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CYRUS
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“We don’t have our armor," Cy said. "It’s all getting repaired right now.”
“At least we prepped some Ink before,” Envy said.
“Ink, what are you talking about?” Liam asked.
“We’ll explain on the way,” she said.
“For now, pack up and ditch this ship,” Cy said. “We’re better off fighting in the woods.”
“How many are we fighting, and who else is here besides Zeke?” Liam asked. The encroaching ship sounded its horn.
“Damn,” Cy shouted. “I was glad they didn’t have any military with them—”
“The arrogant bastards,” Envy muttered.
“—But that might attract them now.”
The team scrambled to pack. They put out the breakfast campfire, so they’d still have a ship to come back to, and fled their little reunion. Cy, Rukia, Liam, and Envy were all ready to fight. Whiskers was ready to run. They jumped down to the shoreline below just as a cannonball smashed into the hull. Everyone landed in the sand except Whiskers, who fell into the water. He jumped out and shook himself off. Whiskers and Cy made eye contact. Dammit, this is no time for puns. Liam scooped up the black cat as he ran by.
“That’s one wet pussy!” Liam exclaimed. You son of a bitch.
“How in the hell did they see our ship? I worked hard on this disguise,” Cy shouted. The group stopped to look him up and down in his tourist outfit, then continued on.
“We’re talking about Zeke,” Liam said. “And a Virtue. He could see through anything. Er, probably…” Cannonballs exploded the land around them and showered them in dirt. “We need to get beyond these hills, out of their sight and trajectory.”
“We need to get to the Shrine and fetch Jules,” Envy said.
“No,” Rukia, Liam, and Cy all said.
“He has his own mission.”
“And we've got our own fight.”
“We can't get in now, anyway.”
“Wow, OK, I get it,” Envy said. She pulled out her newly upgraded bow.
“Oh, now I realllly like you,” Liam said.
“Can it, you creepy old man, and book it!”
“Creepy…?” They sprinted for their lives, past the first hill, and only stopped at the peak of the second. Out of cannon sight, plus we still have a vantage point.
“Liam, you sure you’re up to the task?" Cyrus asked. "If it’s the same people from Aquilantis, it’s a tough crowd.”
“Can it, child. I was a 3rd Rank when you were still shitting your pants.” So you are a Master…
“That could have been just two days ago,” Whiskers said.
“I’ll remember that comment when you’re trapped between two Maidens.”
“Doesn’t sound like a situation I’d like to be saved from.”
“Gross.”
“I think I like the cat, too.”
“Creepy.”
“Finally,” Cy said. He saw their enemies come over the hill.
“Only four?” Liam asked. “What do they take us for, a bunch of p—”
“Watch your tongue,” Whiskers threatened.
“Time to get serious, you idiots."
“So these guys are tough, right?”
“One of them’s a chick,” Envy said.
“Oh, I see that now. Looks like Cy’s type.” You have no idea.
“Shut up, Liam. She’s mine, though.”
“That creep in black’s all mine,” Envy said.
Liam sighed. “Zeke is mine. Animals, you take the other one. Well, I had fun with you all, but joke time is over. It’s time for a motivational speech.”
The Iron Maidens approached. A masked woman, a creepy man in black, an ax-wielding monk, and Zeke, who brandished a massive warhammer.
“Fight well and fight hard. I have a wife to go home to. Kat and Rukia, you don’t want to keep Jules waiting. Cat, Whiskers, uh, just stay in the back. And Cy… You have a baby sister that you need to meet. NOW FIGHT!!”
What!?
Liam charged ahead. It finally happened? I knew she was trying, but… Wow. A sister.
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ENVY
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
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Kat sprinted behind Liam. They both shouted for, demanded, bloodshed. Creepy-guy-in-black leapt far away from his comrades to draw her away from them. He launched more throwing knives at her, four at a time. She dodged most, but let a few graze her so she could avoid the next batch hitting more vital spots.
He's trying to bait me in.
> « Activate » [₹9,900 // ₹10,000]
She activated an Inked Art that burned her abs, so her Regeneration wouldn't show. Ah, this is a much better method than last time.
> « Summon » « Arrow » [₹9,400 // ₹10,000]
A cluster of arrows formed in her left hand. The man in black reversed his momentum and charged toward her. Got you.
She dropped the arrows, closed the distance on him, and slammed her bow into his chest. No more home field advantage. I can’t let him gain distance like last time. Kat landed on top of him, but he flipped her off. She landed gracefully, balanced on one arm and two spread feet.
He pulled out curved daggers, horrible things with multiple arched blade tips emanating from its central blade. If he stabs me with that, I'm better off leaving it in. The man hurled the blades at her, and they spun through the air in curved patterns.
She dodged both of them, but they continued to chase her in swift, tight loops, never touching the ground. He threw more. Each one made her path of remaining clearance more difficult to maintain. She thought about Cy’s battle with the Siren. I wonder if they’ll hit him?
Her bow clanged to the ground, and she ran toward him as best she could. She dove into somersaults, flipped back to her feet, spun in the air, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t approach him because his movement was too free. Ugh.
He's trying to kill me, so they must not know. I might live to regret calling Maddie a rat fucker. Time to play aggressive defense. Kat ducked and barely dodged a spinning dagger. Alright, now I’m pissed off.
Just close the distance already, Katarina, Whiskers thought. This is exhausting to watch. Kat swatted him from her mind.
> « « Quick Step » » [₹7,300 // ₹10,000]
She moved so fast that a vacuum trailed behind her. It pulled in the surrounding air and the weapons. Kat stopped just in front of her opponent and flipped over him, leaving the weapons to track straight through their master. She dodged one that approached her from behind—It was the only one to get by.
His body thumped to the ground behind her. The second dagger dropped out of the sky as well.
“One down.” Kat turned to the battlefield. "Oh crap."
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JULES
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“Unlike these wolves, and unlike the Guards and the military, you haven’t been lax in any of that time, have you? You’ve grown stronger. Almost as if in lock-step with me." Jules laughed. "I must be crazy, talking to a Warg—”
It rushed him, and they collided. Jules grabbed its lowered antlers and wrestled with it. They pushed each other around to gain some leverage, any leverage. With each yank of its head, Jules felt the beast grow stronger. Or am I getting weaker? He finally pushed the Warg off of him, and they reengaged. It adapted to Jules’ attempts to fling it on its side, and as Jules constantly tried new moves, it adjusted to them, and the beast resisted more and more with each attempt.
“Enough. If you want a fight, I won’t hold back.”
Jules pushed the antlers down to get the Warg to shift its force upward. It obeyed. He used that momentum to lift the beast off its four feet and flipped it in the air over himself. Jules drew out the old hunting ax his father had given him that morning. The Warg pounced on him, and its sharp wolfish claws tried to rip off any flesh they could connect to. Jules braced against it with his free arm and then slashed at it with the ax. The fight went on for just a short while longer, until Jules had it down on the ground, defeated, though Jules felt weak himself.
Jules raised his ax for the killing blow, but then he thought of the memorial. Maybe he wouldn’t kill this majestic beast. Maybe he’d live and let live…
Jules approached the Shrine instead, and even there, he hesitated.
Maybe I shouldn’t go in here. I could abandon this whole mission. Go far away, live a peaceful life or something. Maybe then nothing would happen. I might be causing all of this in the first place if I go in there. For the first time since he’d promised Kaizen to stop the Apocalypse, Jules doubted himself.
Jules’ Seal lit up. The Warg howled behind him. Jules whipped around. A stream of energy peeled away from his body.
It’s sapping my energy and—evolving? Its gray fur turned darker to charcoal, then to black. Brilliant cerulean tattoos of celestial designs illuminated its body and face. It was on its feet again and charged at Jules, who braced himself to catch it. The Warg, or whatever it had now become, knocked them both back beyond the shimmering veil of the Shrine’s gate, and into the vortex void beyond.
> [The Shrine of Coralhaven — Quest Objective FAILED: Get information on the Shrine from Cy.]
>
> [The Shrine of Coralhaven — Quest Objective FAILED: Find out the Shrine's rules.]
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Jules crashed onto the wet ground. Still dazed, he looked around. He expected to find another maze, but instead, he found a massive forest with seemingly no end. Every direction he looked, there was eventually a tree, whether five feet away or a thousand yards, it didn’t matter. Massive and matured, they towered over him. These seem familiar somehow—
The Warg!
He searched for any sign of the beast and found none, so he relaxed. Must have been separated like the Siren's Cove Shrine. Jules inspected his Seal, which seemed to have darkened. The pain was gone, and it wouldn’t activate, no matter how hard or what he tried. Great. It wasn’t just getting stronger, I was getting weaker.
“What are the rules to this place?” Jules shouted to the sky. The rain picked up sharply, and soon it poured. “Dammit.”
Thunder clapped around him every few minutes. He wandered aimlessly for hours, drenched for what must have been the entire night. He grew weak, tired, hungry, and even thirsty, despite all the rain. His feet had blistered hours ago. Just as the sun dawned, Jules saw the edge of the forest. He emerged from the last tree into what he initially thought was a large clearing from far away. Now, however, he realized it was a massive lake. His heart skipped a beat. Black water. I’ve been here before, time and time again.
The shoreline was littered with corpses. Upon an inspection that he quickly quit, he saw dozens of uniformed men wearing the crests of the Hydromages, Royal Navy, and Navigators Factions. These men must have been victims of… Wrath. Or men that got pulled into the Shrine during the skirmish. Could be both.
A way off in the distance, the Warg lapped up black water. Its tattoos and lights were now crimson to match its eyes, and the coloring appeared to darken with each drink. If that water was the source of its power, there was plenty available.
“You,” Jules shouted. “Give me back my power!" This time, Jules charged it with his brandished ax. If the beast overpowered him and killed him, so be it. He’d just Regenerate and fight again.
The Warg huffed at him, clearly aggravated from having its drink interrupted, but rushed him, too. They connected, and a flash of lightning struck them and blasted them both back. A second bolt hit the water nearby. It left behind two twin golden doors that hovered on the surface. The Warg rushed to the doors.
> [Quest Reminder: Shut the Damn Door is still available.]
“No—Don’t open those doors!” Instinctively, Jules blasted it with a stream of red fire.
> [₹5,700 // ₹10,000]
The Warg recoiled. It stood on its two hind legs and kicked the air with its front two. The beast howled, and the other monster shrieked from the trees behind Jules.
“So. You must be the Shrine's Boss.”
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