Hunting Dog

"You've been sending out your familiars to go and force your predictions to come true.That's why they say you have a hundred percent accuracy rating. You just say shit and force it to happen!" SK shouted in an indignant tone.

Technically speaking, SK wasn't truly affected by revelation since he never had a reading, but that didn't stop him from feeling insulted for the sake of all the people hurt by this fucked-up scheme.

In response to his shouting, Miss Myster simply started to slow clap.

"Wow, so smart," Miss Myster taunted in a sarcastic voice. "But yeah, no shit Sherlock, don't you know it's easier to predict a fire when you're the arsonist?"

"That... is a disturbingly specific turn of phrase."

"And besides, I always give my customers a way to avoid their fate. It's not my fault that they don't listen and decide to make themselves into my entertainment for the week."

"Wait, what?"

"Also, do you know how much more work it is to try and have someone's fortune be positive and come true?" Miss Myster continued to monologue. "I can't rig the lottery every time someone asks to be rich or help them find true love every time someone asks for help with finding a soulmate. Neither of those are my domain, and I'd rather not step on the toes of Users more powerful than myself if I can help it."

"Okay, can you at least elaborate on that last bit?" SK asked, getting the distinct feeling he just heard an important piece of information about the world. But alas, Miss Myster wasn't interested in elucidating the truth of the world with SK, as she was too busy talking about herself.

"Either way, love-"

"Or just ignore me; that's cool too."

"-you and your little knight friend there ruined my fortune for this week and fucked up my streak counter. For that, you have to die now. Sorry about that."

"Hold up," SK spat out in disbelief. "You're going to kill me over the fact that I fucked up your weekly quest by... not letting your familiars possibly kill someone? Seriously?!"

"Mortis, feel free to eat them now," Miss Myster casually ordered while turning away from the scene and ignoring SK's fury.

"Your disregard for the lives of others is awful!" SK yelled as he attempted to go after Miss Myster. However, Platiknight pulled him back at the last minute before he could get out of his reach.

"No, my liege! It's too dangerous right now."

"Why?!"

"AWWOOOOOOO!"

"That's why!"

As soon as the barghest was given the go-ahead, the massive dog-like beast let out an ear-piercing howl that, surprisingly, didn't shatter any windows. Instead, the beast's howl had somehow knocked out the power around the city block that SK's apartment was located on, plunging the area in complete darkness.

The only source of light at this point was the moon, the stars, and the glowing metal that composed Platiknight's armor and shield.

"Where did that vile dog monster disappear to?" Platiknight asked aloud while still sticking close to SK's side.

"I don't know, but we have to go back to back, now," SK quickly ordered.

SK had seen this trick being pulled off before in movies, anime, and comicbooks, so he knew that the best way to counter this crap was to either light up the area like there was a festival going on or lessen the amount of possible blindspots by going back-to-back with a partner, especially if that partner happened to be a superhero with reflexes quicker than lightning and strength that went beyond that of an elephant's.

That being said, they refused to wait and allow the demon dog of a crazy fortune teller to maul them to death. 

"Platiknight, in a straight fight against that barghest, do you think you could win?"

"Of course!" Platiknight proclaimed with confidence. "No agent of vile villainy can best me!"

"Alright, so I guess that means we just need to find him first," SK concluded. "Which I guess makes this plan A."

"Plan A?"

"Don't worry about it. Now let's see if we can spot this thing!"

Despite the darkness, though, both SK and Platiknight could still hear various sounds coming from the barghest. Unfortunately, the sounds were coming from all over the place.

They could hear the sound of massive claws and nails scrapping against concrete coming from one direction, only to have their attention stolen by the sound of growls and panting coming from the complete opposite direction.

The beast was everywhere and nowhere at the same time, and unfortunately for the duo, this meant that he could attack from any direction as well. 

"GROAA!"

"Over here!"

"PLATINUM AEGIS!"

"Bao!"

Mortis attempted to pounce on SK from the darkness but was stopped by Platiknight's shield once more.

This would've been the part where Platiknight would follow up with an attack of his own, but the moment the barghest was no longer in contact with the former's shield, it disappeared back into the darkness.

This exact same exchange happened a few more times, with the barghest failing to land a hit and Platiknight only being able to guard against the attacks and not much else.

In other words, they were in a stalemate, and something had to change; SK just wasn't sure what it was yet.

"My liege, I can keep defending against these attacks for as long as needed," Plaitknight informed SK. "But if nothing changes soon, we'll be here all night. I can handle it, but…"

"Yeah, I know, the longer we keep playing defensive like this, the more likely they get in a lucky hit and I lose my head or something worse," SK finished for Platiknight. "Which is why we're going with plan B."

"Plan B?"

"Plan B," SK repeated as he took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself. "When you get the signal, you're going to use Platinum Rush and body this puppy into a building."

As part of the information dump SK received the night before, SK learned that during a battle between Users and Familiars, it was a viable strategy to go for the former over the latter. However, the chances of being able to perform such a strategy were rather slim due to a combination of the Familiars innate protective instinct and the Users usually having some form of equipment or skill that made them less squishy and vulnerable.

In this case, however, it was a very viable strategy because SK was a newly minted User of a System.

"Alright, Platiknight. I'm counting on you!"

"My liege? MY LIEGE!"

Therefore, when SK literally leaped backwards to make himself appear as vulnerable as possible, Mortis the Barghest took that as an opportunity to rush in and attempt to bite down on SK's head.

Unfortunately, the oversized mutt had not only revealed himself but also perfectly positioned himself to get absolutely bodied by Platiknight's next attack.

An attack that moved way fucking faster than Mortis's ability to bite.

"PLATINUM RUSH!"

POW!

"Whine!"

As soon as Platiknight declared his attack, his entire body and shield began to glow with a blue light before he rushed forward and tackled the shield into Mortis, sending the bastard dog flying into a building.

Bang!

From the sound of the impact, the building proved sturdier than Mortis.

"Holy shit, it worked!" SK exclaimed as he kept falling backwards.

"Uh oh."

"I got you!"

Thankfully, Platiknight managed to catch him before he impacted the pavement. Although SK could feel through his bond with Platiknight that he wasn't exactly pleased with how things got to this point.

"My liege, I hope you know that what you did was incredibly dangerous."

"I know, and I'm sorry."

"Please don't risk your life to try and create an opening like that again."

"I can honestly say…I make no promises," SK retorted. "By the way is that dog dead?"

"I don't know, my liege. But I don't hear it moving around anymore."

…Meanwhile, at a spot overlooking the battlefield…

"BAH! Fucking hell," Miss Myster cursed as she coughed up blood from the familiar feedback effect. "That a little shit! He used himself as bait...who the fuck does that?!"

After Miss Myster had Mortis knock out the lights, she made use of a skill claimed from a ticket to reposition herself someplace where she could watch carnage unfold without being noticed.

This meant that she had a frontrow view of SK and Platiknight reversing the situation against her biggest beatstick of a familiar.

Needless to say, and even foregoing the damage she felt from the feedback, she wasn't happy about this turn of events.

"Alright, motherfuckers. Game on," Miss Myster declared while summoning her System interface. Quicker than the blink of an eye, Miss Myster pulled up her [Inventory] and pulled out an energy drink that the System identified as being a "Connection Booster Shot."

"Bottoms up!"

As soon as she drank the bottle, she could literally feel her [Connection] stat triple in value.

"Now then, let's turn this duel into a proper slaughter!" Miss Myster declared as she navigated to her [Familiar] screen and pulled out two more cards. 

"Go and join your brother, now..."