Showdown In Fat Monsterland

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 12, Post Number 276

-Fat Monsterland, midnight-

Wearing her navy blue outfit and black boots, Diana strolled into the moonlit Fat Monsterland just as the clock struck midnight. She carried Saint Sinner Valentine with her because she was going into Fat Monsterland, an area infamous for... well, monsters that were larger than normal. So far all Diana had encountered were rather obese zombies that had natural body armor in the form of thick layers of fat around their foreheads. Saint Sinner Valentine's Armor-Piercing Bullets were next to useless against them: as a result Diana had to use her magic to take them down. She still carried Saint Sinner Valentine with her because using it on weaker enemies like garden-variety zombies that did not have layers of fat for protection against headshots allowed her to save magic power for bigger threats like the obese zombies.

Feeling her hair blow about in the wind, Diana switched to her night vision mode and immediately began sweeping the area for threats such as the obese zombies or garden-variety zombies. Seeing nothing of interest, Diana walked towards a large clearing while still looking all around her. She wished that she had Ami with her, but since the winged android did not have a night vision mode she would not be of much use for tonight's job.

Speaking of the job, Diana had been called here by someone named "Mordecai." In their message to her that she had received hours ago they claimed that they had business with her that they wanted to settle. Curious as to what that business was and looking for something to do after a week or so of relative inactivity, Diana decided to check it out but came prepared with Saint Sinner Valentine because of where their meeting place was located.

Diana walked into the clearing and paused when she saw a human figure standing in the middle of it. They had glowing red eyes and wore a black ten-gallon hat and black coat. All around them were the bodies of some obese zombies and all of the zombies were either missing their heads or their heads were so badly damaged that they were barely recognizable as human heads. It looked like they had suffered trauma of some sort, possibly caused by a blunt weapon or a sufficiently powerful firearm.

The stranger's eyes sized up Diana as she approached. Diana stopped around five meters away from them and the wind blew as the stranger's red eyes met Diana's green eyes.

"Well, well, look who showed up." The person greeted her in an eerily calm voice. Diana could tell that they were happy to see her, but not for good reasons.

"You must be Mordecai." Diana replied calmly. It was obvious that the man was not here to have a friendly chat, but for a more sinister reason. The man gave a wide smile with eerily white teeth that practically gleamed in the moonlight.

"Yes. You're a perceptive one." The person replied in a dryly sarcastic jab at Diana and the smile faded. Diana ignored the jab and focused on what Mordecai was up to.

"You are not here for idle talk. What is it that you really want from me?" Diana asked him, cutting to the chase. Mordecai smiled.

"I'm here for your head. When I kill you I'm gonna cut off your head with a knife and take it back to my employer so that I can prove to them that this time you're dead for real. Then I'm gonna mount it on my trophy wall." He answered bluntly. Diana analyzed his body language and learned that he was telling the truth. He wanted her dead and was prepared to use violence to accomplish that goal. Diana was prepared to use violence to defend herself.

"You can try." Diana replied calmly. She had survived a lot over her career and she was not going to die at the hands of some wannabe Wild West gunslinger. Diana would survive whatever he could throw at her and end his life. Mordecai only smiled.

"Yes! That's just what I wanted to hear!" He complimented Diana for her refusal to die without a fight. He was clearly looking forward to the fight because he was smiling widely. He had also produced a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun from underneath his coat and was holding it in a ready position.

"Now c'mon, Blondie! Enough talk! Let's fight!" Mordecai bade her. Diana obligingly took Saint Sinner Valentine off of her back and readied it for use. The man noticed her weapon and commented.

"Ooooh, I get a new weapon when I kill you! I can't wait to take that gun from your cold, dead hands!" Mordecai remarked in anticipation of taking Saint Sinner Valentine as a prize after he had killed her. Diana frowned. Saint Sinner Valentine was not going to become his prize. It was going to remain in her possession and she was going to use it to kill him.

[Post Word Count: 830]
[Total Word Count: 830/10,000]

Diana hefted Saint Sinner Valentine to her right shoulder and aimed for Mordecai's head. She was going to end this quickly and cleanly, but he had come prepared to fight. He aimed and fired one of the barrels at her and she ducked, then he quickly aimed and fired the other barrel and grazed her left shoulder. Diana's left shoulder stung from the buckshot, but she managed to keep her focus long enough to fire off a three-round burst that hit his right shoulder. Instead of being dismayed by the wounds, Mordecai simply laughed.

"A shoulder for a shoulder. That's a good one!" Mordecai commented before quickly aiming for her chest this time. Diana turned around and used a Reaper's Sprint to put thirty meters of distance between her and him because his sawed-off shotgun would shred her if he got to close range and fired it. Her predicament was made even worse because she was not wearing armor of any kind, just normal clothing.

Diana stopped thirty meters away and spun around to find Mordecai charging at her and closing the distance while pointing his shotgun at her the entire way. Once he closed in to twenty meters he performed a "flash step" and disappeared in a blur of red light. Diana stepped back and narrowly avoided the swing of a machete that was aimed at her midsection. She did a quick sidestep to the right to avoid getting shot in the chest with his shotgun.

Diana retaliated by firing from the hip at him, but in between the inherent inaccuracy of firing from the hip and his swift dodging to the left Mordecai was unscathed. He even laughed at her before disappearing in a "flash step." Diana, uncertain as to what direction he would attack from next, decided to use a Spirit Dome spell to attack in all directions at once. She slung Saint Sinner Valentine onto her right shoulder, channeled pale blue magic into her hands, and dropped to the ground, placing them palms-down and firing a dome of pale blue magic that emanated from her position.

Diana must have hit him because she heard a yell of pain behind her and felt the machete pass just over her head and missing her hair. Diana stood up and spun around to find Mordecai backpedaling from her while pointing the shotgun at her head. The huntress ducked just before he could fire the weapon and the buckshot passed over her head while Mordecai dispelled the machete and put away the shotgun in favor of another weapon.

"Most of my targets die in the first few attacks. Not you, though. I haven't had this much fun in years!" Mordecai complimented Diana for surviving longer than his previous targets had. A quick look at his body language told Diana that he was telling the truth when he claimed to be having fun. He looked like he was enjoying himself despite taking a few wounds from his intended target.

Diana kept quiet and focused on what learning what new weapon he was wielding. She saw that in place of the shotgun he was holding an old-fashioned Thompson submachine gun loaded with a drum magazine. It was an old weapon, but just because it was an old weapon did not mean that it could not rip Diana to shreds if he hit her with a burst from it. Her lack of body armor meant that any grazing hit would seriously inconvenience her, to say nothing of a hit to a vital area like the chest or the head.

He raised the weapon to his shoulder and aimed it at her, which caused Diana to begin moving to avoid getting shredded by the submachine gun. Mordecai squeezed the trigger and Diana began zigging, zagging, and randomly changing her speed in an effort to avoid being hit by the bullets. She had been caught out in the open and the nearest cover was roughly 100 meters away, so she had a long way to go before she reached the nearest tree.

Diana kept moving and dodging until Mordecai stopped firing at her and turned away to confront something behind him. Diana paused to look at what had drawn his attention and saw that about forty meters away thirteen of the obese zombies had heard the commotion and were shambling into the clearing. They had decided to get in on the action and had brought plenty of friends because coming in behind them were at least another ten zombies.

Diana heard moaning coming from in front of her and saw eleven of the obese zombies shambling towards her with well-used meat cleavers gleaming in the moonlight. Disregarding Mordecai for the moment, Diana decided to deal with the zombies in front of her before the gunslinger finished dealing with his zombies and turned his attention back to her. Knowing that her Armor-Piercing Bullets were of little use against them, Diana kept Saint Sinner Valentine on her shoulder and instead began using her magic. She aimed and fired a Spirit Drain Beam from her right hand that hit one of the closest zombies in the chest, killing it with one shot.

It groaned and fell onto its back as its fellows shambled past it without regard for its demise. One of the zombies drew back its arm and threw a meat cleaver at Diana. She ducked under it and retaliated with a Spirit Drain Bolt fired from her right fist. The bolt hit the zombie in the chest and it fell backwards with a groan, landing on its back and going still. Diana heard the sound of submachine gun fire coming a fair distance behind her and knew that Mordecai was still alive and cutting down the zombies that had went after him, so she needed to eliminate the zombies attacking her before he could finish off the zombies attacking him and go after her again.

However, the zombies were not making it easy for her. They were thirty meters away and hurling both meat cleavers and vomiting globs of acidic vomit at the huntress. She was so busy dodging the projectiles that she did not have much time to make any sort of counterattack just yet. Diana would have to bide her time and wait for an opening before fighting back, but she would not have too long to make her move. She was hearing laughing from Mordecai's direction and a lot of submachine gun fire, which meant that he was getting the upper hand against his attackers.

[Post Word Count: 1,092]
[Total Word Count: 1,922/10,000]

-Fat Monsterland, four minutes later-

Now facing nine obese zombies after having killed two a few minutes ago, Diana was forced to keep dodging thrown meat cleavers and globs of acidic vomit vomited in her direction. She had taken several large steps back and had weaved around the projectiles, but there were still plenty of projectiles flying about. She continued to hear laughter and submachine gun fire a fair distance behind her, meaning that Mordecai was still busy with his zombies. Diana knew that she could not handle both the zombies and the gunslinger at once, so she would need to hurry up and get rid of the zombies as quickly as she could.

Diana spotted a zombie shambling towards her and raised her left hand, firing a Spirit Drain Beam that hit it in the chest and killed it. It groaned and toppled onto its side, leaving eight more zombies to deal with. She dodged another storm of projectiles directed at her and then clenched her left hand into a fist. She used a Spirit Drain Bolt to hit an obese zombie in the chest, causing it to groan loudly and pitch forward. It fell onto its face and did not move again.

With seven zombies left Diana gained a bit of breathing room to use more of her spells without worrying quite as much about catching a meat cleaver to the face or being hit with acidic vomit. She decided to use her old standby In Nomine Luna to take care of all of them at once. Diana turned around and used a Reaper's Sprint spell to travel twenty meters away, then spun around, channeled silver magic into her hands and through her body, then raised her hands palms-out and aimed them at the zombies.

"IN NOMINE LUNA!" Diana called out before firing the wide beam of silver magic at the zombies. The beam shot forward and hit all of the zombies, disintegrating them into piles of ash that blew away on the wind. Having dealt with her attackers, Diana turned back to Mordecai to see how he was faring and saw him running right for her with submachine gun blazing.

Diana took evasive action and ran to the left while taking Saint Sinner Valentine off of her shoulder and readying it for use. She continued to dodge until the submachine gun stopped firing, then spun around and aimed at Mordecai's chest. She fired a three-round burst that missed because he did a forward roll onto his shoulder to avoid the bullets. At the end of the roll he quickly jumped to his feet and brought out his machete, then disappeared in a red blur that indicated when he used his "flash step."

The huntress was not sure what direction he would attack from. She was fairly certain that he would not fall for her Spirit Dome spell again, so she would need to use another spell that could attack in all directions when used. She opted to use a spell of her Lunar Guardian magic called Moonlight. Diana channeled magic into the tip of her left index finger, then raised it above her head. The magic burst and caused a column of moonlight to emanate from her position and strike Mordecai just as he reappeared an arm's length away from her left side, momentarily blinding him and causing the machete swing to go wide, cutting the shoulder of her left sleeve and miraculously missing the flesh.

"DAMN!" He yelled. He stepped back and covered his eyes with his free hand, then began swinging blindly with the machete to keep Diana from closing in on him while he was temporarily blinded. Diana took the opportunity to retreat five meters to put some distance between him and her, then turned around and aimed Saint Sinner Valentine at him. Unfortunately for her Mordecai recovered his sight right as she aimed at him. She fired a three-round burst that grazed his shoulder but did no real harm.

"You've gotta do better than that if you want to take me down, Blondie!" Mordecai taunted Diana before dispelling the submachine gun and bringing out the sawed-off shotgun again. She knew what his plan was. He was going to get as close to her as possible, then fire both barrels at once. If the gunslinger's shots connected at point-blank range Diana would be badly hurt, to put it lightly.

Diana took a step back and aimed for Mordecai, then fired a lengthy burst that hit nothing but air because he vanished in another "flash step." Diana was again faced with the predicament of not knowing where he would attack from and not knowing what spell to use to counter the gunslinger. She was sure that by now he had caught onto her tactic of using area of effect spells to hit the area around her whenever he disappeared. The huntress would need to come up with a new tactic to keep Mordecai from closing in and using that shotgun to badly wound her.

But what new tactic could she come up with that would work?

Diana had no idea, but she would need to come up with something fast unless she wanted to be worn down and eventually killed by Mordecai. Speaking of the gunslinger, he reappeared to her right with the shotgun raised and aimed at her head. Diana ducked just in time to avoid losing her head to the roaring shotgun as both barrels were fired at once. Not missing a beat, he aimed a kick at the side of her head that she blocked with her left forearm. Ignoring her throbbing left forearm, she raised Saint Sinner Valentine in her right hand and aimed for his chest, but Mordecai quickly kicked the barrel of the weapon aside just as she squeezed the trigger and caused her shots to miss.

Barely keeping her grip on Saint Sinner Valentine after the forceful kick, Diana stood up and did a quick side roll to the left just in time to avoid getting hit with a double-barreled blast to the face. She stood up and started running as Mordecai laughed at her and readied another weapon, probably the submachine gun. Mordecai was having the time of his life, but Diana was not so amused. Still, she supposed that this situation was a result of her bad deeds finally catching up with her. The punishment had come in the form of a Wild West gunslinger who was armed to the teeth and who would not quit pursuing her until he or Diana lay dead on the ground.

Diana would get through this challenge, but it was not going to be easy. Mordecai, whether by deducing how she worked or being aggressive because he was always aggressive, kept getting into close range with Diana, a range she was not used to fighting in. She would need to keep putting distance between him and her and start using her stronger spells if she wanted to begin fighting back.

[Post Word Count: 1,170]
[Total Word Count: 3,092/10,000]

Diana, not wanting to be close to Mordecai for any length of time if she could possibly help it, turned away from him and used a Reaper's Sprint to put 100 meters between him and her, then turned around and aimed for him. She aimed for the chest and fired. She rattled off only seven rounds before Saint Sinner Valentine started clicking. Diana soon realized why her weapon had started clicking.

She needed to reload!

"Damn." Diana hissed as she tapped the reload button and began the five-second countdown until she could fire again. Mordecai, in the meantime, was firing at her with his submachine gun while charging. Standing her ground and trying to hit him with at least one of her stronger spells, Diana used her left hand to aim and cast a Spirit Drain Beam at the charging gunslinger. He did a forward shoulder roll under the beam and came up in a kneeling position, then resumed firing from seventy meters away. Diana fell back while her weapon reloaded and heard a few rounds whistle by her head as she tried to put more distance between her and Mordecai.

Mordecai laughed as Diana continued to fall back until she had put ten additional meters between him and her. She spun around and aimed for him as he charged at her with submachine gun blazing. She aimed for his chest and fired, holding down the trigger and hoping to make at least a few hits on him. She watched as Mordecai disappeared in a red blur and her rounds flew harmlessly into the distance.

Diana waited for him to reappear and looked all around her. Her first instinct was to fall back again, but if she started running he would appear right behind her and either gun her down or run her through with that machete of his. She would take a risk by standing her ground and waiting for Mordecai to reappear so that he could not get a free attack on her.

She did not have long to wait because the gunslinger reappeared in a red blur and swung his machete at her neck. Diana ducked under the swing and then blocked the kick aimed at her face with her left forearm. She quickly rolled forward to avoid being hit by a submachine gun burst at point-blank range or a stab from the machete and began to sprint away from Mordecai as he spun around and began to fire at her as she fell back again. She heard him fire ten rounds before his weapon clicked.

"DAMN IT!" He shouted and shook the weapon. He clearly needed to reload but had gotten so caught up in trying to kill Diana that he had forgotten to reload. He stood in place to reload while the huntress took advantage of the lucky break to put some distance between them. While she ran Diana began to think about the ammunition she was firing from Saint Sinner Valentine.

Ordinary bullets were not doing the trick against him. Armor-Piercing Bullets would not work very well either since as far as she knew he was not wearing body armor. Ultraviolet Bullets would not work at all since he was not a vampire. That narrowed the ammunition choices to either Silver Bullets or Anti-Mage Bullets.

Diana decided to load Anti-Mage Bullets into Saint Sinner Valentine to see if she could not actually hurt Mordecai whenever she hit him next... if she could hit him to start with. Despite his size and straightforward approach he was remarkably hard to hit. He was deceptively good at dodging incoming gunfire and spells and moved quickly. Diana loaded the Anti-Mage Bullets and began the countdown while the weapon changed ammunition types. Mordecai completed his reload and aimed the submachine gun at her.

Diana stood her ground and formed her left hand into a fist, then channeled pale blue magic into it and punched forward, releasing a Spirit Drain Bolt that connected with Mordecai's chest just as he squeezed the trigger and made his burst go wide when he put his free hand to his chest. Mordecai soon recovered and began to run at her with the weapon firing. Diana began to dodge the incoming bullets and when Saint Sinner Valentine was reloaded she crouched down, raised the weapon, and fired a single Anti-Mage Bullet at his chest.

It hit him in the center of his chest but did not have any visible effect. Mordecai kept charging like she had not even shot him.

Diana frowned at the lack of effect the Anti-Mage Bullet had on him. She had hit him with the strongest ammunition type Saint Sinner Valentine could fire and that was his reaction to it? The failure of the Anti-Mage Bullets left only one option for her to use... Silver Bullets.

Diana tapped the button and began the wait for the weapon to switch to Silver Bullets. Mordecai was not going to wait for the reload and disappeared in a red blur. Diana wished that she had not tapped the button to switch ammunition types, but it was too late now. She was already committed to the switch and would have to wait for it to finish. While she waited she looked around her to see where Mordecai would reappear.

He reappeared to her left and took a swing at her with the machete. Diana spun around to face him and the machete missed her left arm and midsection by an uncomfortably narrow margin. Mordecai followed up with a kick aimed at her midsection and Diana stepped back to avoid it. She took another step back and channeled silver magic into her right foot, then stepped forward and performed a Crescent Phase crescent kick aimed at the side of his head, her foot leaving a silver trail in the air as it arced towards the target. Diana's foot connected with the side of his head and he yelled in pain while staggering back.

He righted himself and looked at her, then began to smile widely.

"That was a good kick, Blondie! Fighting you's more fun than I thought it was gonna be!" Mordecai complimented her for the hit she had just landed on him. The gunslinger was a tough customer who was not going to be easy to take down and landing that kick was a small victory for Diana, but one kick was not going to win this fight for her. He had kept her on the defensive for roughly half of their fight, which was an uncommon situation for Diana to be in. She would have to go on the offensive in order to win, but she would have to be very careful when attacking him because she did not know what kind of tricks Mordecai had held in reserve for when he was forced on the back foot by an opponent.

[Post Word Count: 1,148]
[Total Word Count: 4,240/10,000]

Not wanting to stay in close range to the gunslinger any longer than she had to, Diana turned and used a Reaper's Sprint spell to put 50 meters between herself and Mordecai. When she reappeared at the desired distance she spun around and aimed Saint Sinner Valentine at Mordecai, then fired for his chest. She resisted the temptation to go for headshots because now was not the time for fancy trick shots. She needed to land hits on him and wear him down over time like he was trying to do to her. However, he was not going to cooperate because he vanished in yet another "flash step" and was likely headed right for her.

Diana lowered the weapon to her hip and began to look for him. She soon saw him reappear right in front of her and take a horizontal swing with his machete. Diana jumped back and felt the tip of the machete cut her shirt but thankfully miss the flesh. She jumped back again and aimed for his chest, firing Silver Bullets from the hip. This time a few of them managed to hit him.

However, they had no appreciable effect. Mordecai simply glared at her and ran over to her, swinging for her face with his left fist. Diana ducked under it, then rolled forward onto her shoulder to avoid the follow-up kick aimed at her face. She avoided it and popped up just as he turned and faced her. Diana spun around and aimed for him again, but he batted her rifle aside with the back of his right hand and slammed the heel of his left hand into her chest.

Diana was launched backwards and landed three meters away, gasping for breath after having it knocked out of her. Mordecai laughed and faced her again. Diana hurried to her feet and reached for Saint Sinner Valentine, but Mordecai performed a quick "flash step" and reappeared in front of her, then kicked it out of reach before she could grab it. Diana stood up and formed her right hand into a fist, then channeled pale blue magic into it. Once he got within punching distance Diana punched at him with a Spirit Drain Punch, but he deftly ducked under it and soon came up with an uppercut.

Diana stepped back and summoned her Suppressed Handgun, then opened fire as Mordecai approached her. He smiled as the rounds hit him in the chest and did nothing. He drew back his machete and swung down, aiming for her left shoulder to cripple her with either a bad shoulder wound or a severed arm. Diana sidestepped the blade and emptied the rest of the pistol magazine into his side with no effect.

She dispelled the Suppressed Handgun and decided that she should use her spells since her weapons were of little use against him: even the Silver Bullets of Saint Sinner Valentine were practically worthless. Speaking of Saint Sinner Valentine, Diana had to keep it out of his hands. Just because its rounds were worthless against him did not mean that its rounds would be worthless against her if Mordecai could pick it up and use it against her. The gunslinger ignored the weapon and went for Diana, attacking her with a diagonal machete swing.

Diana jumped back and readied a Spirit Drain Beam. She fired it at him and he ducked under it, then drew his sawed-off shotgun and aimed it at her. Diana sidestepped the first shot and ducked under the second, then continued to put some distance between him and her while trying to think of a way to recover Saint Sinner Valentine before he could pick it up and use it against her. She fell back three meters and Mordecai laughed again while he turned away from her.

Diana knew exactly what he was doing.

He was going for Saint Sinner Valentine!

Diana could not let him get the weapon, so she decided to use a Reaper's Sprint to beat him to the weapon and grab it off the ground before he could. She disappeared in a "flash step" and reappeared right in front of him, catching him by surprise. She snatched up the red assault rifle and quickly jumped back before he could react. Mordecai wordlessly aimed his shotgun at her and fired both barrels at once.

Diana ducked under the blast and fired again with Saint Sinner Valentine. Again she hit him in the chest and again the Silver Bullets did absolutely nothing. The huntress tapped the reload button, flipped the safety on, and slung the rifle across her body to keep from losing it a second time. The gunslinger frowned and aimed his shotgun at her.

Diana waited for him to fire so that she could retreat in relative safety, but he held off on firing. Diana was tempted to use a spell to try and get a hit on Mordecai, but she did not want to commit to it only for him to close in with a "flash step" and blast her at point-blank range with that shotgun while she was unable to dodge.

Or maybe she could exploit that trick of his to land a hit.

It was risky because if she missed with the spell or mistimed its use she was wide open to attack and he would need to only land a few with his shotgun or machete. If she could hit him with one of her spells she could hurt him. She had already hit him a few times and her aim was to either kill him or hurt him badly enough to force him to retreat.

With the intent of reaching either of those goals in mind, Diana channeled silver magic into her right arm and saw him disappear in a red blur. She waited for just the right moment to cast her Guardian's Flare spell, but she had better not wait too long. If she waited too late Mordecai would get a free hit on her and with the weapons he was packing he would not need to get too many hits on her to badly wound her... or kill her.

[Post Word Count: 1,028]
[Total Word Count: 5,268/10,000]

Diana was waiting until Mordecai reappeared before using her Guardian's Flare spell, but she was not sure from which direction he would strike this time. She suspected that he would try for a machete attack from behind, but she could not rule out him going for the quick kill and trying to hit her at point-blank range with a sawed-off shotgun blast to the abdomen or head. If he attacked from the front she would have to have perfect timing with Guardian's Flare in order to avoid a nasty gunshot wound.

Diana waited and waited until she saw Mordecai reappear right in front of her and begin to raise the shotgun. Since it was now or never, Diana quickly thrust her right arm upward and released the Guardian's Flare spell, hitting him in a burst of silver light that emanated from her position. Mordecai yelled and blindly fired his shotgun at her head, clipping her left shoulder with a single barrel blast. Diana screamed and staggered back from the impact of the stinging buckshot that had lodged itself in her left shoulder.

Diana's left shoulder began to hurt, but she could not stop to tend to it now. She was lucky that being clipped in the left shoulder was the worst wound she had sustained from the shotgun blast. If the shotgun barrel had been aimed just a few inches to the right she would have been hit squarely in the throat and that would have hurt her a lot worse. As it was Diana's left arm was so limited in how it could move that it was almost useless to her... she was down to just her right arm.

Still, Mordecai had not gotten away unscathed by taking the Guardian's Flare at close range. He had been hurt by the spell and was disoriented, giving Diana a chance to disengage or to attack with little fear of retaliation. She chose to take this chance to attack. Diana powered up a Spirit Drain Beam and fired it at him, hitting him in the chest and causing him to yell in pain for a second time.

"DAMN!" He bellowed after the pale blue beam hit. Diana was glad to see that she was actually hurting him, but she was not sure how much she was hurting him. He still had plenty of fight left in him while she was down to one arm that she could still use. She was not sure if she could kill him... she might have to settle for hurting him badly enough to force him to retreat.

Diana clenched her right hand into a fist and channeled pale blue magic into it, then punched at Mordecai, firing a Spirit Drain Bolt that hit him in the chest and caused him to yell in pain a third time. After that hit Mordecai snapped out of his disoriented state and focused on Diana. His red eyes met her green eyes and he frowned.

"You're good, Blondie. You've pushed me further than any of my previous targets." He informed her. Diana took advantage of his remaining stationary to make another attack on him. She held her right hand out with the palm facing him, then channeled silver magic into the hand. Once the spell was ready Diana fired a Moon Beam at him. The beam of sparkling silver light hit him in the face and blinded him, causing him to yell in agony.

"DAMN YOU!" He shouted at her and began firing the shotgun blindly in the hope of hitting her before she could make another attack while he was blinded. Diana stepped back and managed to raise her left arm to attempt to use an In Nomine Luna spell on the gunslinger before he could recover and go on the attack again. She clenched her teeth and put her hands in front of her, then channeled silver magic into her hands and her entire body began to glow silver.

Once the spell was ready Diana fired the wide silver beam of light at the blinded Mordecai.

"IN NOMINE LUNA!" Diana exclaimed. The wide silver beam of light hit him and he yelled in pain, momentarily disappearing in the beam as it enveloped him. Diana watched as the beam disappeared and Mordecai was still standing. The huntress frowned and clenched her teeth as she was forced to drop her left arm to her side again due to the pain pulsing through her left shoulder.

As for Mordecai, she had hit him with Lunar Guardian's strongest spell and he was still standing. Not only was he still standing, but he looked absolutely furious. He clenched his teeth and gave her a withering glare as he raised his shotgun and aimed it at her torso.

"I've had just about enough of you, Blondie. I'm through playing around. I'm gonna kill you here and now before you cause me any more trouble!" Mordecai declared. He was serious about his intent to end her life here and now. Diana, having already hit him with most of her strongest spells and feeling unsure as to what else she could possibly throw at him, was having a difficult time coming up with anything else to use against the gunslinger. Most of her opponents did not survive a direct hit from an In Nomine Luna spell, but then again, this was the first time she had ever used it against a human.

In addition to not having any idea exactly what spell to use next, Diana was also having trouble because most of her most powerful spells required both hands to use and her left shoulder was in quite a bit of pain. With her left shoulder in pain the amount of time she could keep her left hand raised was limited. Diana needed to think of another spell to use and think fast. She could see that Mordecai was ready to put an end to her at this very moment if she let him. She was not going to let him kill her, not without a fight.

The huntress tried to think of a good spell to use against him, one that had enough power to either kill him outright or hurt him so badly that he had no choice but to back off before he was killed. While he was standing with the shotgun aimed at her, he was not pursuing her with the same vigor he had pursued her with earlier. He was looking a little worn down, but the huntress still kept her distance because even in his fatigued state Mordecai was still quite dangerous. It seemed like he had never been on the back foot before and he was struggling to adapt to being at a disadvantage.

[Post Word Count: 1,126]
[Total Word Count: 6,394/10,000]

Diana was at a disadvantage because currently she only had one hand with which to reliably cast spells, but Mordecai was at a disadvantage too. He looked like he was losing steam and was struggling to adapt to being on the defensive during a fight. He was used to steamrolling the opposition with a combination of brute force and the ability to endure the attacks of his opponents until he could get into position to deliver a fatal counterattack. Diana had spent part of the fight dodging him and retaliating the best she could until she had hit him with a Guardian's Flare spell.

That was where the fight began to turn in her favor. While he was disoriented from the Guardian's Flare she hammered him with a Spirit Drain Beam and a Spirit Drain Bolt followed by a Moon Beam that blinded him. While he was momentarily blinded she cast the most powerful spell of her Lunar Guardian magic, In Nomine Luna. He had weathered it all, but he had taken a lot of harm from the spells. Now they were in a standoff.

Both combatants were waiting to see who made the first move. Mordecai had the shotgun aimed and ready to fire but he had not fired yet. Diana was still able to fight with her magic and still had plenty of magic power to use, but she had not chosen a spell to use yet. Both combatants faced each other and waited for the other to make the first move as the wind blew.

Moments later Mordecai's finger twitched on the trigger and Diana reacted with lightning speed, ducking just before she would have taken a lethal hit. Ducking save her life because instead of taking a lethal hit the buckshot whistled uncomfortably close to her head and a couple of pellets grazed her right shoulder. Rather than pressing the attack and risking getting hit in a vital area with his second shot, Diana stood up and quickly spun around, using a Reaper's Sprint to put 50 meters between her and the gunslinger. She reappeared 50 meters away and turned around to find Mordecai exchanging his shotgun for his submachine gun.

Diana put the idea of trying to hit him with a long-range spell on the back burner and focused entirely on dodging the gunslinger's barrage of bullets. She ducked and weaved and did her best to put more distance between him and her, but Mordecai charged at her with submachine gun blazing. He did not particularly care for accuracy... he just wanted to keep her from attacking long enough to get in range to shred her with the submachine gun or to use another one of his weapons to attack her. Having finally come up with a spell to use against him, Diana placed her right hand behind her back and readied a Silver Strobe spell. If she could hit him with it, the Silver Strobe could blind him long enough for her to cast another spell and end the fight in her favor.

Diana stood her ground and waited for Mordecai to come closer, then tossed the Silver Strobe at his feet when he was roughly 10 meters away from her. Diana covered her eyes just as it went off in several rapid flashes of silver light, blinding Mordecai and buying her a little time to try and finish the job. Even now Mordecai was struggling to recover, so she would have to act fast. Diana raised both hands in front of her and channeled silver magic into them.

Her entire body began to glow silver as she prepared to fire her ultimate spell In Nomine Luna at the gunslinger. Once it was ready Diana held her left hand up just long enough to fire the spell. She hoped that the second In Nomine Luna would do it because she doubted that she could fire a third.

"IN NOMINE LUNA!" Diana called out the name of the spell just before firing the beam. Mordecai took a direct hit and he was temporarily enveloped by the beam. When the silver light faded Mordecai was still standing, but he was hunched over in pain and glaring at her defiantly. He was challenging her to close in and finish the job, but the huntress was not going to take the bait. She would stand back and finish him from a distance.

Diana raised her right hand and prepared to fire a Spirit Drain Beam. Once the spell was ready Diana fired it and hit Mordecai in the chest, hurting him further. At this point the huntress was not optimistic about her chances of killing him. He had taken every big-ticket spell she could throw at him and was asking for more. What would it take to put him down once and for all?

She had tried every almost type of ammunition Saint Sinner Valentine could fire. Excluding Ultraviolet Bullets and the special less-than lethal rounds, Diana had used everything including Silver Bullets, which was supposed to be specially made to harm supernatural targets. They did very little good against him. In fact she would have been better off just throwing rocks at Mordecai.

Mordecai backed up three steps and slowly stood up straight. He kept his free hand on his chest while aiming the submachine gun at her with his right hand. Diana stayed where she was and prepared to dodge more gunfire when he spoke to her.

"You're good, Blondie. In fact I sold ya short and I got beaten up for it. You got the best of old Mordecai this time." The gunslinger conceded defeat to the huntress. Diana was not buying it for an instant. She read his body language and the gunslinger was lying through his teeth. He had yet another trick up his sleeve, but what was it?

Mordecai's hand slowly moved along his chest, sliding behind his back. Diana watched his hand slowly move while he kept the submachine gun aimed at her with his right hand. She knew that he was going for a weapon and that she needed to hit him with another spell, but he had already an automatic weapon aimed at her. She needed to play it cool until she could come up with a good spell to hit him with.

She put her right hand behind her own back and prepared an Argent Hand Grenade spell. He reached for his hidden weapon and drew it right as Diana brought out her right hand to throw the Argent Hand Grenade. He squeezed the trigger on the submachine gun and Diana ducked under it, but then he brought his hidden weapon into play and began firing a revolver at her. The huntress threw the Argent Hand Grenade at Mordecai and heard the blast seconds later as a revolver bullet slammed into her left shoulder, causing a new wave of pain to surge through the shoulder.

There would be no more In Nomine Luna spells cast tonight.

[Post Word Count: 1,168]
[Total Word Count: 7,562/10,000]

Mordecai yelled in pain from being caught in the blast of the Argent Hand Grenade. Diana stood up and watched him empty the revolver in her direction without landing any further hits. Now that the element of surprise was gone it was a simple matter to dodge the bullets because they were not being aimed, only fired in the direction the disoriented gunslinger had last seen her. She dodged five more shots and once the pistol was empty she prepared a Spirit Drain Beam and fired, hitting him in the chest while he was disoriented from the blast.

Diana formed her right hand into a fist, drew it back, and channeled pale blue magic into it, then punched at Mordecai and fired a Spirit Drain Bolt that connected as he recovered from the disorientation effect of the Argent Hand Grenade. Mordecai staggered back and Diana readied a third spell to throw at him. He was definitely losing steam now because he was not even trying to attack her. It seemed like he was more focused on trying to find a way to safely disengage without taking any more hits from her.

Diana was sorely tempted to rush in and finish him before he could escape, but that was exactly what he wanted her to do. He wanted her to get overconfident and try to finish him off at close range so that he could whip out his machete or sawed-off shotgun and turn the tables on her. In her current shape getting into close range with him was folly. Instead Diana backed away from him while he backed away from her and both opponents eyed each other warily, watching for any more hidden tricks to be brought out in an effort to claim victory at the last second.

Mordecai kept backing away from her with the submachine gun while Diana pointed her right hand at him and prepared to cast a spell at a moment's notice. Once he was about five meters away from her he spoke to her. His eyes met hers as he spoke.

"Tonight was a draw, Blondie. I'll send for you when I want another duel. Next time I won't go easy on you. You can count on that!" Mordecai conceded tonight's bout but promised to summon her for another duel at some point in the future. Diana analyzed his body language and saw that he was telling the truth. He fully intended to seek her out for another duel and pull out all the stops to kill her.

Diana knew that she should not be letting him go because he was only going to come back for a second attempt at killing her, but she was too badly beat up to chase after him. Without being able to use her left hand to hold a weapon steady or to cast magic she did not have a realistic chance of winning if she pursued him and he turned to fight back. As much as she hated it, she had no choice but to let him go for tonight. Diana watched Mordecai continue to back away from her with gun raised until he got to twenty meters away, then he turned and walked six steps before disappearing into a circular red portal that opened in front of him and disappeared as soon as he stepped through it.

Once she was sure that the gunslinger was definitely gone and not trying to trick her before making another attack Diana took a deep breath. The pain of the wounds in her left shoulder was getting to her and she needed to remove the bullets before the wounds got infected. She needed medical treatment, but she needed to find someone who was discreet and would not ask questions. Then Diana thought about it and realized that she might not need to use a back-alley doctor or jump through hoops to get medical care from a legitimate medical faculty.

Maybe she should just walk into a hospital and use the story that she was a Guildless mage who got into a scuffle with bandits and took a few gunshot wounds. It was technically true and few people were likely to argue with obvious evidence that supported the claim like visible bullet wounds. Using that story to get professional medical aid would be a lot easier than trying to find a back-alley doctor, let alone find a back-alley doctor she could trust.

Diana tried to think of somewhere she could teleport for some medical care. Capital Crocus was the first place on her list, but she still had Saint Sinner Valentine with her. She would need to rid herself of the weapon before going to the hospital. Diana was just about to teleport when she saw approximately twenty obese zombies shambling in her direction from thirty meters away. They must have heard the commotion of the fight and were looking to get an easy meal.

Diana took a deep breath and prepared to fight. She could have just teleported away to avoid all the muss and fuss of another fight after the fight with Mordecai, but she did not want to take the risk of them shambling out of Fat Monsterland in search of her and attacking anyone they came across. The huntress would stay and eliminate the zombies shambling towards her before she left.

She raised her right hand and channeled pale blue magic into it, then fired a Spirit Drain Beam that hit one of the zombies and killed it instantly. It fell to the ground with a groan while its fellows shambled past it on their way to the huntress. If Diana could raise her left arm and use her left hand she could use In Nomine Luna to dispose of the zombies with a single powerful spell and be on her way, but right now she could not use her left arm, so she would just have to make do with the spells she could use with her right hand. Thankfully she had quite a few powerful spells that could be used with only one hand and she was going to use each and every one of them to win this fight.

Diana channeled silver magic into the tip of her right index finger and raised it above her head, causing a silver column of moonlight to appear, emanate from her position, and catch eight of the zombies in its radius. They groaned and were killed instantly, dropping to the ground almost simultaneously. That left only eleven zombies to deal with, but now they were twenty meters away and some of them were flinging meat cleavers and vomiting globs of acidic vomit at her. This was not going to be easy, especially since Diana was fighting with only one hand and fighting without the ability to use her most powerful crowd control spells.

[Post Word Count: 1,145]
[Total Word Count: 8,707/10,000]

Even though she was at a disadvantage Diana was determined to stay and eliminate the eleven zombies opposing her before she left Fat Monsterland. If she could go toe-to-toe with Mordecai and fight him to a draw, she could easily take on this gaggle of zombies. However, the zombies were giving her a lot of trouble despite how slow they were. That trouble was due to the sheer number of them... even though she had killed nine out of twenty zombies within minutes of the fight starting, eleven zombies hurling projectiles at her meant that there were a lot of projectiles to dodge.

They were throwing meat cleavers and vomiting at her and Diana was able to dodge the attacks with little effort, but not being able to end the fight with a single use of In Nomine Luna was making things more challenging than they had to be. Still, that kind of challenge was all in a day's work for the huntress. She dodged more meat cleavers and channeled pale blue magic into her right hand before balling it into a fist and punching towards the nearest zombie, firing a Spirit Drain Bolt that hit it in the chest and killed it on impact. Now there were only ten more zombies to deal with.

After killing that zombie Diana was forced to go on the defensive again and dodge still more projectiles, which she did by quickly ducking under the meat cleavers and globs of vomit and sidestepping when necessary. Once she got an opening Diana singled out an obese zombie with a missing eye and raised her right hand, holding it up with the palm out and pointing towards the target. She began channeling silver magic into it and once the spell was ready Diana fired a Moon Beam at the one-eyed zombie. The beam of sparkling silver light hit the target, bringing it down in a single hit and leaving nine more zombies.

Diana was forced to dodge once again as more meat cleavers were thrown at her. She dodged until the zombies were within ten meters. Diana could not use Spirit Dome, but she could use Moonlight, which was almost as good and could be used with only one hand. Diana channeled silver magic into the tip of her right index finger and once the spell was ready raised her finger above her head. The accumulated magic on the tip of her finger burst, causing a column of moonlight to emanate from her position and hit eight of the zombies in the spell's radius. They dropped dead almost instantly, leaving only one obese zombie standing.

The huntress dodged the projectiles with ease now that there was only one zombie throwing meat cleavers at her. The toughest part of the duel with the lone zombie was trying to decide what spell to use to kill it. She settled for using Spirit Drain Beam when it was within five meters of her. Diana channeled pale blue magic into her right hand and aimed at the zombie's chest, then fired a Spirit Drain Beam that killed it on impact and marked the end of the fight with the zombies. Now that all the zombies were dead she was free to leave Fat Monsterland and seek some much-needed medical attention for her left shoulder.

Diana turned around and began to walk away from the numerous zombie corpses that she and Mordecai had left during a brief break in their fight earlier. She had done her part to make sure that no zombies followed her out of the area by killing all of them that had pursued her. Now it was time to go get medical attention before her wounds got infected and made her problems a lot worse than just having torn clothing or having to walk to Capita Crocus.

Then she realized something.

Why walk when she could teleport?

She could just teleport to Capital Crocus or Sakuramori for medical treatment.

Diana seriously considered Sakuramori because no one knew her there. She knew a few people in Capital Crocus and they knew her... in particular Angela Helton's friend Amber worked at Capital Crocus' hospital and if she saw Diana word would spread about Diana being at the hospital. However, Diana knew no one in Sakuramori and no one knew her. She could be all but assured of professional medical treatment without having to worry about word getting out and Mordecai's employer putting two and two together until she was healed and ready to fend off further attempts on her life.

After weighing the pros and cons of Capital Crocus and Sakuramori, Diana decided to go to Sakuramori for medical treatment. She began the teleport and soon blinked out of sight after making sure that no one had seen her teleport. Diana was on her way to Sakuramori.

-The outskirts of Sakuramori, ten seconds later-

Diana blurred back into existence on the outskirts of Sakuramori and immediately began walking towards the town. She hoped that there was a hospital here. If there was no hospital, she hoped that she could at least find someone who could remove the buckshot and bullet from her left shoulder and left side before the wounds got infected. She would find out once she got into town.

[Post Word Count: 882]
[Total Word Count: 9,589/10,000]

-Three days later, Capital Crocus, inside Capital Coffee-

Three days after the duel with Mordecai Diana was healed and on her feet again. She had to spend two nights in Sakuramori's hospital and she had to undergo an operation to remove the bullets, but she was treated before the gunshot wounds became infected and she suffered no nerve damage thanks to the efforts of the doctors and a healing mage. Thanks to their efforts the worst part of Diana's ordeal was receiving the bill for her hospital stay after being discharged. The stay had set her back to the tune of over 100,000 Jewels.

Now Diana was inside Capital Coffee sitting in her favorite white pod chair facing the entrance to Capital Crocus Mall. She was wearing her long-sleeved purple t-shirt with black skirt, white thigh-high stockings, and black tennis shoes and was sipping a double espresso. She was wearing the long-sleeved t-shirt to hide the wounds on her left shoulder and left side. She did not want to answer awkward questions about why she was wearing bandages. Thankfully the healing mage who worked with the hospital had used their magic to heal Diana so thoroughly the recovery time from gunshot wounds was cut from four weeks to only a single week.

However, Diana could not afford to sit around and let the week pass without activity. She still needed to make money and to keep her cover story as a freelance mage current. She would have to find some easy work to do until a week for now to keep active. She wondered if Armored Hearts had been approved by Lakefront Animation Studios yet. If it had voice acting would be the perfect way to make some easy money without having to fight angry gunslingers who wanted her dead.

If voice acting was not in the cards maybe Angela Helton had something easy for her to do. Maybe Angela needed a shopping partner or someone to help her with simple tasks. She might even have a friend who needed some help. Diana would find out the moment Angela sent a text message or called her iLac, but for now the huntress was content to sip coffee and watch people stream by on their way to the mall.

Diana sipped from her coffee again and was glad to be alive. She was glad that she had managed to fight Mordecai to a draw and force him to retreat for the time being. He was certain to come after her again with some new weapons and magic, but Diana was not going to rest on her laurels while Mordecai geared up for their second duel. She needed to learn some new tricks of her own... and to get some body armor so that she would not end up with multiple gunshot wounds a third time. She did not want to have to spend another 100,000 Jewels in hospital bills if she did not have to.

Still, the stay had been worth every Jewel for several reasons. First, Diana had been healed completely and was not going to suffer any nerve damage. Second, no one questioned her story of having an encounter with a bandit gang that resulted in her gunshot wounds, so she did not need to worry too much about the story leaking to unfriendly people. Third, she now had a source of reliable and professional medical help if she ever needed to go there again. However, Diana was going to do her best to avoid going to the hospital again if she could help it.

Diana would invest in some decent body armor and maybe a close-range weapon so that she could fend off Mordecai if he tried to get in close combat range again. He had gotten inside that range several times and he had made Diana pay dearly. He was bound to come after her with new weapons and tactics, so Diana would need to be ready with some new tricks of her own instead of relying on her equipment to do all of the work. Saint Sinner Valentine had proved worthless against Mordecai, so she might want to look for a better weapon. She might want to look into acquiring a weapon that was better able to harm supernaturally tough targets than Saint Sinner Valentine was.

But Diana would deal with that later. For now she just wanted to relax awhile before going back to work. She did not have this kind of opportunity too often because she was always on the move, so she would make the most of her enforced break from strenuous work to do some light work for easy money. She would look for some easy work tomorrow.

[Post Word Count: 786]
[Total Word Count: 10,375/10,000]