I do not own Familia Myth or any of the characters.
Nightmare's End
Ethan sighed as he stirred. They'd taken shifts resting. With four people present, it was a bit easier, especially since, even in her sleep, Wiene was able to listen for monsters, and had taken it upon herself to periodically scar the dungeon around them. They'd been resting there for hours, long enough that Bell and Ryu were nearly fully recovered mentally, and Ethan actually was. Finally, however, they had to continue. Wiene told them it was clear outside the mountain of rubble, then went with Ethan in the first group, Ryu and Bell following. Once they had gotten their bearings, Ryu quickly led them back to the main route. They walked quickly, and found nothing to fight. This was the progression for the entire walk through the zone. Finally, they reached the Fourth Wall. However, at this point, Wiene stopped.
"What's wrong?" Ethan asked.
"There's a safe point with water nearby," Wiene said.
"Water?" Ryu asked. "Can you take us there?"
Wiene nodded and turned, leading them to a side passage, a long, relatively narrow one, which ended in a round room filled with chunks of stone. She led them to a specific stone that had a different texture and prodded it with a claw, the stone crumbling. Underneath was a long stairway. They walked down it, slowing once the stone repaired itself and sealed them in absolute darkness. Then, at the bottom, Wiene prodded the wall, a boulder similar to the stone at the top, and it, too, crumbled. Instantly, pale, glittering blue light washed over them, and they walked into a small round room with a glowing blue stream running into it from the one passageway out. Bell walked over to the stream and took a sip experimentally, instantly smiling.
"It's safe," Bell said.
Ethan and Ryu joined him at the water instantly, drinking greedily to satisfy their dry throats. Once they'd all decided they drank enough, they stood and Ethan turned to the tunnel.
"Where does that go?" Ethan asked.
Wiene listened carefully for a moment, sniffing a couple of times, then frowned. "A road near the room I found you in. This passage is below it."
Ethan nodded. It led to the Colosseum. That was why no one had ever found it. One end was hidden and a deviation from the main route, and the other you had to pass by the Colosseum to find.
"I don't suppose anyone has any bottles?" Ethan asked.
Bell and Ryu both shook their heads. Ethan nodded and they all took another drink, including Wiene, before heading back up to the maine route. They walked quickly toward the Fourth Wall and into the squared off hole forming a tunnel through it. There were no monsters. They could sense them, but they couldn't see them. Ethan frowned. Even if he and Bell's Luck stat had both rolled on the positive side, they should still have to fight. They should have had to fight from the moment they left their hiding place after the Colosseum. Ethan stopped, a few hundred feet from the end of the tunnel, then spun, tucking his blades in the crooks of his elbows where they wouldn't hit his armor and placing a hand to Bell and Wiene's mouths before they could speak, Ryu not making a sound. After a moment, he took his hands back, and Bell narrowed his eyes looking around.
"Too quiet," Bell mouthed.
Ethan nodded and knelt beside Wiene. "Do you hear anything?" His voice was such a soft whisper that even he couldn't hear it, but Wiene nodded, raising one hand to point at the roof of the tunnel, then lowered it to point past Ethan.
Ethan nodded and pointed to her, then the ground. She looked less than pleased, but nodded. He raised his eyes to Bell, and Bell likewise nodded, pointing to the Hestia Knife with his left hand's index finger.
Ethan shook his head and mouthed, "Firebolt." He then reached out to tap the Goliath Muffler and Bell passed Hakugen and the Hestia Knife to Wiene before carefully unwrapping it and passing it to Ethan. Ethan pulled his Durandal chestplate over his head and passed it to Ryu before wrapping his torso in the Goliath Muffler, which was long enough to do a strip around his abdomen, diagonally over each shoulder in an "X" and still had the ends wrapped around his neck and hanging behind him. Ryu pulled her Skull Sheep Cloak off, pulling the chestplate on, ignoring the fact that it was a little too big for her, then stuffed the cloak under it both as padding and to stop it shifting around.
Ethan knelt in front of Wiene again as she passed Bell's knives back, his voice again so quiet that only Wiene's hearing could detect it. "Stay here with Bell. Once the fight starts, tell him to fully charge a Firebolt and be ready to use it on my command if we need it. Since he needs time to charge, we'll keep him in reserve where he can focus."
Wiene nodded again and hugged him, then whispered, "Be careful. I love you both." so quietly that he had to actually replay it in his head to understand.
He smiled, kissing her on the forehead and Ryu did the same before both of them launched themselves out of the tunnel. The first strike was instantaneous and devastating. Two bone spikes identical to what Skull Sheep could fire slammed into each of their backs, hurling them forward but not making it through their respective armor. Both flipped, spinning and landing on their feet just as the Juggernaut hit the ground, then charged. Both shouted in surprise, diving out of the way just ahead of a swipe from its claws before it leapt again. Ethan stood and spun toward it, only to dive out of the way of a rain of spikes. It jumped again, then again, each jump faster than the last, the Juggernaut scattering bones through the air at the pair of them, who were unable to avoid the strikes fully, already bearing half a dozen gashes each. Finally, Ethan had had enough.
"Blade Rain!" he roared, a flood of his own projectiles forming around him and flashing outward, clashing with the bone spikes.
As they did, he looked around wildly, trying to spot the Juggernaut, who had somehow learned a new trick. And then, he spotted it and his gut dropped. It had reformed its missing body parts. Its right arm was formed from the bones and muscles of a Barbarian, then with countless Spartoi and Skull Sheep bones and skulls forming the rest of the disfigured, grotesque arm. Its tail had been replaced by a Lizardman Elite's, and it's exoskeleton had been replaced by Obsidian Soldier stone. It wasn't magic reflective anymore, but magic would serve no better a weapon than if it was. Plus, the stone was harder than its exoskeleton had been.
A bone spike scratched his side and he refocused, only for Ryu to tackle him out of the way just before the Juggernaut exploded to the ground where he'd been. The shockwaves sent both flying, but just as Ryu managed to land on her feet, the ground in a trail between the Juggernaut and them was ripped apart, a tsunami of bone spikes erupting from the ground. Ethan's gut dropped. Both launched themselves into the air, but it was too late. A bone spike drilled through Ethan's right shoulder where the Goliath Muffler didn't cover him, grazing his heart and punching a hole in his lung before exiting his back and streaking away. At the same moment, a, fortunately much thinner, spike drilled upward through the bottom of Ryu's foot, then left through the top and tore a gash up the side of her head across her temple. Both shouted in agony, but even as they bounced off the ground, Ethan's healing spell shone from their bodies, restoring the damage. However, the effect remained. Both were trembling, and as soon as it had seen it attack failed, the Juggernaut was back to leaping around, another flood of Light Blades struggling to fend off its bone spikes, Ethan's mind dropping like a rock. He grit his teeth. He couldn't even move to fight back while deflecting the endless rain of bone spikes, nevermind fast enough to score a successful blow. The Goliath Muffler was so fucking heavy. He felt like the ghost of the Black Goliath itself were standing on his shoulders, arms crossed and smirking as it held him rooted in place to die. Except, his lips curled into a smile, even as his teeth clenched tighter. In this fight, he wasn't alone. He didn't need to move. He didn't need to attack. That wasn't his job. He didn't need to land the decisive hit.
"Luminous Wind!" Ryu roared.
The spell's spheres of light and wind scattered into the walls to either side of them and erupted into a sea of explosions. The one that impacted against the Juggernaut's chest did nothing, but the rest shattered the walls into a massive spray of debris and boulders. Then, Ryu grabbed Ethan and launched them both to the tunnel where Bell and Wiene waited. A thunderous, deafening roar of explosive impacts echoed through the dungeon for a long while before settling. Ethan nodded to himself and raised his hand.
"Lightning Spree," the bolts spread outward, exploding at random intervals and sent the entire sea of debris scattering.
Then, he and Ryu re-emerged from the tunnel as the Juggernaut pushed itself up unsteadily. Its mangled right leg dangled at the knee and its Obsidian Soldier armor was cracked and crumbling slowly. Ethan drew his sword as Ryu did the same and the Juggernaut roared. Then, they charged. It launched itself forward, shrieking in rage and firing a barrage of stone spikes. A pair of Light Blades hit two of them, the blades and spikes instantly flipping and deflecting more, a chain reaction stopping the entire cloud. Then, the Juggernaut's left arm flashed downward at them. Ethan, who was to Ryu's right, placing him in place to be slashed first, smirked and jumped, slashing downward to his right, the Juggernaut's hand separating from its arm at the wrist and spinning past. The claws tore through the back of his left shoulder and got caught under the Goliath Muffler, but he ignored it, instead driving his sword into the Juggernaut's chest just as Ryu's sword tore from its right shoulder diagonally down across its torso, then out just inside of its leg before sheering the leg off at the knee. The Juggernaut shrieked in agony as blood sprayed out of its chest around Ethan's blade as well as from the gash Ryu had managed to cut into it through its stolen stone shell. Then, it crashed to the ground on its stomach, only for Ethan to just barely manage to keep its weight from crushing him by tucking his knees to his chest, though his hips, knees, and bottom four ribs were all still shattered. However, as soon as his shriek of agony had ended, he wrestled his magic back under control, finally managing to get it back in time to finish his chant in a roar.
"AND VANISH WITH MY FOES! ! !" Ethan thundered, the Juggernaut scrambling to flee instinctively as Ethan pulled a page from Bell's playbook. "LIGHTNING SPREE!"
The blasts exploded from the tip of his blade inside of the Juggernaut, and it rocketed backward as its stolen armor exploded off of it, as did its right arm. Then, as it crashed to the ground, Ryu stepped up over it, right arm extended, finishing her own chant for the second time.
"Luminous Wind!"
This time, every single blast collided with the helpless monster's body and exploded, leaving nothing at all behind, including ash, as it scattered it into the trail of ash and dust it created. As soon as the dust had cleared enough for Ryu to verify that it was gone, she spun, streaking to Ethan's side and arriving at the same time as Wiene.
"Is he..." Wiene trailed off as she stared at Ethan's limp, bloody, broken form.
Ryu felt his neck for a pulse, remaining motionless for several seconds before sighing in relief. "Mind Down. He's alive. He'll be okay."
Wiene sighed in relief just as dozens of monstrous roars rang out, only for Wiene to respond in kind. "Lyd and the others are here, along with Anya. The rest of your Familia is just behind them."
Ryu's eyes widened in surprise and she twisted around to look just as Anya sprinted over and knelt.
"Ethan!?" Anya shrieked.
"He's alright," Ryu said. He broke a lot of his bones and hit Mind Down, but he's alright."
Anya sighed, nodding, and smiled. "You pushed yourself too far again, Ethan. I swear you forget you're only a Level Three."
Ryu smiled and let out a snort that was as close to an exhale as it was a laugh. "I think he actually does. It really would explain a lot."
"Right?" Anya nodded, then sighed, pulling her unusually empty pack off and pulled out a pair of High Dual Potions. As she splashed them on Anya, she noticed Ryu staring at the empty pack in confusion. "When our Expedition hit the Twenty Fifth Floor, we were attacked by an Irregular Moss Huge and used most of our potions, then came looking for you two to clear your names and ended up fighting a fucking Lambton, of all things, and then the Amphisbaena when the Dungeon spawned it ahead of schedule specifically to kill us, then we got swarmed by everything else, so those were my last potions, and you know how many I normally carry. Then, when we found the room I assume you guys fought another Lambton and something else in, and Wiene stole my pack and stuffed her face with all the crystals I had before just taking off down this hole and telling us to meet her down here."
"You did?" Ryu asked, looking to Wiene, who nodded. "That explains why you're so much stronger."
Wiene smiled proudly, and Ryu sighed, kissing Ethan's forehead. As she stood, Four lifted Ethan onto Ranye's back and she secured him in place carefully with her webbing.
"Such an annoying human," Ranye said, smiling slightly. "Let's get him somewhere he can recover so that I can slap him for making me come all the way down here."
The others all laughed and nodded, all heading back toward the passageway up to the next Floor, Wiene riding on Four's shoulder at Ranye's left side, Ryu and Bell both to Ranye's right, and Anya ahead of her.
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