Master Carson Allerchester - Just before breaking through Sir Falgus’ door.

We had used the Teleport Platform to enter the Institute headquarters, taking both myself and Falldwell into the depths of the Institute. The entrance is the same as all the others, a single tunnel leading to a Hoist. Falldwell had used the Teleport Platform in his headquarters to arrive at the Guardsman HQ and then onto the Institute.

There is little resistance, unlike the Society or Guardsmen, the Institute is not normally made of combatants unless in proximity to a war or aggressive neighbour, the vast majority we come across were small time researchers doing peer testing for newer formulas and techniques that have been discussed and tested prior. A few trainees as well.

We are dressed in combat gear, Falldwell in his red gambeson and light armour and I in my gambeson and scale mail armour, lined with Cogar scales, a large mammal that comes up for air but lives in the sea. Michael calls it a scaled whale. I have my normal weapon with me, a large halberd with crystals embedded into the handle.

Falldwell has his swords, four of them are strapped to him with four more stored in an inventory space via a specialised crystal. Each one is thin and designed to cut rather than stab, each has a slightly curved single edged blade. We quickly move past the numerous offices, laboratories and research stations and find a Hoist that would take us to the higher levels, there can be several hoists in a building for security purposes.

Within 5 minutes of teleporting in we reach the highest level, the level which Sir Falgus and his offices are. As we walk down the corridor I turn to Falldwell and ask a simple question.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes, time to settle this. This may have been a fast turn of events but I look forward to capturing Falgus, you?”

“Yes, let’s get him.” I reply with a wide smile, I must confess that I have missed the thrill of a fight.

We arrive after passing two young Institute members, non-combatants and soon find the grandiose wooden doors which are the entrance to Falgus’ laboratory and office, carved in all manners of ferocious beasts and Mana Formulas. Falldwell turns to me and backs up a little while waving his hand in a mockingly kingly wave.

“After you.” he says.

I send him a smirk before activating one of my Powers, placing my hand on the closed wooden double doors I activate; Destructive Waves! Upon activation it sends a shockwave through the door, bending and snapping the wood in the middle, forcing both doors to slam against the wall.

We enter with no resistance, and find Sir Falgus standing behind his desk with a window behind him, the room is filled with benchtops and laboratory equipment only vaguely seen through the darkened room. From the desk a figure walks out as the emergency lighting illuminates the office/laboratory.

“Ah, Master Carson and Master Naaf. Welcome to my humble office, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? Surely you did not come all this way just to destroy my door!?” Yells Sir Falgus.

He is a Human, a Uspeta as we call them here. Standing 5 ft 11in he is a lanky build with little meat on his bones but a sinister look in his intelligent eyes. Greying hair is the only determining factor of his age as otherwise he appears to be in his mid thirties with a fair soft skin and minimal sunlight, no facial hair to speak of with a single monobrow being the defining characteristic. An old man but of high Rank, maybe on par with myself and Falldwell who are both Neonnot Rank or as Michael calls is A3 (AAA) Rank.

“Sir Falgus, you’re under arrest. If you’ll come with us quietly this can be taken care of. Quite sorry about the door.” I say, replying and sending a message to Society HQ to transfer to Guardsmen HQ; “We have engaged Sir Falgus.”

“Well” replies Falgus, “As you have entered my office it is only proper that I start things off shall I?”

We quickly prepare ourselves as we bring our hands up into a ready position. “Access Dimensional Space!” Chants Falgus, dimensional spaces are incredibly tricky to enter in the first place, what kind of Power would allow him to throw us into one just like that?

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A bubble of black surrounds us as the outside lights dim and blink out, leaving us blinded in the dark for a moment before we feel disoriented, as if experiencing a severe bout of sea sickness which I had not felt for many years.

The light which had gone out is now back, blinding like a sun overhead, blinking our eyes open we see Falgus at a similar distance from before his Power activated, but in a new location, gone is the office and laboratory and now we appear walking on water as it moves underneath us, making us rise and fall with the tide but not losing our footing. The water is a dark green colour with some tall coral sticking up out of the water, appearing in a pinkish colour.

The mana in the air is lesser than normal, however not missing, more like it is minimised and projected from below us, under the water, we could quickly run out of Mana in this environment. I walk backwards a little to where I know the broken doors are but feel nothing, we have somehow moved into a dimensional space. What kind of Powers have the Institute been working on?

“Well, how do you like that!” Yells Falgus from across the water, “The Institute itself we’re unable to create a Power to break into Dimensional Spaces but here we are, my Creation Power is above all in the Institute!” he proclaims.

I give a quick glance to Falldwell who rolls his eyes at the display. We've been in this business a long time and know when an opponent is only boating about their Powers. Wanting to quickly get this over I ask one last time.

“Falgus, surrender, this is your last chance before we detain you ourselves.” Protocol states that if a suspect does not surrender after two verbal warnings then we can legally detain then, using Powers if they fight back, which this Dimensional Space counts as.

“Ahahaha! You really think I would let this go? Let the Shae-Eq go!? Hahaha! I will destroy you, leave you as food for this Space and take over this city! Then finally I will complete my research!”

What is he talking about? He appears deranged, laughing with a sick smile on his face. This might be a side effect of the Shae-Eq or another drug influence. As we stand there preparing for battle we pull out our weapons, my halberd. As Falldwell wields two of his swords in each hand we feel a shift in the water. Slight tremors in the water, unexpected changes to the waves.

We react with only a moment's notice, with a splash two large tuber creatures jump from the water, missing us by inches as we slightly dodge them. They are long, easily two metres in length and as thick as a thigh, coloured with blue on their back and pale white on the belly. Their mouth is round and with multiple sets of teeth and only slight fins on their round body.

Falgus also dodges with us, narrowly dodging two of the tubers that jump out of the water, he then moves into the air, probably a Flight Power, before this fight starts.

Falgus holds a hands out in front of him, palm out towards us as he hovers in the air, we feel a heat on our bodies and a bright reddish glow from our bodies, our Shipton’s Greater Damage Translocator Power appears to be soaking up most of whatever invisible damage is being dealt by Falgus’ Power but we can feel some of it is too much and seems to get past our defences.

Falldwell and I each place a Force Wall to intercept the attack to little effect, the wall is slowly ripped apart, as if flayed by a nine tailed whip, deep gorges rip though the shield. Faldwell dismisses his shield as I run away, moving around to the side of Falgus to get into a better position, the water holding me steady as if it is solid ground, expect for the strange tuber creatures that jump from the water trying to latch onto me, however my Springvern’s Greater Increase Physicality Power is helping me spot the creatures before they jump from the water, this Taught Power that both Falldwell and I have increases our Strength, Dexterity, Mobility and more by twice our normal base level.

Faldwell attempts to use his Absorb Elements Power that allows him to temporarily absorb any Power based attacks, its downside being its inability to block any physical attacks that land. A dark, black glow emanates from his hand as the Power activates, a small black ball appears behind him, the stored mana from the attack is being stored there as it would otherwise be corrosive to his Well and Mana Network.

Falgus dismisses the attack he had launched and turns towards me as I reach an optimum range for one of my other Powers, using Flight I launch into the air at his left, activating Destructive Waves at my feet just prior to my leaving the ground, a cylinder of water shoots upwards around me, focusing into a point above me as I bend the Power to my will, it should normally not work like this but if your in this job long enough you pick up a few tricks.

The fine point slams into Falgus’ chest, pushing him backwards a distance as his body glows a slightly different shade of red than our defence Power, must be a Institute version of Shipton’s Greater Damage Translocator though how it is created is beyond us.

Faaldwell takes advantage of Falgus’ distraction and pulls from his Inventory space his remaining swords, placing them on his legs, shoulders, armpits and across his chest, a Creation Power of his allows him to stick items onto his body like metal to a magnet.

With all eight swords now placed in a specific position onto his body using his Weapon Stuck Power he flies into the sky using a Flight Power and quickly makes his way towards Falgus, our fight has just begun!