chapter3:
Kermit moved first, tongue snapping out with a whipcrack that tore the rifle straight from the Winter Soldier's hands.
My lightsaber flared to life. It's hum filled the air as I caught the soldier's mechanical stare, cold and unblinking, fixed on the giant frog like he wasn't sure what to make of it.
"Ribbit," Kermit croaked back, low and menacing, planting himself in front of us.
I pulled Anna up slowly, my eyes never leaving the figure standing motionless before us. He tilted his head, studying my shikigami like a piece of modern art.
"If you get the chance, run," I told her, keeping my voice low, steady. "I'll try to distract him. Just go—I'll follow."
She opened her mouth to answer, but the words didn't reach me. Instinct screamed, and I moved. A pistol flashed from his belt, his arm already steady.
Protection from Arrows lit up my vision. Trajectories painted themselves clear: two bullets screaming for my legs, a dozen more boxed around them with surgical precision. He'd somehow already adapted to my ability against projectiles, cutting off all my dodge paths. If I tried to slip past, I'd be filled with bullets.
So I didn't. My hand snapped up, blade tracing the paths I could see. Two bullets meant for my legs vaporized into sparks
Behind me, Kermit lashed again, tongue coiling around the pistol. The strike landed, but the Winter Soldier was ready. His metal arm clamped down on the slick muscle and yanked, hauling Kermit off his feet.
"Ribbit!" The frog's cry cut off as he was whipped into the wall hard enough to crack stone. A normal creature would've been pulp. Kermit shook it off, his shikigami nature shielding him from the worst of it.
The soldier didn't give him a chance. He swung Kermit like a yo-yo, slamming him back and forth, but the tongue held fast, straining to rip the weapon free.
I moved in, saber raised, blade angling for the assassin as he brutalized my frog.
It was like trying to cut smoke. Every swing of my lightsaber missed, the Winter Soldier slipping back as he juggled Kermit around with his arm, dodging both me and the furious frog clinging to him.
I didn't know how far the blessing truly pushed me, only that it was barely enough to keep me half a step ahead. My body thrummed with power—I could move and strike faster than the eye could follow. Yet none of it mattered. Every swing was deflected, every slash dodged, like a child swinging at a master.
Even with me and Kermit working together, the whole fight felt like it was running in the palm of his hand.
Kermit was finally ripped free. I slashed for his neck, but he bent back with inhuman precision, missing by an inch.
A crack tore through my chest as his boot slammed into my chest. The impossible flexibility it took to land that kick barely registered before I hit the ground, lungs collapsing as the air was crushed out of me.
Agony. Pure unending agony in my chest. My vision swam. I couldn't move. My chest burned, every nerve screaming.
Through the haze I saw him step toward me, handcuffs already in his grip
"Get away from him!" Anna's scream cut through—then she was airborne, launched like a missile straight at him from Kermit.
The moment she touched him, he jolted like he'd taken a live wire. She clung for seconds, draining hard, before his metal arm ripped her free and tossed her across the room.
He staggered, drained, just enough for her next swing to barely graze his jaw.
But the way Anna moved after… it wasn't the clumsy flailing of a novice. She rolled back to her feet low, hands up, stance squared. Her guard was tight, her steps measured, every strike snapping with the ease of someone who had trained for years.
She rushed in again. A jab-straight combination forced him to guard, and she followed with a low kick that snapped against his shin. For a heartbeat, she looked like a pro fighter.
But the difference showed. Her body couldn't keep pace with the skill she'd stolen. The punches lacked weight, her movements just a fraction too slow, and each trade left her closer to breaking.
He slipped inside her guard, elbow slamming into her ribs. She gasped, pivoted on instinct, and tried to counter with a hook. He ducked, swept her leg, and she barely kept from hitting the ground by rolling through and bouncing back upright.
She had the skill. I had the strength. The Winter Soldier lacked for neither.
Kermit's tongue lashed out now and then, breaking the rhythm, keeping the duel from collapsing completely in his favor.
I tried to rise. Pain drowned me, my ribs screaming, each breath tearing worse than the last. The blessing flickered, fading away, leaving me feeling empty. I coughed hard, tasting copper, and felt my body double over.
But I forced focus. Past the haze, past the pain. The slot in me where the Blessing had been flared open. Without hesitation, I shoved Catapult into place.
New instinct surged through me, sharp and undeniable. I didn't stop to question it—I just pushed.
Earth gathered in my palm out of nothing, swelling larger and larger. By the time it grew past the size of a bowling ball, it should've been crushingly heavy, but it wasn't. It felt hollow, weightless, like holding a shell.
"Ahhh!"
Anna crumpled to the ground, clutching an arm that bent in a way it shouldn't. Kermit's tongue coiled around the Winter Soldier's head, straining, pulling, but the bastard still moved like a machine. Even blinded and bound, he forced his way forward, dragging Kermit with him inch by inch.
I staggered upright, chest screaming, and angled my arm. The rock was as light as paper, but every breath felt like fire.
Fuuu—
The boulder left my hand with a shriek of air, the size of a refrigerator barreling across the room.
Kermit, smartest damn frog alive, seemed to catch on instantly. His tongue snapped away from the Soldier's head, whipping instead toward Anna, coiling her up and dragging her out of the line of fire.
The Soldier didn't even need eyes. He shifted back, metal arm raised in perfect guard, reacting on instinct alone.
But even supersoldier reflexes don't mean shit against a giant boulder.
The impact was glorious. Stone exploded around him as the Soldier vanished into the debris, flung backward by sheer force.
"Take that, you bastard—" I managed, before a groan tore the words apart. My ribs ground together with every breath.
"Ribbit!" Kermit bounded back, Anna cradled carefully in his tongue.
"Jack, you okay?" Anna's voice shook, her face pale as she hobbled over to me.
"Just peachy—" I coughed hard, blood thick in my mouth.
She slid the ring onto my finger with trembling hands. The warmth of it cut through the haze, a brief wash of relief. I wanted to thank her, but rubble shifted.
Metal scraped free from stone, a dark shape forcing its way up. Like a damn Terminator, the Winter Soldier was already climbing out.
"Run!" I rasped.
Not needing to be told twice, Kermit's tongue snapped out immediately, pulling me into his mouth. Anna ran alongside, as the frog launched into motion down the hall, already running before the dust had even settled.
"How far to the hangar?" I forced out, barely keeping my eyes open.
"Two minutes," Anna panted, her breath ragged as we sprinted side by side.
The footsteps behind us were relentless, a pounding rhythm that never broke. Even through the haze of pain, I thought I could hear others closing in, each one echoing like a hammer. I prayed the boulder had done enough damage to slow that winter bastard down.
Time stretched, each second dragging, until at last the hangar doors loomed ahead.
We burst through into a cavernous space—an old, rotting hangar held up by rusted pillars. Dim lights flickered overhead, shadows bleeding through cracks where sunlight leaked inside. At the far wall, a corroded metal door stood waiting, sunlight spilling through its seams.
"There!" Anna pointed, already cutting toward the smaller service door at its side, sunlight streaming through.
Shouts echoed. "They're here!"
A dozen Hydra guards in full armor stormed through one entrance, rifles raised. And from the other side, the Winter bastard himself, untouched, the boulder having barely slowed him down.
I stretched my hand out from Kermit's mouth, summoning with what strength I had left. Another boulder coalesced, heavy and solid, growing fast.
Anna slammed her shoulder into the side door. The frame shrieked, metal tearing loose, and she burst through. Kermit bounded after her.
I rolled free from his mouth, chest stabbing with every breath. The boulder grew to the size of a car, and with a guttural shout, I heaved it into the doorway.
The passage opened out into a helipad carved into the mountain's side. Wind cut sharply across the platform, snow whipping sideways. Jagged cliffs surrounded us, unscalable walls of ice and rock. Beyond the edge—nothing but a sheer drop, hundreds of feet into a white void.
Gunfire cracked behind, beams scorching the stone. The silence of the mountain was gone, drowned in gunfire and wind.
The cold bit deep, searing my lungs with every gasp. We were trapped, cliffside on a frozen peak with nowhere left to go.
"There's no way down," Anna whispered, despair breaking through her voice.
Fuck.
Seeing no other option, I started to shout, "Fine, you bastards—give me another mod—"
Glass shattered above.
The Winter Soldier vaulted through the hangar's upper windows, dropping onto the platform like a predator. He hit the ground hard, glass crunching under his heels, and charged.
Panic surged. I quickly conjured another stone, tire-sized, and flung it. He slipped past like it was nothing, weaving low, body twisting with mechanical precision.
Before I could summon more, he was on me. His arms snapped forward, catching both my wrists, folding them back until pain shrieked through my bones. My fingers gave, the forming stone breaking apart uselessly.
"Jack!" Anna screamed. She lunged, her fist thrown with stolen skill. She swung for his head, but he caught her arm mid-strike. One brutal twist and she was down, crumpled against the concrete, gasping in pain.
I tried to kick, to drive him back, but he slammed me down with a knee to my chest. My broken ribs screamed as his weight crushed the air out of me. Cold steel cuffs clinked as he reached for them, pressing me into the snow-slick helipad.
Then a shadow slammed into him.
"Ribbit!"
Kermit struck like a battering ram, his huge body colliding with the Winter Soldier. The metal arm tore free from me as Kermit's tongue lashed tight, wrapping and dragging, binding his waist tightly.
The Winter Soldier staggered, heels grinding against the slick platform, metal fingers clawing at the ground for purchase. But Kermit didn't let go. He yanked again, and for a split second our eyes met before the frog launched himself over the edge.
Metal screamed against stone, shrill as nails on a chalkboard, as the sheer weight of a giant frog dragged down the Soldier.
"No!" My voice cracked, but it was too late.
One final whip of his tongue, and frog and Soldier tumbled together. The platform shuddered as they vanished into the abyss below, swallowed by the hollowing winds.
A cry tore out of me as I watched Kermit vanish, his sacrifice echoing hollow in my chest. The crash of stone behind me ended any chance to mourn.
[Feat Achieved! Survive the Winter Soldier!]
[1 Gold Gacha Ticket]
I ripped the ticket without hesitation.
[Spatial Displacement]
Epic Ability
You can freely teleport in a 50-meter range around yourself and have complete spatial awareness of it. You can teleport inside of that range instantly but the more you teleport in a row the more vertigo you will experience.
I slotted the ability in, instincts snapping into place as if it had always been there. I grabbed Anna, held tight, and leapt.
Space folded.
I teleported.
And then again. And again. My vision spun, my skull rattled with each jump, but I didn't stop. Snow and sky flashed by in jolts, the world twisting sideways. My stomach lurched, bile rising, but I just kept jumping.
The landscape blurred—sky, snow, cliffside flashing in stuttering frames. My head burned, my balance shredded, but still I dragged us further.
Only when my heart pounded so violently I thought it might burst did I stop.
We collapsed into the snow, god knows how far from the base.
"Jack…" Anna's voice reached me through the haze, thin and desperate.
I wanted to answer, but the weight in my body was too much. We were far enough.
Kermit's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain.