The Bloodforged Kin

Chapter 223 - 217: Safehold - Unbelievably, it’s Luna

"I don't think I should do any music." The two hours since Cass's departure had been solemn, the people of Safehold speaking only in low whispers. There was no doubt that some blamed Cass for what had happened, and some blamed themselves - Ed had disappeared into the Bouchard Compound to 'work on projects.' - but most just accepted yet another System death and moved on. Still, though, the mood had become as dark as the night.

"You need to, now more than ever."

"Weeble is right," Ben said to Luna. "It sucks that we're forced to start another fight so soon after someone died, but he wasn't even the first death today. You need to get the mood back on track or you're going to really lock in this shitty feeling." He cowered under Tess's glare but didn't take back his words. "I know it seems like a cold thing to say, but this is important. Look; Weeble and I know crowds - I know them even better than him. Don't you snort at me you jumped-up Etch-a-Sketch! This is my whole skillset! So anyway, what you do next is either going to lock this mood in place or it will turn things around."

He stared at Luna intently. "It may feel shitty to you to do this, but you're not doing it for you. This whole music thing has never been for you guys, it's been for them. You need to suck it up and swallow your emotions. If you go out there all sad and with your tail between your legs then everyone will feel like The System won tonight, no matter how many monsters you kill. But if you help them move past what they're feeling right now you'll be giving them what they need the most. Death is going to keep happening - are you guys planning on getting all depressed about it every time?"

Tess wanted to argue - he had some good points and some terrible ones - but there was no time. The tenth snowman would appear in minutes and they needed to be ready.

"Fine," she said to Ben. "You're right. Luna, pick your songs and try to make them happy."

"Soooo…" a voice that they didn't hear much chimed in. Madison didn't normally stand on the walls with them, since she preferred to monitor the fights on her tablet from one of her workstations. She was only here because her girlfriend was next up. "I hate to be the party pooper here, but someone needs to be the voice of reason."

She took Luna's hands in hers. "Sweetie, you are a great and capable fighter, I'm sure. I haven't actually seen you fight, but your string of victories can only lead me to the conclusion that you're good at it. That being said, are you crazy?"

"What?" Luna burst out.

"I mean, are you crazy? Why are you doing this? There's nothing in your power set that makes me believe you'd have been able to defeat one of the weaker creatures, much less the final one. We haven't even seen you fight since you got back! Your skillset is primarily luck-based, which is useful for getting out of tricky situations and preventing damage in battle, but it doesn't lend itself to causing a lot of damage. Add to that the fact that your weapons aren't designed for large-scale damage. I don't mean to disparage your skills, but I think this may be beyond you. No offense."

"Awe, you're worried about me!" Luna beamed.

Madison returned her smile with a rare glare of irritation. "Of course I'm worried about you! And I think my concern is warranted. There will be other fights - this is a bad match-up for you."

Luna kissed her on the forehead, cupping her face and staring into her eyes. "I love your concern and I love you, but I got this handled. I promise you, your girlfriend is a badass warrior chick. I'll be okay."

Madison pulled away. "Luna, please. I'm asking you one more time - please consider reason and let the Vanguard take care of this. You don't need to do this. No one is expecting you to prove anything. Not all of us need to be fighters."

Luna's face hardened. "I do. My dad is going to be back pretty soon and he may need protecting. Even if he doesn't, he doesn't need to be worried about protecting us. Maybe not everyone here needs to be fighters, but the Torres family does - all of us. I'm not going to be dead weight."

"Honey, you're never dead weight!" Tess said.

Luna swatted Tess's hand away. "You say that, but you don't believe it. But it's okay, because tonight you're going to see that I'm not!" Her familiar smile and excitement had returned.

"Okay honey, if you say so. I know you said you have the powers of that other Luna, but is it really enough? None of us have seen it." Tess's dubious tone echoed the expressions of the others around her.

"Mom, you are going to think she's so cool! I'm telling you - it'll be awesome!"

"Welp, now's your chance to prove it." Ben pointed at Madison's tablet, the magical drones showing the approaching Abominable Snowman in perfect clarity despite the darkness of night making it impossible to see from the walls.

"Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm up. I can do this. Gotta make it cool. It will be cool! Gotta get it together. Get your head in the game, Luna! Time to do this. Oh!" Luna's stream of consciousness was interrupted as she bounced back to Ben and chose a song.

"Do you think it's too silly?"

Madison met Luna's concerned look with a smile. "It's perfect. But please, be careful." The two girls kissed and Luna stepped back over to the wall's edge.

"Hey, don't you want to pick some more songs?"

Luna responded to Ben without looking back. "Nah, I'll just need one."

Ben raised an eyebrow, then shifted into his Announcer persona. Screens appeared across Safehold and his familiar voice boomed out of all of them.

"Ladies and gentlemen of Safehold, the final battle is here! Today has been hard - we've suffered losses, no doubt, and we feel the pain of those losses even now." He let the moment hang, giving them a moment of silence before continuing, his voice softer and exuding compassion. "This fucking System wants to take everything from us - our homes, our societies - even who we are as people. So of course it's going to take the people we love. But you know what I say to that?"

"FUCK THE SYSTEM!" He jarring cry made people jump and Tess watched everyone with concern.

"I mean it!" he continued. "This System is going to send these dipshits at us, looking like walking shag carpets? And what's up with the stupid purple faces? I mean come on - did a polar bear fuck Grimace to make these?" Hesitant laughter and chuckles came from around the neighborhood and Tess could see the mood turning. Not only was Ben - sorry, Announcer - injecting levity into the situation, he was also shifting the blame of the last death from Cass to The System. She was going to get him all the coffee he could ever want after this.

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"So here's what I say," his voice had grown low and conspiratorial. "I say that for every one of us The System kills, we kill 10 of them. No, 100. No! I have a better idea! Let's kill every single one of those motherfuckers!"

Cheers called out around Safehold, weapons being thrust into the air and anger being shouted into the night.

"And guess what? We're about to do exactly that. Our wonderful little Luna has decided she's going to take this one down on her own!"

This time there were no cheers. No sound at all, in fact. People shuffled their feet, shared glances with each other, or just looked off into the distance with too-innocent expressions.

"I know, I know," Announcer continued, "what can she do? Has anyone here seen her fight before? Well we're going to tonight, and she's promised that it's going to be a show! In fact, you're not going to believe this shit - she has only selected one song!"

Now there were shouts, the good-natured ribbing and teasing causing laughter in the crowd. The camera moved to show Luna, her face bright red with embarrassment but her smile wide and cheerful.

"Okay, okay - enough of that! It's time for Ms. Fancy Pants here to put her money where her mouth is. Light'em up!" Ben had been practicing with projecting more than just images and was excited to use his latest breakthrough. Four squares of light, each five feet across, rose into the sky, spreading out before spearing spotlights downward.

The four spotlights speared directly onto the approaching snowman and it covered its eyes, trying to swat the screens away. They were too high for it to reach, though, and it held a hand over its eyes to block the light and started walking towards the wall again.

"Hang on, hang on. This is a new skill and I need to dial it in. Give me a second." His habit of talking to himself over the speaker had become one of the more entertaining aspects of his projections.

"There we go! Viola!" The light from the panels widened and grew more diffuse, bathing the whole western grounds in stage lights that illuminated the giant coming at them. This one was fully three-stories tall and wider than any of the ones before. It had a dangerous intelligence in its eyes as it searched the walls.

"Okay, you're up," Ben whispered to Luna and the girl nodded.

"When I give the signal, start my song - but not before!"

"What is the signal?"

"You'll know," she smiled mischievously.

"Ugh, they always say that and I never know," he replied.

Luna closed her eyes and walked to her well. She'd been spending time meeting other Lunas, getting to know them, seeing what they could do. Most were too much like her to be of any real use as Echoes, and she had to be very selective in which she chose. Because of that there was only one Echo standing at her well - her very first one. Luna took a moment to reflect on the skill itself.

Skill Name: Echoes of Self

Type: Support Skill

Level: 1

Description:

You have learned to connect with alternate versions of yourself across time, pulling them into your reality when your path requires assistance. Whether for combat or guidance, you can momentarily bring forth another version of Luna to aid you. However, the further the version is from your current timeline, the longer it takes to find them, and the more vulnerable you are during the process.

Active ability: Through deep concentration you may seek out and connect with other versions of yourself. This connection can be as an observer only or you may choose to communicate with your other selves. The more you have communicated with another version of yourself the easier and faster you will be able to find them when activating Echoes of Self.

She took a moment to study the Echo standing at the edge of the well. It wasn't a real person, but it was based off of one. It was more like a suit that she could step into, gaining the powers her alternate self had at the moment she became an Echo. Luna had time in her soul space and wanted to use it. This battle was too important to forget any part of the Echo's abilities.

She smiled to herself as she stepped close. True, she may only have one Echo right now, but holy crap was it an amazing one. Luna was giddy with excitement over finally getting to use it to its fullest extent.

The Crimson Scythe

Level: 22

Class: Humanity's Judge

Abilities:

Living Armory

: The Living Armory allows for the storage of 1 weapons per skill level. Weapons can be removed from storage as necessary and swapped out with other weapons. The power of the weapons being stored impacts their cooldown time. 1 weapon per 10 levels can be selected as having no cooldown time.

Executioner's Judgment

: A massive scythe of crimson energy materializes in The Scythe's hands, powered by her rage and wrath. This weapon can cut through any living thing in its path, cleaving not only physical entities but even distorting the very fabric of reality around it, leaving a wake of destruction that cannot be avoided.

Wrathful Assault

: A passive ability that empowers The Scythe's attacks after a certain period of combat. The longer she fights, the more her strikes become imbued with fiery energy, capable of cutting through even the toughest of armor and defenses.

Wraithstep

: A movement technique that allows The Scythe to blink between positions in the blink of an eye, avoiding enemy attacks and disorienting opponents. This ability can be used in quick succession, allowing her to evade even the most deadly strikes.

Judgment's Fury

: When pushed to the brink of exhaustion or rage, The Scythe enters a berserk state, boosting her strength, speed, and resistance to damage. During this time, she becomes a whirlwind of destruction, capable of tearing through enemies with ease. All stats are doubled.

Note:

After expiration all stats will be reduced by 50% for 24 hours and The Scythe will experience an extensive period of weakness.

There was no more time to study. Time may move slower out there when she was in here, but one glance at the threads of fate inside of her well showed that some threads were already disappearing. In some realities the creature had already reached the walls and she was dying. In others she didn't have access to the Crimson Scythe and her mom was fighting the snowman.

Luna ignored all realities that didn't involve her becoming the Crimson Scythe and defeating the snowman. None of the threads showed far enough ahead to guarantee her a victory, but a large bundle of them were forming from her decision to step into this Echo.

It was time.

On the wall seconds passed as the Abominable Snowman got closer. Nervous eyes flickered between it and Luna, who was standing on the wall, eyes closed.

Madison gasped and everyone turned to see what had happened. One moment Luna was standing there in her blue jeans and heavy down coat, and the next moment someone else was there. Actually, not someone else - another Luna.

This version may have been the same age, but she looked older. Black, ridged armor hugged her body from steel boots to neck guard. This Luna had not an ounce of girlish fat on her, lean muscles clearly defined even underneath the black clothing that showed in gaps under her armor. Her hair fell only to her shoulders and was highlighted with a streak of dark red. Her eyes snapped open and the irises were a swirling pool of red light.

There was a mechanical whir and geared wings stretched out from her back, locking into place, their span six feet from tip to tip. Red swirling light filled in the gaps between the spines and an electric hum snapped loudly as the energy solidified. She was resplendent, standing tall and strong, all-black except her eyes, hair streak, and her wings' membranes.

She turned to look at Announcer over her shoulder and winked. "This clear enough for you?"

"Holy fuck it is!" He slammed his finger down on his phone and 'Stuntin' Like My Daddy' by Lil Wayne shattered the stunned silence of the night.