Pride x Familiar (20 page)

Park Security was trying to keep them back, but
everyone’s attention was on Constance and I. More than a few
palm-slates were aimed our way, recording the fight for
posterity.

This was really going to cause an incident for
the Prides. Covering up or explaining this was going to be a
nightmare for the Raynars.

But that wasn’t my problem.

My problem was Constance and her Fragment lance
with its multiple configurations.

I had no idea if the Countess had reached her
goal.

I had no idea how this encounter was going to
end.

All I knew was that Constance was out for blood,
and one mistake on my part was going to give her what she
wanted.

It is possible for one Fragment to sense
another.

This happened when the wielder of a Fragment
expressed a particularly strong ‘intent’, otherwise known as a
‘killing intent’.

Their wielder’s feelings were amplified by the
Fragment, thereby alerting other Fragments in the vicinity to its
presence.

I knew this well before I felt Constance express
a killing intent toward Caprice at the amusement park.

It was described to me as a sign of an
inexperienced wielder, one that didn’t know how to control their
emotions in a manner that would prevent them from flowing into the
Fragment. Such a wielder could not bring out the best in his or her
weapon. Their feelings acted as clutter, as
noise
that
interfered with the connection between Familiar and Fragment.

A clear mind.

A clear heart.

No noise.

That translated into perfect harmony with the
Fragment.

In other words, if I wanted to use the Gauntlet
to the best of its abilities and mine, I had to adopt a particular
mindset.

The mindset of a cold-blooded killer.

(Caelum)

Waiting in line wasn’t as bad as I expected.

Maybe it was because I was in the company of
gorgeous girl like Prissila Ventiss.

She might not have been dressed to the nines,
but there wasn’t a guy within a hundred feet that didn’t notice
her.

If this had been a real ‘date’, I might have
thought all my Christmases had come at once.

But that wasn’t the case.

I was standing in line beside her, waiting to
board the boat that had arrived and was being readied for us.

Clearing my throat quietly, I asked, “Let me
guess. We talk on the boat?”

Her nod was barely noticeable. “Yes. It takes
around twenty minutes to travel the length of the water course.
That should give us plenty of time.”

“Hmm, sounds good.”

She gave me sidelong look. “It does?”

I couldn’t help grinning at her. You could say
standing beside her was making me giddy. “Definitely.”

She turned away uncomfortably but her cheeks
were definitely rosy.

I thought I heard a commotion from somewhere in
the distance, but the chatter around us from the couples waiting in
line made me doubt my ears. Also, the attendants motioned for our
attention. The boat was ready and they indicated we should
board.

Prissila was helped into the boat, which
resembled an embarrassingly large yellow duck. It had a roofed
cabin and two seats. Although pedal operated, there was a small
electric motor to assist those doing the pedaling. There was no
propeller, just the duck’s two webbed feet to propel us along. I
was surprised they hadn’t opted for something simpler like a paddle
wheel, but I guess the duck boats were reliable enough. Then again,
maybe it would break down and we’d get stranded out in the water
course.

Naturally the attendant assumed I would be doing
the pedaling so he quickly showed me the controls. I nodded and
thanked him, then set to work getting us underway. The crew at the
dock pushed us off, and then attended to the couple waiting for the
boat behind us.

Before boarding I’d glanced at the map of the
water course. It wasn’t a lake, but an oval shaped course that
circled back under the bridge and ended where we boarded. Stopping
out on the course wasn’t advised unless the boat broke down. Like
Prissila said, the whole trip should take around twenty
minutes.

So we had twenty minutes to ourselves.

Again, I regretted this wasn’t a date. But I
really should count myself blessed for the chance to spend time
with a hot girl like Prissila. I was ready to forget all about her
family’s animosity with the Imrehs.

I patted my back pocket. My palm-slate was
there. I wondered if I’d get the chance to take a photo with
her.

Suddenly I sensed something moving toward
us.

Not from the shoreline, but through the
water.

And it was moving fast.

I looked to my left, but saw no duck boats in
the vicinity.

But I trusted my Fragment’s senses. Whatever it
was, it would be here in heartbeats.

What happened next took me by surprise, even
though I was aware of something arriving at Prissila’s side of the
boat.

Water fountained into the air, spraying deep
into the duck’s cabin, and drenching Prissila.

My body dropped into an over-clocked state and I
was able to observe the unfolding scene in slow motion.

A girl with long ash grey hair and large breasts
emerged from the water like a mermaid. Her clothes were soaked and
her white blouse had turned completely transparent – as had her
underwear – giving me a view I would treasure for many days to
come.

Yes, they were completely outrageous
breasts.

It didn’t take me a heartbeat to recognize the
girl.

I watched her reach out and grab onto the duck,
then latch onto Prissila.

Prissila managed one terrified scream before she
was pulled out of the duck and into the water. Both girls landed
with a large splash that scattered water droplets deep into the
duck’s interior.

Still over-clocked, I realized I could have
easily reached out and kept Prissila in the boat.

But I’d chosen not to, and it had nothing to do
with being distracted by Simone Alucards glorious bust.

No, my subconscious desires had taken over.

I wanted to see both girls wet and wild in the
water.

So I allowed Prissila to be pulled out of the
duck by the Countess.

Still over-clocked, I worked the pedals and
rudder wheel, and steered the duck over to the two girls who’d
surfaced and were splashing wildly in the water.

Actually, they were grappling together while
hurling insults at each other.

Listening to their verbal abuse was making my
ears burn and my imagination run riot.

As I angled the duck around to them, I switched
to the portside seat as it gave me a better view of the battling
vixens.

I heard a rip and a curse.

Prissila’s black t-shirt was now an off the
shoulder t-shirt.

“You bitch! This is from their live concert,”
Prissila screamed.

“I know—I was there. Worst night of my life,”
Simone yelled back.

“You could have left anytime you wanted.”

“And how was I expected to get home?”

Water continued to splash wildly around them as
the struggled to gain the upper hand on the other.

Prissila snarled, “You could have called for a
cab.”

“With what? You broke my palm-slate when you
knocked me on my ass while dancing.”

“That was an accident! When are you going to let
it rest?”

Simone yelled, “I was grounded for a month
because of you.”

“You knew what you were in for when you agreed
to sneak out with me.”

Prissila talked for too long and swallowed a
mouthful of water. She began coughing madly. Unable to fight off
Simone, she struggled to stay afloat.

“Two months,” Prissila gasped out. “I was
grounded…for…two months.”

“Serves you right,” Simone snarked.

I edged the boat closer but couldn’t risk coming
within a couple of feet of them.

I was going to have to dive in and then help the
girls into the boat.

Then something else unexpected happened.

My Fragment bracelet began to tingle, and even
in my over-clocked state my heart grew cold.

Killing intent.

My Fragment had sensed the killing intent from
the wielder of another Fragment.

A loud crash rumbled through the air.

I looked up toward the bridge that spanned the
water course, and saw powdered permacrete billow into the air and
form a grey cloud. Larger pieces of the bridge scattered in all
direction, most landing in the water with sharp splashes.

The debris cloud spread quickly over the middle
of the bridge, obscuring it. But a heartbeat later two figures
emerged. Both leapt backwards out of the cloud and landed on
opposite ends of the bridge. Both were roughly two hundred feet
from my position on the water course, but I could see them well
enough since my eyesight had improved with my awakening as a
Familiar.

I recognized them both.

Caprice, in her manifested Valkyrie Armor.

Constance, with her long lance-like
Fragment.

I didn’t know if the killing intent was coming
from Caprice or Constance, but it was certainly being felt by my
Fragment.

At that moment I came to a decision.

I wasn’t going to allow Caprice to face
Constance alone. Even if my combat abilities were well below hers,
I would do what I could to support her.

#

(Caprice)

I couldn’t believe how strong Constance had
become.

When I faced her seventh months ago, I was still
coming to grips with the Valkyrie Armor. At the time I had only
recently succeeded in manifesting the forearm gauntlets with their
two foot long blades, and that was after six months of training
with the Fragment.

The blades had given me the edge to defeat her
and get to Caelum first.

Since then I was confident I’d grown stronger
and faster, as well as being able to sustain the manifested
Fragment for more than ninety minutes.

However, Constance had improved as well. No
doubt being handed a painful defeat by my hands had spurred the
girl into training hard to develop a better affinity with her
Fragment, the jousting lance.

I never expected her progress to give me such a
hard time.

In fact, I was fairly certain that if this
carried on I would lose.

Constance had surpassed me, even if only by a
little.

She charged through the dissipating mist, the
lance having reconfigured into a weapon that resembled a tuning
fork, except the tines were sharp swords some three feet long.

Over-clocked, I was able to gauge her approach
and her intended attack, yet I barely succeeded in parrying the
blow she delivered.

Every so often she would attack without an
effect-field or piercer-field. It was metal on metal when that
happened, and I felt the impact spread across half my body, almost
numbing my right arm.

Slashing with my left, I willed a piercer field
to form around the blade of my left gauntlet. It struck Constance,
but the girl had a tight effect-field wrapped around the right side
of her body.

The piercer-field sliced through, but it was
delayed enough for Constance to dart back a step, and slice at me
again with the bladed tines of her giant tuning fork.

This time I had no choice but to will the
formation of a barrier-field.

As expected, she’d slashed at me with a
piercer-field around her weapon, but my barrier formed in time to
block her attack.

The air between us shimmered and glazed, before
shattering like glass.

I was knocked back, and had little time to
defend against Constance’s next charge. Holding my gauntleted arms
protectively before me, the barrier-field I hastily formed slowed
the piercing tines but failed to stop them. Against her weapon, the
quarter inch thick skinsuit I wore offered me no more protection
than paper.

The left tine grazed my right flank, tearing the
skinsuit. But the right tine pierced the skinsuit, and stabbed
through my breastbone.

I can only describe it as agonizing pain. It
felt like a white hot knife had stabbed through my mind. For
several heartbeats I was unable to think. The pain swallowed my
consciousness and my will to fight. Somehow my Fragment remained
manifested, but I could barely stand let alone use it.

Then I felt a sensation akin to flying.

Constance had willed her weapon to generate an
effect-field, and the barrier had punched my body hard enough to
push it off the blade and send it flying through the air. I don’t
know how far I flew, except that she grew small rather quickly, but
when I landed the agony in my chest and the force of the impact
stole my breath.

And then I lost my grip on the Valkyrie
Armor.

The cold black mist surrounded my body, and the
armor returned to Pocket Space.

Now I was truly defenseless against
Constance.

If she wanted me dead, there was nothing I could
do to stop her.

And indeed she wanted me dead.

Her Fragment reconfigured back into its default
jousting lance form.

With a hand feebly pressing down on the wound in
my chest, I watched her gather an effect-field around her legs and
feet. A moment later, she used the field to launch herself at me,
the tip of her lance aimed straight at my chest.

I chose not to close my eyes but to look her in
the eyes all the way through to the moment I was impaled by her
lance.

But it never happened.

No longer over-clocked, my mind had trouble
processing what I saw.

A blur, human shaped, swept past me and landed
hard on the bridge before me.

The air glazed, turning almost opaque as a
barrier-field clashed with another field. The affected area was as
wide as the bridge and a dozen feet high.