Arachne caught a boulder almost the size of her abdomen. She had to sprout another two legs to assist. A moment later and it sailed back towards the original sender.
Genoa had the decency to look surprised before she let out a short laugh. Earth beneath her feet disappeared. She fell into a hole and popped out a short distance away just a moment later.
Twelve spears made of rock followed her out. They wasted no time in launching towards Arachne.
Who managed to bat them away with her extra legs. She made it look easy enough that Eva almost wanted to blindfold her.
Eva’s front lawn was a mess. Pockmarks and craters dotted the large clearing between the women’s ward building and the wall sectioning it off from the rest of the prison. Large sections were simply missing. Probably used in making the boulders.
Every dodge or deflection by Arachne was another stone pinging against her shield. The rocks would scatter, further damaging her lawn and her walls.
Then again, the space wasn’t used. No grass. Nothing well-kept. A bunch of weeds and sagebrush that Eva never bothered to clear out. Some new landscaping might be just what the doctor ordered.
A sudden vision of a trap filled courtyard brought a smile to Eva’s face. Moats of molten earth could surround her home. Surely some earth or fire mage could get the molten rock to stay molten.
No. No, no, no. No glass half full. No combustible lemons. They were ruining
Unacceptable.
Before she could launch her own attack at the mad woman, an exasperated sigh came from Eva’s side.
Eva almost swiped out with her own claws before her brain caught up to the presence of a fully armored Juliana.
“Mother,” she said softly, blissfully unaware of her near death.
“She could have killed us,” Shalise said from a few feet behind.
Eva gave another start at the brown-haired girl. Both managed to surprise Eva.
Just when she was getting used to keeping a full awareness around her with blood, eyes had to ruin everything. It was a lot to concentrate on both blood and sight. She’d need to practice.
“Yeah,” Juliana sighed. “That’s my mother.”
“She’s testing our defenses.” Eva gave a dismissive gesture towards the hole in the wall. “They obviously failed.”
“Your shield is working.”
“It came up too late. I need… something. Some way to preserve the blood outside of vials. Perhaps enchanted glass formed up in the shape of a shield. And then some way to make it reactive. Or even preventative.”
Perhaps runes set up to detect high-speed objects? That could ignore fireballs. And then how to hook it up to the blood shield.
Eva shook her head. “Something to worry about later, I suppose.”
“I’m glad we’re not staying here then,” Shalise said in a quiet tone.
Probably not meant for Eva’s ears. Despite taking a slight offense to that, she couldn’t actually disagree.
Instead of commenting, Eva withdrew her void metal dagger and jammed it into her own arm. She didn’t want to hurt Genoa. At least not too much. Maybe some light maiming. Her own inferior blood would be perfect for that task.
If she could find it in her heart to spare Sister Cross who actually attacked her, she could avoid killing someone who was merely probing defenses.
The ground opened beneath Arachne. A wide enough hole that even with her legs, she wouldn’t be able to avoid it. Without even a waver on her crazed grin, Arachne fell in. She leaped out, just skimming the boulder that was going to bury her.
Rather than use her blood as obliterative explosives, Eva formed it into three blunted lances.
A voice echoed through a metal helmet before Eva could launch the blood. “She’s going to be angry if you don’t sharpen those.”
“I don’t want to hurt your mom.”
“Don’t worry. You won’t.”
Eva frowned as she looked towards the blond. “I know that when we’re kids, we think our parents are invincible and the greatest thing ever. They’re not.”
Juliana just shrugged. “I warned you. Don’t say I didn’t later.” The mirth in her voice was plain to hear even through the distortion of her helmet.
Gritting her teeth, Eva gave the spears a point. Not as sharp as she could make them, but at the speed they would be flying, that shouldn’t be noticeable.
All three launched out of the broken wall at the same time. One, the dullest, aimed at her head. The rest aimed around her chest.
Eva didn’t blink. She still missed the slight flick of Genoa’s fingers that raised a shield. It lasted exactly long enough to catch all three of the spears. She was back to flinging stones at Arachne the instant the spears were shattered.
“Huh.”
“Told you.”
“Yeah. But…” Eva smiled. This might be better.
Eva caught the blood as it fell, reforming the shattered pieces into several needles. Unlike Juliana and her mother, Eva didn’t fire and forget. No. She remembered her projectiles.
And her control was absolute.
