Battle Schooled!

by Billy Wong

  Cain cocked his head at her. "You don't even know what I've done."

  "I know you implanted that shard into my brother which turned him into a monster, leading to his death. I'd rip your guts out for it, but since Meg assured me the law will have your head anyway, I'll settle for answers from you before handing you over for justice to be served."

  "Do you think it'll be that easy? If you want to know what I did and why, I can tell you. But know if you do, you will never leave alive."

  Meg flashed him a sweet smile. "On the other hand, if that means you'll try to kill us, I have no problem with ending you right here either. Spit it out, and we can see who kills who. Anybody object?" None of them did, not even Charlene who Rupert figured the most likely to. They had all braved much by now to reach this confrontation, and would hardly back down to threats.

  "Very well," Cain said, "I'll enlighten you as a last favor before sending you off to the netherworld. I believe this may bring back memories for you, little president." Meg stiffened as in preparation to hear something unpleasant. "The experiment you wish to know about was part of... an experiment. When the Night Emperor's sword was shattered by you, it seemed to lose most of its sentience. Yet the shards remained mystically linked to each other, and capable of some mental influence. What offends you so was a test of the limits of that influence."

  "You made kids commit murder as a test? That's monstrous! But wait, weren't the pieces of that otherworldly blade delivered to the government's researchers? How did you get your hands on them, and who was your client?"

  "Client? Ha, I answer to no one! I performed this experiment for me. Once I've perfected the shards' use, I'll sell that knowledge to the highest bidder."

  "I can see why somebody would want to utilize mind control as a weapon," Rupert said. "But to show such disregard for life just to test it, we can't let you continue to roam free."

  Cain guffawed. "What a hoot, you trying to tell me what I can and can't do! Did you know boy, you were almost one of the murderers who would have been put down like a dog, and had your name blackened to shame your family? I thought to recruit you when you arrived at the university, being one of the asocial outcasts who wouldn't be missed or surprise much when you went on a rampage. But since you were fortunate enough to fall in with popular friends, I recruited some other worthless recluses instead."

  "That's my brother you're talking about," Gwen snarled. "Even if he wasn't the most affable person, he was never a crazed murderer before you got your hands on him. You will pay for that."

  "Try to make me."

  "Wait!" Meg said. "If the sentience is gone from what's left of the sword, what is exerting the mental influence?"

  The corners of his mouth rose slyly. "The bearer of what I dub the Master Shard... me." He slammed a hand down on the pedestal before him. A grinding noise filled the air as glass pods around the room opened, their front halves rising up. "Come my warriors, and cleanse my sight of these presumptuous children!" Men with blank countenances clad only in shorts stood up from within the containers, assorted weapons clutched in hand.

  "Who are these guys?" Peggy asked. "I assume they've also been affected by the shards, but they seem a lot more brainless than the killers we encountered before."

  "They are the first men I experimented on, whose minds I destroyed trying to control them through raw force of will. Both methods have their uses, but those guided through subtler means prove far more versatile. Still, it seems I was wise to keep these living husks to serve as my bodyguards."

  The dead-faced men, nine in all, lurched forward. "What should we do?" Rupert asked, clamping the axe head onto his cudgel as he already predicted Meg's answer.

  "If their minds truly are gone," she replied, "there's not much we can do for them. Defend yourselves!"

  The party aside from Gwen advanced to meet the shambling ones, seemingly directed by Cain who stood creasing his brow in concentration. Two headed towards Rupert, two towards Meg, and five towards Peggy and Charlene. Charlene used the reach of her spear to keep back the ones in front of her, while Peggy cut off those that tried to slip around to her sides. Rupert chopped at the first man who neared and had his axe stopped by a solid block with a greatsword. Despite their limited cognitive abilities, it seemed their enemies still retained a semblance of the fighting skills they must've had before. He jumped back as another foe stabbed at him with a spear. The first man chased after him raising the sword, but before he could swing one of Gwen's arrows punched into his chest and slowed his rush. Without waiting to see if he would fall on his own or continue the attack, Rupert pounced. His axe cleaved head from shoulders and the corpse toppled spraying blood, then he braced himself for the charge of the spearman. They traded blows, Gwen turning to aid Charlene and Peggy who were still outnumbered.

  "You are ruthless for green pups," Cain said while Charlene skewered an enemy with a remorseful look. He strode forth, pulling the huge glaive from his back. Shit, he didn't have to focus on controlling his slaves for them to keep attacking? "Then I will give you the honor of taking a hand personally in ending you."

  "Who do you think you are anyway," Meg asked as she batted a man's axe upward and sent him flying with a forward-flipping kick to the jaw, "acting so big?" Her other opponent already lay still behind her, blood spreading out around him. She ran limping slightly after the one she'd kicked and drove her blade through his eye and skull as he sat up, withdrew it just in time to parry a swing of Cain's glaive.

  "I am Cain."

  She peppered him with lightning jabs, forcing him to step back through he managed to ward them all for now. "That doesn't say anything! You don't even have a good nickname like Pesky Pipsqueak or Breastslayer, you're a joke." Suddenly his hand glowed, and he fired a golden bolt past the handle of his glaive. It smashed into Meg's chest with a loud boom, and she sailed away through the air. For an instant Rupert feared she had been killed or gravely wounded, but she flipped over in midair and landed in a crouch albeit with a grimace. "You're a mage too?" she spat out along with some blood.

  Cain raised his hand again, a stronger glow intensifying around it. "But of course, do you think just any old person could manipulate minds using the shards' connection let alone destroy them? If you're Meg the Mouse, call me Cain the Cat."

  "That is so pathetic, I'd pay for your speaking lessons if you weren't going to die soon!" A volley of blasts showered towards Meg, but she leapt high over them and tossed a dagger at Cain. He deflected the blade flashing at his face with the glaive, gasped as she had already thrown a second and buried it in his abdomen. He staggered back, bent over the hilt jutting from his front.

  "Now that we both have wounds," Meg said, grabbing her side as her feet struck the ground, "let's see whose will to push through proves stronger."

  Pulling the knife out, Cain laughed painfully. "My will erases the selves of other men, your little girl will doesn't begin to compare!"

  "But didn't you say you needed to be a mage to do that? Which means it isn't the strength of your will alone."

  "Never mind that!" He shot out a spread of beams. Meg slipped between them, though she hissed as one grazed her back, and darted at him thrusting her sword. "It's a trap!" he gloated as he whipped a hand up, summoning a wall of energy spikes around him from the ground. But instead of piercing Meg, they extended through empty air and dissipated. Cain looked up to see the short girl plunge down towards him.

  "Did you really think my reaction time was that bad?" she asked. "Diamond"—she slashed at him with her sword, which he blocked—"Meteor!" She landed a massive falling punch, pounding him into the floor. "Now how was that, Pow Pow?"

  Peggy swung her mace full force into a man's sternum, launching him across the room into a pod to become a messy smear inside it. "Nice!"

  Cain drew himself up, blood streaming down his visage. "This is far from over..."

  Rupert hacked down through the spearman's shaft into his shoulder, loosing a spray of blood. He collapsed
to his knees and Rupert struck again in the same spot, splitting him to the guts. Down to their last two opponents, Charlene and Peggy pressed the attack. One blocked a swipe from Peggy with his morningstar, but was knocked back; before he could adjust his weapon to defend, Charlene hurled her spear through his throat and he dropped. The last man threw himself at the unarmed noble, only for her to duck aside, scissor his legs with her own and trip him onto his belly. Peggy's mace came down, squashing his skull into a red and gray stain.

  Charlene retrieved her polearm, looking a smidgen pale as she did so. They all came to stand around Cain who glanced between them with wary eyes. "No, I think it's quite over," Meg said. "You're badly outnumbered and while I could probably beat you myself, I don't feel any inclination to play fair. Why don't you surrender and save yourself the extra suffering, in exchange for a relatively painless death when you're executed?"

  "I told you... this is far from over!" His whole body took on a glow which expanded outward in a weak but multi-directional blast that drove his foes back. His features contorted in concentration, and metal shards burst out of his fallen slaves' bodies. Meg and Charlene had to dodge as they flew at him from behind them, sprouting from assorted spots on his limbs and torso.

  Peggy gawked. "What the hell, he stabbed himself with them?"

  "One piece turned Glen into that reaper." Gwen's voice shrank. "If he's drawn them all to him, maybe he plans-"

  Meg lunged as if to try and stop him from transforming. A pair of huge metal limbs grew from Cain's back, curling in front of his chest with uncanny speed to ward her strike. Gwen loosed an arrow at his face, but another pair of limbs rose over his shoulders to intercept it too. A third pair snaked out from behind his hips, bringing the total to half a dozen metal arms which formed something that resembled a partial shell around him, giving him a massive appearance.

  At the same time, what looked like black smoke wafted about his frame. His voice became deeper and more resonant. "Now are you still so confident, kids?"

  "I was afraid something like this might happen," Meg whispered. Louder, "Of course we are! I've faced bigger and scarier creatures than you plenty of times, you're just yet another monster for the Free Fangs."

  "But did those monsters possess the abilities I do?" Dropping the spear, he made both hands glow and swept them around, filling the room with bolts the students ducked, jumped and dove to avoid. The chamber shook from numerous impacts to the walls, and chunks of rock fell from the ceiling for them to desperately dodge. Rupert coughed from the dust drifting into the air. "Run, run as much as you like. You will not escape."

  Charlene stepped in from the side, spearhead streaking at Cain's flank. He spun, catching it between two metal hands, but Peggy ran down the pole at him and brought Lolipop down from above. His upper arms blocked it, yet metal squealed as it bent from the force of her blow accompanied by a grunt from him. He flung both girls back, leaned aside from a shaft that passed by his head and parried cuts from Rupert and Meg. Just clashing his axe against those arms hurt Rupert due to the strength and weight of the unnatural limbs, but he kept at it.

  "Meg and Peg Double Fang!" the two pint-sized powerhouses said as they struck together with their weapons, putting Cain off balance, and Rupert took advantage with a ringing followup blow that knocked him from his feet.

  "Bet you'll be stuck on your back like a turtle with those heavy limbs," he taunted. Cain's metal arms bent backwards to raise his body off the ground like the legs of a spider, and he scuttled away before righting himself into a bipedal stance. "Or not."

  Gwen readied another shot, but as she released Cain pointed a fist at her and launched it through the air, separating from the rest of his arm. It splintered her arrow in flight and went on to slam into her. She hit the ground hard and rolled over hugging herself, coughing in agony.

  "Gwen!" Charlene cried, stopping in front of him to look back.

  Cain laughed. "Looks like someone won't avenge her sibling... and neither will you."

  "Huh? You haven't killed any sibling of mi-"

  He punched at her with several metal fists in rapid succession, his flesh and blood hands shooting magic to keep the others occupied. She dodged one and blocked another, but the next plowed into her ribs with a sickening crack. She stumbled and Cain hit her again, this time in the face. Flopping down, she struggled to push herself up on her elbows. "I won't g-go unconscious this time!" she stammered, desperately trying to blink back the haziness in her eyes. But neither could she move, and Cain raised a great fist for the killing smash.

  "You think hurting our friends will save you?" Peggy growled, catching his arm on Lolipop. "All that'll do is make us mad!" He swung another fist at her, but she stopped it with her bare palm. His jaw momentarily dropped before he closed it again.

  "I'll make you oink as you die, Pigtails!" Two fists rose over her.

  "Wrong." She shoved the arms she strove against aside and leapt up between the two above her, which missed as they arched downward. He raised his flesh hands to unleash a huge ball of magic. "Gate to Peg-atory!" Lolipop hammered down into the sphere, driving it back into him even as the mace itself pulverized his shoulder.

  "Garrgh!" Cain screamed as he reeled, one arm hanging limp, much of his upper body and face flayed by his own blast to uncover raw, weeping meat.

  Peggy twirled Lolipop in her hands. "Pow Pow."

  A crazed expression came over his ruined visage, and he charged her. How could he keep moving well with such damage? Then again, it wasn't much different from the stories Meg told of herself... "Pow Pow right back!" He feinted with one fist causing her to duck prematurely, then punched her with three at once. She flew away with her eyes rolled up, mostly the whites showing, and crashed upon the stone.

  Rupert battered away at Cain's arms trying to keep him on the defense until Peggy could recover, but was swatted aside along with Meg. The man-monster limped towards Peggy, retching and spewing blood. "I am Cain, and I will not lose." Coming to stand over the defeated girl, he punched her helpless form. "Don't you understand pain only excites me, you puny pissant?" He hit her again, making her arms flop limply. "Both my own, and yours t-"

  She revived as if by magic, rotating on her back so his next stone-crushing strike missed her head. "All yours, guys!" She kicked him in the groin to send him backward, then sank back panting for breath. Meg dashed in front of him, attacking even faster than before with blistering pokes of her sword. He moved his arms to defend, only to find himself too slow as more wounds appeared on his already ravaged front.

  "You midget bitch!" He sprang forward, allowing her to impale him through the side in exchange for a massive fist to the head.

  The thunderous blow might have killed a bull, but Meg just tottered on her feet before spinning around his followup punch and catching his arm. Blood leaking from her ears, she mumbled, "Get his shard." As she spun him around into position, Rupert's axe flashed down and ripped his back open.

  "No, no!" Cain protested as metal was exposed through his gash. Rupert jumped on his back as he tried to lurch away, dislodging Meg by swinging her into the central pedestal. Rupert reached inside the wound and attempted to grab the Master Shard lodged inside Cain's body, but sliced his palm on the edge. He lost his grip on the arms and fell off the transformed man, who staggered clear. "You kids are tough," he conceded, hunched over with weakness.

  Meg and Peg stood up, the other girls still too hurt to. "Surrender already," Meg said tiredly. "We could have killed you before if we wanted to, but didn't because we don't want your life yet. Maybe if you craft a good enough defense for yourself, you can even convince the law to spare you." Not that Rupert would desire such, but fair play for her to say to try and stop the perilous battle.

  "Kill me? When could you have done that? The five of you can barely hold your own against one of me."

  She sighed. "When Peggy crushed your shoulder, don't you think she could have shattered your skull instead? When I poked you full of sha
llow holes, do you not realize I could've perforated most of your organs? You're not that strong. I'd give a good chance of me or PP beating you solo, if we weren't taking it easy on you."

  "Nonsense! You girls couldn't land your kill shots because I evade too well, and you wouldn't have come as close as you did or even gotten past my arms without the numbers advantage. Even your weak friends would agree to that if they're being honest, wouldn't they?" Gwen just moaned on the ground, writhing weakly with an arm tight around her middle.

  "It's unclear," Charlene said drooling blood on her knees, "especially with the injuries we picked up escaping the school being a factor. Who knows who would win if it was one on one with the different tactics involved, everybody healthy and no holding back? But we probably won't ever find out."

  "Killing you all by myself will prove enough! If you really were showing restraint to not kill me, pretty stupid of you seeing how worn down you've let yourselves get." He rushed. Peggy and Meg defended a barrage of punches well, then he conjured a magical explosion in front of him they jumped back from.

  As the smoke cleared, Charlene lunged in through it. "I still have something left!" Her spear darted at his eyes, but was caught behind the crossbar by a hand. Peggy hit the butt with her mace, forcefully sliding the pole forward between his grip, but he moved his head so the spear only grazed his cheek.

  "You'll have to do better than that!"

  Having crept behind him while the girls distracted him, Rupert burst up. Closing his fingers around the flat sides of the Master Shard this time, he threw his weight backward to jerk it out of Cain's back. "Nooo you tricksters!" Cain wailed, spinning to punch at him. But the seemingly metal arms were already melting away into smoky darkness, a fist vanishing just before it would have flattened Rupert's nose. "My shard... my power... with it I would've..." The additional shards he had called fell off him, leaving open wounds in their place.

  Meg walked up and touched her sword tip to the hollow of his throat. "It's over," she told him as he trembled from the effort to merely remain standing. "You're just an ordinary man now, and will face justice as one."