THUM!

THUM!

Why were the steps sounding so fast now? And so close?

THUM! THU-THUM! THUM!

“Keep running!” Kur shouted.

Nar tried to push the giant pursuer from his mind and to focus on the guardians closing in on either side of the party.

Two on the left. No, three! And four on the right!

There were too many for him, and coated in Pressure, Nar had no hope of bringing them down fast. As expected, the Crystal had been quick to humble them, and show them that even with their new classes, they were still nothing before It.

As it was, Nar could only hope to tackle one of the sides. If only he had Rel’s arrows or Tuk’s rings… Or even Viy’s spear, with her range and denial! Alone, it was too much for him to take on.

“Nar, I’ll take the left!” Jul suddenly shouted.

“What? No! Stop!” he shouted, aghast.

The rogue dashed to the left. The brave, valiant, mighty Jul, with her daggers glowing gray, and a determined, fierce look in her eyes.

“No! It will burn you!” Nar called from behind her.

“I can do it! You do the right side! Quick!”

His heart crushing inside him, Nar did as she said.

Crystal, if You let anything happen to her… I will… I will….

He didn’t even know what he would do, but then, he was amidst flaming Pressure.

Pain racked him from all sides. His aura fought back with all it had, and Nar was forced to pull more of it to keep from burning. But that Pressure was just too powerful. Too hot.

His sword got stuck inside the first of the four guardians, just like it had before.

Ah, for fuck’s sake!

He had no choice.

He pulled out the blade and swirled to meet the next attacker.

[Aura Strike]. 10 points!

The sword ignited with aura again, and this time the aura around it felt more solid. Sharper.

The blade cut through the second guardian in one fell swoop, coming out the other side unimpeded.

However, as it exited the Pressure, the weapon was again bereft of aura. It had been completely consumed by the Pressure.

What is this Pressure? What was the point of all that auramancer pileshit then?

He dodged from a bladed limb that was meant to skewer him from behind, and threw his sword back, repeating the same skill to the same effect.

At least, they are not faster or stronger. They just burn!

And burn they did. The last guardian went for his neck, his arm and his leg in a multi-bladed attack. Nar twisted and parried and avoided all the attacks. But the simple proximity of the guardian was enough to eat away at his aura, and make him grunt in pain. He covered his face as that flaming Pressure sought to eat away at his very eyes, and threw the sword out in a wide arc, hoping to catch his opponent.

His sword got stuck again and he half-opened one eye, to check on the enemy.

Dead.

Burns stung across his body and face, his HP working to do away with the angry wounds littered across him.

I need to be careful with my eyes, he thought, remembering his injury from before the Sentry fight. If he went blind now, it would all be over.

He looked behind him. More enemies were coming.

And the party? Where was it?

There!

They had managed to run quite far, and Jul, thank the Crystal’s Mercy, was with them. However, they hadn’t gotten far enough, and more guardians were assaulting them from the right.

Grunting in anger and exasperation, Nar ran to their aid.

He swallowed the distance in a matter of seconds, and sliced through the guardians in a fury of sword and aura, spending and wasting like there was no tomorrow, for if they didn’t escape, there truly wouldn’t be one.

“We’re almost through!” Kur shouted. “Don’t stop!”

But they were surrounded now.

Rel and Tuk were useless. Mul was nursing badly burned arms. Viy was still kicking and screaming from Gad’s shoulder and all that the tank could do was hold her shield high, to try and blow through the guardians. Kur held the middle, urging them on, and keeping Cen steady so that she could keep firing her aura. That left only Jul and him to fight.

In glimpses, he caught her form. A whirlwind of [Speed], gray daggers and [Agility]. He couldn’t tell if she was hurt or injured. He could only hope she would be okay.

Guardians soon filled his sight. No matter how many he cut down, more appeared. He saw nothing but blades and limbs all around him, flaming and sparking orange, stretching into the distant horizon all around them.

Even with his massive aura, he was bound to run out at some point. He couldn’t stop, though. As life threatening as those guardians where, they were not the real threat.

THUM!

Here it comes!

THU-THUM!

The double steps terrified him beyond reason. Whatever that thing was, it was rushing to catch up to them.

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THU-THUM! THU-THUM!

It's going to catch us!

Another of Cen’s explosions illuminated the orange Nexus, and suddenly the press of guardians around him eased up a fraction.

He kept fighting, and soon enough, another explosion.

More explosions, faster, less charged and more desperate, going off all around them. But even weaker, they were doing its job. Blasting around them with abandon and despair, Cen poured all that she had into her staff.

And then, he was free.

They were running.

The columns, swarming with guardians, fell behind them. Ahead of them, the one that held the exit loomed in the distance.

“Come on, we can do it!”

“Watch out!” Jul shouted.

“Spears!” Nar said, sensing the danger, and lacking a better word to describe those massive bolts.

He parried one of the big things, aimed at Mul, who ran at his side. The lengos, cradling his injured arms, was even slower than usual.

With a sudden thought, Nar picked him up and held him against his chest, using his [Strength] to be able to hold him with just one hand.

He expected Mul to berate him and demand to be set down again, instead, he barely heard the lengos' pained voice.

“Thank you…”

Spears fell on them, making his ears ring, and from behind them, the guardians chased them, like an infinite pileslide that covered everything. But they had survived their onslaught, and without the momentum from their rolling forms, the Climbers were faster.

Nar risked a look behind him and his legs went weak.

The columns, from the middle down, were completely covered in guardians, and for as far as he could see, more and more guardians spread around them in an endless tide, untold numbers pouring down more and more columns… And rolling guardians were starting to manage to get through the masses they had left behind.

This can’t be all for us… Nar thought, completely floored by the uncountable enemies chasing after them. All of this, just for us?

That couldn’t be right. That couldn't be true! How did any of that make any sense? They were just Climbers! Just sentients… Mortals!

Whatever was happening… It had to be much beyond them, right? No way the Crystal hated them so much, it brought such impossibility to bear upon them. Right?

“Watch out!” Jul shouted.

The ceiling was almost bloated out by the number of spears heading their way.

Crystal… Really?

“Boooon!” Kur shouted, triggering his [Fighter’s Boon].

Suddenly, Nar’s legs lurched forward, as the System correctly boosted all of their [Speed]s. It wasn’t much, especially for the slower party members, but it was just enough, just barely enough to make it past the immense volley of spears. As it was, they were still nicked by the edge of it.

Spears fell all around Nar. One of them sliced past Kur’s right leg, and the altei went down.

Tuk was on him immediately, lifting him up.

Cen, who had been flung by Kur’s fall, was on her feet almost immediately too. She pointed her staff behind them, and opened fire, brightening up the Nexus in a flurry of [Aura Projectile]s.

It took several of the weaker projectiles to break through the Pressure protecting the guardians, but eventually, she managed to break through, and bring down enough of them that it stalled the front line in chaos, and gave them time to recover.

Nar stored his sword and swooped her up with his other arm. His sword was useless now, but Cen could still make the difference.

Ahead of them, Gad still carried Viy. Tuk had gotten Kur onto his back and was doing his best to keep running. He had Mul pressing against his chest and Cen doing her best to keep firing, perched from his shoulder. Only Jul and Rel ran unimpeded.

He would have laughed if he could, at the ridiculousness of it all. As it was, he almost did.

“Come on!” Jul said, urging them on instead of Kur. “We can do it!”

Kur’s [Fighter’s Boon] still carried them forward, and the column that held the exit slowly got closer.

BA-THUM!

The floor shook beneath him, much stronger than before.

His heart fell.

Nar looked behind him, dreading what he would find. But he had to see what it was that chased them.

His mouth dropped open.

A massive, enormous limb had appeared from behind one of the columns they had just left.

With his mind going blank, he watched it wrap around another column. It wrapped and wrapped and wrapped. Three times it wrapped around the enormous column.

No… he thought, his mind going blank.

Beyond the limb, a massive ball of black metal dragged itself into view.

Cen, looking over his shoulder, screamed.

Flaming orange orbs that couldn’t be anything else other than giant eyes moved up and down the length of the massive body of the guardian. Eyes that started to gather, and focus on them.

“What is that thing?” Tuk shouted, his voice edged to the brink of sanity.

An impossibility.

An insurmountable obstacle.

A reminder of their weakness and frailty.

Every time… Every time I think I’ve become stronger, closer to what I need to save my dad, You have to go and show me just how wrong I am, don’t You? But is all of this really necessary?

He didn’t even know who he was talking to anymore.

The Crystal?

The System?

They still didn’t know for sure who it was that arranged the path and the obstacles that littered it. It didn’t matter anyway. And what point was there in praying for mercy and leniency, only to be faced with something like that?

THUM!

The thing was positioning itself into the space between the columns.

On the floor, the guardians opened up enough space for its massive limbs to find a place to stand on.

THUM!

It was slower now, taking its time to maneuver itself through the columns. Maybe they still had a chance. Maybe.

“Almost there!” Jul shouted.

Nar looked forward. The column loomed above them.

He almost cried in joy and relief.

Then his [Instinct] told him to look back again.

A mass of orange eyes had gathered in one spot, and they were shining brighter than the other eyes, which still zipped to and from across the giant machine.

“What’s it doing?” Tuk asked.

“I-I think it's going to shoot us! With Pressure!” Jul said.

“Hurry!” Nar shouted. “Hurry!”

He had no doubt that was exactly what it was going to do. It had stopped moving, and even the guardians had halted their chase. Instead, they were retreating. Fleeing to the back of the giant guardian, and hiding behind the columns… Whatever was coming, they wanted to steer well away from it.

That alone told him the magnitude of the attack he should be expecting. They were about to be erased from existence.

His [Instinct] grew in a blinding crescendo, wrapping him in danger.

There was no escape. No dodging. No parrying. No blocking. And most definitely not cutting through that attack, as Gad had told him, all those months ago.

Light gathered in front of the eyes, sparks lashing out angrily from a bright core forming just beyond the amalgamation of eyes. It reminded him of Cen gathering aura at the tip of her staff when she used her [Aura Projectile]. Except this time they were the targets.

Nar did not pray.

He did not call upon the Crystal.

There was no point.

“Quick!” Jul shouted, looking back at them from a small opening at the base of the column.

She had made it! And there really was an exit!

It looked to be just big enough to allow Gad through sideways, her head bent low. Even then it would be a tight squeeze.

Everything went brighter and brighter, as the guardian charged its attack.

It was almost overkill. It was definitely enough to kill them as it was! More than enough, much, much more. Why was it still going?

Up ahead, Jul disappeared into the hole.

Then Tuk pushed Kur through.

Nar’s heart beat so fast, it got to a point where he stopped feeling it.

His breath caught in his throat.

Rel motioned for him to run, and he threw Mul and Cen into the hole. However, in front of them, Gad was struggling to push Viy through.

Nar turned around. Slowly.

The giant guardian had angled its body forward, closer to them.

It could have simply crushed them. Just lift and drop one his massive limbs and they would’ve been stains on the floor.

What was the point of all that? Did it want to humiliate them before death? To show them how unworthy they were of their Climb? Or were their sins so grave they required its maximum attention to be purified? To cleanse existence of their blemish? They who had dared step foot outside their cubeplants!

Nar lost the eyes beyond that blinding ball of raging Pressure. Everything vanished.

He couldn’t look away.

Even now, it was still beautiful.

Sharpness clawed at his neck, and he was yanked backwards.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Rel shouted.

She half-dragged, half stumbled back with his weight over her.

Nar struggled to find his footing, and the two of them crashed against the wall.

He was inside!

His hand brushed against misshapen holes indented on the wall behind them, and he looked up.

It was a ladder, built into the wall, going up within the column.

Rel pushed against him and squeezed upwards past him.

“Climb!” she snarled down at him.

Nar took one last look at the blinding orange shining through the gap in the column, then he hurriedly climbed after Rel.

Below, he heard the unmistakable sound of heavy things moving, and then, they were plunged into orange darkness, and silence fell upon them.