Chapter 505: My Girlfriend is a Goddamn Valkyrie

I pushed my legs harder, feeling the burn in my thighs. The temporary buffs from Kinetic Absorption had started to fade, my stats slowly returning to baseline. I needed to reach Skylar before—

A marionette appeared directly in my path, its crackling form blocking the way like a wall of living electricity. I could smell the ozone, feel the hair on my arms standing on end from the ambient charge.

Behind it, Reyna watched me with those emerald eyes, a predatory smile playing across her lips. "Going somewhere, Stray Dog?"

"Yeah, to kick your ass." I gripped my bat tighter. "Move your puppet."

"Make me."

The marionette lunged, its electric fist aimed at my face. I activated Lightning Rod without conscious thought, and my entire body became a living conduit for electromagnetic energy.

The marionette’s attack bent toward me like iron filings to a magnet, the electricity flowing into my body in a crackling rush that made my teeth buzz. I absorbed it completely, redirecting the power through my mana channels until it hummed in my chest like a caged thunderstorm.

Reyna’s smile faltered. "That trick again?"

"If it’s not broken, don’t fix it."

I released the stored lightning in a concentrated beam straight at her position. She dodged at the last second, the bolt scorching the stone where she’d been standing.

"Fast," I admitted.

"You have no idea."

She was right.

Reyna moved like she’d been born in combat, every motion economical and perfectly timed. Her remaining marionette attacked from my blind side while she closed the distance from the front, coordinating the assault with terrifying precision.

I used Protection from Arrows to track the marionette’s approach, my Tori-sense screaming warnings. I dropped flat as electric fists passed over my head, then rolled sideways as Reyna’s real fist tried to introduce itself to my face.

"Not bad," she said, breathing hard. "You’ve been training."

"You inspired me." I got to my feet, bat at the ready. "Thought I should at least make this fun for you."

Her laugh was genuine, warm even. "Oh, I’m having fun. The question is—can you keep up?"

Three more marionettes materialized around her, forming a semi-circle that boxed me in. They attacked as one, a coordinated assault that would have overwhelmed most fighters.

Good thing I wasn’t most fighters.

I activated Steel Body, and for ten glorious seconds, I became effectively invincible. The electric fists slammed into me from four different angles simultaneously, each impact carrying enough voltage to power a city block.

None of it hurt.

I walked through the assault like it was rain, feeling the buffs from Kinetic Absorption stacking with every hit. My stats climbed higher and higher, the temporary boosts layering on top of my already ridiculous hidden values.

When Steel Body wore off, I was forty percent stronger and faster than when the match started.

"Thanks for the power-up," I said cheerfully.

Reyna’s expression shifted from confident to wary. "What are you?"

"Your worst nightmare, apparently."

I charged the nearest marionette, my bat glowing with Ember as I channeled heat through the metal. The swing connected, and the construct exploded into sparks and dissipating energy.

One down. Three to go.

Reyna created two more instantly, her Aspect working overtime. "I can do this all day."

"So can I."

Probably a lie, but she didn’t need to know that.

The timer read fourteen minutes.

Across the arena, Natalia’s voice crackled through my comm. "Satori, we’ve got problems. The Vipers are making a coordinated push on all three of our platforms simultaneously."

"Can you hold them?"

"I can, but—"

An explosion cut her off.

I looked toward the northern platform and saw Isabelle surrounded by five Vipers, her green wind barrier flickering under sustained assault. On the eastern platform, Raphael was fighting back-to-back with Marco, both of them bleeding but standing firm.

We were spread too thin.

"Everyone fall back to center platform!" I shouted into the comm. "Consolidate our position!"

"That leaves us with only one flag," Natalia protested.

"One flag we can defend is better than three we’re about to lose."

A beat of silence. Then: "Understood. Moving now."

Reyna heard the exchange, her smile returning. "Tactical retreat? How disappointing."

"Strategic repositioning," I corrected. "There’s a difference."

"Is there?"

I didn’t answer because three of her marionettes decided to resume their assault. I dodged, blocked, and absorbed hits as needed, my body moving on pure instinct now. The Tori-sense guided my movements, showing me attack vectors before they developed.

Right. Duck. Left. Jump.

The pattern burned itself into my muscles, and for a few seconds I existed in that perfect state where thought and action merged into something almost like art.

Then Reyna herself entered the fray, her real fist wreathed in crackling energy.

I brought my bat up to block, but she feinted at the last second, redirecting her strike low toward my kidney. The hit landed, and pain exploded through my side despite Kinetic Absorption dampening the worst of it.

I stumbled, gasping.

She pressed the advantage, her marionettes closing in from all sides. Electric fists rained down on me from four directions simultaneously.

I took the beating, my body screaming in protest. Each hit added more temporary buffs, yes, but there’s a limit to how much damage even I could absorb before something important broke.

My vision started to tunnel.

That’s when Natalia arrived like an avenging angel, purple energy exploding outward in a telekinetic shockwave that sent all four marionettes flying backward.

"Get your hands off my boyfriend," she snarled at Reyna.

The crowd absolutely lost their minds at that declaration.

Reyna’s eyes widened slightly. "Boyfriend?"

"You heard me."

Oh, this was going to be a problem later.

I used the distraction to catch my breath, feeling Emi’s healing aura wash over me from somewhere nearby. The pain in my kidney faded to a dull ache, my vision clearing.

The timer read eleven minutes.

"Natalia, we need to—"

"I know. Fall back to center. I’m not stupid."

We retreated together, fighting our way through the chaos toward Skylar’s position. The other teams had caught on to our strategy, and they weren’t going to let us consolidate without a fight.

A Viper with water manipulation tried to drown me with a sphere of liquid. I phased through it with Shade Cloak, rematerializing on the other side and clocking him with my bat.

Natalia froze another Viper solid, her Cryo-Lich Ring pulsing with cold light.

We reached the central platform just as Isabelle, Raphael, Hikari, Marco, and Juan converged from their respective positions. All eight of us formed a defensive circle around the flag.

"Well," Juan said, surveying the forty-some competitors regrouping for another assault. "This is troublesome."

"You think?" Skylar’s knives were already out.

The other teams had realized what we were doing. Instead of fighting each other for the remaining four flags, they were all turning toward us.

Because of course they were.

"So," I said conversationally. "Any brilliant tactical insights, Juan?"

He pulled a card from his pocket, charging it with energy. "Don’t die?"

"Helpful. Thanks."

The assault came from all sides simultaneously—Sentinels from the north, Phantoms from the west, Vipers from the south, and Strikers from the east. Forty-odd fighters descending on our position with murder in their eyes.

I grinned despite the absolute insanity of our situation.

"Alright, Hounds. Let’s show them why we’re number one."

The timer read nine minutes.

This was going to be fun.