Edge Cases

Chapter 61: Two Parts of a Whole

Chapter 61: Two Parts of a Whole

"You're sure everything's fine?" Misa asked again, and Max scowled at her.

"Yes," Max emphasized. "You're putting this off. I'll tell you about what happened later."

She was, technically. Misa stood in the field across from Max, far enough away that it would take a good few seconds of running for either of them to strike the other, though Max likely had significantly more speed. It wasn't that she was nervous about sparring she enjoyed it.

The problem was more that Misa didn't know what her new skill would do about it, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

She'd been reassured as much as possible, though. [Right Place, Right Time] wouldn't have brought Max here at all if the ensuing spar had a disastrous outcome. Her own mother's [Intuition of Truth] spoke nothing of anything bad happening.

"We were worried about you," Misa grumbled, still stalling slightly, and Max laughed.

"Are you ready yet?" she said in lieu of a response. Max bounced on her feet, and Misa sighed, lowering herself into a [Guard Stance].

She didn't need to guard. But she was more comfortable with it; this was how she fought. Standing still and letting Max punch her in the face felt odd.

"Fine," Misa said, and no sooner had she said it than Max flashed forward, as if unwilling to let her change her mind again. Her fist drew back, a strange purple gathering around it, likely the application of some kind of skill

Misa realized with a start that she could react to the attack, if she wanted.

She hadn't gained that many levels from the fight against the whether that had something to do with the reality anchor, or if the fight simply hadn't counted for whatever reason, she wasn't sure. But whatever few levels she'd gained and the points she'd put into dexterity still seemed to matter. She wouldn't have imagined being able to match up against a Platinum ranker at any stage, and yet...

This was an attack she could dodge.

Technically, the point of this exercise was to see what would happen when Misa took damage to make sure that the skill wouldn't simply distribute the damage to her entire village, or if it did, then to see how that could be best mitigated. But Misa couldn't help herself. She saw a punch she could dodge. She liked sparring.

She dodged.

Not by a lot. Her perception being faster didn't mean her body could move to match, and the two things didn't seem to scale evenly. But moving even a little was enough for the punch to ghost past her nose, the flickers of purple flame brushing past her instead of blazing into her. She saw Max's eyes narrow slightly with surprise, and then a delighted grin crossed the [Adventuring Clerk]'s expression; she twisted on the spot, instantaneously converting all her forward momentum into a twisting momentum as she brought the back of her heel up and towards Misa's head

This time Misa didn't dodge at all. She brought her arm up in a block, feeling the magic of [Guard Stance] guiding her movements. It wouldn't deny the damage entirely, but it would mitigate the damage. The purple flame, whatever it was, still charred her forearms black and the force of the blow knocked her back several feet; as soon as it appeared, the charring was gone, restored by the effect of health.

Misa paused and glanced at her parents. "Anything?" she called out.

"Hold on!" Charise shouted back, and Max grinned at her, still bouncing in place.

"Nice moves," the clerk said.

Misa snorted. "I dodged one and blocked the other," she said. "Could've done a better job with the block. Didn't need to let myself get pushed back."

"Well, sure, but they were still nice moves." Max grinned at her, and Misa smirked back.

"If you say so."

"How much damage were you expecting to do with that attack?" Orkas frowned as he approached, glancing through the air; looking through the messages and reports he was receiving from within the makeshift village, presumably.

"Enough to take out about half of Misa's health," Max answered. She glanced back towards the camp, though it was impossible to really make out if anything had happened to it. They hadn't gone far, exactly, but the camp was large and chaotic. "Did something happen?"

And then she noticed something on her status that made her pause. "it doesn't damage me," she said in wonder. "It lowers my max health."

Charise blinked. "So if we build up the village..."

"It's not a guarantee," Misa said. "But I bet it'd give me more health."

"I bet it'd give you more health, too," Max said with a grin. "How much are we putting in the betting pool?"

Misa shot Max a look. "It's a turn of phrase," she said.

"Five gold," Max responded immediately.

Misa pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"One last thing," she said. "I need to accept the skill evolution for [To Fall Yet Hold the Line]. Any of you see anything going wrong with that?" Misa glanced between Max and her mother, but both of them shook their heads, and she nodded, satisfied.

She pulled up the skill prompt, and as the message about a skill evolution being available flashed in front of her eyes she accepted it.

The box flashed orange.

Sufficient understanding has been achieved to unlock evolution of [To Fall Yet Hold the Line]. Evolving skill...

New skill granted.

[Misa's Endless Echoes] [Active Skill] [Grade: 1]

No longer a mere guard, you have become a true guardian you, and all your other selves.

If you would fail to block an attack, you do not. In addition, you may call upon an echo to understand more about the world around you.

Misa paused and stared at the skill.

It... made sense, in a way. Her echoes, or reflections, or whatever those were were different versions of who she was. It stood to reason that they were more than just tools to wield power. They would have their own experiences she could draw from.

In theory. In practice, she wasn't so sure. There were still too many questions about her echoes if they were variations on her that had made different decisions, did they all live in the same world? Or were those worlds slightly different, filled with other people that had made different decisions?

"Didja get something good?" Max asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Misa blinked.

"I think so," Misa said, then grinned. "It'll need some testing, and I'm always down for testing. But we don't need to fight to test this one. Hey, mom? Want some help getting dinner ready?"

"I'm never going to say no to some help," Charise said. "Especially from my favorite daughter."

"I'm your only daughter."

"Touch."