-Oolacile Township-
A crossbow bolt tore through Seiko's ribs, higher on the right side entry and lower on the exit. She was knocked off her feet and fell to the ground in a pool of her own blood, cringed in pain, then coughed blood.
Jinta sheathed his left sword in a flash and drew his talisman to fire Emit Force in the direction of the shot. Another bolt was redirected by the miracle and punched into the bricks nearby. Jinta conjured another shot and held it, distorting the air around the magic.
Seiko drank Estus, coughed more blood into the flask midway through, drank again anyway, and rolled to her hands and knees.
"Where?!" she demanded.
"I don't know, I don't see anyone!" answered Jinta. He loosed his Emit Force shot in the general direction of their assailant, then they both ran toward the wall for cover. They were on one of the many landings that led down into the township, and the sniper was somewhere above them and back the way they'd come.
"What- Whoa!" said Jinta.
Seiko spun to see what he'd seen and caught only a glimpse of blue robes disappearing around the corner, back up the stairs. She looked down to her belt and saw the Tracers missing.
They both heard a yell of surprise only a second later.
"Oh, that's it!" said Seiko. She stabbed her sword into the ground, Jinta felt a wave of heat from her starting Power Within, and she rounded the wall to jump to the next landing up. She crossed that landing and jumped to the next landing, in plain view of two dexterous warriors in the middle of a fight.
Marvelous Chester had a large crossbow slung across his back and was fighting with a dagger that curiously had two hilts. His opponent was Ciaran herself, and only one of them was bleeding. They both noticed Seiko appear, but Chester reacted first by throwing a knife at Seiko. Seiko blocked the throw with her forearm and the knife bounced off her Silver Knight armor.
In the instant Chester had to glance away to throw the knife, Ciaran was on him. He barely kept her from stabbing him in the ribs with his arm, suffering a cut from the Silver Tracer instead. As she then tried to follow up with the Gold Tracer, Chester split his dagger in two and blocked with the other half. The silvery metal his blades were made of bit easily into Ciaran's curved sword, but she was back out of range before he could try and counter.
Chester kept his gaze locked on Ciaran after that. Seiko didn't make a move to help, worried she would just get in the way. Ciaran was untouched, after all, and Chester was starting to breath heavily despite their short clashes.
"What… Did you do…?" he demanded of Ciaran. The Lord's Blade just scoffed and kept her stance, waiting to strike again.
"Why did you attack us?" asked Seiko.
Chester answered without looking away from Ciaran, and trying to keep as on-guard as he could.
"I saw your fight. I know the truth about Artorias now. What a boring lie it is to cover up the tragic hero's failure. I had intended to silence you - and take your Humanity while I was at it. But I see that my masquerade has gone on too long… Soon, I'll dream again… Of course a hornet's sting would have poison."
"You attacked someone important to me," said Ciaran, completely unmoving. It was impossible to even see when she breathed in or out.
"Can't even one of you… Be interesting… For once…?"
Chester swayed and fell over, flat on his face. Watching what happened next gave Seiko a headache, as what looked like distortions in the air grabbed hold of him from under the ground. She thought she saw many small, pale hands pull him into the ground, phasing right through the bricks. When it was over, only a pool of congealed blood remained. Even as Seiko watched, the blood seemed to try and gather itself in crystals or solid rocks of some kind, as if it were still alive on its own.
Jinta walked the rest of the way up the stairs. He had approached, but stopped when he saw things already handled.
"You left your sword behind," he said, mildly concerned.
"Yeah. So? It's too heavy for me to move around normally right now, and it's not like someone's just going to wander up and grab it."
"Fair enough."
Ciaran presented her weapons to Seiko again and Seiko put them back on her belt.
"Sorry," she said. "I thought you were dead after that shot. I was watching, but he came from a different direction than the bonfire. I reacted as quickly as I could."
"Why not just attack him with your back-up weapons?" asked Jinta.
"The Dark Silver Tracer carries a potent poison with an enchantment to refill itself," she replied. "He was clearly a skilled opponent, and he ambushed the two of you. I took the option of full force rather than rely on my skills alone."
"Speaking of," said Seiko, "You snuck past him and stole your own weapons from me while wearing metal boots. I think your 'skills alone' clearly prove why you're a legend in our time."
"I appreciate the praise, but on that note, I'd like you to consider toning down your own Pyromancy. You are in the past, after all."
"Fair enough," she said. Jinta shook his head and chuckled a bit.
"We should get moving," he said.
Without waiting for a response, he jogged back to the stairs and started down again. Seiko turned around to jump over the railing, raised a hand in regard to her mother in not-quite a wave, then vaulted over and out of sight.
Seiko and Jinta continued into the Township and came to a narrow passage. One of the corrupted humans, this one with a spellcasting catalyst, stood at the other end. As soon as it noticed them, several things happened at once. Two of the human-creatures with long arms climbed onto the landing with them and started approaching to attack. At the same time, the mage fired a blast of dark magic with surprising accuracy from across the stone bridge.
Jinta stepped up and held up his talisman, so Seiko hopped back out of range. Jinta cast Force to deflect the dark magic and happened to also blow one of the approaching enemies over the edge. The remaining enemy flailed an arm at Jinta in an open-hand strike. Jinta slashed with his arming sword and cut right through its arm. The arm still hit him, but it was simply a sturdy hit and didn't do anything to really harm him. As a follow up, Jinta stabbed the enemy in the chest, pierced to the hilt, and kicked the enemy off his sword.
He looked toward the mage across the bridge, expecting to cast Force again. Instead, he looked just in time for Seiko's Flame Arrow to glance off its chest, some residual flame scorching the wall behind it. Seiko herself was sprinting across the narrow bridge. The mage readied another blast and fired, but Seiko jumped over it and slashed at the mage in one motion. The enemy was frail, and fell with just that one strike of her heavy blade.
She and Jinta continued forward into a collapsing gathering hall or mansion. They saw the bottom floor riddled with enemies, but before either of them could start proposing a plan, Jinta stopped and held up a hand.
"Darkwr-" he started, interrupted by Seiko taking a crossbow bolt to the chest. It ripped through her ribs, lungs, several arteries close to her heart, and she was thrown back. She only managed to raise her free hand before falling limp and fading away.
Jinta could hear Chester laughing and he looked around but couldn't spot him.
"You coward! You only sneak about because you can't face us head on!"
More laughter… Then, the sound of someone drawing a bowstring, but lower pitch somehow…
What looked almost like a sword flew past Jinta up at a slight angle. The laughter stopped and the giant arrow slammed into the brick wall across the hall. Jinta looked to the source and saw Tetsuro as he stowed his Dragonslayer Greatbow. There was nowhere for him to have come from, unless he had already been sitting in the corner for some reason.
"I agree with you," said Tetsuro. "But I don't think a Darkwraith cares. I'll go to the bottom floor and deal with those aberrations. You find him. You're the world master here. It's you he wants if he's appeared as a Darkwraith."
"Where did you- Why should I believe you'll help me?!"
"Because I've never once started a fight with you I didn't explicitly ask for first. Unlike you. And the Pyromancer."
Tetsuro drew an iron greatsword and his Iron Round Shield. He started down the stairs, resting the sword on his shoulder.
"Alright," he said loudly, "Come on out, jester. I've already seen you get put down once. You'd better have more tricks than just running and hiding."
The sound of a crossbow being loaded echoed into the hall. Jinta immediately pulled back to throw a Lightning Spear at the source, a faint red spirit on a platform near the ceiling. Chester dodged and aimed for Jinta, but missed the shot when Jinta sprinted down the stairs and into a side hallway.
Tetsuro was already busy cutting down the enemies in the lower hall. A blast of dark magic washed over him, causing him to stagger and scarring his armor with what almost looked like burns. Tetsuro stayed bent down, switched his greatsword for Murakumo, took a wide, sweeping step, and performed a spinning slash to deter his foes. They jumped or skittered back, clearing his way to the mage. He hopped forward and cut horizontally, his blade slicing by happenstance between two ribs and getting stuck in his target.
Tetsuro let go of the blade and jumped back, hearing fluttering cloth above him. Chester landed in front of him and threw knives. They weren't even aimed at Tetsuro and struck several enemies behind him in the head. Tetsuro pulled up a crossbow of his own in his now-free right hand. Avelyn, a crossbow that fired three bolts in succession, put down another enemy and injured a third. Tetsuro stowed the weapon and threw up his arm to catch Chester's hand as Chester tried to stab him.
Tetsuro punched with the edge of his shield to counter, but Chester twisted to avoid the strike, ending in an off balance stance. Tetsuro pulled him further off balance, onto the ground, then smashed the edge of his shield into Chester's ribs. He let go, shifted his weight, and bashed the remaining aberrated human with the front of his shield. The bang of his strike was at almost the same time as Jinta's boots hitting the ground nearby. He had his swords drawn.
Tetsuro drew his bandit knife and moved to stab Chester, but Chester rolled aside and got to his feet. He aimed his crossbow, but shot toward the stairs.
"Not again, Darkwraith!" came Seiko's voice. She'd dodge the bolt and was running toward the three of them.
Chester broke combat and ran ahead, deeper into the city still. Jinta and Tetsuro let him go, so Seiko slowed to a stop with them.
"What are you two doing?!" she demanded, livid.
"If we chase," said Tetsuro, "We fight on his terms. If we wait, he has to either leave this world, and leave Jinta alive… Or he has to come back to us."
"So we just wait?!"
"Seiko," said Jinta.
Her eyes snapped to him, but he stayed quiet for a moment.
"I need you to try and calm down. He's right. Let's go back upstairs to the landing. I'll stand back and ready miracles, and one of each of you can watch an approach. We'll wait for him."
"I don't have time to wait!" said Seiko, "Sif is waiting for me! The Abyss is spreading! We don't have time to waste on someone as- As-! As inconsequential as him! Let's. Just. Go."
She bit off every word of her last sentence.
"No offense, but if you get killed by him, realistically, you can just catch back up. The way's clear and not long."
Tetsuro stowed his weapon and shield and walked to retrieve Murakumo. He picked it up and shrugged.
"She has a point," he said. "You're not anywhere near hopeless. You have a purpose. Hollowing isn't a concern. Let him kill you and catch up."
Jinta blinked a few times in his helmet, taken aback at first at being written off as expendable.
"If that's how you two feel, and I can't really say I disagree without a proper reason, then why don't we just push on. If he attacks us again, you two can defend yourselves, but leave him to fight or kill me as he wishes. At least that way we push forward together."
"Fair enough," said Tetsuro, weaponless, arms crossed.
Seiko just bolted out the door without a word.
Outside, there were two mages and a horde of aberrated humans. They ignored the red spirit in their midst, instead focusing on Seiko as she approached. She flourished her katana, less for flair and more to get it over her head without hitting the ground, and jumped to strike down an enemy as she passed over it. The weight of her sword and the force of her swing spun her and she landed on her feet, now at the lowest point on the path.
As her momentum carried her forward, Chester fired a bolt over her head at Jinta who was taking in the scene to plan his actions. Tetsuro shouldered Jinta aside and held up his shield. The bolt crumpled and careened off of it. Tetsuro started down the stairs, his old Uchigatana in his hand. With practiced grace he pulled his sword through the enemies that rushed him, as they were unthinking and predictable. He was quickly smeared with blood but he seemed to forget every fallen enemy, killing certainly with just one strike almost every time.
Jinta followed behind him, arming sword in one hand to finish those he missed and talisman in hand to await the right time to cast. As the moved forward, Seiko chased Chester into the next room, a grand hall with just two doors to enter and leave. Chester spun to face her, his cloak billowing up. Seiko stopped, ready to guard…
Chester's image was swallowed in an instant by a huge enemy that charged forward, almost completely hidden by his figure. Seiko was only fast enough to avoid the cruel spike on its head, but she was still struck and sent into the door frame. Her armor did enough to mitigate the hit that she could still move, but she could feel what had to be cracked ribs.
She pushed off the wall and swung at this mass of metal and flesh, her sword in her right hand. The upward slash stuck in the layers of chainmail and junk, not deep enough to wound, it seemed. In that moment, Chester appeared from around the beast to attack her. Tetsuro charged between them, shield up, and bashed Chester to the floor.
Chester rolled to his feet with finesse and threw knives that left trails of petals in the air. Even just blocking them, Tetsuro felt like his blood would fly from his body. In his helmet, he grinned to face a new threat. Behind him, Jinta glowed as he cast Bountiful Sunlight, to fuel them all in the fight.
Chester backed away far enough to load his crossbow again and threw more knives. Tetsuro moved forward with confidence, blocking or dodging by watching the man himself instead of the flying projectiles. Chester seemed to notice and started faking throws. Tetsuro inhaled, ran forward, and spat Poison Mist.
Seiko had long since freed her sword and was trying to find a gap in the other enemy's armor, so she certainly noticed. She had no time to stop and question him, instead dodging aside before being attacked again. Jinta attempted a swing of his sword at the thing's back, his sword aglow with Sunlight Blade. The blade did not bite deep, but the lightning that enwreathed it did. The enemy shuddered and turned sharply, swinging a ball and chain at Jinta and flattening him.
Seiko clenched her right fist, turning up Power Within, then grabbed her sword with both hands and stepped in. Now she struck at its back with all her might, straight down in an overhead strike. Her sword passed clean through and struck the floor, shattering stone and carving a scar. Blood dripped from the katana and from the beast. This amalgam of armor and flesh and garbage went to one knee, sagging.
Jinta healed himself with Estus, but stood still to do so. In the middle of their fight, Chester looked away from Tetsuro for only a moment to aim and fire his crossbow. The bolt ripped through the side of Jinta's neck from across the room, intended to be a headshot. Jinta fell again, still holding his Estus Flask.
Chester heard two things at almost the exact same time. A sword clattered to the floor as another cleared a sheath. Tetsuro had dropped his Uchigatana and reached for his Iaito, striking on the draw with blinding speed and cutting through Chester. Were he truly there, it would have been a killing blow. As it was, red mist flew from the Darkwraith and he retreated again.
Seiko lifted her sword, glanced over at Chester across the room as she did, and repeated her attack on the enemy before her. A horizontal strike this time, she nearly cut it in half and it fell forward, dead. Jinta rolled aside, still alive but out of Estus from his grievous wounds, to avoid being crushed by the spike on its head. Before he could say a word to Seiko, she was gone in a black and silver blur.
Tetsuro felt more than saw or heard Seiko coming. He stopped mid-swing, showing his might to stop a sword as large as Murakumo, and let her slip in the gap. Chester had meant to dodge Tetsuro and couldn't dodge her in time. More red mist flew, but Chester's spirit held. Knowing he would survive, Chester instead threw a fan of knives at Tetsuro, three at once. All three hit, stabbing through his armor.
Tetsuro was transformed into a splash of blood as it all cascaded from the gaps in his armor. He went rigid, still holding Murakumo tightly, before falling back and beginning to fade to ash. Seiko growled her fury and slashed again, but barely missed. She was suddenly conscious of the weight of her sword, slowing her and keeping her from catching this jester. But she refused to throw it down this time. She made a lucid, split-second choice to follow as Tetsuro would, and stand by this weapon in the hopes to master it.
The shift in her mind was plain to see to Chester. A new confidence in her made him snicker, his face as much a grin as his mask. He threw knives at Jinta to keep him away, then dodged another slash and kicked Seiko in the chest. He expected Seiko to stumble, but with her armor and Power Within, she bulled forward and pushed him off balance thanks to his will to strike her. He fell, caught himself with his free hand, and attempted to recover but was still struck by Seiko's blade before he could get out of reach.
Chester was faded, but he clung to Jinta's world still. He had no time to load his crossbow with Seiko constantly so close, had little time to try and attack Jinta as the paladin paced around them looking for his own chance to strike, and only spare instants to think. Seiko's face was a mask of anger, but she was undeniably focused and confident. What once amused Chester now twisted his grin to a scowl.
Seiko stepped in again to slash, missed, fluidly changed hands to hold her sword with her right then blasted out a Combustion. Chester stayed light on his feet to dodge, but Seiko came right through the flames at him to slash again. This one was diagonal and overhead, so Chester swayed toward it to try and get behind his Pyromancer foe. Seiko let her sword carry her hand to the floor and flipped away from Chester, tongues of flame trailing from her feet to deter him from attacking.
She came out of the move posed to start a sprint, lit herself with Immolation, and bolted forward. Chester threw one knife, then another, and Seiko dodged both. He threw three in a fan and she simply blocked the only one coming right for her, transitioning her sword with both hands to stab Chester before he could get away. Her sword pierced him and he exploded into red and white mist.
Jinta only just finished healing as the fight ended, his Bountiful Sunlight curing what his last Estus did not of his neck wound.
"Let's go," said Seiko, already jogging ahead, keeping a pace she knew Jinta could catch up with.
Jinta ran after her and caught up as an elevator descended, a dead aberration on it. Seiko waited for it to come back up before stepping on. Jinta followed. Seiko kicked the body off the side on their way down. In the chamber ahead was a bonfire. Seiko simply walked through it, restored both her body and Estus completely in an instant, and kept going. Jinta followed suit, and now the two found themselves closer to their destination than ever…
-Chasm of the Abyss-
A/N: The plan was to finish this rewrite before the New Year. Clearly, that didn't happen. Still, we're about three or four chapters from that. A few planned fights left, moving us toward that new ending, and preparing for our intermission and new beginning. Surely just about everyone has forgotten this story now, despite it being tens of thousands of words longer… And a lot better written in my opinion. I am at least much more proud of this work, while still recognizing core flaws. Still, they're flaws and cliches I quite like, to be honest, so I'm just going to have to make everything else good enough to make up for them.
Wish me luck.