It was late evening before the four girls re-converged to discuss the matters of the recent days. With everything that had came to pass in that time, they each had a lot of things to share with each other.
"Hold on, Zyuixqs did what?" "He proposed. I mean, sure, it was totally unexpected, but suddenly becoming a prince was probably just as unexpected for him. The guy can be pretty useless sometimes, but he can really pull through when it counts, you know? Someone like that, it wouldn't really be such a bad thing. And think about it, I'm still a princess, my family is going to want to send me somewhere, Hyxir is probably the best option going too. It's a place I could definitely take to calling home." Mhyl was still trying to have this news process in her head. Thanrie meanwhile was being a bit less forthright with her feelings, her eyes shining more than her words. It had taken a while for her to form words properly for him, but she had given him her approval. Since then, her head was lost in the clouds, still coming to terms with the implications, but without any regrets.
"Making a nation out of that isn't going to be easy. Rhyde himself has been struggling over the matter as is, pondering how to make a society from that chaos. I don't expect anything is going to be easy about it." "Neither of you two are accounting for what would happen if my father gets involved again. We still have no idea where the fortress even went, and that's a pretty big problem. Yuxzn and I have been working hard on this, apparently while everyone else has been distracted, and we've came up with nothing." Qheria found herself being scolded by Lwyn right after she tried to bring Thanrie back to reality. Thanrie and Qheria, they might have both been lost in what was going to come after the fighting was over, forgetting that first they needed to win the upcoming battle.
Mhyl pondered her own efforts. She hadn't exactly been helping with making the world turn like everyone else, instead she had been focused on just doing better herself. She held the strange picture she had drawn earlier still in her hands, the one Chyurae had helped her with in ways she still didn't understand, at a loss for an opportunity to bring it up. She looked down at it, pondering the picture once more. A mess of lines that just came together in ways that didn't feel like it should make sense, but did.. it was a concept that had defined so much of her life as of late. Even the gift worked that way, defying sense and yet being so simple. Still, with everyone else doing things for other people, it felt selfish to talk about her own personal work that didn't affect anyone else. Mhyl set the paper upside down upon the meeting room table, leaving it to blend in with the rest of the papers on Lwyn's desk. They had more important things to worry about, after all.
Lwyn contemplated everyone's reaction and realized that she might have sounded a bit too harsh. Maybe she was just tired, it was getting late. "Okay, tomorrow, lets just start on this first thing in the morning then. That way we can all work together to figure everything out after a good night's rest. I'll go with everyone back to the guest area, and we can call it a night." Lwyn got up from her chair, with everyone else following her example. They made their way though the halls silently, half to not wake up anyone who might already be asleep, half because they were lost in thought as to what had just happened.
Thanrie was contemplating the events much the same as Qheria was, realizing that distractions of future politics had left Lwyn carrying the burden of their present day. It wasn't like Lwyn was in much of a different situation either, Lwyn herself was basically a princess of the Citadel, and was already doing a pretty good job at being responsible. Tomorrow, she would have to turn all of her efforts into giving Lwyn a hand.. possibly by making use of the three ninja girls. They had been busy the whole time, they wouldn't have had time for anything else either, and they were so good at spying and blending in, they could probably discover something with their bag of tricks.
During her thoughts, Thanrie noticed a cloaked person walking through the halls, the same one as from before, making a turn far head of them in another direction. Something about the person was familiar, she had a strange feeling about them, but the cloaked shadow was gone once she reached the same corner. Thanrie shrugged, she had enough to worry about with herself and her friends, with little purpose in pausing at the restlessness of every passing individual.
Mhyl however pondered if maybe her mother could help with things, if there was anything they could learn from the flow of the world that would give hints as to such important matters. Sxeiva had given them plenty of different hints in situations like this, her mother would be in a better spot to get such information. However, even Sxeiva was never direct with her messages, only telling information that lead to proper actions rather than spoiling the future. Getting hints from her mother might not be as fruitful as she had first thought, they would have to figure out how to take care of things by their own ability.
As they all arrived, Mhyl was the last to finally enter her room, her thoughts covered in her own abilities. She hadn't had the opportunity to talk about anything, or work out any form of discovery. All of them discovered things on their own, so that was probably for the best, maybe that picture would just be for her own discovery. Reminded of the picture, Mhyl remembered it was left discarded upon the desk, a desk wrought with so much other paper that it could easily be absorbed and consumed by other paperwork. Intent on asking Lwyn to make sure that her drawing was put aside for tomorrow, Mhyl reopened her door just in time to see Lwyn collapse to the floor, a cloaked shadow standing over her.
"Lwyn!" Mhyl rushed from the room, screaming, and in her urgency got Qheria and Thanrie's attention. The cloaked shadow turned, blood dripping from an exposed blade. Mhyl paused, aware of her own danger. She had no weapon for herself, no way to defend herself, and faced off against a blade that could certainly go for another round. Meanwhile, Lwyn was in danger, the blood on the same blade clear proof of her vitality quickly escaping her. The assassin dashed towards her, so she backed away. In the midst of the assassin's dash, it dodged a sudden lunge from Thanrie as Thanrie burst out from her own room.
Thanrie contemplated the situation for less than an instant to understand what was going on. Clearly, ignoring her instincts wasn't something that had panned out well for her, the same suspicious individual she had seen earlier was now attacking Mhyl, as Lwyn lay fallen on the ground. Thanrie was furious, not just at the assassin, but also at herself. She had done nothing, nothing at all. Lwyn clearly had a point, she needed to pay more attention to what was going on around her. She didn't contemplate the point that she was the only one who had ever been aware of the cloaked shadow in either situation, only that she should have done more. However, in that moment, she turned her conviction to do just that, to do more with the here and the now.
Her regrets though prolonged past her conviction, as she realized that she was also without any weapons, just like Mhyl. Worse, she had even left unresolved her concerns about fighting without a weapon, and now this had happened. She still had no idea how she would fight bare handed, but as her enemy was just a simple assassin with a knife, maybe that wouldn't matter. Her enemy would be slow, she could handle this. She dashed out behind the assassin, and thrust a punch towards their back. Without turning around, the assassin dodged the attack lashed out with the knife. Thanrie fell back, barely managing to dodge. She came again with another attack, this one a feint so that she could try to disarm her opponent. The assassin didn't even try to block the attack, as if the whole thing was predicted, and instead tripped Thanrie as she wasn't watching. Thanrie tumbled to the floor, helpless and left wide open.
Before the Assassin could strike down, they were left with needing to dodge as Qheria came out and tried to ambush the assassin. Qheria however, like everyone else, had no weapon, and was unable to connect with her enemy. Thanrie was alarmed, her opponent was far too skilled, far too aware, far too fast even. Even outnumbering the one assassin, they were still left at a disadvantage. Meanwhile, Mhyl was trying her best to tend to Lwyn's injuries. Without a focus, all that she had was her very slow healing. She tore away some of the fabric of her dress, trying to mix her gift with some mundane measures. She applied the fabric to the wound, and was alarmed at the color changes. While the cloth had blotches of the obvious red, there was a strange purple to the color too. She tried to use her gift directly upon the cloth, to identify what was going on chemically. Her gift had a simple answer, poison, a very powerful and deadly poison.
Lwyn was not just dying from a stab, she was also dying from a poison. So late at night, under all these same pretenses, it reminded Mhyl of a story Sxeiva had shared about her own assassins. The exact setup was almost identical, as if it was based upon the same story. But why would anyone, anyone in the world, try to assassinate Lwyn? The whole half-elf thing didn't even make sense anymore, not with the position Lwyn was in. Everyone locally would be terrified about the Crystalline Blossoms failing, no one would have wanted that to happen. The Citadel had no real enemies, unless you counted Lwyn's own father, who himself wanted his family returned to him. Just who might this assassin actually be?
Still, she was getting ahead of herself, she needed a solution for keeping Lwyn alive. "Qheria, I need your help here. Lwyn has been poisoned, we need you to provide her with resistance to it, like you did with my burns from before." Mhyl's request for help put Qheria's situation at odds. She could understand Mhyl's idea, and certainly she could do as was asked, but that would involve leaving Thanrie to deal with this threat alone. As is, they were still losing the fight even with her inclusion. Mhyl was trying her best to tend to whatever healing she could muster, taking her shoes off and using her socks to provided additional care.
Seeing an opening, the assassin dashed to Mhyl as she was left immobile taking her shoes off. The dagger came down fast towards Mhyls back.. and Mhyl fell forward from the impact. The assassin backed off quickly after, looking confused for about the same reason as everyone else. Mhyl got back up soon after, feeling sore from being effectively punched in the back, but not otherwise wounded. The assassin was likewise confused by their empty hands. Thanrie was still following through in Mhyl's defense, so the assassin had to dodge once more.
"Thanrie!" A sudden voice echoed through the hall, as someone familiar approached. Thanrie turned to see Zyuixqs wandering down the halls, his hands cupped around something. "Zyuixqs, watch it, we have an assassin!" Thanrie rushed to Zyuixqs, who was still uncertain what was going on, but the assassin was faster. Without a weapon, it still smashed hard into Zyuixqs, who went flying several Uyn into the back wall, a solid stone impact. With one enemy left in a daze, the assassin returned to the fray, still looking for the missing dagger. Qheria lunged once again, with still no success.
"Zyuixqs, are you alright!?" "Ah, I'm pretty sure your punches have been far worse." Thanrie was startled as Zyuixqs coughed up some blood. "Really, not sure why you're being so nice on them." "Stop joking around, what are you doing here anyway?" "Oh, right, you accepted my proposal, right, but I didn't have anything to give you. It's not much, but I managed to make a bracelet out of some linked fortress metal. I didn't have anything better, but you had always asked me to bring you some better metal. Still plan to do better later, when there is more time, and everything is taken care of." Zyuixqs handed over the small bracelet to Thanrie, the simple metallic band of spiralled coil metal he had been rushing to put together, hoping to deliver before Thanrie settled in for the night.
Thanrie put the bracelet on, heartfully appreciative of the gesture, but still not lost in the moment. "Thanks, but you need to take care of yourself now. This assassin is looking for weaknesses, you need to find a place to hide." Thanrie knew, the only way Zyuixqs would be able to hide is if she managed to cover for him. Lwyn was also in danger, and Mhyl was still wide open. Things were rapidly going out of control, and all because she had no weapon to work with. Approaching and preparing to attack, her fists clenched to find some kind of opening, she felt the bracelet bounce on her wrist. This lent her a moment of pause, it wasn't a weapon, but it was an object certainly no worse than Mhyl's book for being used as a focus. She now herself had a focus, but no certainty in how to use it. All of her usage had depended upon weapon design, she still needed to figure out a new idea.
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Meanwhile, however, Lwyn was still in danger. Thanrie realized she had to believe in herself before she would be able to get anything done, and letting Qheria hang back when Thanrie was the only one who had something as remotely close to a focus just didn't feel right. "Qheria, go, help Mhyl and Lwyn, I'll try to hold out in the meanwhile." Thanrie was putting a lot of burden on her own shoulders, leaving herself to single handedly deal with an enemy she had yet to even touch, while defending four people she cared about. Certainly, she wasn't making any of this easy on herself. She lashed out at her enemy while pressing her mind for a solution. She struggled to find anything that could help in all this chain of misfortune.
Wait, chain, she had forgotten about that. During her last battle, she had taken an opportunity not to unleash upon her enemies from the blade of her weapon, but also from it's chain. The chain had emitted her will from it, like a frayed electrical cord. More so, it was as if the copper was fully exposed, inviting it's threat upon anyone around. The metal she now wore on her wrist, it wasn't copper, but it was still a coil of metal, designed almost the same way. Now there was still a matter of the principle of effect, she had an object with context, but not how an interconnected circle could apply something like a non-interconnected chain. What exactly could she have this ring do, that she could somehow put together in her mind.
Her enemy was not leaving her much room to consider, lashing out at her. Thanrie took a blow to the shoulder and spun down. Her assailant approached for another blow, which Thanrie tried to block. She knew her blocks were futile, but she didn't have anything left. She was more offensive, more direct, blocking was Qheria's thing. She also couldn't just call forth floating death that bent to her whims, because she was also connected to her ability. Lwyn's gift gave her range, Thanrie just had reach. Her blade could cast forth, and return, she could lunge and stash at her foes from several Uyn away. Like the stories of Earth's Japan, she was one with her sword, and it was one with her, both an extension of each other.
Thanrie felt a sudden surge of pain as her bracelet pierced into her wrist. The pain was immense, but her wrist was still dry of blood. So firmly attached, the bracelet stopped moving faintly over her wrist. Connected to her, the bracelet then worked to extend her will. Caught off guard by the pain, the assassin lunged at the opening and Thanrie went flying to the ground. As she tried to get up, she found her arm had suddenly grown much heavier than normal. Looking down at it, she noticed the long wrist blade that protruded from it. The blade itself was not completely solid, reshaping itself rapidly in the air as if made by mercury.. or steel blood.
Thanrie took a moment to feel for her achievement, watching the blade reshape into a crescent, then into a hook, then into a hammer. It was perfectly malleable, submissive to her will, and very easy to weaponize. Thanrie could feel the cost of this though, the pain did not subside, and every time she reshaped her weapon, it felt like she was bending her own bones. If she was going to take advantage of this achievement, she would have to move before it took from her more than she had.
The assassin also seemed alarmed by the appearance of a new weapon, suddenly opting to go on the defensive. A threat like this clearly needed to be evaluated, rather than rushed thoughtlessly. As Thanrie tried to press her advantage, she still found her foe to be elusive to her own movements. However, with no room for an attack, the Assassin had been kept busy enough for Qheria to successfully tend to Lwyn. As Qheria worked to block the effects of the poison, Mhyl struggled to ensure healing was achieved. Eventually, she managed to get the wound itself under control, but she still had no way to deal with the poison. Just like with the same story Sxeiva had shared about herself, poison was a problem when there was no way to purify it. Would she be left to suffer the same hardship as her mother, unable to save her friend?
Her mother! It was in that moment that she recalled her mother's story to her, randomly telling her about her gift, and almost in passing letting her know that it could have maybe saved someone poisoned like Sxeiva. Lwyn was currently someone poisoned like Sxeiva. "Somehow, we need to bring Lwyn to mother, but I have no idea how. She can purify this poison, but we can't just carry her, not like this. At the same time, we need her poison to be resisted the whole trip too." Mhyl had only half a plan, with no idea how to provide transport. Qheria looked around at what she had to work with, and opted to pick up Mhyl's discarded shoe. She knew this would look dumb, but not all solutions were elegant. "Mhyl, sorry to borrow your shoe like this, but there really isn't much else. Don't worry, I can bring Lwyn to your mother, it just might take a few hops." Qheria wasn't making sense to Mhyl, how would you just jump in a short hall like...
Qheria put one hand over Lwyn's bandage, focusing on building resistance, as she slamed the ground with the shoe using her other hand. A small and distorted barrier covered them both, causing Mhyl to fall backwards in surprise. A moment later, and the two disappeared, appearing further down the hall. In another moment, they vanished again, warping to some location even further away. Mhyl was surprised, since when could Qheria teleport like that? Still, it got problems out of the way, she even noticed Zyuixqs had gone into hiding. If only she had a way to help Thanrie.
Without warning, she suddenly noticed that Chyurae was right beside her, handing her something. It was a blade, still dripping with blood. Mhyl grinned at him, realizing he would have been at fault for the failed stabbing attempt. She had no idea when he might have arrived, but she was thankful he was present at the time. She clutched the knife, herself now the only one in the room with a natural weapon for once. Thanrie was weaponized, but only by her own gift. Mhyl had a weapon, and then also had her gift. It was a new feeling, all thanks to Chyurae's unique talent. Actually, was it so unique, it was just stealth, being unseen, scientifically easy to explain as...
Mhyl paused, stopping herself. It had been her struggle the past two days, and she was determined to not mess up now. Sure, she might be able to follow through with the idea, either vanishing or something even more dramatic, by some kind of train of thought that exceeds common sense. In doing so, she would quickly spend her stamina, and be left vulnerable. She looked down at the blade again, realizing that if she hesitated or was caught off guard with this weapon, it could be turned against her, and she would herself be in trouble. She needed to relax, first off. She also needed to keep everything simple, somehow, to come up with details for things without pressing the details of it, and just let things fill themselves out like.. she paused trying to finish her thought. She turned back to Chyurae, his support priceless in sorting her thoughts, his innocent expression seeking no answers and just knowing she would work stuff out, knowing she would fill in all the blanks like a writer would a story.
That was it, just like a story. She remembered the drawing, done while describing the immersion into a story, leaving the details of the material she would experience to the world that provided it. She didn't need control over everything, she couldn't be everywhere, do everything, or help everyone. She didn't need all of the details, things would just start to make sense if she lost herself in the moment.
Thanrie stumbled in one of her attacks, her wild blade having caught the wall in her motion. This gave a moment of opening, and startled even Chyurae, who turned to look at what happened. Thanrie carried herself with the momentum, turning her blade into a pole that grew in it's creation, shoving her away from the wall to dodge her assailant. Seeing things had worked out, Chyurae turned back to Mhyl, only to find she was gone. Chyurae looked around, unable to find where Mhyl had suddenly gone in the span of that moment. Thanrie got back up on her feet, and lunged for an opening.
The assassin started to dodge away from it, only to suddenly dodge in reverse. Left in a crossfire, the assassin had barely managed to avoid both Thanrie's liquid blade and Mhyl's invisible one. As both blades at least connected with cloth, the cloak was torn clean away from the assassin, exposing their identity as they jumped to the ceiling and stuck to it, taking account to the growing threat of the two assailants.
Mhyl and Thanrie didn't let their initial instincts resolved as shock. There might have been some temptation, but not only would this be a poor time to hesitate, it was also a great moment to become enraged. A familiar face stood before them, at least it was mostly familiar. The mechanical parts scoured over the imitation female face still looked very realistic, even with all the organic parts removed. Even with that, even looking almost exactly like her, the thing still did not share any of Sxeiva's true expressions, it was all to much a mockery of her death. This resolved all of Mhyl's wonder, she knew that Khaexyn had put this together to be the best assassin he could think of, almost desiccating his own wife's body to create a vision of her killer. Sxeiva had all of his best parts, after all, she could make for the best possible assassin. Being so mechanical, it had probably been sent to look for the four of them who had been responsible for all of his grief, sent to assassinate them. That's why Lwyn was stabbed, the machine didn't even know that the daughter and the fourth target was actually the same person, it just attacked her after having her marked as a target. Mhyl was almost thankful that it had ensured Lwyn would not bear witness to this depravity.
Thanrie was like minded in this resolve, realizing that the uncertain feelings she had was of something so mechanical and... She felt revolted having claimed it seemed familiar. This ghost of a creature, this zombie born from a corpse, it was disgusting in ways horror stories could never share. This monster needed to be wiped from existence, obliterated from the face of Celese. This taint to Sxeiva's restless soul deserved nothing more. In the passing moment, consumed as if in a bloodthirsty berserk rage, Thanrie stopped being aware of the pain her gift was visiting upon her. The pain visited upon her heart and mind overwhelmed such simple injuries. The blade on her hand split multiple times over, bloodthirstily seeking it's target, without any success, only enraging her further. She had figured out, not only was this monster mimicking her form, but also stealing from her potential, trying to predict actions by the most advanced AI this world had ever seen.
Still, this put Thanrie in a bad spot. This was much like her sparring with Lwyn, an enemy who thought far faster than she could. In her current state, getting clear thoughts was even harder, her rage was pushed beyond it's limits. How could she deal with an enemy that could predict her every move, think and plan faster than she could even imagine. And yet, in her rage, she found it hard to care. Why should she care, she just needed to sashimi this thing into atoms. As this war within her mind started to fall to her loss, a single thought came to her mind to surrender her completely. The one thing that denies order was pure chaos, that's what she was fearing was the biggest threat to Hyxir cultivation. Chaos itself was even Yuxzn's greatest threat, it was full of unknowns, it was fully unpredictable. Why plan, when the best plans will be predicted. If she lost herself to the moment, nothing would be capable of predicting her next move.
Mhyl realized that her stealth was doing her no good, the thing was even dodging what it could not see. She pondered this, realizing it probably had machines for everything. Like her original worry in the fortress, this.. thing.. really did have the best of sight imaginable. Sticking to the ceiling, it clearly copied from so many areas, so fully intent on bringing insult as injury. She abandoned her stealth and lost herself in the moment, driven into a rage very similar to Thanrie. There was no room to think, only room for anger. And in this perfect synergy of chaos, the mechanical assassin was utterly overwhelmed.
Thanrie lunged a think rod of metal forwards, passing well behind the assassin, and forming a wall on the other side, melding with the shape of the room completely. She moved the rod slightly, the placement of the wall shifted with it, completely melding to the room. Keeping this form, Thanrie then suddenly ran away, causing the newly formed wall to rush forwards with her. The assassin simply clung to the new wall, not even understanding this impressive display of futility. However, left at the end of a dead-end, with no where to run, the assassin suddenly found itself inevitably due to connect with a vortex of nothing.
With no amount of originality, Mhyl unleashed an anti-matter vortex at close range to everything in front of her. The entire section of the hall vanished, leaving nothing but rubble in it's wake.