Kichi had almost forgotten about witnessing the necromancer create a lava man, but the heat sounded an alarm in her mind and prompted her to warn them before placing Hisa on the bed. Hisa was powerful, and it made sense for the enemy to attack her while she could barely move.
The sheets began to brown, and a split in the mattress ignited and separated, revealing a molten hand. The fire spread wherever the hand groped.
Kichi had no ability to prevent the room from burning. She dipped her sword in liquid light, which didn’t seem to cost much, but then she didn’t know how effective it was until she sliced into the forearm, and the light burned the lava away.
“I can’t,” Masahide said, “Open the conduit. I don’t know what’s wrong.” He attacked, but his pure sword only slowed through lava that reformed around the blade like a spoon in syrup.
The creature emerged, and Yoshiie placed himself between the beast and Hisa. He didn’t have a sword out and still clutched his missing fingers.
Ema pulled Gon across the room to shield the boy from harm. Her stance was that of a protective mother bear, ready to fight tooth and claw to keep her cub safe.
Kichi sliced again, but the Spirit Dipping did less and less damage, and she realized she was alone in this fight. If she failed, then she could lose all of her friends. No one had the strength or ability to assist her. Though she could always count on Masahide, he seemed unable to deal with the creature effectively. Worse, they had just barricaded themselves into the room. The group had moved heavy furniture to secure the door. She redipped her sword, but it came away less coated with light, as if there was a limited supply in any given location.
“I can help, but for only a second,” Ema said.
Kichi severed the lava arm, and it deformed into a lump and then into a pool of hardened rock. To her satisfaction, it didn’t grow back as she’d feared. The monster wasn’t invulnerable. “When I say now, do it.”
“I will.”
A dip of light and a crescent arc of Kichi’s sword fended the creature back and drew a crackling line down its torso. She stabbed her pure sword down through the rug and lodged it into the stone, and she let go to fumble with the amulet. It seemed to take hours to reach into a pouch inside her shirt and take the thing out. It took even longer to attempt to clasp the thing around her neck.
The lava man sprang forward and filled her vision as it neared. The heat ignited everything it touched, but standing six feet from it felt like falling asleep in the sun and waking with blistered skin. The head had at first appeared faceless, but up close, a face briefly surfaced to show rage and horror.
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Just when the inevitable descended on Kichi, her skin melted, and the lava man slowed to a crawl. She let go of the necklace clasp. The shadow of the future vanished, and she pulled the sword from the floor and rammed it into the creature's side. “Now,” she said as slow as she could or wouldn’t be understood. If she spoke at a normal pace, she’d sound like the squeak of a chipmunk.
With time slowed, the warp of reality appeared like eddies in a current, and colors and shapes lengthened and wavered as they took a new form. The room expanded near the center where Kichi and the lava man fought. Crystals of fogging ice replaced the void around them, creating a cage.
The lava man darkened as the cold created a cust, and movement created glowing fissures.
Perhaps Ema could only hold it for a second, but a second would stretch for some time wearing the amulet. Unfortunately, Kichi had used it in the grand hall, and she lost energy she didn’t have to spare. It gnawed her insides, and she wanted to double over in pain, but she just needed one last strike.
The beads of light ran along the edge of her sword. The lava man took a step, and its foot stuck. Its leg stretched and peeled away. It collapsed in slow motion, and the cold crept deeper, turning the creature gray. Fissures ran up its leg.
Kichi’s pure blade flashed, and the creature exploded into shards of rock and dust along the line it drew. Reality snapped back before the pieces hit the ice wall, and what was left filled the room as if it were broken pieces of pottery. Motes of dusk and smoke hung in the air in the firelight of the burning bed.
She removed the amulate.
Masahide grabbed her arm. “We need to cleanse it before it comes back. Who knows how corrupt this thing was.”
The face on the head had solidified in a strange position, sinking on one side and leaving it looking like a half-finished sculpture.
They plunged their swords into it, and the rock evaporated in a bright flash that seemed to hold a smiling man, but it was gone almost before it was.
The spirit energy rocketed into them, and Masahide urged her to hold on. They had to cleanse it, but it was so strong. When it was over, they were alive.
Kichi collapsed, striking her elbow and feeling a trickle of blood. Everyone moved to put out flames or check on each other, but it was as if they were in a dream. A few smothered the fire and stomped on pillows and blankets. She crawled along the floor and opened the shutters for fresh air. Beyond, the Duke still stood over the hallow. The world spun in her vision before darkness overcame her.
Kichi
Level: 16
Focus: Prescience
Secondary focus: Lava+4, Tandem Dream Sword, Fire Sword, Spirit Dipping, Tandem Black Star Rain, Tandem Vanquish
Weapons: pure sword - 5% pure
Items: Near Field Amulet (Prescience+2, focus)