12 Miles Below

Of course, a relic armor falling straight down would have been spotted by a dozen of her minions. Or my launcher locking onto her silhouette could have triggered some kind of alarm in her systems. Maybe the sound of a several ton bird slamming into the tower above raised some alarms.

Dozens of possible ways she’d seen through me. All moot points, she’d spotted me somehow and played dumb because drama and Feathers go hand in hand. Now my plan was rapidly coming down to picking the right prayer to make my peace in under five seconds.

A shame since I wasn’t terribly religious before, and it's worse now that I’ve met one of my gods. Never meet your heroes and all that.

Feathers moved fast. I could open fire with my knightbreaker, but at this distance, I knew she had all the time in the world to take a calculated step out of the way the moment she saw my trigger finger twitch.

The plate Windrunner had been about to cleave in half floated before her, turning to me, glowing bright blue. Journey’s lock on warning triggered, turning the HUD from orange to red.

I wasn’t going to beat To’Sefit, I realized belatedly. Not by playing with the same rules she was. There wasn't beating her to the trigger pull, she'd win every time. I had to put her into a no-win situation, where all her speed and might couldn’t save her.

My head flashed through a dozen frantic calculations, racing ahead of me in ways I couldn’t possibly explain, jumping between leaps of logic like a malfunctioning circuit board. Chaining further and further. The number of plates she had left. Why Windrunner had aimed for two specific plates instead of the other ones closer, given how little time he knew he had. The number of shots I’d heard her use against Atius. How the plate she’d used to kill Windrunner floated to her side with the rest of the other four plates, as if they needed a break before playtime. It all circled around my head, slamming against each other.

A single conclusion came to my mind. One possible way to win. Three gambles that all needed to be completely correct or I’d die. A wild leap of logic that my gut told me I was right to gamble on. What other choice did I have anyhow?

Journey’s HUD showed collision was imminent.

Behind my belt, I yanked out one of my grenades, thumb already inputting the mechanical switches to the shortest possible time. Standard equipment for knights on expedition, two for each. Our team had been armed to the gills with equipment, I carried far more than just two. One was all I’d need. It was tossed it straight down before me, thrown with every bit of power Journey had in its arm.

By the time it would detonate, it would be right on her doorstep.

To’Sefit saw the grenade of course. Being a Feather, she likely calculated the exact damage it could do to her - all within that very same moment - and found it to be next to nothing. Likely she didn’t even need her personal shields to take a direct hit from that. If Windrunner couldn't rip her head off with his armor putting every bit of power it had to the task, a diffused explosion would make her laugh.

The plates that floated around her were a different story. Even if the blast didn’t outright destroy those plates, they'd still get scattered across the chamber, far out of her control. Or a piece of shrapnel could cut a chip into the fractal, turning it off. Whatever happened, if the grenade landed, I’d wipe out what was left of her main weapon.

Violet eyes locked onto me and narrowed. And her response confirmed my first leap of logic. She could open the portals within, but what was the trigger to open fire? And when? If the weapons discharged too early, they’d likely break the fragile fractal on their side before the portal was fully opened.

So there had to be a delay to make sure the portals were fully set and open. If I was wrong, she’d have opened fire and melted the grenade from existence alongside myself, firing out faster than the half second I’d set on the grenade.

She hadn’t.

Instead, she pulled them to safety and under her occult shield, where they wouldn't be blasted away by my desperate grenade. But she couldn’t open fire on me through her shield. So To’Sefit’s calculation had shown her she wouldn’t be faster than whatever built-in delay she had.

The grenade soared directly at her defended location, then exploded, fragments flying off in every direction. In open air, most of the force was swiftly expended, leaving behind smoke and embers of ash. I soared directly through, boots extended out, knightbreaker still in reserve.

To’Sefit’s eyes narrowed further, her grin twisting into a scowl, watching the knightbreaker launcher for any sign I’d fire. Wrath had killed her last time with this weapon, she wasn’t going to stand in the way a second time. If I fired point blank, she was going to see my finger press down on the trigger in slow motion, and this time she'd step away.

My boots hit her occult shield with a thundering crash, the armor’s knees folding down to absorb the shock, crackling occult licking the soles of my boots like a lightning globe.

The feather glared at me from beyond the veil while the plates timidly returned back to their orbit now that the danger of the grenade had passed, Windrunner’s final target glowing bright blue out of all seven plates. Her eyes still weren’t on me, only the launcher, the largest threat I had on hand. Which was exactly the distraction I needed.

I rolled over her shield to dissipate the remainder of my impact, and turned the roll into a desperate horizontal leap, left hand reaching out - straight at the glowing plate twisting my way. Occult crackled on the weapon, the fractal glowing bright. Credit where credit is due, To'Avalis had it right: Stealing your enemy's expensive stuff is a great idea. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I took a page out of his book.

She realized immediately what I was doing, the plate freezing in place before it began to reverse its path. But too slow. Far too slow. To’Sefit could move at the ridiculous speeds Feathers operate at. Her plates couldn’t. I'd seen that firsthand.

My free hand swiped across the air, fingers grabbing the backside of the panel, holding it tight.

To’Sefit screamed in fury as she watched me yank her plate straight out of the air, the weight of the relic armor from my leap easily overpowering whatever force the Feather had that kept them moving around her.

But my second gamble wasn’t grabbing the plate.

It was using it.

Midair, turning desperately on myself, my soul reached a tendril out to the captured weapon in hand. I’d been able to touch all other fractals before so long as they were close enough. Why would this be an exception?

It wasn’t, and my second leap of logic clicked into place. My soul touched upon the fractal and sensed a response from within. I dove further in, searching desperately between the concepts it touched on, seeking to override To'Sefit's control over it.

One simple concept was what I looked for. Activate. Regardless of how complicated the portals were, there had to be something within that made it turn on and off. And deep within the fractal, I found that concept and forced it to turn on for me.

It was trivial in the end, similar to warlock gear usable by anyone. No wonder she didn't have these connected to her soul fractal. They didn't need it.

The portal appeared on the surface, as I aimed the plate directly back to its original master.

Fear flickered through those eyes, realizing that I was about to shoot her with her own weapon. With all the speed and grace of a Feather, her staff and hand twisted down, aiming directly at me, occult shield blooming to life before her. And that reaction answered my third and final gamble.

My third leap of logic was all about how she triggered these cannons to fire. Did she send out a signal from herself, to travel however many hundred miles from her? Or did she rely on another portal within herself to send a signal through to open fire?

All of which could open her up to someone scrambling that signal. Overriding it. Or perhaps the distance made her shot too slow. Or open fire too early. Too much could go wrong, and she could be anywhere in the world. Those cannons were likely unmoving. To’Sefit wouldn’t want to risk losing access to her greatest weapon if she had to fight in a location where the machine communication network was unreachable.

So she’d rigged the cannons on the other side to open fire, automatically. Easiest solution. Even in a place where she had no signal, if the cannons were only setup to detect that the portal was fully ready and handled everything autonomously, she could fire regardless of what happened or what state she was in.

A torrent of power exploded forth from my captured plate, nearly point blank directly into her shield. The destruction was instant, power fighting against power. I felt no recoil, but could certainly feel my grip growing slack, the little bits of fingertips holding the edge of the plate flashing out with shields as Journey tried to save those from being melted off by sheer proximity to the beam. My legs and feet were also running the same gauntlet, Journey’s shields straining against the power firing too close.

I landed hard on my back, sliding against the rushing water, already offering just a slight amount of protection as it absorbed the ambient energy, turning into superheated steam. Water splashing in every direction behind me, the beam turning everything before me into melted rock. The place was already filled with a thick white fog from the earlier fire, this one turned the entire world into a white steamroom.

But I refused to miss the shot, keeping the firepower directly aimed at To’Sefit’s glowing outline, even with my HUD turning the world near pitch black to compensate against the beam.

“It’s useless!” To’Sefit roared on the other end, voice clear inside my helmet. “Did you think you could win with my own weapon?! The sheer arrogance!”

Well, she was right on that count.

Her shield had been specifically setup to resist the destructive power of her beams. Perhaps not tailored to taking a full shot directly in the face, but likely strong enough to do so anyhow just to be sure.

“Never the plan in the first place.” I hissed under my breath. My right hand lifted forward, aiming the knightbreaker I'd held onto, parallel to the beam. And she couldn't see it, not through the blinding amount of power pouring out of the fractal.

Journey’s targeting reticle turned red as the weapon locked on while I slid further against the ground, left hand holding onto aimed destruction, right hand waiting in reserve for just the right moment.

I opened fire exactly the same moment the beam ended.

The round roared into life, sound hidden under the hissing steam. It soared right behind the trail of light left, a black bullet streaking through the thick mist, air displacing everything in a wide cone around it.

Energy dissipated, revealing To’Sefit standing regally behind her intact shield. Cracks had formed on the core, but it remained powered. Unyielding. Her eyes searched for me, but what she found instead was the knightbreaker round, cutting through the mist like a silent assassin, just at the threshold of her shield.

Feather reaction speed was impressive. And even with all that speed, all To’Sefit managed to do was widen her eyes in surprise. The round slammed into her shield and triggered, four pale blue arms stretching out wide, overshadowing her figure, tenderly wrapping around her failing defenses.

Calculations passing through her mind at the speed of lighting. Watching as her shield broke apart into fragments of fading occult, the knightbreaker fully unleashed on an already weakened greatshield, easily ripping through whatever defenses she had.

Shock. Anger. Fury. Flickers of emotion lit across her features. And finally, amused surrender when she inevitably reached the same conclusion again and again, inescapable. She couldn’t move all of her body in under a fraction of a second. Not in any way that mattered.

Even Feathers had limits.

The round lanced her directly in the stomach, rocket propellant carrying her up and off her feet, the chains wrapping around her limp body, cutting right through her personal shield with little resistance before sinking teeth further into her shell.

She vanished backwards into the mist, halo clattering with a wet splash into the river under along with her staff, splashing further away.

My head collapsed back down in the water, leaving me motionless on my back. On Journey's HUD, I could still see grainy video footage of Kidra's own battle against To'Avalis. She hadn't lost yet, but neither had she won. Instead, the two came to a standstill at opposite ends, an unworded truce while both were recovering. Avalis must have run through his heating quota, though I couldn't see any of that haze of heated air above his head. Picture quality wasn't exactly high definition.

My head slashed to the left, where I stared at the circular hole drilled into the side of a wall. Occult senses found nothing lingering there but melted rock, and metal. No soul. "Urs carry you to safety, wherever you're going next. Go with peace." I whispered. "I'll make sure the bards make a good song for you. Couldn't have killed her without you."

Keith, you must get back up. Wrath whispered through the soul link. She's still a Feather. We must verify she's incapacitated.

Wrath was right. Had to verify the body was dead. And maybe I might even be lucky enough to stab her through her soul fractal. Elbows pushed me back on my feet with a low groan, water streaming down my armor. Then my boots took mechanical steps into the white mist, carrying the rest of me forward. Searching for the remnants of my enemy.

She was exactly where I thought she’d be. Laying still on her back, water flowing over her body, distorting her figure.

To’Sefit.

I took more steps forward, Journey's HUD analyzing my opponent, details becoming clearer. The knightbreaker chains must have missed her face, but the same couldn’t be said for the rest of her. Large parts of her shell were breaking apart, washing away with the stream. The Feather made no movements, silently staring up into the mist above. Deep lacerations had cut into her stomach and ribs, the chains ripping apart all her insides even if most of her shell looked attached together. Green liquid flowed from her wounds, washed away into the river, glimmering with golden dust. Power cell fluid. The round that had caused her destruction was nowhere to be found, likely washed away down the whirlpool already. In this mist, I couldn't even see the whirlpool at all.

She didn’t move, but smiled instead, giving a low chuckle as I steadily approached her. “Ahhh. What a bittersweet ending.” Mist surrounded us, a suffocating cloud of white that hid everything around me. Inside, only she and I remained. Violet eyes flickered, then locked onto me just as I reached her side. "Kill me early and he'll resume the fight. He's holding back on my request, and I'm paying quite a price for it."

I could see on Kidra's video feed how she was breathing hard, the steady movement of her helmet with each breath. So that's why they'd gone into a standstill.

Fine. If To'Sefit was willing to let Kidra catch her breath, I wasn't going to say no. I'll buy whatever time she's willing to give.

"What do you want?" I asked.

“Was this how To’Aacar was killed?” To’Sefit asked, unmoving, eyes watching up as I loomed over her. “That blade. The one you haven’t drawn yet this whole time. To'Avalis was certain of it. And in hindsight, he was right about you being a genuine threat to my life. I'm somewhat... inclined to believe his other claims now.”

My hand tossed the spent knightbreaker launcher, letting it clatter into the water next to her. It was useless with the round gone. I reached for the hilt of a weapon given to me by a man who knew he couldn’t use it anymore. Traded him a rifle for it even.

I wondered if I’d be fast enough to skewer her soul fractal before she fled. End the truce early but take out a Feather permanently. A good trade. Probably not possible. Even with the element of surprise, Atius hadn’t been able to against To’Orda. Makes sense now, they knew to watch out for it from the start.

“So you did kill him then. You. A human." She said, watching as I drew the blade out. The cape that had once hidden it was ripped apart, but occult weapons were far more sturdy than cloth.

“You’re awfully chatty for a destroyed Feather.” I said instead of giving her any kind of answer.

"How could I not be? I was beaten by a human. Do you know how often that happens? Never. Not until To'Aacar. Suppose I understand now why To’Avalis was so frantic about having you put down with extreme caution.”

The fractal within the blade lit to life, far more dangerous than any I had been around. To’Sefit’s beams would break apart anything material. This blade would do more than that.

“You killed a friend of mine.” I said, bringing the weapon tip at her throat. “I’m here to finish what he started.”

“And you stabbed my precious Zephyr to death. I've had it for decades now. Are we not even?” She said, head lifted up, eyes locked on me.

“Not even in the slightest.”

She sighed, letting her head drop back down into the water with a small splash, eyes turning up to stare into the white mist beyond. “I do... regret having killed the other human in a fit of rage.” To’Sefit said. “It's only now that I can do nothing but think and wait that I find myself calm again. I should have turned him into a disciple for myself in hindsight. He was too talented to simply kill off over petty anger. A net loss.”

“He’d have never joined your cause. Not in a million years.” I said. “And neither would any of us.”

“And you would adhere to what cause instead? You won’t win in the end, you must know that.” To’Sefit huffed, eyes turning back to the tip of the blade. Watching it as if it were an interesting market trinket, despite the weapon being inches away from where her fractals hummed. “Relinquished can’t be beaten, and she won’t suffer a human to live that defeats Feathers. Your friend was already doomed the moment he survived longer than a minute against me. You realize you’re far too dangerous to be left alive now as well, right?”

“Not the first time I’ve heard someone say that to my face.” I said. “And a little late to figure that part out. Maybe don’t underestimate humanity next time.”

“Humanity? That’s certainly not what won you this battle. It’s you, not the fleshy coffin of your mortal coil. Why you feel any amount of pride behind meat, I’ve yet to understand. But I could shield you. From Mother, and your own mortality. You could become a Chosen, a disciple under my banner. Perhaps even a Feather yourself in time. It’s the only way a human could live in a world controlled by Mother.”

Wrath hissed across the channel. If you want a human, go find another.He’s already mine.

To’Sefit laughed. “I suppose you did tell me once already. I didn’t pay it too much attention, but now I think I understand. My, wherever did you ever find humans like this, little sister?”

“She picked a fight with me, and I won.” I said.

This is a highly simplified version of events. Wrath corrected.

“Fine, I slammed a door in her face and cut off her leg the first time we met, after I shot her a few times too. Now we’re good friends. You know, usual way you meet friends.”

To’Sefit closed her eyes, shaking her head wistfully in the streaming water. “You truly are wasted under a doomed cause, human. Such a shame, but there will be time again in the future if you don't die today."

"There won't be. Relinquished and machines like you won't stop until all intelligent life is dead. Not a great cause to follow."

"An overexaggerating. Humans are hardly the only ones that matter."

I watched her silently, an unworded question hanging in the air.

She scoffed, "My, must I spell it out for you? Life still exists. Trees still grow, animals roam around, and mites plant their seeds undisturbed by Mother in every layer. Twelve miles above the ground level is far more space than you can possibly imagine. Your kind has to pass on the torch to your decedents, you've clung to it for far too long now. There are plenty of creatures further underground just as intelligent. But go on then, cut off my head. The time I brokered with To'Avalis is coming to a close. I do hope you live long enough for a rematch. I would find it incredibly disappointing if you were to survive this far only to die to him.”

She didn’t need to ask me a second time, giving a deeper satisfied smile instead. I stabbed the white blade forward, directly into her throat, right where her fractals were, occult lighting up with that terrifying fractal, seeking complete and utter destruction.

Of course, she fled long before the tip of my blade had even touched her skin. The blade cut through metal and nothing more. No occult pulse or soul rending rip. But dead was still dead, and To'Sefit wasn't going to come back anytime soon.

"One more down." I muttered to myself, watching the violet eyes dim. "One left to go."

Next chapter - The final Feather

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