The Games We Play

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Guide

I threw myself high into the air, until I was all but floating amidst black wings. They seemed to flap in slow motion around me, the beat of each wing exaggerated by my accelerated perceptions. I flipped in midair, motions guided by Levant's gentle hands, and landed in a slight crouch upon the first Nevermore's beak. I placed my left hand against on its head to steady myself, gleaming steel shining against its dark brow—

And then I punched it. I hit it as hard as I could and where the results of my improved strength had been hard to notice on the impossibly durable Goliath or the pathetically fragile lesser Grimm, it shone quickly through on the Nevermore. My fist sank into its brow, as if impacting against a pillow or a sponge instead of bone, and dark fluid sprayed when I tore it loose again. I held on tightly with my left hand as quivers of sudden shock and pain rippled through the Grimm, fingers driving fully into the beast's skull to get a firmer grip as I reared back and struck it again and again without pause or mercy. Each blow sank deeper than the last until I was driving my hand fully through the bone of its skull and all the way up to the elbow into the softer materials within.

The Grimm died before it even had time to truly begin to fall, its last spasms keeping it vaguely aloft as I tore my arms loose along with bits of brain matter and skull, flying away to the next target.

The other two Nevermore had drawn up short as I murdered their comrade, pulling upwards so that their bellies were to me. They flapped their wings mightily and sent feathers rushing towards me like midnight daggers, each as long as I was tall and more than capable of impaling a grown man.

I walked through it, hopping from feather to feather as they hung suspended in the air around me and making my way quickly to their source. I Lunged as I drew closer, steel claws raking as I leapt to its breast and began to tear at it searchingly. I felt my claws catch on something as I dug deeper, scraping wetly against the bones of enormous ribs, but I simple planted my feet against its quickly soaking feathers and grabbed the bone hard. Shifting my shoulders and pulled with a mighty growl, I Ripped a chunk of the rib loose and tossed it away. Driving my arm deeper into the wound, I felt things move against it—squeezing, flowing, pounding, and more; strange sensations against my adamant flesh—but merely used those motions to find what lay within it and grasp ahold.

Whatever it was, I tore it out with enough force that my feet slipped in its blood soaked hide and nearly sent my falling away. Gritting my teeth, I held on through pure strength, clawed hands grabbing hold of fresh patches of skin and sinking in to the knuckles. Pulling myself up even as the Nevermore began to fall, I crawled across the dying beast's flesh on all fours, up to where its wing met its body and then over onto its back. As it flopped and spun awkwardly in death, I stayed in position, waiting—and then leapt straight up with all the power my legs could muster.

As I rocketed past the last remaining creature, I saw it flap its wings once, evading my trajectory—probably having already learned what fate awaited those who came too near. I saw intelligence in its eyes—not on the level of the Goliath, perhaps, but still there in a testament to why it had managed to grow so large. A fierce, refined animal cunning, sharped over years or decades of life, made it fly back, circling me fearlessly but not carelessly as it looked for a weakness to exploit.

But it was already far too close to do anything but die.

I reached the apex of my jump and fell all of ten centimeters, before Levant formed a solid sheet of air beneath my feet. I stood on an invisible platform high above the earth, intent sharpening as I crouched, aimed myself, and then pounced upon my final opponent. It flapped its wings hard, angling itself out of my trajectory, but I merely reached out to touch something invisible, landed in a crouch half upside-down, and adjusted my direction. It flinched reflexively as I went for the eyes, but I caught it by several feathers and swung myself around to sit astride the back of its neck.

I held my hand out flat and then drove it up to the elbow into the place where its head met its neck. There was a jerk on its part, a flex on mine, and then it was over and the last Nevermore began its fall from the skies.

Grabbing the spike that protruded from its mask absently, I held on and rode the beast to earth as windows appeared before my eyes.

Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one!

Four, I thought. Exactly enough.

I didn't know why I was surprised. Long ago, when I'd done only a fraction of the work in killing the first Giant Nevermore I'd ever faced, I'd received five levels from the proportionally reduced experience. Less than a day ago, killing one along with a small army of weaklings had netted me two. After killing three? Gaining four levels wasn't odd. No, without a doubt, the number itself wasn't surprising.

How perfectly everything seemed to line up, though…was it planned, somehow? Was this a fortunate coincidence or a hidden trap?

I braced myself slightly, riding out the impact as the Grimm's corpses slammed hard into the ground and dragged across it. Hopping down as it came to a halt, I turned my gaze to the only Grimm remaining, the waiting Goliath in its pit. I saw yellow eyes gleam as they at last turned to me, but it didn't rise from its place, didn't even make a sound. I grit my teeth at it, briefly frustrated until my calm returned, but though I was uncertain, though I still didn't know what it could possibly be planning—

"—Fine," I said, shoulders relaxing. "I'll play this messed up game to the end."

I drew up my status screen and reached out to touch an arrow and put all my stocked points into Wisdom. It was hard to describe how it felt, because I couldn't truly say that I felt wiser—I felt uncertain and worried and was still left wondering if I was doing was the right thing—but I felt different at least, in a way that was hard to really place or describe. Wisdom was tricky that way, I guess, but maybe things would be clearer when I raised it over a Hundred instead of just to ninety.

Perhaps that'd even be soon, I thought, reaching into my Inventory to draw out my prize. At the very least, my decision hadn't changed, either.

You obtained the skill book 'White Tiger of the West.' Would you like to learn this skill?

"Is this what you want?" I murmured, eyes on the Goliath as I searched for any hint of its intentions, any sign that I wasn't somehow doing something stupid. But it didn't react in the slightest to the book's appearance, didn't so much as twitch as it stared back at me. Perhaps it was masking its response. More likely, whatever it was after had nothing to do with the book that, really, it should have no way of knowing about to begin with. Whatever the case, I didn't get anything from it.

One way or another, this was solely my own decision.

I tried not to feel worried about that as I accepted the prompt.

You've obtained the skill 'White Tiger of the West.'

White Tiger of the West (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% HP: 1000 MP: 1000

Legend tells of how a tiger rose from a thousand years of battle to rule as the King of Beasts and the God of War. The ultimate technique of Bai Hu, the White Tiger of the West, is a skill that grants a surge of tremendous power at great cost. Aura surges around the user in patterns that have become ingrained into their very souls—and through the sacrificing their base mortal frames, the glory within shines through.

The skills 'White Tiger's Tread,' 'Claws of the White Tiger,' and 'White Tiger's Five Hundred Years' are activated at no additional cost.

The skills 'Jaws of the White Tiger,' 'White Tiger's Lunge,' and 'White Tiger's Roar' may freely enhance applicable actions at no additional cost.

Double the effectiveness of all skills activated in such a way.

HP may be spent instead of MP for all skills besides White Tiger of the West.

Additional 1000 HP used per 10 seconds.

Additional 1000 MP used per 10 seconds.

I closed my eyes for a moment as the knowledge flowed into me in a rush of sensation that swept past my mind and echoed throughout my very being. It felt…it was hard to describe, but almost as if I was awakening someone's Aura, brushing away the detritus that hide the light within them. Except, I'd already had all that removed, or so I'd thought. But perhaps…

Perhaps the soul wasn't something so easily understood.

I didn't find anything new when I brushed the dirt away, didn't grasp any unknown wells of power—but I found a bit more of myself. Details that had been hidden under an invisible coating of grim, every inch covered in fine detail by…by everything that made me who I was, I suppose; all the moments that had shaped me, however slightly. As I shook myself loose of that concealing dust, my soul drew closer to the shackles that held it bound, and for a moment I feared I might spontaneously combust. There was a light within me that burnt like a sun and I thought that insignificant things like flesh and blood and bone would evaporate at its expanding touch.

But somehow, it didn't. I thought, perhaps, that it might have been a near thing, something narrowly held in check, but it stayed just beneath the surface and contained itself for the sake of my mortal coil. It seemed like a careful balance, as if my adamant body was shirt far too small for it and the wrong move would tear it at the seems—but for the moment, that didn't happen. I thought that if I left it alone and didn't poke it with anything, it might miraculously stay that way.

That's not what I did, though. Instead, I took a breath and a step and without another word, unleashed Bai Hu's masterpiece. It wasn't a complex technique, not truly—not a grand expression of advanced Aura theory or anything like that. It was something more basic and personal; a simple art honed to utter perfect through endless use, until sheer mastery of form had eventually led to something more. My soul blew outwards, expanding from the heart of my being to beyond it. It wasn't a slight thing, like the common minor spillage of Aura into the visible spectrum.

No; it erupted.

It engulfed me.

Power and white light surrounded me, rising from my skin as much as it shined through it. It grew around me until it had a shape of its own—not a mere outline, but an image in its own right, overlaying me. A tail that extended beyond the length of own and claws that grew past my fingers, all of it shining like the sun. For a moment, that light was pure and untainted, but then stains began to appear, traces of darkness that coiled and stretched and spun markings above my skin.

Black and white, I thought. Like a White Tiger's strips. Something caused by the technique or by my actions?

I supposed it didn't matter.

My fingers flexed and the claws of my soul danced, slightly out of sync with the motions of my body; the twitching of my tails did the same. As my heart pounded in my chest to the rhythm of pulsing light, I could feel my body on one level and my soul on another—closely intertwined, but not fully bound together. It was a dangerous state to be in, enough that I felt my body burning at both ends.

'It will not last the night,' I mused and chuckled slightly as I remembered the poem I'd read…somewhere.

But yes…it really did cast a lovely light.

With no time to waste, I attacked.

It reacted as I closed the distance moving with a speed that even I struggled to believe was possible for a creature that size. There was no denying what was right before my eyes, though, and lava sloshed as it came to its feet in the created pit. It trumpeted again, a blast of sound I perceived only because I could see the waves of sound expand through the air. I made a note to adjust Levant's power again later and compensate for the shift to allow me to hear, but for the moment I relied completely on my sight. The sound wave rippled past me, a thrumming note I could just barely hear as I tore through the air, and then the trunk swung down at me.

It was fast—far faster now than it had been when first it had taken me by surprise, lashing through the space in what would have barely been a blur of motion for someone without my vision and speed. I saw a sharp crack extend behind the oncoming limb, an explosion of pressure and sound that couldn't keep pace with, but the majority of my focus stayed on point.

It was fast, amazingly so. There was no denying that.

But I was so much faster.

As the attack came towards me, I reached out towards it with a hand and the white light around my arm leapt forth, elongating in an instant. It stretched out beyond the limits of my flesh and white and black contrasted with a surge of light as contact was made. It was far too much force for me to stop outright, far too much to even try, but I didn't need to halt the attack, just get past it. Instead of attempting to resist that tremendous power—which would have been a foolish thing to try while completely airborne regardless—my Aura's hand touched it at an angle and I used it as a pivot to adjust my position ever so slightly, a process assisted when I brought up my other hand to do the same. I drew myself up onto the massive trunk while it was still in motion, held on with glowing claws, and didn't even slow down as I ran up its length on all fours. Spectral limbs grew to match the length of my arms with those of my legs, and I slide easily into the motions of a quadruped; so easily in fact, that I surprised even myself.

But I didn't question it, nor did I hesitate. The phantasmal figure shrouding my body shifted between one moment and the next, becoming a little less human and a bit more feline, and I didn't so much as miss a beat despite clinging to the still moving limb with the same hands I used to run along it. As the truck finished its arc with a snap, there was a rush of motion that threatened to throw me loose, but my claws merely lengthened within the beast's flesh and I continued with no more than a bracing pause. The White Tiger's Lunge came to me so effortlessly now that I didn't even need to think about it as I leapt towards the Goliath's head and hit it with all the force I could muster.

In that instant, my soul shrank back to my skin, shifting smoothly from aiding motion to empowering the strike, and I felt my life and soul flow into the attack, strengthening the blow with my active skills. My Aura responded to the skills, brightening into something fierce and deadly, until it was almost scalding to look at as its shape changed fluidly for just an instant when the attack landed.

There was a flash of light, a rush of sound I couldn't hear, and a ripple of dark flesh that proceeded to burst—and it was enough to knock the Goliath back, sending viscous lava sloshing away from it as its mighty legs dragged across the unseen bottom. I saw another ripple of sound as it cried again, truck rising, but I had no intention of giving it any room to breathe now. As the first strike landed, phantasmal limbs peeled away from flesh, bifurcating at the shoulder and hip to sink shining claws into its skin. I held myself aloft that way, the limbs of a tiger holding me suspended in reach of the Goliath, and I took advantage of it to follow through with a dozen blows. Each sent the Goliath's durable hide rippling like a stone thrown into a pond, and sent massive waves of impact outwards, fueled by my expended Aura.

I hit it hard enough to drive it to the edge of the pit—and then I hit it hard enough to break that edge and send it slowly sliding up the edge to solid ground. It lashed at me, each blow containing force enough to erase city blocks and each equally pointless in the face of an utter inability to hit me. It thrashed and shook its head, trying to shake me loose, but the claws of my soul held on tightly, holding me firm. I drove my fists into its skin, ripping loose kilograms of bloody flesh, and dancing around its grasping trunk to give it chastising blows. I saw the Goliath's HP bar begin to drop quickly at the damage I wrought with each passing second and saw the beast reel under the onslaught.

Then it did something new.

Its trunk curled up to point my way, but the split second's warning my senses provided was more than enough to react. The light around my left arm spun together suddenly and then shot outwards as a Vorpal Lash, sinking slightly into the underside of the Goliath's trunk. An instant later, the trunk spewed the dark fluid I'd expected, but…different somehow. I simply reeled myself over it, pulling my body out of the way and landing on the trunk. I knew instantly that something was wrong when my senses continued to warn me and as my soul's limbs untangled and sank their claws deep into the Goliath's flesh, I prepared to leap out of the way of the its response.

Yet even though I dodged the attack completely, the Goliath remained as it was, spewing more and more of the dark liquid over itself. Clinging fast to the creature's skin, the substance immediately began to quiver and shake as it had when it produced the Grimm before.

But what it did this time was a tad more worrying. Boney white plates floated to the surface, as if they'd long been trapped deep within. They grew into place around the Goliath like a set of armor, covering the flesh the liquid touched. Red symbols grew in patterns across it like war paint and vicious looking spikes sprouted like grass from any openings left between the plates.

I stared for a moment as the Goliath grew its own suit of armor—or perhaps an exoskeleton?—and then refocused on my task by clawing into the trunk. My overlaying claws grasped massive handfuls of the Grimm's flesh at a frantic pace, tearing loose chunk after chunk while the flesh was still vulnerable, tearing into it with edges of Aura and steel alike. As the Goliath finished armoring its head and back, I tore at everything in reach, tossing bits and pieces aside carelessly and when my Elementals returned to my side, I saw Suryasta and Vulturnus join the fray by assailing the jets the Goliath spewed and igniting them. While I appreciated the effort, I knew full well that a creature who wallowed in lava wouldn't mind the flames. Worse, it didn't even slow the metamorphosis, as the armor continued to rise even through the fire, plates snuffing it out as they formed.

A glance was all I needed to know I had to focus on weak points—on the places it couldn't reach or hadn't reached yet. While I was confident in my offensive power and in my ability to wear through any defense eventually, if the Goliath's armor was as durable as I suspected, then time could easily become an issue. I needed to do as much damage as I could before its defenses were in place and I started with its trunk. Though its mouth may have been the source of its most damaging attack, the trunk was by far the most dangerous simple for all the options it brought to the table; it could attack, heal, grow defenses, and summon minions, so I felt it really needed a case of amputation. After several seconds of focused effort, I was elbow deep in its flesh, scooping out massive chunks with each motion, working to tear it away.

Of course, once it finished armoring its back, it swept its trunk down and let it hang in front of its open mouth, forcing me to leap away as quickly as I could before a tremendous blast of radiation sent me flying. I stopped myself in midair, crouching horizontally on a quick air platform, and then flung myself back into the fray, bouncing down towards the lava and then up to the Grimm's belly from another air platform. I slammed into its stomach hard enough that I thought I lifted its feet from the ground, but the Grimm merely continued to hose itself down, trunk curling this way and that to spray further. I pounded it fiercely, my strength so greatly increased that each blow clipped away a visible, if tiny, sliver of health, something that probably wasn't going to hold true for much longer.

I focused on dealing damage to it until it focused its attentions on its underside, truck stretching to cover as much of its body as possible and sending me scurrying away in the process. I started tearing into its back legs and hindquarters as a frustrated last resort—but even then, it merely curved itself as much as possible to continue the growth of its armor and forcing me to finally back off a step. Landing on open air, I bit down a curse as the Goliath finished its transformation and stood completely armored before me, the once dark creature now almost completely devoid of the color black. Pounding my way through all that…

Well, no choice but to do it, I supposed, taking a breath. I'd whittled it down to about two-thirds of its health over the course of that sustained assault; if I could keep it from healing itself and get rid of that goddamn trunk and deal with any more surprises it had in store, I could probably win eventually. That armor was going to slow things down a lot, a worrying concern given how much MP my new skill devoured, but since I could pay for most of my techniques with HP so long as I remained in this state…and with several of my most used skills now free…

It was definitely worth the cost. If I had to, I'd just pound it until its armor cracked, but…

I sincerely considered trying to attack it from the inside, as I'd done to the Nevermore, but using such a method on a creature with a powerful breath weapon…well, it seemed a tad unwise. No, I suppose I had to do this the old fashioned way.

Oh well.

I cracked my knuckles once and nodded to myself resolutely. As I prepared to return to the fight, though, another window appeared.

"Finally," I said, smiling fiercely. "I'd almost thought I was wrong."

You've received the title 'White Tiger of the West.'

White Tiger of the West

Through complete mastery of his art, you have taken up the mantle of the great Bai Hu, assuming your position as his true heir! By learning every skill in the White Tiger style and achieving the title 'Heir to the White Tiger,' you have proven your worth beyond a shadow of a doubt! There is no more for you to learn; show your power and stand above all as the true White Tiger—a king among beasts and a god of war!

100% increase the damage of White Tiger techniques.

100% increase to the defense granted by White Tiger techniques.

50% decrease in the cost of White Tiger techniques.

Status: White Tiger's Star [High]

It's a good day for changes, I thought, gesturing once. My body shook as replaced my title, trembling fiercely as pain set fire to my nerves as I began to change. It was a greater shift this time, a more encompassing one set to a music of breaks and stretches. I felt myself grow slightly taller, saw my hair length slightly as if I'd suddenly aged several years, but those were minor things in the big picture. The greatest shift was less obvious from the outside, though it left me feeling as if someone had briefly replaced my blood with molten steel. I'd expected it, in a way—the greatest change for the greatest title, accompanied by all the pain that implied. How it would manifest, I wasn't entirely sure, but I felt the changes take hold in my muscles and my bones.

And then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over. I was left panting hard but also laughing, brushing my longer hair out of my eyes as I did so to get it out of the way. I felt different, like I was truly in someone else's skin—and maybe I was. Or at least, I was wearing a skin that wasn't wholly my own, now; I didn't examine myself too closely, but looking down at myself, I could see where my features mixed with those of another.

Skin, I thought again and laughed a bit more. Yeah, I suppose that was all this was—a different 'skin,' a change in a character model. 'Jian Bing unlocked' or something to that effect.

It didn't matter, really. What happened to this body…well, a lot of the time, it just didn't matter. That this form was stronger—that meant something. I didn't really care what it meant leaving behind.

Still…I was going needed more MP if I was going to do this right. And to start with…

I withdrew the cartridge my grandmother had given me, sliding my thumb across the crystals. There were several colors I'd never had the chance to use with Soulforge, but now…

Two should be enough for the moment, I thought. And a chance to experiment.

The Status Effect, "Mountain's Strength", has been created. Duration: 30 seconds.

The Status Effect, "Unbroken Steel", has been created. Duration: 30 seconds.

"There we go," I said, cracking my neck—just for show, but it certainly made me feel cool. The Goliath seemed to preoccupied checked to make sure he hadn't missed a spot to be suitably impressed, but oh well. "Shall we continue?"

The Goliath snorted and looked at me, apparently content with its work. It lifted its trunk and fired without another sound.

I was already in motion.