20demayo 192. Not Getting Away
192. Not Getting Away
Purple lightning flashed. Ike vanished.Llewyn jumped back. He looked around,
Mid-kick, Ike redirected his kick upward. His foot swept by Clarina's mother's face, so close it stirred her hair. He scanned the trio. Now it was her father who was darkest. He hopped forward again, going to punch her father. This time, instead of watching the puppets, though, he watched Llewyn.
Llewyn's finger twitched. Glow coursed up a thread on the mother's back and down a thread on the father's back. The father glowed brightly.
Ike's eyes widened. He punched the father lightly and jumped back. Got it. He uses the threads to not only control them, but also to swap the aether between their bodies… or rather, mana, since they can't use aether. All the mana amounts correspond to their original mana, where Clarina is the weakest, her mother is the strongest, and the father is between the two of them, but Llewyn can swap the three quantities freely between the three bodies. That means I'll always be kicking the mother, who's the strongest of all three, no matter who I try to attack.
I need to sever those threads. Can it be done? Ike drew one of the blades he'd gained as loot from his inventory and threw it at Llewyn's fingertips.
The thread severed, only to regenerate a second later. Llewyn laughed. "It's a good thought, but futile. Did you think I had never considered what might happen if the threads were cut? A foolishly obvious target. One I have long since reinforced."
"Oh, is that so?" Ike narrowed his eyes. If I can't cut the threads, then there's only one path left to me. Break through with brute force! He charged in, his fist raised high.