Chương 49: R&R Ch. 49 — Digging Deeper

Nicholas marveled at the fight before him. He had always been aware that Jasmine was the stronger of the two of them, especially in a straight-up fight. But he hadn't realized the distance. He had thought they had finally been on an even playing field with them as equals. But as Jasmine released her full power using her soul item to its fullest. He could get a vague sense of what was going on. Silver rain spun around her, each one sparking with green light.

And he could tell from her bond that she was moving faster than usual. And the way the silver rain flew through the sky was reminiscent of his own barrage. Well he could play spoiler for the big bad; it was what most of his words were best at. He had to trust his own insight into the fight and the feedback he was getting from Jasmine. She was on the offensive and was ahead, but it wasn't dominating and she wouldn't be able to hold it for long, keeping track of all of those raindrops and runes.

He would have his moment. Fog man dodged, but it was an ugly, desperate one, a dodge that even he could tell would be an opportunity to capitalize on. Jasmine wouldn't be able to capitalize on it on her own. Thankfully, he had promised that she wouldn't have to fight alone. His soul tore as his command echoed across the battlefield, using it to grant him even more authority as a portion of his soul burned away with a golden light."

Hesitate" The hammer and the raindrops slammed into their opponent like a meteor shower.

"Fancy seeing you here," Jasmine quipped even as she rocketed towards her opponent, the silver and green rain forming around her.

"You know, sometimes you just have to be fashionably late," Nicholas replied, flying after her." Maximize" The book's working rippled through their bond, pushing them both higher. That was a benefit he hadn't expected; his workings were easier to do on himself than on others, which was relatively standard, but that same ease applying to Jasmine was a shocker. He had to decide between a channeled working that would chip away at his self buff slowly or something to use it in one rush.

Normally he had to pick the one use thing it was just the more optimal way to manage it so it would be nice to see how the other side fared. His soul tore again as he burned more of his existence up so that he could have authority. It hurt to burn his very existence. But he knew Jasmine fought with her soul in shambles all the time, and he wouldn't fail her in this moment. What was a little more damage?"

Playroom" Nicholas's strongest and most familiar word echoed across the battlefield as his book added power to the command. It wasn't done yet, but it was going to eventually be one of his signatures, so some of the prep work had already been done.

"I'll slow him down, keep hammering away," Nicholas said, using chains made of stone to grab at their opponent even as the wind fought against the fog. Jasmine didn't say anything even as the rain continued to slam into their opponent, each one imparting a rune of force as her hammer sought her opponent. They would win; it was practically a guarantee. Each raindrop slowed their opponent down and distorted their movements. His own ability was keeping him locked down.

And Jasmine's hammer continued to grow stronger as more power pulsed through it. Their teamwork was perfect. Telepathy, practice, and a bond of souls letting them work around one another in perfect harmony even with Jasmine's increased mental abilities. They could reach higher.

"If I let the raindrops to you, could you handle it?" Jasmine asked quietly.

"I can handle that." Nicholas confirmed. All at once the raindrops fell, and he picked them up with his playroom to continue the bombardment." Burn" Jasmine yelled as each raindrop burst into a silver flame that cleaved through the fog. Nicholas could feel the moment Jasmine's mind slowed down back to normal through their bond. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

And the fog guy knew when her hammer slammed down with even more force as Jasmine doubled down on her own capabilities. With Nicholas handling the rain, she poured everything into being able to hit as hard as she could. He could match that. He had to drop some of his efforts in more complicated methods to slow down his opponent with most of his attention on the silver rain, but that didn't matter.

Silver and green flames tore through the fog, and the smattering of raindrops he kept orbiting their opponent prevented them from being able to summon more. Despite their domination, their opponent didn't seem to react, no bestial rage or desperation to survive. Just the same curiosity Nicholas had felt radiated off the thing when they had clashed days ago. Nicholas pulled Jasmine away as she made an attack beneath her usual standards, as energy spiked off their opponent.

"You two are worthy to break," their opponent said in a voice far more melodious than what should come from a six-armed dude monster thing with chiton all over him. Nicholas's senses weren't as refined as Jasmine's, but someone spontaneously jumping up a stage was something he could understand. They hadn't been fighting a pinnacle rank four Beyonder this whole time. They had been something in rank five or higher that had restrained itself.

Instantly the two of them were on the defensive, or more accurately, Nicholas was on the defensive, using the playroom and silver and emerald flaming rain to block attacks while Jasmine fought in the melee. Fighting two ranks up was possible for them as a duo. Fighting three? Nicholas wasn't so sure, even the strongest who specialized in punching up couldn't always manage three up and while they were stronger than they had been before it wasn't like the two of them were actually fighting at full strength.

His soul was approaching its breaking point, and he was at half a tank. Jasmine's soul wasn't in any better shape from the twisting it had gone through earlier, and her own mental abilities had to be running on nothing more than her own willpower. Overclocking your mind wasn't something to do without thought, even for superheroes with powers that let you get away with it more. Nicholas rifled through his workings, trying to figure out what was the correct choice in this situation. Would Ascension work?

The problem with it was it tried to tear apart his soul, but with soul items connected to him would that reduce the payload? And would he be able to do it on both of them at once? Nicholas used the rain and wind to wrench away a spear that had been aimed at Jasmine's head, even if it cost him to take an attack to the side. Ascension wouldn't work. If he and Jasmine were at full strength, it would maybe be worth the risk, but it wasn't right now. And they wouldn't get a huge buff from it in this case.

It would bring them back to a two-tier difference, but they hadn't been dominating before that. And he couldn't risk it when his soul was falling apart. At best he could handle one more working that burned up his soul.

"How much longer can you hold on to maximize?" Jasmine asked as he could feel her mind speed up through their bond.

"Until it's dead." Nicholas said with far more confidence than he felt, but this is what they did. Not that he could lie to her anymore.

"Keep control of the rain and I need you to work off of me fully. I won't be able to respond to you," Jasmine said, her voice calm. Nicholas wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but he didn't have time to ask as an amber portal ripped open behind Jasmine and a bandolier and necklace fell to her. Both were quickly equipped with her telekinesis as Nicholas focused on buying his partner as much time as he could.

Whatever she was going to try, he would be there for she trusted him to give her the opening and augment her so he could do that. One hundred flying swords, a spear of absolute destruction, and a horde of explosives flew. It took only a second to figure out. Her telekinesis let her control the bombs. And the sword and spear she could control via their own natural abilities. Runes on the rain, the swords, the spear, the explosives, and the fighting in melee. He marveled at what she could do.

Except she wasn't fighting in melee, was she? Nicholas realized just in time that she had poured everything into coordinating all of her weapons and keeping the runes active. In this battle, he was the support, and he would keep both of them safe. As attacks bombarded their opponent, Nicholas used the playroom to move them out of attacks, redirect the ones he could, and restrain their opponent. He was balancing on the knife's edge, but he wouldn't falter; he couldn't falter here.

Jasmine's spear ripped through one of their opponent's appendages as Nicholas brought all the silver and green rain to form a massive shield to block the pillar of fog that had aimed to get both of them.

"First blood," Jasmine spat, even as her weapons continued to rain destruction on their opponent. Nicholas focused solely on defense. What the others did couldn't matter to him, not in this moment. He would break everything that tried to get past his defenses. Attacks were coming from all angles, but not all of them were from the fog manipulator. And those attacks he could use. With the authority of the playroom at its peak, he slung attacks that he could towards his opponent.

Most didn't get near the target, but it was the limit to what he could add to the offense.

"We're making progress," Nicholas said, voice strained even as they split up to dodge an attack. Jasmine couldn't respond to him through the telepathy bands, too focused on making sure that the endless attacks didn't falter, but her resolve pushed him farther. He could dig even deeper, too. They would not be stopped.

"Now!" a voice Nicholas could have recognized called out, but he didn't have the time to figure out who was talking to him. There wasn't enough space for him to figure it out as he continued to block every attack that he could. Silver and green flame tore through the fog and wrapped around the limbs of their opponent, holding him in place and transferring more of Jasmine's power into their opponent. Six explosions ripped through the air, blasting the rain away, but Nicholas grabbed it again while the smoke cleared.

Their opponent still stood resolute and unwilling to bend, but he was cracking. His missing limb continued to spit blood, and a leg was barely holding on. Chiton was cracked and Nicholas could see cracked and burned flesh underneath. Slowly they were winning. Blue lightning ripped through the battlefield, and the three opponents froze. It clicked in his head, that was the strike team. Sparky had called them all in and if he wasn't in the middle of fighting for his life, he could have kissed him for the decision.

They needed all the help they could get.

"And here I thought you two would rise to the challenge to do it all on your own." He rasped.

"Oh, like you are?" Nicholas commented as he wove through another legion of attacks from the forces behind them. The swords fell to the ground, and the explosives stopped flying out of Jasmine as she moved no longer a limp puppet, hammer adorning her shoulder once again.

"You good to keep handling the burning rain?" Jasmine asked as once again, her mind slowed.

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Strike team on me, we're going to take this fucker down!" Jasmine roared. Five voices roared their agreement back. Their fight started again in earnest.