As the three girls continued their battle, a brilliant light flashed from the exit far above them. Mhyl took advantage of the distraction to make a dash for Thanrie's position and started provisioning some healing from her gift.
Yhse did not like where things were going. She knew Thanrie would be pretty injured right now, which was a good thing. If she could have broken through her defenses, it would have left Thanrie in a weakened state, easy to finish off. Mhyl meanwhile should be losing her stamina fairly rapidly, and would just be a matter of draining her the rest of the way before she was in the same state. However, not only was Thanrie getting healing, but Qheria had arrived. Yhse had to do something about this situation, before it got any worse.
Yhse dashed up the exit, finding Qheria standing there waiting almost impatiently. "Oh, Lwyn, nice to finally find a familiar face. I heard some commotion going on, care to give me the story?" "Oh, yeah, seriously outnumbered down there. Thanrie is pretty badly hurt, Mhyl is trying to look after her. We could use you down there too." "Ah, I see. That does sound like some rather rough odds. Why don't you and I go down there and join in on all the fun, Yhse." Qheria smashed into Yhse's head with the blunt side of her shield, taking Yhse completely by surprise. In the same motion, Qheria set a barrier which she used to warp the two of them down to the platform below. Smashing into Yhse once more with the flat of her shield against Yhse's back, Yhse fell to the ground as Qheria warped once again closer to where Thanrie and Mhyl were.
Yhse, in a serious daze, was completely confused how that had gone so poorly. Absolutely nothing she sad was even wrong, she was outnumbered two to one, she had described exactly what Thanrie and Mhyl were doing too. As injured as she still was from the fighting so far, she was certain her case would be all to believable. Qheria also had a pretty good fighting and tactical prowess, but had figured out so much with far too little information. Even with Thanrie and Mhyl, she had at least had enough of a chance to employ a surprise attack. Qheria instead had surprised her ever so skillfully. There was only one plausible explanation for her, Qheria was the one who had originally manipulated her. With her father interrupting the control, Qheria was obviously fully aware Yhse was no longer under her control. Of course, she should have compensated for that earlier.
Qheria gave a quick review of the situation, seeing things generally as Yhse had described. She had expected a very carefully woven tale, something designed to mislead her into a false pretense. Instead she found everything exactly as Yhse had told her, which was quite a clever move. She could always depend on Lwyn to be smart when it mattered, that's why she couldn't afford to waste a moment of this opportunity. Yhse's biggest mistake might have been to forget that Lwyn would have never left the side of Thanrie or Mhyl when they were in trouble. "Thanrie, we need to get Yhse here under control so that we can undo this mess. Mhyl, see if you can cure her of whatever it is that is corrupting her mind." "Control? You will not control me any more, I will not..." Qheria smashed into Yhse's head again with her shield, interrupting her. Mhyl and Thanrie exchanged a glance, Qheria was faster to pick up on these things then they had expected.
Thanrie pondered what she had available to her. With Yhse unable to dodge, she could stop time to provide an opportunity to resolve the matter. However, while time was stopped, only she could then act, Mhyl wouldn't have any opportunity. Instead then, Thanrie coiled Yhse with liquid chains, restricting Yhse's movements so much she could hardly twitch. "I saw her in the library, getting a heavy dose of mind control. We just need to erase it." Qheria then set about trying to apply anything with her gift that would help Lwyn in resisting the mind control.
Mhyl blinked in a moment of confusion. So Lwyn wasn't lost to them? Like Thanrie, she had all but given up on finding a way to save Lwyn, but they had been making so little progress not having the heart to make this end quickly. Mhyl looked over Thanrie and pondered the situation. Qheria has misjudged one thing already, just like a poison of the body, Mhyl could do nothing about a poison of the mind. She scoured over Yhse, trying to at least identify details of what was affecting her, but came up with nothing. Much like when Khaexyn had tried a similar check himself the last time they were in the Fortress, identifying mental problems like this just didn't involve the same approach and thus Mhyl's efforts yielded no results. Qheria herself found her gift making little progress on bringing Lwyn back to normal, building resistance might have worked while Lwyn was fighting to resist such influence, but it was too late for such solutions now.
A sudden explosion detonated the chains binding Yhse, having called forth one of her spheres to provide her with an escape. The explosion mostly hurt Thanrie, who had only recently recovered from similar wounds to her liquid metal. Yhse got a bit hurt in the process as well, but she had made sure the blast had mostly propelled away from her. Overall, it provided her with a pretty decent edge, which was good because Qheria was still a huge danger. No matter what, she needed to keep a distance from Qheria, to make sure such mind control did not visit her again. Things were still pretty bad, she was now against all of them at once, and Qheria seemed to be doing just fine. Yhse contemplated a martyr's victory, utterly destroying the room just to take down her enemies with her. It might at first seem like a really good plan, but a projectile with enough power to do that would need some time to build up the force needed, giving either Thanrie enough time to freeze time on it, or Mhyl enough time to erase it. Overall, it just wasn't exactly such a good plan.
Mhyl was finding her hope receding once again, much as it was for Thanrie. She firmly suspected the only one who had a gift that could fix this for them would be her mother, way back at the Citadel. They simply were not prepared for a problem at this scale. Bringing back a violent Yhse to her mother wouldn't be anything close to an easy task, not this deep into the Fortress. There was also the high risk of her mother being attacked in the process. High risk of a lot of damage, Yhse was a huge threat right now in her current state, capable of devastating their forces if she chose to do so. She really couldn't figure out any solution that would involve saving Yhse.
Qheria however was not going to give up that easily. Her solution might have failed, sure, but that just meant it was time for another solution. She didn't exactly have another solution at the time, but she had only just arrived, she would need to gather more information first. Yhse certainly would oblige her that much, much as Lwyn had done in the past. Qheria struck down on the platform she was standing on, warping behind Yhse in the process while lashing out with her shield again. Thanrie stumbled, finding the entire rafting shake under the force. Yhse meanwhile managed to dodge away, but just barely. Qheria was really really scary, no questions about it.
Qheria noticed the situation in the aftermath, this really was a good choice for fighting for Yhse. The darkness and water were fitting touches, a creepy fear that would normally have impacted both girls to Yhse's benefit, but it was the durability of their footing that really haunted Qheria. Her own gift would be limited here, she had to be very careful. However, she also didn't miss a flaw in Yhse's estimates. The area was designed to inspire fear in Mhyl and Thanrie, to have them act with uncertainty. They were very obviously full of uncertainty, but it had nothing to do with the scenery. The water might have normally chilled Mhyl, the horrifying darkness might have shaken Thanrie, but nothing scared either of them more than losing their friend. She suspected that neither of them were even putting much thought on the other fear factors.
Yhse needed an advantage, more than she already had. Qheria would be limited in what she could do, but she wasn't very hesitant or shaken at all. "You witch! You corrupt all of your pawns, don't you! Oh right, that's also your weakness, you treasure your pawns, you would sacrifice anything for..." Yhse stumbled, a dizzy spell coming over her. The others all paused in concern, which only provided Yhse the opening she needed. Right, she needed to stay focused, and she had a plan. Yhse launched another mass volley towards both Thanrie and Mhyl, a swarm of dark spheres. Mhyl brought up some ice pillars, but the spheres devoured the ice on contact. Qheria warped over to intercept the attack, her shield eating the entire assault. Yhse smiled, her plan working, Qheria was vulnerable to having her friends attacked, she was afraid of them coming to harm.
Though such, Yhse kept staggering in her latest daze. Somehow things were proving more taxing for her, she didn't even understand why. Maybe it was Qheria's influence, possibly trying to bespell her once again. Yhse's approach was sound, but she might need to find a way to counter Qheria's assault against her as well. She threw projectiles in two locations, one into the water below her, the other to the platform her enemies stood upon. The water-bound projectile burst up a surge of water in a massive wave, splashing upwards in a violent surge as the platform they were standing on shuddered under the force delivered to it. Qheria had no room to defend with, and the waters separated each of them. Yhse then sent two more projectiles, darting straight towards both Mhyl and Thanrie. It would be impossible for Qheria to block both of them, she would have to choose.
Qheria however wasn't given any room to even choose, left struggling to find her own ground, by the time she succeeded and warped to try to block both strikes, she ended up blocking neither of them. Mhyl and Thanrie however were also left with no room to block, Thanrie putting all of her effort to grapple to get her footing back, as Mhyl tried to lighten her fall. Both of them were struck from behind, Thanrie in her right thigh and Mhyl with her left shoulder. Yhse was left aghast by her latest failure, that was such a prime opportunity, and yet she had missed once again.
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"Stop.. dodging! Just die already, for F~~k sakes!" Yhse wiped the water from her face, although not sure how she had gotten so wet from this distance. Generally everything around her was still pretty dry. Qheria took note of the situation, reviewing what had just transpired. It was a very opportune shot, brilliantly executed, leaving none of them room to deal with, no ability to dodge. Neither Mhyl nor Thanrie had dodged that attack, Yhse had just.. missed. Against worse odds, Lwyn had always landed perfect shots, taking out her enemy in that moment with a strike to anything vital. Lwyn's accuracy was all too perfect, and yet this was a lack of precision she hadn't seen since they had last left her trying to wield a longbow.
"She's.. crying?" Mhyl was quietly reflecting on what happened as she tried to heal Thanrie despite her own injuries. Qheria hadn't noticed, not being as good at picking out Lwyn's feelings as Mhyl had became. Yhse lashed out with a series of shots, which Qheria blocked with her shield, the meaning behind those shots being much more devoid of her previous tact. "I don't know, I just get the feeling that she.. just didn't want to hit." Thanrie stood up and stepped towards Qheria, feeling healed enough for now. Mhyl took some opportunity to start healing herself as well, so that she was not left behind.
Qheria considered the situation, grasping her pendant. Of course, even while fighting Yhse, it was not like Lwyn was lost to them. Lwyn was still there, fighting with them. Yhse had staggered reflecting on Qheria's weakness, revisiting memories of when Qheria had all too much sacrificed herself to help a friend in dire circumstances. That friend had been Lwyn herself, saved from a life-threatening danger that held considerable meaning for Lwyn. Lwyn's conviction was strong, and instilling on those memories only lent her more strength. Qheria felt like cheering, a new plan coming forwards in her mind. All they needed was to present a powerful, vivid memory to Yhse, something which would overpower herself with strong memories of her own self conviction.
Qheria contemplated all the things they had done together, trying to figure out the one thing with the strongest feelings. The near loss of her friends were all powerful memories, even the pendant they wore still powerful signs, but through everything they had done, it might not be the most powerful thing. Yhse was so totally entranced into her father's cause, the most powerful memory would be one to remind her exactly why he had to be stopped. She quickly developed a plan, knowing only one way this could be accomplished with what they had available. Even with that, she would have to leave for a time, but she wouldn't need to travel far.
"Thanrie, Mhyl, I'll be right back. Keep Lwyn here occupied, I won't be long." Qheria slammed her fist against the wall and vanished, warping a distance away. Neither of them knew what the plan was, but trusted Qheria would figure something out. Yhse did not like the way this was sounding, she needed to deal with this. As Yhse dashed up to the exit, Thanrie lashed her way upwards even quicker, slamming her scythe into the wall beside her, a time freeze sphere enveloping the exit. Yhse tried to shoot Thanrie as she just hung there, but the projectile stopped right as it reached the bubble of the time freeze. Right, this wasn't something she could just break through. Thanrie herself felt proud, for once actually setting up a defense using her rather aggressive gift. She would just need to wait until Qheria returned.
Yhse saw only one advantage in this situation. With Qheria gone and Thanrie occupied, the odds were suddenly far more balanced as it was herself against Mhyl once again. Mhyl realized that she was once again left to deal with Yhse alone, even being the one with the least capable defense, in a battle where she needed to be as defensive as possible. Thanrie however had managed, despite all odds, in all of her absolute offense.. to defend. Mhyl would not back down, she would find her own way.. Lwyn was depending on her.
A sphere of light enveloped Mhyl, shining upon her. While within the sphere, the remainder of her injuries started to rapidly fade away. Yhse prepared another shot and fired at Mhyl, Mhyl not even trying to dodge. The shot struck her calf, tripping her to fall down to a lower level. She crashed into that platform, her injuries already fading. Yhse shot again, the projectile passing straight through Mhyl's right hand, a searing burst of pain. Mhyl tried to remain calm, as the injury also healed away. Mhyl had confidence in Lwyn, knowing they could get through this, she just needed to hold her ground and bear through the pain. Even with these wounds, the pain was nothing compared to the fear of losing Lwyn.
Yhse wailed in despair, grief strickening her in a deep anguish. Why, why could she not kill? Her opponent wasn't even trying, was simply enduring the blows. Yhse threw another projectile, completing failing to connect with Mhyl at all, missing by a long distance. Her accuracy was only getting worse, as she wiped the tears from her eyes, the pain she herself was suffering being all too unbearable. Still, she would not give up, she would find a way, something, somehow.. to not let her father down.
Qheria searched around desperately, knowing it was somewhere around here. She stubbornly pressed on until she finally found what she was searching for, a fallen aethyrnz, it's body mostly whole. She set to work on it's wreckage, carefully dismantling it's torso to open up the parts contained inside. From within, she extracted the unit's core, itself in perfect condition. It was a much simpler version to the core left back in the Facility, but there was no time for anything that pristine. Even so, the whole visual did not paint as complete of a scene as it possibly could. Qheria turned her blade upon the lenght of her own left arm and slashed it, drawing a considerable amount of blood. She used that blood to paint a crimson picture over the core she had taken. Mhyl might be better at art, and Thanrie was a way better actor, but it was reality that Qheria wanted to bring before Lwyn, devoid of as many illusions as possible. Even if it was not the blood of Lwyn's mother, she was certain this would present a very vivid memory for Lwyn.
Trying to hold the core in her left hand, soaking it further in her own dripping blood, Qheria relied upon her right arm to warp her all the way back. She returned, heavily exhausted due to her serious injury. Thanrie gave room for her passage, to only then notice the severity of Qheria's wounds. Mhyl and Yhse stopped fighting, noticing Qheria's return as well. Mhyl gasped in horror at the bloody nightmare walking before her, the terrifying visage of her friend wounded so seriously. She rushed to help Qheria, who only warped beyond her. Qheria walked right up to Yhse, who herself was shaking in fear.
"Don't forget your own conviction, your own promise to your mother. You still have a job to do." Qheria passed Yhse the core, and then collapsed on the floor. Yhse cradled the core, the tears flowing in full force as a torrential river, her promises to herself coming right back to her. She had indeed made promises she needed to keep, promises to her mother and her vision, promises to her friends and their unity.. promises to Lwyn, to always share in their struggle. It was time for her to remain true to her promises.
Mhyl worked diligently to make sure Qheria was healed. Thanrie stumbled forwards, her head in a spiral, realizing to what degree Qheria had gone to save Lwyn. "I'm sorry everyone... I'm.. very sorry for all of this. F~~k, I can't believe what I've done." "F~~k, Lwyn, you're back! It's about F~~~ing time. Don't worry about it, we're just glad you're back." "F~~k, is Qheria going to be okay..? Actually, is everyone else alright too? I'm..." Lwyn, herself once again, sniffled though her torment.
"Okay, would you two stop with that stupid swear, it's getting on my nerves, and I'm kinda busy right now. Your swearing sucks, seriously." "Huh? But it's not like..." "Yes, yes, you two have been doing it forever, and it's like 'F~~k' this, 'F~~k' that, 'F~~~ing things. Bloody hell, do neither of you have even an ounce of vocabulary? I was expecting to hear things like B~..." Mhyl was fuming, having snapped in the tense moment herself of trying to save Qheria. Thanrie was still slack-jawed, never hearing Mhyl talk like this before. Worse, instead of complaining that they were swearing, it almost seemed like she was just upset that it was always the same swear, the whole time.. which in reflection that might actually be true.
Their whole journey had mostly been full of the one awkward swear to keep them going, and even Thanrie herself, the most prized at using such foul phrasing, was finding herself feeling a bit out of place. Somehow, it was like the one who had the best skill with such language might actually be their language expert, who had refrained from it their entire journey. It made Thanrie seriously doubt her abilities with such context, which in hindsight might be for the best. In a way, it was like the one thing she kept doing to try and pretend she was someone of a world she wasn't part of. The mixture of memories, the freedom of expression it enabled felt very empowering for her, but she really wasn't even as skilled at it as the terran self of her memories. Even Mhyl sounded like she could do the whole thing better, if that was something which interested her. It was an idea she would have to keep in mind going forwards.
Meanwhile, Mhyl had stopped her sudden speech due to being interrupted by Qheria. "I know everyone is stressed right now, but could everyone please even try to remain level-headed. Yes, we're back together, and it looks like my plan to save Lwyn has worked, but maybe we're forgetting something. Instead of sinking into problems that have been caused, we have to keep moving onward. There is still more to be done, Khaexyn is still out there after all. We still don't even know where he is." Qheria stood up, her arm wound having closed already in the light of Mhyl's gift. She was still feeling the onset of some serious blood loss, but even that was recovering from Mhyl's gift. While this occurred, they would need to plan their next move.
"I.. I do. Father had told me where he was going, where I had to make sure to protect. He's in his main laboratory, in the basement of the Library. It's in a hidden doorway, I know how to open it." Lwyn was realizing that the instructions that were left to Yhse were their key to actually finding her father through all of this mess. The knowledge provided was almost in betrayal of her own father, feeling like how Yhse's existence was even helping to pave the way to stopping her father. All that was left was to make use of this knowledge, and stop him before he completed his goal. She startled to alert, also recalling that Yhse had been trying to stall for time. They were racing against the clock here, they didn't have time to lose.
"Mhyl, actually, we have to get moving. I don't think we have much time left, Yhse.. I was supposed to stall you guys. Try and see if you can heal things up along the way, I'll show you guys where we need to go." Lwyn summoned a mass collection of gravity wells and supplied them to carry along everyone else with her, leading the way with her own gift. She took mental note that she couldn't consider herself as two people, Lwyn.. Yhse.. she was both of them after all. Mhyl attempted to do as instructed, carrying out Qheria's healing as they proceeded.
Quickly after, the four of them arrived at the library, with Qheria's healing finally completed. After getting the hidden door unlocked, the four of them descended into the hidden laboratory in the levels below.