiple targets.” - - - |

+---------------------------------+

◆◆◆

Luke would only get to find out about Johnny’s well-deserved moniker years after this confrontation, but he’d always remember the tenacity with which the man had hounded him to the sewer, and the mad look of glee he’d worn throughout their final exchanges. ‘Escape’ would place Luke as the victor of this exchange, but one would be hard-pressed to accept this when the costs were considered since as Luke plunged into his messy escape, a gold pouch short, the Mad Huntsman was left with the flashing barrage of coins to contend with.