Hermione conflicted POV about Shinji sounds interesting to me
Hermione conflicted POV about Shinji sounds interesting to me
Chapter 95. Avail Naught
Even as the attention of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang were focused on the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and how their respective Champions were engaged in their final struggle for supremacy, a world away, another set of Champions was also struggling.
‘…more struggling to survive than for supremacy, but that’s all the same really.’
After all, given the deadly dangers of this remnant of the Age of Gods, those who came to this isle did so accepting that they would likely die.
‘Or perhaps, that we are already dead, laid low by our ambition and desire, and in competing, seek to reclaim our lives.’ Matou Shinji snorted at the thought. It was perhaps fatalistic, yet…he couldn’t help but admit it was appropriate in some way. Especially for him. ‘And yet, I struggle on gladly, for Sokaris’ sake.’
Yes…for the sake of seeing her smile once more, for the sake of drawing even the tiniest bit closer towards one day being by her side, he would challenge even the very gods themselves with little more than flesh and blood to pit against divine puissance.
…a good attitude to hold, given that the boy was currently in a labyrinth constructed by those self-same entities as a way of testing those who sought to become their Champions, to bear their will into the world, with traps and enemies worthy of the heroes of the days of old.
And whatever else he was, Matou Shinji knew he was not the equal of those ancients.
…though perhaps maybe he was overestimating the ancients, since his close brush with death on the very first floor was due to the influence of a troubling Heroic Spirit that he’d had to seal away.
‘At least, I sealed away the portion stuck in me…’
He hoped he’d made the right decision in asking Elesa to do that, since he had no idea how it would affect his combat capabilities.
…nor did it seem he would find out anytime soon, since the third floor, when they emerged down onto it, had no enemies that he could see.
‘Huh. Odd.’
Or maybe it wasn’t that odd, since there wasn't much in the way of ground either.
Between the archway leading into the floor, and what was presumably its counterpart on the other side, there was a great chasm. How deep it was, the boy didn’t know, as all he could see when he walked to the edge and looked down was darkness.
…well, darkness and various magical symbols along the boundary of the stone, symbols that the boy could not even begin to decipher.
‘Zelkova, can you make heads or tails of this?’ he asked, wondering if the kodama would have any better luck than he, with its enhanced spiritual senses. ‘And what we are supposed to do here?’
‘I am sorry, master, but all I can sense is that the edge marks the boundary of a bounded field.’
Shinji blinked.
‘…a bounded field?’ he asked silently. ‘Not to keep people from falling to their deaths, I take it?’
‘No, master. If you were to stumble, you would pass through the field without resistance – at least, from this side.’
‘From this side,’ Shinji echoed, dark suspicion beginning to cloud his mind. ‘But not from the other.’
Assuming that the other side mirrored this one, didn’t that mean that if he tried to cross the chasm via flight or something like it, he would be trapped by the field? He had to admire just how dedicated the designers of this labyrinth seemed to be to the goal of misdirection, making even a skilled warrior question one’s instincts.
‘…I have to say, it’s working.’
Knowing – or at least suspecting – the peril that lay before him gave the boy pause, and so, he hesitated, not sure if he wanted to continue, not sure if there was a way back – or if he could take it even if there was, since he’d sworn an oath – even filling out a self-geis scroll – to the effect that he would accompany Elesa in exploring the labyrinth so long as she wished for his aid.
‘So for now, there is no way out.’
The only way out was through.
While he stood there, contemplating the situation he’d gotten himself into, his companion in his misadventures – or was he her companion in hers? – had walked to the extreme right of the ledge, , following it to where it tapered to the wall, coming to a halt before a small pedestal, on which rested a familiar looking bowl.
With simple, assured motions, she stepped up to the pedestal and ran her fingers over the edge of the bowl, with runes lighting up along the edges of the vessel as she did.
She said something after that, though what it was, the boy didn’t catch, as her voice was far too soft, and she was facing away.
Whatever it was, it did something, as Zelkova reported a change in the background ‘hum’ of the bounded field.
The young woman turned about, heading to the extreme left of the ledge and repeating her actions.
This time, once she finished her little ritual, the hum became audible even to human ears, with Shinji snapping out of his daze as he glanced around, searching for the source of the sound.
"The pathway should be active now," the young woman remarked as he did, with Shinji blinking as her words reached his ears.
“Huh?” the British Champion responded eloquently. “Pathway?”
He glanced over towards the chasm, half expecting to see that something had shimmered into existence while he hadn’t been looking, but there was nothing there.
‘…Zelkova, do you sense something out there?’
‘I am sorry, master, but I cannot sense anything beyond the bounded field itself.’
The kodama’s response, while understandable, was still disappointing.
Elesa, fortunately, was somewhat more forthcoming.
"The pathway is invisible to human eyes and can only be sensed if you have the ability to detect magical energy,” the blonde responded, with Shinji’s eyebrows inching skyward. “During my attempt with Miss Sajyou, it was the way we crossed the chasm.”
“…are you sure there isn’t another way across?” Shinji inquired, not exactly comfortable with stepping where he couldn’t see, especially as his equipment wasn’t geared towards helping him keep his footing. “I don’t think its…” he hesitated. “…well, safe.”
“Well, I grant that it’s a...slow way across, and treacherous, should you take a false step, but…it also does not catch the attention of whatever is slumbering in the abyss."
"Slumbering in the…ah…”
The boy from the East felt a chill go down his spine as his companion said those words. If there was something slumbering here, and bounded fields surrounding the chasm…then that meant that the abyss no doubt was a prison of some sort, and knowing what he did of the old gods, the British Champion didn’t harbor much hope that what was sleeping there wasn’t both hostile and powerful.
‘Powerful enough that Elesa would rather not wake it up…’
And wasn’t that a lovely thought, considering she’d thought nothing of fighting an echo of something…something truly monstrous on the second floor.
"Well, don’t let me tell you what to do,” the American said lightly. “Still, I would prefer you just follow behind me this time. There is a time and place for recklessness, and this isn’t it.”
“…fine,” the boy agreed. While he could use other methods to try to get across, like having Zelkova try to fly to the other side with a flow ofuda, something told him that this was too simple – too obvious – to work. And if Elesa had taken this way across before, he might as well follow her as she stepped off the ledge, out onto seemingly open air and…didn’t plummet to her death.
Seeing this, the boy scrambled to follow, just in case the pathway was only solid for a small radius under the feet of the one who’d activated it.
In his haste, he ended up almost running into her, only for her to step forward before he could, apparently quite unconcerned with the fact that she couldn’t see where anything was.
‘Though I suppose she can…maybe she has some kind of eye ability, like I do?’
It wouldn’t be impossible, certainly, though if she was hiding something like that, what else was she hiding? Secrets upon secrets upon secrets.
She walked forward, and he followed, swallowing his unease at walking out onto thin air, with his stress increasing as they moved further and further away from the ledge, meaning he could no longer jump back to it – even if he knew that going back hadn’t been an option from the beginning. His mind knew the field was there – his body did not.
Surprisingly, the ground seemed solid underneath his feet, though as he moved away from the bounded fields and anything solid-looking he began to feel a bit of vertigo. He also drew on his prana to stabilize himself but—
"Don't," came the reply, with Elesa's voice soft but firm. "Don't use your prana."
"Why?"
The young woman just looked at Shinji as if he was a tad...slow.
"Sajyou and I came this way before. We...erred, shall we say, not realizing what needed to be done."
Shinji blinked. So even Elesa…no, even Nyx could make mistakes. Still...
"Seeing as you're alive, it couldn't have been too—"
She cut him off with a look.
"The field responds to intruders with magical abilities by leeching away their prana at an accelerated rate, should they employ them. It is one way that what is within here is kept...contained," Elesa responded, glancing down into the darkness below.
"And just what is below?"
For a moment, the boy saw indecision flash across Elesa's face, though the moment passed quickly enough that he could have sworn he just imagined it.
"...something that is better off left to the world of dreams," the American Champion spoke softly. "If it wakes, Matou, you will die. Or at least you will, if you are lucky."
"What, and you won't?"
"If only life was that kind," she muttered, shaking her head. "Come along."
The boy did so, following her every movement, since she seemed to have a knack for where the walkway was – which was odd since even Zelkova couldn’t seem to see it, exactly, even if the spirit could sense it by listening to how the quality of prana twisted and changed, as if it was a sound that was causing air to solidify in a certain pattern.
"So…how do you do that?" he asked, eventually, after they’d gone a while longer.
"Do what?"
"Walk upon the pathway, along its twists and turns, so confidently?" the boy clarified. “You said yourself that you didn’t know what had to be done the first time, so…”
"Oh that?" she asked, blinking. "When I touched the bowl, it sent something like a map into my mind," the young woman replied. "Well, a number sequence that resolves into a map anyway, based on the harmony of the interlaced prana streams. So, I'm just following it, trusting that the ground will be there and listening to the hum."
"Isn't that a bit of a leap of faith?" the boy wondered, narrowing his eyes. "You couldn't have known that the walkway would be there, since you couldn't see it.”
"Except for the fact that I'm standing on it, perhaps not."
"Then how can you trust that it will lead you across? What if it’s another trap, to fool people desperate for an easy answer?"
"Matou," Elesa replied in a very dry tone. "Trust me, this isn't easy. Nor was figuring out how to activate the bridge to begin with. Keeping track of the steps I take, the turns I've made, and more – and it gets harder the more you distract me by talking."
"Right. Shutting up. Right now."
Somehow, they made it across to the other side without incident, though by that time, Shinji's mind and body were exhausted. In truth, the chasm had only been two, maybe three kilometers across, yet the pathway had doubled back a more than a few times, dramatically lengthening the course they had to walk.
Still, they had successfully crossed it, stepping through the bounded field without incident, and that was what counted, no matter how mentally exhausted he was. Surely after this, things couldn’t get worse, right?
Or so he thought until Nyx explained what awaited him on the next floor.
"That’s right, the next floor contains spirits of fire," Elesa remarked idly. "The floor and ceiling are stable enough, but the walls are not. Their positions are in flux, constantly moving, forming, in effect a labyrinth of silver and black flames.”
“Flames…” Shinji muttered to himself. “Why did it have to be flames?”
“There are themes it seems,” the American Champion replied, which surprised Shinji as he hadn’t really been expecting an answer. “A trial of bone and fang, a trial of echoes and shadows, a trial of air and darkness, a trial of shadow and flame.”
“What, and there’s a trial of stone and flesh, and of water and blood?” Shinji snarked back.
“Yes to the first,” Elesa answered. “I cannot answer the second, as I did not go to the sixth floor.” She took a breath. “I will say that this floor – the fourth, was not terrible, given the lack of enemies. Yes, there are Jinn,” she said, raising a hand to forestall his incredulous remark about Jinns not being enemies. “But they’re not hostile unless you attack first – or so I have seen.”
“I see. And the flames?” the boy wondered, thinking that perhaps he could use his ofuda to just break through the walls of fire and cut a path through it. Or well, his wand-staff also absorbed fire, but the fact that the flames were black made him leery of using it for that purpose, since the staff was also Zelkova’s current body while they were out of range of the tree.
“I did not try passing through them, and I doubt it would be particularly wise to try,” the blonde admonished. “Be aware that there are creatures in the labyrinth – like the Jinn – can however, so try not to attack them out of shock.”
“I can’t promise anything.”
“You can’t?” Elesa questioned. “Surprising. And here I thought you were the type to swear oaths at the drop of a hat to any pretty girl you met.”
“…no? I…how do you say I disagree in the strongest terms possible?”
“In America, you would say ‘I plead the Fifth.’”
“Then I plead the Fifth.”
“I’m sure you do.”
The situation was grave.
For Matou Shinji, Champion and would-be adventurer, it was literally do or die, and every moment he hesitated, the pendulum swung ever closer to die. Yet while he drew breath, he chose to fight, to defy the fates with everything he was and could be.
His ofuda flew forth, sound, fury, and light bursting in the air – but to no avail, as jinn of fire could not be so easily distracted.
‘Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit!’
How could he have known that using some sealing ofuda to open hole in the walls of flame in an attempt to let him to better map the maze with his earth-sense, would lead to all the Jinn swarming him, as if he’d attacked them?
‘I didn’t attack a Jinn. I’m sure of it!’
Yet they came at him. Dozens of them. Hundreds. More Jinn than he knew existed in the world.
Yes, he was fused, giving him a modicum of magical defense, but that didn’t matter when there were so many.
If they closed in on him, if they touched him, he would die.
‘I have to keep my distance – keep them away, somehow!’
More ofuda rushed outward, with the boy exerting his will to try and condense any available water vapor into the air into mist to shroud him, but there wasn't any to convert, not here. With that failing, he had his ofuda consume themselves, becoming something like dark water, only for this to be burned away by the silver flames coming closer, closer, closer still.
‘Shit. No…it can’t…it can’t end like this…’
Faced with the prospect of destruction, the boy tried to run, tried to move out of the way, but the walls were shifting too fast, the Jinn surging forward like an unstoppable wave.
What had once been safe was no longer so. He stepped – mistepped – stumbled, and fell, with the fire rushing up to claim him.
In desperation, he raised a bounded field, trying to keep the flames back, to stay alive and unburnt for even a moment longer.
It wasn't enough.
Neither was the shell of ofuda he hurled outwards, as sealing ofuda were burned away, scorched to ash before the prana inside could do any good.
He raised his staff, jabbing it forward in desperation – and this time, the fire finally vanished, granting him a moment’s reprieve. He almost fell to the floor, save that with a thought, the staff lengthened, letting him right himself.
The boy, seeing he had something that worked, swung the staff as another wave of flame came hurtling in, swinging again and again and again.
Yet, very little had changed.
He had a viable means of defense, but for how long? Eventually, he would tire. And if a spear of liquid flame came at him at an inopportune moment, or if a Jinn used something that wasn’t fire…
Fzzt!
As it so happened, a spear of molten rock would have run him through just then, had a shimmering orb of gold not appeared around his body, with the spear smashing itself apart upon the barrier of light.
"Get to the center of the maze," an unexpected voice whispered-murmured-ordered in his head. Elesa – Nyx – Nyx was in his head. At least he thought so. It could be a trap, but right now, what did he have to lose. "Artifact," the voice repeated, seeming like…
‘…like it was strained,’ Shinji realized in horror, remembering how the blonde had never seemed bothered by much of anything before.
"Go."
He did as she bade, his jaw nearly falling open as he saw how the black and silver flames recoiled from the golden light, allowing him passage. All at once, the jinns stopped coming at him, with all of them turning abruptly to somewhere behind him.
‘Maybe…they’re targeting Elesa now?’
He wasn’t sure, since he’d lost track of her when the labyrinth began to shift and grow unstable, and right now, he frankly had other priorities, like how he was supposed to find the center in the first place.
Yet no sooner had he thought this than a point of even brighter gold appeared on the inside barrier, moving in a way that bade him to follow it. Seeing little choice, he did, making turn after turn, ducking under a torrent of flame, leaping over another.
The flames licked at the barrier, which flickered, but didn’t crumple under the onslaught.
Somehow.
And then, the boy was clear – or at least, he was no longer within arm's reach of the walls of flame.
He found himself in something like a clearing in the center of the maze, in the very middle of which was a raised platform, with an altar upon it. And circling the platform, lumbering about were two golems made of what looked like still molten lava.
On the other side, he thought he could an opening in the walls of flame, so perhaps he could follow it out? But then, Elesa said something about an artifact...probably the altar, so…
‘No choice then.’
When desperate, one tended to not have many good options at hand. All one could do was try to make the best of things, to go with what little one knows might work and hope that it did. Such was the situation that Matou Shinji found himself in, as he was caught between a tide of Jinn which might defeat Elesa and come after him if he tarried too long, and two massive golems wrought of molten lava that blocked his path.
'Fuck. This is bad. Really bad.'
And then things got worse, as the golden sphere of light that had shielded him from the worst of the maze fizzled out. Did that mean...? Had Elesa...?
'The artifact,' he told himself, clutching at the last thing she had said to him. 'She mentioned the artifact.'
...he wasn't sure exactly what this artifact was or what he was supposed to do with it, but if he was right, it was probably whatever was sitting on the altar, being protected by the golems.
So far, they hadn't noticed him yet.
Maybe he could sneak past them, go to the opening in the wall of flame and try to reach the exit?
No...there were probably Jinn there too.
'So I have to fight.'
...unless...what if he used the Elixir of Fading? Tried to reach the artifact in spiritual form to avoid the golems?
'Well, the Jinn can still kill me, but...' There had to be a reason Elesa had mentioned the artifact. Maybe it was some kind of control rod that would let him gain the golems as allies? 'No. I wouldn't be that lucky.' And even if he was, the golems wouldn’t mean much against that swarm. Maybe it would make him invisible to Jinn or impervious to flame? It could do anything, and Matou Shinji was willing to admit that he was no magical archaeologist or alchemist trained in deciphering puzzles.
Even so, he couldn't stand around, so swallowing down what trepidation he felt, the boy proceeded to drink the potion, feeling minimally more encouraged when he shifted out of physical form and headed towards the altar, with the golems not even sensing him.
'It worked!' he thought in exultation, only...as he moved over the platform around the altar, it seemed he wasn't safe after all, as runes flared brightly, with the air seeming to thicken around his spiritual form, locking him in place. 'Oh god. Oh god...'
He could revert to physical form, but if he was right...the golems would immediately move to intercept him, and as little room as he had, they could probably crush him before he went too far.
On the other hand...the artifact was within reach, if he lunged.
Now that he was closer, he could see it was some kind of tablet that was set into the altar, on the side of which was a sharp edge and a depression probably meant for blood.
‘Blood. What is it about blood?’
That was a question for another time though.
For now, it was clear what he had to do. He had to get to the artifact somehow – he didn't know for sure, but he suspected that it was key to being able to get through this maze alive. Why else would it be guarded by two massive golems of lava? And since the golems were made of lava - which hadn't cooled, somehow - it probably wasn't a good idea to have Zelkova fight them.
Possibly he could fight them in fusion, but if he did...he wouldn't be getting the artifact.
'...ugh...'
He didn't really want to fight those hulking monstrosities, as he was rather...squishy, compared to molten rock, but what he wanted usually had little relation to reality.
'So be it then.'
He would fight.
Thinking quickly, he reverted to his physical form and de-fused, the golems noticing his presence immediately as he did so. The trouble was, Zelkova had to take physical form for this, which meant that they would notice the kodama too, since Zelkova was closer to the artifact, unless...
"Hey, your target is over here!" he shouted, unleashing a number of ofuda, while using casting glacius from his wand - with supercold air rushing forth towards the golems in an attempt to cool them down/solidify them. It worked - for a few seconds, with some patches of stone on one of them growing darker, more solid...before the effect undid itself.
'Core? The golems have some kind of core?'
It had to be. It made sense too, as they weren't simply animated by a soul or a force - there was something in them that supplied them with commands and magical energy, the equivalent of a brain in any living organism. If he could destroy or disable it, then he thought they'd stop...
'But where is it?'
...that was the question, but one he didn't have much time to answer as they attacked, unleashing a gout of molten stone at him, which he could only dodge.
'Shit, this isn't fire!'
Fire he could block – absorb even. Lava...not so much.
Still, he couldn't just give up, not while Zelkova was counting on him. If he stopped, if he gave into the temptation to fade from existence, his familiar would be annihilated by lava, and the kodama did not deserve such a fate. Not when Matou Shinji knew very well that he had sent his familiar - his friend - to face danger after danger, and the spirit had obeyed, without thanks, without any expectation of reward.
And well, if Zelkova died, Shinji was pretty sure that he would soon follow, whether at the hands of Jinns or golems.
So he fought, doing what he could, using his ofuda to command the earth to rise as walls to block their way, delaying them for critical seconds as he threw attack after ineffectual attack at them, knowing that victory was some ever-distant utopia that would never be.
He couldn't beat them. He couldn't hope to beat them, or land some crippling injury on them.
They were molten masses of stone, imbued with powerful enchantments not seen since the Age of Gods, and he was but a practitioner of onmyouji – and not a particularly advanced one, either. Not compared to someone like the Champion of Mahoutokoro, at least. If he was her age, if he had three more years of training and practice, then maybe...
...but he didn't.
He had what he had, no more and no less.
Earth.
Wand.
Water.
Whatever scraps of skills he'd picked up in the last four years, he turned them against the golems, delaying his death at the hands of the implacable guardians by seconds at a time - and without the aid of something like Felix Felicis. Perhaps it would have been wiser to take the potion.
He'd never know, for he'd never experience the moment again.
The moment when everything came together in perfect clarity, when every last ounce of training, of power, of will, was focused into realizing the desperate act to live.
Evade.
Evade.
Evade.
Cast a spell.
Toss out ofuda.
Raise a wall.
Blast the surroundings with icy winds.
Again.
Again.
Again.
He evaded utter destruction by hairbreadths, even as the strain upon his body doubled and redoubled, muscles tearing, ligaments twisting, as he pushed himself to his limits - and then past them with almost preternatural reflexes and coordination. His armor, designed for a certain organization's agents, kept him in the fight, but even it could only do so much.
Inevitably, he stumbled, his perfect rhythm of battle breaking down, and in that moment...
'No...'
The golems pincered him. There was nowhere to run, no further move that could be made as they moved as one, preparing to crush him utterly. Accepting his end, Shinji closed his eyes and waited...
...and waited...
...and waited some more, only nothing happened.
When the boy opened his eyes, the golems had returned to what they were doing before he had engaged them, and the entire platform was glowing with a soft, golden light.
"...Zelkova?" he breathed. Had...had the kodama done it? Had they succeeded, somehow?
As he was wondering, Elesa wandered out of the maze, seeming remarkably unburned, as she eyed the platform, the orb of light above its center, and the golems, which seemed to be ignoring them.
"A...ah, you, uh, you made it," Shinji stammered. Was the American Champion going to kill him for making things so inconvenient for her? Was...
"I admit, I didn't expect you to succeed," the blonde admitted frankly, eyeing the boy with some interest. "After all, while the gear you wear is potent, it isn't the gear that makes an agent, but their skills and abilities. You surprised me, Ishmael."
"...I uh, what did this…what did it do?"
Elesa seemed to glance over the runes, raising an eyebrow before nodding.
"As I suspected, it reset the maze, annulling the patterns of discord and hate that drove the Jinns mad, lulling them to sleep once more," she responded, as if reading from something - was she...was she translating the runes?
"You can read that?"
"Can't you?" the American asked flippantly, with Shinji narrowing his eyes.
"As a matter of fact, I cannot."
"Well, you'll learn eventually, I expect," Elesa noted breezily. "In any case, let us take this opportunity to exit the maze, this time without trying any clever tricks like trying to break down the walls, hm?"
"...fine," the boy grunted, mentally signaling to his familiar that he had done well.
Only there was no response.
"Zelkova?" he asked, but nothing happened. Come to think of it, he couldn't even feel the bond he normally shared with his familiar. He...Zelkova hadn't been...hadn't been killed...had he?
"Your familiar is still here,” Elesa responded, glancing at the orb of light. “He simply cannot hear you right now, having used much of his essence to activate the artifact. I believe the soul of the other in him was forcefully contacted, with his mind in shock from this."
“Ah…” Shinji swallowed, wincing as he did. Now that the fight was over, he was beginning to feel the consequences of his rashness. “Um…will he be alright?”
“I believe so, but it will take time,” the American Champion responded. “In the meantime, perhaps you should fuse again, so that you can move.”
“I…I don’t…oww—auughh…ok…point,” the boy responded, as his body failed him, raw agony shooting through his nerves. He stilled himself, breathing in, breathing out, breathing in, breathing out, and breathing in again, letting him sink deep into his consciousness, deeper, deeper, deeper still, until at last he reached the door separating himself from the world and opened it, entering a state of fusion, as his pain faded.
“Ahhh,” he sighed. “That’s better.”
“Good. Let’s get moving – and this time, try not to get everything angry at you. I know you have a talent for pissing people off—”
“What.”
“—but do try to restrain yourself. My patience isn’t limitless, you know.”
“…sorry.”
Sometime later, after he had drunken from the recovery fountain, the boy found himself walking through a subterranean passageway, with scant illumination save for the soft glow emanating from the orb floating above his shoulder. And as he walked, he found himself trying to shake a peculiar unease from his mind, though he wasn’t sure why he felt that way.
Perhaps it was because this one, unlike the others, was built to a scale far larger than any human needed, with statues of strange creatures looming out of the dark as he walked on.
Statues with heads that resembled those of birds.
Statues with jackal or wolf-like features, with teeth bared and tongue lolling.
Statues with tentacles in place of beards – or heads – or limbs.
Scattered on the floor here and there, weathered and worn, were old bones, bleached white as if by some incredible heat. Had others come here before him? Adventurers, perhaps, whose ambition and greed had outstripped their meagre abilities? Or were these bones older still, from the days before this structure had fallen into ruin?
And if he listened closely, concentrating every bit of his attention on his hearing, he thought he could make out something like whispers, though what they might be saying, or who they might be talking to was something he couldn’t make out.
“Do you hear that?” he asked, turning to Nyx as she walked along beside him, glancing around.
“I—“ she began to reply, but only to cut herself off as her head jerked up sharply. “Something’s coming.”
The two golems on the floor above had only been the first he faced. This floor had made him face several more, all of varying sizes and strengths, all with some device or mechanism nearby that the golem had to be lured into activating to disable protections that would allow them to go forward.
They’d cleared these challenges without too much difficulty, since dealing with purely physical force in fusion form wasn’t too bad, and Elesa had more firepower than Shinji was used to having by his side. Still, if he was right, then the final challenge of this floor awaited – some great monster, or construct like the echo of an ancient foe on the second floor, or the undead hydra that had apparently been the great challenge of the first floor.
‘What could it be?’ he wondered.
Moments later, his question was answered, as a spike of danger shot through his mind, and a massive multiheaded beast of pure white – a chimeric fusion of many forms and creatures – padded into view no more than a dozen meters away, its glowing golden eyes regarding him balefully.
‘Chimera…’
Its body was crouched low as if ready to spring forward, closing the distance between them. If it did, he knew, it would be on them in seconds.
And Matou Shinji would not give it that chance, not when he’d given so much and sacrificed more just to be standing where he was.
Thinking quickly, he ripped the vial of Felix Felicis he wore from his neck and downed half of its contents, as the world seemed to slow down.
With barely a thought, ofuda – what few he had left after the fire maze – hidden in his sleeves shot forward, striking the ground and remolding the stone of the hallway into great spears that thrust themselves at the Chimera just as it lunged. Unprepared for the rapidity of its prey’s response, the beast smashed into spears with a roar of frustration, slowed – but not injured at all, as stone weapons snapped before it, unable to pierce its hide.
With his will, the Boy from the East commanded the spears to fall, for the very rock to swallow up his enemy, but—
“AWOOOOGHHHHHHH!”
—it simply howled, the sonic assault shattering the cage he was constructing and nearly knocking him off his feet.
Undaunted, the boy snapped his fingers, as a few of his ofuda which had not been consumed to bend the will of the earth, blinked out of existence, replaced with a number of explosive potions, courtesy of a non-verbal Switching Spell.
One by one, they detonated, with Shinji trusting the concave hollow of the area the chimera was in to shape the force of the explosions, directing all of it at his foe!
Whump-BOOM! Whump-BOOM! Whump-BOOM!
Detonation. Detonation. Detonation.
His efforts were joined by shining lines of force, as sun-bright runes loosed by his companion slammed into the enemy with incredible force, staggering the beast and blackening its fur - and flesh – with each fell strike.
"A chimera, huh?" he heard his companion murmur, and glanced over to see a dangerous smile playing across her lips as azure light danced upon her fingertips. "Don't see one of those every day. Matou, you should—."
Before she could say more, a blast of heat and light washed out, blinding the boy for a moment – just long enough for the phantasmal beast to escape his impromptu trap. It landed before him, its mouth opening wide as it loosed a massive gout of ebon fire.
‘Flames hot enough to sear spirit as well as flesh – just like those on the floor above.’
Were he not under the influence of Felix Felicis, Matou Shinji would have died on the spot, burned to ash – no, less than ash – by the beast’s ire. But under its influence he was, so the boy barely managed to interpose his wand – grown into staff form – between him and the flames, with the runes and traceries carved into its surface glowing with an eldritch light as it drank in the enemy’s attack.
Still, no doubt the beast would soon recognize that he was somehow rendering its flames ineffective, and would seek to rip him limb from limb.
‘What should I do?’
He could try and fall back to where his companion was, but he’d lost track of her when the chimera had launched its sonic assault earlier, and he couldn’t exactly look for her, as there was fire everywhere except in a small area before him.
‘And even if it is stopping the fire, it isn’t stopping the heat…’
Already his skin was blistering, even through the layers of protection he wore, borrowed though they were, even through the protections of fusion itself.
Matou Shinji breathed, eyes flaring silver as he fought a desperate battle within himself, ruthlessly quashing the rage and fear that was bubbling up in his core – for he knew too that Zelkova would probably be uncomfortable with the fire all around him, and it would not do to add to that, lest he fall out of fusion.
‘I can’t afford failure. Not now, not here. Not against something that is like Fiendfyre but worse.’
He breathed, drawing into him the senses of the earth, breathing out the pain of his mortal vessel.
‘I’m right here.’
He stood against his foe, against a creature from the Age of Gods, and did not falter. He stood unyielding, despite what it cost him. He stood, doing what he must, because he could.
‘I’m right here.’
He could feel it. The whispering of the stone, the weight of his enemy, the sheer power and heat of the cursed flames turning the rock all around him to bubbling slag. All of it he could feel, could sense, could know, as if it was happening to his own body.
The might of the flames meant that the innate resistance of his fusion form was worth very little, but then, with a beast like this, it wasn’t practical to simply try to protect himself. No. Such a beast needed to be ended, before it used its monstrous claws against his staff, or perhaps its barbed tail, the tip of which gleamed with something he was sure he didn't want touching him.
…before the heat all around it healed it of its injuries.
'...that’s right. Just like my staff, this Chimera can absorb fire and heat. The longer I just try and hold it off, more it will heat its environment, and the more it will heal. If I'm not careful, it will—'
It lunged, springing at the boy with claws sheathed in corrosive prana, as its fiery breath petered out.
Once more, the boy interposed his staff – now a scythe – as a defense, catching the claws before they could rip him apart, only to realize too late that he wasn’t the target.
His staff was, as if the Chimera recognized the glowing weapon as an existential threat – as an enemy that needed to be defeated.
'It must be sensing the Chimera scales embedded in it, or just recognizing how I'm able to defend against its flames through Absorption – the very ability it uses.'
Its weight bore down on him, pressing him back – back – down – down, forcing the boy from the east to his knees as he found himself unable to match it in a sheer contest of strength.
‘No…’
Even as he grit his teeth and struggled to stand, to push back, he could see it bringing up its barbed, armored tail, as if to deliver the coup de grâce.
'Oh...shit...' the boy thought out, his enhanced senses allowing him to see the tail come at him almost in slow motion, though there was no way he could avoid it – not without letting go of his staff, and if he did that, he wouldn't be able to stop its fiery followup. 'I can't...'
There was no way, no way he could see, that...
'Wait.'
Time stood still as his mind accelerated, his thoughts racing into the past and leaving the present behind. His consciousness sped deep within itself, reaching for something he'd been told long ago. Something he'd been taught. Something he'd been shown.
Something he’d nearly forgotten amidst the many tricks he’d seen and done.
It was there, in the tangle of his memories, if only he could--
'Yes!'
His eyes opened wide as he grasped it, traced the patterns that would allow him to steal victory from the jaws of defeat.
'Release,' he intoned, his will shaping the fullness of the power that the staff had drained into a single titanic blast, as acrid, hissing darkness spilled forth from it, spreading over the chimera’s claws and limbs and pouring onto its body in a corrupted torrent of black rain.
The beast howled. Screamed. Roared, as the water – if it was water – as pure decay tore at it, snuffing out the prana it commanded, ripping at its very spirit as it grew in strength and power.
DIE.
So his will commanded, and his magic did its best to make the beast obey.
Any lesser creature would have been destroyed in the maelstrom of dark magic released in that moment, this chimera was an ancient beast, one that had outlasted many like it, one that had outlasted the turning of the age, and so refused to die.
It refused as its fur blackened.
It refused as its eyes and nose blistered.
It refused as the corrupted prana sheathing its claws and tail was leeched away to fuel the strike.
It refused and struck back, releasing a gout of corrupted fire not at its assailant, but into the torrent of corrupted water, flashing the vile liquid into superheated, corrosive steam.
Some of it continued towards the beast, true, but some which took less damage from that than water alone, but some – the merest dregs really – blew back towards the fusion user, ripping mercilessly through his stone-like skin as he, too, screamed, his vision going white from pain as he let go of the staff.
When he returned to awareness some time later, the boy – still in fusion form, somehow – found himself laid out on his arse, his ears ringing and his vision still spotty, as pain wracked him all over.
With a thought, he tried to summon his staff to his hand, and was relieved when it came.
‘It wasn’t destroyed.’
Looking around, he could see something glowing, and focusing his attention, he felt a chill go through him as he noticed exactly what it was.
‘That’s…the chimera.’
Well, it was what remained of the chimera, at any rate, given that its body had been torn apart lengthwise, the two halves of its blackened carcass smoldering upon a still-glowing surface that was smooth as glass.
'What on earth?'
"Are you alright, Matou?" a voice spoke from beside him, with the boy looking up towards whoever had spoken, and finding his breath stolen away at the sight before him – by the sight of what could only be Nyx standing before him, her glowing form was wreathed in crackling arcs of azure lightning. For a moment, he wondered if he had been wrong – if the Church had been right and there were such things as angels, or if this was perhaps an elemental or divine spirit…
“I, uh…”
"Confronting a phantasmal beast in melee is not exactly recommended, after all, even if you do possess a secondary form," the other continued coolly. “But then, I suppose there is a time for impetuous deeds.”
She offered him a hand, but seeing that he wasn’t sure he wanted anything glowing touching his body when pain still ran through him with every movement, he shook his head. Instead, he propped himself up with the haft of his scythe, using that to help him find his footing.
"You...” he said after he managed to get to his feet. “You didn’t tell me…you…you can fusion? Or...something?" Shinji got out, looking uneasily between her and the defeated chimera. 'Did she...did she rip it apart with a spear of lightning, or something?’
That would explain why the world had gone white, given that he, like his...less fortunate opponent, would have effectively been at ground zero of the blast. If that were so, then letting go of the staff had perhaps been a good thing. Otherwise…
‘I would have been destroyed.’
Well, perhaps not destroyed, given that the earth element of his fusion form would resist lightning to an extent, but even so, with the damage he’d already taken…
'Whatever happened wouldn’t have been good, that’s all I can say.'
Then Shinji blinked, realizing something.
‘Wait…a spear of lightning? Wasn’t…wasn’t Stukov hit by something like that?’
It hit him then that before he’d gone unconscious in the final fight of the preliminaries, his last sight had been a brilliant blue light the color of the untamed sky – the very color of the power bleeding off of his companion.
“You…you’re the one…”
“I’m the one…?”
“The one who stopped Stukov…” he whispered, his eyes going wide. “Who ended that fight.”
“Not I so much as my familiar,” Elesa corrected. She looked down at the boy, clearly considering how much to tell him, before nodding. “Yes. I have a familiar. No, he’s not here – and he isn’t why I can use this power. This isn’t fusion, you see.”
“This…isn’t…fusion,” Shinji repeated numbly. “Then…what is it?”
"Just a temporary release of limits usually imposed by…common sense.” the other explained matter-of-factly. The glowing figure chuckled mirthlessly. “While I can something like a familiar to help facilitate this, it is not, strictly speaking, required."
“I see,” the boy said. He didn’t really, but he wasn’t going to argue with someone capable of killing a creature like that with a single attack, and who had done much worse to even deadlier beings. Somehow, he thought it might bode ill for his life expectancy.
The young woman shook her head.
"You are wounded, Matou," she noted. “Can you still fight?”
Shinji nodded, trying to hide a wince as he did so.
Apparently he failed, as his companion made some odd gesture and a warm sphere of golden light enveloped him, knitting his wounds and easing his pains over the course of about a minute.
“Better?”
“…yes. You can heal humans as well?” he questioned, shaking his head. “I knew you could help spirits, but I didn’t think…”
“It’s not something I do particularly well in my usual form,” she replied evenly. “Though even if that form has limitations, I prefer it to this heightened aspect, as like draws like, and here, in a place dating from the Age of Gods, that could well be...counter-productive."
"…I can see how that would be so,” Shinji agreed readily, not wanting to think about what might be drawn by the prana she was emitting. “Thanks, by the way.”
“None needed. Just answer this, how much longer can you maintain your fusion?" she asked.
"Not much longer," Shinji admitted. “With all the strain I’ve been under lately…and with the minor issue of a foreign spirit fragment in Zelkova…”
"Ah, I see, you are still dealing with desynchronization?" the other questioned, raising a slim eyebrow. "Your...colleague does not share that issue."
"...Sajyou-san is also not possessed by a spirit. And even if she was…she’s on a whole other level compared to someone like me," Shinji admitted, ducking his head. "Besides, I'm inexperienced, so please take care of me…senpai." He added this last bit impishly, though the other was not quite amused.
"I'm no one's senpai, Matou," the other replied dryly. "And down here, none of that senpai, kouhai stuff matters worth a whit anyway, so don't get yourself killed on my account. I can take care of myself, you know. As you should. If you can't, you have no business in this place. We’ll be coming up on a rest area soon, and I want you to seriously consider whether or not you wish to go on."
"...I do," Shinji voiced, nodding his head with a heavy sigh. "I made a promise, and I keep my word.”
The other grunted as she reverted mostly back to her original form, the glow - and the majority of the lightning - fading from around her, though a few azure butterflies of lightning remained to light the way.
"How noble of you," his companion commented wryly. "And perhaps after this floor, you will finally begin pulling your weight. You do have quite a bit of it as a walking tank, after all."
Shinji shook his head.
"...fair enough," he allowed. "Just try not to fry me next time, senpai."
"Heh. I’ll try my best, but no guarantees, Matou," the other replied, as they began walking once more. "Oh, yes, I nearly forgot."
"What is it?"
"That final strike of yours."
"Yes?"
"You somehow managed to corrupt the chimera's elemental affinity, changing its alignment to water. An impressive feat, that, and one which certainly made the beast quite a bit easier to kill."
Shinji only blinked.
What? He had…
"...one tries,” was all he said in turn, before a strange sense of déjà vu struck him. He’d seen this scene before. Fought this foe. Said these lines.
He’d done it all in a dream – a dream from before he’d ever come to the isle.
What did it all mean? His dreams? His visions?
That so much was coming true?
He didn’t know, and in a way, that terrified him more than anything else about all this.
Choice 405: And aside from his partner, Luna, who else is fighting off the black-cloaked figures with him?
[ ] Pansy
[ ] Rin
[ ] Mashu
[ ] (write-in)
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[x] Rin
Yeah I prefer keep her closer if this is really a decisive battle.
Alf, I would be interested in seeing a slice of Hermione's lifestyle after Hogwarts as a one-shot snippet, maybe a (very) short adventure of her own to better showcase the mindset of average british Wizard.
If that's what you want to do to stir your creative juices, go for it. But I would really, really prefer if we finally get to the bottom of this Book. My desire for epic dungeon showdown and Atlas allegiance is prevalent.
[x] Rin
She is one person besides Luna we can count to stand solely in "Shinji faction", because, as cruel as it sounds, she has no one closer to her than a semi-childhood friend who rejected her. No family, no pledge to a faction, no split loyalties, no possibility for betrayal (betrayal for the good of Shinji, of course!). In the times ahead we will need that trust.
Also, it's Rin we are talking here, she will be a great help in all things connected to Magecraft. She is a pure "Wizard" type character (If with some sick martial arts) to Shinji's... "Duskblade" (full Fighter progression with some serious Sorceror tricks)? Actually, that's a very shallow but versatile build I have a trouble to place. Magus, maybe? Hm.
If anyone has a doubt that a completely broken character like Luna is a "Cleric", I have a bridge to sell you. Though "Druid" suits her personality more... Ah, the problems of building a proper party!
Last edited by Malorius; October 1st, 2018 at 04:59 AM.
Great chapter, by the way, Alf.
You have really captured that "desperate adventure" spirit. Shinji's showing that he has grown used to hopeless struggles quite a bit. Elesa's growing more comfortable with bullying Shinji too... actually that's horrible for his self-esteem (since all her quips are well founded in our decisions), but still very amusing.
Alf, where does Shinji store his hidden blade? Did it get destroyed with all our equipment back then? If not, how did Elesa not find it on Shinji's body yet (back when he lost consciousness during First Jinn fight and during the sealing of Perseus)?
Its safely stored at home, isn't it.
[x] Pansy.
No Assassins with dubious goals pls.
Rin.
Why Rin and no love for Mashu?
I am just wondering here. Not like any of the three girls is a bad pick here, so I am not sure why someone dislikes picking Pansy. We have helped Pansy enough at this point that I don't think we have to treat her like the plague. She does not have dubious goals. We don't need to go back to treating Lockhart and Co. with a ten foot pole again because they are Assassins. I thought we were beyond that this year, look at how much Pansy/Lockhart has help Shinji this year.
[X] Mashu
My only worry with picking Rin here is that she is going to freeze since she not use to being attacked, then Shinji is going to have to save the both of them. Again pushing the White Knight aspect of Shinji in to dere side Rin, which just digs Shinji's deepier in that hole.
Last edited by Skull Leader; October 1st, 2018 at 08:15 PM.
Hm? Pansy is the most likely to be by your side when you fight Dementors, because she would be with the rebels fighting Grindelwald's forces. I expect Rin to arrive later in the conflict, like when Shinji has already gathered the goblins. Mashu is a decent choice but she may be too powerful (depending what kind of HS she has a contract with) for wizard wars. Unless she participates as a magus and is using a bunch of (Atlas approved) mystic codes.Originally Posted by Malorius
That's not what I'm reading here, our choices in visions are usually much more general. We are choosing a friend to stand by our side in the coming year(s), not an ally for one specific fight in one particular conflict. Or maybe we are choosing a secondary waifu, since it's our favorite worthless unfaithful worm protagonist we are talking about.
Both can be right, I reckon.
You are talking as if any of that is somehow bad. Rin gets more experience and character development, we get to enjoy edgy Whiteknighting, Shinji gets even more complicated feelings towards Rin to suffer through.My only worry with picking Rin here is that she is going to freeze since she not use to being attacked, then Shinji is going to have to save the both of them. Again pushing the White Knight aspect of Shinji in to dere side Rin, which just digs Shinji's deepier in that hole.
Win-Win-Wi~ohgodwhy.
Last edited by Malorius; October 2nd, 2018 at 05:38 AM.
I thought to pick Mashu at first, but then decided that Rin could use this experience for the Grail War.
You're incorrect, actually. Rin and Mashu featured in a vision where he fought alongside Goblins, against wand waving foes. This is very much who might be at his side at this moment in time.
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
Huh. Well, that changes things somewhat.
Then Rin is most likely a suboptimal choice here because of all the teleportation and wizard shenanigans involved. She lacks the raw overwhelming power of demiservant and the combat oriented trickery of a wizard-Assassin(-in-training). ...All the more reasons to push her to excellence we know she can achieve!
But, honestly, I still like Rin as a character more, partly because of how much her life was influenced by our actions throughout the quest, so I'd choose her anyway.
Admittedly, maybe it just doesn't feel as that vital of a choice to me, in comparison to the primal danger of Ancient Magic Murder Dungeon.
Did this thread just die or something?
Choice 405: [x] Rin
I want to apologize for the delay in responding. My bandwidth has been fairly low over the last week, as I've been going too and from in the earth, walking up and down its corridors and hidden pathways. More prosaically, I've been going to conferences, and this thread is probably the most brain intensive of the ones I'm running.
But well, on with the show...
Choice 406: Practitioners of witchcraft, it turned out, weren't used to someone throwing money at them. Or at least, that was how Shinji saw Tohsaka throwing a gem the size of her thumb at a group of black-cloaked figures, though granted, money didn't usually explode into a fireball big enough to swallow up a house, blowing a crater in their ranks.
For a moment, the dark tide freezes in place, unable to understand what had just happened, as the air begins to grow colder, and in that moment, Shinji struck.
The question is...how?
[ ]His scythe - use flow-walking to get in among them and reap a harvest of blood
[ ] His wand - he doesn't need his fancy techniques to make an example out of these idiots, just some Confringos
[ ] Petrification - perhaps he can convince some of them to turn away if he demonstrates his mastery of this dark art
[ ] Impale them with stone spikes - show them the might of elemental abilities
[ ] Ofuda - tried and true, use flashbangs to disrupt, then follow up with something more...crippling
[ ] (write-in)
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." - A.A. Milne
[ ] (write-in): Deploy explosive ofudas over them and use his wand to cast Cofringos.
Elemental combo baby (fire, fire, fire) Mega Explosion.
Xenoblade 2 style.
Last edited by skulkidcachi90; October 9th, 2018 at 08:11 PM.
[X] Petrification - perhaps he can convince some of them to turn away if he demonstrates his mastery of this dark art
That should scare any survivors. Especially if he follows it up by blowing the newly statues up to dust.
Fire is fun and all but isn't it just a parlor trick at this point to the likes of the enemy. I mean Fire ofuda is a rather well known trick of Shinji's and using Hogwarts wand magic spells are not going to impress/scare these people.
[x] Ofuda - tried and true, use flashbangs to disrupt, then follow up with something more...crippling.
Still want to unlock Shikigami at some point.
I will not put a vote, but i can alreay picture in my mind the scenario. When the dust from Rin's money bomb settles, they start hearing screams and look up in horror and see their comrades in agonizing pain from being sudenly impaled by spikes (good ol Vlad vibes), just be blasted off a second later (enough for the picture to sink in) by a combination of confringos, fire, explosion and flashbang ofuda just, showcasing all his multiclass badassness, with a somber soundtrack playing in the background.
Impratical? Maybe.
Awesome? Hell yeah.
Reply With Quote
