Chương 236: Fond delusions

To say that Verses Sung Twice felt strained, where she frantically shifted between failing defensive platforms while throwing what spells she could to both try and defend herself from the adventurer assault, execute or otherwise neutralize rampaging drones and in general try and encourage the seemingly indestructible ooze-creature that was slowly but surely slithering their way from an adjacent corridor turn in another direction, was quite the understatement.

In a dash of warped space and subverted distance, she stepped down and reached out with a spell-infused touch which caused the head of a nearby berserking drone to crumble in on itself like a disintegrating, overripe fruit, but before she could continue and launch another set of disruptive spells towards their true enemies, Verses had to leap to the side as a set of snaking chains pounced on her location not long after.

Pain's acolyte had apparently wisened up since her last attempt at diving behind their lines and was now patiently waiting for any opportunities to snag one of their numbers as they ventured outside the protective shielding off the platforms.

The rattling chains kept pursuing Verses but she managed to find her balance enough to reach out and touch them with a spell gifted her by one of Discord's own awakening stones, causing the conjured weapons to spasm and shift uncontrollably as the magic that controlled them lost its cohesion for some time. Another warped step and she was back to a fresh defensive platform, or at least one of the less damaged ones.

But the question was more how long that would last, given the absolute chaos that their defensive efforts had devolved into.

"Jin, when is that next ascended drone coming? And your people need to repair these defenses too, they-" She fell silent though, as the nearby metal beetle she had been talking to suddenly fell lifeless from the wall, and Verses' heart sank as all of its siblings within sight did likewise.

"Curse you, fickle heavens. Curse you and your cult, Jin. And curse whoever had the idea to send us into this place!"

"Verses, Jin is gone!" Sunless Fang called and he appeared nearby even as his shadow self appeared to deflect a thrown spear by the elven spearman who had begun fighting his way forward through the mess of the drones and other monsters in pursuit of the draconian.

"We-""I know," she cut him off, words terse as she frantically worked to find a solution to their predicament.

"Can you tell the others that we need to gather and flee this place? Perhaps we can escape into the Labyrinth and find some kind of solution. Some way to survive. Anything." The normally glib draconian shot her a glance before he nodded and disappeared again, flickering around the chaotic fight even though Verses thought she could see him appear near their allies at several points, exchanging a word before vanishing once more.

To her relief, everyone within their disparate group did as she asked, but navigating their way back towards their defensive line was no simple task. The chaos of the fight did work to their advantage in this case though, as many attempts at pursuit from the adventurers were hindered by the other neutral combatants like the interfering monsters or by the constant stream of magical beams fired by the cultist's defenses.

Brother and Sister were the last to arrive as they had previously kept acting like a flanking force, and the pair was just about to make their final push towards the meager safety of their defensive line when Verses picked up the hints of a pair of retracted auras from the other direction. And by now, she was familiar enough with all of those caught in the trial space to recognize them both.

"Behind us! We've-"" Dissolve the patterns of power!"" Kyyaaaaah!" Up until that point, the chaos had been bad but at least under some kind of direction due to the cultist-made defenses. But as the Pathbreaker's spell washed over the group from behind, Verses felt that ever so tenuous sliver of control crack as some of their bolstering boons winked out.

And when the woman with the dual flames came in its wake, the first of her two strikes shattering the shield of their defensive turret before the next sundered the already beleaguered contraption in a shower of stone, glowing metal and crystal, that sliver shattered. And chaos turned into pandemonium.

"My path will not be shifted by the world, but learn from it." The mantra echoed throughout Kite's subconsciousness as it tended to do while he was submerged in his battle meditation. But given the sheer, fast- paced madness that was taking place around him once more, that serene focus once again found itself under severe duress.

"Oh sweet Fortune, may I learn quickly. Ward!" he thought, multiple cognitive processes jumbled among themselves as Kite supported Dragonfly with a set of barriers while he tried to keep up the pressure on the currently flanked agents of Discord.

His and Dragonfly's rear assault had paid off so far as that defensive emplacement of their foes was finally dealt with, but he also knew that a cornered essence-user tended to pull out most - if not all - of the stops and that it was only the pressure which his group kept up that stopped their enemies from turning upon him and Dragonfly en masse.

His earlier barriers let Dragonfly avoid being snared by the dark chains of the draconian and therefore leap away from some kind of ooze-creature which had wandered its way into the battle from an adjacent corridor, no doubt another of the chaotic manifestations.

The thing shone a vibrant yellow and seemed corrosive enough to easily gobble up any drones it managed to get its pseudopods on, but it fortunately did not pursue Dragonfly further as it instead gooped its way towards the floating gold-ranked construct that hovered nearby and tried to fire what projectiles it could at the numerous enemies in sight all around it.

But Kite shifted his focus to other things as he instead stepped up into the air and out of reach of the ravenous blob, letting it and the cable-thing tear into each other while he ran on small panes of force to catch up to where Dragonfly did her best to hammer through another of the cultists' defenses; one of the enhancing, shielding platforms currently occupied by the man with the dual blades which they both had already clashed with many a time.

At the same time, River, Little Crow and the duo of Will and Laevyeth pushed hard from the other side, with the pair of armored elves fighting a desperate retreat beneath their onslaught which forced both the woman with the discordant motions and the draconian to dedicate themselves to cover them in what way they could. The blade-wielder was soon forced to abandon his platform as Dragonfly kept accepting and healing through his venomous stabs while breaking the shielding and construction both.

Before her final strike, their foe apparently accepted the loss and leapt away at an odd angle which would carry him to nothing in particular that had Kite instinctively snap the full attention of Spirit Singularity towards him.

He normally had the power in its area-mode while fighting in such a crowded environment due to the massive influx of mana - and stamina, thanks to the shield held in one of his spectral arms - it provided him, but this time the sacrifice in resources proved worth it as the blade-wielder's intended teleport failed when the Inescapable affliction locked into place. This meant that instead of wherever he had intended to go, he crashed straight into the wall of the corridor.

Being a silver-ranked with the appropriate reflexes did mean that said crash was more akin to a slightly rough landing as the man easily righted himself while finding some small handhold in the uneven stone wall. However, his next move of trying to block Dragonfly's follow-up with only one hand from his unstable perch once more sent him into an uncontrolled flight straight down into the press of drones below.

One pinpoint beam of transcendent light from Sage hit him a moment later just as he found his balance, burning through one leg while one of Kite's projected attacks carrying Void-Sunders-Firmament hit the other. That meant that when Dragonfly's Descending Sunwheel caught him off balance, the injuries suffered throughout the struggle so far and his currently hampered defenses proved too much for the agent of Discord.

With a fiery hiss and detonation of flames, Dragonfly's execution power bisected the man from shoulder to hip, something which not even a silver-ranker could endure without just the right set of powers. The blade wielder's aura winking out was keenly felt in the churning mess of the fight, and was apparently enough to send the remaining agents of Discord into a more desperate attempt at retreat.

While Kite and Dragonfly's maneuver had been effective enough to secure the kill, it did unfortunately have the downside of positioning them among their foes rather than behind them. The two armored elves seized the opportunity to push in the form of a charge not entirely unlike a rockslide while the male one decided to bring out one of his trump cards." Draw in the materials, shape them through my will. Irresistible pull of the spirit anvil!"

A shimmering, two meter tall edifice that did indeed look like an anvil appeared outside the defenses of the cultists, right in the center of the intersection where most of the battle had been waged before the group had finally managed to breach the defenses.

The pull of its presence was instant, with nearby drones and other monsters drawn towards it even before it had completely manifested, and it was only through Braid's quick thinking and even quicker fingers that he managed to conjure threads to secure himself, Fantina and Will in place. And while Unyielding helped Kite remain decently steady, Dragonfly and River weren't as fortunate where they were struggling against the fierce pull while their foes made another attempt at escape.

Kite was just about to try and direct his dispelling attention towards the thing when River called out to him.

"Annoy- Kite! A path!" the acolyte of Pain shouted where she was trying to anchor herself with the help of her chains, for once choosing Kite's actual name as she apparently prioritized expediency. Catching her meaning, Kite cast a quick spell which should hopefully solve multiple problems at once before turning and projecting a few dispelling attacks towards the anvil which started dissolving chunks of it with each hit." Wall!"

Platforms of force appeared behind both Dragonfly and River to shore them up and keep them in place, but more platforms appeared in a staggered pattern along the corridor in the wake of the retreating agents of Discord. River turned into a blur, and even though said blur looked quite a lot more sluggish than usual as it started zooming from platform to platform in pursuit, she clearly gained some ground on her targets. Which proved to be enough.

With her aura striking like a gleaming blade, River gave the hammer-conjuring elf a spiritual lashing just as she burst out from her moments of increased speed. While not a physical blow, the man still staggered beneath the focused ferocity, and that moment of unbalance was enough for more of River's chains to find him.

With a heave, the rattling links flexed as they lifted his armored form before plunging both him and themselves straight into the yellow mass of the nearby ooze-creature which was still embroiled in a battle of attrition with the gold-ranked construct. From the looks of things, it would probably lose out in the long run, but it was a lot of sheer, mindless mass to blast through and it was more than enough left.

The man vanished with a scream, pseudopods hungrily reaching out to help keep the struggling and unexpected morsel in place. For a moment, an armored hand managed to breach the surface but more chains soon followed to push it back down again.

"No!" the other armored elf cried, and started towards her struggling companion while sending a huge boulder flying River's way which the acolyte of Pain chose to simply accept to retain her position and hold. And fortunately for her, she also had allies." Ward!" Twin barriers appeared, shattering immediately but still absorbing enough of the boulder's momentum to let River shove it to the side with armored forearms.

Inside the ooze, the elf's aura grew wilder and more unsteady, and just as his companion reached the monster the chains keeping him inside sprouted cruel barbs. They retracted in a high-pitched whine, and the radiant yellow of the ooze suddenly became murky with the armored elf's remains now splattered along its insides.

The next cry from the other armored elf was something much more primal and filled with anguish, and Kite fully suspected that she might have charged back towards the fray then and there if the draconian hadn't appeared to pull her away a moment later.

With the caster's death, the anvil and its pull soon started collapsing on its own, and Kite did consider a more relentless pursuit of the rest of their fleeing foes until he took in the mess of drones - some berserking uncontrollably - and monsters they would be leaving in their wake. And the auras of his companions, while relieved and triumphant, were also quite weary. Not even River seemed eager to set off right away, which made the decision easy. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval.

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"Let's clear up this mess and rest for a spell," Kite called even while he started helping his companions in whatever conflicts they were currently embroiled in.

"Will and Little Crow, please help our sticky, corrosive 'friend' there finish this construct. The rest of you, focus on crowd-control. Soul seems to be managing her own construct fine for now," he finished, feeling the stability in the celestine's aura from where her brawl had taken her and her chosen foe down some side corridor.

"Did you get him, Kite? Did you really get him~?" came a squeaking voice as one of Wander's bodies came bounding over, quite jubilant even as the rat scurried between clashing drones.

"You mean the so-called 'beetle guy'? I believe we did, at least in part," Kite replied as the rat settled on his shoulder.

"I don't believe him dead though, but something seemed to go wrong when his attempted escape met one of my disrupting attacks."

"Hah! Serves him right!" Wander replied smugly.

"Ever since his beetles started falling, I've been spreading out into the territory behind the defensive line. It's slow going, as those turrets will still take out my bodies if they see them, but this corridor is nice and clear now. I should have an idea about the landscape beyond soon though~."

"Thank you, Wander. Keep it up. We managed to take down three of them, with a fourth possibly injured. Through your eyes and ears, we will be able to keep up the pressure even after some rest. Which I would definitely say we have earned ourselves after that little adventure." Crack! Stone splintered beneath Verses' fist, her knuckles having made a neat little crater in the cliff wall where she stood, otherwise appearing composed in her silence.

The others - those that were left - were scattered around the little nook in the Labyrinth in which they had found some modicum of shelter. But they all knew it to be temporary at best, even if they had remained unharassed for the last hour since their arrival.

"No sight of the little vermin yet, but I wouldn't bet against them showing up soon and sniffing us out," Sunless said somberly from where he leaned against the wall in an attempt to appear relaxed and in control that fooled no one. Sister, the one other survivor, said nothing. Instead she just stared forlornly at nothing in particular, even having removed her masked helmet which lay discarded to the side. The elven woman looked younger than Verses had expected, with fine, delicate features framed by black hair.

The gesture did strike the other two as worrying however, as it meant that Sister cared little for her identity being discovered and potentially taken advantage of. Which meant that the elf had given up hope of any of them surviving.

"Curse Jin and his people," Verses responded, punching the wall again in ice-cold, frustrated fury.

"They might curse us the same, you know. It was our leaders who started courting them for this venture," Sunless replied, but there was no bite to his words.

"This… Isn't how it was supposed to go." Neither of the two women replied, both lost in thoughts. What went through Sister's mind was a mystery, but Verses did her best to center herself. And soon she found a straw to grasp. It was a faint hope, but it was something.

"The orb," she said, the other two looking at her after she broke the brooding silence.

"What about it?"

"It is the mark of the trial taker, connected to the token that was mine. With that in tow, we could circumvent their defenses and strike against the other Ruler. If we take that down, the challenge is completed." Sunless looked at her blankly for a moment, before he started nodding.

"Yes… Yes, that's true. There are still three of us in a challenge meant for one. It will be tough, but if we're quick enough, then maybe, just maybe we can manage."

"Then I just need to grab the useless thing back from our camp and-" Verses began, but fell silent as her senses picked something up, approaching from the storm above.

"Heavens above… How?" she breathed, for once a bit stunned as the orb in question suddenly came floating down before them, unaffected by the shredding forces through which it had passed. Then the orb spoke, its voice surprisingly clear for once.

"Trial-taker. Be warned. There has been a critical deviation in the trial. While this is unresolved, this orb will not leave your side. The deviation must be eliminated, or the trial space risks collapsing. Trial-taker. Be warned. There has been a critical deviation in-" The message kept repeating as if someone had recorded it in advance, and the orb only fell silent after Verses ordered it to.

"What does it mean by 'critical deviation'?" Sunless asked before shrugging.

"Well, let's not scrutinize a heaven-sent treasure too closely now that what we wished for saw fit to appear right before us. This will save us some time and-" The draconian's words were choked off however, as the pressure hit them all a moment later. An aura had just blanketed the majority - if not all - of the Labyrinth. It was oppressive in its single-mindedness and gold-ranked, quite similar to the ascended drones which the Builder's cultists had made.

But unlike those, this spirit was a lot richer and more potent, lacking the hollow sensation of those previously made. And not long after it was projected, whatever was the source of that aura started moving. The agents of Discord looked at one another in turn, coming to a silent agreement. Verses did her best to center herself while Sister retrieved her masked helmet and put it on while Sunless kept watch.

Then they too were off to investigate, their previous plan gone and forgotten as a new opportunity had appeared. One never knew what one might catch when fishing in muddied waters, after all.

"Done already?" Kite asked Dragonfly as she sidled up to him where he stood guard near the entrance to a reasonably defensible passageway to which they had retreated after their victory.

"Yeah, I think so. It was surprisingly hard to center myself though. I just wanted to… I don't know? Celebrate and sleep for a whole day all at once? But all that stamina my inner flames gave before they faded just won't let me find the right mindset, so I thought I might as well keep you company," she replied, looking back to where most of the others sat in meditation after the prolonged hammering of their enemy defenses.

"Besides, we haven't really won yet. I don't think I can relax completely until we're done with this place." Kite nodded in response, draping his arm around her and just spent a moment enjoying his intended's presence. He couldn't fully relax though, but keeping watch with senses both physical and spiritual was at least a lot nicer to do with beloved company than without.

Still, Kite felt a bit superfluous as River was already out there scouting while Wander - for once gathered in one place - got a good round of meditation in herself. So far during their time inside the trials, the acolyte of Pain had been done with her meditations in short order every time, and Kite wondered if it was due to her not being able to find the calm needed or if life had perhaps taught River to somehow go through the process at speed to not leave yourself exposed.

"It's been good with an hour of rest so far," he eventually said, glancing at Dragonfly who had snuggled up in the crook of his arm.

"Hopefully, one or two more will be enough, and then it's time to make what is hopefully our final push here. Unless they have even more formidable defenses hidden, our numbers should see us through."

"I hope not. For the defenses, that is," Dragonfly replied, correcting herself.

"In some ways, this has been pretty exciting. But that-" she said, pointing to a small spot of slowly growing pale nothingness on a wall not too far away, "- feels worrisome. And all these random monsters too. I can survive a lot, but I doubt being inside some kind of collapsing trial is within the realm of possibility."

"Indeed," Kite agreed.

"Perhaps just one more hour then, so as to not-" That was when a new and terrifying presence hit them; an aura billowing out over the Labyrinth with hitherto unprecedented potency. The unexpected spiritual pressure had Kite falter in his words, and even though it was undirected and seemed to carry a similar, blank mindlessness which they had felt from the previous constructs, the difference in quality was as stark as it was concerning.

"Everyone-" Kite began, but his call was unnecessary as all among their group had already sprung to their feet. Said call was also quickly drowned by the distinct cry of outrage that suddenly came from the nearby metallic orb which followed in Kite's wake.

"They… They DARE!?" the construct shouted loudly enough to make the nearby silvers wince.

"I assumed them to be mere meddlers, tinkering with things beyond their comprehension, unaware of the Queen's greatness. But this… This is corruption! A violation beyond violations! A sin against the sanctity of the trials itself!"

"Officiator, what is happening?" Kite asked, and fortunately the orb saw fit to shift its attention from its fury to him and give a reply.

"They have somehow subverted an integral part of the space, Trial-taker. Their Ruler. It… No, it is no longer a Ruler of this place. It is an abomination! It has been removed, claimed. Changed." Given the slightly familiar feeling of the aura still blasting out over the landscape, it wasn't too hard for the others to deduce how said change had taken place. Or at least who had made it, as the exact means with which the previous constructs were created were still unknown.

"You need to destroy it, Trial-taker! Lead your minions! Remove this travesty! As long as it exists, the deterioration of the trial will only accelerate! The Ruler was a lynchpin in the matrix of this place. Bring that abomination low, for the glory of the Queen!" The others had gathered around the orb, and River was fast approaching from a nearby corridor as well, so all heard him when Kite posed his question to them.

"It would seem that things have taken a turn a bit further beyond the unexpected than we previously assumed," he said, voice somber.

"I know not our foes' intentions with this, but I will assume it to be desperation or they would already have played this card. We now seem to have a true gold-ranked being on our hands, warped and changed. Do we keep up the fight and stop whatever goal they might be aiming for as well as find more opportunities for answers? Or do we retreat back out through the gate? Outside there will at least be reinforcements and other forces that can help quell this threat should it somehow be able to venture outside."

The question hung in the air between them, and even though Kite felt that the orb at his side might have wanted to protest at them even considering retreat, the construct kept silent this time. And one surprise followed the other was Wander was the first one to speak up.

"You know, I was pretty hesitant going into this in the first place," the outworlder said, a pair of rat bodies seated at her human form's shoulder nodding along empathetically.

"It was an unknown realm and we had a lot of bad guys here. I like comfort, good food and the odd peek at naughty things. And so far, the food we brought has been the only one of those three available in this place~." Her words were followed by even more nodding from the rats before they all, as one, got an even more serious look on their small features.

"But beetle guy… He's the worst. The worst! How dare he pin me down like that? And now he's breaking the trial?! He and his thing needs to go down. It's a point of outworlder honor~." The others regarded Wander in silence for a short spell before Little Crow chuckled.

"Well, we do take the honor of outworlders pretty seriously in my clan. I am willing to give it my best efforts. No additional charge."

"And we still have not captured any of Discord's people. The last one we will need to let live so that we may have answers," River added, tone completely at odds with the smiling celestine.

"We need more opportunities to reel them in."

"But we might still want to keep our line of retreat clear," Fantina cautioned.

"I will do this, but I also want us to go out through the gate if things get too bad. You will all get out of this alive, or so help me…"

"Did you really think you would get any other response from us, Pathbreaker?" Soul added.

"We have clashed inside this place for days now. And the things outside that are at stake in this investigation of yours… It's our kingdom and home too." Kite felt quite touched by Soul's words, with such sentiments being quite rare to hear from the Blessed of Warrior. But before he could say so, she also proved true to herself too.

"Besides, tempering my path against a real gold-ranked being… And of that size? How could I face Warrior upon our return if I did not make the attempt?" Will and Laevyeth gave their clear nods of approval from where they stood holding hands, stances indicating that to them it had never been a question at all.

"May I suggest that we make haste back towards the central spire then?" Braid added.

"That will have to be our temporary base of operations if it is also our line of retreat. With Wander's scouting we should be able to deduce our enemy's intent from there." General words of acquiescence followed, as they tended to do as of late when planning. Kite couldn't help but feel a bit proud over what they had accomplished so far too.

The disparate group hadn't been turned into an elite team with seamless teamwork over just a few days, but silvers learned quickly as was proven by the simple but effective synergies and tactics they had worked out so far. And the trust was there too. Even from River, in her own way, as the barbs and challenge in her words seemed more out of habit than actual sentiment by now.

"Sounds like it's high time to go then," Dragonfly said from Kite's side, squeezing his hand.

"And here I thought that we had had an exciting time so far… The stories we can tell if we make it through this… I wonder if people will even believe us. Come, love. Let's go."

"Father, father look!"

"Fathew, Bwina's puthing me!"

"I'm hungry…"

"Father, if essences appear next to their 'thing', then shouldn't there be cloud essences falling around us every now and then?"

"Uuugh, you don't get me! No one gets me!" Even as he sat down for a rest on a plush couch, a glass of chilled sap wine in hand as he gazed out into the night sky beyond, the cries, needs, questions and protests of all of Jarvan's beloved brood of children kept echoing through his mind. Especially the part with certain essences and stones not just falling from the sky at times.

"Emile is right. Why aren't they?" he mused to himself.

"It would be a lot easier to provide magic to one's family if that was the case…" Even as his body and mind was quite fresh, silver rank making one somewhat resilient to the wear and tear of everyday life, there was still a part of Jarvan that he allowed to acknowledge another kind of weariness. To raise kids well was to give them parts of oneself after all, and that had a unique cost of its own.

"Cheers to you, my dear wife. You've brought so many fine children into the world," he said in a mock toast to wherever she was.

"And I'm sure that your whole adventure with Kite and the others has been entirely routine so far. Nothing too exciting. No twists and things where you need to improvise. Barely any danger or exciting things to see…" Had Rupert been there, the leonid would surely have liked to point out the growing note of desperation in Jarvan's words and poke holes at his attempted downplaying of what he was missing out on. But Rupert wasn't, so Jarvan's fond delusions were left untouched for now.

"So I'm sure you will come back, shrug and call the whole affair a decent run but nothing overly exciting. You missed nothing, Jarvan. Nothing at all. Nothing. At. All…"