50 - Spirit Armament (Patreon)

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The ground shook as Ryan carried the terrified Liam. A massive crack had formed between them and the closest exit, and it didn't seem to be the only one. All over the place, cracks were spreading out and large chunks of the ground were falling down to the roads or buildings below.

The part that Ryan was standing on specifically didn't seem all too unstable, but he also didn't have a lot of time to figure the situation out all too much before something entered his peripheral vision. It was a koi fish made of soft green light and droplets floating around it, swimming through the air directly toward Ryan. The Light of Guidance in his mind was pulling him straight toward it, and the pull grew stronger and stronger.

Before long, the fish stopped in front of Ryan, slowly dissolving. The only part it left behind was the small gemstone in its centre. And he didn't have to hesitate at all either; before the last of Gaia's fragments could drop down whatsoever, Ryan instinctively pulled it into the spirit's domain, and some system messages appeared in front of his eyes.

[You have found the last Fragment of Gaia]

[The Light of Guidance has found its target and disappears]

Ryan's heart almost skipped a beat as the last of the three fragments appeared in Gaia's domain. The three pieces were almost excitedly floating around each other, though they still weren't combining. He would have to try and figure that out later, but for now, he was just happy to have found all of her.

But that didn't solve the situation that he found himself in right now either. Rather, it caused a whole other problem. Ryan glanced at the direction that the koi fish had come from, and a number of those armed men were standing there, clearly looking into his direction.

"Fuck..." he muttered quietly. Of course, a glowing, magical fish just swam toward Ryan, and considering the situation that was incredibly suspicious. So if they were just here to deal with the villain, they might move on after seeing that Ryan was just a guy carrying a scared kid to safety. Though, that hope quickly disappeared from Ryan as he saw the ones in the front aim their guns at him.

The hairs on the back of Ryan's neck stood up as his instincts were just absolutely screaming at him to get away. And he didn't hesitate to do so for even a moment. Ryan turned around and started to run away, when he heard a loud sound echoing around the buildings. He felt a sharp pain in his leg, and didn't even have to look down to see what was going on. The pain coursed through his body as blood filled his shoe.

Liam flinched in Ryan's arms, feeling him recoil from the pain, but Ryan just smiled down at him and laughed a bit, "What, a bit of noise is enough to scare you? You won't like living with Runar then... he tends to sing in the shower."

Confused about what Ryan was saying, Liam glanced back up at him, "H-Huh?" 

"Yeah, and he's probably the worst singer I've ever heard. Can't even hit a single note properly," he pointed out, shaking his head disappointedly as he continued to run, even if he was limping. Ryan tried to hide it as much as he could, but that only went so far. Before he knew it, Maximus had jumped out of his domain, and a second gunshot sounded through the air. But instead of feeling a sharp pain, Ryan heard the sound of the bullet hitting metal, and a message appeared in front of Ryan.

[Knight Spirit Maximus' -Right Arm- has been damaged and cannot be used until repaired]

Ryan widened his eyes as he felt the shattered, broken pieces enter his domain again. The arm was fully torn apart due to the impact of the bullet. These parts were in the same space that Maximus' second arm was; right now, he was using the complete 'Guardian' model, and the 'Crusader' model's arm was stored at the edge of the domain where Ryan could pull it out whenever he needed to. That's where these broken pieces also went, barely trying to hold the shape of an arm, "Maximus! What the hell are you-"

Ryan could feel something pull at his mind. He knew what that meant, and Ryan activated the connection between himself and the knight. As the Spirit Link formed, Ryan's arm almost went numb, but it was just the feeling of a 'missing arm' overlapping with his 'existing arm'. But there was no pain or anything of the sort. The only thing that flowed into Ryan's mind was a very vague feeling of confidence.

"... Fine, I'll trust you. Just... don't die..." Ryan told him, and could quickly see Maximus glancing over at the car. It was on this side of the crack, and should be able to act as decent enough cover. Ryan quickly ran over toward it. More gunshots sounded out, and for a moment, an uncomfortable sensation coursed through Ryan's leg. It wasn't painful, but he could still feel what was happening. As if a cannonball tore through his leg.

[Knight Spirit Maximus' -Left Leg- has been damaged and cannot be used until repaired]

As the leg appeared within Maximus' domain as well, he could feel Maximus simply start to hop after deflecting a second bullet. Despite now only having one leg to work with, he still moved in an agile way, keeping up with Ryan's slowed movements. He soon reached the car and squatted down behind it, carefully placing Liam down.

"Close your eyes," Ryan said immediately, but Liam shook his head.

"No! I can-"

"Liam, please, just close your eyes," trying not to let the pain make him raise his voice, Ryan looked at the boy and pleaded. Clearly frustrated, Liam nodded his head, pressing his eyes shut as more gunshots sounded out. Of course, Ryan was still an extra barrier between Liam and the shooters in addition to the car. The kid's safety came first.

Ryan looked down at his leg, seeing most of his shin and calf covered in a thick, deep red. The bullet seemed to have gone clean through his leg at least, but he was bleeding a lot. With a groan, Ryan pulled off his shirt and tied it around the wound as tightly as he could, trying to at least slow down the bleeding. He would have to apologize to Silvia later for ruining the shirt she made him.

As he tied it around his leg, Ryan noticed the symbiote freaking out on the back of his hand.

" % & ! ! ? ;; "

Just the random symbols that seemed to come from some kind of fear or pain that they were experiencing together with Ryan already made his stomach drop. Holding the hand to his mouth, Ryan whispered, "Sorry... you've been with me for a day, and we're already going through this."

" ... :) "

Ryan laughed lightly. The gunshots had stopped, but instead footsteps were approaching closer and closer. They would reach this place soon. With another whisper, Ryan spoke to the symbiote again, "If things go sour, we should at least get you a name, right..?"

The symbols on the back of Ryan's hand seemed to change hesitantly into three simple dots. Ryan tried to think of something good, though for some reason, something came to his mind. It was a story that was pretty fresh in his mind. After Modak brought it up the other day, he had looked the story up again; the 100 Tales of Shazir.

He travelled the world in search of treasures and ruins, meeting new people and battling powerful monsters. And during one of his journeys, he met a number of fantastical beings, including Sprites, that guided him toward his destination. A small red jewel imbued with powerful magics. And the name of that gemstone rang through Ryan's head. The name of the jewel of creation.

"Tiar... How does that sound?"

After a few moments of what seemed like hesitation, a symbol appeared on the back of Ryan's hand.

" :D "

[The Ruby Symbiote has accepted the name -Tiar-]

[Tiar's synchronization with the system is growing. A connection is being formed]

[Connection - 0%]

[Connection - 3%]

[Connection - 7%]

Ryan was confused as he saw the messages, but that didn't really matter right now. Tiar, who seemed excited just a few moments earlier, immediately fell into a slumber. Like when they were asleep, a spiral had appeared on the back of Ryan's hand instead, and the tattoo-like red patterns on Ryan's arm were waving back and forth along with his heartbeat.

Ryan pulled Liam closer as the footsteps closed in. Those were about half a dozen guys with full assault gear and guns; Ryan was lucky that only one of them shot at him. Maybe they didn't really want to kill him, and just wanted to slow him down somehow. Or maybe they were just playing with Ryan before taking him down to take the fragments back. But who knew what would happen when they actually stood over Ryan, staring down at him? He certainly didn't want to figure it out.

The footsteps grew louder and closer. Ryan closed his eyes, covering Liam's head with his hands, as Maximus got ready to attack the men as they closed in. Somehow, Ryan felt surprisingly calm right now.

As Ryan's eye peeked open, he swore he could already see tip of a rifle's barrel, but it quickly moved away as another sound filled the area. A loud voice coming from between two of the buildings.

"Oi, ya fuckers! The hell d'ya think ye're doing?!" the voice of a kind chef that Ryan had only heard a few minutes earlier was now filled with absolute rage, "Get away from those kids!" 

[Connection - 56%]

Ryan heard Chantora yell at the gunmen, and fear immediately flowed through him. Especially as he heard the men speak to each other.

"What do we do?" one of them seemingly asked this group's leader, who said some words that Ryan really didn't want to hear.

"If we were to encounter him, we were told to keep the Spirit Keeper alive. If necessary, dispatch everyone that gets in the way."

[Connection - 71%]

Liam flinched in Ryan's arms, also having heard the men speak. The sound of the gunmen readying their weapons soon sounded out, before the leader spoke.

"Immediately evacuate the area!" he yelled out to Chantora, but the chef immediately denied.

"I saw ya lot shoot at them! You fuckin' maniacs!"

The leader seemed to be very quickly annoyed. The others beside him readied their guns, clearly not hesitating to shoot at Chantora in the slightest. Ryan didn't know what was going on, but he couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let anyone die, he couldn't-

[Connection - 99%]

[Connection - 100%]

[Tiar has completely synchronized with the -Spirit Keeper- Class]

[A special combination skill has been unlocked]

[You have learned the -Spirit Armament- Skill]

Ryan's eyes widened as a new sensation entered his mind. His arm moved almost on his own and pressed onto the metal of the car he was hiding behind. The red lines that appeared on Ryan's arm after he bonded with Tiar expanded onto the metal, tearing it apart and pulling it directly onto his right arm's skin. Piece by piece, bit by bit, the car's old and almost rusted metal took on a familiar shape. Not too long ago, he had put this together himself.

It was bulky and heavy, but completely enveloped Ryan's hand. Even the gloves and the roots wrapping around it all were made from the car's metal. Ryan's arm was covered in Maximus' armour; the Crusader Model that had been intact within the domain. Now it wasn't there any more; Ryan was wearing it. Even Maximus seemed confused by what was happening, as he clearly hadn't seen this kind of thing before.

However, Ryan didn't feel any stronger, so he didn't receive the stats the same way that Maximus did. But that was fine, he didn't need to. His arm was covered in a massive gauntlet. Solid and sharp metal covered his hands, moving like a proper glove would. It wasn't uncomfortable, as if this piece of armour was made for him to begin with. Ryan carefully let go of Liam as the adrenaline took over. For a little while, he couldn't even feel the pain of the bullet wound on his leg. Ryan jumped up from behind the car, swinging his massive metal-covered arm at the closest gunman, who was aiming at Chantora, ready to shoot.

An attack that usually would have only injured Ryan's hand was enough to throw the gunman into the others beside him with the weight of the armour that Ryan could swing around like it was just his normal arm. The gunmen were startled, but Ryan wouldn't just give them the opportunity to react.

He glared at the leader of the group and pushed his arm toward him. A simple strike shattered the visor of the helmet the leader was wearing, and Ryan quickly closed the distance and threw a second punch, putting all his weight behind it. The helmet was thrown off the man's face, and Ryan immediately wrapped the metal hand around his neck.

The other gunmen had realized what was going on by now and aimed their guns at Ryan, "Don't you fucking dare. Throw those away, or I tear out his throat!"

Ryan glanced over his shoulder at the gunmen, and while he could see them hesitate, they still continued aiming at him.

"We know you won't, the Aglecards have always acted with non-lethal methods," one of them replied, "Stop bluffing and put him down!"

With a loud laugh, Ryan just tightened his grip, "Are you guys fucking blind? Do I look like I'd give a shit about what the Aglecards have always acted like?!"

Ryan's back tensed up as he could practically feel the gazes of the gunmen stare at him. His shirt was wrapped around his leg, so his upper body was completely exposed now. The myriad of scars of indiscernible sources certainly painted a different picture. Of course, these didn't come from any rough battles or really showed how dangerous Ryan was. But who would expect that they were scars he got from his disgusting, abusive stepfather who had nothing better to do than torture a little kid for fun?

One of the gunmen slowly raised his hand toward the others, "... Stand down. Do what he says."

The second-in-command seemed to have a decent head on his shoulders, at least. Though in the first place, they weren't supposed to kill Ryan. If that weren't the case, maybe they wouldn't be quite as cooperative.

Ryan barked at them, "Throw the guns away! Onto the other side of the gap!"

Seeing them hesitate again, Ryan slightly tightened his grip. If he kept going, he really would end up killing this guy. He seemed to already struggle to breathe as blood poured down his throat due to the sharp edges of metal Ryan was pressing against his skin.

Slowly, the gunmen did as told. The four of them tossed their weapons onto the other side of the gap after securing them. The last of them, the second-in-command, was about to do the same, when he slightly turned his head.

"So? Get to it!" Ryan yelled. Once all their guns were gone, he should be able to deal with them somehow, even with his leg in the state it was. None of them seemed to be Awakened, so they couldn't be that strong, "I told you to fucking-"

Ryan's sentence was interrupted by a gunshot. The second-in-command had raised up his gun and shot through the back of the former leader's head. As the bullet passed clean through it and flew by the side of Ryan's head, his face was covered in splatters of blood and brains while shards of bone cut narrowly into his cheek.

The man's body went limp as Ryan instinctively let go of the man, feeling himself grow ill as the smell of blood became overwhelming. His hand was shaking, as he looked back up, staring right into the barrel of the rifle.

"Wh-Why did you-"

The second-in-command, now the new leader of the group, tightened his grip on the gun, "You must have heard what he said earlier. We're supposed to dispatch everyone that gets in the way."

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