Chapter 101: Second Patrol, Part 4.

The next gargoyle we fought went down without much issue. We accrued a few more injuries, but Talia was able to fix the worst of it. The reward was another bronze coin, and a trio of rubies. Apparently, one of them didn’t survive the conversion.

Talia said that was possible, but I was more curious if it was worth not collecting the coin. The answer was rather disappointing…

“I don’t think we can carry this much stone back to the warehouse.” Talia had answered.

She wasn’t wrong. Each gargoyle was rather large. Easily standing between six or seven feet when standing on their forelegs. Then there was the material. Normal stone was heavy enough, but the black obsidian they were made of was not only denser, but far heavier. With the gargoyle inert, even just picking up a broken hand was difficult. An entire arm would have required all four of us to work in concert.

If I had my truck, perhaps we could have figured out how to collect it, but even then, I don’t imagine the suspension could handle two or more of these things. As it was, my truck was destroyed, and I only had my old town car. And there was no way it could handle the weight.

As for just leaving the inert statues behind for later, well… I had no idea if we’d ever be back, or what would happen between now and when I could show back up. As for collecting the ruby eyes and then claiming the coin, that wasn’t exactly possible. It was an all or nothing sort of affair. We can’t just rip out organs we want to preserve and expect to get a coin out of it.

Then again, anything that failed to survive the conversion was likely to not be worth our time, so there was that…

At least, if I was really sore about the missing rubies, I could exchange for gem shards with a bronze coin. Small, almost splinters of a gemstone for an entire coin. Which was frankly ridiculous.

Talia didn’t seem to care for the lost loot, but I could tell, she was bothered by my insistence on us pushing forward. Even as we pressed on, killing the third and fourth gargoyle, she never stopped worrying.

Though, that worry was tempered by her own desire.

Talia’s earlier words stuck with me, not because I knew she cared for me. No, it was far too soon for anything like that. No, it was because she cared for what I could provide. That was it. That was all.

I could provide her with a place of work. The means to ply her craft. In the week she’s been under me, she’d taken the liberty to overhaul the warehouses arrays. Already we were seeing a decrease in processing times for the dolls due to her improving the efficiency of the array and further insulating the warehouse so that less magical energy is lost.

It was rather impressive and elevated her value even more.

If I were to die, Talia may be able to get a new job, but she would lose access to the warehouse. To the means of working on projects she had no business being involved with in the first place. At least, at her level of power.

Without me, she’d be struggling just to live. To make the bare minimum to survive. With me around, she’s free to do what drives her, her passion. Even now, I could tell without a doubt, that she had ideas for the rubies we had collected.

A part of me wanted to simply sell them off. Surely, I’d find a seller, but it’s unlikely I would get the items’ actual worth. And… it was more important to keep my employee happy.

Luckily, Talia appeared to have simple wants and desires. Further adding to her immense value. She simply wanted to ply her trade. Only, I can’t trust her with much. She wasn’t a leader, merely a follower.

Liche, however, had the potential to be irreplaceable. So far, she has proven capable of making the right decisions under duress. Like when she kept to the background when the lesser fox was fighting me. Had she foolishly stepped forward, I wouldn’t have had time to gather myself and rebound. Instead, she stayed on the periphery. Even if it wasn’t a conscious decision on her part, it was the best possible option out of many bad options.

She’s also proven on numerous occasions that she has a good sense of where she needs to be. I rarely know where exactly she is on the field, but even then, I’m confident she is where I need her to be.

She further proved herself back when she had pushed back when I had asked for coins. She knew her value, she also knew how to push back when necessary. Though, whether it was a good thing or not, she also wasn’t cutthroat, not yet.

Liche, was valuable. Only, she herself didn’t realize just how valuable those traits were. Even if it required me to keep an eye on her. After all, even she was dependable, and capable, that only meant I had to be even more careful of her. To blindly trust, would invite knives into my back before long.

What she wanted, I could somewhat understand. Purpose, direction. And, it was clear she looked at me for an example. For a path to walk. For good or ill. The only issue being herself. Something in her past, or history was holding her back, and until she gets that resolved, she’d never reach her true potential.

Joan though… her healing is valuable. And she always seems to know where she needs to be. I’ve never thought she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and honestly, something about her feels… off.

Perhaps there was more to that girl? Or, perhaps not. If anything, she acts as a buffer or support to Liche despite her apparent lack of courage, even if neither realizes it.

Navigating relationships isn’t a new thing to me. Learning to work with people, like Diana, Grim, or even Taylor was just the norm. Some people, were easy. Give rewards, bonuses, pay. Easy.

Some others, required a more direct approach to keep them honest. People with more ambition than competence were a common issue in just about every workplace. Simply tightening the collar and keeping them back would just result in a bigger mess later on. Better to let them run amok, in a directed manner. Then hedge bets and wait for the fireworks.

A part of me wished every relationship I had was so simple. My ongoing issues with Leo, my own uncertain feelings towards Grim. Terada, Tom, Ken. Even Samantha on some level.

But life was rarely so simple… What worried me most, were the irrational. The people who chose to make decisions not rooted in logic or need, but emotion. Much like Him.

With a sigh, I focus on the task at hand. Specifically, we were now getting ready for the final confrontation. With the four bronze obsidian gargoyles dead, we only had the one gargoyle left. The marble one…

It sat at the center of the park, within a larger paved area. It stood atop a fountain and seemed to look down on everyone. It was made with what looked like white marble. Nothing like the grey stone of the normal gargoyles or stone imps. It wasn’t glassy like the obsidian gargoyles either. If anything, the marble seemed to glow in the dark night. Illuminating the clearing.

This was likely to be a hard fight. Though, I wasn’t sure how hard it would be.

“I think you should use your uniform here.” Talia suggested. “You’ve proven to be exceptionally strong, but we don’t know what we’re facing here exactly.”

“You’re not wrong. It helps that the fog has cleared considerably, in fact, I think it might completely clear after this fight.”

“I think you might be right.” She agreed.

Which was to say, it really was the perfect chance to use my uniform. So, without dawdling anymore, I transformed.

It was the same process as always, though not without cost. As the process began, I felt my magic dip and wash over me, easing out my injuries and wounds, helping them to fade away. The beating of my heart, the shattering of the ice. Of falling into the ice and skating under the spotlight. With a final flourish, I broke free and revealed myself to the world.

Talia looked at me in surprise. Her eyes taking in my uniform, likely dissecting every part of it.

“I wasn’t expecting that…” She muttered and shook her head. “Anyway, you good, should we start?”

“Let me go first.” I answered, knowing that I was already on the clock, having nearly lost a quarter of my magic just donning my uniform.

Talia nods, signaling her assent and I go forward. The moment I stepped into the clearing, the gargoyle began to move. Its eyes flashed silver. The air shifted, changed. It was instantly clear that it was a silver rank. The pressure it gave, the feel of its magic.

Only, it felt… odd. Nothing like the other gargoyles.

Still, I charged.

With a bound, I leapt up to meet the gargoyle with my bayonet. All too calmly, the gargoyle raised an arm to block the blow. Already I could anticipate the feeling of my silver blade cut into supernatural flesh. Keening for tainted blood.

Only…

The blade cried out in pain. A loud clang, like smashing a knife into a stone resounded out. The blade held, but the rebound traveled up the rifle to my arms, nearly jarring it free of my grasp. A tail followed swiftly after. Like a whip. It was nothing like the thick tail of the obsidian gargoyle, nor anything like even the regular gargoyles. It was thin, lithe, and snapped out like a viper.

It crashed into my side, far faster than I could react, flinging me to the ground. Even then, I managed to hit the ground just right and fling myself up. Just in time to witness Talia throwing herself forward with axe and shield.

The gargoyle did not meet her head on. No. It extended its wings and took to the sky instead. Feathered wings beat, scattering silver feathers everywhere. With an extended hand, the scattered feathers swirled. Gathering above its head.

Talia braced, sensing what was to come. My knights rushed to my side and covered me just in time. The moment I was under cover, the feathers came hurtling towards us. Each sang out. A high, clear tone.

They punched into shields. Into exposed body parts. And only when they were rendered inert, did they revert to marble. My knights were weighted down. Talia cracked her axe down over the surface of her shield, breaking off the imbedded feathers. As for the gargoyle, it merely looked down on us. As if we weren’t worth the effort.

Quickly it became apparent. With every flap of its wings, feathers were scattered, gathered, then launched at us. Over and over. More than once, I tried to shoot it down, but it was too quick. Its eyes were always on my rifle.

There wasn’t an easy solution, but I had a chance. A single chance. I just needed to figure out, how I would do it. I needed to take out its wings, that was for sure. It avoided my strikes, and somehow, my bayonet did little to no damage, almost as if I had hit stone…

Which didn’t make sense. Gargoyles were made by having spirits or demons possess stone. Making it into a living thing. Spirits and demons should be weak to silver, no? Based on what I was told, the information in my skull…

Though… Looking at this thing. The sense of awe that I could feel bubbling up within the pit of my being, long buried under ice. It made me reconsider.

Enough so, that I began to remember. A time that didn’t happen, and yet, felt so real. I could hear the sound of chalk on a board. The shuffling of papers. Of wood groaning under shifting bodies. A low chatter, a murmur that filled the air.

On the board, were illustrations. Of gargoyles, how they were made.

The instructor spoke. His figure blurry, yet, his voice oh so clear. Beside me, all around me, hazy figured sat. Eyes focused forward.

Questions were asked, answered. And as the lecture wrapped up, it came time for questions. My own hand shot up.

“Is there other ways? Can only spirits and demons really be used to make a gargoyle? What of artificial spirits or such?” I asked. My voice was so loud that the world seemed to shake. As if it were so fragile, like glass.

The instructor, levelled a gaze that pierced the haze.

“That would be a golem. Gargoyles are special, specifically because they are possessed. They are spirits or demons bound to stone. Not animated stone. Golems can be created either with command matrixes, or by injecting the soul of the creator to act as a controller. Of course, the latter is sub-optimal in some cases, but it can work in others.”

“Then, what else can be bound to stone?” I asked next.

“Though rare, there is another way…” He spoke… and the world fell away. I could almost feel it. The book flipping to the very end. An addendum. A final note.

I almost found myself made into a pincushion. Only Talia’s timely intervention saved me as she threw herself at me. Feathers punched into the ground as my mind whirred.

“Are you okay?” Talia asks, even as she helps me up. Her eyes still on the gargoyle.

“It’s a virtue.”

“What?”

“The damn thing isn’t a demon or spirit, not in a usual sense. That thing is a virtue!” I shouted out. The pieces clicking together. “That’s why my bayonet didn’t work. This thing is considered holy, not demonic!”

“W-wait! What!?” She stammered. Not knowing at all what I was blabbering about.

“I…” I spoke, but was interrupted by another flurry of feathers punching into the ground. “A virtue can be considered the opposite of a demon. In some ways, it’s even worse than a demon!”

“How!?”

“I don’t know the specifics. I didn’t read a book on demonology!” I shout out. “I just know that gargoyles made using virtues are rare!”

“Does this mean you know how to win!?” She shouted out, dodging another wave of feathers…

And well, her question was valid. A quick glance at the gargoyle, no, a longer searching one revealed what I wanted. Its arm. It was damaged. It hadn’t healed. My bayonet had managed to gouge out some of the stone.

Perhaps that was why it was so weary of my rifle. Of facing Talia head on. Why it took to the sky in the first place.

With it also being silver rank then… It must be about as strong as marble, especially since it can’t self-reinforce, at least, not like the bronze ranks could. Golden light coated its form like a shield, but how strong was that, really?

I already had an answer at hand, I just needed a moment to act upon it.

Meanwhile, my mind was stuck trying to process why a virtue was here. Gargoyles made using virtues had a very specific role and frankly, this wasn’t it. The guiding of souls, purifying miasma. They focused on more ancillary roles. Which begs the question, why was it here? Rather, how the hell had it even been made?

Still, this wasn’t the best time to think. Not with it liberally attacking us with feathers and magic. Our magic would only hold for so long and just in this brief period, I had worked through a good portion of my own energy.

After all, all along, I’ve been leaving shimmering rime in my wake. It hovered, glittered. Slowly filling the clearing with glittering fog. A fog I intended to use to great effect.

 With a surge of magic, along with a sizeable chunk of my energy, the fog surged up. Like a hungry maw, it swallowed the gargoyle before it could even resist. With a snap of my fingers, the frost exploded. I heard the sound of glass shattering, as the exploding ice shattered the golden barriers.

Followed by the sound of marble smashing into the earth, the gargoyle fell, smashing into the water fountain, destroying it in the process. Water sprayed out wildly, covering the ground, freezing under the influence of my rime. It slowly stood, covered in worrying cracks. Seeping out golden blood. Its wings were ruined. Shattered from the sudden burst of cold.

It looked at me and something in its eyes flashed.

Not that it mattered, from here on out, the fight would be easy, surely.

Talia surged forward, my knights followed through. I raised my rifle. We were all prepared to end it in a single, final swoop.

Then, the air shifted. A corona of golden light pulsed out, with the gargoyle at the center. The light stopped our momentum and pushed us back ever so slightly. A golden halo formed above the gargoyle’s head. Its eyes gleamed. Where its ruined wings were, new wings came into being. Wings made of golden light. A light that burned to look at. As if was trying to bleach away our sins through our eyes.

It was bearable, but only just. It didn’t take flight. It couldn’t. But the panels of light covering its form began to condense and form into a physical armor that covered its form. What light was left coalesced into its hand. Upon extending it, a beam of light shot into the heavens, carving a path in the miasma that swirled around the park we had entered, and took the form of a golden spear.

It looked at us with righteous fury. It’s very being radiated holy light.

As was becoming common, Talia surged forward, shield in hand. The gargoyle swung wide with its spear, meeting her charge head on and easily blasted her aside. My knights shot forward next, shields before them.

The gargoyle swung, bashing one of them, causing their shield to crackle, but the surrounding rime empowered them, covered them in a fine coat of frost that broke off the shield. Taken aback, that my knight had taken its blow, my other knight threw itself in.

Together they had the gargoyle harried, allowing me to aim my rifle and shoot. Each shot, I took my time to place. Making sure each bullet was well placed. The frost coming off my form slowly gathered and coalesced around my knights without my direction. Further empowering them, healing their wounds, allowing the pair to easily body the gargoyle.

Like this, it would die sooner than later. It might as well have been written in stone. As the knights exchanged blows, Talia stood back, catching her breath. I didn’t think of it. My rifle up, finger on the trigger.

Then I heard it.

“Prima!” A body slammed into me, throwing me aside. Followed by the sound of stone breaking, shattering under a blow.

I hit the ground and turned. Where I had been, there was now a smaller statue, a stone imp. The remains were covered in golden light that shimmered and glowed.

Talia looked down at the stone corpse in shock.

“It was a stone imp.” She said, confused. “It looked all cracked, but the cracks were glowing with that light.” She supplied as I stood.

I opened my mouth to speak, but… Before my eyes, the stone imp began to reform. Bits of stone, covered in golden light glued back together, slowly reforming the little monster. Just before it could, Talia smashed it down once more. The light grew dimmer and yet, it still tried to come back.

It was perplexing, worrying, made worse by the sudden arrival of more. They came from outside. Running in, their bodies covered in glowing, golden cracks. Their eyes were lit with golden radiance.

Talia moved, swiftly kicking and breaking them apart. I followed suit. Bullets sang, the butt of my rifle cracked and bashed into them. Still, they kept coming, their numbers grew and they kept getting back up.

We were barely handling what we had, when more showed up. No, not just stone imps, but something far more worrying.

From the four corners they came. Limping, their bodies smoking, burning, smouldering under the golden light. They limped forward. Clawed into the earth as they dragged their wounded forms forward.

The four gargoyles we had fought, were back. Talia shot forward and swung, her blade bounced off its tough exterior, a wide swing of its claws nearly tore her in half. I rushed into the gap, my silver blade cut, and yet, it didn’t really slow the gargoyle down.

They began to press us in. The stone imps nipping at our heels. Thrusting their claws at our legs and ankles.

This, was going to be trouble… Could we even win?