Event 14: Playtime's Over

Emerging from the flames once again at Firelink Shrine, Seiko and Jinta left behind Ash Lake. While the knowledge that another ally now walked Lordran was comforting, they had more important things to do. Jinta went with Frampt to offer the Lord Soul of The Bed of Chaos, The Witch of Izalith, to the Lordvessel. Seiko waited in the sun, as always, considering all that had happened. She'd met Rii, who followed what may be the last Stone Dragon, whose race Seiko's teacher had helped kill off. The Chaos Witches were responsible for the burning of countless arch trees, home to the Everlasting Dragons. Quelaana had passed on no hatred, however, so Seiko didn't fault Rii for following their teachings. Rii had been a bit fixated on honor, but then most people in Lordran were. Seiko wasn't interested in honor much, simply following what she felt was right and sticking with Jinta. She still hadn't told him about how he'd helped her regain her sanity. These many thoughts swirled in Seiko's head as she waited for Jinta to return with Frampt...

"One left, huh?" said Jinta, stepping up and looking down at Seiko.

"You ready to go? I'd like to see this finished already..." he said, kneeling next to her.

Seiko breathed deeply, closing her eyes and enjoying the sun just a moment longer. After this it was probably back inside or underground, away from the sun again. Odd, it seemed, how she had come to treasure sunlight. Perhaps it was the influence of her Covenant with the Princess of Sunlight, Gwynevere. Seiko stood, checking her pockets to make sure she still had her dragon scale and Estus Flask.

"If you'd like, I can store the scale for you," offered Jinta.

"Please," said Seiko, pulling it out and handing it to him. Jinta reached into the flames and it vanished just like the Titanite Slab had.

"Ready," said Seiko.

"Then we return to Anor Londo, and head for the Duke's Archives," said Jinta, taking her hand and reaching back into the flame. Less than ten minutes at Firelink Shrine and they were off again...

Rushing out of the first bonfire in Anor Londo, Seiko and Jinta regarded the local fire-keeper before heading up the stairs. The beautiful sight of Anor Londo greeted them as always. The way to Sen's Fortress, by getting picked up by demons, laid to their right. To their left, the path Seiko had never taken, was the Duke's Archives. It held their final target, Seath The Scaleless, a dragon who betrayed his own race to the giants and Lord Gwyn. Seiko and Jinta took the left path, avoiding the giants guarding the small atrium they had to pass through. Up the stairs and around a short dirt path, the duo came to the entrance to an ornate path carved into the mountain. Statues lined the brick path, each holding a torch. At the end of the long hallway, a boar with steel plates covering it, either as armor or skin, guarded the way. It was too far for Pyromancy, and Seiko had abandoned her bow in the Great Hollow. Without arrows, and no bonfire near when she'd run out, she'd had to leave it behind. Jinta had no long range attacks either, and his Emit Force combined with his swords was too taxing to use for long. Seiko was about to step forward and simply charge the thing, intending on dodging and countering, but Jinta stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Please, let me," he said, drawing his falchion and talisman.

Jinta walked into the hallway confidently, staring right at the boar. When he got about halfway down the hall, quite a fair distance, the boar charged at him without warning. It cleared half the hallway in seconds, ready to go right through Jinta. Jinta kept walking, holding his talisman in front of him. The boar hit something, but it wasn't Jinta. Rebounding off of Jinta's miracle, the boar seemed to crumple up before falling on its belly. It had a tough time getting up and all the while Jinta slashed at it. He quickly saw that the falchion wouldn't do much good, so he switched to his rapier. The boar was up now, swinging its head around, massive thorned tusks flailing. Jinta stepped back, just out of range. The boar turned in the tight hallway, trying to slice at him. When it turned, Jinta moved back to the front and backed away, luring it into another charge. His Estoc rapier was meant for piercing armor, but it alone would not do the trick. Jinta was dextrous, but not overly strong. Yet, he had his ways, as he intended to prove. The boar charged and Jinta raised the sword, point first. The boar barreled forward, time seeming to slow. Its tusks drew close to Jinta's shoulders, its thundering feet slipped out from under it, and the Estoc pierced its forehead, all the way to the hilt. Jinta held on, sliding back as the boar slid forward on momentum. With the boar dead, Jinta attempted to retrieve his sword. He even put his boot on the thing's face to help pull, but he couldn't free the rapier. He felt something tug his sleeve, so he looked back to see Seiko standing behind him.

"Let me..." she said.

Jinta let go of the sword, stepping away and to the side. Seiko stood before the boar, put a boot on its head, and grabbed the the rapier with one hand. She pushed, one foot on the floor, and the boar moved off the sword instead of the sword being pulled out. She handed it off to Jinta and the two continued. There was a corner where the boar had stood guard, leading down another hallway. At the end of that equally long hallway was another corner, with the shadow of another boar. This close, Seiko wanted to try something new. She held a flame in one hand, closed her fist around it and let it flow through her to her lungs. She felt a burning in her chest, took a deep breath, and spat out a cloud of rust-red mist. The mist stayed in the center of the room for the most part, wafting toward the boar. Where the mist touched the wall, bricks simply began to dissolve into thin air. The mist began to dissipate, but not before touching the boar's left tusk. The tusk dissolved in the caustic mist, and the boar shook its head in anger, noticing Seiko and Jinta. Seiko quickly readied another cloud of acid, breathing it into the center of the hallway this time, right in the boar's way. It charged through the acid and skidded to a stop, the tips of its armor gone, its eyes dark, and its remaining tusk full of uneven holes.

"You can spit acid? Does acid even work like that? And how does that not kill you?" asked Jinta.

Seiko tilted her head, considering an answer. After a moment she shook her head, not a clue.

Jinta sighed, accepting that he wouldn't know, and the two moved on.

After the second boar's position was a large room with a bonfire and some device on the opposite wall. Given the tracks up the wall, the gears, and two switches, Jinta assumed it was an elevator to the Duke's Archives. After a rest, the two activated the device and sure enough, it was an elevator. Riding the elevator up, the two had no idea what to expect. When they reached the top and looked around, they saw a room full of fallen books and strange statues made of blue crystals. They looked like Hollows, but had blue crystal growths in various places, holding crystal swords. One at the top of a small set of stairs held a bow with crystal arrows. None of them moved... Until Seiko and Jinta entered the room. One on either side of the elevator jumped forward, slashing with their crystal swords. Seiko moved aside and threw a fireball at the thing. The flames, something she was famous for, rolled right over the figure, barely doing a thing. It turned to follow her as another approached from behind. Jinta ran into a similar problem, slashing at the figure attacking him and finding that his sword's holy effects did nothing to help him. His blade slashed, cleaving a slice out of the figure, but that was all. It would take his rapier piercing a vital spot or a lot of slashing to kill this crystallized Hollow. As Jinta moved to draw his second sword an arrow struck him in the shoulder, slipping between his shoulder plate and the cross on his chest. He stumbled off balance.

"Archer!" yelled Jinta, squinting against the pain and yanking the arrow out. Jinta ground his teeth in pain and frustration, deflecting a blow with his falchion and drawing his rapier.

"Down," said Seiko, referring to the death of the archer. Jinta glanced over to see that its head had been replaced with a ball of Abyss and it was falling down the stairs. For Seiko, she was learning more about her opponents every second. For one, Abyss corruption seemed to be slowed considerably, so it was less of a strategy and more of a fall-back; a timer on the fight for the enemy. For another, a sword made of Abyss had the same issue, being stopped like a normal sword would stop on bone. Seiko was forced to use slashes, elaborate flips and dodges, and overall fight as if every hit would kill her. With so much concentration on her fight, it was impossible to use any other form of Abyss without starting to corrupt the area.

"One down!" called out Jinta, yanking his rapier out of his enemy's head. He turned to help Seiko. With both of her enemies focused on her and rather slow-moving, Jinta was able to stab one in the back, killing it. Seiko, then able to focus on the last enemy, parried an overhead slash and ran it through on her Abyss sword. She absorbed all released Abyss and heaved a sigh, out of breath.

"What in Chaos is going on?!" said Jinta, looking at the Hollows.

"More enemies," said Seiko, pointing up the short set of stairs. An archway at the top led to a massive library. More of the Hollows could be seen within, as well as several Six-Eyed Channelers. Before the archway, there was a large crystal golem, unmoving. Something shiny hung from a crystal growth on its shoulder.

"We should lure the golem to us, otherwise those wizards will tear us apart while we have to block that thing," suggested Jinta.

Seiko threw a small fireball at it, not wasting strength. The golem slowly moved to the stairs, picking its way down each step, then rushed over while raising a large and heavy arm. Jinta dodged left and Seiko jumped back. Jinta, unwilling to expend time and physical strength, slashed with his falchion and used Emit Force. The wave of holy energy would slice through any normal enemy in the blink of an eye. With the golem, crystallized like the Hollows, the wave struck and exploded, doing little other than angering the golem.

"This is impossible! What even are these things!?" raged Jinta.

Seiko avoided the golem, watching it. It had to have a weakness. They'd tried magic, slashing, and even Abyss didn't seem to work. Thrusting attacks still pierced them, but without hitting a vital spot on the first try it seemed too risky. Seiko had a dumb idea, but it was her only idea. As the golem missed Jinta, who had been keeping it busy, Seiko threw another small fireball at it. The golem turned and charged at her, one arm growing longer and forming spikes of crystal. Seiko ran forward before it could swing, punching it dead center. As if punching a balloon, the golem's surface rippled from front to back for a second before it was launched back onto its rear end. Crystal dust began falling from it slowly, as if its form had been disrupted.

"Blunt works," said Seiko, looking at her fist, then at the slowly recovering golem.

"That makes me wish Rii had come with us," said Jinta sheathing his swords. He'd have to adapt his miracles to do some sort of striking damage. Otherwise, Seiko would be the only one dealing with the crystal enemies while he dealt with the Channelers.

Seiko stepped forward, punching the golem in the area its head could be, knocking it onto its back. She stepped onto it, knelt down, and punched it until it didn't move anymore. The golem seemed to begin to fade into crystal dust, but the process would take several minutes. Seiko took the thing hanging from the crystal growth on the golem's shoulder. It was just a small and broken pendant, nothing special. Seiko looked it over, wondering why it was here of all places. She stepped off the golem, tying the pendant to a loop inside her coat pocket meant for holding small bottles or containers.

"So we need to strike them to hurt them. Magic, miracles, and Abyss don't work. And, to top it off, we somehow need to reach Seath and kill him without being exhausted before we get there. I vote we go back down and rest before we continue," said Jinta.

Seiko looked at him and the entrance to the library.

"One more room?" she asked, still ready to go for the most part.

"If we go in there, we don't know how many of those crystal Hollows will be in there. And there are three mages. I can stop magical damage, and cure magical ailments, but I can't stop them from capturing you."

"Capturing?" asked Seiko. It was the first she'd heard of such a risk.

"Yes, Seiko, capturing. Seath experiments on young women. It's been a rumor for years. If we go in there, you need to promise me you won't let them get to you."

Seiko looked back into the library, then at Jinta. As she watched, he took of his helmet to show his concerned expression. Seiko nodded, agreeing to be careful. Jinta put his helmet back on.

"One more room, then."

Seiko wreathed herself in Abyss and jumped up the stairs all at once, blowing right passed all three mages and hammering the first crystal Hollow she saw with a punch. It crashed right through the wooden staircase leading up and hit a bookshelf, exploding into dust. Before any other enemy in the room could get a fix on her, Seiko was moving again and another Hollow was dead. The mages dropped their books and focused on Jinta, who was still. Two fired magical bullets at him while a third readied a spell to empower nearby allies. Jinta, cloaked in Great Magic Barrier, ran straight through the magical projectiles to try and interrupt the third caster. The mages weren't only good with magic, however, and blocked his way with tridents that doubled as their staves. With Hollows dropping faster than they knew it, the third caster let his enforcement spell fly, aiding the remaining Hollows, himself, and the two Channelers now fighting Jinta. With their new-found strength, they began pushing him back quickly, not letting him sidestep, only back-peddle. Once he was near the archway again, one mage broke off. Even the remaining one was too much for Jinta, despite his parries and both his swords. The two Channelers, now free, readied new spells and waited for Seiko to be in the open. Seiko was jumping over a table and kicking another Hollow when their spell hit her. She was lifted into the air, the Abyss leaking from her seeming to meet an oval-shaped bubble. She looked around, confused, then became furious. Abyss exploded out of her, clouding the entire bubble and starting to seep out. The two mages looked at each other, then fired another of the same spell, then another, layering it and containing her and the Abyss. One stepped forward, guiding the triple bubble away somewhere.

"Seiko!" yelled Jinta, not taking his eyes off of his opponents spinning and twirling trident for a second. He performed a risky move, getting very close and pushing his opponent. The Channeler was only off balance for a second, but it was long enough for Jinta to sheath his rapier and reach for his talisman.

"Wrath of the Gods!" roared Jinta, white light exploding from him and instantly killing the Channeler he'd been fighting. Running on adrenaline and fury, Jinta charged the next Channeler, his falchion front and center. The Channeler tried to stab him, but he fit his blade between the prongs and twisted, wrenching the weapon from his attacker's hands and losing his falchion in the process.

"WRATH!" he roared again, exploding again. The third Channeler, leading Seiko away, had gone behind a bookcase to the left. Jinta didn't bother going around, firing a basic Emit Force and blowing the bookcase to pieces. What he saw, however, stunned him. With nowhere to go, the Channeler and Seiko had vanished. Unknown to him were the many secret passages of the Archives, which the Channeler had used to escape with his prize, to somewhere else in the Archives. Jinta, now blind with fury, pressed onward, desperate to save Seiko from the experiments that had claimed so many others...

Event 15: No Holds Barred coming soon...

Author Note: I'll be taking a short break from posting every other day or so... It's draining me and I also need to plan ahead. Gotta make sure these next few chapters go exactly as I want, since they're the second reason I wrote this fan-fic. Yeah, that's right, I only had two when I started. But I'll explain the inspiration when it's all over. For now, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll be updating again when I've got it all planned, so maybe after the weekend. Til then!