Chương 126: Descent

Nyxil didn't know what was more terrifying: the massive boulder falling down on her, or Lysyra's seeming omniscience. The girl had known where they were. Not only that, she knew the exact moment Nyxil and Su'Baar decided it was a trap. If she hadn't seen the Bodytwister's champion disappear from existence before her very eyes, she might have tossed it up to some form of invisibility. One that avoided the casual sight of her third eye. Now, there was no longer any doubt.

The girl could teleport, and seemed to be able to see wherever she wanted. Nyxil was never going to catch Lysyra if the girl didn't want to be caught. Much more pressing was the mountain of black stone falling down on her head. It scraped against the walls. Ideally, the fact that the pit she fell wasn't as wide as the boulder should stop it. She wasn't so fortunate. Stone flowed through stone like a brush through straight hair… except far more violent.

A rock larger than herself collided against the wall and rebounded towards her. Her wings strained beneath her robe as she twisted out of the way. It crashed against another stone and shattered into a dozen shards that scattered. The massive boulder overhead was far from her only problem. Narrowing the focus of her third eye, Nyxil pierced the endless dark below and found that, yes, there was a ground. It was still a long way down, but falling as she was, it would come before she was ready.

Especially if she couldn't fly. Nyxil cast her gaze wherever its weight would land. She tried to find somewhere to escape this endless fall. Somewhere that would bring her out of this column and away from being crushed by rock. Yet there was nowhere. Not even a questionable overhang that could possibly hide an escape tunnel. No; this pit was carved as straight as any other primary corridor. Was there any escape at all? The Bodytwisters are going all out with the death-rate this year, aren't they?

While searching for some solution, Nyxil couldn't help the snide thoughts. They're gonna get so much shit for letting all the other cult's champions die. As she was searching for some answer in this death trap, Nyxil discovered she wasn't alone. Su'Baar clung to his machine, falling only a few metres to her side. In all the suddenness of the situation, she'd completely forgotten about him. Compared to every other threat, he was inconsequential. And… she suddenly had another reason she couldn't use her wings.

More and more, she was finding the habits and tendencies she'd adopted while surviving in the Dark Star were detrimental back on Coral. Not that she was exactly on Coral right now. Years of nothing but threats had altered her way of thinking to only focus on them. Eidolon forbid she ever need to protect someone. The boy was panicking, but he wasn't the only one. Buddy's cannon twisted on its axis, trying desperately to remain steady despite the spiralling of an uncontrolled descent.

Unlike herself, they didn't bother dodging the shower of boulders, all simply broke against the pair ineffectively. The impacts still sent them spinning. Nyxil calmed her heart. While having it race helped her take in everything rapidly, the lack of an immediate solution was getting to her. Her throat dried and tension seeped through her shoulders. She took in her surroundings. Ground was rapidly approaching, and a boulder fell from above. If the fall didn't kill her, getting crushed certainly would.

Stone walls fully enclosed her between the two deathly ultimatums. Su'Baar and his machine fell beside her. His presence meant she would prefer to get out of this without using any mutations, but she wouldn't let herself die to hold up that desire. Now, what could she do? Nyxil immediately cast aside most of her current mutations. The best solution was to break through either the boulder above her, or dig through the walls at her side.

Acid would be too slow, and her chitinous fists, while strong, wouldn't punch through nearly enough stone. There were the mutations waiting for the opportunity to show themselves: some that might shatter the boulder, and some that could allow her to survive the crash itself. But relying on such a chance was more than risky. The simple hurdle of some life-saving mutation taking more than a minute to grow in would be enough to kill her. She didn't have a minute. Her hand tore her blade from its sheathe.

By kicking at falling rocks, she approached the falling ceiling, and struck. Not having ground to dance on, her rhythm couldn't reach its normal strength. Even still, her rapier sliced through stone like butter. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. But that was it. It didn't break the stone. It hardly even dug that deep. Throwing her other hand forward, she punched the stone.

This did more damage — cratering thick shards outwards from the impact — yet it still wasn't enough. It would take her a thousand strikes to make a significant dent. Nyxil tried to think over her names and their abilities. Was there anything there that could help? Could Ossuul make her bones flexible enough to survive the impact of a thousand tonnes of stone? No. She dismissed the idea. At best, it would simply prolong her death a second.

She'd already tested the name's inability to hold her in flexible state for more than brief instances. Su'Baar started screaming. His reaction was oddly delayed from when they first began falling, and immediately ate at Nyxil's ears. They were far too shrill for a cult's champion.

"Shut up," she snapped. Thankfully, he complied. His head spun as he tried to keep her in his vision.

"Hey, no need for the attitude. I feel like I'm going to puke over here." Somehow, he was able to see her glare despite spinning a dozen times a second, and became serious.

"Nỷx̱il, mind giving me a bit of help here?" He held out his hand, not bothering to keep it pointed at her as he twirled through the air. She considered not doing so. If she began to unleash mutations here, then the more disoriented Su'Baar was, the better. Plus, she had no reason to help him survive if he witnessed her mutations. Then again, she could always kill him later if he saw too much. Nyxil grabbed his wrist to halt his spin, but only found herself brought into the tumble. At least she was used to it.

Stretching her arms — and kicking a few stones — she brought them into a controlled fall. As soon as he was steady, she let go. She still needed to find a way out. Too much time had passed, and as she looked down, she realised there was maybe a dozen seconds until they became flattened pancakes. If she was going to unleash a mutation, she had to do it now. An explosion beside her head left her deafened. Nyxil covered her ears, and found the worshipper and his tank sinking far quicker all of a sudden.

She noticed the smoke rolling from the cannon and twisted back to the ceiling. There, a crater rained down dust and debris. Thick cracks webbed out from the hole blown through the centre of the boulder, ten times larger than the damage from her own fist.

"Shit," Nyxil swore under her breath and dove for the boy. He was moving too fast.

"Fuck." Her wings snapped free of their binds. As her hands hooked under Su'Baar's shoulders, she yelled.

"Fire again." She tried to keep her wings out of his sight, while also slowing them down, but the slight deceleration was noticeable. Su'Baar clung to his tank to keep it from falling. The machine must weigh a tonne, but there was hardly a strain on her wings. Whether he noticed them or not, he didn't say. He simply nodded and turned his eyes back to the boulder only moments from crushing them.

"Give Buddy a few seconds."

"We don't have a few seconds!" Su'Baar didn't respond. Well, it was decided now. There was no time to gamble on a mutation. Either the Worshipper succeeded and blew a hole through the boulder, or they both died. Why had she let herself fall into this situation? This was far too much reliance on someone from a cult. There was a clunk from the micro-tank as it loaded the next shot. Nyxil waited in anticipation for the shot to come, but even after a second it didn't come. She glanced past Su'Baar.

They were only a few hundred metres now, and the distance was rapidly closing.

"Wha-""Sorry Buddy." Pain and regret laced Su'Baar's voice, but there was no time to focus on it as the cannon fired. Nyxil's arms yanked down with the sudden weight of a mountain as tongues of fire slipped over her. They lasted mere moments, yet they were hot enough to scorch her arms. The tank shell moved faster than she could see. While her eyes couldn't follow, the impact was unmissable. Dust and rubble exploded from the boulder, completely obscuring sight. Her third eye failed to pierce the swarming particles.

There was no way to know if he'd succeeded, but she didn't have the luxury to doubt. Both her wings, eager to perform, stretched wide and slammed downward with all the power they contained. Mere metres from the ground, their momentum flipped. Her stomach turned, and she heard the breathless gasp of the boy in her grasp. Rocks pelted her. Cuts and welts appeared on her face one by one, but she pushed through. A stone struck her shoulder, knocking her to the side, and threatening to throw her back to the earth.

Nyxil beat her wings again. A tentacle slid out of her robe and reached forward to slap away any more rocks that threatened to strike her as she raced upwards. She hadn't meant to, but Pushy had acted on its own. Goodbye any chance that Su'Baar hasn't noticed. Carrying her two passengers, she dove headfirst into the cloud of dust. For a moment, she could see nothing. That ended far too soon as the faded outline of boulder dropped in from the dark.

Her third eye was still obscured by dust, and it left her feeling blind. One more beat of her wings, then they folded at her side. Nyxil twisted around a spear of rock and crashed through a fissure of narrow stone. The large shards moved, not connected, and if she'd been any slower, they would have squished her between them. Nyxil didn't look back as they collided. She raced through so much rock. An avalanche of stone that she was lucky to dodge every random shattered block.

Each millisecond, she felt she was about to strike the ceiling of stone rushing to meet her. She dreaded it. Amongst the dark shadows in the dust, she swore she saw the dark shadow appear a dozen times. And yet it never came. Nyxil broke through the dust. A rain of black stone fell from above, but the boulder was gone. Her rise softened until she hovered. They'd survived. She didn't get more than that instant of relief as the boulder finally struck earth.

An eruption of sound and dust rippled back up the column, engulfing Nyxil again, but not so soon for her to miss the collapse of one entire wall. The hundred metre section slid a metre, found resistance, then teetered over her head. As the dust engulfed her for a second time, Nyxil dove. Her opportunity to fly upwards had been stripped, and now she could only find somewhere to land and hide as the walls collapsed.