Finn shifted his attention to the claymore that still hovered in the center of the temple, flames curling around the length of metal. He used the remainder of his mana to bring the metal up to heat rank 4. He knew what Julia would do next, and, with a gesture, he twisted the weapon and sent it spearing toward the mech’s back.
At the same time, Julia managed to squirm backward, creating some room and kicking at the mech, sending the massive suit stumbling … right into the path of the claymore. The superheated sword carved through the back of the mech’s armor with barely any resistance, and the tip slid into the core of air mana resting in the center of the suit. Finn saw the sphere crack, the fracture expanding rapidly and beams of energy streaking through the break.
“Oh fuck,” Finn muttered. “Get down!” he shouted at Kyyle.
They both dove to the ground, but it was too late…
The detonation of air mana was intense, blowing apart the entire wall of the temple and sending a rippling shockwave of compressed air smashing through the room. It hurled the pews into the far wall and then blasted a hole in the glass on the other side of the structure.
The explosion was so violent that it knocked Finn and Kyyle from their feet, slamming them into the sides of the vault and forcing glass and rock through the nearby wall. Finn felt himself crushed against the glass, and then a searing pain erupted in his thigh.
Precious, pain-filled seconds passed.
And then the vibrations began to slow… then stop.
Finn’s vision was wavering, notifications flashing in the corner of his vision. He could see a large shard of glass had impaled his thigh and pinned him to the floor. But Finn ignored that, struggling to get eyes on Julia. He couldn’t see her. The air mana filling the temple was so dense that it left Finn momentarily blind, unable to see what was happening in the room. He was still unable to filter that type of mana.
Even worse, his UI was flickering erratically, and he couldn’t see her group icon.
Another flash of yellow light bloomed in front of Finn – this one closer. Too close.
The remainder of the ice barrier sealing the vault was cracked open, carved neatly in half, and the frozen chunks smashed against the floor.
Then a blade slid down, touching Finn’s neck. “Hands where I can see them. Don’t move or I’ll slit your throat,” a voice said in an even tone. Not that Finn could really move anyway, what with glass impaling his thigh.
He glanced up to see Malik standing above him. Finn’s fingers came to a standstill, and he raised his hands slowly to show that he wasn’t casting anything. The man’s face was bloodied, and gashes littered his chest and thighs, evidence that he had braved the explosion and shrapnel to make it over to their position.
Finn still couldn’t see inside the temple with the massive amount of air mana that was whipping through the room. Was Julia all right? Was she still alive? He glanced to his side and saw Kyyle lying beside him. The earth mage looked terrible. His leg was broken, crumpled at an odd angle, and a large purple bruise stained the side of his head, blood leaking from a jagged gash where his head must have struck the wall.
But he was breathing, barely – possibly unconscious.
“What’s your plan here?” Finn asked slowly, addressing the fighter.
“Your friend has the relic. I saw him take it,” Malik said. “You’re going to pull it out of his bag and hand it to me. Slowly. Or I’ll kill you.”
Finn snorted, staring at him incredulously. “Since I’m in no condition to argue, could we just take a moment and address the elephant in the room? I’m honestly surprised that you can talk. I thought you were mute.”
“Relic. Now,” Malik responded stoically.
“It’s clear now why you let Kalisha do the negotiating,” Finn replied with a sigh. “We’re travelers. I’ll just respawn. The tough-guy act isn’t exactly terrifying.”
“You’re right, Malik is something of a blunt instrument, but he means well,” Kalisha interjected, limping up behind the fighter. “What he meant to say is that the fight is over. You’re injured, you can’t move, and you must be out of mana. Plus, your friend there is nearly dead. You can either hand over the gem nicely, and we’ll just kill you both. Or you can play hardball, and we’ll gently deposit you at the bottom of the shaft or chain you up and leave you here as you likely planned to do with Vanessa,” she murmured, gesturing at the burnt body behind her, its ruined limbs still chained to the glass.
Finn grimaced. Okay, that was a real threat.
This didn’t look good – not at all.
If Kyyle died right here, they could still loot his corpse. Suddenly, Finn was beginning to regret not ordering the earth mage to just blow the explosives… even though that plan wouldn’t have been without its own share of risk.
“Or how about I just kill you instead,” Julia said, causing Kalisha to whip around in surprise.
Finn’s daughter stood behind the pair. She looked like hell. Only pieces of her dark armor remained. The cuirass was now fused around her chest, and the gauntlets welded to her hands. Her left arm hung limp at her side, and her right clutched her lance, the needle-like tip pointed directly at Kalisha.
However, she was alive. Finn had to resist the urge to breathe a sigh of relief, although Malik’s blade at his throat gave him pause.
Kalisha’s face twisted in irritation. “You travelers really are tenacious. Okay, so what now? You’re badly injured by the looks of it. So, Malik kills Finn, you kill me and then Malik kills you and takes the gem. You still lose, and I guess Malik wins,” she said in a tired voice.
That’s when Finn detected a faint hint of emerald energy behind him. He tilted his head slightly, seeing Kyyle’s fingers twitch and a low murmur escaping his lips. He had to resist the urge to smile. The kid was conscious after all and following through on their plan. He just needed to buy him a bit more time, so that there was no risk that Malik could interrupt the spell.
“Or we could talk this through,” Finn spoke up. “There has to be a compromise here – some way we can all walk away alive.”
“I’m not sure I see it,” Malik said in an even voice, his blade pressing harder against Finn’s neck and drawing a line of blood.
“I think I do,” Kyyle grumbled from behind Finn. He pushed himself up against the wall with a wince, raising his hands to show Kalisha and Malik the green energy curling around his fingertips – signaling that he had cast, but not completed, a spell. Finn could see their eyes widen, the energy in their bodies flashing erratically.
“Before we came up here, we planted explosives below us. There’s a fault line that runs just under this temple. Those explosives happen to be just inside my control range,” Kyyle explained. “That well over there also still holds a ton of fire mana and this cavern is covered in fire crystals. I blow our explosive caches, and my bet is we bring down half the Abyss with us.
“So, this spell right here,” he said, wiggling his fingers slightly, “I complete it, and we all die horrifically.” The earth mage looked between Kalisha and Malik. “Except, I already have the gem, I’ll respawn, and there’s no fucking way you two survive that explosion. So, as I see it, we have two options.
“I blow us all to hell, our group respawns, and we win anyway.
“Or you two lay down your weapons, and we let you live,” Kyyle said.
Kalisha and Malik stared at him, no one moving an inch. Finn watched the energy spiral through their bodies in a chaotic pattern. Uncertainty, fear, doubt.
“You could be bluffing,” Kalisha said a moment later. “How do we know the explosives are really there?”
“You don’t,” Kyyle shot back, his gaze never wavering. “But you’ve seen what we’re capable of already. We survived the fall into the pit, we clawed our way up through the very lowest levels of this hellhole, and we survived your onslaught on the temple, taking on both the fighters and the merchants at the same time. And our entire damn group is still alive.
�
��So, let me ask you this, do you really think I’m fucking bluffing? Enough to bet your life on it?”
Another pause and Kalisha’s gaze swept to Finn and Julia, taking in their stoic expressions. She was looking for a clue, something that would tip her off to whether Kyyle was really bluffing. Yet she didn’t find one. Only a stony resolve. All three of them were more than happy to die here if that’s what it took.
Kalisha heaved a sigh. “Shit,” she muttered and then rested a hand on Malik’s shoulder. “Let’s give it up.”
“You’re taking his word?” the fighter asked in an incredulous tone.
“You’re not?” Kalisha shot back. “Merchants have to be good at reading people. Do these three look like they’re fucking around? And even if you don’t trust my gut, have you seen this place? Look at what they’ve already done,” she said with a wave at the temple. “Hell, does it really seem that far-fetched to you?”
A grimace flitted across Malik’s face, and then Finn felt the sword tip drift away from his neck. A moment later, the fighter’s weapon clattered against the floor.
“Okay, you two, up against that wall, hands on the glass,” Julia barked, holding her lance at the ready. Already, her other arm was beginning to heal, her injuries disappearing at a rapid pace. Less than a minute more, and she would likely be good as new. The merchant and fighter followed her instructions, soon kneeling and their hands against the wall.
Finn ripped the shard free from his thigh and struggled to his feet, leaning against the wall for support and keeping a hand on the wound to stem the bleeding.
Although, he noticed Kyyle made no move to stand, his eyes on Kalisha and Malik and his hands still holding the spell. It wasn’t until Finn had melted down some of the dark ore and bound the merchant and fighter in manacles – locking their hands behind their back and their feet together – that Kyyle finally relented and dropped the spell. Finn helped him out of the vault, settling the earth mage on one of the few stone pews that had survived the battle as his injuries healed.
The temple itself was in ruins. The entrance had been blasted open, the doors crumbling and barely standing. The mechanized suit was embedded in the side of the temple, having crashed through the thick glass, and formed a gigantic crater in the wall of the cavern. The hall itself was now filled with a series of craters, cracks, and melting chunks of ice – Vanessa’s half-cooked corpse lingering beside the basin.
Even if Finn hadn’t seen it himself, the devastation would have indicated that one hell of a fight had gone down inside the temple.
“What do you want to do with them?” Julia grunted, gesturing at Malik and Kalisha.
Finn frowned in thought. The safe option would be to kill them.
And yet, he had a sneaking suspicion that they might be useful.
A larger game was at play here, and it wasn’t at all clear who the players were or what they each hoped to gain. The Emir? The Seer? Abbad? The guilds? After his conversation with the goddess, the way she had pressured him into amending their deal, and the way they had unlocked the damn vault, even more questions were beginning to pile up.
“We’ll take them with us,” Finn said finally. “Kyyle made a deal – we should honor it.”
“You sure?” Julia replied with an arched eyebrow. “No one would know if we just drop them into that molten lake.”
At that comment, both Kalisha and Malik shot her a worried glance.
“No, not really. But they’re bound. We’ll strip them of their gear and keep an eye on them. I just want to get the hell out of here,” Finn said, rubbing at his face.
“How merciful of you,” Kalisha quipped, shooting a look at Finn.
“Careful or I might change my mind,” Finn replied calmly. That earned him a grin from the merchant. Even imprisonment didn’t seem to faze her. For his part, Malik had drifted back into silence – his expression stoic, giving away nothing. Although, Finn noted the kernel of dark energy that drifted through the man’s stomach. Uncertainty and fear.
The fighter couldn’t hide his emotions from Finn.
Julia hauled the pair to their feet, prodding them with her lance to get them to move toward the entrance to the temple. As Kalisha passed Kyyle, a thoughtful expression flitted across her face.
“I’m curious, did you really have explosives planted below us?” she asked the earth mage. “Or were you bluffing?”
Kyyle looked at her, his face impassive. “If you’d refused my offer, I’d have blown us all to hell without a second thought,” the earth mage answered without any hesitation. In Finn’s sight, he didn’t see the young man’s energy waver for even a moment.
“Huh,” Kalisha murmured. Then, a moment later, in a quieter voice, “We were never going to win this competition, were we?”
“No,” Kyyle answered simply. “Not as long as you were facing the three of us.”
Finn saw the truth of his words echoed in the destruction around them. Despite all the obstacles they’d faced, they were still standing – still fighting. After days and weeks of torment, they had risen from the ashes even stronger than when they had started. It showed in the way Julia held the limb of a dead fire ant queen, prodding at the prisoners’ backs. In the way Kyyle had faced down the merchant and fighter without flinching. In the way that Finn had helped pull them through that battle by the skin of their teeth.
Alone, they were each powerful.
But together? Together, they were fucking unstoppable.
Chapter 48 - Manipulated
With gentle movements of his fingers, Finn heated the metal along the side of Julia’s cuirass, a line of glowing red soon drifting down the dark metal as his daughter let out a hissing breath. The fire mana might not do any lasting harm with the way her body absorbed the energy and her enhanced health regeneration, but she had explained that it still stung like hell. A few seconds later, the metal had heated sufficiently. Finn gently pulled the seam apart, and the chest plate fell free, falling to the ground with a hollow clang.
Julia promptly stretched, rubbing at her ribs. “Thank you. That damn thing was a little tight. It felt like it was cutting off circulation to my legs.” She shot him a glance. “You trying to tell me I need to lose some weight?”
“Uh no, I don’t have a death wish,” Finn replied dryly. “But next time, I’ll make sure to get your exact measurements while we’re getting attacked, and I’m trying to build a set of armor in a grand total of 30 seconds or less.”
Julia grinned at him. “Make sure that you do.”
Her eyes drifted to the armor on the ground as Finn broke the cuirass apart, heating the metal, splitting it into separate lumps, and then forming a series of dark metal spheres that he set to cool on the glass floor. As the metal returned to a dark black, he promptly stowed the orbs in his pack.
“Seriously, though,” Julia added. “When we get back and have some more time, I’d like a real set of that armor. Although, maybe just a touch lighter and with more flexibility in the joints.”
“I’m sure we can make that happen,” Finn replied distractedly.
Julia’s mention of returning to Lahab just made a hollow weight settle in Finn’s stomach, his mind instantly replaying the previous battle and the work they had done since.
The group had locked their two prisoners in a nearby glass building after carefully stripping them of their weapons and equipment. Kyyle had shored up the walls of the ruined structure, ensuring that they wouldn’t be making a break for it any time soon. Not that Finn was too worried, not with their manacles. Even Malik’s ward-enhanced strength seemed unable to break through the dark metal, but Finn had thickened his bindings just in case.
They had then canvassed the temple, Finn melting down the fragments of Julia’s armor and her sword, not wanting to waste the metal. It wasn’t clear if or when they would come back to the Abyss, and he planned to keep as much of the metal as he could. They’d done the same with the other champions’ equipment, going through their packs and stow
ing any useful gear. They’d even found some health potions – truly a treasure after weeks without any healing items – allowing Finn and Kyyle to mend their wounds more quickly.
After that, Finn had moved on to Kalisha’s mech suit.
Julia had done a number on the mechanized armor, and the detonation of the air mana core certainly hadn’t helped. The entire back portion of the suit had been blasted apart, and the front didn’t look much better. The hatch had been caved in, Sadik’s body crushed behind it, and his blood dripping down the metal.
However, Finn was able to salvage some materials using his sight. He melted through the casing, recovering many of the mana crystals and the wiring embedded inside the suit’s limbs. He’d then had Daniel scan the entire suit and make a log. It might be useful later.
Although, Kyyle had still insisted on taking his own meticulous notes. As far as Finn knew, the earth mage was still inside the temple, staring at the armor and tapping away at his in-game console.
Which left Finn sitting outside the goddess’ temple with Julia, his eyes drifting across the ruined city. His gaze hovered for a moment on the structure where they’d locked Kalisha and Malik, his thoughts troubled. It wasn’t so much what they had just been through that bothered him – or the work of recovering from the battle – it was what lay in store for the future that caused that worried knot to wriggle in his stomach.
“You wondering if we should have just killed them?” Julia offered, following his gaze to the nearby building. “We still could.”
Finn grimaced. “It might be easier, but I suspect we’re going to need them.”
“How so?” she asked, glancing at him.
He paused, gnawing on the inside of his cheek.
“Okay,” he began slowly, “let’s say for the moment that the Emir gives me rulership of Lahab, and we manage to bring back your mom. We still have to make a life here – we’ll still be dependent on this world,” he added with a wave of his hand.
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