STORMWEAVER II: Chapter 26 Sneak Peek and heads up!

Hey all! Posting this today to let you know two things ahead of time:

First, Chapter 26 maybe be dropping Saturday or Sunday, not Friday. That's only cause it's a long one (covering a full Wargames plus some minor plot stuff), so I don't know if I'll finish it by Friday. Don't worry, though, it's coming.

Second, and way ahead of time, there will very likely be a gap in Chapter releases on Labor Day weekend (so Friday the 2nd of September). I'll be at Dragon Con that weekend, and it's absolutely going to be a vacation for me, with as little work as I can manage to do. I am going to try to get a chapter ahead before then so I can schedule a post, but given how long 26 is turning out to be I doubt I'm gonna manage it, so here is your early heads up!

Enjoy!

***********************

“Cavalry’s here,” Rei growled into the coms.

Then he caught himself on a passing table, leveraged his momentum down to the floor just below him, and rocketed up again to intercept Catcher’s pursuers just as the Saber zipped by 10 yards over head.

As focused as the pair had been, they didn’t even see Rei come flying up under them, left hand reaching for the closest even as Shido’s sword slashed upwards at the second Brawler. He was using the Saber Mode a lot more than he might have ordinarily, he knew, but the advantage of the reach in Zero-Grav was just too good to give up unless he was body-to-body with his opponent. Sure enough, he felt the blade catch in the further opponent’s side even as his clawed hand slammed around the closer’s throat. The Brawler—a girl from Kenneth named Vovk—didn’t even have time to react before Rei squeezed, his increased Strength shattering her reactive shielding with a visual sparkling of light, her body immediately rag dolling as the Arena registered her as having a broken neck. The perpendicular angle of their impacts had sent them spiraling widely, though, and he barely managed to untangle himself from the FDAed girl before slamming shoulder-first into the top of the viewing dome. Fortunately his own shielding was able to weather the hit, but it was still jarring, and Rei had to scramble to dig his claws into the glass before he bounced off, giving himself a moment for his neuroline to address the minor brain jostling.

Once he vision was clear, he looked down into the spilling red light of the fight.

Cashe had joined the battle now, engaged with two separated opponents who’d gotten around to face her, spear moving with such blinding speed that the afterglow was forming a the faint outlines of a sphere around her. Unfortunately the second Brawler Rei had landed a hit on was still going, but he was clutching his side with one hand and moving at a much reduced pace, allowing Catcher to gain some distance. The one in trouble now, unfortunately, was Viv, who had finally gotten cornered by a Saber and Phalanx along the far edge of where the dome met the dining area floor.

The fact that she looked punch-drunk—even moreso than should have been normal in zero-g—told Rei it wasn’t a coincidence.

Her arm had been severed, he knew now, and blood-loss would be the end of her even if the two fighters closing in on her didn’t do the job first.

Not that that meant he wasn’t about to help.

Getting his feet under him, Rei once again launched himself off the glass, aiming carefully. The three of them were far away and the ship was still rotating, so he’d calculated his trajectory more initially by shooting for a spot above Viv’s head. He was a little off, in the end, over-judging the angle, hitting the dome again some 4 or 5 feet above his best friend instead of just behind his best friend, requiring that he plant and spin once more to face their two opponents.

Then again, it was worth it to see the pair immediately start to scramble to end their lunging assault at Viv, eye’s going wide as their attention raised to him, likely looking like some kind of crouched, hungry man-spider as he glared down from the glass above her.

Then he was on them, and he could have sworn he heard one of the pair yelling “The Prince!” in her coms before Shido’s sword arched at her partner’s head.

The rest of the fight was short and brutal. Catcher turned the table on his injured presser in short order, then flew to Cashe’s aid against the pair of cadet’s she’d engaged the moment she’d entered the dining area. Viv’s rapidly worsening bloodless made her less than useless, unfortunately, but she’d been enough of a distraction for Rei to have no serious issue handling the two who’d been going after her, though the Phalanx proved a bit of a pain. In the end, though, Rei floated victorious between another set of bodies, working to swing himself around with the intention of getting to Viv and helping if he could.

Unfortunately, he only managed to turn in time to catch the girl give him an agonized grin and a thumbs up with her one remaining hand.

“Go get ‘em, munchkin.”

And then her face went slack, and Rei know the light flashing briefly in her unfocused eyes would be needlessly notifying her that she’d succumbed to her severed arm.