12 Miles Below

Book 3. Chapter 44: Encore (T)

Book 3. Chapter 44: Encore (T)

You are interrupting my duel, Winterscar. Didn't you have a city to go hide in?

The boy gripped his sword closer, looking haggard from the last few minutes of constant fighting, but unbowed. Put in a complaint to my secretary. I'll get back to you in one to fifty business days about that.

Hilarious. ToAacar said, clearly unamused. How about an alternative? Be a good little human and die somewhere nice and out of sight.

Keith glanced back to ToWrathh, standing side by side with her. If hes going to be gloating on the side of a rock, we should start making plans.

The girl nodded, sending an audio connection request to the boys armor. Journey accepted, downloading the package with great care and suspicion. Cathida chimed into the helmets speakers.

Shes sent a set of tones that should cancel out loose vibrations. Fancy stuff Journey hadnt calculated, or known it could do. Not sure I understand the math behind this, and Journey didn't come with math libraries beyond the basics. We'll have to trust it'll work, wouldn't hurt to be loud about everything else I think. Just in case.

Ill find some pots and pans to bash together, Keith muttered.

Not thrilled about working with a Feather of all things, His armor continued, But Journeys insisting this is the best way to stay alive. Golden tits, the world has gone crazy. Fighting with a Feather to kill a Feather.

ToAacar on his part remained at his post, watching. ToWrathh knew what the enemy was doing, allowing his systems to cool off completely before reengaging. And likely planning out how to deal with Keith. The last few clashes had put his own systems at a higher temperature than her own.

Hes stalling for time. She told Keith over the comms. Feathers are susceptible to heat above all other machines. Our systems overclock themselves during combat. Heat builds up from that and needs to be vented. Every moment he steps away from the fight, hes recovering.

Good to know Ive got just the right thing for that. The human cheerfully said, palms starting to glow bright red.

Heat truly was the enemy. It was a force that could only ever be placated, never eliminated. In the vast fractal archives, and among all the technology developed, there were no true ways to eliminate heat waste that had been discovered. Many ways to mitigate and slow down the damage, yet entropy always wins in the end.

You know, Winterscar, The enemy called out, observing the humans glowing palms. Youre not the first sorcerer Ive fought. I suppose every now and then, your miserable kind gets uppity and needs to be reminded of where the ground is.

Keith tapped a foot, humming. Grounds right here last I checked. Need a map?

The Feather growled, and occult pulsed across his features. ToAacar reappeared behind the boy, spear lashing out. Once more, the boy seemed to have a supernatural reaction speed to where the Feather would strike from and had already started spewing forth flames from one hand, while his other hand wielded his blade with dexterity. His lack of skills were offset by the mirror images that would strike out with each of his hits, adding just enough chaos that ToAacar could not fully batter past the boys defense with the few seconds of combat he had before ToWrathh joined in.

She wove her blades expertly, dancing at the edge of the super-heated flames, forcing ToAacar to remain within them or retreat entirely.

Engulfed in the super-heated air, all heat dispersal systems took a complete loss in efficiency, forcing the Feather to back off and allow his systems to cool off. Even if the Feathers shields protected his systems, the surrounding air would saturate with heat, leaving the internal heat generated no place to escape to. If he remained within the torrent, ToWrathh could overclock her system further than he could, and the advantages would become too steep for him to recover from.

The enemy attempted three more times to break through against Keith, and all three times were rebuffed.

Weve got a good setup here, Hecate. Or ToWrathh. The human said. Whatever name you go by. But we cant just keep the fight tied like this, how do we actually kill the bastard?

She considered what they had to work with. So long as Keith remained nearby, he was able to predict where the enemy would appear from. His mirror images could also deal far more damage faster than she could.

I need to grapple him. She said. Or pin him in some manner so that you can deal true damage to his shields and shell. That or we force him to overclock his system past the limit by giving him no reprieve.

Yeah, dont think thatll work. Bastards more slippery than wet ice. No way hes going to let us keep exhausting him.

I concur. We will need to grapple him.

I did that once before. Can confirm he didnt like that at all. Dont think hell let either of us do that again anytime soon. But I think I know where another weak point is. Keith pointed a sword at the opponent, still standing, waiting for the last bout of heat buildup to fade, watching them intently. He takes small jumps off his toes every time he portals. Started thinking hes not doing that just to make the jumps look more dramatic. I think its so that hes not touching anything. His teleport could be limited to matter, not air. And theres probably some kind of size limit to it. Whatever it is, he doesnt want to be touching anything other than his spear when he chucks it at us at least.

She reviewed the past combat log footage and noticed the human was right. ToAacar had disguised the habit by mixing it in with running leaps and motion. How do we make use of that? ToWrathh asked.

Knock a pillar or rock down on him in a way he cant shake it off? Keith shrugged. Or if you know some kind of net nearby to use. Maybe a bunch of dust will have enough matter to make it not-air. Worth a try. Were at a standstill for now.

ToWrathh nodded, scanning the battlefield. The lightning blasted rocks were desolate. Nothing grew here unless it was within the larger pillars. However, there was still an option. If we can bring him close to a cliff-side, I can cause a landslide to collapse on top of him. If its quick enough at the base, he wont have time to perform a fractal jump.

Come up with some plot yet? ToAacar said from the distance, a haze of heated air still rising above his head. Internal circuits still glowed dim red, exposing some of his innards from the unrepaired slices that remained of the knightbreaker round. Its been long enough, I expect something entertaining.

Something like that. Keith said. We were hoping youd agree to just lay down and let us stab you a few times, you know, for fun.

The Feather smiled. What a delightful idea. I have another suggestion. You stand still and I squash you with a rock.

He jumped into the air, and swung his spear down, occult lit across the blade as a blue wave of energy leaped from the strike into the rocks before him. The instant the wave hit the ground, it shattered everything into chunks, large broken rocks flying up. He landed at the center of the maelstrom, and kicked the flying rocks, occult pulsing at the end of his feet.

A moment later, occult portals opened up around her and Keith, large chunks of kicked rocks came speeding out. ToWrathh could react without issue, the stone too slow to catch her. Keith however was not as quick, dodging the first three hits and getting cobbled by the fourth chunk of rock half his size. Journeys shields flared, holding easily against the kinetic force, but the armor was still sent flying off as the multi-hundred pound rock easily outweighed the armor.

ToAacar stepped through a portal and struck out at ToWrathh, the girl no longer near Keith from the barrage earlier. A few strikes between them lingered in the air, before he aborted and reappeared above again, an arc of blue occult swinging from his spear down into the ground.

He dove down, kicking rocks left and right again, causing occult portals on each as he brushed past, sending the missiles Keiths way, keeping the sorcerer knight out of the fight at a distance all while he remained locked in combat with ToWrathh.

She snarled and dove after him with fury, striking out with her blades, before revealing the entire combination had been a feint. She leaped backwards at the apex of her movements, using her wings to buffet her at high speed, directly at Keith.

Grab my back! She yelled out over the comms.

The knight on his part ducked a slab of rock thrown above him, and leaped up into the air, colliding with ToWrathh speeding past. One arm wrapped around her neck while his other remained ready to strike out with his blade.

Carrying him like a glorified backpack, ToWrathh zipped around the flying rocks with alacrity, steadily retreating to a cliff-side wall. ToAacar attempted to strike personally a few times, each time he was rebuffed by a torrent of flames from the surface knight that clung to the Feathers back.

If adding an extra four hundred pounds of armor behind her had any effect on her speed and performance, ToWrathh showed no hint of it. Internally, she noted the drop in efficiency at twelve percent, but the added benefit of Keiths ability to burn ToAacar wherever the Feather appeared was invaluable. His occult strikes increased drastically as well, now that the human didnt need to focus on moving himself.

ToWrathh reached the cliff, holding her ground here. Shed calculated this would be the best position to execute her plan, though it had brought her a long way from the original position shed sent her SOS signal from. Whatever help Yrob was sending, she hoped they would be able to track her down here.

The enemy remained unamused, reappearing a further distance away, letting the heat from the last scorching attack fade away from his systems. Seems I need to pry you out of the way in order to have my proper duel. He said.

Keith laughed, Not happening, scraphead. Im pretty cozy here and feeling a little lazy to walk around.

ToAacar answered with his weapon, spear lighting up with the occult colors as he swung. The arc of power flew directly at the two, only aimed above them.

Keith cursed, realizing the enemy wasnt going to be fooled by the cliff-side plan. Instead, hed turned that on them.

Rocks broke off in fury as the wave struck the cliff, chunks falling down directly above them. ToWrathh raced out of the way, carrying Keith with her.

Just as ToAacar had predicted.

The enemy Feather appeared above them, the spear thrown directly in ToWrathhs path. She was forced to defend against that, while ToAacar collided against the two.

Keiths flames engulfed the enemy Feather, multiple ghost strikes flying out and causing the Feathers shields to flare up. He growled as his defenses dropped steeply from the onslaught, but remained undaunted, already committed to the act. His hand lit bright, reaching straight at Keiths hold over ToWrathhs neck, right through the torrent of flames.

The boy realized he had to let go or have his shields ripped apart. With little choice, he leaped backwards.

ToAacars foot raced out in a kick, slamming into the knight in midair. It took the boy directly in the chest, through disappearing flames and all. Occult pulsed, and a portal shimmered - but not around ToAaccar - around Keith.

As the flames cleared, ToWrathh found the human half dematerialized. Frozen in the air, translucent. Like an insect trapped in amber.

ToAacar reset his position, rocks crashing down into the ground until it was silent again around them. Kill teams like my own were forced to bring options to isolate our targets when we fought in the fratricide. Incidentally, that was one of my roles.

What did you do to him? ToWrathh demanded, keeping a wary eye on the enemy.

My portals have an open and exit. I sent him through one that has no exit. He should be happily floating at the halfway point between dimensions. He said, idly passing his spear through the ghost image of the frozen human. You think Im the same ToAacar you started the fight with? Dont be silly. Out there, beyond, is nothing more than infinity. But you wont have to worry your little melting mind about that. Ill have you killed long before your favorite human returns.

A spear ripped from existence behind her, launched by the Feather. She turned and resumed the fight, partitioning a part of her mind to understand what had happened to Keith. The boy remained floating, locked in place. Pings sent to his armor showed no responses. In effect, she didnt pick up any outgoing signals from the armor either. It was as if the point Keith hovered over was just empty space.

Hes still alive. Tenisent whispered in her mind with iron conviction. Focus on the fight.

ToWrathh didnt have a choice. She needed every scrap of processing power she had available.

Kidra landed on the broken ground, jump pack still humming at her sides. There was enough power to keep her moving for another hour. Windrunner landed nearby, a little less gracefully.

They stared at the shattered ground around them.

Somethings brought a lot of explosives here. Windrunner hummed, kneeling on the ground, hand brushing away some of the dust. We too late?

Kidra didnt think so. Theyd left as soon as ToWrathhs second in command had contacted them. When it had filled her in on what had happened, shed been more than happy to let her two enemies kill one another. What had changed everything was the visual recording.

Keith was there. Her little brother had come down here and was tangled up in this mess, somehow. Of course he would be.

Of the rebellion she led, theyd stolen only a few jump packs from the military, and had even less knights capable of flying them. Not that any of those knights could be brought with her to fight a Feather. Only Windrunner could be trusted to survive that.

Ankah and her minions had been left behind, entrusted with the rebellion in the case she didnt return home. Someone had to keep the light going.

The two surface knights had left the city immediately after, speeding across the terrain, directly to the last known coordinates sent. It could have been a trap, but Kidra couldnt afford to pay the cost if it wasnt.

Were not too late. Kidra said, convinced. The fight moved. See further down that direction? More rips in the ground. We follow the trail, well find the fight. It went a long distance. From rock plateau to plateau, some spanning far more empty space than a relic armor could jump.

Keith was too stubborn to die in a fight like this. He was still alive out there and Kidra knew it.

She just prayed that shed get there in time.

Next Chapter - Shadows of older days (T)