Setting: Underground
Zelts fell through the pitfall trap the Underlands placed in front of their home. He and many of the castle guard were falling down to some underground level of the mansion.
He was falling head first to the ground which was getting closer and closer. As a way to break his fall, Zelts gripped his wingblade and swung it several times below himself, creating wind blasts to slow his descent as he got closer to the ground. He released one final gust of wind before he landed, propelling himself in the air before tucking and rolling onto the floor. He grunted a little bit from the effort to stay alive, but Zelts was unharmed as he rose to his feet.
With the danger of falling now behind him, Zelts looked around to see where he was, but he realized the area he was in was an enclosed space. In front of him was some kind of hallway made of glass. Turning his head to his backside, Zelts saw the rest of the hallway was glass and this side's hallway turned right.
"What is this place?" Zelts thought in confusion.
"Hmm... nothing else to do but walk, I guess," he said to himself then started walking.
He walked down the hallway to see where it would lead him. Zelts paid attention to his surrounding carefully. He may have been taken out the fight, but he was still deep in enemy territory.
Zelts surveyed the area as he progressed down the hall and noticed something peculiar about the walls. Some of them were see-through glass while others were mirrors, reflecting Zelts's image. It was a confusing place to be, like a house of mirrors, and Zelts wondered what was the purpose of someone creating this place.
He also kept his eyes above to see those that were also falling through the pitfall. All he could see were more of the Underland's own soldiers scream and fall to this place. Zelts was sure he'd run into the ones that survived, meaning he had to fight them.
An explosion was heard overhead and the Knight of the Wind immediately looked up to see what happened. Falling from the sky was Silver and a frozen Azura. As a response to seeing his friends fall, Zelts spun his wingblade around to propel himself into the air with wind, but he didn't get far. Before even passing the walls beside him, Zelts was shocked by some kind of energy field above him and knocked back to the ground.
"What was that?" Zelts thought perplexed.
It took him a second to figure it out, "One way in, no way out, huh? Great,"
Finding out about this energy field was currently a moot point now that Silver and Azura were falling into the same area. Zelts kept his eyes on the two of them and saw Silver grab Azura and used Gravity to lighten their fall.
The Knight was grateful for his friend's semblance and quick thinking, but he still had to get to their position. Luckily, Silver was landing fairly close by, most likely in the room next Zelts, and Zelts sprinted down the hall to find his teammate and ally.
Passing through glass and mirrors, Zelts was having a rather difficult time reaching the others. He crashed into a few glass walls and was confused by corners made out of mirrors, learning very quickly that running through this area wasn't the best idea he had. He also encountered some of the castle guard, but they were all corpses, long dead after falling from such a great height with no real.
With so many turns and no rooms, Zelts began to realize what this place was: a maze.
Setting: Monitor Room
There was a large room with multiple monitors, several chairs, and three members of the Underland family sitting in them. The monitors displayed several areas of the maze with one screen showing Zelts running around and the other showing Azura breaking out of her own ice and Silver watching.
The three Underlands watching these events unfold were Marigold, Bluebell, and Dahlia.
The mad Underland had the printed files of the members of VRSZ in his hands and he felt satisfied with what he learned about his cousin's teammates, like he had a study guide for an upcoming test that he knew he would pass with ease.
"Doesn't look like any of the guards survived the fall," Bluebell commented while taking a deep breath from his hookah.
"They really useless foot soldiers. We should hire more capable personnel to replace this pathetic lot when this is over," Dahlia said, disgusted with how the castle guard were dropping like flies.
"Come now, don't talk about our subordinates that way," Marigold said theatrically like he always does. "They served their purpose for distracting Team VRSZ, or perhaps Team RSZ and friends is a better name, and we still have a couple more of them in the mansion. Our guards are doing the best they can."
"Well their best isn't good enough!" Dahlia shouted, much to Marigold and Bluebell's annoyance.
They disliked their cousin's brutish behavior but never said or thought anything negative about it. If they did, her semblance would alert her and she'd unleash her rage upon them and they weren't fighters like the others.
Marigold was the family strategist and Bluebell was just plain lazy. They preferred to use indirect methods to deal with confrontation and this moment was one of those times.
"Why not deal with VRSZ yourself?" Bluebell asked Dahlia.
"Hm?" she grunted as a response.
"Ah! Bluebell is right. Your battle prowess speaks for itself and you'll undoubtedly be a force our adversaries won't expect. Everyone here knows the labyrinth inside and out, so you'll be in complete control of the flow of battle," Marigold explained to appease his short-tempered cousin.
Dahlia had her eyes to the ground, thinking about what they were saying and agreed. She considered herself to be the greatest Underland to ever exist and displaying that for the others to see would only prove her case.
An idea formulated in Marigold's head and he asked Dahlia, "Mind if I accompany you on this quest?"
"Why? You're useless in a fight."
"I have no desire to interfere with your work. I only seek to bear witness to your future triumph."
Dahlia had an image in her mind. One where she defeats VRSZ single-handedly, Marigold showers her with praise, she ascends to be the next head of the family, and her sister Aster is envious of her, finally becoming the jealous one.
"Very well," she answered while puffing out her chest. "You can come to see how amazing my victory will be, but don't get in my way or you'll get crushed."
"Of course," Marigold answered then bowed to Dahlia.
Bluebell watched the two of them as they talked then watched them leave the room. He already knew everything Marigold said was a lie and he wanted to know why he did it.
Marigold followed Dahlia down the hall until he received a text from Bluebell.
'What are you really planning? I know you don't believe that crazy ball of anger can take them all down.'
Marigold had to muffle a chuckle so he wouldn't catch Dahlia's attention. Her semblance allowed her to read people's minds and feelings if they pertained to her, but things written down about were out of her reach. The mad Underland replied to Bluebell's question, explaining what his true intentions were then waited for a response.
He and Dahlia were at the sole entrance and exit of the glass labyrinth. The short-tempered Underland, wielding a massive mechanical mace, walked into the maze first. Marigold followed her then finally received a reply from Bluebell for his plan.
'You're pure evil.'
The mad Underland smirked at this then put his scroll away before following Dahlia.
Setting: Looking Glass Labyrinth
After making two right turns, Zelts finally encountered Silver and Azura.
"Hey! Are you guys okay?" Zelts asked as he walked to his friends.
"Besides taking an explosion to the face, I've been better," Azura answered.
Her body was still cold and rigid from covering herself in ice so she activated the fire dust in her wrist to warm herself up.
"Do you have any idea where we are because I tried to jump over these glass walls and got zapped," Silver asked Zelts with a miffed look.
"This place is some kind of maze, I think," Zelts answered. "I haven't seen any rooms, other people, or anything else yet."
"Hmm…" Silver said to himself while thinking about their situation.
"What about an exit?" Azura asked.
"None that I've seen yet. I'm not even sure how big this place really is."
"Maybe we should start walking," Silver suggested and the others agreed.
The three of them traversed through the maze with caution. They made sure not be tricked by the identical mirrors and glass walls as they kept going. The cautiousness they had at first began to wane down as nothing really happened to them. There were no doors, rooms, or anything noteworthy. The only thing they found were the dead bodies of the castle guard that fell in here with them.
The silence was getting to Azura because she wanted something to happen. She would actually prefer battle over this torture due to her Cobalt heritage. Zelts was thinking about what was happening with Remus and Lily, not knowing that they were currently fighting Linnaea and Linnaeus right above them. Silver came to a conclusion about their situation.
"This is place isn't a maze, it's a labyrinth."
His statement caught Zelts and Azura off guard at first. "Like there's a difference," Azura said.
"There is, a big one," Silver retorted. "A maze is a puzzle. It's meant to be solved, but a labyrinth is different. Its purpose is to trap people inside," he turned around to look at Zelts and Azura, "and we're trapped."
"Then what do we do?" Azura asked.
"…I don't know," Silver replied which was quite surprising.
The Silver-Tongued Gunslinger always had a scheme in his head and hearing say he didn't was astonishing for Zelts.
Zelts stood in place and thought about what they could do next. Silver squatted down to rest and think at the same time. Azura leaned against one of the glass walls to come up with something and an idea quickly came to mind.
She turned toward the glass she was leaning on and placed her hand on it. Her head turned to Zelts's direction and she asked him, "Zelts, do you think these walls and mirrors are breakable?"
Zelts turned to answer her question, but he noticed something odd: a red figure was moving on the other side of Azura's wall. With no warning, Zelts brought his wingblade up as a shield and dashed toward a slightly startled Azura. He quickly moved her aside as the glass broke through with a massive spherical object being the first thing to appear. Zelts held his shield up as the blunt weapon slammed into his shield and pushed him into the mirror wall behind him where it shattered from the impact of his body.
Silver and Azura looked at Dahlia Underland, carrying a large mace, walk through where the glass wall used to stand, crushing the shard of glass beneath her feet. The short-tempered Underland had an overconfident expression on her face at the sight of Zelts smashed into the mirror.
Azura got into her fighting stance with her elemental staff and Silver aimed Fenrir at the Underland. As a response, Dahlia crashed the head of her mace onto the ground in front of her and the result was a powerful burst of dust energy being released, creating a powerful shockwave that shattered all the surrounding glass walls and mirrors and caused the whole area to rumble.
That rumbling was felt above where Remus and Lily were still fighting Linnaea and Linnaeus.
The shockwave knocked Silver further down the hallway, but he quickly activated Gravity to increase his center of gravity and hold himself to the ground just a few feet away from Dahlia. Azura did a much better job reacting to this attack as she used the ice dust in her ankles to create small columns of ice at and behind her feet so she wouldn't be moved from her current position. Zelts was still slammed into the mirror, so when the shockwave was released, he was hit by it and knocked through two more walls before falling to the ground in pain.
Dahlia stood there triumphantly while Marigold stayed behind a good distance away, at the corner of the hallway he and Dahlia were in before she attacked. He knew she liked big and flashy moves which would serve to be the best distraction for him.
Setting: Monitor Room
"Man, she's an idiot," Bluebell thought to himself as he puffed from his hookah while watching the fight on one of the screens.
He knew Dahlia was a better fighter than him or Marigold and physically strong for someone of her small stature, but there was one fatal flaw to her battle prowess: Dahlia was a brawler not a fighter. His cousin liked to swing her mace violently and that was it. She never utilized any strategies in her fights and lacked any kind of grace or style, similar to a raging bull.
Bluebell thought she would at the very least utilize the fact she was in the labyrinth that she knew like the back of her hand to her advantage, separating and confusing Team VRSZ, but she just went all-out from the start.
In a way, he knew this would happen because it's exactly what Marigold wants.
Setting: Looking Glass Labyrinth
Silver fired several rounds at Dahlia with his dual guns. With her large weapon, she was only able to deflect a small number of bullets while the others assaulted her body, damaging her aura.
Azura was on the other side of Dahlia, twirling her staff in her hands to block any incoming bullets that don't hit their intended target. Any bullets being ricocheted by Dahlia or Azura were hitting the surrounding walls, breaking glass and mirrors alike.
During this moment of defense, the Sky-Blue Warrior had wind dust building up in her left hand, creating a small condensed vortex of wind and waiting for the right time to strike.
Silver ceased firing his normal rounds and chose this time to switch his ammo for ones infused with ice dust. The moment he stopped firing was when Dahlia saw her chance to smash his face in with her mace though her reckless charge to Silver gave Azura the chance she needed to pounce. It never took Silver long to change or reload his bullets, but Dahlia was close enough that he wouldn't be able to fire before she attacked.
The confining walls were a grave disadvantage for Silver. He liked to use Gravity to move freely in the air or on the walls and ceilings, keeping his opponents away or off balanced, but this place forced him into head-on battles.
Thinking on his feet, Silver transformed Fenrir into escrima sticks in order to be better equipped for a close-quarter fight.
Dahlia was running toward Silver with no strategy in mind, clouded by the image of victory, and failed to notice and react to Azura slamming her palm against the Underland's backside. The wind she has been compressing in her palm violently blasts Dahlia toward Silver who, with both escrima sticks, slams them against her gut and smashed her through the glass wall to his left.
He cautiously walked through the glass wall she through to see where she was. He saw how his attack made her break through several other glass walls and mirrors. She could be anywhere if she was already up.
Azura, being a proud Cobalt, dashed over to Silver and marched through the path of broken walls to continue the battle. She left Silver behind to pursue her foe. He disliked this rashness of hers and looked over to where Zelts was sent flying. Zelts walked through the wall he fell through and looked unharmed. He turned to Silver nodded, telling his friend to go assist Azura. Silver smirked at him before chasing after Azura and Dahlia.
Zelts was relatively fine, but learned first hand that Dahlia was deceptively strong, incredibly strong, and he needed to be there with the others to be their shield. The Knight of the Wind was about to join the fight until a figure appeared next to him. He turned to see the figure was Marigold Underland.
"My friend, are you okay?" the mad Underland asked while placing a hand on Zelts's shoulder.
Zelts was completely baffled with this situation. He didn't know why the mysterious stranger he and the others met on the streets yesterday was here in this maze and he never got the chance to ask.
"Huh? Why are you... ugh-"
For some reason, his mind was beginning to cloud. All his previous thoughts were drifting away and being replaced with something Zelts ever hardly felt: rage.
Marigold had a wicked grin on his face as he watched as his semblance, Madness, do its work. While keeping physical contact with Zelts by placing his hand on his shoulder, he poured his aura into him. The aura injected into Zelts's body forced him into a state of blind fury.
Marigold made sure to walk to Knight's back so he was out of his line of sight. Even if he caused this, the subject would attack anyone in its path, including Marigold himself. The duration of Madness depended on how much aura Marigold injected and he gave Zelts only a quarter of his aura so his semblance wouldn't last long, but long enough to wreak havoc. As a sign of Madness taking full effect, Zelts's eyes began to change from its usual brown color to orange.
Marigold quickly stepped away and moved to a nearby corner in the hall they were presiding in to stay out the madman's line of sight.
Zelts held an extremely enraged expression that was so out of character. He was grinding his teeth staring harshly at the mirror wall in front of him, looking at his reflection. The only audile sound he was making as he stared down his reflection was grunts and groans.
The Berserk Knight reeled back his fist then smashed it against the mirror, aiming for his own face, and shattered the mirror in one punch.
He looked down at his fist then heard the sound of gunfire, the same mace pulse Dahlia released earlier, and glass breaking. It caught Zelts's attention and he began to walk toward the battle between Silver, Azura, and Dahlia: enemies in the eyes of the Berserk Knight.
Marigold, satisfied with the situation he created, walked away from the battle to the exit of the labyrinth so he wouldn't be caught up in the coming storm.
Setting: Underland Manor
The sound of gunfire rang throughout the snowy field in front of the colorful mansion that belonged to the Underlands. Tigress was running on the snow, evading and dodging round after round of Linnaea's explosive shots. She danced around Linnaea to find the perfect chance to finish her. Tigress only needed to avoid the explosive bombs being launched her way in order to get close to her opponent.
Remus was having a slightly difficult time with Linnaeus now that he changed his artillery weapon's ammunition to a scattershot-type. Every shot he fired spread out around Remus, landing around him with the purpose to slow his movements and it was working. Remus was forced to stop in his tracks when the scattershot came his way and evade whatever got too close to him.
This was vexing to the Blue Flicker. He wanted to end this so he could go inside and find Violet but knew full well the twins would get in his way. Every second he wasted here could've been better spent searching the mansion.
Remus thought back to his status in this fight up till now. The only real injury he received was being blasted by Linnaeus then falling into the snow which was nothing like the former. He also used Checkpoint three times, so he assumed his aura was at least near halfway depleted. It was much lower than he expected and had a strong desire to end this fight.
Linnaeus fired another scattershot blast at Remus and he responded with Checkpoint, vanishing in a cloud of blue smoke before the shots reached him, flying through the smoke and exploding when they hit the ground.
Teleporting high in the air above Linnaeus, Remus had Romulus as a double-bladed staff with one of his blades aimed directly at the artillery weapon. He fell to the vehicle and plunged his blade into the metal contraption, stabbing and running the blade through the middle of the rifle/crossbow weapon.
Linnaeus was taken back by this surprise attack, even more so because the intended target was his weapon and not himself. His heavy artillery weapon was his only means to combat opponents, so all he could do right now was watch it be destroyed.
Remus detached the half of his bladed staff that wasn't impaled into the gun, back-flipped to jump off the weapon, then used his sword to slice through the weapon, slashing down its front then again in the back. The artillery weapon was split into three parts, rendering it completely unusable for Linnaeus who looked on in horror as his favorite possession was destroyed. Remus pulled his sword out of the remains of the weapon and reconnected it into its double-bladed form. He pointed one of his blades at Linnaeus and he stumbled backwards into the snow.
The fight between Remus and Linnaeus ended in Remus's victory.
The Blue Flicker glanced at Linnaeus with his one amber eye and watched him tremble. In the heat of battle, Remus forgot his opponent appeared to be younger than him and would obviously be scared after being left defenseless. He sheathed his staff into his shoulder belt and changed his sights over to Tigress who was still battling Linnaea for a brief moment then looked at the vibrant mansion with the doors beaten down.
He saw this battle going their way even if Tigress was still fighting Linnaea and viewed this as his opportunity.
Tigress, divided into the Tigress Twins, was coming at Linnaea from both sides, running in serpentine-style movement to keep her opponent confused and overwhelm. Linnaea couldn't pick which one to aim for so she just changed her light artillery weapon from rifle form to machine gun form. She began to unleash a near endless barrage of bullets at the orange twin but her attacks weren't reaching as the orange twin continued to outrun and out maneuver the volley of gunfire, but that wasn't going to last forever. The black twin capitalized on Linnaea getting desperate and aiming for just the orange twin and moved in to deliver the final blow. As she ran, the black twin noticed something outside the heat of battle.
She saw a blue blur sprint toward and inside the mansion. It was quite obvious that was Remus, running head first into enemy territory. She also summarized he was only thinking of finding Violet and not the possibility of traps which seemed incredibly likely based on how the Underlands successfully divided their team. Remus running in alone was something she had to deal with after finishing off Linnaea.
Linnaea continued her endless assault against the orange twin while the black twin moved in on her from behind. Using her Flying Eagle, the black twin swung her polearm at the young girl's throat. The mild, blunt hit to the throat stunned Linnaea effectively, the young girl couldn't breath from the attack to her throat and reflexively dropped her machine gun to clutch her neck and try to breathe.
The black twin grabbed Linnaea's gun with both hands and threw it away from where they were, far out of Linnaea's reach. The orange twin ran straight for Linnaea, tackled her to the ground, and pinned her. The young Underland was still coughing as she started to breathe again and the black twin held her spear at the girl in case she thought of making a last-ditch effort to fight back.
The young Underland, finally breathing again, got a good look at the situation she was in and already knew what to do next.
"I'm done."
Her surrender was all the Tigress Twins needed to hear. The fight was over. The twins combined together to reform Lily who no longer saw Linnaea and Linnaeus as a threat. The Underland Twins, now defeated, scurried away into the mansion to who knows where to wallow in their defeat and failure as leaders of the castle guard.
There was nothing else for her to do but follow Remus inside. She had to make sure he didn't do anything stupid as well as find out what happened to Zelts and the others. Those rumblings she's been hearing from down below made her worry.
Lily ran toward the mansion. She made it into the foyer of mansion, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard a loud explosion-like sound come from the front yard where she once was. Lily turned around to see what caused it only to be hit by a strong gust of cold wind. She walked past the front doors, or where the front doors used to be, and saw a peculiar sight, a very scary one in her eyes.
The large doors covering the pitfall trap were blown off and high in the air before they began to fall down into the snow. Emerging from the pitfall itself was a gale of golden wind. Laying on the ground, on all fours, in front of the pitfall trap was Zelts, looking exhausted. Lily couldn't make out his face but her concentration was cut short by noticing someone falling and landing in front of her. That person was Azura who was groaning in pain.
Lily leaned down to the Sky-Blue Warrior and asked, "What happened?"
Azura took a few deep breaths before pointing to Zelts and saying, "He happened."
Lily looked at Zelts, the person she loved more than anything, and saw his enraged face along with the orange eyes that didn't belong there. The Berserk Knight glared them down with intense eyes and Lily responded with resolve. This was not the person she knows and love, at least not right now.
Zelts aimed his sole wingblade at the two girls before running for them. Tigress grabbed her Flying Eagle and braced herself, ready for her second battle to commence.
Tigress only wished this battle would snap her love out of whatever was making him fight his allies.
The setting sun vanished some time ago and none of them noticed. Everyone was too preoccupied with the battle or finding Violet to notice how much time has passed. The SDC Charity Concert came to an end a while ago.
Dahlia suffers from an inferiority complex. She feels like she's weaker or less than everyone else, especially when it comes to Aster. This combined with hearing everything people say about her with her semblance made things worse on her psyche. Despite all these negatives Dahlia wants to be acknowledged as someone great. Her loud and aggressive personality is her desire to prove she is just as good as the other Underlands and to step out of Aster's shadow.
