Walking up the stairs off of the tenth floor, Corvayne found himself in another waiting room. This waiting room looked like a lounge. There was leather furniture and everything was black and looked well put together. There were double glass doors with exit that stretched out to what looked like a walkway to a different building. There was also, as last time, a door they came from and one marked 'Emergency Exit' that felt off to him.
There were about six couches and some tables around the space, and again he saw ghostly figures. One group was dressed like military commandos. At another table... he saw what looked like a terrified group of four miners arguing. The voices were faint but Corvayne could actually make out what they were saying.
“We're dead if we leave.”
“We're dead going forward. Nobody's come back.”
Lady Blood Claw raised an eyebrow. “It's the miners. Of course. The tower likes connections. Poor souls...”
Grunt stood up and walked over to the miners table, pulled up a chair, then sat down. Corvayne felt Lady Blood Claw's hand latch on his shoulder as she stopped him from following. “Don't sit down with them you oaf!” She turned to face Corvayne, who felt her steely grip harden. “He just switched channels to them!”
A miner looked at Grunt settling in. “Wait a second... did you see that? I think I see a guy sitting with us!”
Grunt nodded and pointed to the man's outfit, specifically the grit covered Tel-Star patch.
Corvayne stepped one step closer. “Grunt, is that a group of miners? About to try to fight a boss?”
The big man nodded, then cracked his knuckles. He mimed counting, then held up seven fingers and shook his head. He held up two fingers, then mimed something scary: Can't go in with seven. That's why you had two monsters before.
Lady Blood Claw whistled. “Impressive that he figured it out from Wick... I was going to suggest we send Seru out the loser's door.” She looked over at the shorter woman who was giving her the finger. “It's fine. The miners could do that, but they probably have guards waiting to kill them and take their stuff...”
“... I thought they were just images here... You think you can follow them in?” Corvayne looked closer. Grunt was fading a little, matching the miners. He looked around and nodded. Then he looked at Corvayne and made a little 'fists up' motion, then held his hand up like a prizefighter who won: Don't worry Corvayne. You got this!
Grunt then gestured at his watch, then held up all ten fingers then gestured to the door: This will take ten minutes then I'll meet you outside.
“He could end up at the mine entrance with them, couldn't he?” Wick asked.
Lady Blood Claw thought. “Yes. It's possible. I'd say if I was them, I'd just stay in the tower they are in and go looking for a town, then delve back to level one on a different route that puts them at a different exit. This particular tower is nasty because of the one-way doors, but usually it's not as strict with forcing you forward.”
Grunt and the miners then vanished. Wick looked around. “Isn't ANYONE else worried we just lost one of our heavy hitters?!” Mister I shrugged. Nyxion looked insulted. “Please. We're going to make mincemeat out of our enemies, isn't that right Lady?”
“A floor ten fight isn't usually that much harder then a floor five one.” Lady Blood Claw had her two handed sword ready but looked a little bored.
Corvayne looked at her. “Lady, uh, why didn't you tell us more about dungeons before we went in?”
“I had no idea I'd see them again, and you guys are doing pretty well? I don't know. The only thing that's odd is getting two lobby floors in a row before bosses. Usually you hit The Inn first.”
“The Inn?” Corvayne asked.
Lady Blood Claw nodded. “Yeah. It's a shared space run by a sort of 'might not be real' innkeeper who dishes out jobs. I guess you can trade with other people climbing, or do some things with getting more help, or selling yourself to others running the tower.” She shrugged. “The people I ran with only had me talk to the bar keeper to cash in on things we were doing anyway and one time hired a guy to help them pick locks on a stretch of floors.”
Corvayne nodded. “If we have some spare time, I'd like to sit down with you and learn more about your trips into the tower. Even if they were not pleasant, it might help us learn further down the road.” He'd also grill her on what the skin colors meant. It felt like he was missing something every time she started flashing colors, and Lady Blood Claw might be used to Nyx who probably knew what they all meant.
He looked at the glass double doors. “Now, however, we are breaking out of here.”
Corvayne found himself standing on a sky-blue stone stairway overlooking a rocky hill, a cool wind swaying the grass on the hill. The sun hung in a perfect blue summer sky, warming him as he walked down the stairs. His eyes followed the broad steps down to a half-bowl shaped amphitheater with a circular arena at the bottom, ringed with stone walls carved in faux arches. Above the rim of the arena limestone seats rose from a green grass slope. Beyond the edge of a cliff marking the edge of the arena and amphitheater there was a vast cloud covered slope that reminded him of the one down to Cascadia.
Ghostly spectators faded into being as he got lower. Closer to the bottom ring he could see a clear gate at the end of the staircase. Looking down at the arena, he could see a lot of it was out over the cliffside. He would have to be careful during whatever fight the dungeon cooked up, as going off that cliff would be a long tumble down. Eyes studying the arena, he saw a figure in a cloak stride from a wall to the center of the arena. They were holding a spear, and the cloak they had on shifted as they crossed from the shadows near the wall into daylight. As they arrived at the center and turned he could feel their eyes looking up at him from under the dark hood.
A black spear, just like his. A cloak, shimmering with the colors behind it. A Watcher? Or just a monster dressed like one?
At the bottom, near the gate, were six ornate seats on either side of the path. The best ones in the house. A strange being, made of vines but shaped like a human, was waiting for him there. Corvayne hoped that at some point he'd not be constantly confused by everything around him, but the figure didn't start running at him when he got within fifty feet, so he eased up a little as he approached.
“Hello vine person.” He greeted the figure as he got close enough he was sure the figure wasn't hostile.
The vines slithered and an pink crystal came out of the head. “Greetings. Before you enter... There are rules. Only one may fight her at a time.”
Corvayne looked between the vine and the arena floor, and saw that the figure had pointed it's spear at him. He also saw that it's arm... glistened.
The vine figure shuddered and Corvayne got the impression it was laughing. “How unusual for a guardian... She only wants to fight you.”
“What's to stop us from just bum rushing them? We fought here as a team after all.”
The vine figure wiggled it's shoulders back and forth. “Each person would face their own trial.”
Six Watchers? No way in hell. He looked back to his friends and Seru coming down the stairs. Of them, maybe Nyxion and Lady Blood Claw could deal with the average watcher. Wick if she had the airfoil rapier maybe. Six on Six would be impossible.
“Fine. Put me in.”
With a pop he found himself standing on the rough stone floor of the amphitheater. The pit was much deeper now that he was in it. He and his enemy were still separated by fifty feet and for now they were just watching him as he looked around and did some stretches. The figure facing him, he saw now, had a feminine shape. She pulled her cloak's hood back and he saw she looked like a pool of living water. Currents swirled inside her hands and face, tinted blue with complex distortions of darker colors from the cloak. The scowl she had on tickled something in the back of his mind, as did her black tunic and brown shorts, similar to what he was wearing.
Wait. No way...
“Spears-Like-Water?” He looked at her and had to stop his jaw from dropping. “What happened in the last month? Did the Magus do something to you?”
“You fool.... you have no idea what you did! To me! To everyone!” She snapped her spear into a stance ready to attack, and started circling him. He followed suit, stepping back.
“Kick her ass Corvayne!” Wick cheered from behind him.
He held up his hands while still holding his spear. “Wait wait wait, I in fact don't know what I did, EVER, to piss you off... what did I do?”
The woman facing him narrowed her eyes. “I can tell you what you should do... DIE.”
She lept into the air and Corvayne knew from sparring with her what was coming. He started running and looked upwards, searching the sky with his eye. Once he saw her, he crouched and changed directions. He really missed his second eye as he couldn't attack her in the air by just guessing how far away she was. A second later she hit the ground like a comet, a huge burst of dust and grit flying as she slammed a hole into the dirt. A moment after her [Leap Strike] hit the ground he had to leap an extra step back as sharp blue spikes fell around her for a second. The rain of spears vanished after a moment but he felt a surge of annoyance. What the hell, his attack didn't do that!
She pulled her spear out of the ground and whipped it back to point at him. “Exile! You will pay for what you did to me! Do you know how long I've been awake? Searching for you? Twisted into a body that fills me with revulsion?” Spears was sputtering mad as she spoke. Or that was just how water sounded when it was speaking.
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“Uh, didn't I see you like three days ago? So three days?” Corvayne asked lamely as they circled each other.
He could see that wasn't the right answer as the Spears's watery eyes narrowed and she crouched then blasted off like a bullet at him. She turned into a torrent of foaming sea as she used [Flows-Like-Water]. Corvayne knew that trying to dodge would get him gutted. So he stepped into [Flows-Like-Water] as well, his form becoming immaterial for a moment as he cut across the water.
He came out of the form but felt a slice on his arm. Of course, when SHE did it, her entire body was probably a spear or something.
Mister I shouted helpfully. “I think you may wish to hit her back!”
No kidding? She was about twenty feet away. He grabbed his weapon then lept forward, using [Thrust] to close the gap. She aimed a [Thrust] back, and he stepped to dodge the spear-head and land a blow on her shoulder. He managed to just avoid her spear as his own spear just glided through her. She brought the butt of her weapon around through herself and hit him in the chin. He rolled with it and stepped back, then spit a tooth out. “Cheater.” He muttered.
“Hah! You never focused on one thing. It's why you were weak in everything. To know you stole my move though... unforgivable! When I defeat you... you will know true pain!”
He got a twinge of a headache as something struck him as off about what she had said. The words were wrong, even if that's what Spears always sounded like.
Wick shouted from her seat off to his side. “I swear to everything above Corvayne if you lose this on purpose I will kill you myself!”
He dodged a barrage of spear strikes. “Why the hell would I lose if she didn't beat me!? You notice she's trying to kill me?!” He yelled as he weaved away from Spear's jab and thrusts. Spears response to missing every attack was the holler in frustration then once more leap into the air.
Another dirty attack was incoming. He saw her in the air, and he juked to the right using [Flow-Like-Water] again, not trusting her to try the same attack exactly the same way. Sure enough, as he came out of the ability, he saw what looked like the ground where she landed explode into a geyser.
She tapped her spear to her hand, drew out a watery copy of her weapons, then flung it at him. He dodged it, but not enough: Where it hit the ground behind him the aquatic spear exploded, knocking him forward. He saw her coming and used [Juxtapose], stepping around her. Then he felt something yanking him backwards. She did it right back! He dove out of the way, sending his weapon out and doing little besides ripping her shirt some. Her own spear hit his leg, not enough to cripple him but he was now bleeding under his shin.
He stood and took a defensive stance. Spears closed again, her own weapon darting out. The black spear was relentless, but she wasn't Waves-Within. One of her attacks was flawed, and he did a non-skilled step around her, then pulled her hood up and pulled it down over her face. He kicked her back, sending her stumbling forward then she turned, tossing her cloak aside.
“What a coward! Can you even hurt me?”
The foot worked when she wasn't expecting it, or couldn't react to it. So she wasn't invicible, just NEARLY impossible to damage. Corvayne had no time to gripe as she prepared another [Flow-Like-Water], crouching with her glare fixed on him. A bad habit, you didn't need to spring forward when using the move. She couldn't turn very well so he dove to the side.
Once more he took some small cuts and groaned as she was already next to him him, forcing him from a crouch to parrying while moving backwards. He knocked a blow high and drove his spear into her shoulder but jerked his weapon back as she struck downwards trying to club him with the shaft of her spear. He stepped back as she did, and they resumed circling.
He was covered in his own blood from hits on his arms and legs and one small cut on his neck. She was totally uninjured. He hadn't lost yet. He could beat her... Corvayne pushed himself to stand up straight. He wanted to win this fight.
He planted his feet and rushed her, Spears parrying three strikes then letting the fourth hit while countered by stabbing Corvayne, hitting his hand as he pulled his spear back then darting out again, this time driving her spear into his chest. If he hadn't stepped back fast enough, she would have driven it through him. He felt his side tighten up where the blade hat connected.
“Corvayne, stop being a stubborn fool. Are you soft on this water girl? Use another weapon! Your Cross Skills!” Lady Blood Claw called out, skin practically glowing orange.
“I want...” Corvayne spoke, looking at Spears who stopped for a moment, smirking.
“You want to look good? In front of those women?” The watery woman gestured to the stands. Nice try, he wasn't looking away. He could see water gathering behind her, a sort of wave slithering up from the ground to hold behind her.
Corvayne spit blood from the tooth that had been knocked loose before. “No you... annoying shrew. I wanted to beat you in a real fight. I wanted to fight you spear to spear, somehow win, and get you to stop treating me like crap. But Lady Blood Claw is right... I got a job to do here. You haven't been showing me mercy have you?”
“Of course not!” Her voice lowered to a growl. “I want to break you. I will show you how far I've come since last time and make you say it! Diamonds isn't here to drag your ass out of the fire this time!” Spears clenched her hands with both hands and started glowing blue. There was something wrong with what she was saying, but he didn't have time to rub away the headache. He guessed the swelling water around her was going to be a real attempt to finish him off.
He heard Wick from the stands off to his side. “Wow. Corvayne do you HEAR what she's saying?”
“I told you, that's why I hate dealing with her! She can't just shut up and have a fight. No, it's always about pinning me down and making me cry or some bull... bullcrud!”
Spears-Like-Water pointed her spear at him. “Good bye, Corvayne. [Tidal Wave]!”
The wall of water gathering behind her shot forward. The fifteen foot wave had foaming hints of spears in it. Corvayne knew he couldn't get over it, not out in the open. He ran for the outside of the arena, and pivoted and activated [Flow-like-Water] as he felt the water closing.
It might have saved his life, as even inside his skill the wave hit him like a hammer in a dozen spots as it crested over his head. He tumbled out of the skill into a battering current. Salt water stung his cuts and he fought the urge to cry out, instead slaming his spear downwards, wedging it into the floor of the arena as he felt the current pick up. The water felt like blades cutting him as it tried to rip him away from his spear. He knew it would flush him out the back of the arena and off the cliff behind him if he didn't hold fast. Just as he thought his lungs and grip would give out, his head broke the water and he gasped for air. He was surprised he could still stand when his feet felt ground.
He looked behind him and saw that his heel was a foot away from the edge off into open air. A chill passed through him. If he had been a little slower...
Spears gave him a disappointed look as he turned back and coughed, spitting out seawater. She then shrugged and pointed her spear once more.
He saw water start to form behind her again, rearing up a foamy ten, twenty, thirty feet tall. He glanced back at the stands and the arena wall. It looked like there was a shield over his friends. Good. He turned and started running for the nearest wall as he felt the ground start to shake.
He lept as he neared the stone wall, grabbing the lip of the arena and pulling himself up, then turning. The wall of water was still looming as it was closing ground. So standing above the floor of the arena wouldn't stop the wave from breaking on him if he got caught but it was ten less feet of water he'd have to deal with. He took his spear, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them. He couldn't simply jump over it, and going through it had left him bruised.
A spear moved forward. He drew his weapon back, then leapt at the wall.
[Storm Thrust]!
He saw his spear glow blue and purple and red with lightning as he drove it forward into the tidal wave. It hit the water and the entire wave split with a tremendous crack of lightning.
He landed on the soggy ground left in the parted water, his spear before him pushing away the magic propelling the wave like a knife under a faucet. He could feel a little of the water slice his boots and leg where fingers of spray slid through the wedge he was making. Then, holding his spear out, took a step forward against the water.
He saw her shadowy figure in the current, and as he took another step Spears stepped back. The entire body of water evaporated away as she lept into the air.
He felt a little tired from his last attack and the abuse he had taken. While he used [Flow-Like-Water] again to avoid her crushing him, this time one of the rain of spears hit him in the arm.
“I can do this all day Corvayne! All day! How soon will you fall?”
“If you turn off your water tricks now, I'll give you a fighting chance.” He set the bottom of his spear against the ground as she stepped back to about thirty feet away, her own pointed at him.
“You haven't even hit me once! Aside from a kick. Are you going to try it again? I bet I can twist your foot off if you land a hit near my muscles.”
He ran a hand through his hair. It was wet from sweat despite how cool the hilltop arena was. “Last chance.”
He heard Wick yelling at him. “Stop FUCKING around Corvayne! I thought you didn't have an ego!”
He had to laugh. “I don't. If I did, I'd stick with the spear until I died. If I did, I'd not try to reason with her.”
Spears was laughing too. “It doesn't matter. You were passable with a spear. Pathetic with swords. A klutz with a scythe, a coward with a knife, and too slow with an axe to take a tree down. I don't treat with fools.”
He put his spear away, and drew the airfoil rapier. He concentrated, his shadow hands forming behind him. He couldn't help but smile. “Maybe you're right. But, did you ever see me fence? En guard!” He playfully swung the rapier in a figure eight.
She stopped and just laughed mockingly. “Sure. Fine!” She gripped her spear sideways, glowing blue as she readied another [Tidal Wave].
Corvayne drew on his stamina and used [Cross-Skill: Flows-Like-Water] to close the distance between them.
Spears stopped channeling the moment he got close. “I have you!” Her spear went to a point, aimed at his throat.
He used [Cross-Skill: Juxtapose] and slid around her, this time stopping at her side rather then a full shift and he leaned into a roll as soon as the shift stopped, putting a spear length between them. She of course immediately used her own [Juxtapose] but thrust harmlessly into air where he should have been as he ended his roll a step behind her. He caught her eye as she realized where he was and lined up her back. She was smirking.
“It's use-”
He wasn't going to let her finish that thought.
[Backstab]
[Backstab]
[Backstab]
[Backstab]
[Backstab]
[Backstab]
[Backstab]
The airfoil blade blasted water out of her with each attack, drenching Corvayne as he slammed attack after attack into her back.
She somehow managed to reform, on the ground facing him. She stabbed out and he sidestepped then hit her twice. Each attack with the air-aligned weapon pushed bubbles into her, disrupting her ability to stand or hold a weapon. She tried to stand and he jabbed her knee twice, forming another bubble that popped it, flopping her over. She turned to water and slid away, then crouched and rallied.
“[Flows-Like-Water]!” She half growled as she came at him, a tsunami of spiraling water streams all aiming for him.
“[Cross Skill: Storm Thrust!]” He called out as his arm shot the rapier out, his eye tracking each point coming at him as they blurred to hit each spike of water. He saw her coming out of the wave he was dispersing with his blade, her own spear aiming at his side. Four shadow limbs appeared out the same spot she was lining up an attack to, skewering her arm before she could stab him. She screamed in pain as her watery arm turned black and she leapt into the air again and landed at the back of the arena.
“I don't care about your stupid tricks! Die!” She started charging her spear with another tidal wave.
He responded with [Cross-Skill: Whirling Axe] limited to a single thrust that sent an image of his weapon flying out to hit her in the shoulder. He started strolling across the arena. The water forming behind her burst into mist.
She held her spear one handed and clutched the wound. Her eyes were wild as she leapt into the air, and Corvayne started jogging forward. She always got more aggressive when she was mad. And boy, was she mad.
As he guessed she had aimed for him to try to do something besides run right at her, not expecting him to be anything but timid during a fight. He spun as soon as he felt her land behind him and ran at her. She turned and used [Flow-Like-Water] again. Corvayne brought himself up short, and activated [Crescent Blade], taking a step back and leaving three images in his wake.
Spears ran right into them, creating what looked like an explosion of water as the images disrupted her. He sidestepped the current that remained, then dodged a weak one-handed jab and once more attacked, this time just striking spears over and over again, no longer giving her even a moment to recover, bubbles churning until she finally screamed and rolled over, watery form starting to leak on the ground. The vibrant blue she had at the start of the fight had faded to a sort of foamy white. Her spear was on the ground, three paces behind where Corvayne had started relentlessly attacking and driving her back.
He stopped his blade.
She was on the ground. He had her. He could... he...
His rapier fell to his side.
He didn't want to finish her off.
“Don't... don't pity... me...”
“I don't care that much but... I've known you my entire life. I'm angry at you, you and everyone else, but even if you're a weird water blob you're... how do I put this? Hating The Watchers to the point of killing them? It's even dumber then me insisting on using the spear. I'm never, ever going to see you outside of here again. You treated me like garbage, but...”
He looked at Wick a moment, then looked back at Spears, who he could see was struggling to keep her head off the ground, looking at him. “I was jealous of the people you liked. You treated everyone else well. So that's really what I want. I want to know.... WHY?!”
He felt his fists clenching. “Why me? Tell me! Why the insults! I saved your life! Heck, you saved mine too. We were both spear fighters. What was it? What did I do to you? To everyone?”
“I'm... I...” he saw something in her form under her torn shirt. It was a red gem-like core, with dark jagged lines around it. Black, green, red vines. He walked to stand above her. There was something wrong with those vines... the same ones he saw in the place with the portal. He felt what he had to do snap into place with clarity.
“No! You said you...” She tried to cover her face.
“Hold still.” He said then plunged his hand into her chest.
He heard Wick yelling at him. “Corvayne you're better then this! Stop!”
The water that made Spears was warm. He felt tension from her skin, but no guts or anything as his hand found the jagged spines of the thorned vine. He pushed his other hand in, ignoring spears trying to weakly push his arms away, and steeled himself as he put his other hand around the vine then started pulling it apart. Once more cuts and slices danced up and down his arms, blood falling onto spears and turning her watery form pink where the blood fell. Then something snapped and she gasped, flopping on the ground as Corvayne fell back, shadowy vines in his hands falling apart into sludge then evaporating.
He had a moment of fear, on the ground, watching her flop. Did he just kill her? No... her gasps faded, she coughed, and he heard her cry.
“Corvayne please... I didn't know. Forgive me.” She gasped out, then coughed, then clutched her chest. “Please... don't... hate me.”
“Fine. I don't hate you Spears-Like-Water. Despite the mockery, you acting like a real, uh, jerk during training, everything... I used to hate you. But after a while it's just sort of dust. I just want to know why?”
She put an arm over her face and shook a few times. Corvayne felt a weird shock to realize she was crying. “I never... I always... I tried. I tried to get you to smile... but it always hurt you...”
Corvayne looked around. He had thought it was some sort of curse on her, but maybe that vine was a part of her brain and he had just really messed up her memory.
“What would make me smile? You constantly insulted me and would gang up on me during sparring.”
She looked up, and her face looked horrified. “Oh no, he got you too! Corvayne, I always-”
Spears froze, then curled up. Corvayne stepped back as a tube formed around her, the glass melting into place like someone had poured a mold, then a machine formed around the glass. She was in a jar full of pink fluid. The arena was fading, Corvayne getting pulled away from her. But he saw her eye open, Spear's real face, a look that begged for help... as the world turned dark and she faded with it.
Corvayne fell into the black, feeling as though he had been punched in the gut.