Reflections on the Warpath - [An Isekai Progression Fantasy]

Akira pointed Jiki towards Morgan, who'd retreated to Alden's side, while holding Juryoku above his head. He bent his knees slightly and glared at the duo.

"You messed with the wrong guy, assholes!"

Oh for fuck's sake.

Jay rolled over, pushing himself upright with his slightly less injured left arm. Waves of pain pulsed out from his right hand. Jay sighed and assessed the damage. His fingers all pointed the right direction, at least, but they barely twitched and wouldn't curl into a fist.

The serrated blade had snapped off the Conqueror's fist, and the warped steel knuckles twisted around his mangled fingers. Jay half wanted to rip off the deformed hunk of metal, but decided it wasn't worth the pain.

He turned to Akira, who was still standing in his stupid pose, and sighed.

"You did everything right, man," said Jay. "You saved the day. Did something cool. Shit, you even said something kinda cool too."

Jay waved his left arm up and down.

"And then you go and ruin it with this shit," Jay tried to keep a straight face, but he couldn't help but smile at Akira's over the top antics. "Who do you think you are? Some kind of superhero?"

"Ah, my bad," replied Akira, his mouth also curling up at the edges. "Next time I'll worry about your nonchalant, cool guy persona when I save your ass. Maybe I just won't come, how's that for something cool?"

Lyra and Karis' footsteps bounced in the cavern from behind Jay. Morgan didn't react, but Jay gleefully watched Alden's expression fade from confused to terrified.

Akira flicked his sword to point at the mage before glancing back to Jay.

"Guess he's the brains… which one first?"

Jay looked between the two opponents before locking eyes with Akira. Face as cold as stone.

"Let's go for the big fella. Give him a taste of his own medicine."

This time, it was Akira's turn to look away and shake his head.

"And you call me cringe."

Akira charged towards Morgan just as Karis and Lyra filtered into the room. Jay followed the swordsman, perfectly fine to let his friend take centre stage for this fight. The throbbing pain emanating from his right hand lingered in Jay's mind but he clenched his teeth and focused on the fight in front of him.

Morgan had picked up his axe again and almost growled at Akira while matching his charge. He'd separated from Alden, who was busy dealing with a flock of half spectral, half physical crows.

Akira could handle Morgan alone, but Jay still circled around their opponent. He'd missed fighting alongside his friend.

Akira thrust Jiki forward. Morgan deflected.

But he couldn't be everywhere.

Jay twisted his right foot into the ground. Freed from the chains of non-commitment now that backup had arrived, Jay could take all the time he needed to set up his attacks. His hips twisted forward. The first glimmers of electrical light flickered within Jay's shin as he slammed it into Morgan's kneecap.

Morgan's leg buckled outwards. He spun and swung his axe, but Ping blocked the swipe and Jay hopped out of range easily.

The simmering storm within Jay cracked its eye open, regarding the battle for but a moment before quietening down.

Jay had survived long enough alone. Now that his friends were here, it wasn't even a fight anymore.

It was an execution.

Akira plunged Juryoku through Morgan's gut. The behemoth charged ahead. He dropped his axe, grabbing Juryoku with both hands and pulling himself forward. The blade skewered through Morgan's stomach, but Akira was within his grasp.

Jay lunged towards his teammate's aid. He crossed his right leg forward, over past his left shoulder before launching a spinning back-fist at Morgan's with his left. The unbroken blade of the left Conqueror's fist cleaved through the giant's muscled neck and into his spine.

Akira leapt back, releasing his first sword while raising his second. He gripped Jiki with both hands before ramming it into Morgan's neck, barely an inch above Jay's fist.

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A prickly, static fuzz gripped Jay's fingertips.

Jay watched the back of Morgan's neck vibrate and glow from within before Akira pulled out Jiki and the giant man slumped to the ground dead.

Jay let the corpse fall, before grinding his heel into the man's fingertips.

A sliver of catharsis streamed into Jay's mind. It wasn't much, but it felt a hell of a lot better than being choked out against the rocks.

Across the cavern, spectral crows taunted Alden from above. They jabbed at his face, before hopping off whenever he jerked his head or batted them away. His fleet of stalactites weren't faring much better either. Lyra weaved through their attacks, dodging every oncoming rock with ease.

She swivelled around one before planting her front foot and flinging her axe forward.

A crow dove towards Alden's head.

The mage knocked it away with a flailing fist.

Another crow attacked, this one joined by a spectral ally.

He couldn't block both. Alden snapped his head aside.

Directly into the path of Lyra's flying axe.

Jay looked over at his team, thankful not to be alone anymore. Akira posed over Morgan's unmoving corpse while Karis had barely ventured more than three steps into the cavern. Lyra calmly picked up her axe, she smiled while walking over towards Jay.

Finally.

Jay released a stretch of his rope before clamping it between his teeth. Even the parts not coated in Quicksnatch felt oily inside his mouth and Jay could almost taste the grease coating his teeth.

It felt awful, but it beat biting his tongue off.

He held his trembling right hand up in front of him.

Lyra and Akira both gripped his forearm tightly

Jay looked away.

"Do it," he spat through gagged teeth.

Lyra yanked the deformed Conqueror's fist off his broken fingers. He instinctively jerked his arm back but his friends' vice-like grip kept it stable. A pained grunt escaped Jay's clenched jaw as the shards of his shattered finger bones gouged into his flesh.

Grrk, grrk, grrk.

Lyra's stone-cold grip moved over to his fingers as she straightened each of them out, sliding the bone shards back into place.

Again, Jay tried to wrestle his arm free.

Again, he failed.

"I'm all done," she said, gently holding Jay's hand in the air.

Jay forced another exhalation through his teeth. He knew he couldn't leave it here.

Akira began taping over Jay's fingers.

After finishing off Morgan and Alden, Jay's adrenaline rush had worn off and the reality of his mangled fingers had set in. His left hand had all but recovered from the underwater dagger explosion, so Jay had Akira unwrap his wrist and cut Thane's tape into smaller strips.

Jay wasn't sure how useful the tape would be a second time, but he sensed there was still some juice left in it. Akira wrapped each finger individually. When he finished, he still had over half of the roll left.

Time to make a decision.

Jay's fingers would heal, eventually. But unfortunately, he had to fight now.

If he left them as is, he'd still be able to use his hand as normal, but there was a chance the bandages could come off. Especially in a scrappy clinch. If his fingers got re-injured mid fight, his right hand became almost useless.

It was too risky.

"Just do it."

Akira took the unbroken Conqueror's fist from Jay's left hand and slid it onto his right. Jay winced, but it was a lot smoother than taking the mangled right blade off. He tried to form a fist but only got halfway before Akira had to force his fingers shut. Akira used the remainder of the tape to keep them there, wrapping Jay's fist in the off-white bandages and locking it in place.

Jay pulled his fist back, staring at it while wiggling his fingers inside. Jay couldn't do much more than punch with his locked in fist but punching was better than nothing.

Besides, he'd spent a whole lifetime with his hands taped into fists, what was a few more hours?

He threw a practice one-two, feeling his fingers tug at the makeshift wrapping.

No point complaining.

"So what do we do now?" asked Jay. "I have two relics, but only one use left on both. I can guide us to the exit hub from here. I saw Amaya and Ezekiel there near the start of the tournament, but they've probably escaped by now."

"They haven't," said Karis.

Huh?

"Your entrance point must've been a lot closer to the exit hub than ours. I only found the hub half an hour ago but I've kept a crow watching them ever since. They're just sitting there letting people escape. Malin the Blizzard confronted them when his group exited, apparently they already have three relics and are just waiting."

"Waiting for what? Us?" asked Jay.

Akira shrugged and resheathed his swords into their clasps on the quiver.

"Only way to find out is to ask them," he said.

Silence lingered in the underground cave. All four gladiators knew their next step.

"They have to be expecting an attack at some point," said Jay, "do you guys have a plan?"

"Yes, but we need your approval first," said Karis.

What?

Akira looked at Jay's confusion before stifling a laugh. Although Jay reckoned he was the best in-fight strategist in the group, Karis and Lyra were far more knowledgeable than him in larger scale battles. He trusted their judgement and wondered why they didn't just tell him their plan.

"Why?"

"Because every one of our plans involves hurling you towards Amaya as fast as possible," said Lyra.

Ah.

"Well… it's a start," said Jay, "care to explain how?"

Akira reached past his swords into the quiver. He pulled out a ring and a necklace, placing them on the floor before reaching in again. This time pulling out a diamond the size of his fist and an ornate, porcelain teapot. He set the teapot next to the jewellery and held up the diamond.

"Of our four relics, the only one that can help us is this diamond. It's a one-time use and can amplify any push tenfold. If I use the essence of gravity to shove you forward, while Lyra twins the attack and I activate the diamond, it'll get you in range before they can do anything to stop you. Eye of the storm should help you land the first blow, and then you just have to last a few seconds until we come in as backup."

Jay mulled over the plan. He couldn't think of a faster way to engage, and it played perfectly into his strengths. Sure, it left him alone against both members of the Flaming Tomb for a bit, but if he couldn't survive the five seconds it took for his team to catch up then he wasn't surviving the fight anyway.

The entire team looked at him expectantly.

"What?" asked Jay.

"Are you okay with the plan?" said Karis.

Jay shrugged.

"It's not like we can do anything else. Give me five minutes to prepare and we can head off."