Chapter 144: Gauntlet Run

Grace woke up with her face pressed against cold stone and Petriel’s arm draped across her back. She twitched for a moment, before surrendering to the… current conditions.

[Why do I always end up as the little spoon? I’m the angel who can kill demons. Purify Pillars. And yet, it doesn’t matter. I’m always the little spoon.]

She extracted herself carefully, trying not to wake the healer. Outside their tent, dawn barely touched the mountain peaks. Grace yawned, standing still for a moment, pausing as she found a certain someone. Valkyrie was already up, because of course she was, doing weapon forms that made Grace’s brain short-circuit.

[By Eternia… is it my Love acting up or has swinging a weapon around like this always been sexy?]

“Morning,” Grace croaked.

Valkyrie didn’t break form.

“The protection you secured settled overnight. I still don’t get how that works, but the villagers can move normally now.”

“Oh. Good.”

Grace stretched, joints popping. Her quest log, not that anyone else could see it, showed completion. Twenty villagers helped, protection established. But there was still that other quest. The one about a relic hidden somewhere up the mountain.

“I need to scout ahead,” Grace said, sounding oddly more heroic for approximately 5 seconds. “There’s something I need to find before we tackle the Mountain herself.”

Valkyrie finally stopped her routine.

“Alone?”

Grace shrugged.

“It’s just reconnaissance.”

“The last time someone said that, they came back missing three limbs.”

“Angels regrow those.”

“Reattach those. Only if you manage to come back in the first place.”

“Details.” Grace waved her concern away. “Are you actually worried about me?”

“I’m worried about explaining to Celestia why I let our only demon-killer become a piece of modern art.”

[Right. Of course. Just following orders.]

“I’ll be careful,” Grace promised. “Just need to check something. Ancient artifact stuff.”

Valkyrie studied her for a long moment. Grace tried not to notice how the morning light made her silver hair glow. And failed miserably.

“One hour,” Valkyrie said finally. “Then I’m coming after you.”

That was all she needed to hear.

“Deal.”

Grace grabbed her gear and headed up the mountain path. According to her quest marker, the gauntlets were about a mile up, in some kind of ruins. She wasn’t particularly excited to find out what else she’d encounter in those ruins, but she knew she’d just have to suck it up and deal with it.

The path got weird fast. Not corrupted exactly, just… still. Too still. No wind. No birds. Even her footsteps sounded muffled.

[This is fine. Everything’s fine. Just walking through the world’s creepiest time-bubble looking for some souvenir from Eternia.]

The ruins appeared around a bend. Ancient stone architecture that predated the current angelic civilization graced the zone ahead. It was the kind of place that screamed “definitely has traps.”

“Okay, relic,” Grace muttered. “Where are you hiding?”

A grinding sound answered her. Stone scraped against stone as three figures emerged from the ruins. Not quite angels, quite possibly demons. For certain, rock creatures with vaguely humanoid shapes and eyes that glowed the familiar blue-purple of corruption.

[Of course. Why would anything be easy?]

The first one charged. Grace summoned her Blade of Eternia, the divine rapier materializing just in time to deflect a stone fist that would’ve caved in her skull.

“Ugh, rude!”

She danced backward and came to a halt, assessing. Level 65, 62, and 67 floated above their heads. The odds were definitely in her favor, but she didn’t think this would be a cakewalk either.

The Level 67 spat something at her. Actual rocks, flying at incredibly high speed. Grace’s armguard activated, deflecting the worst of it, but one caught her shoulder.

“Ow! Fuck! That actually hurt!”

Okay, so she needed to be smarter about this. These things were made of stone. Her rapier could pierce them, but it would take precision.

The Level 62 tried to flank her. Grace spun, caught its arm, and used its momentum to slam it into its buddy. Stone cracked against stone.

[Just like training. If you can survive Diana trying to split you in half mid-spar, you can handle some rock monsters.]

She targeted joints. Weak points where stone met stone. Her rapier found the Level 62’s knee, divine light carving through rock like butter. Unlike with those incredibly annoying wind constructs from last time, her weapon worked against these things. It toppled, tried to rise, and she put her blade through its head.

One down.

The other two got smart. They attacked together, trying to box her in. Grace jumped, wings carrying her up and over their heads. The Level 65 grabbed for her ankle. She kicked it in its glowing eye.

“Personal space!”

Landing behind them, she drove her rapier through the Level 65’s spine. It crumbled into gravel.

The Level 67 roared. Or made a sound like rocks in a blender, which Grace assumed was roaring. It picked up a boulder the size of her torso.

[Oh come on.]

She dove behind a pillar just as the boulder obliterated where she’d been standing. Dust and debris everywhere. Through the cloud, she saw the creature advancing.

[Think, Grace. What would Diana do? Besides make a sex joke and somehow turn this into weird, pent-up foreplay.]

The creature rounded the pillar. Grace was ready. She dropped low, swept its legs, which hurt like hell but worked, and drove her rapier up through its chin while it was off-balance.

It froze. Cracks spread across its surface. Then it shattered.

“Ha!” Grace panted. “Take that!”

Her shoulder throbbed. Petriel could fix that later. For now, she needed to focus on getting that relic.

The ruins proper were less trapped than she’d expected. Mostly just old and crumbly. She found the relic in what might’ve been an altar room, sitting on a pedestal like they were waiting.

A pair of gauntlets.

They were beautiful. Black metal with gold tracery that matched her armguard. When she picked them up, they hummed with divine energy.

[QUEST COMPLETE: Relic Recovery]

Earthshaker Gauntlets acquired!

+5 Bravery

New Equipment: Earthshaker Gauntlets – Increases unarmed combat effectiveness

[Unarmed combat effectiveness?] Grace tilted her head. [Hopefully I won’t ever actually need this.]

The gauntlets flowed over her hands like liquid metal, fitting perfectly. She flexed her fingers. They moved on her like her actual skin but, suddenly, she felt like she could punch through mountains.

A sound made her freeze. Footsteps. Multiple sets.

Grace spun toward the entrance, ready to fight, and nearly collapsed in relief.

“Your hour was up,” Valkyrie said.

Petriel peered around her.

“Grace! You’re hurt!”

“Just a little.” Grace showed off the gauntlets. “But look what I found!”

Valkyrie’s eyes narrowed.

“How in the hell…? Divine artifacts don’t just sit around waiting to be found.”

“This one did.”

“That’s convenient.”

“Are you suggesting some kind of cosmic conspiracy where an all-powerful goddess is leaving me equipment upgrades?”

“…” Valkyrie blinked.

“Because that would be crazy.”

Petriel was already fussing over Grace’s shoulder, healing magic making the pain fade.

“These ruins are pre-corruption. How did those creatures get here?”

“Probably just a few corrupted villagers, made by the Mountain. The last stage of that freezing corruption, if I had to guess,” Grace flexed her gauntleted hands again. They felt right. Like they’d always belonged there. “Doesn’t matter. We got what we came for.”

“Did we?” Valkyrie studied the altar. “This feels too easy.”

[Shut the heck up! The last thing I need is you jinxing stuff.]

Outwardly, though, Grace said:

“Sometimes things just work out.”

Valkyrie gave her a look that said she didn’t believe that for a second but wasn’t going to push it.

They made their way back down the mountain. The village looked almost normal now, people moving at regular speed, lives resuming. A few waved at them. Grace waved back, gauntlets catching the light.

“So,” Petriel said. “The Mountain next?”

“The Mountain next,” Grace confirmed.

“Any brilliant plans yet?”

“I’m working on it.”

[Break her or build around her. Still not sure which one’s even possible.]

—

Back at camp, Grace sat with her new gauntlets, turning her hands over and over. They were definitely Eternia’s work. Same craftsmanship as the armguard, same feeling of… rightness.

“Admiring your new toys?”

Grace looked up to find Valkyrie watching her.

“They’re not toys. They’re… strategic combat enhancements.”

“That you found conveniently placed exactly where you needed them.”

“Lucky, right?”

Valkyrie sat down across from her.

“In my experience, luck that convenient usually comes with a price.”

“I thought you liked having someone lucky with you.”

“I do, but this amount of luck is suspicious.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you,” Grace shrugged. “Things just… work out right sometimes.”

“…”

They sat in comfortable silence. Grace appreciated that about Valkyrie. She didn’t need to fill every moment with chatter.

“Tomorrow then?” Valkyrie asked eventually.

“Tomorrow. We climb. We find the Mountain. We figure out how to convince personified stagnation that change isn’t the enemy.”

“Simple.”

“Super simple.”

[We’re so fucked.]

But at least she’d be fucked with fancy new gauntlets. That had to count for something.

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