The smoldering shattered bits of the turret emitted sparks that threatened to jump at me. I held my breath as to not breathe in the smoke, ducking under the wrecked machine.

Those pipe things are more explosive than I expected. To think I was considering using them in front of the Tower before, that would have been a disaster.

I wasn't expecting it to be so effective, so I still had a few more leftover.

I imagined tossing one at an over-sized rat… Probably a bad idea, unless I wanted to be covered in their guts again.

Continuing on, I entered a wider room, sectioned off into smaller areas with windows to view inside each of them. No doors were blocking my entry into these rooms thankfully.

Peeking through the windows, there was some odd stuff going on. Large glass containers hooked up to some sort of machinery. Coils and metal tubes hooked up to it. Each room seemed to have one of these, along with several other objects.

Some held cages, a few of those holding the remains of some long-dead animal, others the door wide open.

I didn't see anything important though, that is to say, I saw no human remains. And thus probably no ID cards.

Then again, I could be just missing it, after all, I don't quite even know what I'm looking for. I've been waiting for Emit to shout 'Aha!' or something like that.

"Do I really need to explain what it looks like? It's a key card! Small, flat, rectangular, made of plastic, more likely than not has some dead guy's name on it. 'Doctor John Smith' or something like that." Emit said.

Dare I ask what plastic is? I guess it doesn't matter the material. The other descriptions are more than enough. Small card with the weird human letters on it. Understood.

I suppose I should start looking in some of these rooms then just in case. I walked into the nearest room, Emit floated alongside me. As soon as we walked in, the strange machine activated. Parts of it began pistoning in and out, a light mist started to fill the glass jar.

That's when I noticed Emit was slowly gravitating towards it, with particles leaking from his form, flowing into the machine.

"Huh?" Emit said. Did you not realize?

Emit struggled for a moment, his form vibrating between the door and the machine.

"I can't get away!" Emit cried. "Do something!"

Me? What am I supposed to do?

I tried to stand between him and the machine. That accomplished nothing as Emit just fazed through my body.

"Turn it off!" Emit said.

"How?" I asked.

"I'd love to tell you if I knew! Figure it out!" Emit yelled at me.

Okay okay, I looked over the machine. No switches or anything that I could see. What was even powering it?

Emit continued freaking out as he drew closer. He was looking smaller as well too. That did worry me. Not seeing any other way to shut it off, I grabbed my hammer and bashed the glass jar open.

The mist burst forth. It was so condensed that the shards of glass exploded far more than I expected. This also lead to a miasma blanketing the room.

I wasn’t expecting it to be so thick, it also didn’t occur to me to hold my breath. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be impeding my ability to breathe at all. The machine stopped soon afterward and Emit, who was still resisting, shot towards the door, no longer being dragged.

"What the heck was that!" Emit said, floating back into the room. He was very tiny now, about the size of a candle flame.

Emit floating around the room, touching the mist that flowed back into him. In the end, he was back to his normal size.

"You alright?" I asked him.

"Peachy. Now if I let that finished I don't know how I’d be. That thing was sucking out all my mana!" Emit said.

Oh, so that's what that mist was? Pure mana?

"Well, more like a concentrated version of the gas. These things are probably the reason why this place still has power." Emit said. “Let’s not go near any of those again. I’d rather not get turned into living fuel.”

Agreed.

After that fiasco, I checked the other rooms by myself. Nothing was there that I couldn’t see before.

"Well there's still another hallway." Emit said.

That there is. I guess we're moving on. Hopefully there would be no more surprises.

Of course, I spoke too soon. I barely walked in, only making a small turn. when I saw that the hallway was caved in. Looked like something had crashed into the side of the building, a large painted object. A light shined in from a gaping hole, made from whenever this thing landed in here, revealing the outside world again.

"Well now what?" I asked. I eyed the outside. The rubble of the building had stacked into a pile, I could walk out there if I wanted.

"Uh…" Emit trailed.

I sighed. I climbed through the hole and stepping onto the surprisingly study wreckage. Maybe I could find a way around?

Looking down, I was quite the ways up now. A small rock was knocked loose from the area I was standing on. It bounced a bit, falling about two floors worth before landing on the ground below. I didn't realize how high the hallways had gradually led me up.

I could also see the main entrance from here. Or at least the side of it. This must have been the wrecked side I could see before.

And the most surprising thing, was the object that caused the destruction that I was standing on.

It was long, painted white although the coating had long started to chip, rusting the exposed metal. The way it was lodged in the wreckage was strange. It was sticking a near forty-five degrees, which suggested to me it fell a long way before landing here.

Two flat blades were attached to the side. I couldn't see the rest of what I assumed was the front, as that was lodged in the building. The back though was torn apart, having long since fallen down towards ground. The sides had smashed windows. I could see some sort of what looked like seating through them.

That's when I realized I recognized what this was.

"It's called a-"

"Airplane!" I said, interrupting Emit.

"You actually know this?" Emit asked.

"Yeah!" I nodded. "Lyra and I found one of these things back at home, smashed in the middle of the woods. It wasn’t as banged up as this one though. We ended up turning the inside into a secret base."

Ah the memories… one of the few things I miss from home. I used to read books and draw the wildlife, while Lyra would try to pry open the various locked containers for treasure.

The one we found was split from the back end though, I always wondered what the other half could have looked like.

I was tempted to climb in and see the wreckage for myself, but decided against it. One it would be a pain trying to climb inside, and more importantly I didn’t really have time to be messing around.

I did pull out my journal and make a note to explore it with Lyra sometime. The odd sensation of scribbling into my very being was still there. Creepy.

As I moved on, I tried hard to keep my balance. The wreckage may be sturdy, but the footholds were not the biggest. The way the plane was sticking out the building let me duck under it after getting closer towards the broken tail end.

I think I underestimated the damage the plane did though, there wasn’t much left of the building past the other side of the plane. And what was there was destroyed. The exposed area showed only more lab areas, ones that have long since caved in, and joined the wreckage I was currently standing on. Articles of clothes were strung about, the remains long since gone as they were properly exposed to the elements.

I think this is a dead end.

“No! We gotta check them out! Dig through the rubble!” Emit said.

“Do you realize how long that would take? It’s not even really possible for me! Just look at the size of these chunks!” I said, attempting to lift a portion of debris. It was far too heavy for me.

“Hmmm…” Emit made a noise. He flew away from me, closer to some new wreckage we discovered. He ended up flying below me.

“Hey Kid! Check this out!” Emit called.

What did he find now? I carefully climbed down the pile. It took a moment, but I safely made it close to ground level. What greeted me was Emit floating over some clothing. More tattered white coats and pants. A string was around the neck area though.

“This guys got a lanyard. You know what’s attached to those? I.D cards! How much you wanna bet this is our guy?” Emit said.

My hopes were rising now. That would be just the stroke of luck we need at the moment.

I dug through the clothing, I pulled the strap, the lanyard I assumed. Attached to the end was…!

Nothing. It had some thin, clear, bendy material. But I don’t think that was what we were looking for.

“Seriously? We have the laminate but not the card?” Emit said. The way he was flying about showed his growing frustration.

Maybe it fell around somewhere?

“Where? It wouldn’t have just magically just walked away. Someone must have taken it.”

Someone? Maybe it’s on another dead human?

“I’m sure this must be it. No one else had anything thing like this on them till now. I don’t know who’s taking cards though. A weird thing to take a trinket.” Emit said.

When he said the word ‘trinket’ a memory entered my mind. A stupid grin being flashed at not only me, but at the object in his hands.

“I think I know where the I.D card is.” I said.

It was the following day and I was getting nervous. I looked at the crowd of people. No sign of Lyra's friends yet. I fidgeted with that small colored cube, less for trying to solve it and more to keep my hands busy. What was this thing even called again? Bix cube?

"That's close but you're missing a few letters there." Emit said.

The name doesn't matter. Point was, I had asked Lyra for one, since I knew she had an extra. It was beaten up compared to her own. Lyra was actually beside me, leading against the wall and fiddling with her own cube. It was a neat toy, twisting and turning the colors did help take my mind off the fact that we were running out of time.

I pulled out my pocket watch. Looking at it, I had only eight or so hours left… We were cutting it close.

Gruce had that card, I know he showed it to me before when I first went to the ruined city with Lyra and her friends. Regrettably this was the soonest we could arrange a meet up, and it's not like I know where he lives.

“You better be right, Kid…” Emit grumbled. I can’t blame him honestly, I wasn’t truly convinced myself, but judging by Emit’s description of it, and my own gut feeling, I knew I was right.

I eyed the pocket watch in my hand again, and back into the crowd. I ended up just putting the watch back into my pocket. It was stressing me out more than anything else really. As soon as they get here, I'll just grab the card, hurry into the Tower, use it then end this. Couldn’t be that hard, right?

“What’s up, Feathers?” Lyra suddenly said from beside me. Her eyes now glancing at me, but still turning the cube in her hand. “You look like you’re about to have a nervous breakdown or something.”

“Feels like it.” I admitted. I guess my attempts to put on a braver face than I felt inside failed.

I never liked being on a deadline.

“So, you gonna tell me what’s wrong or what? Can’t help you if you’re just silently freaking out.” Lyra said.

“I don’t think you could help…” I started, but a thought came to me. “Actually, maybe you can. Do you know what Gruce likes?”

“H-huh? What do you mean?” Lyra asked.

“Y’know, anything he might do something for. Something he really wants.” I continued. I figured maybe I could trade him something for it.

Lyra stopped fiddling around with her cube, thinking about my question.

“I dunno.” Lyra said after a moment.

“Oh come on, you must have some kind of idea.”

Lyra shrugged. “He only talks about guy stuff. Girls, money, his sword. Why are you even asking?”

“He’s got something I want.” I said.

“And that something is?”

“...Something very important to me. That he’s had for a bit but doesn’t realize it’s value.” I said, keeping it vague. I think if I told her I wanted that card and if it was human related, I wouldn’t hear the end of it.

Lyra looked very confused, as expected. That looked became more flustered.

“Wait! It’s not like that I swear! I never even went on that date with him!” Lyra said, holding her hands up.

“Excuse me? What are you talking about?” I asked, now confused myself.

“...What are you talking about?” Lyra asked in return.

“His little necklace around his neck!” I said.

“Oh.” Lyra said, with a tinge of disappointment. What did she think I meant?

“Kid, you’re really thick in the head when it comes to this, huh?” Emit said.

What?

"Nevermind. Hey isn't that those blokes?" Emit said.

I looked around and sure enough, the familiar duo came walking up.

"Sup Lyra." Gruce said.

"Hello." Ariel said.

"Hey Gruce, Ariel, right on time!" Lyra grabbed me. But I shook her off. “Feathers! Come on!”

"Feathers, yes that's me." I said walking up to Gruce. "Gruce, right? We've met before."

"Have we? Sorry I don't tend to keep small guys in my memory!" Gruce said with a laugh. I bit my tongue. Calm down…

"Can birds even bite their tongues?" Emit wondered.

Is this really the time? We can question colloquialisms later!

"Yes yes, since you're so… big and um, strong unlike me. Anyway, you probably don't remember but you showed me your trinket, that necklace you have." I said.

Lyra tilted her head. "I don't remember him doing- Ow!"

I jabbed my elbow in her side, shutting her up. This was not the time for her to pipe up either!

Gruce narrowed his eyes. "Get on with it, squirt. I'm getting bored standing here."

I cleared my throat. "As I was saying before I was interrupted. I would like to see it again if you don't mind."

Now Gruce just gave me a confused look. "You want to see this?"

Gruce fished an object out his armor. A thin card with runes on it, human lettering to be exact.

"Oh!" Emit flew right towards Gruce, who was completely oblivious to the fact a god was currently swirling around his head. “That’s it! That’s what we’ve been looking for!”

Yes! Finally, something going right! Now for the hard part…

“That’s it! Now this may be much to ask, but can I just borrow it for a day?” I asked, reaching out towards it.

Gruce yanked his hand away however.

"Sorry Squirt, I ain’t handing this over." Gruce said.

“Oh come on I just want to borrow it.” I said.

"Why you even want Feathers?" Lyra said.

"Does seem to be a strange thing to want to acquire." Ariel added.

“Um…” I paused for a moment. “I want it for an art project. ’Lost human artifacts’

"Sounds lame." Gruce said.

"You didn’t tell me you were doing something like that! Sounds neat!" Lyra said, she looked over to Gruce. “Give it to him, I’ll make sure he hands it back.”

Gruce face grew troubled now that Lyra asked him too.

“I can’t just give it away. Not even for a day!” Gruce said.

“What’s the issue? I said I’ll make sure he gives it back.” Lyra said.

“If you look after it then…” Gruce trailed.

"If it makes you feel any better, I’ll pay you to let me borrow it. Or I’ll get Lyra too.” I added.

"What!" Lyra said, punching me in the arm.

"Ow joking!" I said, rubbing the spot she hit. I deserved it for elbowing her I suppose.

Gruce glared at me. "Oh no. No way chump. Not happening now. Go find something else."

"Huh? Why?” I asked. He was so close to handing it over a second ago!

"Clearly he’s jealous just look at him." Emit said.

What do you mean? I looked at Gruce. His eyes were starting between Lyra and I. Could it be true?

"Oh. Wait, I think you got the wrong idea about-"

“Whatever! I don’t want to hear it!” Gruce said, cutting me off. “I’m never letting this go!”

"Oh come on! I really need it!" I pleaded.

“If you want it so back, you’ll have to tear it away from my dead body!” Gruce said.

“A duel, perhaps?” Ariel suggested.

Gruce face brightened up. “Yeah! A duel! Fight me for it if you really want it!”

“You can’t be serious.” I said.

“Yeah, I don’t think it’ll be a fair fight, Feathers here can’t even take me.” Lyra said.

“Don’t care! If he want’s it, gotta take it from me.” Gruce replied.

This is getting nowhere quick. Lyra began to say something else but I stopped her.

"Okay, fine. Whatever let's fight."

"Feathers you-"

"It's fine! I'm on a timeline here, you better hand it over as soon as I win though." I said.

“Oh? Sounding pretty confident there, Squirt.” Gruce said.

I could only shrug. In all honesty, I didn’t want to fight, nor did I really think I could take him. But I had literally no other choice at this point. It was either this or be stuck waking up with my window being smashed forever.

Gruce walked back a few steps. He then pulled out his massive sword from his back."First one to call it quits wins. Deal? I'll even use the blunt side, so I won't completely flatten you!"

“Can I be the judge?” Ariel asked.

“Sure!” Gruce nodded. I swear I saw Ariel’s face light up. What is wrong with that girl?

"Gruce! You're gonna kill him!" Lyra said.

Gruce just stared at her. "What do you even care? What's so good about this squirt? Now I'm fired up!"

Gruce pointed his sword at me. "Come on! Or I'll come over there."

I unsheathed my own blade.

At this point others around us began to take notice. I mean, I would too if two people just took out their weapons in the middle of the street.

Ariel was shooing them away. “A gentleman’s duel is starting, please don’t interrupt.”

She’s definitely getting a kick out of this, even with that expressionless face of hers. Under Ariel’s guidance, a small crowd surrounded the two of us, watching on.

The surrounding people murmur as I cautiously approached. It wasn't every day a fight broke out. The tower guards didn't really seem to care either, in fact they looked on with curiosity. Probably breaking the boredom of standing here all day.

I got closer, and as soon I reached his striking range, he raised his blade up.

"Dodge!" Emit said.

You don't need to tell me that! I got out the way as his slab of metal came crashing down towards me. It wasn't very hard to move out the way, but what I wasn't expecting was for him to let go of his weapon and kick me straight in the gut.

When his metal covered foot collided with me, I felt what air I had in my lungs swiftly leave. I fell straight on my ass, nearly dropping my sword in the process.

Gruce took my moment of disorientation to pick up his weapon. Without a word, he swung again, straight down for me. I tumbled out the way, bits of rocks on the ground scrapping my exposed flesh as I did so.

“Come on! Strike back!” Gruce said.

Fine! In a single motion, I stood and swiped for his side. My blade worthlessly bounced off though. The heck? I cut those bullets with this thing and it couldn’t even make a dent?

“Enchanted.” Gruce said, as if reading my mind. With a speed that would have impressed me in any other circumstance, Gruce took his slab of metal out of the ground and swung wide. At this distance, there was no dodging.

I held my breath, the world crawled to a stop. It was cutting it close, but I was able to move my sword between me and his own weapon. No point delaying the inevitable. I let my breath go and the world returned to normal speed.

The weight of the blow made my arms buckle, as I was knocked to the side. I didn’t fall over but I was pushed quite a distance, my feet dragging on the ground. If that hit me straight on, it could have broken my ribs! How can he even swing that so easily? A faint blue pulse at the hilt of his sword answered my question. Right, the sword is enchanted as well. Probably to make it lighter to swing around before impact.

“Holy hell Feathers! How’d you even block that?” Lyra called out.

Other people in the crowd murmured, the younger one’s expressing the same sentiment as Lyra. Was it really that cool?

“Shut up! All of you! He only blocked so what?” Gruce yelled, the lividness in his voice increasing. “You ain’t gonna win just by blocking, Squirt and you can’t do jack to me either!”

I had nothing to say to that. He was right. I hit him once, and it didn’t do anything. If this was a real fight for my life, I could obviously aim for an exposed area and hurt him. But this was a effectively a sparing match. One that was heavily in Gruce’s favor.

I knew this though, but it wasn’t as if I had a choice in the matter. So what can I do then? Hurting him is out of the question, even if it was a real fight I still don’t like hurting others. Can’t really knock him down under all that metal. Heck, I can’t even chip it away due to that enchantment on it.

That’s when I remembered what Emit and I had spoken about back in the ruins. His enchantments and the quality of them… It was a long shot but I didn’t really have another choice here.

I put my sword back in it’s sheathe.

Gruce looked pleased. “Giving up?”

“Nope.” I replied. I pulled out my hammer from my belt.

“Oh, you’re gonna crack his armor wide open ain’t ya, Feathers?” Lyra said.

“I’m not sure if that will work. A hammer is a hammer. Won’t do much against magically reinforced armor.” Ariel said.

I gripped the hammer with both of my hands, and stood ready.

“Not gonna come to me? Fine!” Gruce said, charging at me.

Once again, he rose his sword up high and swung down for my head. He’s very repetitive, which I was counting on.

I moved once more. I closed my eyes and I could ‘see’ the flow of mana. Sure enough, whoever made his sword didn’t properly seal it. Right above the hilt I could see it leaking, not enough to disturb the enhancement under normal circumstances, but enough to give me a target. I swung my hammer, right in the spot.

An audible crack rang out, once that was distinct from the sound of metal clacking on each other.

Gruce looked confused, but then laughed. “If your plan was to break my weapon, sorry to tell you that’s it’s enchanted too bub. Thing is practically unbreakable!”

As if to show me, he began to lift it. Or at least tried to. Gruce grunted and huffed, but the sword just wouldn’t move.

“The hell? What did you do!” Gruce yelled.

“You might want to get your money back. A weapon can’t be good if it breaks down from a single tap.” I teased. That single blow had shattered it’s framework, cutting off the mana flow from the rest of the enchantment.

Gruce struggled for a moment again. No luck, he couldn’t lift it even if he tried. I put my hammer away, he had no weapon anymore, so the match was decided in my eyes.

Ariel must have thought so too, as she raised her talon. “An unexpected twist. I deem the winner of this duel, Fea-“

“No! You can’t call it yet! I didn’t lose!” Gruce said.

“Come on, Gruce, you don’t have a weapon anymore!” Lyra said.

“Right, can’t you just admit I won?” I said.

“No weapon? Ha! I got two right here!” Gruce said. He raised his fists.

Next thing I knew said fist were coming towards me. I wasn’t prepared in the slightest, so his metal hand collided right in my head.

The world spun, I saw stars for a second. My blurred vision from being struck didn’t let me see him strike me again in the gut, I crumpled from the pain of the blow. Blood entered my mouth, bastard cracked my beak, I realized.

I wasn’t even given a chance to slump to the ground, as Gruce grabbed my collar.

I looked at him dead in the eye, at least with one of my eyes. The other was covered in blood now.

“Kid! You okay?” Emit said.

“I’m fine.” I spat.

Gruce must have thought I was speaking to him, as he then replied. “You don’t look so fine to me! See! I told you all it was too soon to call it!”

“That was dirty!” Lyra said.

Gruce looked over and frowned, “So? Its a fight! Anything is game!”

Gruce then turned to Ariel. “Hurry up and call it! I won!”

Ariel hesitated for a moment.

Gruce looked even more annoyed. “Come on! I said call it already! Unless I have to hit him even harder!”

Gruce raised his free hand, his intent clear.

I wasn’t just gonna let him beat me up like some kind of school yard bully.

I closed my eyes again. The flow of mana once again became aware to me. Just like his sword, there was a clear imperfection of his armor. I pulled my hammer out, which Gruce took as I sign I was ready for more. We both swung, his fist, my hammer. I collided with his chest before his fist did so with my face.

Another loud crack sound. His fist still hit me, knocking me out of his grasp. It hurt like hell, but I wasn’t gonna go down so easily. I spit out the blood that was building in my mouth.

“I won.” I said.

“Excuse me? Who’s all bloody here?” Gruce said. “Guess I’ll have to knock some more sense in you!”

Gruce tried to take a step forward, but all that did was knock his balance over. He slumped to the ground, kneeling.

“Probably want a refund on the armor too. Same shoddy problem.” I said. I walked up closer. “Can I please have the card now?”

Gruce gave me a dirty look. “You didn’t fight me fair and square! Why I oughta…!”

Gruce strained under the weight of his own armor. I thought he was supposed to be all tough, but he can’t even wear his own gear without support.

“It’s kind of sad, really.” Emit said.

Lyra and Ariel approached as well. Ariel placed a hand on Gruce’s shoulder, patting him. He didn’t seem quite please at all.

Meanwhile Lyra slapped my own back, the suddenness making me stumble.

“You do know I’m hurt, right?” I said.

“Oh please, you won! Let me congratulate you!” Lyra laughed. I rolled my eyes.

“I’d rather not be congratulated with more pain, thanks.”

“What? Want something else then?” Lyra asked.

I thought for a moment. “Food?”

Lyra shook her head. “No way, you’re too picky when we go out.”

“Oh you’re calling me picky? That’s rich coming from the girl who doesn’t like her food touching.”

“It needs to be orderly!” Lyra said. I laughed now.

“I’m glad you’re having fun, but shouldn’t you be getting something?” Emit said.

Right. The keycard. If I grab it off of him now, I should have enough time to quickly run up and end this whole adventure.

I turned back to Gruce, he was silently staring towards Lyra and I. Before I could even ask the question, Gruce clicked his tongue and spoke.

“I don't know why Lyra hangs around someone like you." Gruce quietly said.

I didn’t know what to say to that, clearly there was a misunderstanding here. I figured I’d just ignore it and move on.

“Not to be rude, but I do need that card now. I’ll still give it back though.” I said, reaching into his armor. I unhooked the chain from around his neck, and the card was mine. I stuffed it in my bag.

I started to walk away when a sudden ‘pressure’ filled the air. I turned back around, the source was seemingly coming from Gruce. Vapors of a mist, like the one I saw earlier today in those labs, swirled and entered Gruce’s crouched form. Ariel, who was still stood next to him, seemed especially concerned.

“Gruce?” Ariel said.

"That trinket… It was mine. She gave it to me and now you’re just gonna take it? You’re worthless! I'm the best adventurer around... and she chose you? Stupid! If I can't have her then… then no one can!" Gruce yelled.

As soon as the words left his mouth. A wave of pressure exploded out. Ariel was flung away from Gruce. I stumbled back myself. The dirt around us broke, a fissure formed a circle that was filled in with a burst of blue flames, trapping the four of us from the crowd outside.

At this point, said crowd was spooked. The faces of the people were torn between fascination and a slight fear. I’m sure the question on their minds were if this was this apart of the sparring match? I wish it was.

Ariel, who was now near the edge of the blue flames after being tossed away, attempted reach out over them. Her arm was pushed back. By the looks of it we’re trapped here.

Gruce stood up, no longer hindered by his armor. That wasn’t the most concerning part though, no. His eye’s were now glowing a sky blue.

Gruce grabbed his sword from the ground, lifting it effortlessly with a single hand. How in the world? His eyes were staring right towards me, I could feel the killing intent behind the gaze.

“Get back.” I said to Lyra. I wasn’t sure what happened, but one thing was for sure, I don’t think he’s friendly at the moment. Maybe I can knock him back to his senses?

Lyra didn’t reply to me, seemingly too shocked by the suddenness of the events. So I simply took a few steps in front of her and took out my own sword.

That’s when, without a word, Gruce dashed towards me with his own sword in hand. The only thing I could think about was if I didn’t defend myself, it was going to be real bad. I pulled out my own sword and was prepared to either dodge or take the blow.

But the attack I was expecting never came. As soon as he reached me, he ignored me completely and rushed passed me.

I heard a familiar voice cry out in pain. I turned to see Lyra pierced through, her body halfway through his sword.

"You didn't... Why?" I heard Ariel say.

Lyra’s eyes were wide, she looked down at the foreign object in her body. Her mouth opened to speak, but the only thing that came out was an outflow of blood. Lyra lifted her arms to grab the sword. Gruce at that point pulled his weapon out. Lyra stood for what seemed like an eternity, but really was just a single moment, and fell for the final time of her life.

“I didn’t want to do it. You made me do this!” Gruce screamed.

That was when the crowd of people knew this wasn’t apart of the mock fight and began to freak out. Screams of a murder rang out, the tower guards that were idly watching up until this point tried to pass the blue flames, but were repelled by the same invisible force that kept us in.

I didn't care though. About the guards trying to help, nor the people who were now fleeing the scene.

The only thing on my mind was my friend was dead.

And Gruce had killed her.

I charged towards Gruce without a second thought. I sliced at him, aiming at his unshielded head. He lifted his arm up and deflected the blow, knocking my blade completely out of my hand and putting me off balance, I re-centered myself and attempted to strike again, this time pulling my hammer from my belt and striking overhead.

With speed that shouldn't have been possible in with that much armor, Gruce grabbed my arm. I couldn't budge, his grip completely over powered me. Gruce then lifted me up and slammed me into the ground.

The way he flung with me by my arm caused a crack ring out from it, not that you could hear said arm breaking over my screams of pain.

“Kid!” Emit called.

Focusing past the pain, I saw Gruce lifting his sword. I held my breath and the world slowed. Under the increased stress, the slowing effect of my Respite was much greater.

I needed that, as I barely moved out the way, my arms pain being achingly drawn out as I did so. Between the pain and also entering Respite so quickly, I let go of my breath, and time went back to normal.

Gruce’s blade finished it’s swing. His sword crushed the ground. Debris of dirt and gravel being thrust into the air. I coughed, wavering for a brief moment. I couldn't believe it. What in the world happened to him? He was always a brute but this was absurd.

I got up. I looked around for my sword, but it was knocked outside of the blue flames. I guess things can exit but not enter.

“Gruce! Snap out of it!” Ariel yelled.

Gruce didn’t reply. He only lifted his sword and readied himself for more. I took another deep breath, I needed to think.

This wasn’t looking good. Not in the slightest. How in the hell am I going to fight him like this? I’m down an arm, a real weapon and no support.

Am I really this helpless? A feeling of frustration welled up in me. Come on! There must be something! What do I have? My hammer? Journal? Oh! I have a knife. But I’m not really gonna be able to get close enough to him. He’s too fast at this point, and I’m too injured.

That’s when I remembered the pipe bombs. I still had those. But I couldn’t activated them with only a single hand… I looked over to Ariel.

It was worth a shot.

I let time resume.

“Ariel! Catch!” I said, grabbing a tossing a pipe to her.

Ariel had grabbed the object out of the air. She tilted her head in confusion.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Ariel asked.

“Twist the two sides together and toss it at him!” I said.

Ariel looked at the pipe in her hand, and then at her enraged friend. She didn’t know what I gave her, but I’m sure she figured it was a weapon of some sort. I think she was torn between using something that can hurt her friend, even if said friend had killed her other friend.

Gruce grabbed his sword, ready to charge at me again. Seeing that Gruce was ready to strike once more, Ariel seemingly made up her mind. She twisted the bomb and toss it at him.

Gruce reflexively cut the bomb out the air, which only made it’s explosion worse, Lightning and debris exploded out, completely making the area around Gruce surround in smoke.

“Graa!” Gruce screamed. His sword now just flailing, He was unable to see completely.

This was just what I needed. I silently thanked Ariel. Now it was my turn.

I closed my eyes, the world became outlined, the surrounding mana outlining the area. To my surprise, the Tower itself was so bright, as bright as when I looked at Emit under this sight. I’d have to wonder about that later.

I pulled out my knife and ran closer, eyes still close, right into the smoke. Gruce was still swinging his sword wildly. I held my breath, both to not breathe in the dust but to also slow down time.

His swings were still fast, but they were uncoordinated, allowing me to weave my way closer, dodging each blow. The strain of using both Respite and the mana sense make my head light, I felt like I was going to pass out, but I needed to just keep going for just a moment longer.

I was right next to Gruce now, He was recovering from his latest swing, giving me the perfect chance. I held my knife up.

…I wavered for a moment. I was about to do something I never thought I would. I was going to kill another Fallen.

I then thought of Lyra’s wide eyes, and her body going limp. A burning rage filled me as I steeled myself, and plunged my knife into his neck.

I finally let my breath go and reopened my eyes.

Gruce screamed. He dropped his sword and pulled the blade I stuck in his neck out. A spray of blood covered me. The dust finally started to clear enough for me to stare right into his eyes. The blue glow that filled them faded away. And then the lights in his eyes that we all carried quickly followed.

Gruce slumped to the ground. That was it. He was gone. Ariel came closer now. The look of sadness was apparent. I guess even someone who usually keeps a straight face also breaks down in moments like this.

The flames keeping us trapped dissipated. I heard shouts from the outside.

“Kid, we got to go.” Emit said.

…I knew he was right. This wasn’t the time to mourn. If I stay here, I’ll get caught. After all, I just killed someone.

I got up.

“Sorry.” Is all I could say to Ariel as I sprinted off.

Footsteps of armored Fallen came quickly after that. Guards surrounded the smoke area and when the dust finally cleared, it revealed only a downtrodden Fallen girl and the bodies of her two friends.