Andie sprinted across yet another floating chunk of building, Dyllan quickly dashing after her. He’d always been one of the few people who could keep up with her, whether it was in the physical world or a mindscape. If only he had an actual weapon, they could probably tag team the zombie tin-man chasing them. But wishes weren’t horses, so it looked like Andie wasn’t riding anywhere. “Any ideas, Dill Pickle?”
“Fresh out, sorry.” Dyllan slid under a flying wall, shifted into a roll, then leapt to the next floating building chunk. “Unless you’ve changed your mind on the whole ‘no heroic sacrifices’ thing.”
Now there was a thought. Maybe Andie could stay behind and fight, buying Dyllan time to - No, Dyllan had just tried to sacrifice his life to buy Andie time to escape. There was no way he’d turn around and let her die to save his own skin. Maybe if his virtue was drained after he’d used his shield a bit… but the whole idea was hypocritical to begin with. Perhaps she should have just listened when Dyllan asked her to run?
No. Not an option. She’d never be able to look Cedric in the eye again. She’d never be able to look anyone in the eye again. Not after leaving her best friend to die. And for what? A life was worthless without friends to make it fun, or morals to make it meaningful, and she’d lose both if she abandoned Dyllan. It didn’t matter though, because she was going to turn this situation around and get everyone out safely. Maybe she was asking for too much, but it was like her mother always told her: “If you want to have your cake and eat it too, bake two cakes instead of sitting on your ass agonizing over a false choice.” Andie had always liked that -
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“Cut them down, my Arrogance!” A cerulean crescent of energy struck into the Drugmare pursuing the two dreamwalkers. It didn’t seem to do a lot of damage, but it was enough to draw the monster’s attention. “Cut them down, my Arrogance! Cut them down, my Arrogance!” Two more crescents of energy flew out from behind one of the chunks of building, curving around to strike the Drugmare. “Cut them down, cut them down, cut them down!” Three more strikes, this time accompanied by a mysterious figure. The figure was moving too fast to be seen clearly, but was definitely clad in black. “Cutcut cutcut cutcutcut cutcutcut, CUT!” The voice steadily grew more aggressive; calling forth a flurry of strikes, finally piercing the Drugmare’s defenses and sending it crashing to the ground.
Andie had never seen a dreamwalker use their ability so freely, as though they did not fear the exhaustion of their… virtue… Wait. Strike them down, my Arrogance? That didn’t sound like a virtue at all.
Reluctantly, Andie’s eyes drifted over to the Drugmare. It wasn’t shattering into a burst of light like Nightmares usually did. Instead, the wounds from the cerulean strikes spread like a festering corruption, melting away the casing to reveal nothing but a swirling void inside. Instead of a bang, this Nightmare went out with a whimper, melting into the ground and dyeing it a rotting black color as it seeped into the cracks.
The mysterious figure leapt onto the spot where the Drugmare had once been. She looked like a monochrome version of Andie, carried a cobalt blue katana, and had black ectoplasmic energy flickering out of her in the shape of wolf ears and a wolf tail. She silently stared at the black stain beneath her feet, watching apathetically as parts of it began to stir with a hint of life. “Useless trash…” She turned towards Andie. “…all of you.”