Board Thread:What Would You Do?/@comment-28718853-20190715144851/@comment-36855838-20190717073119

I feel great waves of her strength wash over me, like the tide of a vast sea washing past my head at full throttle.

A lonely pebble in the water, I force the current to part in my wake, and aiming for the heart of it all, the center of her power, I strike at full force!

She gasps, and like an overextended tsunami, comes crashing to the ground.

She clutches at her chest, wheezing and coughing.

"Whoops, guess I overdid it, huh?"

I kneel in front of her collapsed form and begin weaving a restorative charm from a lock of her hair.

The woman stirs weakly as I tie the talisman around her neck, and then springs to life, leaping from the floor with all the energy of a cyclone.

"Remember, defense is as important as offense!"

She nods, a determined look in her eye, and a proper fighting stance takes shape.

I conjure up an earthen sword, and as she charges, I prepare to strike her down again.

"Let's boogie!"

---

Her charge is low, her arm reaches wide and far, but I manage to leap overhead.

A mistake, a limb snakes from her heavy robes and swats me from the air.

"Inattentive, I'll have you yet!"

I glare in response, but still block the projectile in time.

"Silver needles?"

She grins, and as she charges left, circling around me, I notice their iridescent sheen.

"Hah!"

A needle strikes me square between the shoulder-blades, and my power begins to seep slowly away.

"Not so fast!"

---

Fight!

---

Initiative!

Bert is preparing something. ..

---

Ingrid went on guard!

Bert tried something dangerous. ..

Bert fired an intense bolt of lightning!

800 HP of mortal damage!

Ingrid fell to her knees!

---

Ingrid grows weak. ..

Bert is recovering. ..

---

"White talisman" restored 80 HP!

---

Ingrid took out the buttered lobster. . . and ate it!

Buttered lobster restored 450 HP.

Bert is recovering. ..

---

White Talisman restored 80 HP.

Something terrible is coming!

---

Ingrid waved her arms wildly!

Bert is preparing something. ..

---

White talisman restored 80 HP.

Iridescent NEEDle drained Bert!

Ingrid recovered 90 HP!

Iridescent needle has been removed. ..

Ingrid is no longer conducting.

---

Ingrid attacks!

Bert sufferred 213 HP of damage!

Bert tried pk Starstorm!

Ingrid suffered 650 HP of damage.

---

White talisman restored 80 HP.

Bert's heart filled with hatred.

Bert is serious now.

---

Bert is preparing something ghastly. ..

Ingrid performed a neck snap!

Bert suffered 350 HP of damage!

---

White talisman restored 80 HP.

Bert tried pk Fire Ω!

Ingrid suffered 90 HP of damage!

Ingrid's cloak burned away!

---

Now, at last, I see her in full.

The woman before me is not nearly so monstrous as I had chosen to believe, her ruby-red eyes seemed almost vacant, her expression put-upon.

I knew this well. It had been me, before power took hold.

Her face was that of one without purpose, alone in the world and powerless to seek one's own desire.

But then, we locked eyes once more.

Her expression shifted, her eyes lit up.

"Be mine!"

"Forever? You won't cast me aside?"

I could see the truth of her expression, the all-consuming lust of so many monsters before.

But there was something else, a faint light which belied afternoons on a porch, sitting together in the summer breeze, evenings spent snuggled by the fire during the cold of winter.

This woman, she would love, and I wanted that.

"Yes, forever!"

I dropped my blade.

---

Ingrid won the battle!

Ingrid gained 8000 EXP!

Ingrid leveled up!

Constitution increased by 20,

Focus increased by 12,

Offense increased by 5,

Defense increased by 6,

Far out!

HP increased by 80!

Awesome!

MP increased by 60!

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Fin.

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