Tony ducked under the pair of whips cracking overhead and pivoted off his left foot to avoid the sharp end of the half-crook-half-spear aimed at his midsection. In the rush of freeing himself from the chains and summoning Legion, he'd nearly forgotten the other three guards. While only one of them had moved into melee with him, the other two were still taking part, attacking with their whips from a distance.

For a moment, he considered the "Recall Familiar" talent he'd gained just before leaving with Jorogu. In fact, the only reason why he'd left was that he would have been able to summon Maximus back once he was on Arach's surface. As Tony parried another lunge from the spear he slid behind the nearby pillar causing one of the lashes to wrap around it searching for his head, he resolved not to summon the dog. It was too dangerous. Tony brought the edge of his blade up and into the whip, cleaving through a majority of its length.

That was one whip out of the equation; three more to go.

The upside to the three on one fight was that his Lore was charging faster than he could actually spend it with the limitations on his Talents.

Vixie: If you free me I can help you!

The message caught him off-guard but was glad to hear it.

Tony: Get down and cover your head.

He took two steps back from the pillar and swung his blade horizontally and dumped half of his Lore into an Adamant Slash. Every additional five percent he added to the activation was to the "Overcharge" enhancement, multiplying its damage. The crackling violet wave of essence discharged and cleaved through the pillar, soared across the room, cleaved through the pillar standing opposite, and crashed through the wall.

Vixie: What the fuck!

Tony: You can stand up now.

Tony couldn't help but grin as he saw Vixie's head pop up from behind the pillar she'd been tethered to, it was borderline comical. Bringing Maximus here would have given him a sense of comfort, but with reduced power and in uncertain territory, he'd be too worried about the giant pup's safety.

No sooner was Vixie on her feet than the debris of the fallen pillar and still smoldering links of chain around her became lethal projectiles for the remaining guards to contend with. Tony was awestruck. Vixie wasn't looking where each missile went but every single one of them hit and hit hard.

Tony vaulted the hewn remnant of the pillar and sprinted at Vixie. He turned Legion sideways and used the flat of the blade to sling one of the remaining tables into the path of a whip aimed at Vixie's face. The instant that the table parted under the strike, a half-full bottle of liquor flashed past him and slammed into the guard's face, Tony followed up by kicking the top of a nearby hookah in its wake and slid in behind Vixie at the ready in the time granted by the guards coming together to put out the one's face.

"I've got your back, how do we get out of here?" Tony said over the screeching of the scorpion-people.

"We probably don't," Vixie grunted "this is the middle of the nest, there are thousands of guards between us and the door on the bottom. If I had my pack getting out wouldn't be an issue, but that's on the top floor... in the throne room."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Throne room?" Tony answered as he slashed through the large net cast at both he and Vixie by one of the guards.

"Yeah, this is Serketzi's 'Nest of Debauchery,' hence the tacky outfits," Vixie explained, swooping low and grabbing hold of a length of the net with rather weighty knots at the end. As she stood, twirled around Tony and let the knots fly at the face of an oncoming guard. The crushing impact forced the warden to backpedal.

"Well, that's just great," Tony growled, blade flashing back and forth to deflect the jabs and sweeps of the guards' polearms.

Just as he was about to suggest pressing toward the stairs, movement caught in his peripheral. Something from the hole in the wall was moving toward Vixie. Tony pivoted on his right foot and used his hips to shunt the woman back so he could bring his blade down to intercept the blur of motion.

The impact nearly dislocated both of Tony's shoulders. The giant barbed end of a scorpion tail was what he'd barely blocked. Venom dripped from the end, sizzling through the stone floor with startling speed. Tony's eyes followed the tail back toward the hole he'd made in the wall and was startled to see that the scorpion it belonged to was nowhere in sight. More surprising was the fact that there was a woman standing on the tail, looking directly at him, and clapping slowly.

"I'm impressed that you managed to stop him." the woman said, her voice carried a thick smooth accent that Tony couldn't quite place.

She was tall with shoulder-length black hair, adorned with beads and gold, her chest and legs were covered in what Tony could best guess was golden chitin. White linen flowed over her hips and shoulders where Tony saw a short bow and quiver. Her feet were covered in sandals with crisscrossing leather straps, and two barbed scorpion tails hovered on either side of her ankles.

"Shit," Vixie muttered.

"Shit?" Tony said.

"That's Serketzi," Vixie answered "and that tail is Ohnas's. he's probably on the ground floor."

Tony's head spun at the thought of a tail that long, that could strike as precisely as it almost had from however far away the "ground floor" was.

"Highness," Tony growled, shifting his stance and shoving the lethal tail end away from him. He pulled Legion's hilt up and to his back shoulder, leveling the point at Serketzi. A cold sweat broke out across his back, if Serketzi was at all comparable to Jorogu he wouldn't be able to fight past her, let alone Ohnas. Maybe if he had all of his equipment and wasn't down talents he would have been able to, but not as he was.

Serketzi held her hands up in mock surrender, "So that is why she chose you. You're a fighter. I have a proposition for you, Antonious," she finished the statement with a wry smirk.

"Hey! Get your hands off of me!" Vixie shouted from behind him.

Tony glanced over his shoulder to see that the guards he'd been helping to hold at bay had seized the opportunity provided by Serketzi's entrance. Vixie was pinned face down to the stone floor with three tails, dripping venom pointed at her neck and back.

Tony went to turn and unleash an Adamant Slash charged with the Splitting Beam enhancement at the guards, but a ginger hand coming to rest on his shoulder froze him in place.

"Nuh-uh," Serketzi's voice came from right next to his ear, "you come with me and the little Void Elf gets to live, you resist, she dies. Make your choice."

Tony gulped and looked down at Vixie, who managed to turn her head and look up at him. The fire in her eyes said "Do it, get us out of here," but Tony knew he wouldn't be able to make good on that. The crackling indigo essence of Adamant Slash faded and Tony drove Legion's tip into the stone floor.

"Just let her go," Tony said. His shoulders sunk with his tone. What else could he have done?

"You misunderstand, Antonious. I said she could live, not that she could leave."

> You have been Poisoned

Tony's eyes went wide. His poison resistance was 70%, not only had he been poisoned successfully at all, but he hadn't felt it. All of his muscles tensed and burned at once as the toxin spread through his body.

Before he could let out a roar of frustration, Serketzi whispered in his ear once more. "Shhh, sleep now."

> You are unconscious.