Coal felt wary of Jet, the newest of the teleporting imps. His scars implied that he was no stranger to fighting, yet he seemed to be making an effort to avoid conflict, though he was usually there to watch anytime other imps fought for training. Even when Coal challenged him to a sparring match, he declined.
But it wasn’t his refusal to fight that concerned Coal as much as his attitude. He didn’t seem cowardly or fearful, instead he seemed to be indifferent. The kind of indifference that’s usually shown by one who already believes themselves to be superior to other imps and doesn’t feel the need to show off.
There’s only two types of imps who have that kind of attitude; overconfident youngsters who didn’t know any better, but would soon learn, and experienced warriors who had earned their confidence. It was obvious which category Jet fell into.
That’s the kind of imp that would usually end up as pack leader eventually and were often more dangerous than those who felt the need to constantly prove their dominance. So Coal was doing his best to discourage him from challenging Rose for leadership. He recounted the tale of the one time he had fought Rose, how Violet and all the other imps present at the time stepped in to defend her and how she had refused to heal him afterwards.
Onyx questioned his story because that didn’t happen when she had challenged Rose and Coal admitted that his wasn’t a proper challenge, that he had instead attacked her without warning, so maybe he deserved what he got.
Onyx had already shared her story of her battle with Rose on the day that Jet appeared, which at the time had led to both of them asking Coal a lot of questions about magic that he didn’t have answers for.
Onyx was quite different from Jet. Excitable, bubbly, curious and whose skill in combat seemed comparable to what his had been when he first arrived here. She also didn’t question or complain when he explained to her that even though she was stronger than most of the other imps here, she can’t just take what she wants from others by force and she’ll get in trouble with Rose if she tries. She seemed to be adjusting to the different ways of doing things here far easier than he did…Or so he thought.
After coming back from playing outside, he was planning to take a nap in his box, but he found Onyx standing beside it, looking into it.
“What doing?” He inquired as he approached.
“You sleep here?” She asked in response.
“Yes,” Coal replied
“Is good?” she continued.
“Is,” he confirmed.
“I take,” Onyx declared and Coal narrowed his eyes.
“No take, is mine,” he insists.
“Fight?” She suggested, stepping back with one foot and raising her hands in a combat ready posture.
“Not need fight. Mine,” he repeated.
“No fight? Then I take,” she stated and placed a hand on the edge of the box. Coal scowled and grabbed the offending hand by the wrist.
“Mine!”
—----
When Coal grabs Onyx’ wrist, I suspect violence is imminent. Should I try to stop them? Would I even be able to? They can teleport through mana shields so I do not have any means to completely restrain them if they are truly determined to fight. The best I could do would probably be to continuously create shields to block them from hitting each other until they tire themselves out.
But I will not do that, I am actually curious to see how this will go. This will be the first time I have seen two of the teleporting imps actually fighting each other, which is a little surprising given their more aggressive nature. I do alert Rose to let her know what is happening so she can be prepared to heal them.
Onyx teleports away out of Coal’s grip, but he pounces towards her as soon as she reappears and tackles her to the ground. Landing on top of her, he tries to pin her down but she teleports again. Coal dives forwards as she appears behind him and disappears before he hits the floor.
Coal reappears at her side and rakes his claws across her shoulder, she hisses from the pain, but when she turns to retaliate with a swipe of her own, he is already gone. Appearing on her other side now, he slashes at her again, but this time when he disappears, so does she.
He materialises a step behind where she had previously been standing, while she reappears a moment later on the other side of the room. Coal takes only a moment to get his bearings and locate his target before he teleports again.
Onyx dashes to the side to avoid the next attack and when Coal reappears, he finds himself slashing at empty air, but he does not even complete his swipe before he is gone again, teleporting himself to be right in her path. His claws tear through the air, but this time she manages to duck under them. She then launches herself forwards with her head down, aiming for his abdomen, possibly trying to gore him with her horns, but he is already gone before she makes contact.
This is the strategy Coal developed through his numerous battles against Violet. Only staying in one place long enough to make a single attack or locate his opponent’s new position if they have moved out of his reach before teleporting again. A rapid hit and run technique that requires fast reaction time and a high degree of spatial and situational awareness. He has come a long way since that first time he fought Violet.
He has still never actually beaten her though, despite that. Maybe it is because she is used to the way he fights or perhaps some other factor that I am not aware of, but Violet has an uncanny ability to sense where Coal is about to appear and is ready to block, counter or dodge more often than not.
Onyx does not have this ability and is being completely overwhelmed as she cannot keep up with his rapid teleportation. Even though she can also teleport, she is not able to use it offensively because he does not remain stationary long enough for her to keep track of him, nor does he attack in a predictable pattern like used to.
Attacking an enemy from behind was a strategy that both Coal and Onyx relied on in their first fights here. It is not a bad move for someone who can teleport, as long as their opponent is not expecting it, but it becomes easily predictable if it’s the only move they have got. Coal has progressed well beyond such predictability and is attacking Onyx from a different direction every time. He is not even limiting himself to the horizontal plane as he sometimes drops down on her from above.
Even when she teleports away to put some distance between them, it only takes Coal a brief moment to register her position and go after her again. This fight is completely one sided and Onyx is constantly on the defensive. While she does manage to get in a few lucky hits when she slashes at the air where she thinks he is going to appear, she is taking a lot more than she is giving.
For a while, she stops trying to fight altogether and just focuses on staying out of Coal’s reach, repeatedly teleporting all around the room with Coal just a step behind. This does allow her to avoid adding to her mounting injuries, but offers little opportunity to fight back.
Perhaps she finally tires or maybe she simply accepts that she cannot win this battle, either way, she eventually stops running. She teleports over to Coal’s box, where the fight started, and kneels with her head bowed.
Coal appears beside her with claws raised, ready to attack, but he pauses when he sees her. The two of them exchange some words in their language and he lowers his hand. He continues to glare at her for a while then huffs and turns away. He looks around the room until he spots Rose, who had come in during the fight and stood by her bedroom door to wait for it to conclude. He teleports over to her and bows his head.
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“Please heal,” he requests.
Rose places a hand on his chest and soon, what few injuries he had accrued begin to heal, the bleeding stopping and the wounds mostly closing over.
“That’s enough for now, I need to tend to Onyx, I think,” Rose insists.
Hearing her name, Onyx stands up and rushes over, though she slows down when Coal casts a glare her way. Coal then nods to Rose and walks back over to his box.
“Mine,” he declares out loud, this time in Balkret, before climbing into it.
While Onyx’ injuries are numerous, none of them are particularly deep and I have to marvel at how precisely imps are able to hold back when fighting each other. I have seen the kind of damage their claws are capable of dealing when they are serious, yet it is rare for them to inflict any severe wounds when sparring with other imps, no matter how intense their battles become. It is quite impressive really.
After being healed Onyx hugs Rose tightly enough to make the smaller imp wheeze. When she lets go, she looks back at Coal’s box wistfully once more before sighing and heading out of the room.
“So what was that all about?” Rose inquires.
They were arguing before the fight started. I could not understand what they were saying, but it seemed like she was trying to take his box and he did not like that.
“Something like that was bound to happen eventually, though I didn’t expect Coal to be the first one she’d pick a fight with. I’ll try talking to her about it later, though I’ll probably need Coal’s help for that and maybe Igneous as well,” she suggests.
I check in on Coal and find that he is already asleep, but that is not surprising as sleeping is one of his favourite pastimes and it never takes him long to fall asleep when that is what he wants to do. Seeing him curled up in the box gives me an idea though.
Do you remember the small box that the first group of Honey Badgers brought, the one we suspected they were planning to use to transport my core? I ask Rose.
“Yeah, I think so. Why?”
Can you fetch it and bring it over to my core please? I want to try something. You will find it atop the counter in Room 7.
“Okay, sure,” she makes her way over to the cabinet with the hole in it, opens the door and crawls through to the next room.
It does not take her long to find the box and she soon returns with it.
“So what are you planning to do with this?” She asks when she is standing before my core holding the black box.
I am going to put my core into it to conduct an experiment. I would appreciate your assistance with it.
“Oh? I don’t mind helping. What’s the experiment for?” Rose inquires while opening the box.
Last time my core was taken out of the dungeon, it was a rather unpleasant experience, but I had an idea that being inside this box might mitigate the unpleasantness a little.
“Really?” She peers down at the open box, inspecting it closely. “Is there something special about that I’m not aware of?”
No, it is just an ordinary box. My theory is that if we put my core into the box and fill it with mana, if it is then taken outside the dungeon, it will not be as bad, because even if I lose connection to most of the dungeon, the core will still be contained in what is essentially a smaller dungeon.
“I guess that sounds like it makes sense,” Rose says, tilting her head slightly to the side, “but are you sure that’s going to work?”
Not entirely, but there is only one way to find out.
Rose nods and places the box on the floor. She carefully lifts my core off the chair and lowers it into the box, nestling it into the padded interior.
“What now?” She asks.
Close the box and wait for me to properly claim the inside, then I’ll ask you to carry it outside.
“Should we let the others know what we’re doing? They were a little distressed last time we took your core out, Violet in particular,” Rose suggests.
If this works the way I think it will, then it should not feel any different for anyone than how it feels when they leave the dungeon themselves. Then again, I suppose we should at least inform Violet, in case it does not work the way I think it will.
“It’s her turn on watch right now, so I’ll go up and let her know,” Rose states and heads for the door.
It would be faster for me to just talk to Violet directly, but it will probably take a few minutes to fully spread the mana filaments around the box’s interior, so it will give Rose something to do besides standing around and waiting.
With my core contained in the plastic box, my sense of the rest of the dungeon has gotten a little fuzzy again, but that is to be expected, since I am no longer directly connected to the mana filaments spread throughout my domain.
Could I force the filaments to go through the plastic to connect them to the rest of the dungeon? Perhaps, but even if I can, I am sure it will not be easy. The material is denser and less porous than anything else I have pushed mana filaments through up to this point. Squeezing them through the division between the top and bottom halves of the box and then running down the outside of it might be simpler than trying to go straight through the plastic.
But since it is going to be moved again soon anyway, there is no point in worrying about that until after I am done with this experiment. I focus on spreading out the mana filaments inside the box, but even dedicating a continuous stream of mana to the effort, it is not a quick process. When I am about halfway done, I feel the connection to Violet buzzing, indicating that she is trying to contact me.
‘Rose says you’re going to take your core out of the dungeon again. Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ She asks when I reach out to her.
It will be fine, I have a plan to ensure that it will not be as bad as last time. You do not need to worry.
There is a long pause before she speaks again.
‘Okay, but be careful and come back right away if it hurts too much.’ She eventually replies.
I will. Your concern is appreciated.
Once I have finished spreading the mana filaments all over the inside of the box I notify Rose that I am ready for the next step and she returns to the core room. She kneels down and gingerly lifts the box, now containing my core, from the floor.
Just one of the rooms across the hallway should be sufficient again.
Rose nods but does not say anything more as she approaches the door directly across from Room 5. She opens it and walks through. As she crosses the threshold, I experience a strange feeling of discomfort from losing connection to most of my dungeon, but it is nothing like the pain I felt last time. It was much more tolerable than my previous attempts to go outside. Not being surrounded by the oppressive darkness of the void is also a plus. There is not much to see besides the interior of a black box, illuminated by the light emitted by my core, but that is still far more preferable than what lies beyond that.
I suddenly feel both Rose and Violet trying to contact me at the same time.
‘How are you feeling? Was this better than last time?’ Rose asks
‘Did you do it? I felt something a bit weird just now,’ Violet states.
Everything is fine. It was not painful like last time, so I would consider this experiment to be a success. I assure both of them.
Rose carries the box back to the core room and I reconstruct my body as soon as we are back in the dungeon.
“It really wasn’t painful?” Rose asks, seeking further reassurance.
Not this time, no. A little uncomfortable perhaps, but there was no pain. Thank you for helping me with this again. I am quite satisfied with the result, maybe I should do something to thank Coal for giving me the idea.
“You got the idea from Coal?” Rose asks, glancing over to where the slothful imp was sleeping.
Indeed. He always likes to sleep inside that box of his. Seeing that is what made me think of putting my core in a box as well. The Honey Badgers were kind enough to supply one well-suited to the task, after all.
“I guess good ideas can come from all sorts of places,” she agrees with a light chuckle. “So what do you want to do with it now?” She asked when she reached the chair where the decoy core still rested.
Open it up and put it on the chair, but leave my core inside. That will make it easier if we have to do this again in the future.