Arranging a fight with Malady was as easy as sending a text. Courtesy of the Horned Rat, John had a direct line to Norahnon.

John: I have a suggestion. I would like to arrange a duel between your Malady and one of my fighters. Stakes will be the exploration of all ruins that have been shown so far. Momo has agreed to give up her own research notes that she has got on them so far should we lose. This bet will not include any ruins going forwards.

The answer came near instantly.

Norahnon: Interesting.

Norahnon: I must assume that your Gamer ability has brought about this sudden want for combat.

Norahnon: Not that it matters!

Norahnon: I am greatly interested in your suggestion! However, a counter offer must be made! Malady and I against you and your present familiars.

Norahnon: And I mean present, none of your teleportation shenanigans.

‘That makes things more difficult,’ the Gamer thought. He had wanted to fight Malady directly. From vague statements before, John could glean that Norahnon was another variety of technomancer. He had called Scarlett the ‘hacking type’, which likely was in reference to her being able to sync up with machines via signals. Machines without data input, Scarlett could only use at very close proximity and at much diminished accuracy.

What the difference of that was to Norahnon, the Gamer could estimate that Norahnon either was some kind of fuel cell or simply boosted output of technology. That must have been limited in its range in its own way, otherwise there would have been no good reason to bother being inside that power armour. Remote control was the way to go when it came to these things.

For Malady, she was fast, augmented, and had some kind of electricity magic going on. Neither she nor Rave had gone all out against each other, so that was all the intel John had.

‘Since Norahnon suggests this, he must think it will give him the advantage. In other words, he thinks he can defeat me with all six elementals, Aclysia, Momo and Ehtra with only Malady by his side.’ While the Gamer was thinking, the phone in his hand buzzed again.

Norahnon: It has been pointed out to me that the list of your present familiars includes not only your elementals and Aclysia, but also Momo, the First of Hatred, and that demigoddess you stole.

Norahnon: I would limit you to one of those.

That was more reasonable. John had not counted Nahua among them, for obvious reasons, but he couldn’t fault Norahnon for covering his bases. Similarly, he wouldn’t reveal that Metra had technically entered the field and should be eligible. That would violate the spirit of the agreement – should John take it,

The Gamer’s mind was racing. Would Norahnon try to give himself an advantage so large that he was guaranteed to win? Unlikely. Their guilds were allied and it was in the interest of both sides to view this more as a friendly competition than a cutthroat business. ‘Worst case, I lose hard and try again later after he has ceded the moral high ground.’

John: Very well.

John: Do you have a battleground in mind?

The answer came in the form of map data. Marked was the location where the Blood Fountain fight had happened. Devastation had already been brought to that area of the Illusion Barrier and it was far away from the other encampments. The only worry John had was that they may get attacked in his absence. Not too big a factor, considering who was going to stay behind.

John: Very well. I will meet you there in 30 minutes.

“Ehtra, I am taking you along,” John announced.

“Affirmative,” the First of Hatred responded and pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning against. Deciding on her had been simple. Norahnon’s power armour was capable of flight, which made Aclysia less useful, and Malady was fast, which also did not work to Aclysia’s advantage. Momo was a good alternative, but this did not feel like the kind of encounter where shielding and buffs would be decisive. John wanted another relatively nimble fighter between himself and danger. “What are we waiting for?”

_________________________________________________________________________

‘This is such a side quest,’ John thought. ‘Feels every bit like I am clearing out the area for all of its content before moving on to the next story beat.’

The golf cart appeared up the road. Rocket propulsion systems made the moments between the roof appearing out of the forest and the bumper nearly ramming into John few. Magus Step got him out of the way.

Malady had leapt off in the middle of it. Her lab coat fluttered in the winds. Her leg cut through the air. Her shin slammed against Ehtra’s protectively raised arm. It was the sound of metal against metal that echoed out next.

“Right into combat, is it?” John asked.

“Waiting is inefficient,” Malady answered swiftly, before pushing herself off and away from the grey angel.

To John’s left, Norahnon had activated the transformation sequence. Over the course of the drift, the golf cart transformed into the three-metre tall power armour. Seeing it barrel towards the group was considerably more intimidating.

‘If you would,’ John thought, hands in pocket.

Gnome stood in the way of the charging GUNDAMN. Fittingly, the moment of impact reminded John of a car slamming into a concrete pillar. It wasn’t quite as dramatic, the swung fist of the power armour did not fold inwards, but it did come to a complete stop.

Norahnon must have done enough research on them to know not to stand still while the butterflies tried to land on his armour. Firing the propulsion in his boots at full force, he immediately rose upwards. One of the leaf-winged beings stuck to him anyway. A short delay was the only warning before roots of stone tried to pry into the metal plating. The stone roots shattered instead, raining down as chunks of rock.

‘Expensive plating, maybe a secondary mana barrier under the outer energy field?’ the Gamer theorized. ‘Sylph, Salamander, Ehtra, your task is up there.’

The two elementals chased after Norahnon immediately. Ehtra was locked in a rapid match of attacks and counterattacks, her sword failing to keep up with Malady’s motions, while Malady failed to land any hit decisive enough to go through the armour. “I have orders from my Master, back off, creature!” Ehtra shouted, as annoyed as the First of Hatred typically was, and flung a grey lance at Malady.

The Smite was threatening because Malady had no idea what it was. Had she known that it dealt less damage than the average sword swing, she would not have bothered distancing herself. The second she was out of reach, Ehtra took off like the warrior angel she was.

“You sure this was a good idea?” Malady did not miss a single beat, immediately zapping over to John. She was fast, not Sylph fast, but really fast regardless. Roughly Siena fast, which made it impossible for her to dodge when she had already committed to the swing.

The shadow spirit’s claws tore the clothes on Malady’s side to shreds. The skin underneath, she failed to slice through. Malady finished her swing despite the damage sustained. John took it on the chin, not willing to sacrifice mana so early in combat. Skin was cut by the pure impact, electricity tingled through his system, and he took an involuntary step backwards. A second, voluntary step followed.

A mass of tendrils and mouths, Undine enveloped Malady. The reinforced human unleashed a voltaic wave, bursting the confining bubble, and zapped to the side, turning into electricity for a moment as she did so. She put her fists up, ready for the next attack, but found that no one was coming at her.

Gnome moved to the front of the Gamer’s formation, himself at the centre, Undine and Siena behind him. Like that, they remained. The only movement was a tendril of healing slime touching John’s arm. Courtesy of Gamer’s Body, it didn’t matter where she applied it.

“Ah, brilliant strategy, you want to take out the flying boss first,” Malady observed drily. “So, you’ll just focus on delaying me and conserving your resources.” She tapped her heel on the ground repeatedly. “Now that’s bothersome.”

“Can’t blame me for picking a cautious strategy, you know more about me than vice versa.”

“Mhm, well, let’s see how smart you are before you figure this out.” Malady kept tapping her heel on the floor and grinned smugly at him. “I have time on my side.”

‘Is she trying to play me?’ John wondered. ‘She’s trying to play me by making me think she has an Innate Ability that rewards waiting things out… or does she actually have that?’ The mental calculation came to a quick conclusion. ‘I got the resources to play along.’

Siena rushed forwards. Grinning even wider, Malady backed away. The smile turned sour when her back hit a stone wall that Gnome had put there. Wisely, John had decided not to start this fight while standing on the red road.

Ducking, Malady narrowly escaped Siena’s claws. Weaving, she got out of the way of the stabbing tail as well. Surprised, she found herself kneed in the face by John. The Gamer had teleported forwards, just to deliver the hit.

It was not a hard hit, but it did not need to be. Putting Malady on her ass for a moment was enough to let Siena follow up with a kick. The point of her sharp heel hit Malady in the shoulder. It disappeared into the lab coat, punched through the armoured bodysuit underneath, and should have drawn blood – but did not.

‘Artificial limbs, I essentially knew that already,’ John thought.

Malady grabbed the foot and twisted around with all her might, bringing Siena down to the ground with her. Catching her fall with her hands, the shadow spirit kicked back with her free foot, but Malady was already rolling to the side. Eyes widened in panic when the earth around her opened, putting her in a ditch located right under Gnome’s descending foot.

The surrounding stone battlefield was already cracked from the fight of the previous day. Gnome’s stomp widened those cracks and added a good number of new ones. Malady, despite all of that, only looked hurt. The stomp had connected with her midriff, but still her body held.

“Asshole, I only got two organs left, don’t aim for them!” Malady complained, then pointed two fingers at Gnome. Destructive electric power bundled up, then was unleashed in one swift blast, powerful enough to send the living rock flying. She zapped away before either John or Siena could capitalize on the situation. “Seriously, no womb punches!”

Malady grabbed her half-destroyed lab coat by the shoulder and swiftly disrobed. Left behind was the expected sight. The body suit was either practically or actually poured on top of her form. A feminine form, by all admissions, with medium sized breasts and shapely hips. Nothing was out of balance. Since magic usually worked best when the body remained in tandem with the soul, John could safely assume that, even if she was 90% metal now, this was the shape she had before augmentations.

Said augmentations were everywhere. Various heat sinks surfaced from the rubber-like material of the bodysuit. The most notable stretch of exposed metal was her neck, where various joints and parts that were equal parts intricate and sturdy surrounded her spine. She had two of them, one somewhere within that body and the other layered on top, an exo-spine that reinforced and protected that most-precious column. It was important for every human. In the Abyss, the spine was also the main flow of the soul, with all its esoteric importance.

“I suppose your two organs are your womb and your brain then?” John asked.

“No, I threw out my brain and kept my liver – of course it’s my brain. I thought you were supposed to be smart.”

“It is smart to make sure.” John kept studying her body language. Her legs were bent, her shoulders back, her brown eyes in constant search of an opportunity. “No, you’re playing me,” he concluded. “Whatever your Innate Ability is, it doesn’t benefit from us conserving our resources.” Malady glared. “That smart enough for you?”

She grinned. “If you want to believe that.” The Gamer put his hands into his pockets again. “Tsk,” the augmented human clicked her tongue.

A moment later the battlefield above changed. So far, Norahnon and Malady seemed to have been perfectly happy to play this divide and conquer game. Now the Great Researcher dove down, likely pulled in by some kind of mental phone call. None of the three fighters in the sky had the stopping power to halt him.

John decided to pull back. For the efficiency of winning, perhaps it would have been the smartest thing to expend resources and keep them separated. His interest in what they had up their sleeve was larger than that, though. “I’ll let you do whatever you are doing if you explain it to me,” he offered.

“DEAL!” Norahnon took it, causing Malady to facepalm immediately. “BEHOLD THE GREATEST SCIENCE OF THE CURRENT YEAR!” The GUNDAMN landed behind Malady and spread out its arms. Hatches opened, letting various drones fly out to attach themselves to Malady all over. “THESE OUTPUT ACCELERATORS ARE CONNECTED WITH MY OWN SYSTEM, FURTHER BOOSTING THEIR EFFECTIVENESS THANKS TO MY THROUGHPUT MULTIPLIER TECHNOMANCY!”

‘Wonder if Scarlett could learn that, at least to a degree?’ John wondered. ‘It’s in the same magic family, so in theory she should be able to.’

“THESE OUTPUT ACCELERATORS ALLOW MALADY TO PUSH HER OWN INNATE ABILITY TO THE LIMITS! SHE IS OF YOUR GENERATION, GAMER! SHE IS-“

A high-whistling, like a dozen engines turning at rapid speeds, cut Norahnon off. Perhaps it was that or perhaps it was the sheer electricity suddenly in the air, messing with the loudspeaker. The air smelled of ozone. “We call it the Infinity Engine. My electricity always meets the demand of the output – which we should try to keep hidden and not give away for some research data!” Norahnon still couldn’t answer. “But since that’s done now…”

Malady turned to John, her eyes turning from brown to an electric yellow. The various additions to her bodysuit began to crackle with electricity. Arcs bounced from her to the nearby ground. The voltage in the air made John’s hair rise. Malady’s own moved as if it was underwater, then in spikes.

“Ready to meet the new age thunder god, Newman?”