Shackled Exalted

Emil

"Look at what you did this time," Anna groaned as she jumped to her feet.

"What do you mean?! What did I do?!" Emil protested.

"You just had to go and say something stupid."

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The trembling grew louder. Emil lifted his palm and increased Blaze's intensity. Light from the flame extended further down into the labyrinth. A large shadow appeared at the edge. It got closer with every reverberation of the labyrinth floor.

"Get ready to fight!"

The source of the shaking soon revealed itself under Blaze's luminance. It towered at seven feet tall. An array of compound eyes lined the axis of its head, which glowed with a dark red gleam. It had two appendages at the front, shaped in scythes. Four pairs of double-jointed legs extended laterally from its main body. Antenna tendrils draped over its head. A greenish bile-like goo oozed from its mouth. Its sharp mandibles clattered against each other incessantly as though eager to finally find a target to hunt.

Emil made a face, visibly revolted by the sight of the disturbing monster. Not did its appearance invoke his disgust, but the stench of it carried from roaming the sewers also made his guts churn.

"Seriously, what the hell is going on with the Canticle? This can't be normal," he muttered, holding onto his stomach.

"How about you stop being a baby and burn the damn creature already?!" Anna yelled.

The monster suddenly screeched. It winded up its legs and extended its scythe-like arm as though preparing to charge. Emil wasted no time. With a snap of his fingers, Blaze bloomed to engulf his entire body.

"Incinerate!"

The flames rushed forward on command, expanding like the maw of a demonic beast. It latched onto the monster. The enormous bug squealed in agony as flames crawled along its body. Still, it wasn't enough to incapacitate it. As if angered by the attack, it bulldozed towards Emil and Anna instead.

The ground rumbled as the lumbering beast barreled across the surface. Emil prepared Bulwark while Anna unleashed a bolt of lightning. Sparks crackled in the air. The lightning struck home, landing against the thorax of the creature. Alarmingly, Anna's attack spluttered. Something seemed to resist the electricity's intrusion. After a second, her lightning was repelled.

"The shell on its body is non-conductive!"

"Hit it with your signature then!" Emil yelled, trying to fan the flames further.

Anna took out a metal coin and rested it against her thumb. Static discharged. After a second of ionizing the coin, she flicked. A sharp discordant sound screeched through the air. Following the trail of electricity, the coin blasted into the shell of the monster. The armor cracked, fissuring, but in the end, the coin also bounced off.

"No way! It resisted Ionize?!"

"Get back, Anna!"

Emil released Bastion. A column of stone walls shot up from the ground before the monster's path. The creature slammed into the first obstacle, shattering the stone construct with little effort.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Shit! I underestimated its power! He realized his mistake too late. The momentum of the monster was unstoppable as it blasted through the remaining walls. The monster loomed over Anna. Emil chased with desperation as the creature's scythes descended on her body.

"Repel!"

A ringing distortion echoed through the air as the monster's scythe slammed into an invisible barrier a few inches above Anna's head. Upon closer inspection, Emil found a force field of electric discharge pulsating rapidly around her. She had her arms in a cross guard, gritting her teeth as she continued to pour mana to maintain the integrity of the electric shield. The monster's arms shook as it tried to break through.

In a fit of desperation, it raised its scythe-like appendage and swung down again. But it was no avail. Emil had arrived. A barrage of stone fragments smashed into the monster's arms and head, stunning it. In the meanwhile, Emil moved the earth beneath Anna's feet, carrying her away from the monster.

His ambush only managed to buy a few seconds before the insect recovered. It tilted its body, letting the hard carapace covering its thorax and abdomen take the remaining barrage.

That armor is problematic. We need to break it somehow.

Emil caught a glimpse of the spot where Anna's Ionize had struck earlier. The projectile had left a visible crack in the carapace right to the side of the monster's thorax.

"Anna, you need land Ionize on the spot you hit earlier! It should fracture the armor!"

The monster screeched. It smacked its scythes together as though sharpening its blades. There was a visceral anger to its movements like it was enraged that its prey was putting up an unexpected fight.

"Are you insane?! Do you know how small a coin is?!" Anna complained, "I can't hit it if it's thrashing like that everywhere!"

"Then I'll pin it down!"

The monster charged again. Emil was ready this time, having learned from the previous encounter. The creature was stronger and heavier than he expected, so instead of trying to block its approach, he went with a different approach. Mana channeled from his pendant down to his legs.

"Fissure!" he intoned and stomped the ground.

The floor in front of the monster suddenly stirred. Cracks emerged on the surface before splitting apart violently into a crater. The monster tried to veer away at the last second, but the momentum of its charge was too strong to allow the abrupt change in direction.

Boom!

The monster fell into the makeshift pit. Half of its body was sticking out of the surface; the other half plunged into the hole.

"Entomb!"

Emil took no chances and immediately materialized a couple of stone pillars to lock the monster down. Once the creature was completely contained, he turned towards Anna.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

She was already locked and loaded—the metal coin in her hands buzzing with potential energy. Taking his gaze as the signal, she unleashed the devastating attack.

Squelch!

They drew blood for the first time. Greenish goo splattered from the monster's mid-section. It shrieked with agony. A portion of the monster's carapace then fractured as Anna's attack landed perfectly at the first spot she hit. The monster's flesh was finally revealed.

"Incinerate!"

Blaze surged with glee as Emil commanded it to feast. It latched onto the exposed part of the monster's body and went to work. The nasty sizzling of flesh echoed in symphony with the monster's deathly cries. It lasted for an alarmingly long time before Blaze finally drained of its vitality. The remains of its carapace were black with char. Emil winced, pinching his nose at the nauseating scent of scorched organic matter.

"Sometimes I forget that you have two Gifts," Anna muttered with trembling eyes as she squinted at the blazing inferno, "Honestly, it's cheating. It's like facing against two Exalted with perfect coordination."

"You sound like you're trying to pick a fight," Emil teased as he severed his connection with Blaze. The inferno devouring the monster continued while the flames on his body dissipated. Oh crap. He glanced down, realizing that the upper half of his body was now bare. He had grown too accustomed to using Blaze while wearing the flame-proof jacket that Petra brought for him.

"Umm, sorry." He winced, covering his body sheepishly with his arms.

"Oh please, you act as if I haven't seen anything before."

"Huh? When?" Emil asked, confounded by her words.

Anna narrowed her eyes as though she found this conversation ridiculous. "When fighting against Professor Callum. The same thing happened where you burned off your own clothes using your Gift." Her eyes drifted to the exposed portions of his body. "Honestly, I don't know how you're still alive if you have to burn yourself every time. Can't you invoke the flames using another medium instead of your own body? Surely, it can't be that restrictive?"

Emil stared at her blankly, the gears in his head turning at this new perspective.

"Huh. I guess I never tried," he admitted. He always had a tumultuous relationship with Blaze. It was the Gift granted to him artificially through the Bestowed Project. Emil was given the body parts of the man who murdered his friends. The abominable act gave him a second chance at life, but it also scarred him permanently. Each time he felt the flames of Blaze he was taken back to that day when he lost everything.

Blaze was his connection to his unchangeable past. And so, he never even considered how he used it.

"You've got to be kidding me," she groaned, "How the hell did you end up as a finalist of the Clash of Dawn like this?"

Emil shrugged, smiling. Anna gave him something else to think about later on.

"It is what it is. People are full of contradictions," he prefaced before dropping his comeback, "Just like how a certain redhead is smart and meticulous, yet somehow, also reckless and impulsive."

Anna clicked her tongue. "You bastard, that's a low blow!"

***

After dodging a few stray shocks from Anna, Emil resumed their investigations into the labyrinth. The ambient mana within the Canticle finally stopped increasing, reaching a steady equilibrium. It implied that they were near the source of the mana.

"Trace."

Seismic Sense revealed the tracks left behind by the enormous monster. The creature had lumbered down quite a distance before it found Emil and Anna. Likely, it had been drawn by the sound and spikes of mana from their fights against the insect swarms. The tracks eventually veered into a narrow passage branching to the side of the main labyrinth chamber. The gush of water intensified as Emil turned the corner.

The ground of the passage dipped slightly compared to main cavern. The water level here was high. Emil took a step—his shoes was immediately drenched in the murky liquid. He fought the urge to make a face, remembering that Anna was beside him.

This area is still wet with rain water. Is it connected to some basin then? He didn't have intimate knowledge of the Canticle, but he knew that there were basins and reservoirs scattered around the underground labyrinth. Their purpose was to control the flow of water during stormy days to prevent overflooding of the main sewer lines.

Emil focused his eyes. He could feel it. Mana was definitely denser here compared to everywhere else in the Canticle. He extended Blaze to increase the illumination range.

And there it is.

Scattered against the walls of the passage, a familiar pile of stone glistened with a bluish hue from the Blaze's light.

"A cache of Azurite? Here?" Anna exclaimed.

"That certainly explains the monsters," Emil muttered, activating Seismic Sense as a precaution, "The ambient mana was abnormally high. Enough to spawn monsters once creatures in the vicinity absorbed a certain amount. An Azurite cache emitting mana from disturbances caused by the sewer water would definitely be the cause of that."

"But why is this here?"

"Either it was an accident or someone really wanted to disrupt the Aurous Festival for some reason," Emil said, wary of this turn of events, "Anyways, we need to take this out of the Canticle. There's too much Azurite here for the two of us to deplete all of the mana inside."

***

Backtracking out of the Canticle took noticeably less time. The number of monsters they encountered on the way towards the exit was far fewer. With the Azurite cache removed, the ambient mana in the Canticle should began to drop.

Emil winced as light from the surface flooded his eyes. The sun was bright—a stark contrast against the somber atmosphere following the swarm's outbreak. He could hear sounds of activity from the locals and visitors echoing from the main street. A public broadcast blared to announce the suppression of the monster outbreak. The Commerce District already seemed to be on back on its feet after the sudden incursion.

It was faint, but Emil also noticed a presence looming in the area. Anna appeared none the wiser, letting out a sigh as she dropped her shoulders. Fighting and traversing the Canticle had been exhausting. The troubled reunion with her parents was undoubtedly also on her mind.

"Can you get me a shirt to wear?" Emil asked, "I can't exactly walk out onto the streets looking like this."

Anna was about to say something until her eyes scanned Emil's body. Upon closer inspection, the plethora of scars, burns, and stitches that lined his torso was nauseating to look at. He was a patchwork of discolored flesh. Her face squished into a painful scowl and she looked as though she had a thousand questions she wanted to ask.

"…Yeah. Just give me a minute," she said instead, turning around and jogging towards the main street.

Emil watched her with a smile, grateful that she didn't pry. I wonder how much she's figured out about me already. He wasn't oblivious to how close they were growing. He felt a pang of guilt each time Anna held back from questioning his past. How would she react if she found out who he really is? And how long could he keep this cover from her and the others?

He took a deep breath and shelved these thoughts for later. It was time to speak with the interloper.

"It should be fine to talk now," he said out in the open.

A second later, a person emerged from one of the crevices along the passage. Emil didn't even realize there was an opening small enough to fit a person. Their faces were masked and they had a uniform embroidered with a familiar insignia.

A Steiger Courier.

"Graf wants you to report on the monster incursion and what you uncovered in the Canticle. He's currently stationed at the outskirts of the Commerce District," the Courier said, handing him a note with a set of navigation instructions, "You should head over immediately. Bring everything."

"Right. How did you know I was here, by the way?"

His question was left unanswered as the Courier immediately disappeared in the blink of an eye after delivering the message. Emil stood there, slightly taken aback by how he was ignored.

…I get that they're busy, but they can at least humor me an answer.

Anna returned a minute later with a fresh shirt. It made with a linen material dyed with a deep green color. It was a bit oversized for his body shape, but Emil put it on regardless.

"Thanks, how much did it cost?"

"You don't have to pay me back. I'm rich in case you forgot," Anna said casually.

"What if I just want to know the price for reference?"

She scoffed, rolling her eyes as if she was offended by how naïve he thought she was.

"Then you can head down to the madame across the street and ask her yourself. And just for your reference, I hate receiving gifts. Brings bad memories of when I was getting shopped around as a bride."

Emil smirked. What a difficult person.

"Then I'll graciously accept this," he said, "Now, I think we should split off. I'm going to return this Azurite cache to the local authorities. What do you plan on doing?"

Anna pondered for a moment. "Kai, Charlotte, and Aoife were headed to the center of the Commerce District. They should have been fine between the three of them, but I'll see if I can meet up with them just in case. The situation seems to be stabilized now. Lionheart and Belle associates have set up patrols and are maintaining order."

"Sounds like a plan."