12 Miles Below

Windrunner’s only job was to get closer to To’Sefit while she engaged Keith and Sagrius, and jump her. Short simple plan that left him a lot of room to improvise as the situation changed. If he could tie her down that was good enough. If he could kill her, even better.

He’d gotten some info on her weaknesses, and what he could expect fighting against her. Enough to work with.

It suited him just fine. He’d earned his rank by skill, tactics wasn’t his domain. Ironreach was far more inventive when it came to those, despite the rank differences.

It was ironic in a way. That asshole constantly joked around about getting off’d on a mission right before proposing to his would-be wife. Always claiming that it was his good luck charm, by taunting the gods ahead of time.

Seems the gods were having a good laugh about it in the end. Windrunner was the one stuck in a mission that had more relic knight fatalities than any in clan history, including Lord Atius being crippled to a level he’d never seen before. While Ironreach was likely away back home enjoying a bath, or happily breaking raider skulls.

He put the thoughts out of his mind as his feet moved across the shallows. On the other side of the chamber, Kidra would be doing the same, racing through the dark tunnels, eliminating anything in her path. The tunnels were somewhat well mapped by now, they’d taken their time to organize the ambush. And so he knew where the machines had built up their chokepoints.

Those needed to be destroyed, so that when the rest of the knights arrived, they’d be able to jump directly into the fight instead of dealing with an entrenched perimeter guard.

The machines didn’t see him coming, not in this darkness. They were shuffling around instead, reorienting in order to go out and assist against the two exposed knights fighting off To’Sefit. Unable to see him coming, and caught out of position, Windrunner hit their group like a sledgehammer at just the wrong angle for them to fight back.

His swords lit up and bit through arms and legs alike, crippling some, killing others. A group of ten screamers were all downed in seconds. Windrunner was nothing more than a bright glow of blades flashing through the darkness, before winking out of existence as the knight passed through. The machines would be aware of their presence now, but that advantage would be negligible at this point. The Winterblossom technique let him move to absurd speeds, although he did avoid being too entranced inside.

Past a certain point, physical sight vanished and only the occult sight remained. Practical as it was, Windrunner still needed to see important information on his helmet’s HUD. Like video footage of Sagrius and Keith’s actions.

He’d been halfway to To’Sefit’s location when Keith was abducted by her metal bird. A moment after, Keith’s camera feed turned into blurry pixels, then winked out, too far out of range. No time to think about that, the kid would handle it. Windrunner had one job and would stick with it. He had to trust his team to be able to complete their objective.

Sagrius wasn’t having it any easier, alone against To’Sefit. He watched the events on his HUD as he broke through another scrambling chokepoint of machines, butchering the enemy reinforcements without pause.

The captain’s camera spared no detail, To’Sefit pointed her staff directly at his face. Three beams shot in a pattern, made to force the captain down a single path. The armor followed through, leaping above the final beam.

She jabbed her staff once more in his direction with a leer. Beams erupted around her, diving straight for the airborn knight.

Sagrius made no change in direction, nor even an attempt to twist in the air. Instead, fractals over his armor glowed bright occult blue, and multiple domes came to life around the armor.

He vanished in the destruction, the camera feed showing only bright white before they winked out into dark, the signal cut.

To’Sefit laughed as the beams continued, Windrunner could hear it echo even inside the tunnels he scrambled through. “Luck doesn’t favor fools twi--”

Her beams had ended. The camera feed picked right back up. Captain Sagrius emerged from the destruction. Unharmed. Blades glowing, seeking retribution, landing into the water and springing back up. Even his relic armor shields hadn’t been triggered, still showing next to full.

The Feather shut her mouth and opened fire again, eyes focused. A mass amount of beams in all directions this time.

The captain leaped across the distance, dodging what he could, and outright taking the hits where he couldn’t. The occult dome shields never waivered, more springing around him, cycling thorough. Water slammed into him from all sides, the flow turned into chaos with all the beams sinking through in explosive steam.

“How?!” To’Sefit screeched, taking a step back, staff pointed uselessly to the approaching knight. A part of Windrunner also agreed with To’Sefit’s outburst. How the captain was outright taking her hits head on and surviving past it was a mystery to him.

He wasn’t going to abort his plan however, even if it looked like Sagrius now hard countered the enemy. Anything could happen. He had to make his way through the tunnels, and jump To’Sefit.

If she was killed earlier, all the better. If not, that’s what he was for.

All the while the captain continued his relentless approach, climbing out of the water and onto a stairway leading to her position, sprinting at full speed.

The Feather’s eyes narrowed with hatred. All twenty four panels paused in their movements, focused on the rushing knight, and opened fire.

The armor stopped the charge for the first time, hunching down on itself, one knee on the ground, bracing for impact. Occult shields appeared around and nearly twenty four blue beams once more consumed the captain whole, the rest fanning out to catch anywhere he might have chosen to dodge. Windrunner gritted his teeth, watching.

Destruction rained across the water, turning most of the room into a misty hellscape. From the fog, an occult halo traced out a knife again, longsword at the other side.

He still wasn’t dead. Gods above, whatever the kid did to get the armor moving around, it was paying off a hundred fold. Sagrius had turned into a monster of his own.

To’Sefit took another step back, shock in her features. She pointed her staff once again at the knight, then slowly lowered it back down into a balanced fighting position, resigned to the inevitable.

Her beams must either be on a cooldown of some kind, or she wasn’t going to bother trying to shoot down the indestructible captain.

Sagrius clearly saw no issue with that, leaping right for her, blades seeking out targets.

A moment later, he was forced to curl up in defense against the end of a chain swinging straight for him. It cracked against an occult dome, dealing no damage, up until the end of the whip exploded with a pulse of occult, sending the knight spinning away, directly into the whirlpool at the center of the room.

Windrunner cursed to himself, watching as the captain’s video feed promptly scrambled into static, turning black as the armor lost signal, the knight falling down through the whirlpool, into the second strata.

To’Avalis stepped out of a wall, recalling his chain back to the hilt. “I ordered you to retreat.” He hissed at his companion.

To’Sefit glared back at him, head held high. “I could have handled it. And I don’t need my ordnance for a simple human, nor your meddling.”

“Debate that later. We have two unknowns approaching through the tunnels.” To’Avalis answered, eyes turning at one of the tunnel entrances. Windrunner raced through into the light a moment later, landing on open ground and following through with his momentum. He’d sheathed both blades in preparation for the sprint across the open ground.

This was as close as Windrunner could get with the tunnels as a line of sight breaker, he had to survive the dash forward until he was in melee range. He leaped straight out of the dark hidden pathways, into the open air and down into the water.

To’Avalis being here complicated things, the chain had far larger reach than it appeared. Still, he didn't change his focus: Kill To’Sefit or keep her occupied long enough. Leave To’Avalis to Kidra, that was her duty. He could see her video footage, the girl was keeping pace.

His hand reached to his back, taking out the undersider rifle as his armor, turning the safety on as he raced across the ground, ignoring To’Avalis and focusing only on To’Sefit.

The other Feather began to spin the chain around, only to dodge backwards as an occult knife zipped through the air and sank into the wall behind. Kidra leaped down, two longswords drawn out. She didn’t say anything, instead rushed straight against To’Avalis.

“I’ll handle the Winterscar.” The Feather said, “Take on the other knight. Don’t take shortcuts. Both eliminated every chokepoint from the north side up for a reason.”

To’Sefit huffed, “It’s only two humans. We’re Feathers. You worry too much.” Occult plates spun around to turn on the clan knight. The knight gritted his teeth, accelerating his pace, taking aim with his rifle. So far this was still going according to plan, minus To’Avalis being already out on the field. But Kidra had made good time on her end, so that part was negated.

The feather pointed her staff in his direction. Chills spread through his body, knowing the destruction that would follow. Windrunner zoomed in his targeting sights, HUD expanding the picture ahead, helping him search. He kept his rifle aimed forward. He couldn’t afford to miss here, there’d be no time to reload another magazine. To'Sefit could either protect her plates from bullet fire, but be unable to shoot with them, or shoot at him and take the chance of losing plates.

The threat of his rifle clearly wasn't enough for To'Sefit to pick the safer option.

Three plates glowed blue, portals appearing on the surface. His finger pulled the trigger down, sending a controlled burst of bullets at each. Two were knicked, the occult instantly winking out as the bullets disrupted the patterns. He didn’t get to the third in time.

A blue beam lanced out, forcing him to leap to the side, sliding hard against the water floor, sending a massive splash to the side. His rifle never left the target, nor did he slow down his speed.

To’Sefit tutted, black mist flowing out of her dress, reaching for the damaged plates. “It’s useless, you know? I can repair any faster than you can break them. And I have so many spares to use.”

Five more plates glowed.

Windrunner was prepared, opening fire and catching three as he sprinted out of the falling water. The other two got their shots off on him. The first speared past his chest, inches away thanks to his last second dodge. Shockwave expanding out, forcing his armor’s shields to trigger. It knocked him off course, causing him to spin to keep the momentum going. The other beam speared right for him.

No options now. Atius could do it, and so had Sagrius.

Hand extended out, he took his chances with the occult dome shield fractals, powering the spell. The shield responded to his will and took on the beam near head on.

The moment it collided, Windrunner realized he was no Lord Atius, a Deathless with centuries of practice, able to hold off her beams a dozen times in a row. Nor was he the Winterscar captain, turned into something other, in exchange for the power he needed.

The weight of the occult spell felt like moving a mountain, an utterly impossible task. He abandoned the idea of being able to hold off the beam, instead, he twirled on his side, using the shield to buy him the precious half second he needed to get just out of the killzone. His relic armor’s regular shields took on the blunt of the shockwave following through, sending him off his feet and crashing into the water.

He rolled, drew his rifle back up and opened fire near blindly, continuing his sprint forward. His gut was on point, three of the plates were already about to burn him out of existence. He got all three with the full auto, along with five other plates before his rifle clicked empty. Damn. He’d lost this rifle earlier than the plan outlined for. He tossed the spent weapon away, drawing out swords, accelerating the last few feet of distance.

It wasn’t going to be enough. The Feather simply drew on her unused plates, another three glowing blue. He'd need to be very quick with the dodges to get through this. The HUD highlighted possible areas of danger, and it was easier to pick out the spots that might be safe compared to everywhere else that absolutely wasn't. He wasn't going to make it past her cordon in time, one of those beams would hit him.

Rifle shots came from above, sinking into the three glowing plates, taking them out of the picture.

“Give her hell, lad.” Atius weakly spoke over the comms, aiming down from his seated position, rifle held steady only by the strength of his plate.

Windrunner felt a flush of shame go through him. Having the clan lord cover his back was considered the very last resort they'd planned for. Position revealed, it was only a matter of time until the machines came for the crippled Deathless now, and none of the knights were going to be able to keep him protected. Atius had just traded his life.

It paid off however.

The knight leaped into melee range, blades lit up. To’Sefit sighed, shaking her head as her staff twisted into position. “You humans never learn. Ranged, melee, it’s all the same chances. You'll die and I'll win.”

“Less talk, more slicing.” He said, and dove into the fight.

Windrunner was finally in his element again. Close quarters combat. Among the clan, he’d been chosen as a bodyguard to the clan lord himself for a reason. Tenisent Winterscar might have surpassed all of them, but that man was an exception to the rule. Windrunner could handle any other relic knight from the clans and win.

To’Sefit was a challenge on another league. Within the first few jabs and slashes between the two, Windrunner realized the difference in levels between them. She moved too fast, the staff a near blur in the air, keeping up with his own strikes and throwing out her own in quick succession, rapidly eating through the rest of his shields.

That was fine. There were other ways to win against a superior opponent. To’Sefit may surpass him in every metric, but if she made a single predictable move he was already prepared for, it wouldn’t matter if she was better everywhere else, his blades would still sink into her throat.

And there was one move she’d shown to perform before, the moment she was caught in close quarters. He just needed to give her a good chance to use it, and survive long enough to see it.

Another set of jabs and parries left her in a perfect position for a uppercut swing, which she took without hesitation, occult pulsing around her. Rock and water flowed behind her staff, uprooted by the force following behind.

Windrunner didn’t wait for the strike to land. Nor did he try to defend himself. This was the window he’d been waiting for.

He leaped directly forward, arms opened wide. If he couldn’t beat her with swordsmanship, he’d drag her down into the mud instead. Nobody could parry a blade digging while having their arms are locked up in a vice. So long as Kidra kept Avalis too occupied to rip him off, there was a chance of victory.

It worked, somehow. The sheer shock of having a human try to grapple a Feather seemed all the time he needed to wrap an arm around her, tackling the Feather down into the water.

One way or another, he was going to kill To’Sefit. And if he had to do it with his own fists instead of a blade, by the gods he would.

Next chapter - Interlude II (Windrunner)

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