Gaia's Champion Ch. 68 - Teaser (Patreon)

“Jason!” Sheena shouted. He turned and saw that one of the men had drawn a knife, which wasn’t particularly concerning. What did concern him was the pistol coming out of another man’s waistband.

“Oh, fuck.”

The gun came up just as Jason moved toward it, trying to close the distance before it could do more than be aimed. The first shot cracked through the street, and the bullet struck Jason high in the shoulder, hard. He staggered but kept moving, even as Sheena screamed his name. The second shot never came as Sheena’s hand snapped outward and roots erupted through cracks in the pavement.

They wrapped around the gunman’s wrist and yanked his arm sideways, forcing the pistol to discharge into the ground. Jason looked at his shoulder and saw blood flowing from the wound, but it wasn’t much. The bullet had grazed him rather than penetrated, and his magic was already responding by healing it. Pain became heat, and heat became anger as Jason now focused on the man with the gun.

“Okay,” Jason growled as he slowly looked up.

The gunman struggled against the roots as Jason reached beneath his shirt and closed his hand around the small pendant resting against his chest. The magic answered as the miniature hammer expanded in his hand. Metal flowed across his palm as the tiny representation rapidly became something considerably more substantial.

A heartbeat later, Jason’s hammer snapped into his hand at full size, Gaian energy erupting across its surface. The street fell silent, as even the men who had been fighting stopped. Jason rolled his injured shoulder, the wound already closing, but the point still needed to be made.

“You shot me,” he growled, and the gunman went pale.

Sheena’s expression changed completely as she grabbed her own pendant and focused. Her mace expanded into existence in a rush of enchanted metal until the weapon rested comfortably in her hand. Magic crawled across its head, and Jason could feel her power, just as she could feel his, which changed everything.

His magic surged in strength, with hers answering. Whenever Jason and Sheena worked together, their magic didn’t merely combine, but was amplified. Jason’s strength fed Sheena’s connection to Gaia, as her power sharpened his own, which returned to her stronger. It created a magical resonance between them that could become downright ridiculous if they allowed it to build.

The roots binding the gunman’s arm thickened again, with some parts of the roots looking as though they were forged steel. Cracks raced across the pavement as vegetation erupted upward, with leaves unfurling and vines spreading across the ground. Jason’s hammer and eyes blazed brighter as he fed his power into the weapon, making him look more and more like a mythical thunder god.

“Holy shit,” Rosa murmured, awed by the sight of her lover.

“Yeah,” Jason said, turning to face the gangers, who were busy backing away in fear. The gunman dropped the pistol, staring at Jason in what could only be described as fearful awe, which rooted him to the spot.

“Good choice.”

Someone behind Rosa apparently made a bad one, as a shout went up, sounding very much like a war cry. Rosa turned and reached for her throat, her pendant flashing brightly, much like a solar flare would. The miniature staff expanded into her hands just in time to intercept a metal bar aimed at her head. The clang echoed through the street, and the man holding the bar stared at her in angry disbelief.

“Oh,” Rosa growled, her expression hardening as the man swung again, but she blocked it easily.

“That—”

Another swing came, but she blocked that too as she continued to speak.

“—was—”

He tried a third time, but Rosa stepped inside his reach and drove the end of her staff into his stomach.

“—rude,” she finished, as the man folded over on her weapon. He started picking himself up and scrambled away from her, knowing that trying anything more might result in something worse than a beat down. Rosa brought the staff around and smacked him across the ass hard enough to send him sprawling.

“Go home to your mother,” she scoffed, and the man mewled like a day-old kitten. But crawled away as fast as his limbs could carry him, not wishing to face such a woman again. Jason stared at the display and turned to look at Rosa, who was looking up at him curiously.

“What?”

“Nothing.”