NOVEL NEXT 200. [POLSKA] Oathbreaker
200. [POLSKA] Oathbreaker
Renna ran faster than the elevator could slide down its pulley system. But even for a barefoot frog, there was a limit to how much she could defy gravity. As soon as she felt her foothold begin to slip, she jumped a second time, now into the center of the shaft.
The timing was fortuitous, for that was when Zacarias also entered the frame. The Manusya had opted for a much more 'central' route, having grabbed onto the wires themselves to guide his vertical descent. He had the foresight to grab a linen before he jumped, thereby upping his friction mitigation.
The two of them inevitably met in the middle, with Zacarias grabbing onto Renna's hooded jacket in a fit of panic. Mere Ksanas separated them from high-speed—perhaps even lethal—contact with the elevator itself. Perfect use case for:
[Auxiliary Technique: ELEMENTAL PRESS]
Renna reversed DREDGER's blade and laid it flat at the moment of contact. It produced the 'tamping' effect she'd envisaged, canceling out the impact along with any fall damage it might've incurred. Even Zacarias, having quite literally piggybacked off her technique, received the full benefits of a soft landing.
"Hot damn!" The Manesferan with one of his Manesferanisms. "Did you just invent a way to perfect-parry fall damage?? Pathsight can suck it!"
"Yes, but we still need to get inside the box," Renna shouted to be heard over the mechanical noise. "Any ideas?"
"Your shovel not up for the job?"
Renna shook her head quickly. "You saw me struggle with linoleum. I'm going to need a whole cycle or more to learn the ins and outs of reinforced steel."
Zacarias nodded, just as quickly. "Right. Well, I'd hoped I wouldn't have to spend Karma just to open the entrance to a boss fight, but needs must and all that." The Manusya then reached for the mask at his belt. But then—
KRREEAAASSSHHH…
Both Upheavers had to scrunch up their faces and cover their ears. The elevator had ground to a halt on its own accord, but not before letting out a horrible screech. It was hard to tell exactly how far they'd traveled underground, but if Renna were to guess, they were now at least in the B10s. Just how much lower could this thing go?
Another loud clank. The elevator had opened to let out its occupant. Renna read rather than heard the surprisingly hasty movement of a hulking figure. Whatever waited on this floor, Gladiolus was in a hurry to reach it.
"We need to follow him," Renna stated the obvious. "But now, our path is blocked by the whole box."
"I've got this," Zacarias said with a wink, keeping himself unmasked for the time being. "Now we don't need to break through the box; only push it down a little."
[Auxiliary Technique: THE THIRD DAO—CESTUS]
Instead of punching a hole, the Manusya pugilist 'punched down' on the problem. Wide stance followed into a rigid, unimbued fist (left hand, Renna was pleased to see) straight into the elevator. It dislodged the whole box from its wiring, just enough for a crack to open up above the roof. Renna then shoved DREDGER in there like a wedge and pushed down with all her might.
The crack widened into a gap, enough to fit even a burly Manusya. The Upheavers wasted no time to slip through and continue their basement adventure on a brand new floor.
The place had clearly been deserted for an interminably long time. It seemed even a secretive doctor didn't need the whole of a multi-level basement for his nefarious activities. The ripples here had been inert for so long they'd all but fossilized onto the walls and floors.
Which made the fresh deposits from a running Gladiolus all the easier to follow. Follow them the Upheavers did, way lit by a swaying oil-lamp, inching closer and closer to the scent of blood and mayhem.
It didn't take long to spot the tiger: a hulking, white-coated mound amidst roiling dust. But it was another matter to engage him, with neither Upheaver particularly well-suited to ranged combat. Renna kept her amphibian eyes on the target all the same, watching to see how he might respond to a pair of determined pursuers.
As a matter of fact, he didn't respond. Not right away, at any rate. Instead, the doctor stood in place with back slouched and turned to the Upheavers, preoccupied by something just in front of him. His right hand—a surgeon's hand—made a cutting motion, straight up and down and seemingly in the air.
[SCALPEL Spell: EXCISION]
The air itself shifted, splitting at the seams as though stretched beyond its elastic limits. One Ksana, the phenomenon reminded Renna of a razor-thin blade making inroads into an exposed shoulder. The next, she was hit full in the face by a tidal storm of ripples.
Pelting rain. Mud splashing against polished granite. A foolish lass and the oh-so-inviting nape of her neck. Blood and mayhem inside the steam-choked confines of a steel cage.
And then… something even stranger. Something utterly unbelievable without the visual evidence to corroborate it. The tidal wave of otherworldly ripples rolled itself into a neat, discrete package, before fusing with the hulking figure of Gladiolus ere'Branagh.
As it turned out, 'hulking' was something of a misnomer. Or at the very least premature. For the man suddenly and instantly doubled in size. Or was it an illusion cast by his new shadow?
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[Designation: GLADIOLUS ere'BRANAGH]
[Aberrant Race: Oathbreaker]
[Aberrant Class: Field Boss]
Curiouser and curiouser. Could a Tidereigner really become a new race—an Aberrant one at that—simply by breaking their [Oath]? And that was when Renna came to a new understanding. Some of the stones she'd dredged up earlier had dropped back down and fallen into place.
I for one hold myself to that [Oath] with the rigor my patients expect and deserve. And it's this exacting rigor that so elevates the act of—
Breaching.
What specific act had put Gladiolus in breach? By now, it didn't take a genius to put two and two together. A sudden surge of ripples from Zacarias told Renna he too had reached the same conclusion.
By going back on his rigid [Oath], the mad doctor had elevated—empowered—both halves of his complete world. Oathborn into Breachspawn. Oathkeeper into Oathbreaker.
The two halves had fused into one irrepressible being. Basest desires incarnate. An unrestrained animal that lurked in the Night and killed in broad Daylight.
Except the beast was ready and willing to kill on both sides of the divide. In fact, it'd already been busy on the other side for some time, as evidenced by a Health bar that was just under half-full.
The doctor turned, his clothes—white coat and all—bulging and tearing to accommodate his new size. His pince-nez glasses slid off the now jagged contours of his face and shattered at his feet. Gone completely were the fastidious manners, the kindly smile. In their place remained only the exultant sneer of an apex predator ready to devour its meal.
"Mr Borges-Juventus!" The tiger roared by way of greeting, breaths ragged and voice having entirely lost its gentle timbre. "Did my assistant not tell you to avoid strenuous exercise?"
"I guess you just did too good of a job, Doc." Zacarias flashed his sardonic grin. "Besides, what makes you think any of this counts as 'strenuous'?"
Gladiolus met this with a harsh laugh, absent any shred of real mirth. He then crouched low and shot toward the Upheavers, shockingly nimble for his size. In his right hand shone the blade of SCALPEL, comically small yet impossibly sharp.
[SCALPEL Spell: DISSECTION]
The hallway split in two. The floor, the wall, the ceiling—they all separated at a flick from SCALPEL, starting at Gladiolus's feet and ending with Zacarias's right shoulder joint.
The Manusya's entire arm slid off like a slice of meat, the cut so clean it didn't even bleed—both in the literal and Pathsighted sense! A hefty [302!] in damage but no status effect to follow.
So much for post-operative care! The Upheavers exchanged the briefest of looks. Zacarias was fully lucid and much calmer than a newly one-armed man had any business to be. Which was just as well, for it was imperative that the two of them understand each other as quickly as possible.
The briefest of looks, followed by an even briefer exchange of nods. Then, they both turned and ran. Back up the [Dissected] hallway and toward the open elevator.
Gladiolus gave chase. An apex predator smelling blood. He let out another mirthless laugh as he flicked SCALPEL again, this time in a horizontal plane.
[SCALPEL Spell: TRANSECTION]
The cut was aimed at both Upheavers, specifically to cleave them right through at waist level. The much taller Zacarias jumped to avoid it, while it was easier for Renna to duck under the arc. She felt the cut fly past just above her shark denticles, so sharp as to split individual ripples in half!
A short sprint back to the elevator, but it was somehow the longest run of Renna's life. She was reminded of her game of tag against the ghost of Tyr Djofulsen, where even one small slip-up spelled catastrophe.
The deranged tiger gave chase, shockingly rapid for his size. His breaths grew louder and more ragged with every attempted [Dissection] and [Transection].
Finally, the Upheavers reached their destination, just as both nearly ran out of Stamina. Renna didn't hesitate as she jumped and squeezed through the gap above the elevator, instead of the wide-open door. A ping of metal against [Shield] confirmed that Zacarias was on the same page, having stayed behind to buy the Yaksha some time.
As soon as Renna was up on the roof, she gripped DREDGER with both hands and aimed [Elemental Surge] into the wires that held the elevator in place.
Her first effort, hindered again by unfamiliarity, only managed to fray a few strands. She took a moment to recover Stamina, collect herself, and analyze the ripples that had floated up with the frayed strands.
A second [Surge] managed to snap one of the wires clean through, causing the elevator to tilt and slide further down the shaft. One more pause. Keep calm and trust the Manusya to pull his weight (one-armed though he was!).
The third and final [Surge] got through all of them. Released from the tenuous tension, the metallic box immediately fell away under Renna's feet, threatening to take her with it.
But she was ready, [Flux]-ing into a sphere that bounced up in mid-air. The maneuver served two functions: first to delay her fall, and second to clear herself out of the way of:
[DREAMER Aspect: THE SECOND DAO—PALM OF EMPOWERMENT]
A surge of purple energy. With it, a hulking tiger flew straight into the shaft, now vacant of anything to land on or hold onto. Zacarias had timed his Buddha version of [Palm] to perfection, having pushed Gladiolus at the exact moment the elevator had collapsed.
The plan—exchanged and confirmed by a silent nod—had been executed flawlessly. Both Upheavers had sensed just how difficult a 'fair' fight would've been, already down a NINEFOLD arm before it'd even begun. Therefore, the smart thing was to use the terrain. Namely to lure the boss into a 'severe' fall that would incur an automatic 50% Max Health as damage.
Renna watched from the temporary safety of her [Flux] bubble. She saw the mad doctor's face contort again, first into a wide-eyed look of frank surprise, then quickly into another cocksure sneer.
She didn't like that look. It didn't belong to a defeated soul. No, it was the look of a madman who'd found another loophole to exploit.
Gladiolus fell. Renna too fell, but only a short distance before Zacarias's one arm caught her and held firm. From there, both Upheavers looked down to see if their plan had really worked.
The hulking figure grew smaller until it disappeared into the darkness, where only Pathsight could follow.
[SCALPEL Spell: INCISION]
[Breachspawn Technique: PHANTOM SLUMBER]