After hours of searching the sewers, Keira finally found the right tunnel. It was vaguely familiar and before long, she found the ladder up to Wolfgang’s basement.
Or was it Nimh’s basement?
Either way, she had arrived, and she found no sign of Nimh.
Swallowing back panic, she ascended the ladder until she found the hidden door. Pressing her ear against it, she heard nothing, though she was aware of a source of vital energy emanating close by.
Before she could do anything else, the door opened and Nimh was standing in front of her, a calm look on his face.
“Nimh!” Keira shouted breathlessly.
“Keira,” Nimh replied with a nod. “Welcome back.”
Regaining herself, she pushed passed him. “We need to leave, now. There are...” her voice faded as she looked around the basement. There were more bodies littering the floor.
“Ah, that explains why you came by the sewers. Yes, I am aware, Stain has sent E ranks after me.”
Stunned by the sight, Keira could only nod.
“Anyway, onto more important topics. Are you going to stay, or are you going to leave?”
Nimh’s words shocked her back and she spun around. “I’m staying. But we need to leave. If Sebastian Stain is coming for you then it’s war.”
Nimh rolled his shoulders. “It’s fine.” He said calmly. “Firstly, congratulations, you can consider yourself my first disciple. Now, you and I are going to take your training up to the next stage.”
Blinking dumbly, Keira was sure she had missed something. “Wha…” she mumbled.
“You can train your physical arts in a controlled environment all you want,” Nimh said, walking past her, “But true competence comes from the unknown. So, I’ll have you fighting E Ranks. We will need to go out and find them of course, but I think we should manage.”
“I can’t fight E Ranks.” Keira said, “I’m only a…” she paused. Just what was her Rank now?
“You are near enough to E rank.” Nimh said, “And if you come across anything you can’t handle, I will step in. You need to improve quickly though.” He grinned. The first real grin she had ever seen on his face. It made him look younger.
After a large meal, courtesy of Wolfgang’s dwindling supplies, Nimh led Keira out into the street. After looking around for a while, he started walking, beckoning Keira to walk with him. He seemed relaxed, which was no comfort because she was freaking out.
Her stomach roiled, filled with food and nerves. The only thing she was confident about was that she doubted Nimh would just let her die on a whim. Surely not.
Not long after they began walking, they were attacked and true to his word, Nimh left them to her.
The first altercation was one-sided, with Keira getting hurt quite badly before Nimh killed the single E rank. The second was no better, ending in the same way.
“Why am I doing this?” she growled to herself, her injuries healing slowly.
‘Fighting?” Nimh had said. “Life is a fight so get familiar with it and learn to adapt. These E ranks have nowhere near your talent, and I’ve taught you how to move. Remember the Nine Forms, and don’t let your fear rule you.”
As it turned out, he wasn’t wrong. Heartened by having Nimh there to save her, she started fighting. The Nine forms were not a perfect tool for fighting, but oddly, they made it easier for her to avoid her opponent's attacks and position herself to counterattack.
Once she made that revelation, the fights took on a different form. Instead of focusing on her opponent, she focused on herself. Her movements, her vital energy and more importantly, her self-image.
She wasn’t a defenceless girl anymore. She was becoming a fighter. She had someone teaching her, guiding her way. And she had punching bags to assess herself on.
Before long, she no longer needed Nimh to save her. She could manage by herself. And the results were incredible. She could even take on three at once without Nimh needing to step in.
She felt invincible.
She felt that way right up until someone stabbed her and Nimh stepped in to kill him.
“Sorry, I missed that one.” Nimh apologised.
Grunting in pain, Keira looked down at the wound. The vital energy in her was already healing the wound. But it still hurt.
“I should have stopped it myself.” She replied through gritted teeth.
“Maybe,” Nimh said with a smile. “But you have come a long way.’ He poked her head gently. “But there is always room for improvement.”
She looked up at him and saw something was different about him, though she couldn’t say what.
“What now?” she asked. They had spent the better part of a day fighting through Stain’s men, though Keira hadn’t been killing them under Nimh’s orders. She had pondered that but decided to trust Nimh for now.
Nimh turned and looked towards the tallest tower in the undercity. “Sebastian Stain is up there. I think it’s coming close to the time to have a chat with him.”
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Keira followed his gaze, a tremor of fear coursing through her. Sebastian Stain was the most powerful man in the undercity, he had no equal.
Or so she had thought.
Nimh had revolutionised how she saw people. It helped that she, who was just a lowly F Ranks days ago was now strong enough to beat E Ranks.
Times were changing. And she couldn’t see Nimh losing to anyone. But still, even Nimh couldn’t be unbeatable. Could a D Rank would be more than he could manage?
With a casual pace, Nimh started walking with Keira following close behind. Their destination was in sight.
Sebastian paced his office, circling the windows that gave a perfect view of the undercity.
Report after report had arrived, fuelling his rage. Every E Rank he had sent out was beaten. Those that had survived had mentioned two people, one a young man, the other a girl. Most of the reports indicated that the girl beat his men handily, which left Sebastian concerned.
The initial reports of Sapphire's death indicated it was a young man who had killed her, as well as Wolfgang and his people. One problematic E rank was one thing, but two?
Sebastian was strong enough to take on all six of his gang lords with little effort. From the reports, the young man had done likewise against five. Which made him a proper threat.
If he had a companion who could fight on par with him? That caused Sebastian concern.
The problem was that they had been getting into fights through the undercity. The last few altercations were nearer to the Tower than he would have liked. Which made their target obvious.
They were coming here. It had all been some kind of plot. Kill Wolfgang to weaken the gang lords. Draw out the gang lords and, kill them, causing panic to sprout in his ranks. Draw out Sebastian’s men, and beat them, further destabilising Sebastian’s control. It had left Sebastian with few men and a gaping hole in his chain of command.
E ranks may be weak, but they made up a powerful component of his power. Without them, he was far more vulnerable.
Then the tower shook.
“So, you’re here,” Sebastian growled as he turned away from the window.
All of his battle-ready E Ranks were in the tower, getting treated. Their natural abilities would heal them, but medical aid would speed it up. But that also made them useless.
Sebastian would have to kill those two himself.
Nimh tore through the front doors to the tower, one strong kick blasting a door off its hinges while the other struck the adjacent wall with a crash.
Around him, screams echoed. F Ranks ran while E Ranks, many of which Keira had already beaten, hid away. It was a futile effort, Nimh could sense them. But he left them be.
Instead, he sent his spirit sense out. He could barely feel anything past the twelfth floor, less than half the height of the tower. But he knew where Sebastian Stain would be. A King overlooking his kingdom from up high.
Giving Keira and look, he smiled and circulated his vital energy faster as he began running up the stairs, Keira hot on his heels.
He didn’t really want to bring her to this fight. Sebastian Stain was powerful, and she would be able to offer much in the way of aid. Even worse, Stain could use her as a hostage or for another scheme to put Nimh at a disadvantage.
But he wanted her by his side for this. It would set the tone for his conquest of this world, and he felt it was important that she understand it.
Before long, a powerful presence made itself known to his spirit sense. And Nimh could feel the malevolent rage echoing through the presence’s spirit.
That could be a problem. But it was a problem Nimh would deal with. However the time to do so was quickly approaching.
With his body enhanced, the height of the tower was scaled quickly so Nimh eased off when there was still a floor to go. Breathing deeply, he slowed the flow of his vital energy, letting it build up as he slowed to a walk. Keira stopped half a floor ahead of him, watching as he slowly approached.
He smiled. “Don’t run into a fight exhausted.” He instructed. “A few moments of preparation can help you succeed.”
“Then why run?” she asked confused.
“To scare him,” Nimh replied simply as he walked past her, patting her shoulder. “Any fight can be won or lost before the first punch is thrown.”
“Planning?” she asked.
“Preparation and planning are important. But I mean something even easier.”
There was a small plateau before the stairs leading to the top floor. Above, Nimh could see the hole in the floor that the stairs led to.
“Picking your moment.” He said, “And when you have your moment, make it count.”
Emerging into Sebastian Stain’s office was an experience for Nimh. The space was huge, taking up the full circumference of the building. Glass windows let in the evening light and the dark stone floor glimmered with maintained polish.
This room was designed to impress. The man glaring at him was not. He intimidated.
Nimh made eye contact with Sebastian Stain the moment he came into view. And he was not what Nimh was expecting. Tall and refined, he was so far removed from how the gang lords looked that Nimh thought he was facing a politician.
Though he had to admit, he could see the resemblance between him and his children. Sapphire's attempted elegance and Wolfgang’s general appearance.
“You must be Stain,” Nimh said calmly.
“You have some nerve coming here,” Stain growled, vital energy ebbing from his skin, leaving a cloud of golden energy around him.
“My condolences,” Nimh began. “If I could redo this all again, I would have not killed your daughter.”
“And my son?”
“Oh, I would have killed him. The man was scum, and I have no time for scum.” Nimh was fully in the room and walking towards Sebastian Stain. “Now, you on the other hand. You, I may have a use for, scum or not.”
A cold laugh cut Nimh off. “You spirit invaders are all the same, aren’t you? Yeah, I know what you are. Unless you got that strong overnight, I would have found you long before now, punk.”
Nimh paused at that. “Are you saying there have been others?”
Stain snorted. “Bit convenient isn’t it, that a bunch of weak F Ranks congregate here? And who is more likely to be taken over by spirit invaders? Yes, we have measures for your sort.”
“Ah, so there was a reason,” Nimh said slowly, keeping himself between Keira and the D Rank. “You know, I thought it was strange. This city suddenly makes more sense. But what doesn’t make sense is how you know about my kind.”
Stain snarled. “Well, you can take your curiosity to the grave.” Stain’s body shot forward, the full force of a D Rank crashing through the room.
Nimh did not hesitate. He shot forward too, the built-up vital energy exploding as he intercepted Stain. In the space of a blink, they collided, the force of their collision shattered the glass in the windows, letting in a cold breeze.
Stain did not seem to care as he threw fist after fist, each punch faster and more deadly than the last. Nimh did not let them touch as he swayed and dodged, letting Stain build up his momentum.
A storm of vital energy formed as they fought, forcing Keira to stumble back down the stairs, though she could still see.
Every now and then, Nimh caught her wide-eyed stare. Well, showing off wasn’t such a terrible thing. It added to prestige.
But Nimh had to be careful. This man was well and truly a step above the E Ranks. He actually had a measure of control over his vital energy, though Nimh sensed no primal root in his physical well.
And his movements were similar to the ninety-nine forms, though unpolished and bastardised to be almost unrecognisable. One of Nimh’s people had trained him, at least on a rudimentary level.
In a heartbeat of a mistake, Nimh saw an opening and shot forward, his strike catching Stain on the elbow, shattering the bone, and disabling the nerves. Or so it should have.
The moment Nimh landed his blow, Stain changed. He sacrificed defence, letting Nimh disable his arm, in exchange for a blow powerful enough to make Nimh break out in a cold sweat.
He realised his mistake a step too late and could only pivot and throw himself to the side as he took the blow. The force broke his arm, cracked his ribs, and sent vital energy through his body as a rudimentary vital energy release.
It was enough to kill a man on the spot.