Powers now subdued again, Zalia took a quick glance down both directions within the corridor. The walls were bare, no windows or furnishings. There were no benches or sconces, only the odd glowing rune carved into the ceiling that provided a still white light.
There were many more iron doors down both directions, yet one of the corridors ended in a wall with the other disappearing from sight up a set of stairs. It was an easy decision.
During the brief moment of her powers being at their fullest once more, she had managed to send messages to both Boreal and Ember about what had happened. Hopefully, they would be able to do something with that. She didn’t really know where she was herself though, so wasn’t super hopeful about it. If she could just get outside…
She ran as quickly as she could down the corridor and took the stairs three at a time. At the top was a small landing with a single Bronze Astar lounging by the door. It didn’t even get the chance to wake out of their floating sleep as her blade dropped into her hands and she cut the Astar’s head in half.
It dropped to the floor, dead instantly.
She was a little surprised at how easily the Astar had died, a single cut from her blade enough to kill it. Maybe that was why the first Bronze ones she had seen had simply disappeared rather than risking confrontation.
It didn’t seem to have any keys or other equipment on it, yet the door before her had no handle that she could see. In fact, it had nothing on it except a single central rune.
She looked down at the dead Astar whose own runes were slowly fading from a glowing blue to an inert black. There, on its hand, was a rune that matched the one on the door exactly.
Acting quickly, she grabbed its arm and half lifted the body to press the palm of the Astar to the rune on the door.
As the door began to swing silently open, something started to feel off in her mind. This had been too easy.
She knew the demon, not from her own memories but from thoughts now surfacing from the collectives memory bundle. This demon wasn’t an idiot. They were cold, calculating and ruthless. It wouldn’t have made things this easy.
The door came to a rest and Zalia slowly moved through the doorway. It was nighttime.
Outside, was a huge courtyard surrounded by towering walls. They were formed oddly, out of the same rune-enchanted stone that made up her prison cell. The bottom of the walls was orderly and normal, yet the top started to take on strange shapes and angles, a confusing mess of a design.
The doorway she had moved through was set into the wall of a small building near the centre of the courtyard, a simple cube.
Standing only twenty metres away from her, was the demon.
“You finally come out to play.”
It gestured and Zalia’s eyes flicked up far above where the two Silver Astar were floating, observing the entire courtyard.
One of them raised their hand and the bracelets fell from her arms.
There was a sinking feeling in her stomach, a realisation that the demon had been waiting for her to try and break free. All so that it could snatch the hope from her in a single moment.
Its deep red eyes seemed to glitter with excitement, its mouth cracking upwards with jagged movements until a disturbing smile was set upon its face.
“Survive for a minute, and I’ll let you live… today.”
She looked to the stars above, letting out a single, small prayer to the friend she hoped was listening.
“Help.”
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Immediately, she cast a ritual using Dodge-vine, Bitterbalm and Manifest. It was what she used as a protection from the corruption in Cormaine.
It came not a moment too late as the aura of the demon came crashing down, trying to slither its way to her flesh.
Compared to what she had endured, it was nothing. Here, Healing Presence was at its full power, the protection enhanced by the ritual. Here, the Astar weren’t holding back her own power so that the demon's aura might prevail. It was still a struggle, but there was no pain, no injury.
The demon sneered with disdain, then launched its attack.
She was used to fighting these things by now, her armour appearing on her body as she let the demon's claws slide down the length of her blade, casting Hunter’s Mark all the while. Using the increased speed from her sword proficiency and the Bronze rank ability from the heirloom that was her blade, she struck back immediately.
The strike left a glowing starry arc in its wake as the sped up blade smashed into the armoured obsidian plate of the demon's right arm. A little crack formed in the surface as the demon was pushed back a single step.
It wasn’t a winning strike. It wasn’t even so much as harmful to the demon. It was a hit to its ego, however.
Its disdainful sneer turned to fury and it attacked again with fervor.
She had to immediately activate Protection of the Wilds, enhancing the shield with Dodge-vine using the Iron rank effect of the ability.
The demon only struck harder, shattering little ethereal pieces off of her shield and pushing her back up against the wall of the cubic building.
Using Fight or Flight, she sped up and hopped to the side, using the momentum and Mobility to hop once more in the other direction, a second step in the air to push herself forwards and a third to get herself over the head of the demon, twisting to land behind it, bringing her sword down as she did.
It struck, leaving only a scratch down the obsidian of the demon’s skin… armour?
Another hit, no more dangerous to the demon than the last, yet a small victory for her.
Using a quick ritual, she summoned a wall to block the demon’s vision of her. She ran around the side of it straight away, timing it well enough that as the demon exploded through the wall, she was gone. Well, she was around the other side yet gone to the demon’s sight.
A few seconds passed before the demon came smashing through the wall again but Zalia was ready. A summoned bear trap slammed closed on its leg, the teeth of the metal contraption cutting only a few millimetres into the leg.
The demon stumbled a little, then ripped the trap in half and threw the pieces at her.
She dodged to the side with a slight twist of her body, letting the pieces fly by, then raised her sword in preparation for the next clash.
It didn’t come.
The demon walked off, punching the remainder of her summoned wall with a fist.
Standing there in confusion, she only realised what was happening as the auras of the Astar stripped away her own before they landed. An intense power rolled over her and she stumbled to one knee, sword vanishing. The minute was over.
Before they could take it from her, she stored her armour and moments later, the bracelets clicked back onto her wrists.
⪼ ⪢ ℋ 𝒶𝓃𝒹 ℋ ⪡ ⪻
When the Astar came the next day, the demon wasn’t with them. However, they did open the door and made her move out into the corridor. She had a feeling that her daily torture would take on a new form now, something a little more entertaining for the demon.
She had gained a single level in Protection of the Wild’s from the previous day's bout, but really didn’t want to have to fight the damn Silver ranker again. There just wasn’t any way she could kill it without a whole lot of preparation
As she stepped out into the courtyard once again, she was met by the sight of the demon, waiting, looking both smug and excited.
“You have a minute and a half.”
Her heart thumped, concern and fear flooding her body. A minute and a half. If she survived, would tomorrow be two minutes?
Realistically, how long could she possibly survive before she made a mistake. It wouldn’t take much. If she allowed herself to be caught, one strike she didn’t manage to dodge.
The fight began once more.
At the end of a minute and a half of dodging, casting spells, using desperate measures and exhausting her abilities, the Astar put the bracelets back on her once more. It was a smart thing they were doing. She didn’t want to try another breakout because if she had to use her long cooldown abilities and the breakout failed, she would have a much harder time with the next fight.
The only hope she held was that the starlight wolf had heard her prayer. It would either come to save her or she was likely to die here. There was simply no way she would escape three Silver rankers, two of whom had powerful spacial magic, while her powers were subdued.
She settled in for another long wait between fights, desperately wracking her brain for anything, any way she could escape. Any idea or plan that would allow her to live just a little bit longer.