Greyashe chapter 367 is entitled "Speed Struggle."
Previous chapter 366: At the speed of death.
Next chapter 368: Cross counter.
Summary page
-Short summary-
Kani and Guy struggle to figure out Luge's abilities as their fight rages on.
-Long summary-
Kani's mind is alert even as her body and vision dims from the pain and disorientation. There has to be another secret to Luge's abilities that she and Guy are not understanding. He is fast which she assumes has something to do with his manipulation of lighting and wind magics, but what about the delayed pain? While it might be possible that he has the ability to do something like that to himself, he shouldn't be able to afflict others with this right? So then, what is he doing and how is he doing it? She wills herself to not faint --Luge will destroy her in mere seconds if she stops struggling. Guy's earlier comment about being utterly helpless if they don't figure out how to stop him or match his speed plays back in her head, despite all of her effort to ignore it. It's absolutely true of course, but this is nary the time to think such self defeating things. She glances up and over Luge's menacing face to see Guy darting past debris formations in an effort to sneak up to him and launch an attack. Luge seemingly doesn't notice and instead pulls Kani closer to him and in one quick motion turns and holds her in front of him. Sneering he asks Guy if he'd really hit a girl, and an injured one at that? It's not a big deal if he really intends to, but it seems pretty counter intuitive to their cause, no?
Guy launches himself from a rock formation behind Luge returning his sneer with a cocky grin of his own. He replies amused that he loves stereotypical villains like him since they prefer gloating over common sense. C'mon a human shield? The issue with one of those is that one can only use it in a single direction, and in a fight where there's plenty of places to hide, all the hero has to do is come up from behind to strike the bad guy down. Luge frowns in annoyance, and simply uses his speed to turn around quickly, which is what Kani was waiting for. She thrusts her staff into the ground as Luge turns which causes it to break further, but has the additional effect of taking away Luge's balance, and in the milliseconds needed to right himself, Guy is already in movement and gives his now lowered face a left jab in the chin. The sudden movements are enough for Kani to wrench herself free, and into Guy's free right arm, and the two jump back in a swift movement as Luge stumbles backward over a piece of debris on the ground. Guy's eyes flicker for a moment, faster than even the man of speed notices and the gears in his head shift into gear as a plan begins to formulate --they may not be able to slow him down or match his speed, but there is another means of confronting him!
Luge shakes his head to regain some of his composure, and stares at his opponents with an unreadable expression. To be frank, this is exactly the kind of struggle he enjoys. A struggle that has a time limit and therefore all moves must be precision based and most of all extremely fast. He shoots a glance behind him and for a moment is completely still, his thoughts being the only part of his existence that hasn't stopped moving. Considering that he really does have a time limit in this battle if he truly wants to be the one to finish off the intruders, it makes sense that he'd prefer the battle to be in constant movement. They (his opponents) have no idea that they're doomed whether they win this or lose this adds an additional layer of intrigue to the fight. Although he admits he doesn't like the idea of simply being an opening act, it does fill him with a decidedly understandable amount of pleasure to know that the ones he is up against cannot escape no matter what they do. Truly their fight is like a microcosms of the recall's effect on the world itself. Damned if you don't, damned if you do.
Kani winces as she inspects her injuries, more miffed that she still can't understand how they occurred than the pain that is associated with them. Oh, that and the staff she had made herself while in Springtime Epigram is completely broken. Forget the world, Luge deserved to be defeated for that alone. Guy on the other hand has struck out on his own nearby and started breaking apart rocks and other debris in an effort to do...something. Kani stifles her initial reaction of chastising him, and instead thinks about their current situation; and how extremely bleak it is. While she's not injured enough to be rendered useless, she's definitely not going to last very long if she keeps bleeding as she is. It's already taking quite a bit of will and stubbornness on her part to not just collapse. The stubbornness on her part stems from her curiosity, and how the situation doesn't seem to be adding up. Luge had stopped completely when he ran at her despite the impossibility of her frame and size having enough strength to mollify his speed. Moreover, he had oddly not chosen to do whatever it is he did to her to Guy since from his behavior he doesn't seem to be injured very much if at all. So then what does this all come down to, and more importantly will even understanding what's going on here lead to their much needed victory? There is absolutely nothing stopping Luge from following them here and completely obliterating them, so she'd rather have an idea of what to do next before he appears. She turns again to Guy who now is moving heavy rocks around for reasons unknown, and decides that she should get moving on some plan of her own as well. She's not sure what the fighter is thinking about with his sudden interest in redecoration, but it's clear from what she knows of him that he wouldn't waste energy needlessly. Gingerly standing up, she takes a part of her cloak and wraps it around her wound as a makeshift bandage before hopping over some debris and peering around to where their last struggle had taken place. True enough, Luge is speeding towards where he saw them coming at a moderate speed, which Kani balks at and turns from the corner. Now running herself, she considers what one would need to keep in mind when moving at speeds like him.
Vehicles of different types are designed specifically to travel at varying speeds depending on their use. One wouldn't expect a public bus to go as fast as a car, and for a car to travel as quickly as an F1 racer. Of course that isn't to say that these vehicles can't perform above and beyond the call of duty, but that only works in moderation. As in, if any one of them were to try to sustain an unnatural amount of acceleration for a sustained amount of time, it would cause irreparable damage to their frames. The human body acts similarly, as a man may be able to lift a heavy load for some time depending on his physical fitness and or training, but even he would have a limit that if he passes would cause self harm. She then realizes that Luge is using his speeds in bursts rather than simply going all out and running them over with his ability. Even in his insanity, he is well aware of his limits and what surpassing them would do to him. Kani mentally files this information away just as Luge passes her in a gale of wind and lighting sparks and towers over her once again. He grins maniacally and comments that it's been a while since they've seen each other. Kani coughs as the dust from his appearance surrounds her and she returns his smile with her own bitter one as she asks if being super fast means that his sense of time is screwed up? It certainly hadn't been that long.
Luge is in no mood for playful banter as he leaps at her, and she is only barely able to avoid being slammed into. A lot of her tools were in that staff that broke, and since she wasn't sure what kind of enemy they'd face upon their arrival, she had brought only the strongest magic cancellers with her. That's not to say that she has anything other than confidence in her work, but there had been no chance for practical applications of the tool, since it's not every day one fights against one of the strongest magicians in the world. That and she'd have to actually get close enough to place it on his body for the ability to take effect which won't happen if Luge darts around like he has been.
The insane speedster circles around her at a high enough speed to cause a brief after image effect, and lunges at her from behind. Kani narrows her eyes, and dodges to the side barely avoiding another attack. As far as she knows, Luge's delayed pain tactic only works if he's able to touch her, so as long as she can avoid making contact with him she should be okay. Grimly, the witch realizes that in addition to not being able to place the canceller on her opponent, she has no idea what'll happen if she does. A canceller basically grounds out the manifestation of magic --like causing fire to dissipate or ice to melt. What effect would it have on someone who basically uses his ability to augment himself rather than harm others?
Luge circles again, this time coming from behind, which Kani anticipates, but he fakes to the left at the very last second which Kani dodges into. She prepares for impact by curling herself at the last moment, but still takes the brunt of Luge's high speed tackle. The witch's body and senses are rattled as she is flung aside and lands face first on the ground, letting out a gasp of pain upon impact. Luge barrels toward her to finish the job when a small bolder suddenly lands in his path causing him to stop suddenly and painfully as he contorts his body around to avoid hitting the bolder at his speed. He turns in a huff to see Guy coming towards him at his own admit ably slower, but still fast top speed, and after glowering at the fighter for a moment he turns and rams into him with no hesitation whatsoever. Guy coughs up blood, and seemingly lands on his back, but to Luge's surprise, he holds his ground and launches the insane speedster into the air using his inertia as a makeshift springboard. Luge goes flying into the distance and lands with a faraway thud. Guy stands and spits out a wad of spit and blood as he jogs over to Kani to check on her. The witch wearily looks up into the eyes of her partner and asks how he can seem so casual about this fight they might lose? Guy ignores her question at first and asks if she's got a "magic thingy" that might stop him? Kani tries to narrow her eyes in suspicion, but finds she's just too weak. She gives him a small nod, and he lifts her to her feet and in an strange gesture of kindness dusts her off. Guy offers to give her a lift if she can't walk, but her own pride and resurfacing stubbornness turn him down despite the pain howling in protest. Guy eyes her incredulously at first, but smiles and turns to walk away. He stops for a moment, and facing her with a Cheshire grin and blood oozing from an injury on his forehead answers her question.
"Win or lose, we've still gotta play this game don't we? If that's the case, I wanna go down knowing I did my best until the very end."
Kani can't help but feel encouraged by his simplistic outlook and nods as she limps over to him and leans on his side, admitting that she probably does need a lift. Guy stares down at the witch in genuine surprise, to which she adds with a sour expression that there had better not be any funny business, and he'd better be sure to escort her to whatever plan he has brewing properly. Time is of the essence after all. Guy shakes off his surprise and nods earnestly, which Kani replies with a soft smile of her own, a silent agreement to do her very best until the end as well.
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