The Art of Gold Digging

Ch. 51— A Battle of Attrition: Part Four

"I have seen every future," Abaddon said in a low voice. "And in every single sequence of events that begins with this moment and extends outward—" he raised his arm—which had now transformed into a dark blade—towards the seven people standing before him— "you win in none of them."Abaddon's piercing gaze met the silent Crow, as if waiting for a response. However, his son wasn't the one who replied.

"Cool," Iris said with a grin. "Still going to beat you up, tho."

Abaddon looked at her silently, then exhaled through his nose and shifted his gaze back to Crow.

"This is the last chance I'm giving you, son. Either you make a deal with me, let me kill one or two of your companions, or I'm getting rid of everyone."

Crow didn't respond, just stayed still with Bloodedge risen.

Seeing as he continued to ignore his words, Abaddon shook his head with a pained expression and took a combat stance.

Following his actions, everybody fell silent. If it weren't for the sound of the chaos creatures still trying to get into the hall, it would be absolutely quiet.

Tension spiked as no one made the first move. Amy considered for a second that Abaddon might be playing for time, but then dropped the idea when her gaze fell on the ever-developing cracks on his body.

If only Amy could use her ability freely… Considering how little mana she currently had, the next time she used it, it would also be the last time she did today; moreover, with how hard it was to kill a prophet, she could instinctively feel that her ability wouldn't show her directly the way to defeat Abaddon, as she needed way more energy to follow that path.

Essentially, she was currently going blind, while praying that at some point during the fight, the chances of beating him would skyrocket enough for her, with her low mana reserves, to use her ability to beat him. Which was incredibly unnerving, she just realized.

The combination of her not using her ability, and him not attacking immediately, made her not only confused but also scared in a way she could not describe; she had grown so dependent on that ability that now the thought of fighting without it was dreadful.

The feeling of dread intensified even more as Abaddon still hadn't made his move.

He was still taking damage for interfering, so it made no sense for him not to attack immediately; the longer this went on, the bigger their advantage—

It was as she was thinking this that it happened.

The first thing Amy registered was that in an instant, Abaddon had vanished from view and reappeared almost in front of her the very next moment, lunging with his blade towards her head.

Crow moved before anyone else could even process what was happening. A burst of sparks exploded as Bloodedge intercepted the descending dark blade a hair's breadth from Amy's face. The impact cracked the floor beneath Crow's feet and sent a shockwave through the chamber.

Amy flinched backward as her mind finally caught up to the attack and instinctively started to cast a barrier despite her dangerously low mana reserves.

A golden barrier erupted in front of her just as Abaddon's free hand snapped toward her throat.

His fingers slammed into the magic instead, breaking the barrier instantly.

Luckily or unluckily for Amy, the force of the hit hurled her backwards, away from him. She hit the ground rolling. Her ears rang, and adrenaline spiked as the barrier's particles dispersed around her.

Amy pushed herself up as fast as she could while preparing to cast another barrier just in case a second attack followed.

The moment Amy looked up, she locked eyes with Abaddon, who, despite currently exchanging blows with Crow, had his eyes still fixed on her.

While Abaddon gazed fixedly at her, Iris came from behind and punched.

Her fist connected with nothing because Abaddon had already moved right, not only avoiding the hit but also, in the same motion, smacking her straight in the face, all without taking his eyes off Amy. Had it not been for Ash intervening with a kick that Abaddon had to avoid, Abaddon would have been able to fully turn around and behead Iris.

Amy had to physically stop herself from immediately using the key to teleport everybody to the Library; if she didn't kill him now, she would never achieve her goals. She made her choice, and she would see it through; she reminded herself.

She adjusted her footing and watched the fight unfold in front of her, scrambling for any ideas that might help them, while trying very hard not to panic; watching Abaddon move made the situation feel significantly more hopeless than it had felt ten seconds ago, when it had merely been a bad idea.

He was faster than he had any right to be, given that he currently looked on the brink of death. Every time Crow pressed him, he slipped sideways or backward by exactly the amount necessary. The fact that he kept looking at her fixedly during all this only put more strain on her mental state.

Neither Iris, nor Ash, nor even Crow could manage to land a hit on him. He wasn't reacting. He was already somewhere else before any of the attacks even arrived, because obviously, he could see them coming.

"Zayd," Amy said loudly while searching around for the boy; she had lost track of him at some point.

"I'm already on it," Zayd replied from directly behind her, which she had not expected, and made her flinch sideways out of pure reflex.

He stood with his hands loose at his sides and his eyes closed, with a dark aura around his eyes that was slowly growing more prominent. He looked, if anything, calmer than he had before the fight started, which was both reassuring and disturbing in its own right.

"He's on a completely different level," Zayd spoke without opening his eyes. "The moment I try to predict his movements, he immediately follows with a future that I thought unlikely or that I didn't see in the first place."

"Can you create an opening?"

"Not alone." He paused, then opened his eyes to look straight at Amy. "I thought it was your ability before, but after being alongside you on this nightmare, I realized it isn't just that. It's your whole existence."

"…What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about fate. For some unknown reason, you seem to be apart from it. It's no wonder Abaddon doesn't take his eyes off you."

Amy looked at him in silence, then turned her head once again to Abaddon, currently in a sword fight with Crow and still looking at her fixedly, constantly wary of her movements.

So she was outside of fate, huh? Was it because of her not being from this world or due to some interference from the Goddess? Either way, right now wasn't the moment to ponder this.

"What do you need me to do?" Amy asked without turning away from Abaddon.

"Tell me what you're going to do before you do it," he said. "Exactly what. Exactly when."

Amy turned to look at him. "That's it?"

"That's it."

She processed this for a beat, then nodded. "Alright."

She turned back to the fight.

A few meters away, Ash was down on one knee, with blood all over his face, and Lyra was behind him, healing him.

Crow and Iris surrounded Abaddon, with Iris being between Amy and him, and Crow protecting Ash and Lyra.

Crow's coat had been shredded open in multiple places, and now blood dripped steadily down his arm and the side of his face.

Iris looked worse. One eye was swollen shut, blood streamed from her nose, and one of her arms hung limp at her side.

Yet both of them still didn't abandon their positions, giving their all just to make sure Abaddon didn't pass through.

Amy held Abaddon's gaze, which was still on her, and covered her mouth with her hand while keeping her voice low enough that only Zayd could hear. "In three seconds from now, I'm going to move left. I'm going to cast a barrier around his feet. Then I'm going to collapse it to try to immobilize him."

"Understood," Zayd said quietly.

Amy counted.

On three, she moved left.

A flat disc of gold erupted upward, surrounding Abaddon's feet.

Abaddon, who had been watching her, obviously avoided it. However, what he could not avoid this time was Zayd's attack.

Zayd's dark flame caught Abaddon's left arm mid-adjustment, and it clearly connected, because for the first time since the fight had started, Abaddon groaned in pain.

The fractional shift in Abaddon's stance was immediately exploited by Crow, who pressed with Bloodedge by shoving Abaddon's dark blade and making him back away against a wall.

Iris followed without hesitation. Her fist connected with his right shoulder with a crack that reverberated off the obsidian walls.

It wasn't a clean hit as it didn't connect properly, but the already weakened Abaddon staggered marginally, just enough that Ash, who had just stood up, still moving slowly and gritting through it, caught him with a kick to the back of his knee that bent his leg wrong and sent another fracture crawling visibly up his calf.

"Holy—" Iris started.

"Don't stop!" Amy snapped.

In a single moment, the entire battle had done a complete 180°. If they wanted to win, they could not allow themselves to lose this opportunity.

Amy turned to Zayd, who was approaching her, and nodded.

Once he was by her side, she covered her mouth once again and kept feeding him her next attack while muttering.

"—the feet again. Same barrier, but this time I'll cast it faster—"

"—I'm going to feint him with a barrier at his face, then immediately go for his arm—"

"—I won't cast anything at all this time, just make the motion with my hand—"

Regrettably, subsequent attacks didn't yield the same overwhelming result, as Abaddon, for the first time, had also moved his gaze towards Zayd, now shifting his eyes between both of them.

Still, that didn't mean they were not successful, as what had been a one-sided beating before had transformed into a proper battle where no one could predict who would win. Something that clearly bothered Abaddon, as the stoic expression mixed with faint sadness and annoyance that he had at the beginning of the battle had fully disappeared and transformed into a deep scowl.

He had become far more careful now that the others were landing hits—not decisive ones, of course, but still painful.

However, despite things looking better than before, Amy wasn't happy with the current situation. Abaddon's cracks were still expanding across his body and shining brighter with each passing moment, but the ice barricade keeping the chaos creatures away from them was deteriorating just as steadily.

Amy probably wasn't the only one to notice, as Abaddon had shifted from an aggressive combat style to an almost fully defensive one, clearly trying to gain time while attacking them as little as possible.

This could not go on. Even if they ignored the chaos creatures trying to get in, Amy's mana was reaching its limit, and so were the others.

She was breathing hard. Her mana was a guttering candle at this point, and every barrier cost more than it should have. Zayd, beside her, despite being in better condition, had also gone very pale.

"—feint right, then barrier his sword arm from below—" Amy muttered behind her hand, and moved.

She feinted, and the barrier snapped up.

Abaddon's dark blade shifted half an inch to counter, and that half inch was enough for Crow to drag Bloodedge across his forearm. Abaddon hissed through his teeth and repositioned once again to avoid Iris's next attack.

"—I'm going to cast at his chest, no collapse, just pressure to push him off balance—"

She cast it. He sidestepped—but into Iris's elbow, which connected squarely with his jaw.

That punch was deeply satisfying to see, but also frustrating; it was working, but at the same time not working at all, as he still looked far from going down.

If this went on for another few minutes, they would be beaten.

Across the room, Lyra had already stopped moving entirely, sitting with her back against the far wall with her hands flat on the floor, just breathing. She had nothing left to give anyone.

Ash, meanwhile, was one step from fainting.

Amy's fingers found the key in her satchel without her consciously deciding to reach for it.

She managed not to close her hand around it.

She had come this far. She had dragged all of them this far. She was not going to—

Abaddon caught Crow by the wrist mid-swing, wrenched him sideways, and flung him into Iris. Both went down in a tangle of limbs.

"Barrier to his left side, this time I'll compress it!"

"...Got it."

Zayd took a second longer to reply as he was fighting the exhaustion that came from constantly predicting the future, but still followed with an attack after Amy's barrier was cast, leaving Crow and Iris a gap to recover as Abaddon once again retreated while looking at both Amy and Zayd with an annoyed expression.

Amy's fingers tightened around the key.

"—his feet again," she said quietly to Zayd while clenching her fist to the point it hurt. "Wider radius this time, so he can't escape as easily. I'll hold it open longer than he probably expects."

"You'll drain yourself."

"I know. Do it anyway."

A pause. Then: "Understood."

She moved a bit closer and then cast the gold disc. Just as she hoped, Abaddon couldn't escape as easily and was forced to break it while shifting his eyes again to Zayd.

But contrary to his expectation, Zayd didn't attack immediately; instead, he waited for Crow to attack him and for Abaddon to block the attack before releasing the dark flame once again, hitting Abaddon's chest straight up and causing blood to fall from his mouth. 

Abaddon moved ast away fast from Iris and Crow while keeping his eyes on Zayd for a fraction of a second longer than usual, just in case a second attack was coming, but seeing as he didn't, his gaze went back to Amy.

It had lasted just a fraction of a second—no more—that Abaddon kept his gaze away from Amy.

It lasted less than a heartbeat.

And in that less-than-a-heartbeat, standing there with her hand in her satchel, her mana nearly gone, her legs burning, and the chaos creatures hammering at the ice behind her—

Amy had an idea.

It arrived fully formed, and the first thing she wondered was how she hadn't thought of it before.

She took her hand away from her satchel, closed her eyes, and immediately afterward felt blood trickling down her nose.

With the world now full of branches of light, she searched for the future she wanted to steer herself toward—

There. It was a path so simple to achieve that if she had been lucky, she might have walked it by chance.

Her mana burned, her knees went weak, and she was dimly aware of Zayd grabbing her arm to keep her upright.

One second later, she opened her now shining gold eyes.

She was breathing hard, and her hands were shaking, but there was no visible pain in her expression.

"Zayd," she said with a surprisingly even voice. "I need thirty seconds."

He looked at her for a second, then nodded.

"I'll give you sixty."