All of these thoughts flashed through Hector’s mind in rapid succession, until he ultimately decided to just take the initiative while he still could. He created a thin cloud of dust over the area--tens of thousands of iron flakes, just big enough for his eyes to register specks in the air but also small enough that they would hover like tiny feathers instead of falling like raindrops.
“Hmm?”
“What’s this?”
“Oh!”
But they were too slow to realize. Hector had gotten his glimpse. There were many more gaps in the dust than he could count in a single look, some crouched on the adjacent roof, some on the wall between the houses, some sitting in the trees above, but none in the grass, presumably because it would’ve revealed their footsteps. Specific numbers weren’t important, though. Right now, Hector only cared about general proximity, and by the time they’d begun voicing their surprise, Hector was already slamming an iron fist at the ground.
Clusters of iron pillars shot out at each area, their bladed tips extending forth at arrow-speed, all retaining physical contact with his fist so that he could empower them with his soul.
A few of the pillars struck true. Horizontal geysers of blood appeared among the dust, and a couple of the voices cut off mid-sentence, but the invisibility itself remained unchanged. The victims of Hector’s attack were not suddenly revealed in full to him as he’d hoped they’d be.
He could, however, see new movement among the dust--all converging on him.
“He actually intends to fight!”
“Good!”
“Now we can have some real fun!”
And the first challenger must not have realized that Hector could see him coming, because the fool charged headlong into a gauntleted uppercut, which--from the sound of it--rocketed him right into one of his buddies in the trees.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
It wasn't that long ago that Hector was worried about how to form an iron gauntlet. Now, he's surrounded by a large number of strange invisible enemies (a concept alien even to his veteran reaper) and he responds by slamming his fist into the ground and producing sharp iron pillars below each group of invisible enemies. As was mentioned on a recent page, it seems like Hector is being forced to gain experience extremely quickly due to the events he is involving himself in (or being pulled into). A movie or anime adaptation of the story at moments like these would be really awesome.
ReplyDeleteHector does not have time for your bullshit, invisible space invaders.
ReplyDeleteHe received a massive amount of experiences from his past fight. I'm glad that his getting stronger at least a little.
ReplyDeleteDid Hector emerge during the fight with the blackburns? If he did, it wasn't specifically mentioned. The only confirmed emergence since being known as the darksteel soldier I can think of was against Harper. Did it really make that much of a difference (plus the shield of cheating?)
ReplyDeleteThis isn't really anything special. He's just making a bunch of metal dust and shooting spears of iron - note that they aren't being launched, but simply growing very fast. The dust doesn't have to be empowered. Compared to making a continually-growing maze, this isn't much.
ReplyDeleteNope, he didn't.
ReplyDeleteI asked Mr. Frost during those arc, and he said that he didn't.
Gaining practical battle experience is more than enough to be getting along with. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's not much power-wise, but it's SMART, which counts for more in a situation like this. But yeah, no emergence.
ReplyDeleteHector is getting pretty badass. He isn't really doing anything special power-wise, but it says something that he can make a plan and act on it that fast in that scenario. He'll be a real terror once he's been a reaper for a few years, especially if he keeps achieving emergence.
ReplyDeleteWe suspected he did during the car journey but that was neither confirmed or denied. (I think)
ReplyDeleteServant, not reaper...
ReplyDeleteI don't think Michael meant special in *power*. Hector has smart things mid-battle loads of times. I think Michael was tcomparing this against all of Hector's qualities. Mind, *launching* spikes is a particularly skillfull tech, which Hector can't yet do.
ReplyDeleteI need someone to tell me what trope fits Hector's change of mentality, now.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I understand what you mean by change in mentality...
ReplyDeleteNothing on this page is something that hasn't been shown from the beginning. He's always been qquick-thinking and calm under pressure.
This'll be interesting. Many more people than Hector could count in one glance? Perhaps a dozen or so? Shit. I was hoping for three people, four at most. Hector has never been so outnumbered before (unless we include the thugs and cops from the first arcs lol). It'll be interesting to see how he handles it.
ReplyDeleteSo far he's doing admirable, but how long can he keep this up? If we're talking about many enemies, Hector shouldn't be able to win *alone* (though protecting the family is the goal here). He's strong, very strong, but he isn't that strong. Without a hyper-state (which is impossible for him at this point), he shouldn't be able to take a dozen-odd servants/aberrations that should be strong enough to be sent out on missions. Or are we working on the Conservation of Ninjutsu law here? I sincerely hope not.
I'm betting on someone coming to assist. Or Hector just kills a few and these opponents turn out to complete cowards and run.
Woops, yeah, that's what I meant
ReplyDeleteI meant the whole turns-badass-in-the-middle-of-a-fight thing. When in normal situations, Hector is shy( though he is getting better), and doesn't show much confidence, specially because of the people he is surrounded by. However, here we have a situation most unfavorable to hi and he's all like "bitches imma wipe those asses of yours with these iron spikes of mine so get ready to run". That is the change in mentality I'm talking about. Also, remember his first fight with Geoffrey? Yeah. Hector became nearly unrecognizable to me.
ReplyDeleteOhhh! Ok, the closest trope I can remember that's what you're referring to is "Beware The Nice Ones".
ReplyDeletePerfect! I was something along the lines of Blood Knight or Combat Pragmatist, but it didn't really fit. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteOr, "Beware The Quiet Ones". Either works. :)
ReplyDeleteI flipped a coin for which I'd write cause I was too lazy to write both at that moment 😂
ReplyDeleteYeah neither of those fit. I'm glad I could help.
ReplyDelete*nods soulfully* And may the troping continue.
ReplyDeletehector's tryin to be a certain ninja (lol)
ReplyDeleteMight even be a mild example of Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass.
ReplyDeleteI'd considered that one, but Hector isn't a moron nor does he even pretend to be one. Obfuscationing Stupidity would also be discounted.
ReplyDeleteI did say mild example. Crouching awkward, socially clueless goof.
ReplyDeleteNo emergence since Harper. But also since Harper, Hector has only been fighting MUCH more powerful people than himself.
ReplyDeleteOk, that I can with.
ReplyDeleteTypo (I guess):
ReplyDelete"tens
of thousands of iron flakes, just big enough for his eyes to register
specks in the air but also small enough that [they] would hover like tiny
feathers instead of falling like raindrops."
Yep, thank you. Fixed now.
ReplyDeleteWell maybe as a side note I Am Not Left Handed for the whole "pretending to be worried" thing.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about that one. Wouldn't "I Am Not Left-Handed" require Hector to actually fight not using his full capability, and then revealing he was holding back?
ReplyDeleteWhat happened here would fall under a different trope. What trope? I can't say at the moment, but that might be because I'm sleepy lol.
I think there's a YKTTW going of "Faking Fright"
ReplyDelete