February 13, 2019, 1:01 pm.

With lunch... and other things... out of the way, Rufka and I return to the challenges. This time when we get to the final fight, despite having completely rearranged the arena again, Atun ignores our efforts by using her ability to suck things closer to turn it all into a metal ball. Which she uses to bash us to pulp.

Then we fight her with only a few small preparations and manage to take her out with a lucky arrow from Rufka when Atun is focusing on finishing me off. For some reason, she prefers to go for me first. This time, Rufka is ready for her. Unfortunately, it leads to me being nearly blind again. On the plus side, it means Rufka carries me out in her arms again.

The next fight, Atun doesn't leap down to challenge us. She just watches us from her throne, smiling the whole time. Which prompts Smoulder to attempt to break through again. She doesn't get any further than the first time, though she does get a smile out of Atun.

After letting Smoulder smack into the barrier for half an hour, we continue to the next challenge. Again, Atun doesn't descend to fight us.

Worried that she's getting ready for something, Rufka and I take a break, going to spend our points. At this point, I have enough saved up to buy another thirty-two integration points. But I only buy twenty-five, to get my numbers even. It's enough to bring my Strength and Constitution to eighty each. When I test my new strength by lifting Rufka off the ground with one arm around her waist, she laughs before smacking my arm.

When we head into our next set of challenges, the difference is immediately noticeable. Atun is no longer leaning back in her throne. Instead, she's kneeling at the front of her booth, her eyes fixed on us as we ascend.

I analyze her again, and her status doesn't seem to have changed. No new abilities. But the way she watches us as we fight is a little unsettling. When the K'tharn who was wielding some sort of club with fancy metal ridges on the end swirls into dust, Atun doesn't declare a flawless victory. Which makes Rufka and I check our status. But there's nothing there. When I glance up at Atun, her smile widens as she makes a shooing gesture with one hand.

Several rounds later, I hold down the club wielder while we stare up at Atun.

We don't have any tricks left. And I've run through Anchor twice, killing the K'tharn underfoot. And each time, Atun is able to get a serious hit on me before Rufka or Smoulder can retaliate.

I need to take the hit, but keep the effect as light as possible. Which is when I realize I haven't been using my new ability to fly. Maybe I'm not out of tricks. If it's like Anchor, and not affected by her disruption effect then... well, at least I might not get one shot.

Waiting the extra time for my next Anchor to be ready, I let it run through. And two out of three attempts, I'm able to get away. Kinda wish I'd practiced with the ability first, but trial by fire I suppose.

"Hey Rufka," I call, smiling up at Atun.

"Yeah Lex?" she replies, picking up on my hand signal.

"You haven't forgotten about any of your new abilities, have you?" I ask, even as I finish off the fancy club bearer underfoot.

Atun is in the air before Rufka can reply, leaping toward me with one of her massive blades in hand. I swirl up and to the right as I pull on the strange 'muscle' that is my new flight ability. The edge of Atun's blade whistling through the air behind me is close enough to knock a single point off my health and send me spinning. But Smoulder manages to catch her, setting up the combo for Rufka's arrow to strike. When I reorient, Atun is still standing, though her blade is partially slagged.

Before I can take the scene in, Atun shouts, "Attend me!"

This time, I can't escape in time, and Rufka and I wake up in the chamber outside.

"So, forgot you could fly, huh?" Rufka asks from her own slab.

"Yep," I answer, not getting up from my slab.

"Me too," she chuckles. "Wanna go practice?"

This time, I don't answer, rolling off the slab and walking backwards towards the park before drifting up slightly. "You coming?"

She doesn't bother standing, letting herself be pulled towards me by her flight effect. Which leaves her hair falling into her eyes causing her to nearly crash into the doorway. Once we begin practicing in the park, I finally stop laughing.

...TPWM...

February 13, 2019, 6:25 pm.

The next fight against Atun ends quickly. Now that we can't one shot her with Rufka's ability, we're relying on flight even more. But Atun's ability to draw us in, combined with her disruption is... tricky.

We sit at the table with the others and discover that we're the only ones who've had success with Atun after the least version. Though Roberts doesn't count, since he hasn't fought her at all yet.

"She's too fast," Josh notes, shaking his head. "If she wasn't able to smash through my Brambleback walls so easily, I might last more than a dozen hits."

I choke on my burrito as I hear that.

"A dozen hits?" Rufka asks, leaning forward. "You can take a dozen hits?"

"Man's good at taking a beating," Beth says with a completely straight face as she takes another bite of her own burrito.

While Josh goes red, we continue talking about Atun. And discussing what's worked for Rufka and I. Tipan reveals that as long as she gets Flawless victories on any of the first four challenges she tried, she can fight against the weak version of Atun again. Which prompts me to record which of the groups of K'tharn Rufka and I have unlocked Atun with.

Our comparison reveals that Atun isn't as powerful when only one person is fighting her. And even Josh and Rose, who've been doing most of their challenges together, don't seem to be fighting an Atun as strong as ours.

Whether that's because of Smoulder or something else, we can’t determine. And I don't intend to fight Atun solo. At least, not yet.

As an experiment, Rufka and I go back and challenge the first set of K'tharn that triggered our fight against Atun. And just like Tipan said, she's back to her slower and weaker version. She also gives way less points than the first time we fought her. On the other hand, we only had to go through a single set of K'tharn to trigger her.

So we spend the day fighting her without using Rufka's plasma arrow, until we can reliably defeat her weakest form. I even gain two ranks in a new skill, Melee Weapons. Then we move on to her next form, until we can defeat her without turning the arena into a tripping ground. By that point, we collapse into bed, too tired to hold hands.

The next day is similar, with Rufka and I taking a break to train hand to hand skills with Beth. And then staff combat skills from Tipan. Kellica teaches me the basics of using bladed gauntlets.

I hate it. It's so much worse than magic. But it turns out to be far more effective against Atun, when used in combination with our abilities. I choose to focus on the staff, since it feels the most natural. And gives me range to boot.

Throughout our training, Atun no longer calls out the beginning or end of each match, instead watching us with a small smile. A smile that morphs into a ferocious grin when she's able to leap into the arena.

It takes us two more days before we feel ready to challenge Atun properly again. When we walk into the arena, she steps up, calling, "Our contenders return! After days of grueling training, they feel fit to test themselves once more. May the mersa, begin!"

After we handily defeat the pair of K'tharn, Atun roars out our citizen names, and the crowd joins her. Even knowing they're all simple facsimiles, a blush crawls up my cheeks as we leave the arena.

"Now she's using psychological warfare. Not fair," I say, leaning against the wall.

Rufka leans against the wall across the way from me while Smoulder pokes her head out of her pocket with a yawn. "By cheering our names?"

"I... yeah?" I shrug while pushing away from the wall. "Not used to fighting so much."

"Hmm. We could take a break. Play Astra's Stride," Rufka suggests, which gets a chuckle from me.

"Nah. We got this," I reply, shaking my head. And we do, though we slow down a touch, spending more time talking between each match. We take an extra few minutes before the final match talking about our plan. When we march into the ring, Rufka already has her bow drawn, and I whip shards of molten metal across before they've even started moving. By the time we step fully into the arena, they're already collapsing into blue dust.

This earns us a mighty laugh from Atun as she dives forwards into the ring. When she attacks, I'm able to hold off her attacks with my modified quarterstaff while dodging with flight. At the same time, Smoulder is able to smash into her repeatedly, warming the arena while Rufka circles around, chipping away at her Health. When Atun cries, "Attend me!" it hardly breaks our flow, repeated practice allowing us to adjust to the drastic location change easily.

The edge of Atun's blade is sliding along the edge of my staff when Rufka's plasma bolt strikes her, causing her to collapse.

With a sigh, we back up, Atun returning to her ledge.

She bows to us, leading the crowd to follow suit as we get a notification with our latest rewards. Then I get another ghost message as Atun rises on her throne.

"Zone Hidden Quest requir-"

"Arena Hidden requirement override. Dungeon Administrator privileges: User: Atun."

Before I'm done reading, Atun silences the crowd. "The contenders have proven worthy. Let them participate in Desh'mersa!"

As the crowd roars, loud enough I swear the others must be able to hear them in their own arenas, I trade a glance with Rufka.

Now this, her mum definitely didn't mention.