My Occlumency was weakening the longer I fought as well. I simply wasn't used to keeping up the emotion dampening side of this discipline for as long as I had been. I mainly used it to calm down or sort and look through memories. But having it active in the middle of combat? It was stressful, and not very easy. Little bits and pieces of emotions kept slipping through, from anger to fear to excitement, and when they did they widened the cracks, meaning more emotions inevitably flowed into my mind. If I wasn't absolutely certain that lowering my mental shields would result in an immediate, hysterical breakdown I would have.
Ignoring the flare of emotions that rose within me as a bullet pinged off the car's hood, I then twisted my runic ring, slowing down my perception of time for the fourth time that night.
As the gunmen moved in slow motion, I rose up from behind my cover and pointed my stolen handgun at them. I could see where they were aiming, and deftly stepped aside to avoid the path of the bullets, while also popping off a few shots of my own.
Two of them dropped, holes blown open in their arms and legs, and I ducked back down, untwisting my runic ring, undoing the spell. I let out a gasp as my vision flickered.
'I've been using my Bullet Time ring too much,' I realized, shaking the fatigue off. 'No time to worry about that, though! I took down two, but there's still three left!'
And that wasn't counting the other thugs I'd taken down earlier or the unknown number who were still waiting to come up here. It hadn't even been ten minutes since the shooting started, yet it felt like an eternity had passed.
I peeked out, flinching back as a bullet pinged off the bumper of the car I was hiding behind. Then, I heard a rumble of a car engine, and grimaced. I'd been worried they would try it, and reached into a pouch to get a Rune Bomb out.
As one of the thugs drove a car up the ramp to ram through the little blockade I'd made, I tossed it up and over towards the vehicle.
"Burst," I intoned solemnly as it drove over the tiny pebble, and my words triggered the imbedded runic inscription upon it. It sounded like a light bulb exploding, but it did far more damage, obliterating the tires and shredding the front bumper while causing the windshield to shatter.
The driver screamed in pain before the car slammed into the concrete pillar, coming to a halt, metal and glass flying everywhere. I ducked and covered my face reflexively, and felt little bits of shrapnel ping off of my back.
I stood up when it was safe to do so, and after taking a look at the poor sod behind the wheel, winced and shot the driver in the head, putting him out of his misery. No man should be forced to live with a broken neck or all that glass in his chest. At least this way he died fast, and not slowly from bleeding out. It might have been my own experience with a cold, slow, inescapable death, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
I tried to force down the guilt that tried to overwhelm my mental defenses as I stared at the man I'd mercy killed. This was the second life I'd taken in both this one and my previous existence. And unlike that bastard Erroneous Hunch, did this man deserve it? Sure, he was a kidnapper, and had tried to kill me, but this man… I'd only ended his life because it was the kindest thing I could have done for him, given the extent of his injuries.
"Fucker's got grenades?!" I heard one of the goons scream, breaking me out of my stunned state.
"This wasn't what we agreed on!" another one shouted, and I realized he was speaking into a radio.
"And I've got more where that came from!" I shouted back, hoping to intimidate them.
That broke them, and the survivors fled, running away from the floor of the parking garage I'd claimed as my own.
I could hear the squeal of tires a few seconds later as the survivors drove away, taking the wounded with them while the dead stayed on the ground.
"Ugh, finally," I grumbled, panting heavily. I then hurried up to find Delilah and reassure her that the danger had passed. I reached the top level of the parking garage, a faint grin on my face.
"Hey, Delilah? It's safe now!" I called out. She peeked out from her hiding spot behind a pickup truck, and smiled widely, only for her expression to twist into one of shock.
"Look out!" she screamed at me, and I froze, turning around as I heard a crunch of gravel. One of the suited goons hadn't left, and snuck up behind me. He unloaded several rounds into my chest and face as soon as I was facing him.
My Armor Bubble (patent pending) caused the bullets shot at my head to bounce off, but the rest of the shots hit my chest and I was fairly certain something broke. One of my ribs? The only consolation was that I wasn't dead, which I would have been if not for my rune-armored suit. Still hurt like fuck, though.
"Argh!" I cried out, falling flat on my back. Stunned, I could only struggle a bit as the man who'd opened fire on me dashed over and jumped on me, trying to pummel my face and cave my skull in with his fists now that his gun was empty.
And, now that I got a better look at him, it turned out that it was none other than the same bastard who'd tried to shoot me back at the office!
Unfortunately, this revelation didn't help much, as I was much weaker than him, and even though my gloves enhanced my strength, I couldn't react in time or get into a position to use it, as his barrage of blows dazed me and I couldn't focus, only struggle pathetically.
"Get off of him!" Delilah shouted, running out from behind cover and tackling the man, trying to get him to stop.
'You have a gun I gave you, use it!' I thought at her weakly. But she managed to buy me some time, and I reached up and managed to punch him in the chin.
It was a poor hit, even with my increased strength adding some extra damage, and it merely knocked him back for a moment.
He recovered faster than I could, and punched Delilah, knocking her away from him, before wrapping his meaty hands around my throat.
'Shit!' I gurgled, and punched him in the side of the head. It didn't work, and I tried again, this time successfully knocking him off of me.
Gasping for air, I tried to sit up and deal with the man, but before I could, Delilah came back to the fight, this time with a cinderblock in her hands.
'Where did she find one of those?' I wondered.
"BASTARD!" she snarled, slamming the brick down onto the man's head where he lay, dazed by my hit. It collided with a sickening "CRACK!" but she didn't stop. Delilah kept swing the piece of masonry until it broke apart. The man's head had been pulped long before that.
"Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ!" I hissed in awe, staring at Delilah as she panted heavily, the blood that'd splashed onto her face and hair making her look like an avenging angel under the parking garage's lights.
'Or maybe that's my head wound talking,' I thought to myself.
"We've got some stuff to discuss," she told me, shooting me a glare as she got up off the man she'd clobbered to death.
"Yeah, fair," I said with a wince. "Um, can you help me up? My vision is swimming."
She got me back onto my feet.
"So, don't freak out, but, uh, INKY!" I called out. Delilah flinched when my House Elf popped up next to her.
"Young Master Eddy should know better than to call me around Muggles!" Inky scolded me.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," I grumbled. "Take us both back to the apartment, please."
"Young Master Eddy knows I cannot do that! Missy Delly is not family!" Inky protested.
"Missy Delly?" Delilah muttered under her breath, even as she stared at us.
"I don't give a flying fuck about the Rules right now, Inky," I grunted. "She already saw me use magic, and she's a Squib, I'm pretty sure."
"But, but the rules!" Inky pleaded.
"Fine!" I grumbled, before turning to Delilah. "Hey, wanna get married?"
"Bwuh?!" she uttered.
"You didn't say no!" I said with a pained laugh, then I turned back to Inky. "There, she's now my fiancé. That means she's part of my family according to the Rules! So you can use your magic on both us!"
"Young Master Eddy shouldn't be bending Rules," Inky grumbled, but he complied and snapped his fingers all the same, teleporting us back to my cozy little flat.
"What is going on?" she whispered as she looked around wide-eyed. I could see that the events of tonight were starting to catch up to her, and I sent Inky to get a Calming Draught before she broke down.
"Long story short, magic is real. Tada!" I said with a grunt and Jazz Hands before forcing the potion into her hands. "Drink this! And afterwards you can help me get some medicine onto these wounds of mine. You can call your dad afterwards."
Delilah took a deep breath, but nodded, drained the Calming Draught into her throat, grimaced, and then looked at me with a firm expression as it kicked in. "Okay. Tell me what to do."
It wasn't how I expected my Christmas to end, but what could you do? I sagged down into a chair and pulled out a few of my bottled potions while reinforcing my Occlumency so I didn't have a breakdown of my own. There was time to jibber and cry hysterically later!
"Okay, so, this one heals cuts…"
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