Chapter Fifty-One

Harmony didn't consider herself a violent person, but sometimes the behaviors certain people brought that mindset out in her. This moment was a present created by Rose's attitude. In a better mood, without the stresses of an absent pet, a troubled agent, and a pissy princess, when forced to choose a weapon, she'd like to think that words, knowledge, or even beauty would be what she'd volunteer as her option.

That being said, necessary violence was a familiar tool. The fight to survive the climb of Nae's Garden. The group of assassins she'd left to rot on the top floor. Calm moments of peace were only achieved by fighting for them.

The gray faceless opponent collapsed, the weapon it had, a black outline of a sword, skittered to the side, and turned to smoke as Harmony ripped into the person-like being with her bare hands, grabbing the body and pulling it apart on raw strength alone. Skin contact was necessary; growing nails into claws made the work harder, and in her hands, she could feel it die.

Two moments to catch a breath. She'd wasted too much time early on trying to fight the monsters the normal way. Skills did nothing. [Cold Touch] and [Disintegrate] failed on contact. They phased through Hyacinth like he was smoke; these were only for her.

In the fallen opponent's place, a new one emerged as a gathering of shadows from the arena sands, mirroring their arrival; one disappeared from the audience. This one held the black outline of a spiked mace. Each of these dark puppets only had a sliver of life, but it was enough to satisfy that part of her necromancer self that craved death.

[High Kick] propelled Harmony towards the new target. Giving these monsters any time to find their footing was a mistake. The puppet's gray and black arm swung the mace quickly. She'd reach it before it managed to plow the weapon into her, but it was quicker than the last. Having ripped through ten of them, it still followed the linear strength increase she'd kept track of. Every iteration was faster, stronger, quicker, and smarter. That didn't mean it would stay linear or cross a threshold where it would become a problem.

The outstretched arms of her fingers met the soft material of the puppet and pierced through to her knuckles, allowing her to grip and rip. The force disrupted the action of its attempted swing, and she cleaved it in two with her bare hands.

Telltale signs of the next puppet marred the arena floor. They were coming quicker, too. Two at once might not be unexpected. It might even be preferred, since this was probably a timed event like the last challenge. The slowest one to finish would be eliminated.

The worst thing about this was that with Hyacinth useless and skills negated, there wasn't a good way to cheat. If only she'd picked a different weapon. These puppets at least got ones!

The black hatchet twitched in the hands of the latest opponent. It too would break down after the puppet dies. This weapon will be quicker than the mace, and with the increase in speed, there would be no good way to reach this one like she had the others.

Rather than kicking off [Small Armor], [Style and Grace] with [Poise and Bearing] readied her for an up-close fight.

The puppet came in swinging with quick, small cuts.

Even if she got big, the size difference wouldn't cover the length advantage. Most of her experience was being small in size anyway, and no time for that mental and training shift. The attacks weren't unmanageably fast, but didn't give room to get past. Stepping to the side and unable to reach the puppet's arm, Harmony grabbed the shaft of the axe and added her strength to the attack, pushing the swing into a full arc and twisting it until it hit the creature's gut. The blade cut it easier than her hands, so she pushed with it, sinking in deeper and severing the material that was its body.

No bones, no blood, or guts to work with. It merely reached a tipping point of damage and broke down. The weapon started to follow. No! [Mend], the skill fought the dissolution and failed, only locking it into place long enough for the next opponent to rise.

Rather than disappointment, a grin cracked Harmony's serious face. This was the first time any skill had an effect on the puppets. She'd tried [Mend] on the bodies, and nothing, but here… Now the plan might fail. Maybe a weapon only worked on the puppet it appeared with? Maybe she couldn't preserve one properly? The only thing to do was to find out.

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A pile of failed experiments, each progressively more difficult to acquire, Harmony finally had her blade, a curved sickle, and the wound that went with it. Her left hand gripped the puppet's arm as it pressed the weapon into her side, keeping the blade there while she worked. Had to keep this one alive long enough to complete the process. Her right hand rested inside the chest, slowly squeezing the life out of this one while its free arm beat her about the shoulders; the impact would leave bruises.

Blood, always blood. Have to saturate the blade and handle. Had to bend the definition of [Dust] to get her skill to work on the weapon. The cursed things turned to smoke after losing connection, so they were technically particulates. Not that the weapons left ash or material after clearing. All she was doing with the skill was making cracks for her blood to seep into. The cells interposed at regular intervals as the fluid bridged them. The fine application of [Manipulate Dead] was more straining than the beating as she did it. Once there, [Cold Touch] crystalized the matrix and [Mend] locked it into place so that the structures would stay even as the frozen bits tried to dissolve both while using her synergy and connections to their fullest sealed potential.

It was almost like trapping the material in glass, except in this case, crystallized blood. Every particle needed to be anchored in place. Sloppy work resulted in brittle weapons. The broken proof of concepts at least showed that this should work on all future opponents. Even if only one-third of the puppets in the arena were left to fight.

"Stop, rotting hitting me!" She yelled at the puppet as the latest swing stung. There would be a bruise, but with this new body, it should heal rather quickly. That didn't mean the strikes didn't hurt. It ignored her. Frustrating as it was, she couldn't kill it too quickly.

Weathering two dozen more blows, she finished the weapon, and her right hand crushed what life was left in the puppet. [Mend] sealed the wound as she pulled it out. It was deep enough that she accessed the small pocket in her armor for a small vial of the healing water from the mimics to combine with [Renew Spirit].

As those took effect, the next puppet rose up. It didn't leave much time for admiring her results. The hook of her blade caught the blow of a broadsword and sent the blow back with as much force as had been swung at her. Not breaking was the first test. The puppet's weapon dealt with, [High Kick] lunged her forward and blade cut it from right shoulder to just under its armpit, cleaving off a large enough hunk to kill it. She'd removed enough heads to know that wouldn't stop one, as they were faceless, eyeless, brainless; you had to do enough damage to the puppet's container to get it to die. Cutting was far more efficient than ripping it up piece by piece, as it got tougher with every iteration.

No nicks or cracks in the now deep maroon weapon. [Analyze] pulled up what she could

​

Unusual blood sickle - crystallized instance

​

Not unique, a little disappointing. The weapon took enough effort to create; she wanted it to be special, but since she could repeat the process, it made sense, not that her body produced an unlimited supply of blood. Someone with more expertise in weapons would need to evaluate it, but for now, it should work. A tool specifically for this occasion.

Harmony cut her way through until two were left. One before her and one large and ominous one watching from the seats. Scythe met a spear strike in a blow she halted, but couldn't push back. For the first time, their strength was equal. No longer could she abuse the fact that she could overpower the puppets by locking weapons and slowly pushing in.

"Hyacinth, a little help, please?"

While he couldn't directly harm these creations. The extended fight had given her time to contemplate what he could do. Behind her, Hyacinth grew until he was behind her, resting against her back, and he shoved. It didn't matter that they phased through the massive toad; his presence could not be ignored when he added his strength to hers.

The shove allowed her to get close, as all the puppets did was charge in and attack. She used her free hand to hold the shaft in place. The sickle did its job of carving up the puppet, even as her muscles strained to do it. Without this weapon, her bare hands would have been a struggle.

The last puppet disappeared from the stands. This one should be stronger than her, but Hyacinth can wiggle his fat ass forward, and that little tush push should get her over the line for that final victory.

The empty stands rumble. The walls shrunk, but it was a matter of perspective. The arena was getting bigger. At least this round was obvious about what was coming. The dark patch for this final puppet expanded to cover half this newly enlarged arena. The puppet that rose up was reminiscent of those big squirts back in Nae's Garden. It towered over her, and the weapon, a massive club, was as wide as she was tall. A small nudge wasn't going to cut it.

​ In the face of such a monster, Harmony triggered [Recall] to create a mental reminder. The next time a mysterious voice asked her to choose a weapon, she'd better pick something like bloody diplomacy.

"Grupt?"

"Don't worry. I've got this." Like any massively large mess. All she had to do was take it one piece at a time. Harmony kicked off; it was time to get violent.

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