As he finished his spell, his fingers twitched, maintaining the channel and using the nearby lava to mask the flames. He kept the orb low, ratcheting up the heat and reforming the metal delicately. He didn’t want to kill – he wanted to capture.
The fake Julia was close now, only a few feet away as she stepped up beside him. She rubbed at her chin. “Maybe they need to be powered with fire mana?” she proposed. “This seems to be a fire temple, after all.”
Finn tilted his head. Despite the deception, that wasn’t a bad idea.
Although, her comment also raised another question.
What more did she know?
“Hmm, maybe,” he said, turning toward the fake Julia. He saw a smile tug at her lips. “We’ll have to give it a shot…”
A final twitch of his fingers and, with his free hand, Finn swept forward, grabbing at the wrist holding the wand. With a swift jerk, he rotated her arm, breaking her hold. The weapon rattled against the ground. Vanessa’s illusion immediately disintegrated as Finn broke the channel. Yet he kept hold of her, rotating her arm up and backward in one fluid movement until he felt her elbow lock.
At the same time, his orb had flattened out into a glowing red band. The metal enveloped Vanessa’s other hand, and she let out a scream as the molten metal seared through the skin of her fingers, locking them in place. Then the glowing red liquid jerked her limb behind her back. The metal lanced outward and soon coated Vanessa’s other hand as he helped force it into position.
Her screams intensified, and his fingers danced, the metal fully encasing both hands and locking them behind the mage’s back.
Vanessa fell to her knees, her breathing fast and erratic and her eyes wide and wild. The pain of encasing her hands in the molten metal must have been excruciating. Her mana fluctuated wildly in his sight, indicating the pain and fear she must have felt. The makeshift manacles began to cool, swiftly returning to a dark green.
“Fuck… fuck you,” Vanessa spat, glaring up at him, and her mana flashed red. “How the hell did you know it was me… or see at all. You’re fucking blind.”
“Appearances can be deceiving,” Finn replied calmly. “You should know that better than most, Vanessa.”
“I’m going to kill you,” she snarled at him, trying to rise from her kneeling position on the floor. In only an instant, another orb was aloft, the metal melting down and forming into a miniature spear, one end tapering down into a needle-like point that hovered just at the nape of her neck.
“Not so fast,” Finn replied.
He glanced at the group menu in the corner of his vision. The explosions still echoed from outside, and both Kyyle’s and Julia’s icons looked normal. His daughter was okay. Vanessa must have been waiting outside the temple while projecting that illusion of herself near Kalisha – a failsafe in case Finn managed to get inside the temple. It was the only way she could have seen Julia’s shield and lance before his daughter dropped into Sneak.
I probably didn’t notice her with the ambient water mana from her ice wall, he thought in irritation. That wasn’t a mistake he would make again.
Either way, it was a smart move on Vanessa’s part, but she had overplayed her hand. She hadn’t anticipated his Mana Sight.
“If you’re going to kill me, then nut up and do it. Either way, I’m going to respawn, and then I’m going to fucking kill you. You have no idea what I’m willing to do to beat you,” Vanessa growled at him.
Finn watched her in fascination, observing how tendrils of orange and red mana swept through her body. Resolve and anger, most likely. Rage had helped her win out against the fear. He needed information, which meant he needed to break her. And he didn’t have much time to get it. She’d likely already alerted Kalisha before entering the temple. If he was right, the only reason they hadn’t attacked was to give him a chance to open the vault.
He summoned more of his fire mana, using the energy to numb him to his own actions. There was no cost he wouldn’t pay when consumed by the flames – no lengths he wouldn’t go to obtain his goal.
Finn just shook his head and stooped, leaning closer to Vanessa.
He slowly pulled down the edge of his bandages, revealing the dark metal that had replaced his eyes. What Finn didn’t know – couldn’t know – was that with his mana active, the metal heated and glowed a dull red, as though he had replaced his eyes with molten metal, tendrils of flame licking across his skin like two miniature dark suns.
He looked like the devil himself.
“What… what the fuck happened to your eyes?” Vanessa muttered, horror lacing her voice. “Is that permanent?” He could see her energy waver.
“Yes, yes, it is. I did this to myself. I melted down the metal and burned out my own eyes – to improve them. I can see mana now,” Finn said in an unwavering tone. He saw her anger fully dissolve then, dark energy coiling in her stomach. Now that was fear.
Much better. She understood.
“You talk about commitment, but yours is a pale imitation of the lengths I’m willing to go. Trust me when I say that I will do anything to win this competition,” Finn said harshly, his eyes flaring. The needle-like lance shifted upward with a twitch of his fingers, the point coming to rest only a scant inch from her pupil. Vanessa was trembling now, her eyes wide and panicked as she stared at the superheated lance.
“Now, tell me what you know about this vault,” Finn said quietly. “And hurry. We don’t have much time.”
Chapter 46 - Negotiated
Bilel’s Journal – Entry 147
I have scoured the library for any reference to the Seer’s relic. The texts often refer to it as “two halves of a whole.” It is said to be the ultimate instrument of healing – an item capable of “true rebirth.” Although the texts also mention a severe cost, they are, of course, incredibly vague. The writings only indicate that the relic feeds on passion – on the flame that resides in the heart of each man and woman.
What is more, I believe that this relic is stored somewhere here at the temple. The Seer apparently does not trust this object to venture far from her own wellspring of power and the control of her disciples. If I can find this relic, claim it for my own, perhaps I can reverse the magical disease that has continued to spread through my limbs.
I must live; I must survive. At this point, the cost doesn’t matter. I do this not for my own sake, but for Renquist. For the librarians. For the parents I never knew. I do this for all of those that have suffered at the hands of selfish and indifferent gods.
I will not stop, not so long as there is breath in my body.
***
Vanessa gulped, staring at the lance that hovered just an inch from her eye. “You can’t do this…” she croaked, although the way her voice cracked revealed that she didn’t quite believe her own words. “There are game masters. Torture isn’t permitted.”
Even as she spoke, a notification flashed in Finn’s vision.
System Notice
A player in your proximity has indicated that you intend to torture her. Please note that excessive violence, including, but not limited to, torture and rape, is against the Terms of Service. If you continue, a game master will be notified and will be forced to intervene.
In short, kill as many people as you want, just don’t hurt them. Wait, that might actually be impossible. Okay, let’s try again. If you start hurting someone, make sure you go all the way. You know what? That’s not really any better…
Anyway, we realize it’s a fine line, but you’ll know torture when you see it.
Finn grimaced, in no mood to appreciate the prompt’s fumbling attempt to define torture. It was clear that this situation applied. And apparently just saying those words was enough to prompt an automated response since Vanessa’s hands were bound, and she was unable to pull up her system menu. Although, that thought gave him pause…
He couldn’t torture her, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have any leverage.
He knew what Vanessa valued most
.
His fingers twitched, and Finn retracted the needle. The water mage breathed a small sigh of relief, a smirk tugging at her lips as she glared up at Finn. He saw her energy waver again, the fear receding. She thought she had him on the ropes.
“You’re right,” Finn said, his fingers moving again. The lance whisked away to the nearby pool of lava, Finn using the fire to reheat and mold the metal. “I can’t torture you. But I also don’t have to kill you. I can just keep you down here, chained up and unable to leave or kill yourself.”
As he finished speaking, the metal re-emerged from the molten lake, forming a long chain with a spike on one end. With a vicious jerk of his hand, the spike embedded itself into the floor, tendrils of metal expanding out from the tip to anchor it firmly, and then the chain fused itself to Vanessa’s manacles. She promptly tugged on the chain, her eyes going wide. The slack wasn’t nearly enough for her to reach the pool of lava, and her hands were encased and unable to pull a weapon or cast a spell.
“All of that work,” Finn taunted, circling her. “All of that effort. For nothing. You’ll be stuck down here – your character effectively destroyed.”
“You wouldn’t,” Vanessa gasped.
“Oh, I definitely would. Now tell me about the vault, Kalisha’s plan… everything,” Finn demanded, the metal around his eyes flaring.
The water mage glared back, but then let out a small defeated sigh, dropping her eyes to the floor. “Fuck… fine,” she grunted.
“Our group got here first. Just a few days ago. But we quickly realized we couldn’t get into the vault. The fighters arrived soon after, but we parlayed with them peacefully and explained the situation. We think the pattern on the wall is the key and that it requires fire mana to activate. We were about to give up hope, thinking that you and your companions were either dead or too far behind us to catch up before the dungeon reset. Kalisha wanted to try blasting it open.”
She glanced up at him, anger shining in her eyes. “Then we saw that prompt about your team killing the fire ant queen, and we knew the drop hadn’t killed you – that it was only a matter of time before you arrived at the waypoint marker.”
Finn nodded, motioning for her to continue. That was consistent with his guess.
“When I saw your group emerge from the rubble on the far end of the cave, I knew it wasn’t you. The strategy was too careless and obvious. It had to be a trick. So, Kalisha sent the fighters on a merry chase, and we built an interior perimeter around the temple – just enough for you to think we were trying to defend it. We designed this whole thing to bait you into coming in here and attempting to open the vault. And you fell right into the trap,” she spat at him, a triumphant gleam in her eye.
“And then you underestimated me. Yet again,” Finn bit back.
The water mage let out a low growl as she strained against the chain. “Not that it will do you any good now. You’re surrounded and outnumbered. It’s only a matter of time before they take out your friends. Then they will come for you. You’re alone.”
“Well, not exactly alone,” Daniel chirped from the other end of the room, the glowing orange orb speeding through the entrance.
Kyyle fell into the room behind him – almost like he had been shoved – landing hard on his side with a grunt and sliding across the glass floor. The earth mage lifted himself back to his feet with a groan, leaving a trail of blood along the ground. Then he limped into the temple. He was favoring his right leg, and Finn could see blood staining his robes.
“Damn, what happened?” Finn asked, rushing to his side and helping him to sit on one of the ruined pews.
“I was forced to use my backup plan – tunnel under that damned ice wall. Glad I had most of the shaft dug out already,” he muttered, sparing a glare at Vanessa, who just smirked at him. “Almost made it into the temple without a scratch, and then one of those mechanids got me in the leg. Julia had to shove me inside,” Kyyle grunted, pulling back at his robes and revealing a gnarled, burned hole in his thigh. Whatever had struck him had melted clean through the flesh. The only saving grace was that it had cauterized the wound and kept it from bleeding.
“So, Julia’s out there alone?”
Kyyle nodded, and Finn could see the worry in his eyes. They didn’t need to speak to know what they were both thinking – that she wouldn’t last long. The earth mage’s eyes flitted to Vanessa’s bound form. “You make a new friend?”
“Not exactly a friend, but she’s been informative,” Finn muttered, turning his gaze to the entrance of the temple. He wanted to get eyes on Julia and see how she was faring.
He could hear the clash and sizzle of magic and metal outside, and with his sight, he could see green spider-like creatures scurrying across the nearby buildings. Some were hurling themselves at Julia and exploding, while others shot beams of hot orange energy in her direction. The fighters used these distractions to pick at her, slices of air magic tearing through the air while the warriors kept their distance.
His daughter was a one-woman maelstrom, dodging and spinning on the temple steps, reflecting a beam of energy with her shield. Ducking behind cover, she avoided a slash of air mana, and then speared a mechanid that wandered too close with her lance before hurling it at a nearby building. The automaton promptly exploded, the blast caving in a side of the ruined glass and taking out another of the damned robotic spiders.
The merchants and fighters must have decided to press the assault. But why? Why attack before he had opened the vault? Finn glanced back at Vanessa. Was there something she wasn’t telling him? It seemed there might be. It was the way that Vanessa’s gaze shied away from him and the note of nervous fear that coiled through her body’s energy. He had just threatened her with a fate worse than death… for a traveler.
It came to him in a rush.
If we manage to grab the gem, we could always kill ourselves and force a respawn, Finn realized. That was one thing the residents couldn’t pull off – the one advantage that would let them slink out of this trap.
It wasn’t a terrible play, although it was risky as hell. There was no telling where they would end up when they respawned, or if they could easily get out of the Abyss. Not only that, but assuming he had the relic, he’d have to completely destroy his body to ensure that his corpse couldn’t be looted. The only thing in here that could pull that off was the pool of lava resting beside the mana well.
Well… his eyes flitted back to Kyyle.
Or they could blow the entire cavern sky-high.
Finn’s mind was racing. He’d thought of their explosives as a last resort – a failsafe. However, they might be able to pull off the plan that Kalisha and Vanessa had anticipated. They just needed to recover the damned relic and for Kyyle to survive. Their one advantage was that the other two groups couldn’t know they had an ace up their sleeve, one he expected they would never see coming.
Another explosion rocked the temple, a cloud of dust drifting down from the ceiling. Either way, he needed to get the vault open. Now.
And to do that, he needed some time.
“Julia needs help,” Finn barked at Kyyle, noting that his daughter’s health was slowly dropping. “She can’t keep that up forever.”
“And I can’t poke my head out of that door. Not like this,” Kyyle grumbled, gesturing at his leg with one hand while he clutched his staff with the other. “They got my hamstring, and I can’t move quickly. I’ll be a sitting duck.”
Finn’s attention skimmed to the entrance of the temple once again. The mechanids were within Kyyle’s control range. He just needed visibility. “Daniel, can you please highlight the mechanid targets in my sight and then push them to Kyyle?”
A brief pause, then, “Of course, sir. It’s done.”
“There you go. Now you can see through walls too,” Finn said to Kyyle, the earth mage’s eyes widening as he saw the blue outlines. “Take out those little mechanical assholes and buy her some time.”
“Time for what? What ar
e you going to do?” Kyyle asked, glancing frantically at Finn even as his fingers started to move.
“I’m going to open this vault. Then we can use our nuclear option to get ourselves out of this trap,” Finn growled.
“Oh, oh shit…” Kyyle muttered, his eyes going wide.
“What’s the nuclear option?” Vanessa demanded from nearby, straining against her bindings. “What the hell are you two talking about?”
Finn ignored her as he paced toward the image on the wall. Vanessa’s explanation had also confirmed his second guess. The vault could only be opened with fire mana. He was betting that the rings were formed of super-dense metal and needed to be heated and twisted to form a pattern to unlock the vault. Although, given the size of the design, that was going to take a hell of a lot of mana…
He suspected he could move each band separately, ratcheting up the temperature to heat rank 4. But he couldn’t sustain that channel for long, and there were five rings. They were also completely out of fire crystals, forced to use the rest of their stockpile to create the explosive caches in the fault line below the cavern. Already, the math was floating through his mind. Waiting for his natural regeneration would take time – too much time. Even now, he could sense the mana flying outside the temple and could see Julia’s health continue to gradually fall. Despite Kyyle’s help, she was fighting a losing battle.
He needed something faster.
His attention shifted back to the glowing basin behind him.
Could he use that energy? Maybe use Mana Absorption?
Finn stepped quickly toward the bowl, his eyes drifting down to the nearly blinding puddle of mana that rested in the bottom of the basin. He suspected that trying to absorb that energy would kill him. Even small droplets alone were enough to create the river of magma that flowed down through the city.
Should I risk it? Finn wondered, spending precious seconds deliberating.
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