Sierra had a bird’s eye view of the arena within the submerged cathedral. She kept as much distance from the developing conflict as she could, sticking to the perimeter as she sought opportunities to contribute, but she couldn’t help but feel as though she was trapped inside a collapsing glass cage with two absolute monsters.
From her perspective, the overall situation didn’t look good. The arena had a razor thin layer of water coating its entire surface while the outer vestibules were fully submerged. Each step that Coop took splashed, radiating shallow waves as he maneuvered. Meanwhile, the High Priestess tiptoed on top of the surface of the water. Neither of the primary combatants had landed any particularly damaging blows to the other, but it seemed like the Priestess held several advantages between the range of her spells, the development of the arena, and that they were fighting within her own domain. Sierra wasn’t sure how a melee focused fighter would manage against the mobile caster in a drawn out fight, especially as the water level rose, and she lacked the ability to consistently provide support.
The stronghold of the High Priestess had sprung a few leaks in its effort to contain the aggressive gladiator, but most of the water that pooled inside the chamber was the result of the crystal clear and highly pressurized water orbs being smashed by the heavy morning star. The enemy obstacles contained an incomprehensible quantity of liquid. They completely ignored their already large physical dimensions and exploded into waterfall-like cascades whenever they popped. Sierra was forced to skirt around them like they were untethered hot air balloons as some of the orbs hovered throughout the domain, even after the number gradually decreased after Coop individually destroyed them.
The submerged enclave held its rigid exterior, but the entire structure was shifting. Water was starting to pool on one side, revealing a slight lean that she wouldn’t have noticed from the air, but was made obvious by the sloshing water as it ran across the grooved floor. The constant bashing from the sledgehammer-like weapon had caused the entire structure to become unmoored from whatever magic had fastened it in place. The abyss beyond the walls remained uninviting to Sierra, though the whole cathedral had brightened slightly as they drifted closer to the surface. Coop appeared to be singularly focused on destroying the High Priestess with little regard for the condition of their vessel. Sierra felt like she needed to be ready for another Cloud Vortex at any moment, or they might drown when the walls finally collapsed.
Sierra was literally and figuratively out of her depth. It took all of her skills and experience to contribute anything at all to the conflict between the two titans. She liberally applied her Nimbus Strides, holding none back. If she didn’t, she was guaranteed to die a horrible, crushing death. After seeing the fate of Coop’s spear, she had no desire to be killed by the extraordinary pressure of the orbs. The Priestess’s errant skills were enough to push her evasiveness to her limit. She rarely had the chance to weave Zephyr Blasts into her dance, but even when she did, they did little more than annoy the fully empowered Priestess. The level gap was such that Sierra had no choice but to retreat and seek windows of opportunity to land surprise attacks, except now she was trapped within the domain.
The whole experience was a far cry from her dominating presence in Costa Rica, where she was at the clear apex of the region. Monsters and intruders risked it all when they appeared in her forest. She was considered a secret champion by those who knew of her, as she prevented the Cult from sending Acolytes and Priests beyond her territory. It wasn’t until she heard Juliana’s message and she left to rejoin the Jaguar Sun that she found herself outclassed and forced to retreat from the very High Priestess that was being pressed by the outsider. Now that she was caught among actual peak examples of warriors in the assimilation, she felt truly inadequate.
She had been able to develop her own little enclave after the Jaguar Sun failed to topple the Cult, thanks in large part to her previously unsurpassed abilities. Her Cloud Dancer class was something special, giving her access to seemingly unlimited skills through one simple channel, but she wasn’t particularly strong due to the requirement to chain moves in a constantly flowing, and literal, dance.
While she worried about navigating the air, Coop was smashing through orbs and slowly making his way across the platform, getting closer and closer to the Priestess. The Priestess, for her part, was running out of orbs to transfer her position with, and it seemed as though it was only a matter of time before she would be forced to stand before the Champion of Ghost Reef.
Juliana had informed her of the presence of the outsider, but she hadn’t made the connection between the powerful Champion from her ally’s story and the suicidal fighter that had blindly engaged the High Priestess. It wasn’t until they were already within the submerged domain that she realized who he was. At first glance, Coop didn’t seem to wield the unmatched Strength he was now displaying. In fact, she had mistaken him for a much more average warrior when he first assaulted the Priestess. His physical presence wasn’t as imposing as someone like Tzultacaj and other pure Strength focused fighters, at least from a distance. The truly strong often moved like hulking barbarians. Coop, for his part, seemed more balanced, like a natural athlete before the assimilation came.
Once he was engrossed in combat, Sierra was glad Coop wasn’t focused on her. Even if it meant trading power profiles, she wouldn’t swap places with the High Priestess. Coop’s aura filled the chamber, and it made her blood run cold. He seemed unstoppable. It didn’t matter how much faster she could be, she thought his pursuit would be unending. The Priestess appeared to be coming to the same conclusion. The obstacles she used to trap and defeat others were being crushed with simple motions that concealed the effort he must have been putting behind the blows.
As the number of water orbs dwindled, Sierra found herself with more room to maneuver. Her Nimbus Strides started to recover, and she began to pool them for when they became more necessary. She was able to spend more time watching for openings in the High Priestess’s actions as Coop demanded the enemy’s full attention.
“Don’t you see?” The High Priestess asked Coop, as the pair continued an ongoing conversation that Sierra hardly followed. “In this way, those who would have died at the hands of invaders have the chance to contribute to the rest of us instead! They become the wind in our sails, the pillars of our fortress, and the army at our backs!”
Coop barely acknowledged her words, crushing another orb before responding. “Sounds like you’re making excuses for murder.” He grunted as he heaved the spiked mace back over his shoulder with straining muscles.
“Why can’t you understand that it is completely justified? We will be added to a long line of extinct societies if we do not take extreme measures!” The Priestess continued before barely avoiding a ghost that sought to crush her skull from behind.
She stumbled forward, letting a wall of water sweep across the ghost. The wave swallowed the vapors of the destroyed manifestation like a wave curling over a beach. However, the pressure that Coop was placing on her was clearly becoming too much. At some point while Sierra was dodging orbs, he had exposed his ability to summon what Sierra assumed were ghostly clones, causing the Priestess to waver from the comfortable attitude she held from the safety of range. Sierra assumed that’s what triggered another round of negotiations.
“Why not protect them? Raise them up? Give them a chance?” Coop wondered. “You’re like crabs in a bucket, just desperate to be at the top, even if it means dragging others down.” He concluded.
“We don’t just kill! Most join us! Everyone has the chance to prove themselves worthy to Chakyum! No one is wasted!” She shouted, growing increasingly agitated as she narrowly avoided two more of Coop’s clones, though these two were female ghosts, and Sierra needed to revise her assumptions in regard to Coop’s skills.
“Who decided Chakyum should be the arbiter of who lives or dies?” Coop demanded as he smashed a water orb, drenching himself as he continued his stroll toward the Priestess.
“He’s the Lord of Death!” The High Priestess shrieked, spittle flying in frustration. “Are you thick in the head? Who else is better positioned to decide who lives than someone with dominion over death itself?”
Sierra’s eyes widened as Coop casually sighed in the middle of the fight, pausing his advance to lean on his mace in between orbs like he was growing tired of trying to teach someone else’s toddler right from wrong. With the orbs shifting around him, it seemed like he had stopped in the middle of traffic. She couldn’t believe he was so at ease in the situation. It didn’t seem like he was faking it, either.
“The people whose lives are at stake.” He shrugged like he couldn’t believe he had to clarify. “Obviously, right?” Coop put one arm out like they were just having a regular conversation, resting his other wrist on the hilt of his mace. When the Priestess failed to respond, he looked up at Sierra. “Right?”
“Uh, right!” Sierra quickly agreed, squeaking out her response, horrified that he was splitting his attention the way he was, but also shocked by how he seemed to know exactly where she had gone. She thought the other two had forgotten about her, but he locked eyes with her without having to seek her position along the edges of the ceiling.
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The High Priestess balled up her fists and barely held back from screaming. “Fine! You had that privilege yourself. Choosing to resist Chakyum’s is the same as choosing death. You will come to regret your actions.”
Coop shrugged, then shifted his hands to the shaft of his morning star, heaving it off the ground. Water dripped from his hair and the spikes on his mace gleamed with beads that shined with the scattered blue and green light. It wasn’t like the High Priestess had been holding back before giving up on convincing Coop of her righteousness, but her concession marked a change in strategy. The last few remaining watery orbs burst into gravity defying downpours, sweeping across the chamber and forming a deluge of droplets. All three of them were further drenched in a torrent of rain before it settled down. Sierra was further scraped and battered, bleeding from the rain, and nearly failed to maintain her dance, but Coop was unbothered, merely squinting to protect his eyes.
The High Priestess had shifted her position at the exact center of the cathedral, where the floor’s swirling grooves all met, forming a perfect circle. She raised both of her arms into the air and a cylindrical shield of water rose around her while a section of the floor shimmered with electric blue light. Sierra could feel the air tremble with energy and her eyes were glued to the dazzling color. Coop stepped back so that he wasn’t on top of the peculiar segment.
A gout of white water erupted from the area, smashing into the ceiling before Sierra even registered what was happening. The water had so much pressure, Sierra was sure that it would strip the flesh from her bones if she was so much as grazed. She could barely hear the screeching of the High Priestess over the roar of cascading water, but it was clear that she had grown unhinged in her desperation as she invoked her Master.
Sections of the floor continued to light up, and at first they were only small sections, like slices of a pie. The two challengers easily avoided them, but then the sections expanded into quarters, forcing Coop to slide across large portions of the platform unless he wanted to test the pressure himself. Then the shapes reorganized into rings. Water splashed from the ceiling, turning the entire cathedral into a barely contained rain shower.
Coop ran forward, leaving a trail of splashing footprints, when the entire outer ring blasted water, and Sierra barely kept up while bounding through the air, expending the Nimbus Steps that she had banked. She swapped to her travel form as she used the last of her steps, gliding in a tight circle as near the ceiling as she could get.
When the inner ring erupted, Coop stopped, then when the middle ring lit up, he slid backwards again. Sierra found a position directly above the priest, but she dared not reveal her exact location at the moment. While Coop may have kept track of her, she didn’t think the Priestess had the same level of awareness, and Sierra was grasping at the seconds of safety like a lifeline. Her emerald feathers were drenched, but she could use her skills on cooldown to keep the wind beneath her wings and stay elevated.
The rings continued to alternate, exploding with violent cascades of cutting water before both the inner and outer blasted at the same time. Then, an entire quarter of the arena erupted simultaneously as two of the rings hummed with gathered energy. Coop expertly navigated the borders, proving that it wasn’t only Strength that had empowered his abilities.
He was too swift to be caught, even when half the room was inundated in the white water geysers. His feet were steady as they splashed through the shallow water that had risen to his ankles at the deeper end, and he barely seemed taxed as he hustled back and forth around the room. Sierra thought he seemed tireless. If he could avoid the obstacles long enough there was a chance he would find an opening.
The Priestess was growing more frantic, and Sierra suspected she was running on fumes. When Sierra was being pursued, the Priestess had already been forced to consume plenty of mana, and the conflict had simply continued from there. It was only a matter of time before Coop’s opportunity came. His stamina was proving to be the most meaningful factor in their fight.
The Priestess closed her eyes and raised both hands, inadvertently trapping Sierra within her personal shield as it expanded all the way to the ceiling, then the entire platform started to glow, leaving nowhere for Coop to go. Before she realized what was happening, Coop threw his spear only for it to be caught within the thick border that the Priest had erected around her position.
Sierra’s eyes widened as she realized it was the chance they were waiting for, but it wasn’t for Coop, who was on the far edge of the chamber, right beneath the empty throne. He seemed content to withstand the water geyser, bracing himself with confidence, as he accepted his thrown weapons wouldn’t interrupt the spell, but Sierra made the move for the both of them.
Sierra’s world flipped as she shot toward the priest, running upside down, after she exited her travel form, leaving a cloud of mana behind. The Priestess had let her guard down to cast an ultimate ability, one that would cover the entire chamber and be completely undodgeable.
In a fraction of a second Sierra had already stepped into another more aggressive dance, splashing into the water directly in front of the Priestess as she flipped back around. She opened up on the distracted caster with a Cloud Jab to her throat, interrupting the spell, and generated her first Combo Blast. The explosion of air released by the Combo Blast connected in the exact same place as her fist a fraction of a second afterwards for twice as much damage.
The Priestess’s eyes snapped open in surprise, and her hands rose to her neck, but before she could cough and choke, Sierra followed with a Hail Punch to her slackened jaw, and repeated the Combo Blast, then slid into Zephyr’s Sweeping Low Kick, extending the chain of skills and folding the Priest forward. Two-Step Shift doubled her Combo Count, while her feet swapped positions and her stance rotated. The new stance flowed into a clean Windswept Back Heel that blasted the side of the High Priestess’s skull, and enabled a Penta Combo Blast that undid her braid and sent her long purplish hair flying. Sierra continued with a Rising Knee into the stumbling Priest’s temple that lifted her opponent off the ground. Then she automatically added a Rising Sun Kick that had her flipping backwards as her foot connected with the body of the Priest.
Cunning Impulse boosted her Feather Step and her stance swapped again while in the middle of her backflip, doubling her already doubled Combo Count, and gave her the leverage for a Whispering Uppercut to the Priest’s chin as soon as her feet splashed into the water and triggered her now quadrupled Penta Combo Blast. As Sierra rose in the air with the upwards attack, Wandering Breeze gave her an extra Nimbus Step to leap off an invisible barrier and add a Crushing Elbow, and two more Cloud Jabs, which she followed with a Windborne Spinning Back Fist to extend her chain for the second time, adding even more Combo Blasts with every blow.
Every silent beat that kept rhythm in her head was punctuated with her class’s notification system. Combo! Combo! Hyper Combo! Chain Extended! Bonus Damage! Ultra Combo! Each strike was joined by additional blasts of wind, dealing augmented and multiplying magic damage. The bonus damage doubled, then tripled as she extended the chain. Each individual strike was like a machine gun of repeated attacks. First her knuckles connected, then a dozen air blasts with multiplied damage struck consecutively as she juggled the Priestess into the air. Then her shin would strike the next beat as her leg extended into a high kick with the other braced in a Nimbus Stride, and another dozen air blasts would follow.
Sierra was considered elite for a reason. She was essentially a regional power, and she was proving why. Against a more evenly matched opponent, Sierra would already be the victor, but the Priestess eclipsed her raw level by an absurd degree.
When the Priestess nearly landed on the ground, back first, Sierra wasn’t ready to let her combo complete. Harrier’s Pursuit brought her to the ground before her target, then Whirling Engagement triggered a Sliding Kick that parted the water before connecting with the Priestess’s ribs. She tried to end the fight with a devastating Zephyr Stomp that would crush a normal human’s neck, but the Priestess had finally reacted with more than simple shock, rolling out of the way.
While on one knee, the bloodied Priestess retaliated with a single tidal wave generated with a forceful punch, the same that had defeated Coop’s ghost clones. The wave was enough to crush organs. Sierra was sent careening across the arena. The chain was broken. She bounced, tumbled, then skidded through the shallow water until she finally stopped with one arm and one leg hanging over the edge of the platform onto the next steps and her other arm folded beneath her. Her head was turned so that she could still see the Priestess through one eye while the other was blurred by inch deep water.
She knew it was a lethal blow, and she anticipated her imminent death, but not before she watched Coop’s spear pierce through the distracted and now unshielded Priestess’s chest. The High Priestess had a moment to look horrified. Then the Champion himself appeared out of a small cloud of mana and the spear morphed into the heavy morning star. The Priestess bled bright red blood into the water as she fell back to her knee, only able to stand for a moment after Sierra’s pummeling.
One strike from the morning star and the impaled Priestess was pulverized. Sierra received four levels and she managed a weak smile as the light faded, letting her eyes close in satisfaction. As long as she took the High Priestess with her, it was worth it. It was a good trade for the Jaguar Sun.
As memories of her life inundated her thoughts, she drifted through a slideshow that highlighted her life. She became numb to the cold water. Then, she tasted a hint of cherries. The flavor grew incessant and painted her recollections, distracting her from how nervous she was on the first day of elementary school, how excited she was when she got her first paycheck, how scared she was when the assimilation began, and how angry she had been after the first Priest of the Cult of Chakyum betrayed her neighbors. He had promised salvation, but delivered duplicity at a time when people were too confused to anticipate treachery. The last memory was of how inspired she had felt when Tzultacaj defeated the betrayer in a bloody duel, and the resolve she felt when she and a dozen others followed him to the next town. She felt herself scowl as the cherries became overwhelming. She didn’t like the tartness.
“Just relax.” She heard as the taste caused her to stir. “You'll be alright.” Another voice promised. She wasn’t so sure such a promise could be kept. None of them were alright.