Azure flames licked hungrily around Rex as he dodged to the side, avoiding Morag's opening strike. He didn't bother attempting to block, having already seen exactly how well that worked the last time they fought.
The Whipswords had barely impacted the ground before Morag lashed them sideways, following after the boy. One low, the other high, they were perfectly angled to prevent him from dodging. If he ducked under the high strike, he would put himself in the path of the low one, and the reverse would be true if he jumped as well.
He did neither, instead tilting the Aegis Sword into a vertical guard and slashing out along the path of the whips, pushing them away from him while keeping the exotic weapons from entangling his blade as they had last time.
A metallic object raced past him as he slid to a stop, a boom biter fired from Tora's Drill Shield courtesy of Poppi, aimed right for the Special Inquisitor. The woman barely even took notice of the projectile, her Blade smoothly stepping in and stopping the attack with a barrier.
While Brighid handled the explosive, Morag wheeled around, whips still deployed, as she gathered momentum and ether for her next Art. She whirred the mainhand whip above her head as she spun around, brilliant flames burning from the segments as they accumulated power.
She lashed the whips out with a flick, sending a wave of fire racing toward the party. Rex and Nia leapt out of the way, barely avoiding the attack, while Poppi stood firm. Shield held in front of her, the blaze washed over her metallic form and broke, with not so much as a single ember scorching the Nopon behind her.
Nia rolled out of her dodge into a three-point stance, immediately calling out to her companion. "Rex! Around the sides!" She directed, before taking off toward the Ardainian woman in a full-out sprint.
The boy reflexively looked up from where he had landed at the sound of his name, but upon seeing the Gormotti girl charging the Special Inquisitor followed suit. Rather than charge directly at the woman, he instead circled around, intent on approaching her from the flanks.
Morag's Blade, seeing him approaching, spun around to face him, a pair of fireballs dancing in her grip as she prepared to intercept the boy. With an almost lazy throw, she tossed one of them into his path as a warning.
Despite the small size of the fireball and how quickly the Blade had generated it, the resulting blast was surprisingly large, enveloping Rex even as he skirted a half-dozen peds from its point of impact. The boy vanished from her view for a brief moment, obscured by the roaring flames.
A mere moment later, he appeared once again, leaping out of the fireball with the Aegis Sword arched over his right shoulder for a powerful swing. Light ether surged from the blade, the brilliant corona leaving a glowing trail in its wake.
He lashed out in nearly perfect timing with Nia, a move that was more coincidence than planning, but beneficial none the less. Against nearly any opponent, such fortunate timing would have prevented a Driver and Blade from acting as one.
Yet against a pair of opponents as skilled as Morag and Brighid, it wasn't nearly enough.
Morag brought her Whipswords up, slashing them out against the inward strike of Nia's rings. The Gormotti girl's momentum was immediately halted by the block, and before she could so much as consider how to respond, the older woman headbutted the girl in the chin, using the elongated crest of her helmet to easily reach her opponent.
Her Blade, meanwhile, had a more simple response to the attack against her. As the Aegis Sword swept down toward her, she raised her empty hand and projected a barrier in front of her. Rex, stuck mid-air, could do nothing but curse as his strike struck the barrier and was subsequently repelled, sending the boy flying backward.
Brighid only emphasized this misstep by firing the flames gathered in her other hand as a beam of heat, tracing it across his side. It wasn't a particularly focused attack, especially considering the degree to which his skin had been reinforced by ether, but it was still more than enough to leave superficial burns across the skin of his arm.
"Titan's foot!" Rex spat as he landed, stumbling lightly from the awkward angle but still managing to keep upright.
He felt like kicking himself after that exchange. In their last bout, the Special Inquisitor had outmatched him so badly that she had taken him down in three moves—why did he think her Blade would be any less capable!?
"Incoming!" Tora yelled, desperately hanging on to his Drill Shield—drill deployed—as he literally rocketed toward the Ardainian Driver team, Poppi trailing close behind.
Morag barely spared the Nopon a glance as Brighid turned to face him, instead gathering ether for another attack on Nia. The fire Blade raised an arm, obviously preparing another barrier for Tora.
Pointing his sword at her, Rex fired off a bolt of light ether. It wasn't his Sword Blast Art, just one of the simple elemental attacks he had been using since the Ancient Ship, but he wasn't concerned about how damaging the attack was, just its ability to draw Brighid's attention away from the incoming Nopon missile.
The bolt crossed the chamber in an instant, striking the fire Blade in the side. It was clear to Rex that she had seen the attack—her eyes had widened as he aimed the sword at her—yet she took no action to stop it, instead accepting the lesser injury in order to stop the greater threat.
She flinched at the impact as the bolt of light burned the flesh exposed by her backless dress, yet she didn't waver as she projected a barrier to stop Tora. The Nopon came flying in, drill aimed at the fire Blade's stomach, only to be stopped cold by Brighid's barrier.
"My Lady!" Rex heard Dromarch cry from the far end of the room as the Special Inquisitor hit Nia with a pair of burning strikes from her Whipswords. The Gormotti girl skidded across the floor of the cavern, barely keeping her footing as she brushed embers off the shoulder of her jumpsuit.
"Damn it…" The girl hissed, wincing as her fingers brushed against a patch of burned skin. "We're not getting anywhere just attacking randomly!"
Morag flicked her swords, retracting the blades back into their solid configuration, as she turned to face Rex and Tora. "I daresay you won't." The woman replied, almost disappointed. "But, I do not think you would make any more progress even if you were coordinating."
Flames rolled across the blades of her Whipswords as she took a step forward. "I was expecting more from the Driver of the Aegis, you know." She stated, her eyes boring down at the boy. "You have been quite adamant about not cooperating, yet for all of your eagerness to put up a fight, you lack the strength to back up your insistence."
She rushed forward, both swords held to one side, as she lunged at Rex. The boy brought his blade up into a guard, only to be thrown back as the blow landed, a wave of heat washing over him as the flames coating the weapons dispersed.
Rex stumbled back, struggling to keep his footing. The Special Inquisitor gave him no chance to prepare himself, rushing forward again with a single horizontal slash. He blocked it, holding the Aegis Sword across his chest, as he did with the second blow, but was unable to counterattack as it was followed by a third, a fourth, and a fifth.
Behind her, Rex could see Nia tangling with Brighid, the fire Blade elegantly weaving between the girl's strikes. A halo of will-o-the-wisps circled her as she danced around the Gormotti Driver, occasionally launching themselves off at her when there was a gap in her guard. Dromarch was doing an admirable job sniping them out of the air with finger-thin jets of water when he had the chance, but so long as he was stuck keeping Sheba in place, there was little the water Blade could do to assist his Driver.
As the Special Inquisitor prepared to launch her sixth strike, an underhand swing intended to knock his blade out of position, she wheeled about, throwing her swords into a crossed guard just in time to stop a flanking attack by Tora. The blades deployed from the sides of the Drill Shield were stopped cold by the Ardainian woman.
With little more than a grunt of exertion, the Special Inquisitor pushed back against the Nopon, shoving him backward. As she did, the whine of Poppi's rockets filled the chamber as the artificial Blade flew over her creator, a fist pulled back to strike.
Morag rolled beneath the blow, deploying the blade of her mainhand sword into a whip in a single, smooth motion. She glanced over at Poppi as the mechanical girl twisted about in mid-air with an appraising look on her face, before lashing the whip out.
Poppi grasped at her neck in surprise as the burning whip wrapped around it. While she was unable to feel pain, the sudden effect it had on her trajectory was immediately noticeable. With a motion that looked almost like a flourish, the Special Inquisitor spun the weapon around her head in a single, full rotation before flicking it to the side.
The artificial Blade was dragged along, struggling to reorient her thrusters to counteract Morag, before the flick of the whip caused the weapon to suddenly withdraw. She careened through the air on that final trajectory, slamming into Nia, who had not seen her coming and sending the both of them tumbling into the wall of the cave.
"Nia! Poppi!" Rex called out in alarm, looking over at where the two had landed. They seemed to be okay, Nia already trying to push Poppi off of her, while the mechanical girl was extracting her arm from under the Gormotti's back.
Sighing with relief, Rex turned to look at Morag, who hadn't moved from her spot. She held her weapons in a ready position, and was giving him a challenging look, but seemed to be gauging him rather than preparing to fight.
It suited him just fine. With a battle cry, he rushed forward, the Aegis Sword trailing at his side as he gathered ether for an Art. Even as he approached, the woman made no move to guard, simply staring at him impassively.
He spun his body, leading the sword toward the Special Inquisitor as he did. A trail of light ether followed in the energy blade's wake as the first strike swung in to hit her, aimed for her center mass.
Yet it did nothing. At the last moment, Morag reversed the grip on her mainhand Whipsword and held it tight against her arm. The Aegis Sword struck the blade and was guided up along it toward a safer trajectory, dealing no damage to the woman besides cleaving the extended crown from the top of her helmet.
Rex never even had the opportunity to reign the weapon in, as the Ardainian followed up by kicking him in the chest, sending him sprawling back. To ensure he stayed that way, her offhand whip struck him across the torso as he fell, slicing and burning his wetsuit in equal measure.
The boy rolled across the ground, his sword falling from his hand as he skidded to a stop. Behind him, he could hear Tora call his name in alarm, the Nopon presumably preparing to charge in himself.
"Stay down, boy." Morag said, taking a step toward him. "There is no point in fighting any further."
"No point?" He muttered, pushing himself upright. "Then why won't you just let us go!?" He grabbed the Aegis Sword, which had fallen just beside him, and used it to push himself to his feet.
Taking another step forward, the Ardainian answered, "I told you before; you are in possession of crucial information. It would be negligent for me to stand aside and let you leave so long as that is the case."
Behind her, Rex could see that Nia and Poppi had gotten to their feet as well. A glowing halo of healing ether floated around the Gormotti girl as she slowly stalked around Brighid, and while the healing Art had done nothing for Poppi, it was clear her crash landing had done little to damage her in the first place.
"Cease this foolishness, and perhaps we can-" Morag was cut off as Tora charged in again, spinning his shield around with the rim-mounted blades deployed.
"Bully soldier not hurt Rex-Rex!" The Nopon cried, lashing out with his weapon. His strike was easily parried by the Special Inquisitor, catching the blades with a single Whipsword and flicking the shield upward, but his small size made it difficult to hit him with a follow-up attack.
Her first strike was too high, grazing the fluff atop his head but doing little beyond that, while the second was too shallow, the springy Nopon bouncing out of range the moment he landed. The third, a thrust aiming to stop him from bringing his Drill Shield back under control, was stopped with a resounding clang as Poppi placed herself in front of her Driver at the last moment.
The mechanical girl grabbed the weapon halfway down the blade, pulling it from the Ardainian's grip, before throwing a punch at the Special Inquisitor. The woman sidestepped the blow, disengaging from melee range, while an azure fireball courtesy of Brighid slammed into the side of the artificial Blade's face.
"Hmmm…" Azurda mused from Rex's helmet, watching the fight play out. "That was some very specific wording the Special Inquisitor had there."
Rex wasn't paying attention to him, however. While Poppi kept the Ardainians occupied for a moment, Nia closed the gap between them. Her rings were out, wreathed in the soft glow of water ether, even as she approached, assessing both himself and Tora for injuries.
"Well, you two are certainly looking worse for the wear." She commented, spinning her rings around. A cool wave of healing ether washed over him, the cuts and scrapes from the fights with first Theory, then Morag and Brighid, rapidly pulling themselves closed.
"Thanks." He said, eyeing the current state of the battle. Poppi was giving a good showing, her sheer strength and durability serving as an effective deterrent keeping the Special Inquisitor out of direct melee, but her lack of ranged options without Tora's Drill Shield was leaving her vulnerable to the pair of opponents who did.
"Rex," Azurda began, "I don't think-"
As one of Morag's whips wrapped around the artificial Blade's arm, Rex darted forward, ignoring whatever Azurda had planned to say.
"Theory," Ifor asked, a note of concern in his voice, "can you manage another ice wall?"
Furrowing her brow, the ice Blade's Core Crystal pulsed as she attempted to draw in ether. She could feel the ether in the air being slowly pulled in, stripped of any elemental alignment, and pushed into her reserves to-
She stumbled, her equilibrium disrupted, as her stomach roiled violently. Her Core Crystal immediately dumped what little ether she had tried to gather, her internal reserves rejecting the addition of any more as they struggled to properly circulate what ether was already flowing within her.
Were her Driver nearby, recovering from her overuse of ether would have been a trivial matter; merely circulating her ether flow along an affinity link for a minute or two would have her back in peak condition. But with her Driver off-Titan…
Praxis caught her as she fell, letting the smaller Blade lean against her as they continued to run. "No good?" She asked, a look of concern on her face.
"…No good." Theory replied, struggling to keep the bile down. It was bad enough to have such harsh limits on ether use without her Driver present, but did it always have to make her feel like she was going to throw up?
"Shit." The Gormotti man cursed, leading them down the tunnels toward the dock. "We won't have a lot of time to cast off with them on our tails." He muttered, snaking around a portion of the tunnel that had collapsed during the Ardainian's entrance.
"I can erode the ceiling of the tunnel behind us!" Praxis cut in, raising a hand behind her. "That should slow them down a bit!"
He glanced up at the ceiling, giving it an appraising look. There were deep cracks running through it—more signs of the Ardainian's tearing their way into the hideout. It wouldn't take much to collapse it under these circumstances, but with the structural damage, there was a good chance it could take them out along with it.
A beam of dark ether raked the wall above Praxis' head, the rock dissolving beneath it. The soldiers were gaining on them.
"Do it." He commanded, scooping Theory up in a princess carry to allow his Blade to work. "Damn the risk; it's over if they catch us."
Praxis grabbed her Megalance from Ifor's back, spinning it as she gathered ether. Bubbles of water ether trailed the spearhead as she thrust it upward, piercing the stone, and released a torrent of water.
The cracks that ran through the ceiling burst apart into great fissures, a deep rumbling echoing through the stone. Jets of compressed water shot out of the spreading faults, a prelude to the collapse that followed.
Behind them, the Ardainian Driver Squad cried in alarm as a sizable portion of the tunnel collapsed. It was impossible to see how close they had been to the cave-in, but Praxis suspected that they had managed to keep clear.
She kept her lance dug into the rock for several seconds as she ran, pumping the last of the conjured water into the stone. The more she put into it, the harder it would be for their pursuers to follow them.
Of course, it wasn't all to their benefit; while she had been directing the blast behind her, the cracks along the ceiling ran both ways. The roof of the tunnel above them groaned ominously as the rock shifted, threatening to collapse on them as well.
Chunks of rock and dirt showered the tunnel as the walls began to slump, but they were able to keep ahead of the destabilizing earth. Praxis winced as she watched the cracks spread rapidly through the walls—she had definitely overdone it.
"Hurry!" Ifor commanded, barely slowing as he took a ninety-degree turn around a bend in the tunnel. "That'll keep them distracted for a short time, but they obviously have an earth manipulator with them! I'll give it five minutes at most before they're back on our-!"
A fierce rumble rocked the cavern as the wall a few peds in front of them, a section that switchbacked along the previous stretch of tunnel, began to twist unnaturally, the distinctive glow of earth ether suffusing it. Praxis looked over to her Driver as they ran past, a skeptical look on her face. "You were saying?"
He didn't grace the water Blade with an answer, instead increasing his stride to put more space between them and the Ardainians. "Wash out the next intersection." He commanded. "It'll make it harder for them to follow us if they can't see which tunnel has been in use."
"Can do, boss." She replied, already gathering more ether.
The intersection quickly came into view—an irregular little chamber where the path forked off in two directions. In theory, it was an ideal place to lose their pursuers; the tunnel down to the dock was substantially more narrow than the unused passage, which corkscrewed for around a hundred peds before abruptly emptying into the Cloud Sea.
They had kept the latter passage sealed off for the duration of their stay in the hideout, but even with the partition used to block it off removed, the dust that had accumulated at the base was a clear indication it was the wrong path, especially when coupled with the obviously worn stone of the tunnel leading to the dock.
Until Praxis worked her magic, at least. She slid to a quick stop in the center of the intersection, ether lines aglow as she pointed her lance at the ground. Spinning on her heel, the Blade released a hypercompressed jet of conjured water from the weapon, scouring the top layer of the stone from the ground in a spiral pattern. All signs of use or lack thereof vanished as accumulated dust and worn stone were stripped from the entrances to all three tunnels that converged there.
She spun her lance in her hands as she finished, a pleased look on her face. "There!" She declared, looking over to her Driver. "Pretty good, if I do say so mysel-"
A bolt of dark ether slammed into her shoulder, eating away at the solidified ether that composed her flesh. The water Blade screamed, as much in surprise as pain, as she turned to see one of the Ardainian soldiers at the end of the tunnel they had just exited, an Ether Cannon aimed directly at her.
"Move!" Ifor yelled, booking it toward the docks, less than fifty peds down the tunnel now. "We can hold them off at the entrance to the docks!"
He looked down at the ice Blade in his arms, who was still looking disoriented. "Theory, think you can stand?" He asked.
The ice Blade nodded. "I-I can manage." She replied. "Do you want me to get the ship ready for launch?"
"Yes." He confirmed, placing the girl down. "Don't wait for us; just cast off. We'll jump on as soon as you start to move."
Praxis came to a halt beside him, handing her lance over to the Gormotti man. "Don't worry about us, Theory," the water Blade reassured. "We can hold off a couple of Ardainian mooks for a few minutes."
Shouting could be heard from the far end of the tunnel as the Driver squad approached. Ifor stood at the entrance to the dock, lance held in an offensive position, as Praxis stood beside him, ready to project a barrier.
Theory gave them a single look before running toward the docked ship, stumbling unsteadily as her stomach protested her movement. Behind her, she heard the sound of a melee attack deflecting off of a Blade barrier, a clear sign the Ardainians had caught up to them.
She nearly collapsed against the hull as she reached the ship, grabbing the frame of the cargo door to keep herself steady. Pushing on, she threw a lever on the control console beside the hatch. The cargo door began to grind closed behind her, dampening the noise of her sister Blade and the boss desperately keeping the soldiers at bay.
There was an entrance into the interior of the ship near the back of the hold, opening into the engineering compartment of the vessel. Theory had never understood why their ship had such an odd design, but it was certainly inconvenient at the moment; if the cargo hold was accessible directly from the crew compartment, it would shave a full forty seconds off her task, time that she could ill-afford to waste right now.
Navigating the engineering compartment under the best conditions was inconvenient. Much of the lower section, where the entrance from the cargo hold was located, was taken up by oxygen storage for travel beneath the Cloud Sea. There were several staircases, narrow and steep, that lead to the upper catwalk. From there, it was a straight shot to the door into the rest of the ship, even the handful of mechanisms hanging into the catwalk barely an obstacle.
Theory barreled through the door into the crew compartment, cutting through the galley to the ramp leading to the helm. It was a fairly simple setup—a series of levers controlling mechanisms that would prod the Titan the vessel was built around to move. It wasn't nearly as efficient as the Ardainian setup, where the controls were connected directly to the Titan's nervous system, but it was close to the best available on the Urayan civilian market.
Without even bothering to take a seat, she leaned over and pulled the lever commanding the Titan to dive to its one-quarter position, telling the creature that she wanted a relatively gradual departure. She hoped that it would give Praxis and Ifor enough time to get on board before the ship dropped out of the cave.
Of course, she wasn't going to leave that to chance. Before she even felt the vessel begin to shift, the ice Blade rushed up the next flight of stairs towards the main hatch. In such poor condition, she couldn't help the battle, but she could at least alert her allies that it was time to go.
She spun the wheel on the hatch and pushed it outward before rushing onto the deck, getting a clear view of the battle. Ifor had been pushed out of the entrance to the tunnel and into the narrow strip of ground beside the ship. He was fighting a woman using a variant of the Knuckle Claw family of weapons, extending halfway to the elbow with a barrel that looked concerningly like it belonged to an Ether Cannon affixed to the top.
Praxis, meanwhile, was dealing with a Chroma Katana wielder, easily weaving in between the strikes of a Driver that was substantially slower than Theory. The ice Blade wasn't concerned about her sister Blade, knowing she was well-practiced against the weapon class.
Two more Ardainians were standing back, one using a rod-type weapon to keep his allies healed, while the fourth was trying to aim a bulky Ether Cannon wreathed with dark ether in the narrow confines of the tunnel leading to the docks.
"Get on-board!" Theory yelled, only half-way out of the ship.
Her allies needed no further prompting. Ifor batted aside a jab from his opponent before planting a boot on her chest and giving a solid kick, while Praxis deflected a draw from hers with a barrier before spraying a wave of ether-charged bubbles to cover her withdrawal.
The deck of the ship was nearly level with the ground as they reached the vessel, Praxis just barely beating her Driver there. Theory grabbed her arm, pulling the water Blade inside, and reached out to grab the Gormotti man as well.
He reached out to take the offered hand, scrabbling across the gangplank as he hurried to escape the Ardainians.
A harsh fluctuation in the ether levels of the cave was all the warning either of them received before a considerable portion of the Gormotti Driver's chest vanished, eaten away in an instant by a harsh burst of dark ether. Ifor's eyes widened as he let out a hollow gasp, his body attempting to pull air into lungs that no longer existed.
"No!" Theory cried as the man crumpled to the deck, momentum carrying him past her and over the other side of the vessel. Her head whipped to the side as she reached out to grab his ankle, hoping to do something, anything, to save Praxis' Driver.
But there was nothing. The man was already dead, and his body already out of reach. She could do nothing but watch as his limp form fell beneath the ship and into the Cloud Sea below.
"Theory…?" She heard Praxis call behind her. Desperately, she turned her head to face the other girl, her doomed sister Blade.
Praxis was wreathed in glowing motes of ether, looking down at her hands in confusion. "What is this?" The water Blade asked in growing horror, almost rejecting what she knew to be happening. "Ifor…! What happened to my…!"
And with that, she was gone. There was a horrible sound, like a reel of wire unraveling, as Praxis, a Blade so close to her that they considered each other sisters in every way that mattered, vanished into a cloud of ether. She stared in shock as the motes of cyan light faded away, and a Core Crystal, dull, black, and devoid of light, clattered to the floor.
"No…" She whispered, strength leaving her legs as she collapsed to the ground beside her sister's inactive core. This… it wasn't supposed to end like this. They were supposed to capture the Aegis! Return to the rest of the group victorious, ready for the next job! The boss had been cooking up even more audacious heists—even plans to raid Indol itself!
They were… Praxis was… supposed to live.
She could hear shouting above her, the tinny voices calling from the increasingly distant lip of the cave floor for her to stop the ship and surrender.
Ardainian voices. The ones that killed Ifor and Praxis.
Theory was still in no condition to gather more ether. She was so far beyond her tolerance that her last attempt had debilitated her. Yet, in this moment, as her ether lines burned with power, she couldn't bring herself to care. The nausea, the disorientation, the threat of ether flow stagnation… all of those were secondary concerns.
She stood up, glaring at the quartet of Drivers, and placed a hand of the hilt of her katana. The only thing that mattered to Theory was that she make them pay for taking her sister from her.
With a single, smooth motion, an instinct the Blade had been born with, and cultivated a thousand times since, she pulled her sword from its sheath faster than the eye could track, and unleashed a blizzard of fury and sorrow upon her foes.
Rex charged forward, intent on engaging the Special Inquisitor once again. In his peripheral vision, he could see Nia and Tora following suit, the Gormotti girl swinging around to the side, while the Nopon followed in his wake.
Morag was using her whips to keep her at a more easily controllable range, using the artificial Blade's own momentum to throw her around whenever she attempted to attack while slowly wearing her down.
Tora did not take kindly to this treatment of his Blade, kicking on the thrusters attached to his Drill Shield and rocketing in at the Special Inquisitor. Rex was barely able to dodge out of the way of the Nopon as he shot forward with next to no warning.
Seeing him approach, the Ardainian woman pulled the whip currently wrapped around Poppi's arm, pulling her into the path of her Driver's attack. The Nopon looked on in shock as he barreled forward, quickly retracting the Drill and cutting power to the shield's thrusters. "Poppi, look out!" He cried.
Poppi's feet skidded against the cave floor, trying to bring herself to a stop, but the thin coat of dirt carpeting the floor was not exactly cooperative. She managed to keep herself upright, but still ended up in the Nopon's path regardless.
She braced herself as Tora slammed into her, impacting her legs, but thanks to disengaging the thrusters, too slowly to knock her over. Tora slammed into the back of the shield as it came to an abrupt stop, letting out a pained wheeze as he bounced off the surface and rolled back across the floor.
"Masterpon!" Poppi called, hurrying over to check his condition. The striped Nopon was already pushing himself to his feet, muttering reassurances to his Blade.
"Tora is fine, Poppi!" He said, sounding a little dizzy. "Nopon super bouncy! Can take hits like champions!"
Rushing past them, Rex and Nia moved in to engage the Special Inquisitor. Morag was only a few peds away, flames wreathing her whips as she prepared to strike Tora and Poppi, while her Blade stood just behind her, ready to step in as required.
Curling his legs mid-stride, Rex prepared to leap at them with an overhead strike, intending to bait Brighid into using a barrier while Nia charged in, only to be surprised as the Gormotti girl beat him to the punch. She leapt past him, Twin Rings glowing with ether, as she aimed a strike at the fire Blade.
Brighid stepped in, projecting a barrier as anticipated. Nia's strike hit the glowing shield and bounced away, knocking the girl back, but Rex was more than happy to take advantage of the opening provided, darting past the fire Blade for her Driver.
Morag lashed her whips out in a cross-slash, the fiery ether of the Art intended for Tora and Poppi rolling across their bladed segments. They covered an area too wide to easily dodge around, and rolling under them would potentially leave him open to a follow-up attack.
So, once again, Rex opted to leap over it. With a flip, he cleared the blazing strike, light ether glowing from his own sword as he brought it back down against the Special Inquisitor. He let out a triumphant battle cry as he drove the sword down, releasing a glowing blast as the weapon struck the ground.
The Special Inquisitor jumped back as he came down, sliding back just out of range of the ether burst. She retracted the whips as she landed, already curling her legs in preparation to leap back into the fight.
No sooner had the light ether dissipated than she did just that, lunging at the boy with both swords pulled to one side. Rex was barely able to get up and bring his sword into a guard as she struck home with enough force to push him back several steps.
She didn't let up, either, immediately unleashing a flurry of blows that pushed the boy to his limits to parry. An overhead strike with the mainhand, followed by a rising offhand blow to knock his weapon out of position. He reigned it in just in time to catch the horizontal double-slash, but was still forced to weave around the mainhand thrust that followed.
A probing slash from her offhand just barely grazed his torso, forcing the boy back a step, but she was prevented from following up by a jet of compressed water courtesy of Nia. The Gormotti girl stepped up beside him, rings at the ready as she stared down the Ardainian woman.
The rock around them shuddered faintly, as if it were shifting some distance from them. Rex's eyes darted upward to check the stability of the ceiling, but the rumbling seemed to have done little more than jostle additional dust loose.
Following the brief pause, Morag launched forward again, aiming strikes at both combatants. Rex caught his with a simple block, while Nia attempted to trap hers between her rings. The woman applied pressure to both blade locks, but couldn't spread nearly the same amount of force in two directions at the same time.
Nia twisted her rings in an attempt to wrench the weapon from the Special Inquisitor's grasp, but the woman allowed the blade of her sword to release into its whip form instead. Pulling her other blade back from Rex, she flicked the whip still caught in the Gormotti girl's weapons.
She hissed as the bladed segments raked against her wrists, her rings not able to control the whips as they had the solid blade. Rex stepped in with a horizontal strike while the Ardainian's attention was on his companion, but found his strike parried regardless.
Morag's whipsword retracted again as she took a half-step back, swords crossed at her sides, almost inviting the duo to attack her. They were happy to oblige, Nia swinging both of her rings forward in a diagonal slash, while Rex brought his sword down in an overhead strike.
The Special Inquisitor slashed up, catching both blows and knocking them aside. Her blades separated back into whips as they reached the apex of their swings, flames rolling across them, before she brought them back down.
Both Rex and Nia were struck across the chests by vertical strikes, knocking the pair back with a surprising amount of force. Rex let out a pained grunt as he stumbled back, crossing his free arm over his chest.
Nia glanced over at him, a look of concern on her face. "Rex!" She hissed, tilting one of her rings slightly inward and spinning it in a vague circle. He immediately understood what she was trying to convey. Glancing down, he grimaced at the condition of his wetsuit.
Considering the amount of abuse it had taken in the fight, he was actually surprised by just how well the material was holding up. The various strikes it had taken had obviously worn away at the garment, but the fire had done surprising little beyond charring the surface. Even most of the gashes that had landed there didn't make it clear what was being concealed.
Still, a sizable portion of the front, just above his heart, was hanging loose. It still covered the Aegis Core Crystal, but it was clear to him that any excessive movement could make it flap into a position that would reveal what lay beneath. Even with it mostly down, he could see the Core's emerald glow faintly reflecting off of the sheen of sweat he had built up over the battle.
He clenched a fist over the material, keeping it closed with his hand. Assuming they made it out of here, he was going to be asking Nia for more advice on keeping his Core Crystal hidden; the higher neckline had been a good start, but he hadn't realized just how much damage his wetsuits were taking until it had become a bigger issue than just the expense of replacing them.
What he needed was something to fill a similar role to the band of armor she wore across her chest. The Flesh Eater had taken just as many hits as he had to the torso, but the tiny slip of metal had worked wonders to keep the strikes from revealing her. He hadn't appreciated just how elegant a solution it was to the problem before now.
Rex adopted a one-handed stance, pointing his sword at the Special Inquisitor. "Any ideas?" He asked, focusing on their opponent. She had tilted her head slightly, seemingly curious about his sudden change in stance, but it was impossible to tell with the helmet she was wearing.
"Poppi suggest friends run." The artificial Blade answered, sliding to a stop next to him. "Friends making no headway against bully Special Inquisitor, and Poppi and Masterpon do no better against Blade Lady."
"T-Tora agree." The Nopon replied, breathing far more heavily than the others. "Fighting wearing Tora out faster than expect."
As they spoke, the fire Blade returned to her Driver's side, keenly looking over the group. Despite that, neither made a move, instead seemingly content to merely observe them for the moment.
Rex looked around, trying to find a way out of their current situation. All of the obvious exits were behind the wall of fire, including the collapsed wall the Inquisitor had used to enter, which Brighid had covered during the opening moves of the fight. The tunnel with the holding cells didn't go anywhere, and he doubted that had changed with the shifting earth.
The only obvious means of escaping would be to get Brighid to drop the wall of fire, and with Dromarch on guard duty and them unable to take on the Special Inquisitor head-to-head, it wasn't a likely proposition.
"Perhaps we should try negotiating with them again." Azurda offered, leaning out of Rex's helmet. "As I was attempting to say before you so rudely interrupted me, from-"
"Lady Morag!" The fire Blade gasped, staring directly at Rex, her eyes open in surprise. "The boy, he's…!"
Her Driver apparently hadn't seen what the Blade had, but upon having it pointed out to her, suddenly went stiff as she saw whatever the other woman was looking at. Rex paled at their behavior, his eyes slowly drifting down to his chest. There was no way they meant what he was thinking; he was holding his wetsuit closed specifically to prevent-!
It was exactly what he had been thinking. Apparently, when he had gripped his wetsuit closed, he hadn't taken the properties of the material into account; while he had managed to keep the loose section from flapping open, suddenly stretching the material taut had enlarged the smaller gashes the battle had torn in it.
That hadn't resulted in a lot of his Core Crystal becoming visible, only a small section of one side where the otherwise rectangular gem briefly widened, but in the dim lighting of the cave, the emerald glow it emitted may as well have been a beacon.
He turned his body to the side, his torso facing away from them, in order to hide it, but the damage was already done. Between that and his usage of a Blade Art during their first encounter, he had little doubt they had pieced together what they were seeing.
"Rex, you moron." Nia sighed, slapping a hand across her face. "I told him, but did he listen?" She muttered under her breath.
Tora, on the other hand, looked up at him, the boy's torso fully facing the Nopon. "Rex-Rex… is Blade?" He asked, eyes wide as he stared at the visible sections of the Core Crystal.
"Well, that certainly explains a number of things." Morag commented, lowering her weapons slightly. "But it raises a number of other questions."
Rex tensed as the woman stared him down, her gas mask doing nothing to lessen the intensity of her gaze. The Special Inquisitor was exactly the sort of person he didn't want figuring out his secret! What was he supposed to do now!?
"I guess there's nothing for it." He muttered, letting go of the loose section of his wetsuit and grasping the Aegis Sword in both hands. "Get ready to run, guys." The boy said to his companions, the ether lines across his body began to glow as he channeled ether into his weapon.
"What do you think you're doing!?" Nia hissed at him, looking at him with an alarmed expression.
"There's no point in me holding back now that they know!" He replied, aiming the point of his blade at the Ardainian Driver. The woman raised her swords again, prepared for the next round of fighting, while her Blade stepped in front of her, ready to raise a barrier if needed. "If I can punch through Brighid's barrier, I might be able to-!"
He was taken by surprise as a sudden burst of flames washed against the nape of his neck. Rex yelped in alarm, slapping a hand to the back of his neck as he spun around to find the source of the attack.
What he found was Azurda, floating in the air with a rather annoyed expression on his face. "Gramps, was that you?" He asked, confused at the Titan's angry demeanor.
"Of course it was!" The old Titan huffed. "How else was I supposed to get your attention when you keep ignoring me!?"
"Gramps, is this really the best time?" He said, giving a furtive glance over his shoulder at the Special Inquisitor. "We're kind of in the middle of a fight here."
"A fight that may be completely unnecessary, you foolish child!" Azurda retorted, glaring at his ward. "I've been trying to tell you that they may be willing to talk, but instead you keep charging back in every time I speak up!"
Rex looked back at the Ardainians for a moment. They had been the ones to attack first, and the Special Inquisitor hadn't exactly been willing to cede the initiative during battle, but they were being surprisingly passive for the most part. Morag could have jumped him the moment he turned around to talk to Gramps, but she was still hanging back, exchanging a quiet conversation with her Blade.
"But… she said that she wouldn't let us leave." He defended, even as he thought over her words.
"After our last encounter, I believe you are in possession of crucial intelligence. So long as that is the case, I cannot allow you to merely leave." That was what she had said earlier, hadn't she? He had been too focused on the last part at the time to notice the conditional nature of the statement.
"Prison? I believe you have misunderstood exactly what I am implying, child." Had been her response when he told her what he assumed she meant. In fact, when he had made further accusations, rather than gloat, she had become almost… frustrated by his words.
While he considered this, Gramps fluttered over to his shoulder, giving the Special Inquisitor a considerate look. "Before we proceed any further, might I ask you a question?" He spoke up. drawing the attention of the Ardainian pair.
It was hard to tell through her helmet, but Morag seemed to turn her attention to the Titan. "Of course," she replied.
"Earlier, you claimed that you could not let us go as long as we possessed the information you seek. Does that mean that, were we to give you that information, we would be free to leave?"
Silence fell over the cavern as he waited for the Special Inquisitor to respond. Nia turned to stare at the Titan, flabbergasted that he was even willing to consider the possibility that the Ardainians would be willing to negotiate. They had spent the better part of the last week hunting them; why would they-!
"Yes, you would." Morag replied after a moment of silence. "There are several conditions we would prefer, but we consider the information you possess critical enough that we are willing to negotiate on those."
Giving the four combatants a look, she added, "Assuming your companions are willing to cease hostilities, of course."
"I… but… what?" Nia sputtered, lowering her rings almost as much in confusion as a willingness to stop fighting.
Rex blinked in surprise, his ether lines dimming as the power faded from them. "You're seriously willing to just… talk?" He asked incredulously. After how the last week had gone, particularly the first encounter he had with them…
"Of course." The woman replied, as if the answer were obvious. "We had intended to offer a peaceful solution when we encountered you, but we didn't expect to find you in such a…" She paused, looking around the now thoroughly wrecked cavern. "Here." The woman amended after a moment's consideration.
Although Rex was more than satisfied by her answer, it only seemed to draw Nia out of her befuddlement and into anger. "If you were willing to just talk, why didn't you say so from the start!?" She yelled. "We could have avoided all of this!"
The Special Inquisitor's head inclined slightly. "We tried to." She replied in a placating tone. "Unfortunately, neither of you were particularly inclined to talk at the time."
"Gee, I wonder why?" The Gormotti girl snarked. "It's not like you blasted your way into here while we were in the middle of fighting those maniacs, cut off the exit with a wall of fire, and jumped us the moment we understandably tried to run." She paused for effect, before adding, "Oh wait, no, that's exactly what happened!"
"Not to mention you didn't exactly leave us with the impression that you would be willing to talk after our first encounter." Rex added, not nearly as angrily as Nia, but definitely with a tone of disapproval in his voice. "We tried talking then, but the moment one of your soldiers pointed out Nia's bounty, you immediately tried to arrest us!"
"Bully soldiers searching all of Torigoth for Rex-Rex and Nia-Nia not help either." Tora chimed in. "Tora not know context, but even Tora think big big overreaction."
While they couldn't see her face, it was clear from her body language that Morag was a little uncomfortable. Behind her, Brighid's cheeks visibly tightened as she schooled her expression.
"Surely you can understand our reasoning for that." The fire Blade defended. "Your friend was believed to be a member of Torna at the time. We could not risk the chance of a group such as them gaining access to the power of the Aegis. Such an event could be catastrophic, not just for Mor Ardain, but all of Alrest."
"If you had taken five minutes to actually talk, you would have known that was wrong!" Nia spat.
"We were merely following the standard procedure for dealing with wanted persons!" The fire Blade retorted. "At that point, your own statements of innocence would have been-!"
Her Driver held up a hand to stop her. "That's enough, Brighid." She stated. "Regardless of the reasoning in that encounter, there is no question the we could have approached this one slightly better."
Before Nia could retort, Dromarch stepped in. "If you do not mind my asking, what was it that caused you to reconsider your stance?"
"Dromarch!" Nia exclaimed, looking at her Blade. "What are you doing!? You're supposed to be keeping that water Blade locked down!"
The tiger tilted his head in the direction of where he had been sitting on the blonde earlier. "You will find that is no longer necessary, my Lady." He commented.
Indeed, sitting in a corner of the cave, within the furrow of dirt caused by the enemy Blade's attempts to wriggle out from underneath Dromarch, was a Core Crystal. It was inert, the dull, lightless black surface almost invisible in the low light of the cavern.
"When did that happen?" Rex wondered. A Blade returning to its Core wasn't exactly a subtle event, especially in a place like this; the glow of its body breaking down into ether motes should have drawn everyone's attention, fighting or not.
"Only a moment ago, master Rex." The tiger responded. "I believe you were too distracted by your… conversation with Azurda to notice at the time."
Morag stared over at the inert Core Crystal. "That is certainly unfortunate." She commented, a note of annoyance in her voice. "I was hoping we would be able to bring the thieves in for questioning."
She shook her head before turning to face the group again. "To answer your question… Dromarch, I believe your Driver said your name was?" She looked to the tiger for confirmation, and when he nodded, continued. "Following our first encounter, we did our research on you."
Nia suddenly looked more than a little nervous. "…What sort of research?" The girl asked defensively.
"We looked into your backgrounds, of course." The Special Inquisitor confirmed. She stared at the Gormotti girl for a moment, her head tilted slightly in an almost contemplative manner, before shaking her head. "Although in your case, there was little we could verify given the short timeframe."
Looking over at Rex, she added, "You, on the other hand, were far easier to find information on once we determined Chairman Bana of the Argentum Trade Guild to be involved."
"The Chairman?" Rex asked in confusion, furrowing his brow. "What's he got to do with all of this?"
"We can discuss that part later." Morag replied, waving his question off. "It will require a bit more of an explanation than is needed at the moment." She paused, before adding, "That being said, Investigator Niranira of the Guild Intelligence Division had requested you contact him at your earliest convenience. He is apparently interviewing everyone involved in the salvaging operation commissioned by Torna, and claims you in particular have a unique perspective on events."
Her eyes drifted to his chest. While his Core Crystal wasn't currently visible, its glow was. "Considering your… appearance, I suspect I can guess why."
Rex scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "You could say that." He admitted. "So, what? You did some research and decided not to arrest us?"
"Yes, during the course of our investigation, we came across evidence that brought the legitimacy of our initial cause for attempting to apprehend you into doubt." The woman explained. "Additionally, we discovered certain… discrepancies in our knowledge regarding the Aegis, discrepancies that have made cooperation with your group a more preferable outcome."
Azurda chuckled at her wording. "You dug through one of Brighid's old journals, I assume." The Titan speculated.
"How did you…?" The fire Blade started, surprised that the Titan was even aware the journals existed. While they were hardly state secrets, the fact that she kept journals wasn't exactly common knowledge.
She thought back for a moment, to when the tiger Blade had been speaking… he had called the Titan by a name that had popped up in the journal from the Aegis War. "You're not… Azurda, are you? The Titan companion of Addam Origo?"
The little Titan guffawed. "Finally, somebody recognizes me!" He crowed, pleased that the Blade had put two and two together. "I had nearly given up hope it would ever happen!"
Morag looked between the two of them questioningly, but refrained from making a comment. "I suppose that is just one more matter to discuss." The woman muttered, before giving Rex a look. "Assuming you are willing to cooperate, of course."
Rex looked over to Nia, who was still looking more than a little perturbed by the turn of events. While he was more than happy to talk things out, it wasn't exactly his decision alone. "What do you think, Nia, Tora?"
"Tora go with whatever Rex-Rex and Nia-Nia think." The Nopon stated, eyes closed as he crossed his wings. Popping an eye open, he added, "Tora interested in hearing story, though."
Nia, on the other hand, was silent. Frankly, she didn't trust the Special Inquisitor in the slightest, especially considering the woman had been looking into her background. The look the Ardainian had given her when she mentioned not being able to confirm her background had set off alarm bells, not to mention the wording—Morag hadn't been able to confirm anything, but that wasn't quite the same as not being able to find anything.
At the same time, their hopes of actually fighting their way out were slim to begin with, and with the Driver of the Core Crystal thieves dead, that Driver squad would be here to back her up soon. If they were double-crossed, then at least on the surface there would be a better chance of escape, so long as…
"…We're staying out of your base, and that Battleship." Nia stated, her tone making it clear that was a condition she wasn't willing to compromise on.
"That is more than acceptable." Morag agreed without hesitation. "I'm afraid that will restrict our options to the Consulate, though. I assume you are more amenable to that option?"
She nodded slowly. "I can live with that." The Gormotti girl confirmed. The Consulate was far from ideal, but she was much more confident in her ability to escape from it should it be required than the Relay Base.
With Nia on board, it seemed the group was in agreement. The energy blade of the Aegis Sword went out as Rex finally relaxed, idly stowing the weapon on his back. "I guess that means we're going with you, then." He said, smiling at the Special Inquisitor.
Morag gave her Blade a small nod, before reaching behind her head and hitting the clasp on her helmet. There was a soft pop as the gas mask unsealed, swinging aside to reveal the Ardainian woman's face beneath. "Thank you for your cooperation, Rex." She said. "I will ensure that you and your companions are treated well for the duration of your stay."
Behind the boy, the wall of fire dissipated as Brighid cut the flow of ether to it. With it, the last conflict of the night came to a close.
Theory let out a shuddering sob as another wave of nausea washed over her. She was curled up on the deck of the Titan vessel, where she had collapsed after struggling her way back inside the ship.
Her world had shrunk into only her immediate perimeter, her head so fogged by the backlash of her ether overuse that any attempt to think of or perceive anything beyond her little bubble resulted in a lance of pain in her skull.
She could feel the cool metal of the deck, the occasional creaking of the pressure hull as it kept the Cloud Sea out, and the gentle rocking of the Titan ship as it steadily moved away from Gormott.
And most importantly, she could feel Praxis' inert Core Crystal as she clutched it to her chest like a lifeline.
Those last moments replayed in her head, over and over, on an infinite repeat. The look of horror and disbelief on her precious sister's face as she realized that her Driver was dead had been seared into her minds eye so deeply that even in her addled state, she could not forget it.
Another wave of nausea crashed over her, causing the ice Blade to curl in tighter. Technically, it wasn't over. Theory had recovered Praxis' Core Crystal. One of the Drivers back home could reawaken her, and she would have her sister back.
Yet, it wouldn't be the same. A newly awakened Praxis wouldn't be the same sister she had lost, not really. Without her memories, with a different Driver's personality imprinted on her, she would be a different person. A younger person.
Praxis had been older than Theory, old enough to know her prior incarnation. She had been the leader of their pair, stronger in a straight fight than the ambush-focused Theory, and willing to push back against both Ifor and Waldemar whenever she thought they were being unreasonable.
If Praxis was reawakened, as the older member of the pair, leadership would fall to Theory. Could she really do it? The water Blade had told her before of her previous incarnation, the Blade of Ifor's old boss back when he was a mercenary. That Theory had been a leader, just as Praxis was. She had been just as strong, just as bold, as Praxis had been.
But that had been the old her—a her that she couldn't remember being. That she no longer was, nor truly had been. As she was now, Theory couldn't imagine leading Praxis. She couldn't imagine standing up to her Driver, the far more controlling and dismissive Waldemar, as Praxis had to hers.
More than that, she couldn't imagine herself facing Praxis after letting her die—even a new one with no memories of being let down. In a way, the idea she lacked those memories made it harder; how could she apologize, or accept the forgiveness, of a Praxis that hadn't truly been wronged?
Fresh tears dripped to the deck as she wished beyond anything else that Praxis, her Praxis, was still here. It was an impossible wish; once a Blade had returned to its Core, its memories were lost forever, there was no means of regaining them.
…Or was there?
As the thought crossed Theory's mind, something within her snapped. Why did her Praxis need to be gone? Why did Blades lose their memories upon death? Why wasn't there a way to restore them?
But… maybe there was? Yes, Blades lost their memories upon returning to their Core, but who said it was permanent? How much effort had been put into trying to recover them? If a Blade was shown the same places, experienced the same events, could those memories return?
Not to mention, there were Blades that possessed unique abilities. Rare powers, far beyond what others could do. The ability to regrow forests with the wave of a hand, or observe targets from the far side of Alrest. The Praetor's personal Blade could even control the very flow of ether within Blades and Titans.
Surely, if such magnificent abilities existed, the idea that somewhere, there existed a Blade that could restore the memories of another Blade wasn't unreasonable! And if such a Blade existed, few were in a better position to find it than her!
Theory held on to that impossible thought as her body spasmed, struggling to stabilize her ether flows while restricted solely to her passive bond with her Driver. Deep down, she knew that it was impossible, but still, she clung to the single point of hope regardless. Until her body had stabilized, until she could move again and steer the Titan ship home, her entire world was this tiny hallway.
But then, once she had recovered? Perhaps she could see just how impossible a dream it really was.
Author's Notes
Kept you waiting, huh?
I hadn't planned to take a week off until I had finished the Gormott arc, but I used up my chapter buffer a little faster than anticipated.
For the entire time I've been writing this arc, I've been vacillating between whether or not it would conclude peacefully. Even up to the moment I was actually writing this chapter, I was still undecided; there are a number of pros and cons for either direction, and I had plans for how to work around either.
Ultimately, I decided to split the difference, which honestly works out best for both the party's development and how I want the Mor Ardain arc to go.
One more chapter to go, and I'll consider the Gormott arc finished! It only took… *checks notes* …five chapters longer than I had planned!
Until next week!