The stench of ozone and draconic viscera hung heavily in the air, accompanied by no small measure of stillest silence. One could have dropped a pin and listened to the echo as it landed.
Light and sound interrupted the stillness - briefly fending off the shadow of the tall, foreboding stone tower that lay behind the Lightning Drake's corpse - as the Investigation Team materialised one by one.
"Gak-! Hoo, that reeks!" Teddie broke the silence first, fanning his nose as the smell of recently-slain drake hit him.
Chie carefully approached the head of the beast, examining the caved-in scales atop its head where Astaire had struck it. "Jeez, you really did a number on this thing. Almost looks worse the second time around."
"Sure as hell smells worse." Yosuke added, pinching his nose.
A loud thud of scaled bone off stone sounded out from one side of the drake, followed by a triumphant cheer. "Alright, now we're talkin'! Feel like I could bust up a hundred Shadows at once with this thing!" Kanji said, hauling the Lightning Drake Greatshield off the ground.
"Be careful what you wish for, Kanji-kun." Yukiko added, springing open her fan.
Yu silently approached the base of the tower, gazing up a wide set of stairs at the monstrously tall set of wooden double doors punctuating the entrance. "Everyone form up. There could be anything behind here." He said, beckoning everyone over.
And form up they did. As Rise walked up the stone-hewn steps, she too gazed up the tower in awe. "Holy cow. Here's hoping you know something about what's inside." She said, glancing off to the side in anticipation of Astaire's reply. Only then did it catch her notice that Astaire wasn't at her side for once.
Down one side of the staircase, a small alley, level with the rest of the bridge, appeared to branch off onto a separate path, sloping down the exterior of the tower by way of a precarious-looking set of steps. It was at the top of said steps that Astaire stood rubbing his chin. "Hmm. I wonder where this would take us." He said loud enough for everyone else to hear.
"Dude, c'mon! Between that and the bigass set of doors in the bigass tower, which do you think we should be following first?" Yosuke called down, eyeing up the stairs uneasily. "My vote's with whichever option has less falling to death."
After another second's glancing, Astaire turned and made for the group proper. "Perhaps you're right. In any case, it couldn't simply lead to nowhere. It might be worth looking into later." He shrugged, bringing his claymore back to his shoulder.
The tower doors loomed before the Investigation Team. There passed a moment of silence as everyone braced themselves internally, allowing Yu to walk up and throw his weight into the leftmost door. The ensuing metallic creaking reverberated around the Undead Burg as everyone pushed inside, weapons at the ready.
Teddie was the first to drop his guard. "Woah. What the heck is that, Sensei?"
Thankfully, the innards of the large, circular stone chamber were entirely bare of enemies of any sort. The base of the tower contained only two notable features. A large set of stairs, spiralling up to what seemed to be a second floor, and the feature Teddie had reacted to.
Specifically, a section of the wall coated in a thick patch of black fog, tall and wide, and which seemed to pulsate or writhe of its own accord. Recalling the Crestfallen Warrior's words from before, Yu spoke up. "I think that's the reason we need to go up before we go down. Whatever it is, it doesn't look friendly."
Fog walls were a common enough sight in Lordran. Black fog walls weren't. Needless to say, nobody objected to quickly making for the stairs and putting the fog out of mind, at least for the time being.
The walk was long. Long enough for Astaire's thoughts to wander as he stared at Yu's back.
What was it about Yu Narukami that she liked?
The moment he'd thought it, Astaire fought the urge to slap himself. Gods, what nonsense. Hardly the sort of thing for a knight to be thinking about, much less in the midst of spelunking through another world. Why was he even thinking it, anyway? What business was it of his?
...But there could've been a few reasons. He seemed courageous, intelligent and methodical. He led the charge into the unknown headlong. Not to mention there was that pressure of his, combined with that comfortable air he carried. It could have been one, a few, or perhaps all of them put together.
He was one of a kind. A man with few equals, if any.
It didn't take a scholar's mind for Astaire to know he wasn't one of them.
"Hey, Astaire-kun?" Rise chirped from behind Astaire, bringing him to attention. "Think you could guess what's coming up next? You recognised the last place we were in, after all."
Any distraction was a welcome one. "Hmmm. Good thinking. Let me see…" Astaire sheathed the claymore on his back and crossed his arms in thought. "Well, after ringing the first bell I went down to the Lower Undead Burg, then to the Depths, then Blighttown…"
"Down ain't much good to us right now, judging by the stairs and all." Kanji rightfully pointed out. "Try thinkin'a when you started going up."
Again, Astaire let out a hum as he retraced his steps. Where in the Burg would have been the first logical step upwards? After going all the way down to Blighttown, surely he'd-
Wait a minute.
He'd gone to Blighttown to ring the second Bell of Awakening. After that was...
"Oh great, this again." Chie groaned. The top of the stairs culminated in a tight left turn, presumably leading through the wall of the tower and out into somewhere else. The only thing stopping anyone was the thick wall of white fog covering the exit. "One type of fog was bad enough, never mind this stuff."
Rise tugged nervously on Astaire's coat. "Hey, we're… we're not gonna be attacked by another Dark Spirit, are we? Like last time?" She asked, recalling the similar fog that can enclosed Nanako's school.
At her concerned tone, Astaire shook himself.
Bah, surely not. The world had presently defied all logic, there was no way that could happen.
Taking his own assurances in stride, Astaire carefully shuffled past Yu on the stairs and approached the fog. "Not this time, Ms. Kujikawa, it's a different kind of fog." He said with a backwards glance, raising his hand and pushing it through the fog. "All you need do is step through and- oof!" He was quickly cut off as he strode through the fog and smacked his nose off the brick wall directly on the other side.
The stairs did indeed end in a left turn, but the fog concealed little more than a small alcove, inside which there lay nothing more than a wooden ladder, leading up a stone shaft. Rubbing the pain out of his nose, Astaire gazed up the ladder's length. It appeared to go on for quite a while. Long enough to where guessing what was atop it wasn't an option. The uncertainty was enough to give him pause.
"Is something the matter?" Naoto asked, peeking around Kanji on the stairs.
For the briefest of moments, Astaire's eyes flitted to Yu.
He may not have been equal to him, but that didn't mean he couldn't start making a go at it.
"Not a thing. Follow me." Astaire said before he made for the ladder, ascending without hesitation.
"I'll go last! Someone needs to act as a safety cushion if any of the girls should happen to fall mid-climb!" Teddie's voice reverberated up the stony shaft.
A sound suspiciously close to a knock on the head followed. "As if, you stupid bear! Get up there before I kick you up there!" Chie fumed in response.
Astaire sighed as he ceased climbing. This was going to take a while.
"Is anyone else feeling a little tired?" Yukiko asked mid-climb.
"Heck no, this is a cinch!" Chie boasted. "Would you hurry it up already, Yosuke?! Any slower and I'm gonna fall asleep down here!" She called up past Kanji.
"It's not me, it's this doofus up ahead!" Yosuke protested, jabbing Teddie in the back of the ankle. "If you're gonna slack off, do it when we're not inside the TV! Or on a ladder!" He hollered.
Teddie paused to counter-protest, looking down as best a bulbous bear could. "Ooh! Is that official permission to slack off when we're working, then?" He asked excitedly.
"Just get a move on, damn it!" Kanji and Yosuke shouted up in unison.
"If you all stopped arguing and kept climbing, we'd already be there!" Rise jumped in too, stuck at the bottom of the climbing formation. "Astaire-kun, do we have much longer to go?!" She shouted up the shaft.
Her answer didn't come. Far above her, Astaire braced his ears over the sound of the ensuing argument. There was something there. A sound coming from up above them. Whatever it was, it had a rhythm to it, and it sounded vaguely metallic. In fact, the closer it got, the more it began to sound oddly familiar to Astaire's ear.
...No way. It couldn't be. Under normal circumstances, it'd have made sense, but nothing about this other world made sense. It had to be impossible. It had to be, right? Please Lords let it be impossible.
Upon reaching the top and peeking his head out, Astaire froze in place. "Oh, bugger."
So close to the top, the rhythmic sound was loud enough that everyone could make it out. "What's up?" Yu asked, peeking around Astaire's heels. "You see what's making all the noise up there?"
Astaire bit his lip anxiously before peeking back down at him.
Alright, so it wasn't impossible.
"So, er… Do you recall when we first met, and I happened to bring up Sen's Fortress…?"
This was, as Kanji would've put it, fucking bullshit.
The only way forward consisted of a narrow walkway, leading to the other side of the vast, open space in the center. The alternative was a set of sheer drops on either side which, when Yu dared to peek over them, led to a pit of black, tar-like sludge.
But that wasn't the worst part. That would've been the pendulums.
Along the walkway's length, and every walkway which seemed to be placed above it, lay a barrage of thick, bladed pendulums, swinging rhythmically from side to side. Each intimidating whoosh made them seem even sharper than before.
"You've gotta be frickin' kidding me!" Kanji said, looking up at the walkways overhead with wide eyes. "How the hell are we supposed to get through a deathtrap like this?!" Because as good as it seemed, a bigass greatshield wouldn't stop a pendulum, nor the ensuing fall afterwards.
"Try asking the guy who knows it by name." Yosuke suggested. "Yo, Astaire-san, how- What are you doing?!" Yosuke bellowed as he turned to Astaire, who had begun striding towards the pendulums without a second thought.
Everyone's breaths caught in their chests as Astaire took his first steps out onto the narrow walkway, the first pendulum diving for his side. Rise moved forward to let out a scream as it drew closer, and closer, until…
It passed Astaire by entirely, whipping up his coattails.
"Hmm. It appears as though we'll need to work our way around the outer perimeter in order to go much higher." Astaire casually assessed, stopping and rubbing his chin as he looked up. "I can see some odd shapes further up there. Hard to say what they are, but I doubt it's anything good." He said between whooshes of wind from the pendulum at his side.
"Uh… Astaire-kun?" Rise called out.
"Yes?" Whoosh. The pendulum seemed so close that it was a wonder Astaire hadn't lost his nose. He didn't even flinch. Or blink, for that matter.
"Do you think you could come over and-?" Was as far as Rise got towards asking for help, as something wrenched Astaire's attention away from her.
Whoosh. Whoosh. There was something else. Another sound, much closer by. Whoosh. Whoosh. -ss.
There it was again. Curiously, carefully, Astaire inched forward towards the source of the sound, casually avoiding another pendulum as though it weren't even there. Where was that sound coming from?
Yu's voice from behind didn't help. "Hey, we need to stick together, come back here!" Though his voice fell upon preoccupied ears.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Hissss.
Before Astaire could turn to warn everyone about the noise, pain quickly rushed into his ankle. The head of a giant snake, coiling up from underneath the walkway, had sunk its fangs into him in a flash, bloodying his leg. "AGH! Bloody Manserpents!"
'Serpent', everyone understood. It was only when the humanoid body, attached to the snake by the neck, slipped up onto the top of the walkway, that the 'Man' part sunk in.
Yu didn't even need to speak. Pendulums be damned, the Investigation Team formed up and dashed out onto the walkway, weapons at the ready.
The Manserpent released itself from Astaire's leg, reeling back and aiming for his shoulder. It was interrupted as a recently-equipped pair of gauntlets forced its jaws apart, giving Astaire a sobering view of the vicious fangs that hungered for his flesh.
He chanced a glimpse over his shoulder. The pendulums had successfully slowed everyone down as the sheer intimidation factor began to sink in proper.
They didn't have the rhythm down. If they had, they would have reached him long ago. But they were playing it safe.
Astaire couldn't fault them, given they weren't the ones with a map of Lordran etched into their skulls, nor the ones who had been through Sen's Fortress enough times to register the pendulums mentally invisible. But he could fault the Snake-headed monstrosity before him for not taking that into consideration, because it only bit down harder with time.
Well, sometimes pain was simply unavoidable.
Bracing himself, Astaire relinquished his hold on the Manserpent's upper jaw, leaving it free to sink its fangs into his left arm. Before it could recoil again, the blade of a black dagger slipped under its scales and tore downwards with ease. The Manserpent released its vice grip and hissed angrily at Astaire as it continued to bleed over the walkway.
Rise watched anxiously as Astaire shook the pain out of his arm. "Sneak up on me, will you?!" He growled, clenching a blood-soaked fist at his side. As the Manserpent staggered and writhed, Astaire stepped forward and launched a kick at its humanoid abdomen, sending it over the edge of the walkway and hissing to an early, pitch-black grave.
The hot, sharp feeling in Astaire's leg and arm quickly dissipated as a refreshing wave of light washed over him. "That's what you get for rushing ahead on your own." Yukiko said as Sumeo-Okami faded out behind her.
"Had I known there were Manserpents adhering to the bottom of the walkway, I'd have been quicker talked out of it. I've never seen them do that before." Astaire explained, peering at the rest of the walkways above. "If it stops them having swords and shields, I suppose it could be worse, but-"
Rise cleared her throat to interrupt. "Snake men." Astaire nodded. "Big enough to bite your head off." And he nodded again. "Armed with swords and shields."
"I suppose if one wanted to be picky, they'd technically be greatswords, but yes." Astaire nodded again.
A single Manserpent, as unarmed as someone with a snake's head could be, could easily have done any normal person in. One strong haul to the side and it may even have done Astaire in. But with shields and greatswords?
Everyone looked amongst themselves apprehensively, a few of their faces a shade or two paler than before. The only exception was Astaire. "Oh, don't be like that. Much like these pendulums-" He took a few steps backward without looking, narrowly avoiding another pendulum as he went. "-Manserpents are easily dealt with once you know how."
"A bit like Shadows, then!" Teddie perked up, deftly hopping past the pendulum's swing. "I guess it's not so scary when you look at it that way!"
"No, I still kinda think it is…" Rise added anxiously. The only thing that could make giant snake-headed people less scary was getting rid of them as soon as possible.
Between swings, Astaire extended his hand out to Rise and quickly whisked her to his and Teddie's sides. "Fret not, they haven't a sinner's chance in Heaven while we're here." He assured her with a smile. "From the looks of things, they don't appear any more prevalent in this world than they were in mine, and I managed just rightly on my own back then."
"It does appear that the odds are in our favour." Naoto admitted, hopping over with Kanji shortly behind her.
"Sure sounds like it to me." Yosuke added. "Keep 'em coming like this and we'll be back before the sun goes down."
"YOU AND YOUR BIG FREAKING MOUTH, YOSUKE! AND YOUR STUPID-MASSIVE FEET TOO!" Chie bellowed as Haraedo-no-Okami sent another three Manserpents flying into the wall.
"It looked just like the rest of the floor, how was I supposed to know?!" Yosuke retorted, quickly scarpering from the stone pressure plate underfoot and twirling his daggers into position. "Guess I'll just have to make it up to everyone then!" He kicked off, slipping around the nearest Manserpent and aiming for their back.
"Left, left!" Rise called out from behind Astaire and Kanji, fist-pumping as Kanji blocked the incoming sword strike, recoiling the Manserpent long enough for Astaire to slice its head off in one fell swoop. "Nice going, guys! Keep it up!" She cheered.
One would think that being in the middle of an all-out onslaught of steel and scales would've made someone feel a little more uneased than not at all. But with Kanji deflecting beatings on one side, and Astaire dishing them out twofold on the other, Rise couldn't help but let her joy sneak out.
A cry of 'Brave Blade' automatically caught Astaire's attention, owed in part to the instinctive prickle from his prior wound at hearing it. Izanagi-no-Okami tore through the serpents like they weren't even there.
However, it didn't escape Astaire's notice that they were only being torn through one at a time.
"Persona! Persona!" Every cry seemed to knock Yu another step back. For every Manserpent that went down, two more would inch ever closer to him. Megidolaon was out of the question. Given the look of the brickwork, a shock of that size could probably knock the whole place down, or set off more traps in the event that it didn't.
As a healing spell from Yukiko renewed his energy, Yu backed off and briefly closed his eyes. "Time for a different approach. Come, Shiva!" When Yu opened his eyes, Izanagi-no-Okami had been replaced, with a four-armed, blue-skinned Persona in his stead. "Now, Pralaya!"
It was hard to say what exactly 'Pralaya' meant, or what it involved. But it was strong enough to where Kanji needed to shield himself, Rise and Astaire from the impact. It was also strong enough that the remains of the Manserpents in front of Yu were of a similar consistency to bloodied sand.
For the briefest of moments, Astaire was in awe, swearing he felt the tiniest bit smaller afterwards.
A collective hiss from behind warned that the fight wasn't over. Astaire and Kanji barely had time to turn before being set upon by even more serpents, with barely enough time to spare to clash arms and keep them at bay. But more were coming from behind them, drawing ever closer with each passing second.
With a flash, Kouzeon was at Rise's back. "Come on, come on… there!" She threw her visor up and cupped her hands around her mouth. "They're weak to fire!"
Ding. Off went the lightbulb in Astaire's head. If ever there was a time to shine by way of pyromantic mastery, it was now! Reaching into the depths of his soul, Astaire clenched a fist and-!
Felt nothing.
Oh, bugger.
Fantastic. Fan-bloody-tastic. Of all the times for all hints of pyromancy he had to turn tail and scarper, it had to be now. Of course. Astaire rolled his eyes and heaved as he launched his Claymore at the nearest Serpent, delving into his box immediately after.
"What the-?! Things are dangerous enough without you throwing swords all over the damn place! Catch and grip and-" Kanji began, only to be cut short at the sight of the weapon Astaire retrieved in his sword's place.
Curved, spiked, chitinous, and overall just dangerous looking, the sword was quickly primed for work as Astaire stepped out from behind Kanji's shield. Before he or Rise could utter a word of protest, the blade was engulfed in a thick plume of fire, cascading behind it like a scarf as Astaire quickly set about doing what he did best.
The light cast shadows along the floor, with the ensuing pained hisses being drowned out by the sound of sizzling serpentflesh. Astaire's grunts and shouts echoed around the fortress interior, until his was the only voice left to do so.
Quelaag's Furysword came to a halt as Astaire caught his breath, looking around to admire his handiwork. Cauterised wounds of varying positions and sizes littered what few Manserpents were left in one piece. The heads of the unluckier sorts were brushed aside by Astaire's ankles as he walked back towards Kanji and Rise, looking sufficiently satisfied with himself.
"That's an… interesting sword you've got there." Yu commented as politely as someone surrounded by snake heads could. "Don't think any we've ever come across have done that."
Considering none of their weapons carried the soul of some half-spider, half-woman, half-hellfire abomination, Astaire wasn't exactly surprised. What did surprise him was Rise jumping into his view, eyes atwinkle. "That was so cool! You just went all-!" She threw her arms forward, imitating Astaire's throw, "...and then you were all-!" Before imitating his myriad slashes afterwards.
As much as Astaire wished to express a modicum of modesty, watching Rise and smiling like a twit proved more fun.
"It is kinda cool how you can switch weapons like that. Kinda reminds me of how Yu-kun switches Personas." Chie added. "Almost makes me wish we'd had someone who could do that last year. Seems pretty versatile."
"Wait a sec, about that." Yosuke barged in, lightly pointing one of his daggers at Astaire's Furysword. "First that dagger you pulled out earlier and now that scary-looking thing. I thought stuff that wasn't upgraded was no good." He rightly pointed out.
Much to Astaire's chagrin, apparently, as he turned away with an awkward grin. "Well, I… might have requested more than a few items from Master Daidara yesterday, that's all."
His awkward grin faltered slightly as Yosuke narrowed his eyes at him. "Oh yeah? How many?" He growled. He watched Astaire sweat bullets, eyes darting to and fro as he tried to think of an excuse, before he lost it. "I knew it! We waited for six hours! SIX HOURS! Of all the things I could've been doing on my day off and you're sitting in there…" Yosuke rattled on, six hour's worth of impatient frustration venting all at once.
His temper might've seemed like a more serious issue if the girls, Kanji and Teddie hadn't been snickering behind his back.
"Alright Yosuke, save it. We need to keep moving forward." Yu said, rallying everyone into position as they began to move further into the Fortress. "And keep an eye out for more pressure plates this time. We can't afford many more beatings like that." He ordered as they went.
Enthusiastic shouts of affirmation came from everyone bar Astaire, lost in his thoughts.
Being compared to Yu Narukami had made him feel the slightest twinge brighter, for some reason.
Difference #4 and #5: Astaire didn't mind fighting alone, and he also didn't like running from a fight.
Both, Rise was fairly sure, were pretty admirable traits under most circumstances.
They weren't quite as smart under these circumstances.
Apparently razor-toothed Manserpents with swords and shields just wasn't hellish enough for the TV World, because Astaire was trying his damndest to fend off one with four arms, four swords and lightning magic. All the while, more scaled, two-armed monstrosities sprinted towards him.
Between them and another longer, pendulum-laden walkway, Yu knew which he'd rather chance. "Hurry up and come on! There's no way they can catch us if we get to the other side first!" He shouted a second time, beckoning Astaire on. Not that it did much, given his back was to him.
"I told you, I can handle this! I need all but a few more seconds!" Astaire shouted back, fending off four swords with a single one of his own. Every time it seemed like his opponent would lash out and rend him in twain, he'd dodge backwards with practiced timing. But the other snakes were still drawing in.
From under Kouzeon's visor, Rise beamed her voice into Astaire's head. "What the heck are you doing?! You only have a few more seconds until you're swarmed!"
"How many?!" Astaire asked, backing off further, towards a curiously dipped part of the floor.
Rise blinked. "E-eh?"
"How many seconds do I have until they get me?!" He shouted, backing off again. The serpents were even closer now.
Whatever his reason, Rise didn't argue. As she nervously watched the innumerable blips on Kouzeon's radar soar towards the one ally-blue dot, she counted down in her head as she spoke aloud to Astaire, watching him cross over the dipped floor section on his heels.
Four. The Serpents grouped up closer together.
Three. The four-armed Serpent lunged for Astaire.
Two. Astaire was knocked off balance.
One. Oh God, no.
She didn't bother vocalising the 'Zero'. Rise held her breath as the horde of Serpents fanned out and began to take formation before Astaire, all raising their weapons in unison. He wasn't in a fighting stance. He didn't have a shield. He was done for.
Then came the rumbling. It grew in intensity until Rise could feel the vibrations from the ground run up her legs and quake her heart. When it seemed like the rumbling was approaching its peak, a massive metal boulder came rushing from an opening in the wall beside Astaire, who leapt back just in time for it to messily demolish every Serpent in its way.
Fading hisses amongst his newly-reddened surroundings informed Astaire that he was safe once more.
On the ground, a single pressure plate next to the gently-dipping section of the floor shifted back up into position. With a satisfied smile, Astaire rubbed the blood from the rightmost lens of his glasses and finally turned to follow everyone else.
"There, see? I told you I could handle it." Astaire said confidently, tapping his fist off his chest as he passed by Rise and made to lead the way through the pendulums.
Luckily, the plated metal armour he wore kept Astaire from feeling the intent gaze Rise held on his back.
She should've been worried. In less than an hour he'd almost gotten himself killed twice, and usually that sort of frequency was reason enough to be a little concerned for someone.
But something about that grin, that stride, that confidence after he'd played the Serpents for fools, balled Rise up inside in a manner entirely different from concern.
Light!
After crossing the pendulum-infested walkway, there was light! A passageway to somewhere outside the Fortress walls! Elation was rife amongst the Investigation Team as they were immediately drawn to the exit, as though the light had sprouted hands and coaxed them along with a warm embrace.
"I can't believe it!" Kanji began, wiping his brow as he looked around. "We really made it outsiiiiidamn it." He quickly petered out as he looked up.
There were no save points. No convenient places to teleport back from in order to take a break. There was but a single, albeit wide, set of stairs wrapping further around the tower's exterior. An elbow-high wall paraded around the outside of them, with one segment broken off in such a way that it gave a view of how far they'd come.
And Good lord, they had come far. The Undead Burg was so far below that it felt dizzying to even consider the prospect of falling off.
Quick to take his mind off it, Yu clapped his hands together. "Seems about the right time for a break, if you ask me. Everyone rest up a little while." He commanded calmly, striding over to the stairs and sitting himself down on the bottommost steps.
After what they'd just been through, nobody was of the mind to disagree.
"We're barely even up this tower and I already hate this stupid world." Yosuke complained, swearing he could feel his skin tingle where the Serpent Mage's lightning magic had struck him.
"Tell me about it." Chie said, sighing as Yukiko's healing magic sealed up the bite marks embedded in her left thigh. "Something about fighting in here feels… different from before. Like, it hurts a lot worse, or something."
A thought Rise would have agreed with, had she not been otherwise engaged. "C'mere and hold still, I'm not letting you fight with only one eye." She ordered Astaire, whipping a tissue out from her pocket and cleaning the blood from his lenses as best she could. "And stop humming like that. It'd be easier if you took your glasses off, but after last time we can't just-"
"Humming? What are you talking about?" Astaire asked, raising an eyebrow as Rise cleared his other lens.
"That humming you were doing just now. Like- Hummmm." Rise said, crossing her arms and putting on a faux-serious face.
Was that supposed to be what he looked li-? Oh, forget that for now. "I never hummed a note. Are you sure you're not hearing things?"
"Hmmmm…"
There it was again. Everyone slowly stopped what they were doing and cautiously began eyeing one another up. "Woah. Anyone else hear that?" Kanji asked carefully, already putting one hand to his shield.
"I know I did!" Teddie said, looking much more cheerful than anyone else. "And it sounded like a girl's humming, if you ask me!"
Rise, Naoto, Yukiko and Chie all bristled in unison as they became the sudden centers of interest for everyone's questioning gazes. "You don't think…?" Chie began, gulping mid-sentence. "I-It couldn't be more ghosts again, right?" Her words bristled everyone a second time, to the point where Naoto hid her face under her cap to hide her expression.
"Hmm. Hmmmmmmm." Came the humming again, louder than before. Loud enough, in fact, to gauge the direction from which it had come. Namely, from the broken-off segment of wall bordering the stairs.
"Eh? That couldn't be right! Time to do a little snooping!" Teddie announced, bobbing over to the precarious-looking gap and taking a cursory look down towards the ground. "Wuh-wuh-what?! Sensei, there's someone here!"
Immediately, everyone was on their feet and making a beeline for the gap in the wall. How could anyone be, not only as far up the tower as they'd come, traps and all, but be situated anywhere close to what appeared to be a sheer drop?
Upon peering over Teddie's shoulders, everyone quickly got their answer.
A small outcropping, barely wide enough to sit on, was situated below the stone gap. Had the figure atop it not been humming, they might almost have passed for some manner of bulbous, onion-headed gargoyle.
"Hmmm. Stuck. Very much stuck indeed." The figure said, their high-pitched, feminine voice tinny under their oddly-shaped helmet. "Perhaps there's a lake somewhere far below. If I landed in it, maybe I could…" She continued, drumming her fingers on the rotund torso of her armour in thought. "...No, that'd never work. Hmmm. I've got to use my head and think..."
Whoever she was, the armoured girl was so occupied with talking to herself that it took a moment before anyone else thought to speak up. It almost felt like they were interrupting something. Luckily, someone amongst them had interrupted a similar scene in the past.
"Sieglinde?!" Astaire blurted out in disbelief.
Rise swore she felt her blood freeze in her veins.
"Sir Astaire?!" Sieglinde shifted around and blurted back, her voice brimming with joy and hope.
Rise also swore she felt her frozen blood begin to turn her into an idol-shaped topsicle.
Everyone parted as Astaire knelt down and clasped Seiglinde firmly by the hand, lifting her entire weight, armour, bastard sword and all, up onto the main platform. After which, Sieglinde lowered her onion-shaped helmet in a bow. "Pardon me, I was absorbed in thought. Thank you ever so much for your assistance, I don't know what I would have done without you!"
Not being a vocalist of any sort, Astaire hadn't exactly the right vocabulary pool to properly get across how Sieglinde's voice had sounded to Rise. She guessed it was some kind of memorable, otherwise he wouldn't have tried so hard to put it into words. By the end of his story, the most concrete descriptor the two of them could muster had been "Cute."
Under her breath, Rise finally just swore.
Cute was an understatement. A horrific, vast, and gross understatement at that.
It must've been overwhelming for Astaire too, because his mouth had been ajar from the moment he'd pulled her up. Ajar, but not unhappy, Rise noted. His expression seemed to shift every second, as though trying to think of what to say to her first took rigorous, physical effort.
Unfortunately, Teddie had no such issue. "Wowee! Who'd have thought such a nice girl would be found sitting around a dump like this?!" He enthused, in a manner which Astaire now recognised as 'distinctly Teddie-ish'. Sieglinde turned to face him, prompting a glint in Teddie's eye like that of a master fisherman getting a bite. "Oh, it's almost too wonderful for words! I can see now why you wear such a funny-looking helmet, because only such a gorgeous onion could move me to tears!"
As Teddie began welling up well-practiced crocodile tears, he failed to notice Astaire turn away and briskly put some distance between himself and Sieglinde, marching towards Rise. The reason why- "Excuse you?!" -shortly became apparent. "How dare you mock the armour of a Catarina knight!" Seiglinde fumed, so intensely that steam didn't seem far behind.
Teddie blinked in confusion as he froze on the spot. For someone with such short legs, he did a remarkable job of putting his foot in his mouth.
As Sieglinde's rage became manifest in an aggressive master's thesis on the benefits of Catarina armour, Astaire felt his lips curl upwards. Before long, he bore a full grin and sniggered to himself. "What? What's so funny?" Rise asked from beside him.
"She's-! She's just like her father!" Astaire whispered as best a sniggering knight could. Which was not at all well. "First the humming and now this! Brilliant!"
From the looks of things, Teddie regretted his existence more and more each second. Which, while amusing, wasn't awfully practical. Thus, Yu took it upon himself to clasp Sieglinde by the pauldron, stopping her mid-rant. "Sorry about him, Sieglinde-san. He's Teddie." He shrugged. "I'm Yu Narukami. These are my friends, Yosuke…" Yu quickly ran through everyone's names before stopping on his last target. "...and Astaire-san, it seems you already know."
The two paused as they drew each other's respective attentions. "I'm…" Astaire cleared his throat. "It brings me great joy to see you safe." He smiled, shortly before remembering where they all were and staring up at the tower. "...If one could call such surroundings safe."
"What were you even doing here, Sieglinde-san?" Yukiko asked politely. "You seemed to be between a rock and a hard place down there."
"That's exactly where I was!" Sieglinde chirped, taking a moment to sit down on the stairs. "I don't quite recall where I was before this, but all of a sudden I found myself brought here by… well, something. When I-"
Before she could go any further, Yu held out a hand. "Wait a minute. Something brought you here? You don't remember what it was, do you?" If fate was on their side, this may have been the first step towards nailing down a culprit!
Fate was not on their side. "I'm afraid I don't. All I know is that I certainly wasn't here to begin with, and then suddenly I was." Sieglinde recounted, looking behind herself and up the stairs. "When I came to, I decided to go further up and… er…" She paused to gaze down at her interlinking fingers. "...Well, that was the rock, so to speak."
"Lemme guess. Downstairs is the hard place?" Yosuke asked, receiving a nod. "Figures. I don't blame you for not wanting to run in there on your own." He shrugged. Hell, even going in with nine people in tow had felt like a gamble.
Even with his assurances, Sieglinde seemed and sounded far from pleased. "...I suppose. I decided to rest a while and weigh my options, and before I knew it, the wall gave out behind me! I thought I was done for before you lot arrived!"
Something about the whole situation bothered Naoto. It wasn't anything specific or obvious, but the sense of unease that greeted her didn't lie. Sieglinde's story told more than she let on. It was just a matter of pinning down what it was. "You said you investigated further up this tower. Could you tell us what sorts of dangers await us, then?" Naoto asked. Whatever was bugging her, if it wasn't immediately evident, all that left was to continue on.
"There are less swinging blades, at least!" Sieglinde tried her best to sound cheerful. "...However, there's also quite a lot of…" She nonetheless dragged off.
A whole lot of everything else, then. Wonderful. A chorus of groans sounded out as the thought of running another gauntlet slugged everyone in their respective stomachs. Down to the steps they sat, sensing that a little more R&R was all the preparation they were going to get.
Without a bonfire, R&R didn't even register in Astaire's mind. He hunched over to level his head with Sieglinde's as she sat. "You do mean to continue on, don't you? You can't very well stay here forever."
The light adorning her helmet shifted as Sieglinde tilted her head. "I suppose that's true. It's hardly the most treacherous thing we've done together, is it?" She laughed gently.
"Not at all. I'm not sure if I should be glad about that or not!" Astaire laughed in much the same manner.
Out of sight, Rise eyed the two of them up cautiously. He still hadn't stopped smiling. He hadn't stopped the entire time. If it got any wider his face was going to split in half.
"Perhaps we should let Sieglinde-san accompany us, then." Naoto offered. "One more person with knowledge of Astaire-san's world could prove invaluable."
On one hand, Sieglinde would gain a small army with which to proceed. On the other, the Investigation Team would gain more knowledge and skills from the other world they were fighting against.
Hell, what did anyone have to lose? "Sounds like a plan. Tag along with us if you want to, Sieglinde-san. The more the merrier." Yu said, hopping to his feet. "Just let us know if you need healing or anything, we've got you covered." He smiled gently.
Sieglinde got to her feet, turned to face everyone, and paused.
Their warm, trusting, inviting faces were a far cry from anything anyone in Lordran had ever offered her, Astaire notwithstanding. From that, there was little doubt. These were the people to travel with. "Right you are! I shall do my very best to be of assistance, on my honour!" Sieglinde chirped happily.
And so the climb, coiling around the outside of the tower, began. Everyone went at their own pace, the brickwork clicking and clacking underfoot, joined by the metallic shifting of two sets of armour.
Really quick shifting, actually.
As soon as it had caught Yu's ear, the answers quickly overtook him on either side. Astaire on his left and Sieglinde on his right, each brandishing greatswords over their shoulders. "Planning on leaving us behind, you two?" He asked jokingly.
"On the contrary, Sir Narukami!" Sieglinde began, waving dismissively with her Pierce Shield in her off-hand.
"We simply thought we'd give you all a chance to catch your respective breaths, is all." Astaire followed up. Before he'd even finished speaking, he could see the opposition welling up in Yu's eyes. He was running on ahead again. However, this time was different. "Just you wait, and you'll see you can put your trust in the both of us. We aren't green as grass, you know."
He pushed his glasses up his nose and gave the path ahead a toothy grin.
"In fact, you could say this sort of thing is our bread and butter."
Rise couldn't help but pout.
"On me, Sir Astaire!" Sieglinde called out, thrashing another Manserpent back just as Astaire tore through another three in front of her with one swing. "Brilliant, that's the way!"
She also couldn't help but grind her teeth. As stiff as her jaw felt, the urge simply wouldn't leave her.
"Slither back to your hovel, foul beast!" Astaire roared, laying waste to the two Manserpents that approached Sieglinde from behind, adding to the quickly-growing pile around their feet.
It was actually uncanny. Like they were hooked up to the same brain stem and knew exactly what the other was thinking. Nothing else could explain how efficient they were. They were like a single, well-oiled machine, armed to the teeth and lubricated with the blood of their enemies.
"For crying out-! Rise, get your head in the game!" Chie screeched from the other side of the large, square platform. "These things are coming out of the woodwork, we need you!" She shouted, narrowly dodging out of the way and tripping a Manserpent over the edge, down through the twisted web of metal and stone they'd fought their way up.
"S-Sorry! There's another two climbing up from below, next to Senpai!" Rise shouted, immediately throwing herself back into the battle with her friends. Chie was right, this wasn't the time for distractions. They needed her.
...It was just a shame that Astaire didn't need her too.
Despite the difference in numbers, the Investigation Team's growing pile of corpses was still lower than their armoured rivals'. No matter how many shield-bashes and gunshots emanated, or final hisses limply dragged out, they simply couldn't seem to catch up.
And even then, they were more outnumbered than they knew. "Force!" Sieglinde cried out, gripping a talisman and emitting a shockwave outwards from herself, throwing more Manserpents to their gravity-induced doom. Then she was right back to pounding them to mush again, without missing a beat.
Cute. Well-mannered. Strong. Brave.
...The two of them had a lot in common.
The longer Rise looked on, the more distant and foolish she began to feel. It seemed like Kanami was the least of her worries.
"RISE!" Yu shouted this time. His harsh tone was quick to whip her thoughts back in order.
Right, right. Back to analysing. Everybody was spread out. Their vitals weren't perfect, but they weren't worrying either. As for the enemy count, they- "Oh, crap." Rise squeaked. Something was coming for Chie. Something big. "Chie-senpai, you-!"
A hiss from behind sent a cold electric shock down Rise's spine. It was so close she swore she felt the tongue lapping at her neck. More than her friends, she hadn't kept an eye on herself. Unable to fight, and unable to process what to do, her eyes shut on instinct.
A masculine bellow, followed by the sound of crushing bone and squelching flesh, opened them again. Whatever had been behind her, that fact that Astaire loomed over her - his armour barely having settled from his subsonic sprint towards her - suggested that it hadn't stayed long. "Are you alright?" He asked, fixing his glasses on his nose.
He spoke so casually, it was as if he hadn't just closed what Rise estimated to be a good 12 metres in the blink of an eye. Her heart pounding - whether from fear or something else, she couldn't say - Rise managed a nod.
"Good. That's a relief." Astaire sighed. His relief was short-lived as a feminine scream sounded out from behind him.
The 'something big' which had been gunning for Chie had finally caught up. It was a Manserpent, yes, but the scales were tipped more in the 'serpent' direction. Above the neck it was longer, thicker, and far too large for the humanoid body to support while standing up.
But more importantly, it was wrapped around Chie. Her mouth opened to scream again, but only choking sounds escaped as she was constricted tighter and tighter. Her eyes rolled back into her head as the last of her air began to leave her.
"TAKEHAYA SUZANO-O!"
A sudden burst of momentum sent Chie and her constrictor into the air, where the latter let out an ear-rattling hiss. A hiss which was cut short as Yosuke rocketed into the air, his daggers a blur as he scissored the Serpent's massive head from its equally massive neck.
Although the tightness loosened around her, Chie found herself unable to move. Her body began to slip freely from the scales, unable to resist gravity's enticing pull.
In two simultaneous motions, Takehaya-Suzano-o diced the headless corpse into innumerable tiny, meaty pieces, while Yosuke himself - "Gotcha!" -broke Chie's fall before the ground could claim her. Her breaths sounded laboured, and her body remained limp in his arms. "Shit, shit! Chie, are you alright?!"
Chie's eyes lingered on Yosuke's. She looked like she wanted to say something, but the sheer effort needed to breathe made her refrain from doing so. That all changed the moment a hastily-cast Diarahan from Yukiko washed over her. In the space of a second, expressions of shock, fear, confusion, and finally, embarrassed realisation, flitted across her face in sequence.
"W-What the-?! Put me down already, you moron!" Chie's elbow said to Yosuke's ribs.
One fell unceremoniously to the ground as the other hunched over in pain, clutching their side. Thankfully, Yosuke's doing so gave Chie enough time to try and compose herself as she turned her back on her quickly-approaching friends. "Chie!" Yukiko was the first to meet her proper, hugging her tightly from behind. "Are you sure you're alright?! You're not still hurt, are you?!"
"She isn't…" Yosuke wheezed from afar.
Wheezing was all he could do as Rise bolted to the front of the concerned crowd, her eyes already welling up with tears. "Chie-senpai! Oh my god, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault!" She said, bowing her head low. "If I'd been paying attention, this wouldn't have happened!"
"I doubt it'd have happened if Madame Satonaka had been paying adequate attention too." Sieglinde added, shrugging casually.
Evidently, she hadn't been anticipating the sheer fury Chie flew into after she'd said it. "Excuse me?! What exactly are you implying, huh?!" She asked indignantly, squaring up to Sieglinde properly. "I'll have you know I'm perfectly cautious, always!"
"That's putting it generously." Yu mumbled, glancing away as Chie shot him a glare.
"Really? I'd hardly think so, if you didn't sense something that large coming." Sieglinde continued innocently. "If it wasn't for Sir Hanamura and those strange powers your friends have, you mightn't be standing here at all!" Her tone wasn't malicious in the slightest, but her words felt as though they could cut to the bone.
As much as Chie wanted to argue, she wasn't the one who was Personaless and peering through a tiny slit in a suit of bulbous, cumbersome, heavy-looking armour without having taken a single hit. Mumbling something akin to 'I guess.' under her breath, she backed off.
"Be that as it may, Rise's the one who's supposed to keep us posted on stuff like that." Yu began, tripling Rise's already considerable levels of shame. "But… I guess nobody's too badly hurt. If Chie's breaking Yosuke's ribs and squaring up to people, she can't be too badly injured, right?" He added, easing her shame only partially.
Sieglinde let out a tinny, thoughtful hum. "If you insist." She shrugged, walking off towards the next staircase in their way. "I would advise against overreliance on any one member of your team, though. It will only spell your collective doom should something happen to them." She said, her usual innocent tone clashing somewhat with her sinister-sounding warning.
Just shy of having his hairs standing to attention, Yu ushered everyone forward. "Let's keep moving, everyone. The only way is up." He announced, flicking the serpentblood from his sword. Before mobilising proper, he leaned into Rise and whispered. "Just make sure this doesn't happen again, alright?"
Reaching a zenith of regret, Rise wiped her eyes. "Yeah, Senpai." She managed as well as someone with a tied-up throat could. Without another word, Yu made to catch up with Sieglinde, bringing everyone behind him.
Running up perilous, possibly-trapped stairs with wet eyes wasn't the best idea, but Rise gave it no mind. How could she help it? She didn't need Senpai to say anything to know he was disappointed, and he'd gone and said something anyway. The further they got up the tower, the less and less Rise wished to continue on, and she hadn't been too fussed to begin with.
It was only when Astaire cleared his throat that she realised he was behind her, not up front with Sieglinde. "If I may, Ms. Kujikawa." He started, hunching over to whisper in her ear. "Don't dwell on it. You're not the first person to make a mistake, and you shan't be the last. Not while I'm here, anyway."
He offered her a smile from over her shoulder. Before long, Rise found herself wearing one too. She nodded affirmatively as she wiped her eyes, at which point Astaire finally took off to meet Sieglinde's side once more.
So that's why he stayed behind.
The knot in Rise's throat slowly but surely began to loosen.
"You can't use Pyromancy?! Truly?!" Sieglinde balked as she and Astaire strode down the empty, narrow walkway in front of everyone else, ignoring the sheer drop to their entry point below. "But you've always been so adept with them and Miracles both! Whatever could have happened?"
"It's these damnable glasses, I believe. If I could fight without them it wouldn't be a problem, but as it stands…" Astaire continued, explaining the oddities of the other world to Sieglinde as best he could.
From afar, Naoto kept a close eye on both of them. The unspeakably uneasy feeling she'd had earlier had failed to subside, and watching Sieglinde in particular seemed to amplify it all the more. For much longer than she'd care to admit, most of the downtime outside combat had been spent simply trying to figure it out.
"Goodness, that sounds positively frightful!" Sieglinde shuddered at Astaire's recounting of events past, huddling her arms in closer to her body. However, shortly afterward a bolt of inspiration seemed to conduct through her armour as she leapt to attention. "Sir Astaire, I believe I have a solution!" She chirped, offloading her shield to her back as she began fidgeting with one of the many small pouches outlining her armour.
Armoured fingers working deftly, they at last produced what Sieglinde had been looking for. With a satisfied hum, she held a polished silver ring between her thumb and index finger. One which, even after squinting at it, Astaire didn't recognise. "This is…?"
"A ring I happened upon in the Archives after you saved me! Go on, give it a try!" Sieglinde said as she planted the ring in Astaire's palm.
White Seance Ring
A divine ring entrusted to the head bishop of the Way of White and apostle to Allfather Lloyd, uncle to Lord Gwyn.
It grants additional attunement slots.
Immediately, Astaire's expression brightened. "Gwyn's Beard, this just might do it! Surely I'll be able to use something with this!" He quickly slipped off a gauntlet before slipping on the ring, his mind immediately awash with memories of the myriad mystic arts he'd learned of in his travels.
Of which he could only choose one.
"Additional attunement slots, my arm. I suppose one will have to do." Astaire groaned internally.
Lo and behold, there it was again. Naoto's mind began racing as Astaire adjusted the ring on his finger. Something wasn't right. Something about that ring wasn't right. But what in heaven's name was it? It was just some enchanted accessory, picked up in another world by…
...Wait a minute.
Just as her train of thought began to leave the station properly, Naoto's attention was cruelly diverted. "Finally, another way outta this dump!" Kanji called out, his face quite literally lighting up at the sight of another passageway out of the tower.
"Ugh… This had better be the last one, or I'm going to be beary upset! My poor Teddie legs are about to give out…" Teddie complained.
Nobody's mood was improved as Rise let out a nervous laugh from behind, Kouzeon's visor placed over her eyes. "You, uh… you guys aren't going to like this."
This was, as Kanji, Yosuke, Chie, and possibly everyone else in the group might've put it, complete fucking bullshit. Bullshit with an extra scoop of "Screw You" cream and a little "Eat Crap" cherry on top.
The passageway had indeed led outside again, always a good start. Up the following flight of stairs had even brought them to what seemed to be the top of Sen's Fortress proper, even better!
That was precisely where any semblance of 'good' had decided to pirouette off the tower and wave goodbye to everyone as it went.
Standing before the team was a steep incline. To Naoto's mind, it looked much like a giant, conical ant mound, with flattened paths spiralling up towards the top, where a sheer wall of white fog blocked the entrance to what looked like another, thinner tower, covered in moss and vines.
Had the paths been for walking, it mightn't have been too bad.
"Well, guess that explains where that boulder came from earlier." Rise said to Astaire as their heads simultaneously followed one of many, many boulders down its curved path, disappearing into a hole at the end and presumably heading to somewhere in the tower.
The immense rumble underfoot, owed to the veritable stampede of spiralling boulders, shook everyone to their core. Given the best solution appeared to be 'gun it and hope you don't get flattened', nobody was quick to lead the charge.
"How peculiar. They were never that small the first time." Astaire remarked, vividly remembering running from boulders that were roughly twice as big as those before them now. "I doubt it'll make outrunning them any easier, though…" He mused further, rubbing his chin.
In any case, there was only one way to find out. Astaire broke into a sprint and charged towards the first path, aiming for the other side. If it was anything like the pendulums, the sensible approach would have been to leap across immediately after one boulder had rolled by.
A flash of weathered black steel passed his field of vision, prompting his desperate leap forward and out of harm's way. Perfect. Flawless. Couldn't have gone-
Sparks were cast to the ground as another boulder flew by, scraping the heels of Astaire's greaves mid-leap.
Long having since calculated the optimal method of hopping through pendulums and their ilk, Naoto's face paled a shade at the sight. He'd had this sort of thing so comfortably sussed out that swinging blades didn't even register as a threat. If anyone's timing was going to be perfect, it was his. To be sure, it had been perfect.
And if he'd been anything less, his leg would've been snapped like a twig. "Senpai… I'm unsure as to how good of an idea this actually is." She began, keeping her tone neutral. "The chances of everyone getting through unharmed appear notably low at a glance."
Her sensible assessment was immediately disregarded as Chie sprinted towards the path and leapt into the air, vaulting over an oncoming boulder with ease and landing confidently on the other side, spinning around with a flourish. "Big deal! If we can't get past 'em, we just gotta get over them instead!"
"Are you for real?! Not everyone's got muscle-y kung-fu legs like you do, Chie! How the heck do you expect someone wearing armour like that-" Yosuke paused to jab a finger in Sieglinde's direction. "-to pull off a stunt like that?!"
Chie's glance flitted between her legs and Yosuke as her face immediately reddened. "M-My legs are NOT muscle-y, you ass! Come over here and say that to my face, I dare you!" She fumed, prompting Astaire to take a few cautious steps away from her.
"That's my point, beef-for-brains! If I can't, like hell is anyone else gonna be able to!" Yosuke shouted back, secretly thankful that several tonnes of deadly rolling steel separated him and the girl looking ready to rip his lungs out through his nose. "We need something that'll be easy enough for everyone, not just you!"
Rubbing his chin as if to wind the cogitating cogs in his head, Yu passed his gaze around the Team. "Something easy for everyone. Something everyone can do." He pondered. Did such a method exist? Something that spry, nimble Yosuke could do as well as someone like Sieglinde or Kanji?
At the thought of their names, Yu paused. Sieglinde and Kanji. Hmmm.
Maybe all he needed to do was look at this from a different angle.
"I dunno about something everyone can do…" Yu spoke up, one eyebrow raised. "...But what about something that can be done to everyone?" From the swathe of curious glances and tilted heads he received, Yu knew to continue. "Sieglinde-san, do you think you could do what Astaire-san just did?"
"Certainly. It'd take more than a few boulders to stop a knight of Catarina!" She said proudly.
Part two of the plan was sorted, then. "Great. Kanji?" Yu moved on.
Kanji waved his free hand in front of himself. "No harm, Senpai, but you're off your frickin' rocker if you think I'm pulling that off." He said, motioning his head towards Chie, Astaire, and imminent rolling death.
"That's not what I was going to ask you. How good of a throwing arm do you think you have?"
"Away you go!" Sieglinde heaved as she and Kanji's interlocked hands flew up and sent Yukiko skyward with a yelp, arcing above the treacherous boulder parade with feet to spare.
On the other side, Chie awaited with open arms. "Hold on Yukiko, I've got you!" She shouted reassuringly, even though doing so didn't seem to ease the terrified look on Yukiko's face. The look remained, even after Chie skillfully broke her fall and wrapped her arms around her, if only to keep her from staggering backwards. "See? That wasn't so bad, right? Send over the next one, Senpai!" Chie hollered, placing her first, terrified friend beside her.
There seemed to be some debate over who was going next, with everyone glancing amongst each other and volunteering that anyone else but themselves go next. After some time, it seemed that most of the gazes lingered on Yosuke. "Looks like he's next." Astaire guessed correctly.
True enough, the sound of rumbling boulders was overtaken by Yosuke's girlish screams as he was boosted into the air, limbs flailing wildly.
"You catch him." Chie hissed angrily to Astaire, taking a generous few steps to the side.
"W-What?! Why don't you-?!" Astaire began, only to be interrupted as Yosuke crashed into him head-first, toppling them both to the ground in a pained, groaning heap. The impact winded him, even through his armour.
Not as much as it winded Yosuke, though. "You had to be wearing armour. Couldn't have wrapped yourself in pillows and bubble wrap before we came in or anything, oh nooo." Yosuke moaned as he rolled off Astaire and onto his back, clutching his midriff in pain.
After gleefully soaking in Yosuke's misfortune, Chie cupped her hands together and called out. "Hey, Rise-chan's coming over next, look sharp!" Saying it almost made her want to grin wider as Astaire immediately shot to his feet, eyes sharper than a serpent's tooth as Rise's squeals went skyward.
"Astairekuncatchme!" Rise squeaked as she began to descend, falling silent as she stopped far too gently to have hit the ground . When she dared to un-clamp her eyes, they opened to meet Astaire's as he cradled her bridal-style in his arms. However she'd landed, their faces were remarkably close. Nerves, or possibly something else, coaxed a high-pitched giggle from Rise's chest. "Hee. Nice catch."
"Oh, sure. Her, you can catch just fine." Yosuke moaned from below.
Rise teasingly stuck out her tongue. "Call it the joys of being cuter than you, Yosuke-senpai!" With a nudge and a tap on his shoulder, Astaire gently set her back on her own two feet and turned to continue catching teammates. "Wow, this worked better than I thought!" Rise commented as Teddie sent Astaire into the ground once again. "At this rate we'll…" She went to add as she turned around, her face falling halfway through.
Oh, right. That was just the first hurdle. They had to repeat this whole song and dance several times over before reaching the fog wall. It was enough to make a girl want to sigh in exasperation.
Sparks littered the ground as Sieglinde narrowly avoided getting demolished by one of the boulders. She paused to look up at their destination alongside Rise. "Thank goodness we're almost there! Shall we carry on?" She asked cheerfully, dragging Kanji off by the hand without warning.
The prospect of being tossed up and down like a ragdoll would've sounded worse if it hadn't been for two things.
Firstly, Astaire was the one catching her. Sweet!
Secondly, the way Naoto subtly narrowed her eyes as Sieglinde dragged Kanji off was priceless.
"Hey, Astaire-kun? Can I ask you something?" Rise asked, arms crossed and head tilted as she soared through the air.
"Ask away, Ms. Kujikawa." Astaire said mid-catch, his muscles practically working on their own after the amount of times he'd done it prior.
Fog wall looming closer by the minute, Rise raised an eyebrow. "If this is a messed up version of your world, what do you think is waiting for us on the other side of that fog?" She asked.
The answer not only came immediately, but it came from two sources in unison. "Easy. It's a Giant." Astaire and Sieglinde said casually as one rolled to the others' side.
Everyone paused for a beat as they shared glances between both knights. "Giants? Like, the kind that live at the top of beanstalks?" Teddie asked, brushing himself down after a less than ideal landing.
"The kind that toss and carry boulders, more like. They always did this sort of thing the first time around." Astaire said, readying up for another roll to safety. "Seems a tad curious, though. Giants are easy killed if one knows how, the thought of one being our final foe seems…"
"Disappointing?" Yukiko offered.
"Suspicious." Naoto added quickly, her eyes closed in thought as she set a hand to her hip. "If they're truly as little of a threat as you make out, Astaire-san-" Or as little a threat as one could be to a knight armed to the teeth, "-there must be some kind of twist, much like that Drake we encountered earlier."
Oh Gods, that wasn't a pleasant thought. How could one make Giants much worse than they were? Make them bigger? Make them resist every attack thrown at them, magic and all? The longer Astaire thought about it, the more he wished the Fog Wall were further off.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. One more solid toss from the other side and they'd be passing through it altogether.
Steeling his nerves and bearing a stiff upper lip, Astaire rolled over to the other side. The only way was forward, and that was that. Nothing to be done.
One by one the Investigation Team and their knightly escorts assembled in front of the tall wall of fog. Though it had been mounting ever since they had set eyes on it, the pressure of the task ahead hung heavy on all of them.
Yu was the first to speak. "Alright, we should go in with a plan." He suggested, glancing towards Astaire and Sieglinde hopefully. "Any ideas?"
"The hell are we supposed to make a plan for something we can't even see?" Kanji rightfully asked, rapping his knuckles off the fog and noting how it felt similar to brushing up against a pillow. "Shit's solid. Can't even get a clue about what's inside."
"Well, we know it's a giant, right? At least based off what those two know." Chie said, motioning towards Astaire and Sieglinde.
Thus stepped in Naoto. "In theory. Whether or not reality matches our expectations is another matter entirely. We're not in a position to assume anything." She said matter-of-factly.
"Well gee, if that ain't a load off my mind." Yosuke chimed in sarcastically, rubbing the back of his head. "Rain any harder on the parade and you're gonna wash us back downhill, Naoto."
Yosuke's hand went from his head to his side as Chie's knee shut him up. "Give it a rest, would you? There's nothing wrong with being careful, especially here and now."
"Either way, I guess planning isn't really an option, huh…?" Yukiko said, looking at the fog wall with wide eyes, pooled with anxiety.
Kouzeon scanned over the entryway, but given the look of concern on Rise's face, it was easy to guess what the results would be. "I… I can't see a thing in there. It's all just one big fuzzy blur, I can't even tell how strong whatever's in there is. Sorry, guys…" Rise sighed sadly.
"Don't worry, Rise-chan! If we can't plan ahead, we'll just have to take it as it comes! Right, you two?" Teddie chirped as cheerily as he could, giving Sieglinde and Astaire the same hopeful look.
The look hit Astaire like a bolt from a crossbow. It sought assurance, or comfort, or anything which might lift anybody's spirits even slightly. The tower was dangerous. Upgraded weapons, past experience, supernatural, otherworldly powers, all of it did little to lessen the fact that whatever awaited them could very well end all their lives at once.
If such a situation could give such a competent team any manner of pause, it didn't usually bode well for anyone else.
"Right, Teddie." Astaire said with a confident smile, turning towards the fog. "We'll lead the way. That should keep whatever's inside focused on us instead of you lot." He said, outstretching his hand as it faded through the wall.
Forget planning. Sprinting headlong into danger was what a knight did best.
The fog breached, everyone soon found themselves face to face with a wide, steep set of stairs hewn out of stone. No enemies in sight so far. Amidst groans about having more goddamn stairs to climb, everyone proceeded regardless.
Before long, the end of the staircase was in sight. The sound of boulders hitting off the ground and rolling down towards the outside became louder the further everyone proceeded. There was no doubt about it. If it wasn't a Giant, Astaire swore he'd eat his coat.
"I'll tell you now, Giants are an oafish lot. If you can avoid their stamping and punching, getting behind one should lend you enough time to strike." Astaire warned everyone as he approached the final few steps. "Get between their legs, that's the trick. Wait for them to move, that way you ca-"
The moment Astaire's foot touched the final step, an explosion of fire and sound violently launched him back, soaring high over the heads of everyone behind him on the stairs as he went limp like a ragdoll.
"What the-?! What the shit was that?! Senpai?!" Kanji yelled fearfully, watching Astaire disappear behind them. The want to run after him was fended off by the shock of what had just happened.
Suddenly saturated with adrenaline, Yu quickly shoved past Sieglinde on the stairs and sprinted for the top. The smell of smoke and gunpowder filled his nostrils and he stopped to stand where Astaire had stood, quickly assessing his surroundings.
The stairway opened up to a much, much larger room, larger than the tower had looked from the outside, cylindrical and covered in moss. Large pillars supported the structure, leading up to an imposingly tall elevated platform at the end of the chamber. From a cursory assessment, a pair of pathways, curling up and around the outside of the chamber, looked to be the only way up.
And from the looks of things, up was where they were going. Perched upon the higher level, cracking its knuckles and grunting primitively, was a Giant, laden with thick, ancient looking plated armour and a thick iron mask. "Astaire-san was right, it's a Giant! Team, we need to-!" Yu began, only before the blitz of rapid movement caught his attention.
Oafish, he'd said. Slow and sluggish. Easily dealt with.
But there was an exception to every rule.
The Giant shot around and quickly grabbed at the pile of half-sized boulders behind it, tossing three of them into the air. Even more quickly, it swung back around to bear down on Yu and his team, catching the boulders and juggling them as if they weighed nothing at all.
Before Yu could even begin to issue new commands, one of the boulders shot out of formation, bolting down like a metal crack of lightning which exploded on Yu's left side, throwing him behind one of the supporting pillars.
Muffled sounds of concerned yelling and further explosions rattled around in Yu's head as he slowly regained his hearing. As his clarity of sound returned, so too did his clarity of thought.
The Giant had thrown so quickly that he hadn't even seen it move. And it was tossing exploding boulders as if they were goddamned baseballs.
No matter what angle he assessed it from, no matter how frantically he tried to formulate a plan, one thought seared itself into the forefront of Yu's mind.
This could very well kill them all.