The blessed beam had struck true, blasting Cole dead center, cracking open his Blackstone Plate as it forced him backwards off of the Containment Cell.
Though Cole yelled out as he fell, it was Armel’s call to ‘Get Down’ that sent Cross diving behind another Blackstone Crate just before another Blessed Beam streaked through the air beside him.
Two more blasts sounded out as more Blessed Beams fired off, only to be followed by silence. Cross held still, listening for movement or speech. Had Armel managed to find cover too? Had the first blast managed to puncture through Cole’s shell? Nobody was moving or speaking, and there was no telling how many foes had stumbled upon them.
He calmed himself, thinking on the location of their attackers. Blessed Beams couldn’t puncture a chest like the one he was hiding behind with just one shot, meaning he had a chance to get behind the containment Cell. Even in its broken state, the thing would hold firm against anything less than artillery grade weaponry.
But before he could think any further, a piercing scream erupted in the recesses of his mind.
“Who did it!?!?” it screeched “Stand tall and die you sufferer filth!”
A familiar female’s voice that made Cross grind his teeth together at the sheer volume. The shouting had gifted him with an approximation of where it was coming from: The column poking into the cargo hold from the Hive. Cross silently cursed to himself, from that column one had a view of practically the entire cargo hold save for behind the containment Cell, he’d be completely exposed the moment he tried making a break for it.
The moment he thought that, something shifted out of the corner of his eye. He watched as a nearby Blackstone crate was lifted up, with Armel’s chuckles slipping out from under as a Blessed Beam slammed into it. He tore off running with the crate in his hands, each blast tearing more of it apart until it crumbled in his grasp. But that was more than enough, as Armel flung himself towards the Containment Cell only for the last blast to tear through his ankle.
Cross saw Armel’s severed foot clatter to the ground in a splotch of ichor, but could still hear him laughing from behind the containment cell.
“Good show, kiddie!” he yelled out “But ya shoulda taken my head first!”
“You! You took him!” the voice screamed “Slew him! Took him from me!”
“Gotta be more specific, lass.” Armel called back “Slew plenty o' kiddies, which Quadrant you from?”
“Here!” she yelled before blasting the containment cell.
“Hm?” Armel’s confusion was palpable, but her desperate cry was
“The newblood from the ruins?” Cross murmured, only for the crate he was hiding behind to rock as a blessed beam slammed into it from the other side. He had to hold himself firm to keep from being shoved forward.
“Sister, what are you doing!” a new voice bloomed in Cross’ head, Brother Lutro again “We’ve no idea how many more are in the caves! Quiet before-!”
“Deal with them, brother, these are mine!” was her only response “I let them take him, I have to make this right-!”
The speech terminated as she cried out with her actual voice. It was a cry of distress, and the grunting of another led Cross to risk poking his head out just to see their Blanken quarry struggling to shake off their Newblood. He was still leaking in several places, but had managed to grab hold of her from behind. He’d locked his fingers into the gaps between her ornate armor and held firm as she swung back at him. She began firing her Blaster at him over and over, but something about its shape in her grasp looked off to Cross.
“I’ve got Cole, comrade, go!” Armel’s voice reached Cross before he could dwell too much on it, prompting him to push himself out from behind the crate. Not knowing whether she’d take aim at him again, he mirrored Armel’s tactic and lifted the entire crate up to use as a shield.
Before he could get too close, however, one of her stray blessed beams was fired directly into the column the two Newbloods were standing on. It snapped from the impact, half of it tumbling downward and dropping both of them as the broken column levered a new wave of debris down into the cargo hold.
Cross lifted the crate over his head as he ran, seeing the Blanken Newblood manage to spin his comrade around and crash into another Blackstone crate using him as a cushion. She’d landed on top of him, and swung the glowing barrel of a blaster towards his head only for her broken helmet to tilt up upon recognizing Cross’ charge.
He hefted the entire Blackstone Crate and threw it at her, lunging forward after it as she changed targets and blasted the crate apart before it could reach her. The shower of broken Blackstone was the perfect cover, however, and Cross threw himself through it, tackling her off of his comrade and crashing into the new pile of debris with her.
He knew he had limited time, and moved to pin her weapon as quickly as possible. Wrapping a hand around the barrel of her Blaster and making sure to keep it pointed away from him, he wrenched back with it only to find her entire arm moving with it.
At first, he thought her grasp was merely commendable, but that was before he realized exactly what he was looking at.
She wasn’t holding a Blessed Blaster, her arm ended in a Blessed Blaster.
Everything from the elbow down had been replaced in a fairly haphazard fashion, the shell just crudely terminating where the smooth Pearlglass started. His confusion vanished as he caught sight of the pawn beyond the replaced limb, and saw that the pearlglass of her helmet had shattered enough for him to see the pinprick of her iris glaring back at him through it.
“I was too slow then, but not again.” She pushed against him with a grunt of effort “Never again! NEVER AGAIN!”
The Blaster Arm fired in Cross’s grasp, the extra recoil forcing his hands to the side just enough for her to swing her other hand around and dig her fingers into the side of his face.
Cross saw both his teeth and bits of his shell go flying as she ripped her hand forward out through his mouth. He swung himself forward, trying to pin her other hand between them, only for her to worm a leg between them and kick him back. Though his grip held firm, she was able to swing the barrel of her Blaster Arm in his direction.
He had to let go, throwing himself to the side as she fired a beam past him. But after that, he had no idea whether he’d be able to close the distance in the brief interim between her shots.
But before he had to take that risk, another chunk of solid Blackstone slammed into her from the side, sending her rolling away from Cross and making him spin around to see their limping Newblood forcing himself up.
The leaks he’d sustained during the fight in the hives had gone without mending. Despite that, he grunted before sloppily charging past Cross and throwing himself at Blast Arm. Flicking droplets of her own leaking Vitae away with her normal hand, she heard the heavy footsteps fast enough to glance back and raise her weapon, but the Newblood fell upon her first.
Despite that, she managed to hold her ground and force him back towards Cross. Cursing under his breath, Cross rushed in to keep her from blasting a hole in his comrade, briefly wondering how long Armel needed to patch up Cole. They were surrounded by Blackstone, and she was on her own. For the first time since Towerfall they had a complete advantage.
Despite her odd arm, the only thing she had was the threat of reinforcements.
“Sister? Sister?!?” Lutro tried again “Damn it, we can’t leave our post, they’ll rush the tower! Pull back and form up!”
Blast Arm gave no response, just letting loose another enraged scream as Cross managed to pry her and the Newblood away from each other. He saw the barrel of her arm come swinging towards him, and quickly kicked her back into another series of crates.
He tried calling to the Newblood, only for the guttural grunts that came out to remind him that half of his mouth had been destroyed.
“Fix yourself!” He hoped the Newblood would just get it over with. With his movement so sluggish he would get himself killed long before their quarry. She was grabbing hold of the edge of one of the overturned crates in order to pull herself up.
She’d left a trail of small droplets of Vitae behind her, but it was nowhere enough to kill her. Unwilling to give her a chance to recover, Cross rushed towards her before she could get her bearings again.
Unfortunately for Cross, she’d managed to swing the barrel of her arm up and fire, forcing him to duck under the beam and go for another tackle even as he felt his hand being ripped apart by the beam. She rammed the barrel of her arm into what was left of his mouth first, sending him spinning away. Though he managed to catch himself, Cross instantly became aware that he’d let her gain too much distance. Sure enough, his eye shot up only to find her taking aim, only for movement to catch his eye.
A length of Blackstone crashed into the side of her already broken helmet, shattering even more of it as she stumbled away from a still-injured Newblood. Instead of taking his brief reprieve to fix himself, he’d gone and pried off a piece of one of the Blackstone crates to use as a misshapen club.
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“Stop fighting and start dying!” he grunted out as he stumbled after her.
Cross shook his head at the sight, but did use the brief reprieve he got to check his blown apart hand. Only his thumb and pointer finger had survived the beam, in the place of his other fingers were tiny stumps spilling his ichor out onto the floor.
He only had a brief moment to weigh the risk of leaving the wound untreated against leaving a wounded Newblood to fight on his own.
Unfortunately for him, the moment was filled with Lutro’s voice again.
“Sister? Are you still-?” he paused briefly “Wait… Who is that?!? You’re flying too close to the tower!”
Before Cross could start breaking down Blackstone to seal his wounds, the Newblood’s grunt of effort had him glancing over in time to see the makeshift club clattering along the floor. The Newblood was holding onto her arm, forcing it away as she hammered him repeatedly with her fist in an effort to force him off.
Knowing he’d only last seconds at best, Cross just crushed a piece of Blackstone in his fist and slammed it against his leaking hand before standing. It was nowhere near small enough to properly stop his leaks, and hadn't even checked on his mangled mouth, but he’d settle for it momentarily.
He charged into Blast Arm, managing to force her off her feet with the Newblood’s Aid. They slammed her against a large piece of Blackstone, pinning her against it as she began firing her blaster wildly.
The Newblood’s grip held firm, and managed to hang on as Cross slammed his forearm on her other arm to pin it down. Her legs flailed and kicked at them, but Cross focused on using his free hand to pry some blackstone from the piece behind her.
“He trusted me and I failed him!” he heard her rant “I must fix it! Must!”
Her screams came out both vocally and in Cross’ head, but he forced himself to focus as he brought the Blackstone piece down into what was left of her helmet. Despite being shattered in multiple places, it was still enough to keep the Blackstone from puncturing her deep enough.
Furthermore, the Blackstone actually got caught in the broken helmet, forcing Cross to rip and pull to try and free it.
“Worry not fellow Children!” another familiar voice bellowed in Cross’ head “Your time of struggle ceases here and now!”
It was enough to quell Blast Arm’s furious screaming, if only momentarily, but didn’t stop her from kicking and twisting to free herself.
“Brother Holst!?!” Lutro’s voice again “What are you doing!?!”
“Aiding Mother’s efforts as we all do, Lutro!”
Cross wrenched the Blackstone piece out of Blast Arm’s helmet. The rest of it fell apart into shards of Pearlglass, revealing the Vitae splattered face of Blast Arm. He’d managed to gouge a deep line down her face, but it wasn’t enough. When Cross reared back to rectify that, she spat a glob of Vitae directly into his eye.
Cross swung despite the white filling his vision, squeezing his eyelids shut as he felt his piece of Blackstone sink into her shell. It still wasn’t enough, she managed to worm her leg up between them again while he was trying to shake the Vitae from his gaze.
Once more he found himself being kicked back, his free hand quickly going up to clear his vision as the conversation between Lutro and Holst continued.
“That ring has more than one crystal poking through the mountain, Brother!” Lutro yelled “You’ll be torn apart!”
“Then torn apart we shall be!” was Holst’s response “To gladly aid Mother’s children is more than worthwhile!”
The first thing Cross saw when his vision cleared up was the Newblood rolling past him in a heap. His gaze shot up towards where he came from in time to see Blast-Arm taking aim at him. She was also wiping furiously at her eye to clear it of her blood, but her iris was already glued to him.
Cross hurried to evade her next blast, only for an arc of Purple energy to trail through the air past him and slam into Blast Arm. It crashed into her chest and sent her flying back into several Blackstone crates.
Cross spun in time to see a disheveled Cole leaning against the Containment Cell with a Caster dangling in his grasp.
“Loud little cur, ain’tcha?” he snarled as Armel peaked past him and went wide-eyed.
Cross narrowed his gaze for a moment before turning his attention back towards Blast Arm. Her ornate chest plate had been blasted open, and she was liberally leaking her filthy blood all over the Blackstone floor. But she was still going, still struggling to stand and steady herself despite the bloodloss.
“If ya ain’t killing, move!” Cole shouted as he stumbled forward “Got a nice place for ya head, Blankie!”
He raised his caster to take aim, only to stop and stare along with Cross and Armel. Behind Blast Arm was the massive tunnel that overlooked the forest, and high above the trees was a figure growing closer by the second.
A Brighthome was picking up speed as its white clouds carried it through the darkening sky.
Blast Arm didn’t even seem to notice, forcing herself to stand with a grunt whilst raising her blaster again. She only stopped when the sudden glow of purple filled the area and made her wince in anger.
The source of the purple glow was obvious, the Blackstone Ring’s crystals were lighting up the closer the Brighthome got.
“Sing with me, brothers and sisters!” the Preacher’s voice called out, growing louder and louder “Show mother the depths of your devotion!”
He was soon joined by a choir of voices that rose even as the Blackstone Ring began charging up.
“Get the damn door open!” Cole’s voice dragged Cross back to see him pointing towards Armel “Blanken bastards are diving us!”
“Still gotta fit the bits together, lads!” Armel called back before rushing back to the Cargo Hold doors “Mind pickin’ up our dear comrade for me, eh?”
Cole tilted his head before glancing down to the wounded Newblood. Groaning, he gestured for Cross to come over just as a shout of anger drew their gaze.
“No!” Blast Arm roared before slipping on some of her own blood and catching herself on a crate “I have-! Have to! Make it right-!”
The Blackstone Ring’s crystal fired before she could finish, the entire cargo hold and the cave beyond lit up as a massive arc of bright purple energy sped out towards the incoming Brighthome.
It wasn’t alone, two other arcs fired up with all three colliding in a massive explosion that engulfed the entire Brighthome.
But the singing never stopped.
Not moments after collision the Brighthome emerged from the blast with pieces falling off of it in droves. The White clouds ferrying it were dissipating, but that just meant it picked up speed as it continued its descent.
“He said pick ‘em up!” Cole shoved Cross hard enough to break him from his stupor before kneeling at the Newblood’s side.
Cross followed suit, the two of them raising the Newblood up and making their way towards the back of the Cargo Hold as the Blacklight Ring’s crystal began glowing again. Before it could fire, the Brighthome crashed into the tunnel, burying itself inside the mountain as it fell apart and wedging itself up against the tower making the whole room shake from the impact.
Cross had to lock his stance as the floor shook, debris falling upon them as they tried to continue forward. Dust, sediment, Blackstone and Pearlglass were scattered all over and marring the room even more.
But when the shakes stop and Cross looked back, he couldn’t deny the efficiency of Holst's ploy. Despite massive chunks of it having been ripped away in the blast, the main portion of the Brighthome had survived. The white clouds it had been nestled in had faded away, leaving a massive ball of marred Pearlglass fingers surrounded by broken pieces of the Blacklight Ring crystal it had shattered on its way in.
But even in the state it was in, the singing had never stopped.
Several of the fingers pulled apart after the Brighthome settled, but Cole was already shoving Cross forward.
“Move! Help Armel!” he shouted before spinning with his Caster and firing as the first pair of Pale greaves began descending from the new opening in the Brighthome.
“For her mercy!” The Blanken Soldier cheered even as the arcing energy ripped into his side and flung him back.
It wasn’t enough, as two more Blanken soldiers were descending right behind him, and Cross could only dread how many were following. But he couldn’t stop, instead he marched the Newblood past the Containment Cell towards Armel.
“Come on, been in bigger firefights than this!” Cole’s voice carried, only for the sound of more Blessed Beams to drown it out.
Right beside the large Blackstone double doors which led into the Tower, Armel was crouched beside a panel, fitting the purple pieces of it in place. As the cheers of the Blanken behind them grew in number, Armel’s hands darted about the panel with greater frequency.
He’d bitten off the tip of his finger again, and was spreading his own ichor into the gaps between the pieces to hold them in place. Muttering under his breath the whole time, he didn’t even flinch when Cross sat the Newblood down beside him and leaned in.
“Just… a bit more.” Armel grunted.
Cross grimaced and looked back just in time to see Cole roll over a Blackstone Crate and dive behind the Containment Cell as Blaster Beams tore into it.
“Come on, good fight, good fight!” he repeated before brushing some debris from his eye.
Past him, Cross could see at least six Blanken soldiers taking positions around the Cargo hold, with two firing at the Containment cell as a Crusader descended from the Brighthome behind them.
“Now this is where real Pawns are made, Newblood!” Cole laughed jerking a thumb towards the slowly advancing Blanken “Here we are proven!”
“Just shoot, Comrade!” Armel bit “Almost got it sort- Oh, got it!”
Cross whipped his head around to see the reassembled Panel glow brighter, with shapes and lights flitting about its screen as Armel immediately tapped at it. Not a moment later, the thick, Blackstone Doors creaked before sliding open.
Immediately Cross was relieved by the sight of the dark void before them. The only visible thing inside the tower was the purple and black floor that led deeper inside.
“Gettem’ up!” Armel said as he immediately pried the reformed Panel from the wall.
“They’re closing it, brothers!” one of the Blanken shouted before an Arc of Purple energy tore his lower face off.
“Gottem down!” Cole cheered as he darted for the opened doors.
Cross had just managed to get the Newblood to stumble through when Cole dove in, having to pull the Newblood aside to avoid a collision. Cross looked back just in time to see Armel dart in whilst tapping at the glowing panel in his hands. The Crusader sped after them as blessed Beams chipped at the sides of the doors.
Before either could reach them, Armel swiped a finger along the panel. The Blackstone doors slammed shut in response, plunging all of them in a deep, comforting darkness.