SPEEEEEEEDDDDD UPPPDDAAATTTEEEE!
/=+=/
The group found themselves in front of the tower, staring at just how high it was. It was almost like Big Ben's size (if Francis was here, there'd be a joke mentioned around now). Rizal couldn't help but shiver at how big the place was, wondering just what the heck might be up there. He heard Heracles complain.
"So what the hell are we doing here?"
"Maybe we can unravel the magic up here or something!" Charice pointed out. "This isn't part of the city so…"
"Oh, that makes sense." Elizabeta rubbed her chin. "Anything that wasn't here before would most certainly be a choice worth looking into."
"Besides, don't the bells ring to signal the timeslot switch?" Tino looked at Rizal. "That has to be worth looking into."
Roderich grunted with a nod. It was rather funny to watch.
"Th'n th'r's ' ch'nce th't th' b'll w'll r'ng 'nd w' ch'nge."
"The…bell…?" Rizal looked up. "Yeah, that's true. There is no way we can climb up these stairs in half an hour."
"All right, then I suggest a plan. Charice, you're going to have to stay in close proximity with the rest of us." Ludwig pointed out. "When her watch starts beeping, then she and Rizal will run off ahead. The rest of us will stay behind."
"…ve, how will that work?" Kiku spat. "We're still in the same fucking building."
"It will at least give them a thirty second lead in case we end up staying here after the timeskip." He stated. "Besides, there's a good chance that only Rizal will be able to figure out what's upstairs."
"That would suck if he couldn't." Kiku folded his arms.
"…but he has to…" Feliciano shivered. "Otherwise, we would have to start our search all over again…"
"The answer has to be up here then…" Rizal sighed, going to the door. "I'm leading, if no one wants to take it-"
Roderich placed a hand in front of his face, stopping him in his tracks. He walked up to the door and slid it open, revealing a huge room that casted a long shadow into the spiral staircase in the middle of the foyer. He pulled out a bow and arrow and shot it through the area, hearing it crash on the other side before slamming the door shut. Something that sounded like an explosion rang out before he quietly opened the door again, seeing half the place burning up with smolders and dust.
"…that was loud…" Gilbert rubbed his eyes.
"…that was scary, Charice…"
He turned his head and realized that not once had Charice let loose her hold on him since what had happened before. It was a Level 04 scenario. Maybe the spells had something to do with it. But whatever, Roderich was already inside the building. The others slowly followed suit as they started ascending the staircase.
"Charice won't let Feli go." Ludwig blinked.
"She's just worried about him, that's all." Rizal assured him. "I don't know why though…she's never this worried about him before."
"…yeah…it's strange…"
"Well, I think that it's because her Cute-Obsession Syndrome is evolving into a Level 04." He looked up. "You might have to watch over her."
"In this case, I'm more worried about you than her."
Rizal couldn't help but blush, but then again he could purely understand about what he was talking about. He looked up and saw that Roderich had stopped, shooting another arrow and triggering another trap in front of them (making Antonio laugh). Rizal sighed and saw that he was trying to shoot an arrow at a target on the other side of the wall, but his arrows weren't even getting to the other side.
"Have you ever considered using a damn gun?" Kiku complained.
"But you're out of bullets, Kiku!" Antonio said through his laughter. "Most of us are!"
"VOI! DON'T BRING THAT UP, YOU PRICK! I DON'T WANT TO BE FORCED TO SHOOT YOU!"
"Give me that option, why don't you?" Rizal couldn't help but mutter.
"Hey, I got guns~!" Charice flashed open her cape. "Where am I aiming?"
Finally, she was able to let Feliciano go to try and aim at the target. For some reason, her aim began to suck. And then it sucked even more. The Italian quietly took his chance and headed next to Rizal, muttering something in broken Italian.
"…R-Rizal…"
"Eh? Something wrong?"
"…um…I wanted to ask you something…"
"…weird time to ask, but sure."
"…did…did Charice do anything when I was frozen?"
"Besides go bloodshot insane and wasted half her bullets? Or is that what you want?"
"S-she went crazy?"
"I think she was crying too…nothing Ludwig was also doing, though…"
Rizal blinked for a few minutes, for he could've sworn that he saw Feliciano blushing. The sound of breaking glass broke their concentration, and he turned his head to see that Charice had finally got the target. Something seemed to trigger the next trap a few feet away, and Roderich continued upward.
"Hey, Charice!"
"Yeah, kuya?"
"How come Roderich knows what he's doing?"
"I think it's because of his costume! He is the Hero of Time, after all!"
…still not helping, Charice.
They found themselves standing on what looked like their next floor, surrounded by open windows and a staircase in front of them. Roderich looked around for a few minutes before pulling a bomb out of nowhere (geez, what the hell Roderich) and throwing it to the middle of the floor. The explosion afterward sent off a dozen other explosions and what sounded like something being set on fire before everything settled with something that barely looked like a floor.
"…that was unsettling." Elizabeta sighed.
Rizal sighed before he walked up ahead. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary before he heard something whizzing in front of him. He turned his head and saw that there were multiple arrows flying in the air around him. He flipped around a bunch of them before realizing that he was about to get into close contact with one of them. It exploded about a few seconds from his face.
"Are you all right?"
"Eh?" He looked up to see a rather worried Ludwig. "Y-yeah…I guess there are pressure plates here too."
"NO SHIT, ASSHOLE!" Kiku started screaming. "What gave that away?"
"Now now, I don't think bombs can trigger pressure points!" Antonio waved his hands. "We're just going to have to deal with them!"
"Or MOST of them, since Rizal already triggered half of them."
"Thanks, Kiku."
He was about to walk forward again when he heard a slight boom. Blinking, he barely saw the rather rabid face of a very hungry Ivan in front of him. He lifted his arm, only to feel his saliva barely jump on his coat and hearing the jacket hiss and burn. He flipped backward and almost fell onto what looked like a snake.
Oh shit. He lifted up his hand. "Dark Magician!"
His magic spells blasted all of them away just as the rest of the party began to jump through the walls. Kiku grinned.
"Booyah! Party time!" He lifted up his guns. "Let's do this!"
"…maaaan…*yawn*…so much for that." Gilbert sighed.
Rizal grabbed Charice's hand and dragged her forward as a heated brawl started charging up between both sides. He looked up and barely saw Matthew and Kumajiro waving them down (where the hell were THEY, this entire time?).
"This way!" He could barely hear.
"Go! Follow them!" Ludwig screamed. "There's no telling how long this battle's going to take!"
"Feli-!" Charice was shaking.
"Will you be all right?" Rizal asked. He couldn't help but worry.
"We'll be fine! Just go!"
The truth was, he didn't want to go. This was way too dangerous for any of them to do alone and Rizal wanted nothing more than to go yo-yo blazing and mess up the place. But then again, he was only human and Charice was almost out of ammo. Besides, Matthew and Kumajiro seem to be the only other ones unaffected.
"…Charice, we have to go."
"But-!"
"It's fine! Once the half-hour bell rings, then the sides are going to switch again!"
Charice resigned herself to that, and the four of them dashed up the staircase. After a few seconds, Charice stared at Matthew.
"Where the heck were you this whole time?" She spat.
"I was with you guys!" He answered, confused. "None of them could see me, though…so I just stayed silent…"
"Well, I can see you!"
"Must be something unique about this place…"
"It's always THIS PLACE…or THAT PLACE…can't we just have a time zone or something?"
Her watch started beeping, and she looked at her watch to turn off the alarm. Right afterwards, the bell tower started to ring. They all swayed as the bell literally made the tower shake
"JESUS!" Charice blinked. "How long did I try to turn off the watch?"
"No, that's not it…" Rizal's eyes widened.
"Yes…it looks like time is faster in this realm." Kumajiro blinked. "When we were here, it was almost seven fifteen."
"But it's seven thirty one no-" Charice froze. "We better hurry up."
"WAAAAIIIIITTTT WHAT ABOUT USSSSSS?"
They looked down and saw that Alfred and his group were running up the stairs, this hour's allies. Rizal sighed and hoped that the others were OK (even if they were at the stage of trying to kill him). He looked and saw that many of them still had the same wounds as they had in battle.
"No one's hurt?" Rizal asked.
"No one that matters, of course." Ivan laughed. "Though I'm sorry for burning through your jacket, Rizal."
"It's fine…I guess…" He sighed. "But let's talk on the run."
/=+=/
God Bless Speed Updates.