Greyashe chapter 339 is entitled 'STRIKE BACK'.

Previous chapter 338: Confrontation

Next chapter 340: Solitude.

Summary page

-Short summary-

The struggle between Van, Lazaro, Delaney and Aicha enters round two.

-Long summary-

Delaney strides down the slush filled streets of Greyashe in no apparent hurry. He knows that Van will show up eventually, and it’s not like Azha had given he and Aicha orders to wrap up the search for him within a specific time frame so he can take his time hunting down the farseeing boy without breaking a sweat. To be fair he does realize how extremely futile this entire effort is since he knows he has to bring Van back despite his wishes to the contrary, but he had simultaneously grown tired of this growing sense of helplessness that had gripped him mercilessly. He can’t do anything for his siblings, can’t do anything against the sentients, and can’t even bring happiness to the girl he has feelings for.

Although he knows Van is probably at most only partially responsible for this, he has to vent this festering anger somewhere lest it eat him alive. Besides, he hasn’t had the opportunity to have a decent fight in a while either, and facing off against a farseer seems like it’ll grand him at least momentary pleasure. So Van would just have to deal with him being a little selfish for a while. He’ll try to remember to hold back and bring him to Azha in one piece though really he can’t make any promises.

He hears a noise from behind and turns quickly.

Nothing.

Oddly it just frustrates him more that he’s on edge like this. From what he knows about Van Raleigh, he seems to be a rather docile kid. Should he really be this strung out over him? ….The answer to that is a certifiable ‘Yes’. After all who knows what kinds of things he can see with his eyes? Especially now that they’ve been augmented by magic? Although for now it appears neither party is out for a kill, which could very well change.

Aicha drops from a rafter above and lands gracefully behind Delaney. He admits that he finds her strength and agility slightly on the ‘freakish’ side, especially since she has such a dainty frame. Apparently, she had been more ‘sturdy’ before her near death incident, but had lost a lot of that afterward. Still the hand-to-hand combat she had learned while being with the WITCHES comes in handy, though having a girl as a bodyguard is somewhat demeaning in his opinion.

Aicha reports that she lost track of the violent guy and Van Raleigh, as well as her commentary that the violent guy is actually fairly strong. Delaney turns around, grimaces when he sees that she’s covered in dirt, and scratches a few of them still bleeding. He begins to ask what happened, but refrains. Instead he asks what happened to the violent guy? He knows Van will be back eventually, but he’d rather not have to tangle with unrelated parties. Aicha shakes her head and replies that she hadn’t wanted to go overboard on him, but he was seriously going for the kill using his alchemy. She had to drop him from a roof to keep from getting massacred. Delaney blinks and mouths the words ‘dropped from a roof’ to himself. He isn’t dead is he? He really doesn’t want to have to explain away an accidental death when they return.

Aicha twiddles her thumbs and looks aside. She’s pretty sure he’s not dead, but only pretty sure. It wasn’t a long drop by any means. He was already injured though, so that’s a factor they should keep in mind. Delaney thumbs his chin thoughtfully and mutters that they should probably figure out who he is then ---if he can give her that much trouble while already injured…

He then stops all movement and turns slowly to his left, where he spots a barrel on it’s side. Aicha notices this and asks what the matter is, and Delaney answers that the weather conditions today are mind numbingly cold, but otherwise unremarkable right? Aicha nods slowly, not quite comprehending where he’s going with this. Considering that it’s really cold, but not windy things like a barrel with frozen water in it couldn’t possibly get knocked over without human intervention right?

A sudden burst of air pressure slams the two into the wall they’re observing.

Lazaro stands on a rafter above with a sneer. He proclaims that they will pay for embarrassing him earlier with a double –no triple serving of pain. Delaney is caught off balance by this, and realizes that he had used the ice on the ground as well as the general surprise of being caught off guard to launch a preemptive strike. He then instructs Aicha to toss the barrel that had gotten them into this mess at their foe. Aicha says it’s impossible. While she isn’t too badly affected by the wind pressure, the barrel will get sent back if she tries to throw it. Though, with that in mind…

She pivots against the wall to give herself a boost and attempts to leap up towards Lazaro using a telephone wire as support, but she doesn’t get far as Van suddenly appears and sweeps her off her feet. She lands on her back and slides a little ways because of the ice on the ground, as Delaney growls that he knew Van having a home team advantage would come back to bite them hard. They might be able to shrug off enchanted snow and icy conditions, but the regular stuff affects them just like anyone else. More likely than not Van and the violent guy had coated this place with ice and waited for them to arrive. Add in the farseer’s ability to perceive their opponents, and you’ve got a losing battle. Van stares Delaney down with an unreadable expression before Lazaro sends another wind volley at the two.  Strictly speaking, Alchemy is not enchanted the same way magic is so it’s not surprising it’s effective, but the already harsh wind only gets worse when paired with the frigid climate.

Delaney grits his teeth and mourns the fact that he doesn’t have any ranged attacks. Being impervious to magic is nice, but it essentially means that most of the ‘unloved’ have to get up close and personal to fight their opponents.

Aicha manages to get to her feet, but rather than charge back into the battle, she observes Lazaro for a moment before striding over to the building where he’s standing. Van glances over at her and his eyes widen as he realizes what she’s going to do. He begins to warn Lazaro, but finds himself taking a dive into the ice as Delaney slides into him. He grimaces in pain, but sneers at Van that a farseer can really only focus on one thing at a time right? He’d better make his choices count or he’s going to be in big trouble. Van manages to right himself, but Delaney is already upon him with a fist to his stomach. The two slide a bit as they begin to grapple, Delaney using his height advantage to grab the farseer’s fist and shove him backward. Van tries to yell out to Lazaro, but Delaney silences him with a kick to his abdomen. The boy grimaces in pain and can only look upward at Lazaro helplessly.

Lazaro spots Aicha striding towards him and attacks with another wind volley, but she surprises him by firmly planting her feet in a snow bank. He realizes that she’s trying to make it impossible for him to push her around the ice, and laughs heartily at her efforts. So now she can’t move! How is this an improvement from her earlier situation? She ignores him and breathes into her hands before rubbing them together and planting them in the snow. Lazaro turns up the wind, but this doesn’t seem to phase Aicha in the least as she lifts up the snow frozen into a solid block by Van and Lazaro’s efforts, and then tosses it at him like a huge snowball. The alchemy user doesn’t seem bothered and instead makes a crushing motion with his hand and watches as the snow compacts and flies apart. Lazaro begins another laugh, but is interrupted as the newly freed Aicha leaps up another snow bank and to his location. Lazaro opens his palm to counter attack but Aicha hits him in the stomach with an open palm thrust. Lazaro gasps in pain, but quickly grins as he wheezes out ‘gotcha’. Aicha’s eyes widen as the alchemist hits her with wind pressure from his seemingly broken arm.

A few moments before the counter attack, Van and Lazaro have a strategy meeting in the alley where they had both reunited after being separated by their opponents. Van explains that the two pursuing them aren’t used to fighting together, and he surmises they probably don’t even know each other’s abilities. Meanwhile he has had the experience of seeing Lazaro fight, and of course, Van has his own ability. As such, fighting together is optimal. In fact he’s sure that they’ll try to keep the fight separate, but they have to stick together as long as possible. Lazaro makes a disgusted face, but agrees –for ten seconds. Van sighs and outlines his plan –everything from coating the ground with water to make ice, to where Lazaro should stand. He figures they should stay close to their current location to ensure their enemies would eventually spot them.  He then asks Lazaro how his arm is doing? Lazaro glances at it and shrugs, saying that he’s okay. Van’s eyes narrow and he asks again. Lazaro grinds his teeth and with a sucking of his teeth admits that it hurts like heck. He had landed on it when he fell from the roof, and it was already painful before they fought those fools. Van nods and asks him to use this arm in the fight, even if it’s only once. This will be his trump card, as they’ll believe he’s injured and will not take any actions that will cause him more pain. Lazaro glances at his arm and then back at Van before sneering, and admitting that he likes this trump card. He’ll relish seeing the look on that woman’s face when she’s caught unaware. It would almost be worth the mind numbing pain! Van smirks and replies that he figured Lazaro would feel that way.

Lazaro bares his teeth in a sinister grin as he slams Aicha with a gale of hot and concentrated air. She grimaces and yelps in pain, but to his surprise don’t go flying. The alchemy user curses and realizes his arm is weaker because of its injury, which has decreased the effectiveness of attacks by a wide margin. This is what he gets for listening to the son of his enemy! Delaney watches as Aicha nails him with another kick, before realizing that his opponent is Van who is…gone? He calmly searches his surroundings before seeing the farseer dart around a corner. Delaney takes his time wading through the snow and ice, only picking up speed when he’s past the ice field.

Van darts up the stairs of a building before getting to the roof and viewing his surroundings. Through the fighting and scheming, they had arrived in the industrial district with its dilapidated and abandoned buildings with few gaps between them. He hated to leave Lazaro like that, but the girl’s relative strength had been far past his own expectations, which had meant a change in plans. Staying would have meant having an absurdly strong enemy and a crafty one in the same place. Although he’s not sure how much battle prowess she has, he can tell that it’s Delaney who’s the man with the plan. At least Lazaro would stand a better chance against someone who relies on strength. So the question now becomes how to deal with Delaney?

He begins to run, jumping the gaps between buildings, and thinking of a plan as he does so. He has the home team advantage so it’s best he figure out how to utilize this. Van hears a noise in front of him, and just barely dodges a kick to the face.

Delaney had apparently found another way around and had met Van halfway. The two stare each other down for a moment before beginning their fight in earnest. Van is able to deftly dodge Delaney’s attacks thanks to his eye, but that doesn’t make the obvious difference in their physical power any less significant. Van slides across the icy roof and tries to jump down a chute to the bottom, but Delaney grabs him by the collar and tosses him back on the roof. This is the power of an ‘unloved’….one who trains their body because they are unable to use magic!

Delaney asks where Van is going? They aren’t done here yet. Van rolls out of arms reach and tries to grab Delaney’s arm, but he hits him in the face with a well-timed counter punch, and trips Van who manages to stay on his feet but finds himself at the edge of the roof.

Delaney grins maniacally and rushes at Van, who returns his expression with a calm smile. The other reason why he had changed his plan was due to this --Delaney can stay cool and collected when dealing with someone unrelated like Lazaro, but his indigance and anger towards the farseer due to Kani causes him to see red and run foolishly at him. In response, Van would…

He ducks as Delaney reaches him and then using his forward momentum springs upward sending the older boy off the roof and into a snow bank below. Delaney lands relatively unharmed, but is completely at the mercy of Van who jumps down after him with his elbow extended. Delaney bellows at Van that he’d better quit messing around just as the farseer seemingly lands on him with an elbow drop.