Chapter 176

UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, Pittsburgh - 9:42 AM

It didn't take long for the Fieldhouse to become absolutely packed. I was ready to go at it right away, but Greg was insistent on grabbing a crowd. It was suspicious how fast everyone figured out this was happening, but I guessed he sent out a message to his guild to gather people.

As usual, thanks to my high status within the community, the dueling floor was cleared for us almost immediately. It was a sign of respect that I certainly appreciated, if only so I could conduct this farcical show.

As if Greg could ever-

I shook my head to clear that thought. There was my pride again. Had to make sure that was locked up before the match actually started.

Once I decided the crowd was large enough, I snapped my fingers to bring up the menu and scrolled through it to issue my challenge.

[[Duel Request]]

You are attempting to issue a challenge to Guildmaster [Greg Davis].

Win condition: First team to cause the other to drop below 0 hit points or surrender will achieve victory.

Additional rules: All hit points and resources will be restored, and cooldowns are reset for the duration of the match. Pain will be dulled to 50%.

Are you sure you want to issue this challenge?

Yes

No

I hit Yes immediately. Greg had been in the middle of speaking with the audience when he stopped to look at the message. I had been ignoring him out of spite so I wasn’t sure what he had been saying, but the crowd was going nuts so I assumed they took it well. He looked around one more time as if checking to see if this level of attention was up to his standards.

The bleachers were full and there were people standing just outside of the dueling floor that hadn’t made it in time to grab seats. Several onlookers were still in the doorways, protesting loudly about their inability to make it inside.

Greg nodded to himself before accepting. Our guild symbols appeared under our feet, and I glanced at the smoking genie’s lamp that belonged to the Greg Davis Crew. When the duel countdown appeared in front of us, he pulled out a long wooden match from an elegant pewter case.

“May the best man win, aye, Anthony?” he called as he lit the match. It burned quickly, and I knew he had gotten it and the case from the shop I had sent him too. Even with that, he didn’t bother pulling out one of the special cigars. Then again, why would he? He knew he was going to win. And I was going to let him because it sped things up.

“May the best man win,” I repeated, trying not to roll my eyes. “You going to tell me what I need to know now?”

Once his match burned down to the wood, Greg started using it to light the cigar in his mouth. It took much quicker than normal, and he started puffing. I frowned as I waited for the answer, and he gave it to me only after he was satisfied that his main tool of offense was completely ready to go.

“Yeah, I’m going to,” he said after blowing a ring of smoke. “You’ll find Pustibule in the Presby.”

I cocked my head as I heard those words. It sounded familiar, but the name was eluding me. Just as I was about to ask, a screen popped up in front of me. A very, very angry screen.

[[Patron Message]]

Pustibule is holed up in the UPMC Presbyterian!? This is an utter travesty! A complete disgrace! Anthony, we absolutely cannot stand for this blasphemy. I didn’t think I could get any more angry at the fact that a Demon is gallivanting around town, but now he’s really…

Anthony, I know exactly where this is.

Get your teeth kicked in fast so we can get this done. I’d say screw it, but you shook on it. Do it fast.

Now, please and thank you. Before I start melting these walls of mine with all this fury.

Blinking, I snapped away the message. “As you can imagine, given what you know, that’s an absolutely infuriating answer.”

“I didn’t put him there, so don’t blame me,” he said with a shrug. Like the cigar, his almost round metal armor with the holes in it started smoking, and my view of him was partially obstructed.

“No, of course not,” I replied. “However, you best be ready. Because I’m coming in hot.”

“Looking forward to it,” he said, smirking.

I was about to make him eat those words.

[[Duel!]]

The duel may now commence!

Just as Greg started inhaling, I took a step back and activated Crash Test. I lurched forward on my Heelies as I pulled back my arm. Stopping just short of the now wide-eyed older man, I threw a haymaker. It wasn’t my intent to hit him straight in the face, but my knuckles were going to nick his cheek.

His armor threw out smoke all at once, and it physically pushed my attack away from Greg. Following through on the momentum, I spun, raising a leg to kick him in the stomach. Another wispy barrier formed as protection, but this time he stumbled backwards a few steps, unable to stay firmly planted. I lunged forward.

Greg’s cigar started turning to ash as he began to pull from it again, and he threw himself to the side. He hit the ground hard and rolled. I followed, stomping my feet behind him. Lashing out, I attempted to kick him, only for his smoke to protect him again. This time, however, it was weaker from having needed to stop so many attacks. His armor dented on the side from my attack.

I had to mentally stop myself from simply Bending his cigar right in front of where it was lit. That would have been basically an instant loss for him given his slow, casual attempt to get Smoke up and running at the beginning of the fight. But, he needed to win.

As he rolled to a stop, Greg blew all of the smoke he had inhaled out towards me. I backed up, reaching into my inventory for my Vague Stick as the creature started coalescing into its master’s preferred form: a giant, wispy version of himself.

Willing the Vague Stick into something resembling an ore with one flat side, I supplemented the weapon by Constructing a large, thin rectangle to make it even wider. Raising it above my head, I brought it down on the smoky apparition. Its formation was disrupted, and its body was pushed away slightly due to the wind I created.

Behind Smoke, Greg was standing up. I sidestepped the monster and closed the gap again. He stumbled, and I took an unhealthy amount of joy in seeing the fear in his eyes.

Well, it wasn’t as though I didn’t warn him.

Spinning, I swung the Vague Oar through Smoke again to continue disrupting it before aiming for Greg. The older man brought up his arms to protect his face, and I smacked him hard enough to break the weapon. He fell, and I Pulled the broken half back to reform it into one item.

The monster he created was no longer trying to form the body again, but instead flew to surround me. My eyes started to burn and my vision blurred when it touched me. I knew that was the boon he received from his Patron. 

Achlys, member of the Keres and primordial of the death-mist. Like I had told him when I pushed him to accept her, it was useless against the undead, but it was great against almost everything alive. The longer a living creature stayed in the mist, the more their eyes would cloud over. Once it was more powerful, it attacked all of your senses, not just sight.

Even though I could use Aura Sense, I wasn’t fond of the idea of going blind for the rest of this duel. I used Fae Step to teleport behind Greg before it could deal too much damage.

“Come on, Greg!” I yelled, making sure he knew I was behind him.

He fell onto his back to look at me and threw his arms up again. Once Greg set his sights on me, I felt my will waver, but bounced back easily. It felt like whatever he had done targeted my Wisdom, and there was nothing he could do against me with that.

Reaching down, I grabbed him by the armor and lifted him off of the ground. It was hard, but it made sense to me that he maxed out his Constitution. Smoke was returning to a mostly solid form, and I started swinging my Vague Oar. From thin air, Greg pulled out a metal baseball bat from his inventory. In the same motion, he clocked me in the side of the head with it. I could have dodged, but this was a good chance to be “caught off guard.”

I dropped him and reached up to my ear. To his credit, it was ringing, but I don’t feel like he did as much damage as he would have hoped. Once he was back on two feet, he raised the bat and started raining down strikes on me. I began blocking with the Vague Oar, stumbling backwards as if he were pushing me back.

Behind him, Smoke finally reached the form it wanted. The monster turned to face me before surging my way. It blew past Greg and raised its arm to backhand me. Knowing that it wouldn’t do any good, I tripped its master before attempting to block with my weapon. I could have activated Shield, but didn’t for the sake of the fight.

Smoke’s arm went around the Vague Oar as if it wasn't there before connecting with my chest. I was pushed backwards, and I had to raise up onto my Heelies to avoid actually stumbling backwards. Whatever Greg’s paltry Strength stat was, Smoke’s was much higher.  It hit like a truck.

Regaining my footing, I swung the Vague Oar again. It raised its hand, stopping the weapon before it could disrupt its form. This was the perfect time to start losing, I jumped backwards to make some distance.

Even though I could have blown through Smoke with Dragon’s Breath, no one here had seen that yet.

It was really, really hard not to disintegrate both it and Greg.

Instead, I fell onto the back foot. I started dodging rather than blocking after that last attack. Smoke was faster than it had been before thanks to Betin’s Fairy Dagger and the enchantments that came on it. Whether by design or fluke, the monster itself was considered an attack, which meant it was 20% faster than it had been before.

I resisted the urge to yawn as I dodged. It was powerful, sure, and it could be devastating. Right now, however, it was little more than a beatstick. One that worked against almost everything except the final boss of the scenario, but didn’t live up to its full potential just yet.

Smoke raised its arms, put its hands down into a fist, and brought them down. I lurched forwards, throwing myself underneath the floating apparition and rolling underneath. During the move, I dropped the Construct on the Vague Stick and replaced it with a spearhead, adding extra damage that was nearly equal to my Willpower.

I decided to show off. Lifting myself off of the ground and towards my feet, I used Orbit on the Vague Spear while I was still holding onto it. My body rotated quickly. Closing my eyes, I activated Aura Sense to get a better sense of my environment. Just before my feet hit the ground, I threw the spear.

I was grabbed from behind by Smoke, but it was too late. Greg’s armor’s wispy defense had been overwhelmed earlier and could only put up a token, ineffectual effort. The spear slammed into Greg’s stomach. 

Worse for him, it landed dead center in one of the smoke holes.

The apparition grabbing me went still, and so did Greg. A half second later and he was grabbing his gut. I knew he had a skill that froze his body, stopping all damage for the briefest of moments, but he had activated it too late. He screamed as he pulled the Vague Spear out of his body, falling to his knees while his class did all his dirty work for him.

I covered my face as the smoke monster started hammering me into the ground repeatedly. Its blows were slow and it struggled to keep me in the air, my Constitution and Anchored passive doing wonders despite the opposition’s high Strength. I didn’t fight it, though; I got what I wanted out of this duel, and it had run its course.

Once it was done using me as a bludgeon, Smoke tossed me aside. I rolled and almost immediately got up onto my knees. Just when I was about to regain my feet, a screen appeared in front of me. Most things wouldn’t pop up while in a duel, but this was from a high priority source.

[[Guild Notice]]

Anthony, we need you back on the train RIGHT NOW! Don’t use the front door. Jeremiah is watching it.

Jamie’s been shot. Her wound is turning black. Potions aren’t working. HELP NEEDED URGENTLY!!!

My blood ran cold as I read the message. Only Kayla had the ability to send out guild notices, and the contents of this one was worrying. “Sara-“

I started giving orders when I was lifted off of the ground again by Smoke’s giant hands. It brought me over its head before I yelled, “I surrender!”

[[Duel!]]

Lamentations! You have lost the duel against Player [Greg Davis].

Your record is currently 50 - 1 - 0.

All around us, the crowd was quiet, shocked at the sudden loss. Once I knew they weren’t going to come down here, I started heading towards Greg.

“You surrender!?” he screeched, walking towards me with his hand covering his now healed wound.. Smoke disappeared, and he lowered his voice. “You were supposed to do your best, and I was supposed to win fair and square. What do you mean you-“

“Jamie’s been shot,” I quickly explained, snapping open my inventory. “I need to get back to my guild.”

“Oh, shit,” he said, hesitating. “She dead? Cause you can bounce back from anything now. If she’s not dead then she’s fine.”

“No.”

“Then why the fuck did you ruin a perfectly good-”

“Greg, hold this before I punch you,” I threatened. Dismissing my Construct and throwing my Vague Stick back into my inventory, I pulled out one of my doors.

“Excuse me?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I said hold this before I punch you,” I repeated menacingly. “Do you remember where my priorities lie? And do you realize what you’re doing to hinder it right now?”

“Fuckin’ fine,” Greg muttered. “Sore ass loser.”

I didn’t bother continuing this conversation. Once Greg steadied the door frame, I activated Broken Boundary with the intent to make it back to the train and opened it. There was no time to waste as I stepped through the glowing portal.

Jeff was waiting for me. “He’s here!” he yelled, pointing me towards the room he and Kayla had next to mine.

Rushing past him, I ran into their room. It was the first time I had been in the Mills’ bedroom, but I already knew that it was basically set up the same as mine but with a green and gold theme instead of blue and gold. The room was also very clean. There was no excuse for it to be otherwise; just like mine, it had a wardrobe that connected directly to the vault car.

That wasn’t what I needed to focus on right now.

Jamie was sitting on the plush bed with the upper half of her plastic armor on the ground along with the stinger that she had been shot with. At the tip was a small, protruding piece that looked like it had been broken off. Kayla was applying some kind of cream to the Weapon Master’s back. They were both facing away from the door.

“Coming stampeding in here,” the Weapon Master wheezed. “That better be Franklin and not your husband sneaking a peek.”

“Oh no, she’s cracking jokes,” I replied, Pulling the stinger into my hand to get a closer look. The protrusion almost appeared to be a broken syringe. “That’s how you know it’s worse than it looks.”

“Hey, glad you could make it so fast. Don’t ogle, alright? You haven’t paid me enough for that privilege.”

I grimaced and shared a look with Kayla. If she was talking like that, it most certainly was worse than it looked.

Stepping further into the room, I took in the scene. Jamie wore a black tank top that had been lifted over her head. She was wearing it so that she could show off her back while keeping her chest hidden from sight. The bands of her bra had snapped, and it looked like it was a casualty of the stinger.

A perfect circle had been made from the stinger piercing her back. Under normal circumstances, the ammunition would have torn her to pieces and come out the other side. Her plastic armor definitely wouldn’t have been able to stop it. This attack had an alternate reason for it, and the stinger being a syringe seemed far more likely the longer I observed.

All around the wound, tendrils of black pulsed and swayed just beneath the skin. It wasn’t healing, but the blood pouring out was darker than it should have been.

“Fuck,” I said. I knew exactly what that damn sniper had shot her with.

“Ant?” Kayla asked, the concerned look on her face turning to panic at my single reaction.

“Sara, is this what I think-“

[[Patron Message]]

I’m afraid so, Anthony.

Jamie is being transformed into a Demon.

My breath caught in my throat as I went still. I read through it twice, just to make sure I understood it completely.

“Jeff!” I yelled, making the only decision I knew we had. “Get Ashley in here NOW!”