Rex was ready as Theory charged, bringing the Aegis Sword into a guard as she drew her katana on him. Blade met blade as the weapons collided, the crystalline edge of one striking the metallic flat of the other.
He knew from their previous fight that the girl would follow up with a strike from her sheath, so as her weight shifted, he pushed against the blade lock, throwing her back. He pulled his weapon back to his side as she stumbled and thrust it forward in an attempt to catch her while she was still off balance.
It wasn't as successful as he would have wished. While he did manage to strike a blow, a last-second deflection using her sheath meant that it was merely a glancing one.
The ice Blade ignored any pain it may have caused, ducking low and charging him again with both weapons by her side. He leapt back out of the way of her slashes before surging forward with a spinning double slash in response.
His first swing was still too far back, not even reaching his target, but the momentum of the second carried him forward and back into range. Theory threw up a barrier, causing the swing to stagger him as the second strike of the Art bounced off, but the length of the Aegis Sword's energy blade meant that he was too far out of range for the girl to easily take advantage of it.
She advanced regardless, trying to get inside his guard. With a rapid draw, she pulled her katana free of the sheath again, strike aimed at the dead center of his torso.
Again, she made no headway. Rex had already strengthened his stance again and met the strike with one of his own. The boy hadn't been afforded the opportunity to build up much momentum for his counter, so instead of batting it aside, the blades merely cancelled each other out.
Seeing no means of taking advantage of their position, Theory disengaged, keeping her weapon in a position to counter any attack that the boy may attempt. And attempt he did, repeating his spinning slash Art in an attempt to strike her while keeping the gap between them close.
With more time to build momentum, his strikes were more powerful—far more than she would have expected of a Driver his size. His first swing met her katana, knocking her arm aside, while the second she attempted to block with the sheath.
'Attempted' being the operative word, as the blow wrenched the sheath from her grasp and only barely missed her face.
The boy didn't even have the courtesy to slow down afterword, either! He hadn't even finished the second strike when he dumped even more ether into his muscles and began to swing again! With him too far into her guard to project another barrier, the girl was forced to roll out of the way, lest she lose her head in addition to her scabbard.
Grabbing her fallen sheath from the ground, she leapt to her feet and began charging ether for an attack. She would have preferred to pace herself until one of her allies was free to assist, but considering that they were now the ones outnumbered, it was more important to take down the singular fighter rather than hope her sister Blade or Sheba and the Boss could finish their own battles first.
"Oh no you don't!" Rex cried, charging at the ice Blade. He gathered ether for an Art of his own as he ran, hoping to prevent her from launching whatever attack she had planned.
He wasn't able to. Holding her sheath out to the side, she drew her katana, launching a razor-sharp wave of ice ether towards the boy. After his performance in their previous fight, the Blade expected that he would react in one of two ways: either try to dodge out of the way, or counter the attack with his own.
What she did not expect was for him to do both.
Rex, seeing the ether swirl around her sheath as she began her lightning-fast draw, crouched mid-stride and proceeded to flip over the incoming attack, the Aegis Sword glowing with ether as he brought it down in an overhead slash. Theory's eyes widened as she sidestepped the attack, only barely managing to avoid the weapon's energy blade.
A wave of light ether erupted from the Aegis Sword as he slammed it into the ground, nearly striking Praxis' Driver behind her. The ice Blade quickly gathered herself, striking out at the boy again as he recovered from the attack. She couldn't help but grit her teeth as he managed to parry her strikes yet again, despite having just used such a strong Art. Where had that been during their last fight!?
The Gormotti man barely managed to jump clear of the ether beam created by Rex's Rolling Smash, only managing thanks to Sheba reluctantly yanking her Driver out of the way at the last minute.
"Be careful, you oaf!" She chastised, pulling her weapon from his hands. "If we must suffer having you as our Driver, we insist that you at least display a modicum of skill!"
Spinning around gracefully, she aimed her Ether Canon at Nia and Dromarch, already charging a shot. "Our precious Nia!" She exclaimed, brushing her tail along the barrel of the weapon. "Why must you resist us so?"
A burst of shots lanced out of the cannon at Dromarch, forcing the tiger Blade to separate from his Driver. Nia snarled at the blonde, charging in to engage her in a melee.
"Why do you think, you nutcase!?" She challenged, lashing out with her mainhand ring. "You and your allies attacked us in the middle of the street, then kidnapped Tora!" The blonde parried the strike with the body of her cannon.
"You're clearly planning to take Rex, too!" Nia continued, sweeping her offhand ring under the weapon. "And even if your Driver's not planning on turning me in for my bounty, you've definitely got something planned that I have no interest in!" The ring sliced a thin furrow across the water Blade's torso, forcing the lithe girl back.
Sheba leapt backward, firing off a rapid spray of shots to deter the Gormotti girl from following her. Landing atop her tub-shaped water construct, she looked down imperiously over her opponent.
"Our sweet Nia, we have nothing nefarious planned for you!" She crooned even as her ether lines burned with power. "It is merely our wish to introduce you to the splendors of our company!"
Bringing her Ether Cannon to bear once more, she continued. "Is that truly so terrible a prospect? To have us shower our affections upon you?"
"My Lady, on your guard!" Dromarch called, jumping in front of her protectively. The tiger glared up at the blonde Blade, shoulders haunched.
"Begone, mongrel!" Sheba sneered, the gathered ether focusing within the barrel of her weapon. "We will not allow you to keep us from courting our precious flower!"
She fired off her attack, a mortar of water ether, directly at Dromarch. The tiger held his ground, refusing to allow the attack even a chance of striking his Driver, and projected a barrier in front of him with a defiant roar. The attack struck, detonating just shy of the barrier's center.
The tiger's brow furrowed in concentration as he maintained his defenses, the barrier glowing brightly as it struggled to disperse the energy of the attack. Yet it held, and as the ether dissipated, the shield remained strong.
Sheba made an annoyed noise as she observed the lackluster performance of her attack, shoving the weapon back to her Driver. "Keep her occupied, you oaf." She spat, taking control of her water construct. "It appears we will need to vanquish the beast before our lovely opponent will accede to reason."
"Do not allow your lust to blind your judgment, Sheba." Ifor replied, already taking aim at the younger Driver. "Her survival is secondary to our objective. If you cannot keep a level head, I will be more than happy to have you trade opponents with Praxis."
His Blade balked at the idea. "You would rob us of our chance to claim our hidden flower to entertain that creature and his unripened bud? How dare you even suggest such a thing! You promised us-!"
"I promised you the girl, if you stuck to the plan." He lectured calmly, even as he fired a spray of ether projectiles at the other Gormotti and her Blade. "Keep yourself focused on the mission, Sheba, I know you can. This petulant behavior is beneath you."
Sheba huffed at his words, but still accepted them. "Fine." She replied. "We will neutralize her Blade, but do try your best not to cause undue harm to our beauteous Nia." With that, she rode her tub construct forward like a chariot, ramming it straight into the tiger mid-leap.
"Dromarch!" Nia called in surprise, ducking out of the way of a barrage of cannon fire.
"I am fine, my Lady!" He replied, rolling to his feet. "I will endeavor to keep this Blade occupied; please handle the Driver!"
Nodding in response, Nia charged the other Gormotti, rings at the ready. She gathered ether for an Art as she charged in once more, eager to take down the leader of the operation.
He fired a focused bolt at the girl, forcing her to skid underneath it, but it wasn't enough to deter her advance. No sooner had the bolt passed over her head than she lunged the remaining distance, a glittering stream of ether trailing from her weapons as she struck.
The mainhand slash was blocked by the shell-shaped barrel of the cannon, while the offhand one that followed was caught by the guard above the grip. The spinning double-strike that followed, however, met neither.
Her rings bit into the flesh of his torso, cutting cleanly through the toughened cloth backing behind his armor. They didn't cut particularly deeply into his actual flesh; the ether enhancement afforded by his affinity link with Sheba rendering the skin far tougher than the armor atop it, but combined with the force of the blow, it was more than enough to break the man's stance.
Seeing her opponent stumble backward, she pressed her attack, raining blow after blow at the man. Despite her aggressive push, he managed to hold her off fairly well, using the body of his weapon to parry and deflect most of her strikes.
After a few moments, the man switched tactics. As Nia came in with a cross slice, he shoved the cannon into the way of her strike and pushed against it, causing her rings to bounce back. Taking full advantage of her momentary opening, he twisted the weapon and fired a charged blast at her torso.
Nia was thrown back, hissing in pain as the blast bruised her chest. She skidded to a stop a dozen peds back, close to where Dromarch and Sheba were fighting, and immediately swirled a ring of healing ether around her.
As the ache of her abused flesh quickly receded, the other Gormotti gave her an appraising look, Ether Cannon at the ready.
"You're pretty good for your age, you know?" He complimented her. "And especially for your age, too. You can't be older than, what? Fifteen or sixteen?"
The man gazed over at their Blades, still locked in battle. Sheba was doing her best to run Dromarch over with her tub again, but the tiger had long since wised up to the tactic. Her most recent attempt was foiled by a barrier, the impact causing the ether construct to splatter against his defenses, much to the blonde's ire.
"I guess running with a group like Torna must have done you good, eh?" He probed, bouncing the barrel idly as he spoke. "How long were you with 'em, anyway? Can't have been too long, what with that small a bounty."
Nia's eyes narrowed as he spoke, trying to figure out just what his angle was. "What's it to you?" She replied, slowly shifting back into a combat stance.
He chuckled in amusement. "Calm yourself, lass. We don't really need to fight." Eyeing the fight between Rex and Theory, he continued. "You seem like the agreeable type. What's got a terrorist like you working with a goody-two-shoes brat like him?"
"That's none of your damned business." She replied, taking advantage of Dromarch's proximity to quickly charge up her Twin Rings. "And unless you're going to step aside and let us go, I don't think we have anything else to talk about!"
"Don't be so hasty, lass." He retorted. "You're probably, what, leading him on for Torna? Striking out on your own? A Driver like you has better options, if you're willing to take advantage of them."
"What do you…?" She trailed off, before suddenly realizing what he was implying. "Are you… trying to recruit me?" The girl inquired in surprise.
The man gave a nod. "Of course! We can always use more Drivers, after all. I'm not sure if you're still with Torna, but I can guarantee that you'll get a better cut working with us than whatever those guys are offering. They don't even sell the product they take!"
Gesturing over at Rex, he added, "And you'll sure as all else do better than whatever the brat there can offer. What was your plan, anyway? Get in his good graces and off him once he's led you back to the Aegis?"
Her ears tilted back as she hissed at the man. "Let me get this through your skull." She bit out. "I am not a terrorist." The girl advanced, bringing her weapons up. "I am not stabbing my friends in the back." Ether swirled around her rings, ready to be released at a moment's notice. "And I sure as hell am not joining you!" She cried, thrusting her weapons together. A bolt of compressed water ether shot out, carving a furrow across the male Gormotti's shoulder.
"A pity, that" He sighed, wincing in pain as he shrugged off the injury. "Seems a waste to have to kill a talent like you, but if you're that eager to stick with the brat, I suppose there's nothing else for it." The man punctuated the statement with a blast from his cannon, a rapid-fire burst of shots that managed to tag the girl despite an attempted dodge.
"You'd better hope you don't survive this, lass." He added, charging another shot. "I've promised Sheba here that she can have you if you do. Consider my eagerness to finish you off a bit of mercy on my part."
She froze for a moment at his phrasing, the line so similar to the one Jin had given her, right before he attempted to murder her. If she hadn't despised the man before, she certainly did now. "Oh, you are going to regret saying that." She growled, charging back in.
"Dammit, stay still so I can hit you!" Praxis shouted in frustration as Poppi smacked her lance aside for the fifth time in the fight.
"Meanie Blade not hurt Masterpon!" The artificial Blade replied, stepping back to allow Tora to fight.
Praxis had definitely drawn the short straw in having to fight the two-vs.-one battle. In Driver combat, a singular opponent was always at a disadvantage, both because they had limits on their effective ether usage and because they were having to face two coordinated opponents at once.
While Tora and Poppi were hardly experienced in working together, they had still managed to fall into an effective, if simple, pattern. Tora would charge ahead, shield raised, and engage Praxis, while Poppi would wait behind him until the water Blade had her hands full with him. Once she was, the mechanical girl would swoop in and flank her while she was distracted.
In theory, it should have been an easy enough tactic to counter; the Nopon was still adjusting to the physical enhancements his Blade was transferring to him, and Poppi was operating entirely on her pre-programmed combat routines. That should have left openings for her to exploit.
Alas, the size of Tora's shield compared to his body meant that he could engage her while in full cover, and unlike the prototype, her own weapon could not pierce through its ether-reinforced face. And the artificial Blade's movements may have still been stilted and inflexible, but the sheer durability her mechanical body afforded her meant that she could accept the punishment for a mistimed strike without issue.
Taking advantage of the opening his Blade had created, the Nopon lunged forward, deploying the oversized drill that gave his weapon its name. With her weapon out of position, Praxis was forced to throw up a barrier to prevent the attack from landing.
Even with her defenses active, it was more than a little disconcerting to watch the business end of the drill skittering against the glowing face of the barrier just a hair's breadth from her face, even if it was for just a brief few seconds before the attack rebounded.
Bringing her weapon back under control, Praxis began gathering ether for a stronger attack. With her Driver nearby, she could be much more liberal with her use of ether without fear of backlash from overuse.
"So, you think you're a tough guy now that your little science project there is up and running?" The water Blade sneered, pulling her lance off to the side in preparation for a swing.
"Tora always tough guy." The Nopon insisted, already bracing for her next attack. "Poppi make Tora even tougher!"
Praxis slashed her lance between them, releasing a wave of ether-charged bubbles in the weapon's wake. Poppi leapt behind her Driver to hold him steady, while the shield itself began to glow as its structure was further hardened with an influx of ether. The stream of bubbles impacted the shield and detonated, but the artificial Blade weapon endured the blast without issue.
No sooner had the blast dissipated than Tora went back on the offensive, thrusting the shield forward, drill deployed, toward the water Blade. "Meaniepons might have beat Tora when unarmed and without Blade, but with Poppi by side, there nothing Tora not do!" He cried as he charged.
His opponent brought her lance up, catching the drill head between the tines of the weapon, and redirected it away from her. Tora was pulled forward by the motion, leaving him open to be smacked in the back of the head by the butt of Praxis' Megalance as he stumbled past.
"Really?" The water Blade replied as she blocked a retaliatory strike from Poppi. "All I see is the same mewling sack of fur that Theory and I dragged out of that little hovel of yours!"
Leaping back to give herself more room, she swept her weapon in a pair of wide arcs to dissuade the artificial Blade from pursuing her. "You're certainly talking up a big game," she continued, thrusting her lance into Poppi's shoulder as the mechanical girl charged in, "but you've nothing to show for it so far!"
Poppi grabbed the weapon by the haft and yanked it forward, throwing a punch toward the water Blade as she did. Praxis, expecting such a move the moment her lance had failed to pierce the artificial Blade's metal skin, merely released her grip on the weapon and backpedaled out of Poppi's reach.
Recalling the weapon into her hand, she slashed out at the artificial Blade again, scoring a deep gouge into her upper arm. "I mean, look at this! You can't even take me in a two-on-one battle!"
As Poppi backed off, she turned to face Tora, grinning menacingly as she did, only to cry out in pain as the Nopon slashed her across the stomach with the rotating blades deployed from the side of the shield. Even with her reinforcements, the blades cut deeply into her body.
She staggered back, a hand over her stomach, even as the wounds flashed closed. Tora pulled his Drill Shield back into a defensive position, glaring at her. "Tora think Meaniepon need look in mirror!" He announced, the equipment port in the center of the shield opening ominously. "Lecture Tora about results, but only scratch Tora during fight!"
The Drill Shield rocked back violently as the Nopon fired a boom biter at the water Blade. She threw up a barrier, absorbing the blow, but the smoke from the explosion obscured her vision. Expecting the Nopon to take advantage of the cover, she swiped her lance in a wide arc through the cloud, releasing another wave of bubbles.
"Poppi! Noponic Storm!" Tora called out from somewhere outside of the water Blade's vision. Praxis reacted, turning not in the direction of the voice, but the last position she had seen the artificial Blade. She held her lance in a guard, not knowing what to expect from the attack.
A column of earth ether and wind blasted through the smoke from above, rendering any preparation moot as she was blasted to the floor, debris and howling winds rending at her exposed skin. She shouted obscenities as she rolled backward, slamming into the wall of the cave.
She groaned in pain, pushing herself to her feet as she glared at the Nopon and his artificial Blade. Tora was looking particularly pleased with the results of their tactics as he accepted the Drill Shield back from Poppi, no doubt ready to jump back into the fray.
"That's it." She snarled, her ether lines burning with power as she began to pull in ether. "I am done playing around with you." There was a certain amount of satisfaction to be had as the grin slipped off of her opponent's face.
Praxis lunged forward, lance held low, as she prepared her attack. Once again, the Nopon brought his shield up to block whatever attack she was preparing, and his Blade stood behind him to keep him from being thrown backward. For most attacks, it would be a reasonable precaution, but it was a tactic that they had used before, one that she had been expecting.
As such, rather than strike at them directly, she thrust her weapon toward the ground in front of Tora. A geyser of water ether burst forth from her weapon, carving into the dirt of the cave floor and blasting away the ground beneath the Nopon's feet.
Both Tora and Poppi fell forward, their footing suddenly stripped out from beneath them. The Nopon squawked in alarm as he tumbled forward, losing his grip on his weapon as he desperately grabbed at the artificial Blade for support. It gave Praxis an opening she had been waiting for, batting the shield away from the Driver team before Tora could grab it again.
Poppi landed atop her creator but didn't remain still. She grabbed the Nopon by the overalls and rolled to the side, just in time to avoid a strike from the water Blade. The miss didn't seem to bother her, however; she merely smirked as Tora and Poppi struggled to their feet.
"For a Blade, your little science project there is missing some important features." She noted, casually spinning her Megalance as she turned to face them. "I noticed that it keeps pulling you out of the way of attacks that a normal Blade would just block with a barrier."
She slashed out at Tora, intending to clip his torso. Poppi threw her arm into the path of the weapon, taking the blow instead. "But I'm guessing that's not something a fake can mimic, is it?"
The artificial Blade lunged at her, but she merely sidestepped and used the haft of her lance to throw the mechanical girl past her. "And it's not made a new copy of your weapon, either. Makes sense, I suppose—a Blade's weapon is a part of them—that shield's just as much an imitation as the wannabe Blade, am I right?"
She fired a bolt of water at Poppi's back as she regained her footing, causing the artificial Blade to stumble again. As Poppi turned around, Praxis stared at the dent on her shoulder from earlier. "I guess you've got durability going for you, but since you don't heal like a real Blade, that'll only take you so far."
"Meaniepon shut up!" Tora yelled, smashing Praxis in the back of the head with his wrench. The water Blade staggered forward in pain, dropping her lance as she held her head. "Tora not care about petty details like that! Poppi is precious Blade of Tora, not stinky balloon Blade like Meaniepon!"
Praxis wheeled around, her eyes burning with anger as she looked at the Nopon. "You know, the only reason I didn't kill you back at your little shack was to lure the brat in." She hissed, picking her lance back up. "And you know what? Here he is, so as far as I'm concerned, you have no value left."
"Masterpon! Catch!" Poppi called from behind the water Blade. Tora looked up, seeing his Drill Shield arcing over his opponent's head. He raised a wing to catch it, but in his inexperience missed. Rather than grab the shield in a smooth catch, it smacked painfully into the top of his wing and bounced off, although not far enough that he couldn't snatch it with the other.
Shaking the sore limb, he fell back into a combat position. "Meaniepon try to hurt Tora all want." He puffed out his chest, feeling confident as he saw Poppi preparing to strike the water Blade from behind, "But Tora super-cool Driver now! Bully like Meaniepon stand no chance!"
Fighting Rex was quickly turning into a lesson in frustration for Theory. The boy was extremely comfortable with his weapon, not necessarily surprising for a Driver, but definitely not normal for someone as young as he looked.
Worse, he was showing no sign of slowing down, despite his Blade not being present. That too was not a surprise; they had noticed it the last time and had theorized a number of ways he was managing it, most of which admittedly boiled down to 'the Aegis is just that powerful'.
However he was managing it, it put her at a major disadvantage. Being able to fire off Art after Art while she was forced to use her ether sparingly was a pain to deal with—literally, as between healing, barriers, and her own Arts, she was already starting to feel the nausea drawing in so much ether without her Driver present caused.
Parrying yet another strike from her opponent, she lashed out with her sheath, trying to catch him with the wing-like crystalline blades on it. The move was becoming predictable at this point, as the boy merely shifted his grip on his weapon, allowing one of the energy blades projecting from the quillon to catch the blow.
Their blades separated for a brief moment before they both struck again. A lightning-quick strike from her katana was parried, the boy twisting his sword to tag her even as she struck out with the sheath. He took a nick on the arm for the effort, but still managed to cut into her side regardless.
She slid back, grimacing as her wound flashed closed, using up more of her precious ether reserves. Were her Driver present, trading such injuries would have favored her in a battle of attrition, but alone, they just served to wear her down even faster.
Rex didn't give her much of a chance to consider the situation, immediately launching forward with an overhead power strike, his weapon glowing with power. Not wanting to expend the ether to form a barrier for the attack, Theory brought her sheathed weapon up to block, bracing with both arms against the incoming blow.
The impact rattled her joints, making the ice Blade immediately regret not using a barrier. It was easy to forget that, despite the boy's slight build, he was strong, especially compared to someone as lithe as she was.
Even as their weapons locked, the boy continued to push against her. Knowing that she held a clear disadvantage in a shoving match like this, Theory tilted her weapon to the side, allowing her opponent's weapon to slide off.
He tilted forward as the resistance against his push suddenly vanished, but didn't leave himself open for a strike. A pity; he must have been expecting her to try something like that. Instead, the boy took a step to the side and turned to face her, sword held back up.
These exchanges were becoming too protracted. She was currently the weak link in the chain, with an explicit limit on her ether usage. With the Boss and Sheba engaging the Gormotti girl and her Blade, and Praxis having her hands full with the Nopon and his pet robot, she couldn't expect any help handling him. At the same time, if she were to lose, he would be free to assist his allies, tilting the scales decidedly against them.
She had to finish this now if they had a chance of capturing him.
Drawing in more ether, she began baiting the boy to attack again. Her best chance of taking him down was to use one of her Arts while he couldn't defend himself, and the easiest way to do that was to stagger him with a well-timed barrier. She would have to be careful not to actually kill him, but at this point, taking an arm or two should be acceptable. She could always freeze the wound closed to staunch the bleeding, after all.
Her opponent launched in to stop her from using whatever attack she had planned, opening with a horizontal slice aimed at her midsection. She blocked it fairly easily but only made a half-hearted attempt to counterattack. Emboldened by her response, he struck again, this time with an overhead strike.
Again, it was easily parried, as was the quick thrust the boy followed up with in an attempt to bypass her guard. She made a more convincing attempt to retaliate this time, driving one of the spikes of her sheath toward his chest to force him back.
The boy was not discouraged, barely even waiting to come to a halt before shooting forward again, lashing out with the spinning slash Art he seemed so fond of. Theory's lip quirked slightly as her opponent finally took the bait, her ether lines burning with power as she ducked under the first swing of the glowing energy blade.
As he came around for the second slash, the ice Blade threw up a shimmering barrier. The energy blade of the Aegis Sword struck it and bounced, causing the boy to stumble back from the recoil.
No sooner had his sword bounced than she raced forward herself, eager to end the fight. It would take a moment for the boy to bring his weapon back under control, and with the degree to which she was enhancing her strength right now, that was all the time she would need to finish the battle.
Based on the panicked look in his eyes, it seemed he realized that as well. She watched his eyes follow her as she drew her blade, lashing out with her first strike to take off his left arm.
Only for it to bounce as a scintillating golden barrier manifested between them.
Her strike rebounded, the force knocking the weapon so far back that she was nearly knocked off her feet instead of merely stumbling back. She cursed internally as it happened; this was exactly what had happened to Praxis last time!
Where had it even come from!? That tiger Blade was nowhere nearby, and from what she could see it didn't seem like the robot was able to project one! It couldn't be a function of his weapon—what the Boss had assumed was the source of the barrier from the last fight—it had been out of position!
Theory's line of thought was brought to a halt as she realized that Rex had recovered from his own deflected strike and was eager to repay her for her attempt. He brought the sword in with a diagonal slash, following the same arc the blade had just been deflected along, on a path to strike her center mass.
Neither her katana nor sheath were in position to stop it, either. The former, only barely in her grasp, had been knocked almost behind her, while the only angle she could bring the latter to bear wouldn't allow a strong enough grasp to parry. So she did the one thing she could to prevent herself from being taken out of the fight: she dropped.
Allowing her feet to slide out from under her, the ice Blade toppled under the angle of his swing. She hissed in pain as her head smacked against the floor of the cave, the bronze ornament that hung from her bun doing nothing to absorb the impact—if anything, it made it worse by jabbing into her upper back.
Rex's swing passed right over her, but she could see the boy already preparing a new strike. She scuttled backward to give herself an opportunity to get back to her feet, firing off an icicle at his chest to deter him from pursuing. The boy twisted out of the way of the projectile, but it still managed to graze his chest, slicing across the neckline of his wetsuit and drawing out a thin line of blood.
She pushed herself to her feet, leaping backward to land near Praxis' Driver. The man gave her a look as he twisted the body of his Ether Cannon, knocking a blow from Nia's Twin Rings away.
"Theory, status." He inquired, raking a quick beam of ether across the ground between him and the other Gormotti.
"I'm nearing my limit for ether usage." She stated, falling back into a ready position. "I cannot guarantee my ability to handle the Aegis' Driver for much longer."
'Nearing her limit' was a bit of an understatement, to be honest—in truth, she was well beyond it. The backlash from that last Art had left her stomach roiling so much she had been in danger of loosing her dinner to the cave floor. It would take her days to recover relying purely on her passive affinity link.
Ifor tossed the weapon to Sheba, allowing her to launch some Art of her own. "I was afraid of that." The man growled, looking over at the boy. "If you switched with Praxis, do you think you would be able to handle the Nopon and his toy?"
She shook her head. "I don't believe so—not at this point anyway. I suspect I may have been a better matchup for them in the beginning, but I am too depleted now."
Rex was cautiously approaching, weapon pointed at them. Based on the previous fight, he had a ranged ether Art that he could use from that stance, but he was holding it in reserve as he observed them.
"There's something more going on here." She continued, eyes tracking over him. "He used a barrier again, but I was able to confirm it wasn't a function of his sword."
Her eyes landed on the neckline of his wetsuit. The material where her last attack had landed had parted slightly, the edges coloring pink as they absorbed what little blood the grazing blow had drawn. She hadn't noticed it before, but with the material not stretched quite as taut, there seemed to be something just below his clavicle that was pushing the cloth out slightly.
In the corner of her eye, she saw Sheba take a hit from one of the tiger Blade's Arts, the same one she had been hit with during the first fight with him. The column of water ether and sound blasted the blonde across the chamber, where she hit the wall near the tunnel to the holding cells.
The boy stepped to the side to avoid the flying blonde, the torn material of his wetsuit shifting as he did. One of the damaged flaps lifted, just ever-so-slightly too far from the center to reveal what was beneath it. Yet she could almost see a glimmer of emerald light reflecting off of his skin. Was she imagining that, or was it…?
A rumble rolled through the cavern, causing the combatants to pause. Rocks and stalactites were shaken loose from the ceiling, and the partitions of the remaining room shuddered. A visible crack ran across the far wall, close to where Praxis was fighting with Poppi and Tora.
"Praxis, get back!" Ifor called out to his primary Blade, a note of concern in his voice.
Theory took a step backward, looking up at the ceiling with concern. "Boss…? She muttered, noting that her sister Blade had reached them. "What's going on?"
"Something is shifting the stone above us." He replied, accepting Praxis' weapon as the melee-focused water Blade opened an affinity link with him. "I doubt it's natural, either. The geography here's unstable, but not to this extent."
Another rumble shook the chamber, much more violently this time. The wall where Praxis had been fighting a moment ago slumped, taking out the remaining room along with it. The Nopon was just barely pulled out of the way by that mechanical toy of his, carting him over to where the Aegis' Driver was watching them warily.
Behind him, she saw the Gormotti girl and her Blade racing over to something. She couldn't immediately tell what it was, but the yell that echoed as the tiger suddenly pounced on something…
"G-get away from us! Oaf! Scoundrel! How dare you manhandle us in such a way!"
"Sheba." She muttered, looking up at Ifor. "Boss, what should we-?"
A violent rumble, much larger than the others, shook the cavern. A great fissure opened in the far corner, near the cavern leading to the surface, as the ceiling above what had once been the communications room collapsed. A cloud of debris washed over the assembled group, carried by the displaced air.
She closed her uncovered eye, coughing as the dust stung at her lungs and eye alike. Distantly, she could hear the sound of Sheba continuing to yell on the far side of the chamber, but the rumbling of the settling earth made it impossible to make out what she was saying.
Beside her, she could hear Ifor alternating between cursing at the sound of his second Blade's distress and coughing out rock dust. From the feel of moving air beside her, he was trying to blow some of the dust away using Praxis' lance.
"Clear away the dust!" He ordered, voice muffled from holding an arm over his mouth. "I don't want those brats escaping because of the-!"
He was interrupted by a roar of flame as a wash of heat blasted over them. Theory cracked her uncovered eye open, only for it to widen as she saw the distinctive flicker of azure fire glowing through the dust as it raced across her field of vision. Over the sound of the flames, she could hear more shifting from the collapse—not the sound of settling rock but of debris being disturbed by movement.
She turned around, an action mirrored by Praxis and her Driver, in time to see a quartet of Drivers in Ardainian combat uniforms, Blades at their backs, slide down the collapse. They landed smoothly, drawing their weapons with practiced ease as they slid to a halt.
"Surrender!" The lead Driver, a young woman based on the tinny voice echoing from the helmet, called. "In the name of Emperor Niall Ardanach, you are hereby under arrest!"
"Unhand us at once!" The blonde Blade shouted, her arms pinned behind her as Dromarch sat atop the girl. "A filthy mongrel such as yourself has no right to take such liberties with our magnificent personage!"
"How droll." The tiger replied, hardly sparing her a glance. "You are hardly one to speak of 'taking liberties', after your words to my Lady."
Sheba scoffed, sounding almost offended by his reply. "There were no liberties taken in our words!" She retorted. "We were entirely truthful! All that we desire is for your master to bloom under our tender ministrations! Is that truly so heinous a desire?"
"Dromarch, can you shut her up?" Nia growled, her face flushed as she looked down at the female Blade.
"With pleasure, my Lady." The tiger responded, shoving Sheba's face into the dirt of the cave floor with a single oversized paw.
Rex was barely paying attention to their interactions as he tried to peer through the dust cloud caused by the collapse. Navigating his way through low-visibility conditions was hardly a new experience—his work had a tendency to churn up silt at the bottom of the Cloud Sea, after all—but the irritation the dust caused to his eyes and lungs was an unwelcome addition to the experience.
Honestly, if the cloud hadn't already begun dissipating, he probably would have just put his helmet on to avoid the hassle. It would have left Nia and Tora out to dry, but having someone who could actually see was of benefit under the current circumstances.
"Is everyone alright?" He choked out, holding an arm over his mouth and nose. Maybe he should use the helmet regardless; it would only be for a few minutes, but it would spare him several hours of coughing rock dust out of his-
He was broken from the thought as a column of azure fire roared out of the dust cloud, cutting the chamber in half. Beside him, he could see Tora and Poppi turn toward the collapsed section of the room, where the flames had originated from.
The wash of flames blew the dust cloud away in an instant, giving them a clear view of the cavern. On the far side of the wall of fire, he could see the two criminal Blades and the Driver with them also turning toward the source of the fire, just in time to see four Ardainian Drivers slide down to their side of the chamber and call for them to surrender.
On his side, however, it was only a single Driver that approached them. Even as she slid down the pile of collapsed rubble, he knew exactly who it was. While her face was obscured by a standard-issue Ardainian officer's helmet, both her distinctive uniform and the striking Blade following behind made her identity abundantly clear.
As she slid to a stop, idly brushing dust off of her coat, she looked around at the group, her head tilting slightly in a manner that suggested she had an eyebrow raised. "Well, this is certainly a surprise." She noted, her voice distorted by the helmet's respirator. "I was not expecting to encounter you in such a place, Driver of the Aegis."
Rex immediately raised his sword into a guard. "You again!" He called warily. His eyes tracked across the chamber, looking for an escape route, but there was none. The tunnel back to the dock was on the other side of the wall of flames, as was the third tunnel he assumed led to the surface. The only route out that wasn't covered by fire was behind the Special Inquisitor.
"A surprise?" Nia growled, pacing slightly behind him. "You really want us to believe that you lot showing up just after we did is a coincidence?"
"It's merely the truth." Morag replied, looking over the wall of fire at the thieves. "We followed a transmission they made to the Consul earlier, informing him of your imminent capture."
The criminal Driver cursed at her words, looking between the Ardainian squad and the trapped Sheba. "And here I thought the Ardainian nobility had guarantees for their privacy rights from the crown." He groused, spinning Praxis' lance into a ready position.
"Normally they do." She admitted. "However, those same agreements include clauses that render such protections void in the event of a criminal investigation."
"…Yeah, that tracks." The Gormotti man ruefully agreed. "I thought he was a bit of an idiot. No surprise he did something to draw your ire, too."
He glanced over to Rex's side of the wall of fire, glaring at the tiger who was currently keeping his second Blade from moving. His fist clenched as his eyes darted between the blonde and the Ardainians, before hardening in resolution. Glancing over at Sheba again, he whispered something to his Blades. Whatever it was couldn't be heard over the sound of the fire, but both of them tended up in preparation to move. Before they did anything else, he shouted over the wall. "Sheba! Rendezvous Point four! If you're not there, I'll be back for you!"
The blonde Blade managed to push her head up long enough to shout back at him. "Don't you dare run, you oaf! You're not leaving us behind!" She cried out in indignation.
"Praxis, Theory, we're leaving." He said, taking a step backward. "This operation has become too costly to pursue further."
Without further prompting, the ice Blade slashed out with her sword, sending a wave of ice racing for the Ardainian Driver team. She didn't even wait to see the effects of the attack, instead turning and racing after the other two, who had already begun racing down the tunnel leading toward the docks.
Brighid had apparently been expecting the reaction, because the moment the man yelled to the two Blades beside him, the ether lines across her body ignited. With a casual lash of her Whipswords, a bolt of fire raced forth to meet the oncoming ice.
"Lieutenant Eimhir, I will leave the thieves to your squad." Morag stated, watching as the ice was stopped cold by her Blade's attack. "Brighid and I will handle the situation here."
"At once, your Grace!" The lieutenant saluted, before urging her squad forward. "Let's go!" she called, racing into the tunnel after the thieves, her men at her heels.
Morag gave an approving nod as she watched them go, before turning back to Rex and his group. "Now then, she began, "with that out of the way, I suppose that leaves us to figure out what to do with the six of you."
The three combatants fell into ready positions, with Poppi falling in behind her Driver. Dromarch, still busy keeping Sheba in place, shifted his weight forward to keep the blonde's face more firmly pressed into the dirt.
"I don't suppose that you'll just let us go, will you?" Rex asked, already knowing the answer. He figured it was worth a try, unlikely as it was.
"I'm afraid not." Morag replied, casually accepting the Whipswords from Brighid. "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."
Nia inched closer to him, whispering into his ear. "Rex," she said, "Dromarch can probably extinguish a portion of the flames, enough to let us through, but he'll need a minute. Keep her distracted, and we'll make a run for it the moment he's ready."
"Got it." He replied, before speaking up to address the Special Inquisitor. "I told you the last time, I have a promise to keep, and I can't do that locked up in an Ardainian Prison."
"Prison?" Morag replied, sounding slightly confused. "I believe you have misunderstood exactly what I am implying, child."
He glared at her. "Then what are you implying?" The boy challenged. "You've already made it clear that you think letting me go is too dangerous because of this," Rex tilted his head toward the Aegis Sword, "so how else would I take that?"
As he spoke, Rex saw Nia sidle up to Tora in the corner of his eye, presumably passing along the same message she had to him. The Nopon whispered something to Poppi in turn, passing the Drill Shield over to the artificial Blade as he did.
The Special Inquisitor stared intently at him, the inscrutable gas mask of her helmet making the experience particularly off-putting. "It is true that being the Driver of the Aegis introduces certain… complications, that is nothing that cannot…" She trailed off for a moment, before adding, "…Where exactly is the Aegis, if I may ask? She was not with you the last time either, but I was taken with the assumption that the two of you had separated for the purpose of entering Torigoth undetected. Is that not the case?"
"Why should I tell you?" He replied, raising his sword into a defensive position. "You just want to bring her back to Mor Ardain. That's what you're really after, isn't it? Another weapon for your damned wars?" He accused.
It made sense to him: Mor Ardain and Uraya were on the verge of war, with both sides scrambling for weapons. Then, along comes the Aegis, the most powerful Blade of all? Of course they would want to get their hands on power like that!
"Well, too bad for you, because she's long gone!" He replied, tightening his grip on the Aegis Sword. "So there's no point in keeping us here any longer!"
"Again, you misunderstand me, boy!" She hissed, a note of frustration in her voice. "And what do you mean, 'gone?' Why would the Aegis abandon her Driver and still leave her weapon in your possession? If you intend to continue making up stories, then I would recommend better ones!"
The tension within the room was suddenly cut by a momentary fluctuation in the local ether levels in the corner of the room. "Now!" Nia yelled, pointing a ring toward the wall of fire.
Dromarch roared, his ether lines glowing with power, as he fired off a solid column of water a full two peds across. It raced across the room, cutting between Nia and Rex on its way to extinguish the flames closest to the tiger's allies.
Unfortunately, the slight warning was enough to alert the Ardainian Blade to their plans. The moment she saw the tiger glowing, she leapt into the path of his attack and generated the strongest, widest-area barrier she could manage.
The column of water slammed into the golden shield, causing the barrier to glow almost painfully bright in the darkness of the cavern. Yet, after a mere moment, the water petered out, and the barrier, as well as the wall of flames, remained untouched.
Morag turned her head in the direction of the tiger Blade, before letting out a disappointed sigh. "I had been hoping we could conclude this peacefully." She lamented.
Standing up straight, she lashed out her Whipswords. The Blades segmented, azure flames pouring from the gaps as the weapons arched menacingly beside her. Brighid fell into position next to her, a golden glow enveloping the pair as their affinity link blared to life.
"Unfortunately, it would appear that I will need to restrain you by force."
Author's Notes
I'll be honest, I was really hoping to fit the Morag fight into this chapter as well, but that's sort of taken on a life of its own at this point. Ah well, I suppose that ending the arc with a two-parter is hardly the worst way to handle things.
Yes, Morag is wearing an Ardainian officers helmet (complete with gas mask) for her mission. She's entering a cave she purposefully collapsed with a high possibility of a fight taking place inside—she's 100% aware that there's going to be a lot of dust in the air and came prepared.
