Hajin rolled beside the boulder as both tusks gouged the dirt where his busted ribs stood a breath earlier.
"Fifteen credits for this sword, excellent edge, terrible customer, maybe the refund needs your head delivered separately!"
He spat blood and planted himself in front of the rock hiding Juna.
The boar shoved its shoulder past the rock and bared its jaw, so Hajin struck upward first.
His left fist knocked the head aside, and his heel slammed into the nearest knee until it buckled.
"Down, you overgrown sausage, kneel for your favorite customer!" he cackled, vaulting onto its back with both knees grinding armor.
Blood burst from its mouth, then mana gathered along the bristles beneath his knees before he could stab.
"Wait, wait, no, why is the pig glowing—"
The discharge blasted him off its shoulder, scorched his cheek, and dumped him onto ribs that ground together.
"Gkh... fuck, ow, that's cheating, pigs don't get to explode!" he wheezed, curling around his side.
[ Injury warning: Rib fractures aggravated | Avoid further impact ]
[ NewViewer_02: exploded off its back, does every pig here get to do that? ]
He planted one foot and caught it favoring the knee his kick forced beneath its weight.
'If I make it carry itself harder, I don't need to cut through every plate.'
Mana ran through the Ring as he shuffled toward the rock's thicker side and opened the catalog.
"Okay, shop," he said, squinting at the glowing list, "you sold me options today, find one that makes this pig stand still."
[ Wallet: 815 Credits | Current shop catalog ]
[ Healing salve: 15 Credits | Iron pot: 12 Credits | Winter cloak: 40 Credits ]
[ Chains of the Goddess | Damage: 99% | Price: 750 Credits | Bloodline bond required ]
[ Lullaby of the Goddess | Recovery catalyst | Price: 100,000 Credits ]
'A hundred thousand for a lullaby, does the shop expect me to sing before I survive?'
[ Critical damage | Remaining integrity: 1% | Binding function requires attunement ]
He switched the sword to his left hand and raised a skeptical brow at the listing, "Chains of the Goddess, seven hundred fifty, ninety-nine percent damaged... the pot's cheaper, but I doubt it holds this customer."
[ CringeSlayer91: ninety-nine damaged, broken chain, really? ]
[ ShadowMage44: pot beside relics, shop has priorities ]
"Salve later, once I can reach her and learn what it treats, right now you're too damn expensive to argue with!" Hajin jabbed the purchase as the forelimb snagged on the boulder's outer face.
[ Purchase settled: Chains of the Goddess | −750 Credits | Wallet: 65 ]
The sudden weight yanked his right hand down, buckling both knees as corroded links piled into his palm.
"Oh, come on, you weigh more than the pig—!"
The boar wrenched against the stone, buying him a breath that would end once its claw came free.
He slammed the sword into its scabbard and hugged the coil against both palms before it dragged him over.
[ Fragment's Blessing applied | Rarity: Normal → Rare | Damage remains: 99% ]
[ Blood bond required | Divine Bind locked pending attunement ]
"Rare and still broken, seriously? You upgraded the label and left the rust!"
'Blood bond, huh, fine, plenty of mine is already leaking out for free anyway.'
He bit his thumb open and smeared blood across the links, and light crawled along every crack.
[ Blood bond accepted | Chains of the Goddess: Rare | Damage: 99% ]
[ Owner handling weight adjustable | Target weight unchanged until Divine Bind lands ]
[ Divine Bind: Impact latches target | Increased mass sustained by host mana ]
[ Cost rises with target mass and increase | Resistance strains damaged links ]
[ Reach: Fifteen feet | Release ends bind | Unattached equipment recall costs mana ]
The boar ripped its claw free and swung its head toward him, snout low for the charge.
"Rare, still broken, finally willing to work, we'll fix your looks after this pig learns some manners!" He shook out a loose loop and grinned through bloody teeth.
The end cracked across its mouth, and he drove mana into the catching link as the tusks arrived.
Its neck suddenly carried a mountain, and both forelegs folded under a charge they could no longer hold.
"Ha! Down you go, eat dirt, how's that taste?!"
Strain climbed from his wrist into his shoulder, and the damaged section tightened against his grip like a warning.
'The links will quit before it does, one fall doesn't buy unlimited force.'
He released the bind and hauled the slack back into his hands, leaving the boar fumbling with its injured knee.
[ CringeSlayer91: caught it, didn't bounce like the sword ]
[ LurkerNoMore: glow changed when it landed, something pinned that head ]
[ Stream: Active | Viewers: 53 | Soul Energy: 26 ]
A scrape sounded behind the boulder as Juna's fingers found stone and tried to push.
"Stay down, I've got this, me and the pig are mid-negotiation!"
'It bought one fall, then let go, so I stop before the links do.'
"Another round," he murmured, a slow grin spreading as the first links dipped toward its injured foreleg, "pay for this one once that knee decides whether it still belongs to you."
---
Didi watched the last crusher fall while her rapier stayed sheathed, untouched, and completely useless at her hip.
The southern postern watch recognized her beneath the hood, and Gazel refused any unmarked ride after that.
So she demanded a carriage under his protection, and four extra knights and a squire joined his six retainers.
Eleven escorts meant preparations that ate her dawn inspection, which would have stayed outside the breach anyway.
By the time they reached the southern Gate road, the survey team closed its approach, and Gazel refused another step.
He offered farm hunting instead, several valleys from the unstable perimeter, and she agreed for the practical combat.
'A carriage, a closed road, eleven swords, and the only blade nobody needs is mine.'
Eight knights and two captains collected their weapons while the squire checked the return track behind them.
Gazel wiped crusher blood from his axe, then studied the edge for any freshly opened notch.
"I agreed to fight something, not watch you carve up the work until nothing's left, I could've killed that one myself!" She marched over with her chin high and her cheeks puffed in outrage.
"It turned toward the carriage, Your Highness, protecting you comes before arranging the strike you wanted." He folded the cloth under the strap at his shoulder, unbothered.
"How convenient, every danger needs removing right before I get to answer it."
"Yes."
"That wasn't a question, you stubborn old—"
"First the ride, then the inspection, now the hunt," she snapped, spinning away toward the carriage, then rounding on him at the door, "at this rate danger only exists after you finish it for me."
Gazel took his usual place beside the wheel instead of letting her walk toward the road alone.
Ten years of protection explained the habit without making its weight any easier for her to carry.
He lowered his voice before the squire could catch the whole answer, "Experience buried my last two squires, Your Highness, I'd rather hear your anger for years than explain why I stopped being careful."
'Two squires dead, no argument brings them back, but every place I stand can't be their grave.'
The carriage jolted under her palm, and the earth bucked beneath the horse nearest the carriage.
The driver lunged for reins he nearly dropped as Gazel swung his axe clear beside the wheel.
"Away from the crack, now!"
Didi drew her rapier as the escorts formed a ragged line and the first fissure split the turf.
It tore beneath an abandoned fence post, and the squire stumbled into a captain, grabbing his sleeve.
"Something's under us, the whole patch is moving, look where the horses are standing!" the squire shrieked.
Gazel shoved her behind the wheel's intact side, then pulled his arm back to brace the axe.
"Move them clear, get onto the solid track before the next crack reaches their feet!" He jabbed his haft toward the road and bellowed over the horses.
A voice reached her through the wheel, a deep vibration rising beneath a swelling mound of turf.
"Royal blood, how convenient to find it waiting above a door." The mound lifted and shed soil into the fissure.
Pillars ripped up around the mound, and brambles dragged from the cracks to bind them into a ring.
The driver hauled the horses toward a remaining gap beside the road, where intact footing still offered escape.
Didi left the wheel and took ground beside Gazel, lips pressed thin, her blade above the cracks.
He stepped between her and the mound with the axe across the approach, "Perimeter around her, keep the road clear while the horses move, don't leave anyone outside the line!"
A towering armored figure rose inside the pillar ring, and frost crawled along her rapier from guard to tip.
Gazel planted the axe's butt beside his foot while she held her blade ready at his shoulder.