“Look, all I’m saying is that he looks a lot like one of your guys,” Rave stated in a heated tone. “Big golden guy, radiant all over, massive pauldrons, all he’s missing is a big shield. He even has the ‘better than thou’ attitude.”
“I do not know how often I need to request this,” Moira retorted with a deep, annoyed sigh, “but would you stop talking? Aside from the futility of this discourse, your repeated blasphemy is grating.”
“Aww, ya think telling I’m committing ‘blasphemy’ is gonna get to shut up?”
“I deeply wish it did.”
“You could just oblige and play ball. Not like we have anything else to do while this platform carries us to Mount Doom.”
“I prefer the quiet.”
“You so weird, Moi-moi,” Rave stated and stared at Arkeidos, challenging him to do sothing entertaining. The Emperor refused. His gleaming form, forged from Solunian, was equal parts gold and silver. Design wise it was probably the most normal looking of the seven bodies of the tyrant. From the helt to the boots, it closely resembled an ornate armour of the late Middle Ages. Each fragnt that made up the thick plates was equal parts gold and silver, creating a shimring, almost psychedelic cascade of the two colours, that symtrically spread outwards. “Ya know what, I take it back, he looks cooler than your guys.”
“The armour inherited by the knight’s that preceded us is not required to look ‘cool’, Jane,” Moira snapped back and raised her war hamr. The silver-white head of the new weapon was even brighter than her previous one, forged from Mithril that Rave’s boyfriend had provided after she had lted Moira’s last hamr. Her armour had gone through a similar upgrade. All of that had cost a pretty penny, according to John, but it had been worth it to appeal to William’s vanity. Besides, Moira was on their side now, so equipping her could have only been to their advantage in the long run.
Even next to the Mithril, the tower shield of the Warden sparkled with its blessed radiance. The silver and the gold just seed like THE silver and THE gold. The Solunian of Arkeidos’ body competed with it. Between the two, Rave could not quite make a call. To this day, they had no idea what the shield was even made out of. It refused to be Observed.
Rave was fine with that; she was happier with so of the mysteries of the Abyss staying behind lock and key. A solved world was a dull world. “Alright, alright, whatever… but you could have at least made your new armour sexy. You got the body for it.”
“I am content with proper plate. Now, please – shut – up.”
Rave obliged, if only because the platform stopped at that mont. It was a short-lived halt, imdiately followed by a rapid, vertical ascension. After twenty seconds, they slotted into a giant chamber.
Like the statues on the floor, the ceiling was covered in various mirrors. Enchantnts activated all around. At the top of the do, a circular opening appeared. Concentrated sunlight cascaded down into the room, appearing almost like a solid pillar. It hit a platform whose prismatic sides then directed the light outwards. Reflecting and hitting lenses, the rays soon hit the ceiling in a chaotic, iridescent display. They flickered and shifted until they locked into shapes around representations of celestial objects, be that planets, teors, or monsters. It was like a fantastical planetarium, its scale imnse.
“Oh wow, another massive do… think he’s compensating for sothing, Moi-moi?” No answer. “Ya guys are no fun.”
Arkeidos raised his hands and imdiately the Warden and the feline Lightbearer assud a battle-ready stance. “Many of you are… chatty,” the Emperor remarked and seed to grip the air itself. “It amuses , but I have other priorities.”
‘Could you just attack him already?!’ Rave practically heard Copernicus say inside her head. It was an intuition more than anything. He was currently part of her, incapable of comnting on her actions because he was part of her actions, albeit to a quite minimal extent.
Rave rushed forward, following that shared intuition. Her fist sailed through nothing. Like a curtain, the world bent and hid the form of the Emperor behind it. The head of the gold-silver Emperor vanished last. Bringing her left hand forwards, she unleashed a burst of light. It scattered out, hitting nothing.
“Last I checked, dinsion bending wasn’t in my school of magic!” Rave complained and put her headphones on. The bridge between the two speakers settled perfectly around her cat ears. The beats in her ears gave her sothing to focus her chaotic mind on. Adrenaline rushed into her every fibre in response to the music. She was fighting a terrible tyrant, capable of caving her head in, and it made her incredibly excited. Only a good fucking could compete with the high she had at the mont. “Whaddaya think, Moi-moi, dinsion bending or shenanigans?”
Golden beams of light caught their attention. They started sowhere in the distance and jumped around the reflecting and refracting surfaces of the room. Rave imdiately jumped over to Moira. The Warden answered in kind. One landed behind the other. Moira’s shield tanked the impact of the first beam. They engaged in a near-dancing set of movents. Circling around the Warden, Rave always remained behind her, while Moira blocked the various hits.
“Shenanigans,” the redhead responded, when the first wave of attacks was dealt with. Already, more beams were dancing through the various reflections.
Only ten tres removed, Rave spotted Arkeidos charging towards them. The silver-gold titan wielded a hamr of hard light, swinging it overhead. Ears perked, elental senses tingling, Rave dashed into the soundlessly advancing armour. “Illusions!” Rave shouted and grabbed the handle of the very real hamr. She lacked the skill to hijack enemy hard light constructs. Disturbing it was enough, causing it to shatter into bright particles.
Moira protected them from a horizontal beam that ca from the opposite direction. Imdiately, Rave returned to her position, and they resud their dance. They tried to reposition, but the dense network of lenses all around did not allow for a safe spot. “Their light actually stays in the glass for a bit before it flies elsewhere,” Rave inford her ally. “The guy can adjust his aim at any point!”
“Can you locate him?” the Shield Warden asked, another beam breaking on her indestructible shield. Two more Arkeidos illusions advanced, hard light weapons in hand. Rave dashed at the left, while blasting the other with a scattershot of radiant magic. The wielded armants lost their montum, falling short of the redhead still warding the Lightbearer.
“Wish I could learn that neat trick, can ya imagine sexy doubles of running around?” Rave joked and earned herself a chastising glare by Moira. Rolling her eyes as quickly as she could, the feline Lightbearer answered, “Yeah, I can locate him. Try to keep up.”
Moira needed nothing more than that short announcent. Leading the way initially, Rave dropped her speed to run next to Moira almost imdiately. The cascade of beams picked up, while they moved. Attacks that would have previously been expended on impact now flew on, hit another lens, and were reflected back at them.
Even while moving, they kept their strategy up. Rave found it impressive just how well Moira reacted to her actions. A beam ca from the right, aid straight at Rave. She jumped back one step, the Warden was imdiately between them, and followed swiftly when Rave continued running.
“Ya know what, we make a good team!” Rave shouted. “Ya should try liking my jokes sotis, I think your sphincter would appreciate the relaxation.”
“For the love of the Lady, can you shut UP?!” Moira’s voice rose higher towards the end as a particularly powerful beam crashed into her shield. Although her blessed armant was indestructible, the kinetic force of the impact still pushed her back.
“Nope!” Rave responded, putting an arm around Moira and helping her to stabilize herself. The light cat’s senses tingling, she ripped the Warden to the ground. A second, equally powerful beam passed over them. There was gratitude in Moira’s eyes, as they lay side by side. “Did anyone ever tell you that ya look a lot more attractive horizontally?”
“Shut up,” Moira responded with a sigh and a bit of amusent in her tone.
“Ah, I heard that!”
“Shut up!” the Warden insisted, harder this ti.
The two of them rolled in opposite directions as an axe of hard light smashed down where they had just been. Another scattershot of light dispersed the illusion. They jumped to their feet, the largest beam yet coming right for them. Moira readied herself for the impact, just as Rave shouted, “THAT’S HIM!”
“Wha-?” Moira’s question was answered by the beam turning into the armoured titan. His feet manifested on the ground right in front them, as all his montum was unloaded in the forward motion of his upper body. Massive hands clutched Moira’s shield and Rave’s entire body, slamming her into the ground and forcing Moira on one knee. The impact shattered several ribs. The pain was horrible. The pain was part of what made her feel so incredibly alive. Shrugging it off, Rave set off her Unleash. “By the Lady!” she heard, simultaneously. As her hair turned gold, Rave felt a warmth rush through her body. The combination of set-free energies lifted the hand on top of her a slight bit. Enough that she could turn.
“Thanks for the buff, buttercup!” the feline Lightbearer exclaid and twisted her body into position for a kick. Delivering the Focus Stomp to the Emperor’s other arm, Rave blasted it with enough force that Moira could knock it aside. With her entire body, Moira leapt to the side. The combined effort let Rave escape as well. “No asking if I’m fine?”
“You can still talk!” Moira shouted back, while the two of them distanced themselves from Arkeidos.
It hurt when she laughed. The enchantnts of her bodysuit were quickly nding the damage she had taken. Each bit of health regenerated increased a distracting sensation between her legs. Familiar as she was to being horny these days, she could ignore it easily. ‘Still shouldn’t take too many hits like that,’ she warned herself.
Arkeidos once more grabbed the air. This ti, Rave did not fall for it. She charged straight at and then through Arkeidos. Disturbed, the illusion dissipated. The physical act of turning invisible was itself an illusion covering his vanishing. By the ti they saw the gesture, the Emperor had already camouflaged himself.
Even though Rave had reacted quicker, her attempt to find the Emperor was not t with success. Clicking her tongue, she deactivated her aura and Unleash to conserve resources. Moira, similarly, lost the glow of the blessing around her.
Tapping her feet to the rhythm of the song, Rave focused her senses on the environnt. Where the bouncy beats filled her human ears, the two cuter ones on top of her head listened for the tiniest differences in the quiet environnt. The buzzing of enchantnts, like electronics, was all around. She closed her eyes. Tiny vibrations caused by the beams disturbed the air. Moira’s reinforced boots scraped over the ground.
A second wave of beams. All originating from the sa spot, in quick succession. As quietly as she could, Rave uttered the words of power. “A solemn reign, for the few that rise up high. And we all fight.” Mana surged through her body, gathering in her right arm. She could feel traces of it leaving her body through the Lorylim scars, only to be caught by the Fusionals in the bodysuit and directed back to where all of the magic was flowing: the hard light claws. “Let our worlds collide!”
Rave’s eyes flew open and she twisted her body around. Raising her shield, Moira protected herself from the heat released by the attack. Five slashes of iridescent energy, each a technicolour manifestation of imnse power, ripped diagonally through the room. Stone, tal and glass were liquified. Each broken statue, each ruined lens, each shattered prism caused sputtering changes in the ceiling above.
The attack was petering out, revealing a path towards the now unveiled but unhard Arkeidos. Moira was already charging ahead. Rave allowed herself a single, deep breath, to recuperate in the aftermath of the attack. Then she followed after the Warden.
Arkeidos did not move from the spot. Raising both arms, he sent golden sparks of energy flying out in a V-shape. The sparks manifested in doubles of himself, wielding many different weapons.
Moira blocked the overhead strike of a large sword. Imdiately after executing the attack, the illusionary body dissipated. Rave took the lead, knowing that she only had to trigger and handle that one attack from each illusion.
Two daggers narrowly missed her. She knocked an arrow aside mid-air. Sliding under a hamr swipe, she laughed. Rave blasted an illusion with light, and got back to her feet. She feinted to the left. Doubling down on her speed, she ruptured the illusion by rushing straight through. Then she was in front of Arkeidos, the real Arkeidos. Both palms were pointed at her, spheres of energy charging, swelling with his power and pulling in ambient light, like reverse suns.
Unleash and aura flared up again, and Rave Shifted her position, escaping the double blast. “You are strong,” the Emperor’s voice bellowed.
“Finally, a complint!” Rave shouted.
“For the Lady!” Moira brought down her warhamr on Arkeidos’ chest. The mithril weapon was caught in the tyrant’s hand.
“You will be a worthy use of my ti,” Arkeidos acknowledged and pointed his other hand at Moira.
Imdiately, Rave jumped forwards, rolled and executed a flawless upwards kick. Both of her heels slamd into the broad arm. Focus Stomp added extra oomph to the impact. The limb was forced upwards, the tal shards scattered out the tiniest bit.
The redirected beam shot out into the air. Redhead and (currently) blonde went on the imdiate offensive. One yanked her weapon free, the other did a backwards flip to land back on her feet. Both were about to land hits on Arkeidos. Rave’s intuition told her sothing was wrong, but she was committed to the attack.
Arkeidos raised his arm all the way above his head. The laser dispersed into a cone of unloading energy strands, first rising up and then coming back down as several dozen seekers. Rave and Moira connected with the tal titan, only to be then hit by a series of individual hits. The first one took her off balance, and as much as the feline Lightbearer tried to get away from them, the projectiles of light ca at her too rapidly.
After sustaining several hits and being pushed back by the repeated bludgeoning. An opening was created by the distance. Rave Shifted out of the way and then jumped backwards three tis. The projectiles kept chasing her. Turning tail, she dashed away from the trench she had lted into the arena and between the statues. Slalom, through several statues, she ran. The seeking stars slowed down through the distance, were thrown off or did not manage to follow the tight corners.
Looping back around, Rave spotted Moira about fifty tres away. A tiny distance in Abyssal standards. Dashing over, she arrived just as the last of the projectiles pursuing Moira broke on her shield. Just as she arrived, a cascade of renewed beams started to descend on them. Arkeidos had vanished from his last position.
“Serious talk for a second,” Rave spoke quickly and quietly. “I can keep spotting him and making the way. When ya feel we can take him out, you do the halo thing. I’ll follow your lead and go all in.”
“Understood,” Moira nodded.
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