Livio Meier brought his axe down with an echoing crash, finally ending the onslaught of ice monsters. Each mutant creature had been more ferocious than the last, and only with Sam's timely and ferocious blasts of fire magic had they been able to survive the onslaught. Al, Rober, Plvoer, and even Sam himself were marked by burns and scratches, yet still, they fought on. Livio could almost feel his students' pain and exhaustion as their arms hung heavy at their sides, their heads drooped, and sweat dripped off their noses in spite of the frigid air. He was sure some of them were even hiding injuries in order to conserve Al's mana reserves.
Plvoer put the arrow on his bowstring back in the quiver at his hip then leapt and climbed up the wall using his unique skills, his Hollow Bones curse aiding him. Hand to eyebrow, he peered down the pathway, no doubt using his enhanced vision to try to see what they’d be facing next. He turned back and said, "Up ahead are more traps, but I can see a switch farther down. That must be another rest spot."
Livio grinned at their luck. Luck they sorely needed. Then he heard the familiar pop pop of the elemental traps and vent activating behind them. "The vents are reactivating now that the monsters are dead! Plvoer, show us the way through!"
The team followed Plvoer as he leapt from the wall and darted down the winding path, dodging blasts of icy wind. He expertly avoided the ice spikes that shot from the walls, but when he was forced to make a sudden stop, Sam bumped into him and he stumbled. Not even a second later, a jolt of cold air hit his knee.
"No!" Livio shouted and tried to push past the others to get to the eagleboy.
Plvoer tried to regain his footing but was quickly engulfed in a cloud of frost. His screams were muffled as the ice encased him, freezing him in place.
Livio heard the others yelling, and saw them slowing and bunching up in a vain attempt to get to Plvoer. “Keep going! If we stop, we all die!” he shouted, fighting back against his own tears. He’d lost another one.
“Shouldn’t we try to save him, Coach?!” Alphonse asked, desperation in his voice.
“No!” Livio shouted, “Keep moving! The temperature is about to shift, and we won’t survive that. Now, go!”
Alphonse only hesitated a moment longer before he rushed into the open space on the left side of the hall.
“Rober! Shields up!” Livio yelled, seeing the burst of blue over the young bearboy’s head. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it would keep him alive.
Rober acted quickly, doing exactly as he was told. Cold air burst from a vent overhead, blasting into the shield and quickly parting around the sides, inflicting freezing damage where the cold licked at his sides. Then it was over, and he was moving again.
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Livio felt a surge of relief as he looked ahead. “Al, heal him as we move. Sam, take the lead and burn us a path through. I see the next bend just head.”
Sam nodded, clenched his fists, and slowly brought them together. His hands glowed as if they were holding a molten coal, and he pushed them forward. Jets of flame shot forward and extended to their sides, superheating the air, countering the cold vents, and melting fired ice spikes before they could even reach them. The steam would hurt but not nearly as much as the ice if it hit any of them.
“Run, run, run!” Livio ordered, raising his axe over his head to act as a shield against the cold jets that would be coming back with a vengeance once Sam was through. But they would make it through. And by all the gods did he hope they were near the end.
Just a few metres farther and they were out, but Sam's spell began to falter and then go out entirely as he collapsed from mana exhaustion, toppling toward a glimmering wall of razor-sharp icicles. Rober reacted quickly, lunging forward to catch the snakeboy in his arms before he could be impaled.
Livio looked at his charges, students that he’d taught, fought, and bled alongside. He focused his gaze on Al. The Hero. The one meant to save the world. Livio didn’t have much of a family. Just a brother, who had a couple of cubs. He knew what it meant for the world that a Hero had appeared and what it would mean if he died in the lair. He wanted his nephews to have a chance to grow up.
“Rober, it’s going to hurt, but I’m asking you to charge through. Get into that bend,” Livio ordered.
Rober nodded solemnly as he cradled Sam to his body, trying to use his shield to protect his companion. “I’ll get through, Coach Liv.”
“Good, now go,” Livio ordered, grabbing Al by the scruff and tucking the young man close to his body.
“Coach, what are you doing?” Al demanded, trying and failing to struggle against the bearman’s superior strength.
“You’ve got to get through this, you hear me? You’re going to save the world, and you can’t do that if you die now,” Livio shouted to Al, barely audible over the gusts of icy air that bellowed from the walls, floors, and ceiling. He moved quickly behind Rober as the bearman charged through the traps.
Livio raced after, leaping over sharp icicles, dodging rock-hard ice balls shot from the walls, and protecting Al from danger. Then he felt a sharp chill as he stamped his foot over one of the jets and realised his leg had gone numb. He stepped forward again, only to hear what sounded like glass breaking and find his foot missing. Thankfully, he felt no pain as the freezing temperatures had numbed him. With every step towards safety, he felt more vents hit him, until an icy blast tore through his side from the wall, freezing his arm until it was completely numb. Still, he trudged forward, each step requiring more effort than the last, ice and cold slowing him down as he went.
“Remember this, Hero: if you ever doubt your life is worth it, then remember all those who sacrificed for it. Now, you survive and, by the gods, be a damned hero!” Livio said through chattering teeth, feeling his whole body starting to go numb. With one final heave from his remaining good arm, he threw Al through a small gap in the cold even as the darkness closed in. A satisfied smile crossed Livio’s blueing lips. He had done his part.