Immersion World

by Max Jager

  The small girl nodded. "Yeah, the echo from hearing it through both my own and through my sister's ears was getting a little jarring." Katy replied as she handed over her earpiece to Elliott.

  Fate briefly explained how it worked, then sent Elliott and his group in the other direction while she lead her group towards the prison on her side. They made their way down the stairs to the prison level and as they started running down the corridors they spotted a trail of destroyed walls going straight in the direction of the prison.

  "You think that's Estell?" Kathryn asked Fate.

  "It could be, I mean that does look like her handiwork. I think it leads to the prisons so let's follow it." Fate thought out loud as she lead her group down the pathway of smashed-in walls.

  "Where the hell is she?!" A female voice echoed through the halls.

  "That's… Not Estell." Fate sighed. "I know who that is. We need to go help before she does something stupid." She picked up the pace, starting to run towards the voice. The twins followed along right behind her.

  "Where is she!?" The voice venomously shouted out again. "You worthless human! Tell me where my sister is or I will tear this entire f*ing castle apart!"

  "I'm just following orders." Matthew replied. "I don't know where your sister is. But I'm not letting you inside the prison block."

  "Matthew! Get out of my f*ing way, that is your last warning!" The woman shouted back at him.

  "You might want to listen to her, you can not stop us human." A male voice spoke up.

  "We disagree on that." Matthew replied. "I'm not alone, I've got Sasumi the immortal on my side. Should you start a fight, he will come to assist.

  As Fate and the others rushed into the room they spotted Matthew, one of Fate's former friends, blocking the doorway to the prisons. In Front of him were two elves. Fate recognized the woman as Eladienne, a 5'6" elven woman with a thin but muscular build. She had blue eyes and chin-length brown hair, wore a white tank top with a black leather jacket over it and blue jeans, and had some metal gauntlets with long, sharp, bloody claws on her hands.

  The other elf there was a incredibly tall man, he stood at 6'4" which made him much taller then all of the other elves Fate had seen. He had brown eyes and long black hair that reached his waist. He wore a black cloak and pants, with light pieces of armor here and there, and carried a large broadsword.

  Matthew, was 6'4", the same size as the elf. But he had a relatively strong and muscular build. He had short, spiky black hair and light blue eyes and was smoking a cigarette. He was dressed in the fancy type of clothing you'd wear to a professional interview, black dress pants, a white dress shirt, a tie, and an expensive looking jacket. But the state of his attire clearly showed his lack of any real care for his appearance. His clothes were wrinkled and a little dirty, his jacket was unbuttoned and his shirt was untucked and only buttoned a little over halfway.

  "Matthew!" Fate called out to him. "Stand down." She rushed up to the front lines to stand beside the two elves, with the twins following a few steps behind her. Fate then turned to the elven girl and whispered "Hey Ella, Alicia's forces made it into the city already?"

  "No. Screw Alicia's army I came here by myself." Eladienne countered "I just ran into this guy in the castle, seems he had the same idea to just bust in and kill them without the army."

  "Fate, I'd really rather not see you die here. Just leave." Matthew stated. "You can't get through."

  "We aren't leaving." Fate insisted.

  Matthew sighed. "Welp, I tried." With a shrugg, the hologram projector turned off and Matthew disappeared. There was a brief moment of confusion among everyone, followed by the stomping of heavy metal boots.

  A massive metal man walked out of the prison block. This man was an 8' tall, hulking mass of spiked metal armor, carrying a large, spiked mace that was big even for him. Fate immediately noticed that his mace was blood-soaked from a recent fight, it was the same metal man who had attacked Estellese. Fate looked around but didn't see any signs of Estellese anywhere, the metal man's armor wasn't even scratched.

  "Guys… This is Sasumi the Immortal! We need to be caref-" Fate started to say, but before she could even finish speaking Eladienne and Emmei had already sprinted off to attack the metal man.

  Eladienne rushed at the metal man with absolutely no regard to the height difference and slammed her fist into his stomach. Her blow struck him so hard she severely dented the armor and knocked the man backwards. Although the man landed on his feet.

  Eladienne immediately rushed at him again and he swung his huge mace at her. Thinking fast Eladienne grabbed the mace to block the attack. But as soon as she touched the mace, it changed shape. Spikes sprang out of the mace head and handle, stabbing through her arms, shoulders, and chest.

  The elven girl screamed in pain and jumped backwards to pull the spikes out of herself. She was critically wounded.

  The mace returned to its original shape. The man then ran at Eladienne incredibly fast for a massive 8' tall man in a heavy metal suit of armor, and as he ran the entire front side of his armor flattened, then long spikes grew out of the front, intent on crushing and impaling the elven girl.

  Fate quickly looked over her cards. She had a king of clubs, six of clubs, Ace of diamonds, two of diamonds and a six of hearts. Acting quickly, Fate threw the two of diamonds at Eladienne right before the metal man's spiky body slammed into her crushing her between himself and the concrete wall. The man immediately jumped backwards to evade a slice from Emmei's sword, and as he jumped back Eladienne was still standing. Her skin had changed to some diamond-like material that had completely blocked the attack. However, just as fast as she had gained the invulnerability, it disappeared and she returned to normal.

  Eladienne looked shocked and a little shaken, it was enough to snap her out of her blind rage and for a moment she stopped attacking.

  "Ella!" Fate called out to her. "We need to handle this guy strategically! Follow my lead! We'll find Lynn as soon as possible, trust me. If she's in here I want to free her too."

  Emmei closed the distance between himself and Sasumi, then took another swing at the metal man. Sasumi quickly blocked, but as soon as Emmei's sword made contact with the mace both Emmei and his sword started to glow dimly. In a flash Emmei sidestepped a spike and slammed his sword into Sasumi's side. Suddenly, Emmei was moving faster, and was hitting harder. But it wasn't enough to pierce Sasumi's armor. Instead, Emmei and his sword began glowing even brighter, making him even faster and stronger.

  Sasumi quickly jumped backwards, but at this point Emmei was far too fast for Sasumi to keep any distance on him. Emmei followed him and immediately slammed his sword into Sasumi's side again, causing Emmei to glow even brighter. Sasumi took a swing at him but Emmei quickly ducked under the swing and slashed his sword at Sasumi's legs.

  This time, as he swung, Emmei activated the enchantment on his sword and the sword rocketed forwards, slicing clean through Sasumi's armor and severed both of his legs. However, there was no blood and the metal armor immediately repaired itself after taking the blow, and Sasumi appeared to be unharmed. Before the metal man could do anything else Emmei stood up and slashed his sword through Sasumi's torso, slicing him in half, then he followed it up with another quick swing back at Sasumi's head, decapitating him. Every time Emmei hit Sasumi, him and his sword glowed a little brighter. And every time, Emmei was getting much faster and stronger than before.

  However, just like before. Sasumi's armor just repaired itself immediately and Sasumi remained unharmed. There was no blood, there was no pain, it was like the attacks did nothing more then damage his armor when he clearly should have been sliced in half.

  Fate, Kathryn, Katy, and Eladienne sat back and watched, unsure of what any of them could do to help. As they saw attack after attack do nothing to the man behind the armor, they began to question if this man really was immortal. Even Thomas, who they knew really was immortal, was injured when he got hit. Thomas just passed out when
he took a lethal wound. This man, he wasn't getting hurt at all.

  "There has to be something we aren't seeing." Kathryn insisted.

  "Yeah! His damn blood!" Eladienne growled. "How do we kill this asshole?"

  "Is this guy a human?" Katy asked.

  "Yes." Fate replied. "He has posted on the message boards, only humans can do that."

  "This shouldn't be possible then. The only human with immortality is Thomas, and that's for good reason." Kathryn stated. "This guy can't be immortal. Maybe he's just really small, and is only in a portion of the armor. It is a freaking huge suit of armor." She thought out loud as she raised her rifle. Although Emmei was too close for her to shoot. Katy also took aim, following Kathryn's lead.

  "Emmei, jump back real quick!" Eladienne called out when she noticed Kathryn taking aim.

  Emmei jumped backwards, then both Katy and Kathryn open fired on Sasumi. Their guns lit up as they activated the armor-piercing enchantments, and they shot as many bullets as they could into every part of the armored man. As soon as they finished firing Emmei lunged back in and sliced the armored man in half again. The armor just repaired itself yet again, and Sasumi was unharmed.

  Sasumi lunged at Emmei, seeing him as the biggest threat within the group. He swung his mace for Emmei and the elven man quickly sidestepped the attack. But it didn't matter. The spikes on the mace and his armor shot themselves at Emmei. He tried to evade them but the spikes magically followed his movements and impaled his torso several times. Sasumi immediately went to kick the man, and as he kicked his metal boot changed shape to have a sharp spike on the heel. Stabbing Emmei again he kicked the elven man across the room.

  Emmei hit the ground and couldn't get back up, spurring Eladienne to rush at Sasumi again. The signet ring she wore around her neck flashed and a red aura appeared around her. The attack didn't go unnoticed though, Sasumi spun around and swung his massive mace at her again.

  As soon as Fate saw the attack incoming, and realized that Eladienne had no intention to evade it, she quickly threw her ace of diamonds at Eladienne. Once again, Eladienne's skin changed to a diamond-like material, but this time for longer then just a brief second. She blocked Sasumi's attack with one of her gauntlets, grabbing his mace. As the spikes thrust out of the mace at her again she just ignored them. The diamond-skin was invulnerable, it couldn't harm her.

  Eladienne closed the distance on Sasumi, then she threw her punch and her gauntlet flashed as she activated the enchantment. Between her signet and the enchantment, she slammed a fist into Sasumi's stomach with such incredible force that her fist punched a hole clean through the massive metal man's body, and sent him smashing through the next two walls. When Fate looked through the hole in the wall to see where he landed, his armor was just a mangled mess of metal that no longer resembled the shape of a human. That must have killed him, he wasn't moving anymore.

  Eladienne collapsed after the attack, moving like that had worsened all of the wounds Sasumi had inflicted on her before. But after a moment she shakily stood back up. Fate quickly rushed over to Emmei, she didn't know the elf but he clearly needed some assistance. She used her six of hearts on him and his wounds quickly healed. "Alright, let's get into the prison block and let everyone out!" Fate called out, however when she turned around Eladienne had already ran off.

  "Lynn! Lynn where are you!" Eladienne's voice could be heard shouting in the prison, and echoing through the corridors.

  "I have no support cards left guys, we need to be cautious." Fate warned the others. "My last two are clubs, although they should combo nicely against something I can actually damage."

  They walked into the prison block and began opening all of the cells. The elves inside were barely clothed, very malnourished, and most of them looked sick. Neither Cora, nor Eladienne's sister were in any of these cells.

  "Thank you." One of the elves said as Fate opened their cell. "Can you get these off as well?" He asked and pointed to a collar around his neck. "These are preventing us from using magic."

  Fate stepped a little closer and started to look over the collar, but she couldn't figure out how to take it off. Then, the sound of heavy metal boots approaching them started to echo through the cells again. Fate turned to see Sasumi, who was completely unscratched, walking back into the prison. Sasumi stood in the doorway, blocking the only exit to ensure they didn't leave.

  Sasumi focused for a moment, and several of the metal bars from the open prison cells began to detach and fly towards him. Then, the bars all melded together to create a metal door and filled in the broken prison door to ensure nobody escapes.

  In the very last second before the door sealed shut, a small green speck flew into the room. It didn't recognize anyone in the room and immediately flew over to Kathryn. "I'm looking for Estellese's group, I heard she needs help." Pex frantically asked.

  "You found it." kathryn replied.

  "Where is Estell?" Pex questioned and landed on Kathryn's shoulder.

  "Dead." Sasumi laughed. "It was rather disappointing really, I've hunted far more humans that were much more fun to take down in this world. I had hoped an Alpha would be more entertaining. In the end, it wasn't much of a hunt."

  "What?!" Pex's eyes went wide and her face turned pale. She was at a loss for words.

  "She's dead, little fairy. I am a hunter, of animals, monsters, and humans when necessary. You lot are far more entertaining then she was." Sasumi shrugged. "But then again, a lot of the fun is lost when you become immortal." He sighed and lifted his massive mace. "However, fun is over now. Can't play anymore now that you let the prisoners out, since I need to ensure that they stay put."

  "No…" Pex immediately started to cry so Kathryn picked her up and placed her on a seat inside one of the cells, to keep her out of harm's way.

  Fate activated both of her remaining cards, seeing no other options but to try and confront him. She knew attacking him head-on was a terrible idea, but they didn't have much choice. Her first card, the king of clubs summoned two tomahawks in her hands, and the second card, the six of clubs, doubled her strength for a short period. "Get ready to take him out!" Fate called out as she rushed in head-on.

  When Fate moved in Sasumi took a swing at her with his mace, but she quickly ducked under it. Eladienne moved in beside her while Katy and Kathryn both kept their distance. As Fate and Eladienne got closer spikes sprang out of Sasumi's metal armor and forced Eladienne to jump backwards to evade getting impaled. But Fate didn't move. The spike was stopped by the kinetic barrier on Fate's armor.

  "Follow my lead, you'll know when to shoot!" Fate called out as she immediately punched Sasumi, her boosted strength giving her enough power to slam him against the wall behind him. She quickly jumped up and yanked his helmet off. "Now! Shoot his damn head!"

  However, they were met with a shocking discovery. Underneath the armor, Sasumi had no head.

  While he was distracted, Eladienne rushed in closer. As soon as she realized he was headless she grabbed onto one of his arms, then her signet flashed and with incredible strength she yanked the arm off. Only to see that underneath the armor, he didn't have any arms either.

  Thinking fast, Kathryn grabbed one of her grenades and with incredible accuracy she threw the grenade into the neck-hole in Sasumi's armor. "Back away!" She shouted to the others.

  Fate and Eladienne quickly backed away from Sasumi, but not before hearing the grenade bounce around inside of the empty, metal suit of armor. The grenade exploded the armor, and nothing happened.

  Both Fate and Eladienne took a few additional steps back after hearing that. "He's… Not human…" Fate murmured. "It's just the armor. There's nobody inside of it!"

  "Are you serious?!" Kathryn questioned. "If he's just the armor, and the armor can repair itself magically, how the hell do we kill this thing?"

  "You don't." Sasumi laughed. "I'm not called Sasumi the immortal for no reason. And no, I am a human. Back when I was younger, I used to be a hunter back on Ear
th. Like I said, this world has given even someone as old as me a chance to enjoy the thrill of the hunt again. You lost before the fight even begun, I haven't even really been trying to fight. More entertaining watching you struggle, as if you had a chance." He said as his helmet and metal arm-guard levitated back to the suit of armor and reattached themselves.

  Sasumi readied his mace and began slowly walking towards them again, relishing the moments before their death. Until suddenly, a blur of pink burst out of the ground. With a blast of kinetic Aether energy Sasumi was knocked back into the corner of the room. Estellese then landed a few feet in front of him, and with a quick wave of her arms she created two barriers to hold Sasumi in place. The barriers were placed so close to Sasumi that he couldn't move enough to smash them, instead he started making spikes spring out of his armor to repeatedly stab at the barriers in an effort to break them.

  While Sasumi was pinned down, Estellese focused and then started using ice magic to freeze Sasumi in place. Little by little, starting at his legs, his suit of armor started being filled, and covered in thick layers of ice. Before he could break through the barriers, Sasumi had been completely covered in ice and was frozen in place.