STORMWEAVER II: Chapter 37 Sneak Peek (and happy Turkey Day!) (Patreon)

Oh man this one has been fun to write. Wrapping it today for a tomorrow release!

Reminder that there is NO chapter next week! I'll be in Virginia filming with Daniel Greene for a fun little project you'll hear about very soon!

Enjoy!

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For the better part of a minute the two of them battled it out right there beyond the lip of the bar, neither taking nor giving an inch. Rei wasn’t about to let Aria gain the advantage she was looking for, but Aria was a Phalanx, and about as indomitable as the wall the announcer had compared her to at the start of the match. As a result, their weapon tore a brilliant blaze through the air as both refused to move, refused to budge, spear coming in be docked and dodged, claws lancing forward to be blocked and knocked aside. A hundred gatling blows were traded back and forth, the shallows waver around their feet and ankles turning to foam and violent spray.

And then the stalemate gave.

Aria was the first one to take a chance, to try to change things up. Rei almost didn’t see it, almost missed the moment as he sucked him his cut to avoid an eviscerating sweep of the spear that left a trail of green light in its wake. The change was subtle, with Aria tucking her shield just a little to tightly, a little to close. He did see it, though, did notice the slight shift, the fraction of a pause in the fight.

So we was ready when she charge.

Shield before her in a sold wall of red and gold metal, Aria lunged, obviously aiming to ram him. Rei sidestepped, but not before he shot both hand out to grab either side of the shield, shouting as he did.

“Type-Shift! Saber Mode!”

Shido cracked and changed, it’s plating thickening around his limbs and chest instantly. The sword didn’t appear—apparently the CAD could read that his hands were already full—and Rei felt everything slow fractionally, like time had dilated backwards for him ever so slightly.

It didn’t matter. Speed wasn’t what he needed in the moment.

Rei twisted into his sidestep, allowing Aria’s momentum to carrier her by for a heartbeat before his boosted Strength accepted the weight of her passing rush through his arms. Straining, he let out a roar of effort as he wrenched on the shield with everything he had in the moment.

It paid off when Aria yelped in alarms as she was hauled off her feet, completely clear of the tide, then pulled around by the shield she didn’t even have the time to think of letting go off before being tossed bodily up and through the air.

Aria flared as she arced up and away, but she wasn’t as nimble as Rei. Gravity reclaimed her, and she came down on her side with a heavy thud in the middle of the sand bar some 20 feet away. Rei hadn’t expected it to be enough to do any damage, and sure enough she was scrambling to her feet in an instant, but that was fine.

What mattered was that now he had the advantage.

Shido’s Saber-Mode blade had materialized the moment his right hand had been freed of the fistful of shield it had been holding, and he through the weapon at Aria just as she came to stand, already rushing her. She made to smack the sword out of the air with her spear, but it dematerialized mid-flight as he shouted for his Brawler-Mode again.

When he hit her, it was with pummeling, clawed fists and the renewed clarity and quickness of boosted Speed and Cognition.