BM - Chapter 8 - Fighting Our Way Out
Ina turned the broken housing of the time watch over in her hand. Through the purple glow of her barrier, she could see all of the cracks and dents in the gold casing. She could corrupt it to fix the cracks and buff out the dents, but she shook her head slightly and sighed. Any corruption around the Droplet could be dangerous. With all of the Pure Flow that she knew of now gone, any corruption would be permanent now.
'We still have some of the Pure Flow, Priestess. With the Droplet being as close as it is to the barrier, it may be slightly corrupted which we have accounted for,' the Ancient Ones said to her. Ina nodded, agreeing with the voices in her head. It was good to know that her patron still had some of the glowing liquid just in case. She felt slightly more relaxed now.
"Now it's time to get out of here…" Ina whispered out loud. She quickly made her way back over to the tunnel she had come from. She strengthened the barrier around her to increase the glow it gave off and increased her swimming speed even further. She knew her presence wasn't welcome here, so she was going to leave as fast as she could in order to avoid any mistakes.
She really wished she could just teleport out of there, but it was risky. With Emersyn being so far away now, it was taking a decent amount of concentration and a large amount of magic to keep her barrier up. If she teleported, her barrier would disappear for just a moment. In close proximity or if Emersyn was teleporting with her, she could account for that. However, the distance made Ina unable to prevent the other barrier from possibly dropping.
Emersyn would be crushed to a pulp by the weight of the ocean above them. Ina shuddered, the images of that horrible fate popping into her head.
'Slow down, Priestess,' the Ancient Ones asked of her. Ina noticed she had sped up to a very fast pace and slowed back down. Another reason drifted into her head as to why she needed to leave. The enclosed space made her feel uncomfortable, like she was being trapped. She wanted to be back with her friend and manager as soon as possible.
'We said slow down-' the Ancient Ones' request was drowned out by a sudden rumbling. The whole tunnel began to shake with the water forming strong currents.
Somehow, the defense system of Atlantis had activated. Ina cursed her luck. Maybe she shouldn't have listened to the Ancient Ones' request to slow down.
'Your increased speed created currents that caused the once disabled traps to trigger anyways. However, that is no longer important,' the Ancient Ones explained to her. Ina shot tentacles into the walls around her, trying to keep herself stable in the ever increasing currents. They were almost intense enough to carry her away even with the added stability.
Portions of the walls around her lowered to the floor, carrying some of her tentacles with them. She retracted them before they were ripped apart and placed them back into the potions of the walls that were still there. Ina couldn't really see what the walls had revealed until they walked out.
Dozens of terracotta soldiers with glowing blue eyes marched out of the walls. They performed a synchronized turn to face her before charging her. Ina attempted to defend, but her magical handicap made it difficult.
Each soldier carried a large trident also made of terracotta. She could break them with one swipe of a tentacle, but the enclosed space and torrents around her made it hard to actually hit them with enough speed. She was fighting a defensive battle.
One soldier got too close for comfort and swung its trident down at her. It wouldn't hurt her because of the barrier, but she didn't want to have the barrier get hit. If she was forced to focus on the integrity of her own barrier, she might accidentally cause the barrier around Emersyn to drop.
When she slapped the head off of the oncoming foe, she noticed something drift out of its neck. A faint wisp of blue drifted into the water before disappearing. She noticed a similar thing happening to the rest of the soldiers she destroyed.
She knew that her tentacles wouldn't be enough soon. At some point, she was going to have to use some magic to get herself out of here. Better now than later. She held one hand out in front of her and pointed her palm at the oncoming enemies.
G̴̡̔r̶̬̋ð̵͔̽ ̷̡̍Ì̶̼̃§̷͚̕h̶̪̓ ̵̩̋È̷͓͋ï̸͉̈́ñ̴͙͆
A circle of light wrapped itself around her forearm up to her hand. Dozens of other circles with increasingly intricate designs sprouted from the first. As she charged her spell, the bright purple glow revealed just how many enemies she was truly facing.
The walls of the tunnel had opened to reveal massive chambers on both sides of her filled with hundreds if not thousands of terracotta soldiers.
'These were planned for us long ago,' the Ancient Ones surmised. This was how Atlantis was going to make up for its decrease in manpower. An artificial army powered by Pure Flow.
"Well, it doesn't look like they were going to be much of a threat to you anyways," Ina commented. She could've sworn that she heard the Ancient Ones chuckle slightly in her mind. With a small smirk on her face, she fired the beam down the hall.
In a bright flash, all of the soldiers in front of her were reduced to dust. However, just after the light subsided Ina was thrown violently around. She was yanked forwards and then flung backwards. Her tentacles either came loose from the walls or were ripped apart.
She had forgotten about the trillions of tons of water above her and the strength of a cavitation bubble.
The underwater torrents had grown to the point where she was unable to catch herself again. Ina summoned an incredibly large tentacle and drove it into the ground, finally stopping her spin.
þ̵̫͘l̴̞̄µ̴̤̐ ̷̢͝Ì̶͎̋§̵̭̊h̶͎̏ ̵͚̿Ä̸̧̓l̷͎͐ß̶̯̉
Ina then created a bright sphere of light and reduced her own barrier's strength to compensate. She was thankful to have not hit anything when she was torn from her anchor. She felt Emersyn's barrier was still intact. But using a lot of magic like this was risky.
She used the bright sphere to get a better look around her. She was inside of the area where the terracotta soldiers were kept. There were platforms hanging onto the walls of the massive chamber. Even more soldiers stood on them, but they seemed to be nonfunctioning.
'Below! Watch Out!' Ina quickly looked down and saw something moving with incredible speed in the darkness. She barely dodged the trident that had been thrown at her by a soldier. The massive tentacle that prevented her from getting flung around by the currents was also preventing her from moving properly. More tridents whizzed by her, some glancing off of the barrier. She did not want to take a direct hit.
Ina launched the bright purple ball downwards and let it crash into some of the soldiers. She moved it around, blasting through any enemy she saw.
But suddenly, she was seeing the ceiling and then walls and then the ground, ceiling, walls, ground.
She was spinning again.
How? Her tentacle was still in the ground-
Ina looked at where her tentacle should have been stuck and even in the darkness she could see a massive gaping hole. The soldiers had cut out the ground surrounding her tentacle so she wouldn't notice.
They were learning as they fought her.
Ina retracted the tentacle and let the rock on the end of it crash into a wall. Ina tried her best to maneuver herself in a way so that she could identify and dodge any oncoming tridents, but it was futile.
One after another, tridents struck her flailing body. She felt Emersyn's barrier fluctuate, as she tried to maintain her own. Splitting one spell the way she had was beginning to become very difficult.
§̵̨̹̻͙͙̽̾̇̀̚È̷̢̧͎̰̲͋̐̀́͘Ì̸̝̠͕̭̭͐̿͌͒̐!̸͉̪̬̟̘̏͛̆̀͌ ̶͖̲̟̳̙́̆̏͝͝þ̶̤͍̺̖̑̏̐̓͜͠L̸̦͓̯̭̞̄̅̿̂̕Ú̴̼̞̟̠̲͑̈́͒̇̕!̸̧̛͎̻̘̗̂͐̎́ ̸͖͇̭̞͓́́́̃͝Ä̸̖͕͎̝̻̿̅̏́͂L̵͇͎̫͍̟͌̄̈́͠͠ß̷̨̛̻̭͕̘̾͛͑̈́!̸̨̖̪͈̹͒̄̀̉͘!̸͈͍̳̑̀͐̑̄͜ͅ
Ina screamed a spell, launching several dark purple blasts around her. She heard them impact on the ground, walls, and ceiling, creating large explosions. The cavitation bubbles increased the torrents in the water, making any thrown tridents veer off course. Ina's world spun faster and faster, making her feel sick.
§̸̨͈̤͖̬̃̑͒̚͝È̵͚̖̗͕̜̽̾̌̈͝Ì̷̟̰̦̭̀͗͋̎͝ͅ!̵̛̫̖̜͈̬̌̏̍͘ ̴̳̙̥̻̤͊̇͊͝͠þ̸̨͇̫̮͂͊̾̈́͝ͅL̸̪̹̫̬̺͑̈́̏̕̚Ú̴̘̤̬̳̝̈̓̿͘͝!̵̛̙̞̼̞̹̀̿̔̈́ ̵̝̪͍̲͈̓̂̔̆̀†̷̛̹̲̲͈̤̇͆͐̔Ę̴̩̺̯͎̀̑͌͂̊͝†̷̨̘͎̹̪̍̓̈̾̒!̶͉̪͕̖͓̂͂̈́̎͝!̵̥̳̪̼̼̈́̅̄̀̊
Ina normally didn't use incantations to summon tentacles, but this one needed to be big, really big.
'Our Priestess, we are not sure this is-'
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE DOWN HERE!" Ina screamed over her patron's worries. For her sake, for Amelia's, she could not die here. She was going to get out.
A massive tentacle flew out of a purple mist, slamming into the rock around her. It slashed massive gouges into them, as it tried to find a spot to grab onto.
Ina saw chunks of rocks begin to fall from the ceiling and a deep rumbling began to emanate throughout the water. She saw the dim blue glow of the terracotta soldier's eyes brighten, along with dozens of new ones appearing.
The sunken city of Atlantis was waking up.
Ina's tentacle finally found something strong enough to hold it in place. She was suddenly whipped around one last time by the deceleration. She grabbed her head in pain from the whiplash.
The large tentacle had dug into the ceiling and began to burrow into it. Ina hung like a puppet on a string, dangling in the open water.
She checked on the integrity of Emersyn's barrier and felt that it was still there, albeit much weaker. She tried to strengthen it the best she could. Obviously she wanted to make it out, but she wouldn't just let her manager die.
The deep rumbling continued as more and more blue lights popped up. Ina was high enough above them that any thrown tridents either missed entirely or were easily avoidable.
Her stomach was trying to come up her throat, but she managed to choke it back down. Throwing up in her barrier would be most unpleasant.
The entire ocean felt like it was shaking by this point. Ina was conflicted on what to do with everything down here. Should she destroy it or just escape?
If she left everything intact, they could possibly harvest the remaining Pure Flow from the soldiers. Maybe they could learn a thing or two from how they functioned in order to replicate them. Ina wouldn't mind experimenting a little. However, they could become a real problem if they get out, especially since there were so many with even more being activated. There had to be at least a few thousand and that was just on the side she was on.
Destroying them, at least this side, would stop any from escaping. There was always the possibility that they could become a problem in the future. That was probably the best option right now.
Ǵ̶̤r̷̻̔ð̶͚͊ ̶̪̎§̵̪͋ê̵̾͜ï̵̻̈ ̴͈̍þ̵͈̈l̶̜̆µ̸̞͐ ̶͎́Ä̷̞̂l̴̪̾ß̵͎̌
Ina readied a large blast to seal off this side entirely. Just before the massive tentacle broke out of the ground, she shot it into the ceiling.
A dim blue glow, much larger than the ones the soldier's eyes gave off, began to appear in the center of the chamber.
The explosion from the blast shredded the ceiling to pieces and the cavitation bubble furthered the damage. Thousands of tons of rubble came crashing down on whatever was charging up. Ina was thankful she didn't have to find out what it was.
The tentacle finally breached the surface and swung around. Ina swam up to the surface as fast as her tired body would allow. All of the spell usage, especially the last blast, had tired her out massively. She couldn't let herself pass out. Emersyn and her would be…
Crushed.
She had been so focused on what was below her that she forgot what was above. Her tentacle and final spell has shattered the foundation of the building above her.
Ina looked up at the large center building as it came crashing down on top of her.
"We need to leave now!" Emersyn commanded. Gura was absolutely not going to object. The two of them, with help of the light they had now, swam towards the exit.
"Ina will be ok. She'll be ok…" Gura whispered to herself. Emersyn wanted to calm her, but knew any delay could be deadly. The walls around them were shaking so badly. Any second they could come crashing down and kill them all.
"Hey, is your barrier ok?" Gura asked from behind her. She saw in the light that the glow stick provided that Emersyn's barrier had begun to flicker. The intensity of the purple hue was increasing and decreasing at a rapid rate.
"Shit…" Emersyn noticed it, too. She felt her ability to move being restricted and then lessened right after. Something was happening to Ina.
They made a dash towards the exit, swimming around pillars and tables on the way there. The ceiling began to crumble and the walls began to crack. A sudden large tremor caused one of the support pillars to give out. Gura flipped around and stared in horror as a large section of the building collapsed, sending dust and debris flying everywhere.
The rest of the building creaked and shuddered under its own weight. Any second the entire building would come crashing down on top of them.
Gura couldn't see where her manager had gone, but she wasn't going to leave her in here. She swung the trident out in an arc to clear the dust.
She suddenly got a nice view of Emersyn pinned to the ground under multiple pieces of debris.
Even underwater, things would still crush you if they fell down on top of you. It would be slower, but with the amount of mass above them, it would be enough.
Emersyn's barrier was still intact, but just barely. The purple glow was so faint, Gura had almost missed it. If any more chunks of rubble fell onto her though, she was dead for sure.
Gura swam over and struck the coral with the trident, cracking it slightly. She cursed at her lack of talent with the weapon. She hit it a few more times, eventually breaking it apart. However, three more large pieces still remained.
Another massive tremor, even bigger than the first, caused the building to begin to totally collapse. She wasn't going to have enough time to free Emersyn.
"Go…" her manager said quietly. Gura slammed her trident into the rubble one last time out of defiance. She looked at her manager with tears beginning to drift from her eyes.
No.
She wasn't going to leave her here.
Not after the chance she had given her.
Not after everything she had done for her.
Not after she had become a friend.
No.
They were all going to leave here alive.
"I need your help! PRIMAL GURAAA!" the helpless Atlantean cried out. The water around her suddenly became much darker and she could feel herself being pulled into the depths of her mind.
"You really are pathetic," her own voice taunted her from the darkness. A rush of movement and the red eye, bloodied version of herself appeared in front of her.
"I don't have the strength to do this. I don't want her to die…" Gura felt the weight of the situation finally land on her. If she didn't convince her other self to help, Emersyn was dead.
"Are you willing to throw everything away to try and save your friend?" Primal Gura asked, tilting her head to the side. Her trademark, face-splitting grin was just a meek frown.
"I can't do it… You're my only hope…" Gura stared down into the murky depths. Primal Gura moved back into her line of sight.
"Well, even if I wanted to take control, I can't."
"What?!" Gura shouted and grabbed her otherself's shoulders. "What do you mean you can't take control?!" Primal Gura let out a curt laugh.
"You realize I'm not someone else right?" Gura released her grip and let her arms float weakly down to her sides.
"But you could before… What's different now?" Primal Gura spread her arms wide, as if to present the area around her.
"This is your mind. I am what your mind thinks your Primal instincts look like." A slight smile crept back onto her face.
"We are the same. We are one."
Both Gura and Primal Gura spoke the same words at the same time. They echoed in the dark waters around them until it faded back to silence.
"Then why-" Gura's question was interrupted.
"I am the personification of the hate you hold towards your past and powers, Gura. I am not a real living being! When Amelia destabilized us, all she did was pull your memories back to you, causing your mind to break and create me." Primal Gura's voice was almost kind and caring at this point. It sounded like a wise, old friend giving the advice you would need to overcome the challenges ahead. "It needed something, someone to place the blame on."
"Then what can I do…" Gura took shaky breaths, trying not to cry at her own uselessness. If she couldn't rely on Primal Gura's abilities to tear through the situation outside of her mind, then what did she have?
"You absolute fucking moron!" Primal Gura lashed out and swiped a claw at Gura's face. Parts of her cheek and left eye were torn away, leaving big trails of blood floating upwards. Primal Gura breathed a few more ragged, angry breaths before taking in one large one and calming down.
All the while, Gura just stared blankly ahead, too busy dealing with her emotional pain to notice the physical damage.
"Don't you get it?" Primal Gura tried her best to continue to remain calm, "If we are the same, you don't need to call on me to go Primal! Sure you might lose control and kill everyone, but I would do that for you anyways." Her full toothy smile was now out on display.
"How would I do that?" Gura pulled herself out of her daze. She hissed slightly when the pain of missing an eye and part of her face finally hit her. She covered the wound with a hand.
"Your hunger, your anger, your hate, your bloodlust," Primal Gura counted on her fingers, "Use them. Control them."
"I guess I have no other option but to try," Gura sighed and uncovered her wound. She clenched both her fists together and dug around in her heart and soul to find what she needed.
"That's it." Primal Gura seemingly encouraged her, "Unfortunately, you won't be able to test it here, so I think it's time for you to leave and get back to that fight. I kinda liked watching it!"
"Wait what? I thought you said you weren't something else?"
"I'm exactly whatever you think I am," Primal Gura said with a shrug. The waters around them began to brighten. The sight of Emersyn about to be crushed under rubble faded back into view. Gura knew it was time to leave her mind.
"I don't know if I should say thank you or not," Gura said with slight sarcasm. Primal Gura's smile only grew.
"It's fine, I know exactly how you feel." And with a wink, she vanished. Her body seemingly becoming a part of the water before fading away. Gura immediately began to search her heart and soul again. There wasn't much time.
A burning pulse shot through her whole body. Gura's eyes shot open, now a crimson red. They faded back to blue after a moment, but she'd found what she needed to.
Deep inside her mind, the memories of her slaughtering her parents played on a loop. If she gazed into them for long enough, her Primal instincts would be awakened. The raw emotional rage, her seemingly insatiable hunger, the raging bloodlust pumping in her heart, it was all of the things she needed to go Primal.
Emersyn and the rubble continued to fade into view. She was almost out of time.
"This is going to fucking suck…" Gura mumbled to herself. She dug into the memories until the burning pulse shot through her once again. She dug even deeper, letting the pulsing grow in pace and intensity. Faster and stronger the pulsing became, until it was nearly constant.
Gura felt the water around her begin moving. She was out of time. Hopefully, this will be enough.
And hopefully she can control it.
Her eyes shot open, red creeping in on the edges of her vision. Emersyn held up her broken katana in a vague attempt to block the falling rubble. It crashed down on top of her.
Dust and debris coated the area around them. The only thing that Emersyn could see was two glowing, red eyes. Gura tried to hold up the large piece of rubble above her while also maintaining control. She threw it away and smashed the rubble pining Emersyn to the ground into dust.
"GO!" she screamed at the other woman. Emersyn knew better than to question an apex predator in her natural habitat. On the surface, she could match and maybe even beat Gura's Primal instincts. But in the ocean, it wouldn't even be a fight. She would be dead before she even knew what hit her.
Emersyn pushed off with her good leg and tried to get out from the crumbling building. More debris came raining down. Gura rushed up to intercept it, punching, kicking, stabbing, all of it into tiny chunks and dust. Emersyn tried her best to avoid any pieces that snuck through. If any of them hit her, the weakened barrier would break, inviting the entire ocean to crush her under its weight.
Slowly but surely, the duo made their way out. Once Gura saw Emersyn successfully reach a safe area, she darted away. She couldn't risk being around her in case she lost control. The edges of her vision were beginning to fade into a red haze.
So instead of accompanying Emersyn, she was going to find Ina. She needed to know what was happening and the Priestess could handle her if she went full Primal in this situation. Hopefully…
Gura swam in the direction the vibrations were coming from and reached the large center building. Somewhere underneath it was the source of the violent rumblings. Ina was probably attempting to brute force her way out. The rumbling grew stronger with one last massive tremor before a massive purple tentacle tore its way out from under the building.
It was the largest tentacle Gura had ever seen Ina summon. It was larger than some of the buildings in Atlantis. It squirmed around, knocking the tops off of several buildings. Gura was thankful she was a good distance above it all.
Eventually, the tentacle retracted back into the hole it had created. Gura caught the sight of a purple glow inside the hole. Ina was attempting to make her way out.
The center building began to shift. Ina had damaged the foundation too much in her escape. It was going to come down. Ina wasn't going to get out in time. She was too tired from using so much magic.
Gura dashed in as fast as she could. A sensation filled her she hadn't felt in a long time. Time slowed around her. She approached Ina slower and slower.
When in a high intensity situation, people experience time slowing around them. Their senses feed them information, trying to let them make the best decision they can in the limited time they have. Atlanteans were obviously similar enough to humans that they experienced this sensation, too.
Gura knew she wasn't going to make it out of the way before she even reached Ina. If she wanted to move Ina fast enough, she was going to need to hit her out of the way.
"INA! BLOCK!" she screamed, coming in like a missile. The building was nearly on top of them. Ina did what Gura told her to do and brought up a tentacle to defend herself. Gura hit her with the trident, using it like a baseball bat.
Ina was propelled just fast enough to get out before the building totally collapsed. Gura slowed the best she could to avoid running into the building. She tried to redirect herself into the hole Ina had created, but she just had too much speed. The building was nearly on top of her.
A sudden impact from behind her fixed that problem, though. Gura was sent tumbling into the hole, only catching a few glimpses of what had hit her.
Emersyn smiled at her while the building collapsed on top of her.
Gura screamed the entire way down, only stopping once her vision went black.
The dark waters of her mind came into focus. Primal Gura didn't make a grand entrance this time, instead electing to just float next to her. They both waited in silence for the other to say something first. Gura would break first.
"Why would she do that?" she asked. It was a completely futile question, but she needed to ask it.
"Because she cares about you, dork." Primal Gura was more gentle with her language this time around. The situation was delicate.
"She should've just gotten out of here when she had the chance…" Gura curled up into a ball and slowly spun around in place. The coldness of the waters around her really began to seep into her body.
"Like hell she would. Protecting you and Ina is the only thing on her mind 24/7. She would never just leave you guys." Gura suddenly unfurled herself and grabbed Primal Gura's shoulders, actually managing to surprise her other self.
"Please tell me that you took control when I passed out! That you saved her from the rubble. That she's ok…" Gura's sudden burst of energy faded as quickly as it came. She began to sob uncontrollably. Primal Gura held her close and stroked her hair. She was whatever Gura wanted her to be and right now, she wanted comfort.
"I'm so sorry…"
It was several minutes later when Gura was finally able to control herself. She slowly brought herself out of Primal Gura's embrace. The waters around them began to brighten.
"It's time for me to go again…" she said depressingly. Primal Gura could only muster a sad smile.
"Actually, there might be a way for you to help her!" Primal Gura suddenly perked up. This obviously caught Gura's attention. "Use the trident. Try to channel Water magic through it!" Gura felt her hand gripping a trident she couldn't see. Her real body was still holding it.
"This is going to hurt like a bitch…" Gura pulled herself out of her own mind and let her screaming resume. She was planted on the bottom of the hole, holding her trident above her. She didn't know where Emersyn was, so she would have to displace the water in any place she could be.
She felt the pressure of trillions of tons of water pressing on her. The red haze began to descend again, as Gura tried to pull her Primal instincts back out to help her. Slowly, she felt the water being moved by her own power. The trident glowled a brilliant blue, blinding her to what was occurring above her. She kept pushing and pushing, all for Emersyn's sake. She only hoped that she wasn't too late.
The pressure became too great to push against, causing her grip to slip. She fought back against the force and was able to stop it. However, the pressure soon became too much to bear again and the pressure won out. The water came crashing back in, creating a massive explosion.
Everything around her was shaking. Her hearing had gone out a long time ago and her vision was beginning to fade again. She knew she wouldn't meet with Primal Gura this time.
Just as her vision turned black. She saw a large piece of rubble fall directly on top of her.
"I-I-I'm s-sorr-rry, e-ever-r-y-yo-n-ne…" she wheezed out.
Ina watched from the outside as Emersyn darted under the building to save Gura. She couldn't stop her or save her, so she was forced to watch as the building collapsed on top of her. The only thing she could do was increase the strength of her barrier to the max. However, she lacked the magic to make it strong enough. She felt the barrier giving way as tons of coral and metal poured down on top of her manager.
"AO-chan, don't you dare let her die!" she commanded her patron. The Ancient Ones stayed silent. Ina continued to give it everything she had, feeling the control slip away from her by the second. She struggled to make her way into the rubble to reach Emersyn. She knew where she was located in the pile, but focusing on keeping the barrier as strong as she could possibly make it and pushing heavy pieces of coral and metal out of the way was easier said than done.
She summoned two tentacles to help her with the task and continued to dig. The barrier took a large hit, nearly breaking. Ina stopped moving and focused entirely on keeping it stable. Another one of those, and Emersyn was going to be crushed by the pressure instantly.
After a couple more agonizing minutes, Ina was cut a break. The water pressure on Emersyn's barrier suddenly lessened to nothing. Ina was initially confused, but the bubble of air soon reached her, too. She quickly understood that it was Gura's doing, but she didn't know how long she had. A cavitation bubble of this size was going to be like a small nuclear blast.
She turned her barrier and Emersyn's down to the minimum and began to dig through the rubble as fast as she could. Dozens of tentacles all ripped into the rubbled around her, all trying to reach Emersyn just below them.
The air bubble collapsed suddenly, but caught itself just before it hit Ina. Gura was struggling to keep it open.
Faster.
Faster!
FASTER!
Ina tore away the final piece of rubble and grabbed Emeryn's limp body. The bubble collapsed completely this time. Ina put a barrier around herself and Emersyn and made it as strong as her mind and body could bear. The bubble imploded and threw them up into the water, spinning end over end.
Ina slowly regained control of herself and stopped the spinning. She then used tentacles to correct her speed and bring herself to a stop. She let the barrier fade to a still strong, but lower intensity and looked down at Atlantis.
Her and Emersyn had been thrown at least half a mile above the city. Ina knew the surface was close by, but she didn't know if she would be able to get back in. Should she leave Emersyn here?
'The Atlantean is gone, Priestess,' the Ancient Ones finally decided to speak. Ina gritted her teeth.
"You don't know that," she said in defiance.
'Take the human back up to the surface and recover enough magic to teleport.'
"Absolutely not! I won't just leave Gura down there alone!" Ina swam back down to Atlantis as fast as she dared. The Ancient Ones continued to tell her to leave, but she ignored them. Thankfully, she hadn't left the cloaking barrier and reached the city.
Every building within a quarter mile of the blast had been leveled. Any large building beyond that had been mostly destroyed. The only things left of the once brilliant, shiny city were the small buildings along the outskirts. It pained Ina to see such devastation.
With Emersyn still in her arms, she landed on the ocean floor and searched for a way down the massive hole. It had been plugged by the debris, but there were still large enough gaps to fit through. She hates putting Emersyn in danger like this, but she couldn't just leave her and risk the barrier dropping.
"I know you would want me to leave you, but I won't," she said to the unconscious woman. She squeezed through the rubble, making her way deeper and deeper into the hole. Eventually, the gaps in the debris became too small to fit herself and Emersyn through. She resorted to digging. After a few more minutes of praying under her breath, she saw three prongs of a trident sticking through a piece of rubble.
She tried to pull it off, but it was rooted in place. Instead, she carefully moved the rubble around it to get underneath. The sight she was met with was the greatest thing she'd ever seen.
Gura was unconscious on her back, with her trident raised above her in the water. Somehow, she had stabbed through the rubble that was going to crush her and created a shield for herself. It was a miracle, but then again, what hadn't been so far.
She slowly pulled Gura out from her resting place with a tentacle. Other tentacles worked on freeing the trident from the rubble it was stuck in. Slowly, she was able to free Gura's unconscious form and bring her back up to the ocean floor.
Ina immediately collapsed from exhaustion, all of the adrenaline having left her body. The only strength she still had went to maintaining the barrier around her and Emersyn. She felt the natural buoyancy of the thin layer of air in the barrier begin to over power her weight. They all began to float up to the surface of the ocean.
Around half way there, Ina had regained enough strength to help speed the process along. All three of them reached the surface in, more or less, one piece. Ina began to conserve her magic, letting the barrier completely dissipate. She could have sworn that she heard Emersyn mumble, "I hate the ocean," when the water washed over them.
Ina floated with Gura and Emersyn for a long while, listening to the Ancient Ones tell her how stupid she had just been. She wanted to tell them off, but honestly she was just glad to still hear them. Everyone was still alive.
After an hour, or a few, Ina felt that she could finally teleport them out of there. With one last glance at both of them, they disappeared from the ocean in a cloud of purple mist.
To say that Hololive English HQ was in a panic would be an understatement. Once Ina, Gura, and Emersyn all teleported back, along with a few hundred gallons of seawater, no one stopped working for a full 48 hours. Only quick power naps kept the employees from being killed by the workload.
It was so bad that even the main Japanese branch got involved for a bit, sending more manpower to help ease the burden.
But eventually, both Emersyn and Gura were in stable condition and all the salt had been cleaned up.
Ina slept for an entire day after she got back. Her bed was soaked with water since she hadn't even taken the time to dry herself off. She only gave the workers enough information to go on and went upstairs.
Gura and Emersyn slept for a little longer, however. Gura's natural regeneration was stronger than a human's. Combine that with a bit of magic sludge that Ina cooked up, she was awake after only two days.
Emersyn, on the other hand, was still unconscious. She was basically in a coma with half her ribs crushed, one arm completely shattered, and a broken femur. A fracture in her collar bone and pelvis made the situation even more delicate. Even the best doctors were only giving her a fifty-fifty chance to live.
But Gura and Ina both knew that Emersyn was stronger than that. There was no force in the universe that would be able to make her pass on before she checked on her girls. All they could do, though, was wait.
Gura helped Ina translate what remained of the recipe for the super-nutrient food. Ina tried her best to restore it, but there was very little left after all was said and done. Their main source of information would have to be the two vials of the stuff they had recovered.
Eventually, they both decided to give one vial to Emersyn to speed up her recovery. They broke it and poured its contents into the saline bag that drip-fed into her arm. It seemed to improve her condition, with the doctors now giving her a seventy percent chance to live.
The other vial, Ina studied hard. She tried to break it down into its base components and understand what the process was to put them back together. It was going to be a long road ahead of them, especially since the super-nutrient food required Pure Flow.
When she had discovered that, she looked at Amelia's time watch. A blue glow seeped from the cracks in the frame and glass. Ina's intense use of magic had caused the Droplet to become slightly corrupted. The Ancient Ones had used up the remaining amount they had saved to remove that corruption. They would need to find a substitute if they wanted to make any more super-nutrient food.
But the most troubling thing of all, was that Amelia, Calliope, and Kiara hadn't returned yet.
After three days, there was not a single sign of them anywhere in the world. It was like they had flown off and vanished into thin air.
It scared Ina and Gura to their cores. They hoped for the best, but deep down, expected the worst.
"Please… come back, Ame…" Gura mumbled, as she cried herself to sleep.
Author's Note: It's back! Hopefully that week break in between chapters wasn't too long because you'll have to get used to it.
This was an absolute roller coaster of a chapter. Dozens of life threatening situations narrowly avoided by sheer force of will and dedication to your friends. One may ask, "How did Emersyn catch up to Gura that quickly?" and to that I say, "Will power, baby!".
Honestly, this was so fun to write. I enjoyed the heck out of showing off there cool powers. Gura can use Water magic with her trident and Ina has some interesting incantations. I actually have a list of what each phrase does for a spell. She doesn't have to use them, but it makes her magic stronger if she does.
There was a time when I didn't want to include the Ina section at the beginning, but I am so glad I did. I think these defenses are more developed than the Hatchery's soley because I liked writing this more. The nuance to Gura's past is only just starting and I think you all will enjoy what I have planned for it in the future.
Emersyn's sacrifice was originally going to be permanent, but I decided to let her stick around. The group does need someone to take care of them and I didn't really expect to enjoy her character so much. In terms of the story, it means that Myth are going to have someone helping them from above. It also lets me have some interesting interactions in future parts. (I can't wait to show you what I have planned for IRyS)
Next Chapter: The Underworld
Any feedback/criticism is appreciated!