Shovels In Spades

"I do not wish to fight on my island," Hsiao-han said as she got up on her feet. "Can you fly?"

"Yes and no. It would restrict my battle potential. I can make an arena for us on the ocean attached to the eastern coast if that would better serve you?" Daz asked.

"That is fine," she replied with a nod. "Cookies are my favourite food."

"Not the healthiest of choices," Daz noted in good humour.

"Health is the least of my concerns," Hsiao-han said as she jumped up into the air then sped off to the eastern coastline of Guishan Island like a rocket.

"So she can fly now. Damn, that's a great ability to have. All of my methods to do the same thing are very... inefficient," Daz muttered.

He moved Hamson under his feet and stepped atop the tool before he controlled it to move towards Crusher. Once he'd reached her he said, "Crusher, Han and I are going to spar. Find somewhere to set up camp for the evening. It's already dusk so we're not going to make any progress on our campaign today."

"Fuck that. You and the she-devil are going at it? Like hell I'd miss something so interestin'," Crusher loudly protested. "Oi, Ahab. Do what Daz just said."

"Ha-ah... Sure, Crusher," Dorian answered a bit unwillingly.

"Thanks, hahaha!" Crusher walked over to Daz's side and said, "So, let's go, yeah?"

"I thought this would happen. Sure, Crusher, sure," Daz replied as if he were talking to a child but Crusher didn't seem to mind at all.

It took no time at all for the duo of reaper and Titan to reach the coastline where Hsiao-han was waiting.

Once there, Daz immediately began using Crystallisation on the ocean to create an arena. Crusher, on the other hand, approached Hsiao-han with a grin on her lips.

"Yo, squirt. Recognise me?" Crusher asked as she arched her back proudly and smirked from ear-to-ear.

Hsiao-han looked up at her in confusion. "No."

"I'm Crusher!... Ah! Right, last time we met I was a shrimp of a jester. Had a big ol' cock too," Crusher realised. "Anyhoo, this is what I really look like."

"You speak Mandarin?" Hsiao-han asked.

"Is that what yer speakin'? I thought you'd talk in Taiwanese. Anyway, nah, I got that communication skill thingy from the auction. Hotwheels hacked it or something and a few folk that good ol' Uriel - that's Daz, by the way - got to keep it, me included," Crusher answered with a dismissively wave of the hand.

"... Did Daz not tell you to avoid talking to me? My special... habit can be exhausting," Hsiao-han asked as she leaned against her halberd which was poked into the sand.

Crusher gave her a funny look. "I don't give a shit about that. Info for info, right? Sounds like a fuckin' normal conversation to me. Anyway, what's your weapon? You're the champion of the God of War, right? Is your weapon legit that spear?"

"It's a halberd, not a spear and no, this is not technically my predominant weapon," Hsiao-han answered. "What is your weapon?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Information exchange." Crusher pointed to the tiny hammer charm that was hanging off of her white glove. "This is. It's small now thanks to a skill it has, but yeah, I'm called Crusher for a reason."

"A hammer? I see," Hsiao-Han responded with a curt nod.

"You really don't talk much, huh?" Crusher noted with a bit of boredom in her tone.

"I do not, no," Hsiao-han answered just as boredly.

"Hmm..." Crusher extended her hammer's size and length then rested her palms atop its pommel. "So what is your weapon then? You never told me. Ask me anything in exchange. I'm pretty curious so I don't mind if you ask something juicy. Like my 3 sizes, hahaha!"

"You ready, Han?" Daz suddenly asked as he came out of seemingly nowhere.

"Holy mother of sweet baby Jesus!" Crusher yelled as she jumped in her skin. "Fuckin' hell, Uriel. Don't sneak up on me like that. Why the fuck're your footsteps impossible to hear?"

"It is likely a skill," Hsiao-han answered in Daz's place. "Yes, I am ready, and Crusher."

"Yeah?" the 8-foot-tall woman responded in interest.

"My weapon is everything. My patron god is not called the God of War for nothing," Hsiao-han said coldly. "I will consider what to ask you in exchange after Daz and I have finished our battle."

Crusher watched in silence as both the little girl and Daz walked to the centre of the reaper's self-made arena.

She chuckled and shook her head. "What the fuck is wrong with kids during this apocalypse? Hotwheels is bad enough... Why can't more of the little twirps be like Jorden was? Rest his soul. I miss that kid."

"So, everything, huh?" Daz noted as he cracked his neck and did some simple stretches.

Hsiao-Han did nothing more than nod in response.

"I assume that you're limited in some facet or another. You probably can't use every weapon at their maximum potential, as in, you can't get the best of the best in regards to their skills but you have some other skills that help you use weapons well together," Daz theorised.

This text was taken from NovelFire. Help the author by reading the original version there.

He then summoned the suitcase he was using to house his diamond needles before saying, "I'll only be fighting with one skill, by the way. Every time I cut you is equal to me stabbing you. You can kill me if you want. I have extra lives."

"That's a lot of information..." The girl scowled lightly. "Your idea of how my class works is mostly correct, only, I can't use more than 2 weapons at once. Why are you only going to be using one skill?"

"Because very soon it is likely that I will go to war with a cult that can cancel out all changes made by the system; skills and species included. The skill I'll use is the only one I have that can't be removed. I want to practice using it in battle and I want to get used to fighting without my other skills," Daz answered as he began controlling the needles. "Ready?"

Hsiao-han made a strange face. "That is possible?... Yes, I am ready."

Crusher whistled in joy as she watched Daz and Hsiao-han fight from the beach. "Dayum, he's gettin' the livin' tar beat out of him. I wonder why he ain't goin' all out like he does when he fights me?"

She thought on the matter for a few seconds and then said, "Ah, right. I haven't actually had a good smackdown from the kid in a good few weeks now. I've been too busy tryin' to evolve. He said those Truth-lickers or whatever they were called can strip you of your system shit, right? Must be preparing for that, the paranoid bastard."

Her sharp eyes followed Daz carefully though from time to time she would shift her focus onto Hsiao-han who was using her golden gauntlets and deadly halberd to essentially one-sidedly smack Daz around.

"Hmm..." Crusher pursed her lips in thought as she watched the two of them.

'Uriel evolved naturally twice, didn't he? First to a reaper then from there to a Justice Reaper. Both times involved a change in his attitude, right?' Crusher looked back on all of her attempts to evolve over the last 2-months.

"I've just been doing different stuff but thinkin' the same things, haven't I?" Crusher tapped her chin against her hammer's pommel a few times as that realisation hit her.

"I guess I should... what, start lookin' at myself or the world differently from now on? Easier said than done," the massive woman sighed.

Right then Crusher felt something... enter her, and not in the way she usually liked. Mere moments later a set of blue screens popped up in front of her eyes.