-Duke's Archives-
(Chaos Legion - Massive Strokes, composed by Fukusawa Hideyuki)
Seiko and Jinta restored their Humanity after awakening back in the Archives, on the balcony where they'd parted with Big Hat Logan. For the moment, things had been quiet. They both felt inclined to inspect their surroundings. Something felt off to them both, but they couldn't tell what. Seiko even went to far as to use Power Within, an amplifier of everything she had.
"Something isn-" started Jinta before Seiko grabbed him by the front of his cuirass and threw him across the room. She dodged away herself only a second later, facing the bonfire and calling up her flames.
Seath, without a sound, had clawed his way out of the Crystal Cave, gained the lawn, and then jumped right at the balcony where he sensed the intruders who had ruined his success. As Seiko could sense his presence, it seemed he could sense hers. The balcony was ripped from the side of the castle as Seath slammed down on it with both arms. He climbed into the Archives, roaring, blinded by fury.
Logan had books fall out of the shelves onto him. He scrambled to his feet to see what his senses already told him. Seath the Scaleless had returned to his Archives, and he was unlikely to tolerate any outsiders. In fact, as Logan watched Seath claw at Seiko and Jinta with abandon, destroying shelves and instruments and books, Logan realized Seath might very well destroy the Archives themselves in retaliation for losing the fruits of his research.
Jinta dove aside as Seath blasted crystal breath at him. He survived, but the bookshelf behind him was covered over in crystal growths. Seath swept his head to the side to follow Jinta, who sprinted ahead of the turn until Seath whipped his head completely to the left. Even just in passing, Jinta was blown against the shelves, crystals starting to grow from the left side of his outfit. He steadied himself on the shelves and looked back at Seath, who was now preoccupied with Seiko.
There's gotta be a way to kill him. I'll need to try lightning.
Jinta rolled his shoulders to help the stiffness from his impact and ran for where the balcony used to be.
Seiko was able to mostly stay ahead of Seath's claws and breath, hurling her own Fireballs to try and force him to get in closer. If she could get her hands on him, use her strength with proper leverage, she figured she would do some real damage. There were one or two trump cards she had left, but without training either of them could just as easily get her killed. Once again, Seath kept her from approaching Jinta, so they couldn't cooperate properly.
Several things happened at once. Seiko was in the middle of avoiding more of Seath's claw strikes when he swept a tail at her. The tail smashed more shelves and Seiko dove aside, covering her head to protect against the falling tomes. Before Seath could follow up, a lightning bolt struck him in the back, low on his rib cage to his right. As he turned to counter, magic bolts hit him in the face, as if they were shot to intercept that exact action.
"Logan?!" said Jinta, seeing the wizard join the battle.
"I didn't expect this reaction from him, but I can't let him destroy these Archives! I'll support you and protect as much information as I can! I've already learned too much to just let this go!"
Seath roared without loosing his breath attack and called in bolts of his own - Crystal Soul Spears that formed in the air around him and started streaking through the air at Logan. Jinta ran between them and used Force, deflecting the magic and sending it away in random directions.
With Seath distracted, Seiko tried to calm herself and focus. Her first attempt at Quelaana's final gift wasn't something she'd wanted to do in the heat of battle. She had a talent with Pyromancy, and though her Chaos Pyromancy wasn't exactly crude, she had no confidence whatsoever in her ability to use Fire Arts. With her lack of control, she feared what would happen. With Seath himself destroying the Archives, though, she suddenly cared a lot less about being unable to control her flames.
Seiko raised her hands, both open, arms spread out. A great wind blew from around her, and she drew the attention of Seath as well as Jinta and Logan. Seath turned, Logan went wide-eyed under his hat, and Jinta was confused as to why even he could feel the change. Logan reached out and began to shout a protest, but his voice was drowned out by the tornado of flame that erupted into existence.
Seiko used the unnamed source spell of Flame Tempest, the Fire Art passed to her by Quelaana before they parted ways forever. The technique was created for burning arch trees, and now Seiko used a much less powerful version to enwreathe the Pale Drake in fire. Seath flailed and roared, his crystal breath coating the room haphazardly. Blue and black flames spiraled up from the floor and scorched the ceiling high above.
Seiko quickly ran out of stamina using the technique. The flames went out, the power she'd emanated died down, and she fell to one knee, out of breath. The damage was done. Seath was burned across his entire body except his tails, which had been outside the tempest. Seiko went to her hands and knees, feeling like she'd puke… But the rush!
So this is what I needed fear for… I'm just a Pyromancer… Izalith must have been truly terrifying in her prime…
A/N: You Won't Get Away - Alex Roe, Indomitable Souls album
"We need to capitalize on the Duke's wounds," said Logan, close enough to Jinta to speak more softly.
"I have a plan," he continued, "But it involves baiting him into the next chamber. One of us needs to make it to the next room and prepare to call the elevator. The other needs to bring Seath into the trap. We can drop the elevator on him to hold him down, then you can use your lightning to finish him."
"I have no idea where the elevator's mechanism is from here. I haven't spent enough time here to know the layout by heart. You go, I'll get him to the next room and try to help Seiko if I can. I can still throw plenty of bolts, but if I'm going to do that, I only have one major cast left, and I'll need it to get Seiko on her feet."
Seath lashed out at Seiko in anger. She was able to roll to the side weakly and avoid the strike. Seath slashed horizontally, then, and threw her against the bookshelves lining the walls.
"Move! Now! I need to help her!" said Jinta, already running off.
Estus won't help her now. I need to get close and use Bountiful Sunlight, then distract Seath. It'll take a minute for her strength to come back, but in the long run she'll be able to fight longer this way.
As if on cue, Heavy Soul Arrows from Logan flew from somewhere and exploded against Seath's back. Simply by unfolding his wings, Seath launched a blind counter with waves of magic, splitting shelves and tables across the room. Jinta glanced in that direction and saw Logan disappear into a hallway connecting the two large chamber of the Archives.
With all the noise, Seath hadn't noticed him yet, so Jinta stood right next to the dragon to cast his miracle. Close enough to reach out and touch Seath, Jinta cast Bountiful Sunlight. Since being revived, it was his first major cast. Two left, but hopefully they wouldn't be needed. Instead, all that energy could go into Lightning Spears.
The miracle reached Seiko, who cringed at the rush of sensation over her body that gave way to relief. Seath slammed a hand down onto her and picked her up off the floor and opened his mouth to bite her. Seiko's head snapped up and she tried to use Immolation, only succeeding in washing herself with light flames.. Seath suddenly paused, mouth open. It appeared to click with Seath that swallowing a Pyromancer might be a bad idea, even in his blind rage, so instead he threw her across the room toward the ruined balcony with a hiss.
Seiko scraped across the floor in her armor but wasn't harmed much by the fall. She could feel her strength returning as she recovered, but she still didn't have confidence she could use Power Within without killing herself.
Jinta threw a Lightning Spear at Seath from the second floor landing on the stairs. The bolt struck off one of Seath's horns and the dragon turned to face him immediately, blasting him with cursed breath. But Jinta wasn't there, already running down the connecting hallway into the other section. Seath followed, swift and serpentine, barely squeezing through the small hallway and wriggling through as he hissed and roared at Jinta. Seiko got up, flexing muscles throughout her body to feel herself out, and sprinted to catch up.
On the other side, Jinta didn't see Logan, but he saw the elevator chain moving. The elevator was going up, to prepare for the trap. Two Channelers were in the room and both launched Soul Arrows at Jinta as soon as they could take aim. Jinta, falchion and talisman in hand, cast Force to shield himself from the bolts, but also happened to stop Seath from batting him down the stairs. Jinta turned and slashed, cutting nearly clean through several of Seath's fingers. Seath's head shot forward, mouth opening to use his cursed breath.
Jinta threw a Lightning Spear at Seath, burning a scar from the tip of his nose down past his brow. As Seath recoiled, Jinta was struck in his back, near the shoulder, by a Soul Arrow. He stumbled, sheathed his falchion, swapped his talisman to his other hand, and drew his estoc… All in the span of a second. He spotted Seiko coming through the hallway, saw his chance, and threw himself down the stairs in a leap. He rolled when he hit the floor, came up running, and charged the Channelers.
"Logan! Help her set it up!" he yelled as loud as he could, hoping Logan could hear him.
Seath fired Crystal Soul Spears at Jinta as soon as he recovered. Seiko was too late to stop that, but she arrived in time to run up Seath's back, flip over his head, and slam both hands down on the end of the dragon's nose. Seath's head crashed to the landing while Seiko landed on the stairs, failed to keep her footing, and tumbled down to the ground floor.
Seath shook it off and scrambled down after her, lashing out to claw her as soon as she was in reach. Seiko lit aflame with Immolation and flipped to her feet, then launched the Immolation off her body as a Great Fireball, both hands thrust forward. The flames burned to the bones of Seath's arm and the dragon recoiled in pain, but Seiko wasn't done. With her strength constantly returning, she jumped to grab onto his face and once again tried to implant a flame in his head. Just like before, it failed, but it amounted to an empowered Fire Surge held to the side of his head. Seath flailed his head around and swatted Seiko off his face with his un-burned hand, but slammed his head into the brick wall… Where the elevator was attached.
Jinta was still on the first floor, fighting a severely wounded Channeler while the other jogged to recover the weapon Jinta had removed from its grasp. He took the time, after a parry, to spin and throw a Lightning Spear with his right hand. He was right-handed, so this one was more precisely aimed. It crossed the room in an instant and struck Seath just below the jaw, in his neck. Burned, cut up, tiring from his enraged excursions, Seath cringed from the charge in the bolt, holding him in place just a second or two longer.
Logan blasted the chains holding the elevator to its counterweight. The elevator fell from the upper floor and landed on Seath's head. It wasn't a trap so much as a powerful blunt strike. Not as planned, but very effective nonetheless. Seath's entire body went rigid, then relaxed. The dragon tried weakly to free his head from under the elevator, succeeded, but was unable to resume fighting before Seiko could get in close to capitalize.
With Seath knocked over and his ribs and stomach near the landing, Seiko was up the stairs and throwing punches with all her might, limbs trailing mist from Power Within. Dragon's blood, crystal flakes, and flesh flew from the site of her attack and Seath quickly reacted with a pulse of magic that threw Seiko into the guardrail of the stairs and through it. It was too late, however, to save himself. He'd suffered mortal wounds, but he wasn't dead quite yet. Holding his wounds with his burned arm, Seath raised his other arm, fingers bleeding freely from where Jinta had cut them, and prepared another magical attack toward where he could feel Seiko was still alive.
Logan, at the top of the other side of the stairs, raised his arms, catalyst in one hand. He cast many Soul Arrows of varying speeds and strengths, all in rapid succession. Seath could feel the surge of magical energy, but was too slow and too wounded to react in time. He was pelted with the magic, giving Seiko time to pick herself up and drink Estus rather than rely on Jinta's now-fading Bountiful Sunlight. Jinta was still engaged with the Channelers, she saw, so she ran to help him.
"Jinta! Switch with me!"
Jinta dodged a stab from one Channeler, the slower, wounded one, and intercepted an attack from the other, locking his estoc in the prongs of its trident. With a twist and a yank, he pulled the Channeler off balance. As he came forward, Seiko's fist flew into his head. The Channeler lost his grip on the trident and snapped back, crashing to the floor and sliding backwards. Jinta was freed from the locked weapons, so he spun around to help Logan finish off Seath.
Seiko pursued the Channeler she'd struck, too fast for the other to stop her, and finished it with a hammer-fist to the stomach. The other Channeler caught up and stabbed at her. Seiko was pierced through her back, two prongs in her ribs on the left, one just past her spine on the right. She cried out in pain, twisted her left palm to face the Channeler, and sprayed a Chaos Fire Surge at it. The heat ripped through the cloth of the Channeler's robes and turned all the metal on the outfit into searing brands. The Channeler let go of its trident and flailed, a walking blue torch.
While Seiko pulled out the trident and quickly took the last of her Estus, Jinta and Logan launched a combined volley of magic and lightning. Seath the Scaleless could do little to defend himself. He was bleeding out, in great pain from his burns, unable to draw the breath to curse his opponents, missing a horn, and couldn't properly use one of his arms. With this final flurry of attacks, he finally gave in and crumpled to the stairs, dead.
Seiko regrouped with Jinta and Logan while they caught their breath. Thanks to Jinta's miracle and her own Estus, she was slightly magically fatigued, but physically ok. Jinta didn't even have to drink Estus, thanks to the same Bountiful Sunlight that had protected Seiko. Logan had been too far away to feel the effects, but his was a magical exhaustion from going all in on Seath toward the end of the encounter.
"What will you do now, cleric? Which reminds me, you never told me your name!"
"Paladin Jinta," he said, sheathing his estoc and putting his talisman back on his belt. "And I suppose now we will head for Firelink Shrine. There's a bonfire just outside the Archives near here."
"I see. It's a shame how much damage the Archives has sustained, and I haven't the strength on my own to move the Duke's body. I suppose I should gather as much research material as I can and leave this place soon. It's a shame…"
Logan appeared to look around the room, despite not possibly being able to see it from under his hat.
"Can you actually see?" asked Seiko.
"Ahh, there it is. I was beginning to wonder if you'd ask! I can, actually! In a manner of speaking, anyway. Sorcery is rooted in knowledge of many kinds. I told you before that Pyromancy is loosely connected in a way. I've discovered a way to train my mind and senses by obscuring my vision. The brain is quite an organ, able to predict and deduce with very little knowledge to go on."
"You mean that you don't need to see everything to make your way in the world?"
"That's part of it, yes, but - Ahh, nevermind! It's a silly bit of, I suppose, training. I came up with it and found that it works for me. Plus, playing the eccentric old mage deters people from interrupting me if I look busy, which certainly suits my purposes. Speaking of! I have business to get to. As do you two! I wish you good luck on your quest."
"Many thanks for your help," said Jinta. "If we cross paths again, I'd be curious to see what you learn from all these books and your time here. Farewell."