Sworded Affair

Chapter 169: Time to Train

Chastened by her abrupt return to the ground, Emma waited until her Anima regenerated fully, and One With Everything reset, before returning to the air.

[WARNING: This Dungeon is unstable, and will collapse if unbeaten in 11 hours, 41 minutes.]

This time, she stayed low, Epitaph hovering barely above head height as she approached the nearest building, zigzagging all the way. That was something she'd picked up from her Dad’s stories at the dinner: granted, those stories mainly focused on how it got people shot and heading straight to cover was better, but it was the thought that counted.

This seemed to work, as the eye passed Emma by without blasting her a second time, allowing her to float slowly forward while taking in the scenery. If one ignored the massive eyeball and the ships in the sky, the cityscape itself was remarkably normal. Run down alleyways, lifeless and ugly skyscrapers making an eyesore of themselves, and abundant fluorescent lighting to compensate for the darkness of a cloudy night sky. There was one point that immediately stood out, however,

“Why is the floor vanishing?” Emma asked, her eyes lingering on the odd patch of concrete.

At first glance, they seemed no different than their neighbours, flat and devoid of features, albeit in better condition than any roads Emma was familiar with. There wasn’t a pothole to be found, which already marked the structure as immensely suspicious. More importantly though, every now and again, a small square would flicker and fade; just for a brief moment, long enough to expose the empty void below, before snapping back into existence.

[I prefer not to speak. If I speak, I’m in big trouble.]

“What did you do?”

Emma got no reply, which was as good as a confirmation that Edith was somehow involved in this mess. Lacking a way to force an answer, however, she settled for looking around for a way indoors. Her Flying Sword was certainly proving its worth, as whilst she was confident she could recover in time if a hole opened up beneath her feet, it was far better to simply fly without having to worry about that. There were no entrances at ground level, forcing Emma to keep looking.

Only Edith’s prior warning stopped her from trying to phase through the walls; given the reaction to her previous attempt at speedrunning, this particular part of the dungeon was very much on rails. At that realisation, a white marker appeared on Emma’s minimap, not far from her position. The name of that location? The train station.

“You timed that on purpose, didn’t you?” Emma accused, staring at the label in disgust even as she ordered Epitaph to change course and pursue.

[On the advice of counsel, I invoke my fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question.]

“We’re not even in America!”

[Ephemera (Toggle: ON)]

Immersed as she was in conversation, Emma still kept some awareness of her surroundings; enough to reflexively go intangible at the crack of gunfire. The first shot went wide, as did the second and third, before a fourth round finally found its mark and sailed through her shoulder. Emma could see the train station now, and unlike the rest of the city (bar the singular scavenger at the start), the station showed signs of occupation.

[Conductor - Level 20]

A bipedal machine greeted her, its body a uniform silver broken up by lines made to vaguely resemble human features. His aim aside, he was formidably armed, carrying a rifle as long as Emma was tall. As she watched on, the Conductor adjusted its aim, crouching as it pointed its rifle at her centre mass. Emma couldn’t see any signs of ammunition, neither a loading chamber nor a belt feed, making her wonder how it worked. A fifth round hit her dead on, passing harmlessly through her just like before.

Emma called a second instance of Epitaph into her hands, maintaining the first as a flying sword while this one became a bow. Preparing an arrow, she waited until the Conductor fired a sixth round and immediately went for the counterstrike.

[Ephemera (Toggle: OFF)]

“Aetheric Anomaly detected. Deploying gloom-”

Emma’s shot flew true, interrupting whatever the bot was about to do, and a welcome bonus immediately made itself known.

[Wolf, Ram and Heart activates!

Status Condition: Instant Death inflicted.

Conductor has been slain.

50 EXP gained.]

An overwhelming victory from one perspective, but one that made Emma uneasy nonetheless. The sentient machine had sounded confident, and apparently recognised her power for what it was: a big difference, given the degree of separation between the mortal and magical world in the modern era. Looking around, Emma found no more enemies, and so ordered Epitaph to advance into the station grounds.

The train station was small by the city’s standards, rising barely two floors off the ground in a hexagonal dome that vaguely reminded her of a honeycomb. Abandoned machinery littered the empty yard, caked in thick layers of rust and falling apart at the seams. The station itself had no windows, only a single set of double doors making themselves known to her. Curiously, there were also no tracks leading to or from the station, nor any signs that they existed at any point. Recognising a hint when she saw one, Emma returned to the ground and headed for the door.

From the outside looking in, the interior matched the exterior, resembling more a run down warehouse than a hub of transportation. That lasted as long as it took for Emma to step inside, at which point she was unceremoniously tossed into an empty black void.

“I think the dungeon broke,” Emma said; or at least she tried, but sound was gone as surely as sight.

[GPU RENDER ERROR.

UNABLE TO PROCESS FRAME.

WRITING WITH EXPORTER.]

Thankfully the System was still intact; it provided a familiar reference point in the void, even if it wasn’t being much help at the moment. Less helpfully, time was still ticking down, yet once again, Emma could do little but wait.

[WARNING: This Dungeon is unstable, and will collapse if unbeaten in 11 hours, 31 minutes.]