The door to the entrance of the rebellion flung open and Roko and Vespa stepped out into the open. The ice wall that had sealed up this space from the outside was still there, keeping the worst of the flood from reaching them. But more important were the half a dozen people climbing out of the central channel. A few more were falling down from the cistern opening like Roko and Varis had entered before. These people were wearing an odd mix of a rubber undersuit with plates of armor slapped on top of it. And from the armbands, Roko could tell they were part of Sirius' personal army, The Starry Knights.
"Tch. Caught onto us so quickly have you?" One of them scowled as he noticed Roko's arrival on the scene, "We have no choice. All men prepare for a fight!"
While the knights drew swords from their scabbards, Roko shook his hands and rolled his arms, hopping up and down and loosening his body in preparation for the fight, "I don't have a sword but somehow I feel like I can beat you."
"Do you want to use my sword?" Vespa offered, drawing the sword he had always kept on his back.
"It's fine." Roko replied, "I'll just take one off of these guys."
Before anyone else could react, Roko had dashed across the slightly submerged grounds and up to one of the Starry Knights. A quick sucker punch into the man's stomach left him reeling and waving his sword around weakly to try and keep Roko away. Roko stayed at the edge of the sword's range, watching the sword's movements until he saw a lull in the knight's movements. Crossing his arms over, Roko grabbed onto the edge of the sword with one hand and the handle of the sword with another. Then by uncrossing them, Roko twisted the knight's arm well over 180 degrees, causing a short cry of pain and with a few more degrees, the knight released his sword to save his arm.
"So." Roko said, turning the man around and kicking him into the channel, "Now that I'm armed...well, I would ask if you're willing to surrender but we don't really have the resources to put up with all of you. So I guess we'll just have to kill you."
"We'll see who's killing who!"
Another Starry Knight ran at him with his sword raised as Roko tossed his sword into his main hand. The knight's sword came down and Roko's sword turned it's point onto this attacker. The jab struck faster than the swing but the point clashed into one of the plates on their weird wetsuit/armor hybrid. The attack didn't pierce the armor but it did push the knight away from him. With a few more steps, Roko managed to pin the knight against the wall of the cistern, sword tip pressed against an armored plate. The knight panted nervously. If Roko was in his shoes, he'd be both relieved and nervous at how well this thin armor was protecting him. When his safety was clear, the knight scowled and swing his sword to dislodge Roko's sword from his chest. With Roko's sword pulled away from his body, Roko used the momentum to swing his opposite leg around to slam into the knight's unarmored stomach. The knight's wind was kicked out of him, stunning him enough for Roko to grab him by the hair and swing this knight around and throw him into another knight trying to sneak up on him from behind.
"They're just two men!" The clear Starry Knights leader shouted from a safe distance, "Just overwhelm them!"
"Kokuryu Uttoushii Habataki – Blast!"
A strong wing blasted at least four different knights past Roko and into the far perpendicular wall.
"Don't fight." Vespa said, stepping forward, his tall thin figure making strong threatening steps towards their enemies, a dark energy seeming to radiate off of him, "You'll stir the black dragon Aldeztroi from it's slumber."
"Seems like he's already awake from the sound of it!" One knight shouted.
"Wait, do you actually understand what that weeb talk is saying?!"Another shouted in response.
"So you've got a swordstyle!" The leader sneered, "So what?! I know a sword style too!"
"This isn't really a swordstyle." Vespa replied, "In the broadest sense, it could be. But I'm more of a magical swordsman."
"What's the difference?" The leader frowned.
"This."
With a wave, Vespa conjured a black dragon from out of nowhere. It was smaller than Roko would have expected, taking up a lot of space in the constrained cistern but adorned with pitch black scales that reflected only the barest hint of light, spines and horns of the same color that all but melded it with the dark shadows of the cistern. The only hint of color was it's sharp pale blue eyes that glared menacingly at the Starry Knights.
"Well looks like the dragon's awake now isn't it!" The same knight from before yelled.
"I stirred him awake just for you." Vespa said, "And now that Aldeztroi has taken form, all shall burn away until he goes to sleep once more."
"Projection magic." Roko noted, "Very impressive. It's hard enough conjuring a sword out of magic much less a monstrous entity."
"It's a memetic entity that invaded my mind." Vespa said, "I can barely control it so look out for yourself, Roko."
"I'll keep that in mind." Roko nodded.
"I've never heard of a memetic entity." One Starry Knight remarked.
"I can't tell if he's serious or seriously messed up in the head." Another one added.
"No matter!" The Starry Knight leader shouted, "I'll defeat you myself if I have to!" Then he leader leaped into action, sword drawn back, "Sword of Times! Era Ending Strike!"
"Hey, Hirudo stole that technique." Roko remarked.
The leader's strike landed on the scales of Aldeztroi, the clash sent shockwaves rocketing across the small area. Yet the dragon didn't seem to bulge from his attack.
"Uuuhhh..." The leader looked up as Aldeztroi reached up with a clawed hand and smashed him into the ground. Then, after removing their claw, began to breath a dark black breath onto the cratered leader.
"Boss!"
The brave Starry Knights began to run up as the black smoke began to spark into red fire. Together they stabbed at the magical projection of a dragon, managing to stop its breath attack only for it to whip around and swipe the lot of them with its tail.
"Forget the dragon!" The leader said as some remaining knights helped him back onto his feet, "Get the caster!"
The persistent knights got back up and charged at Vespa who slashed through their ranks with ease.
"Do I even need to do anything?" Roko smirked as he rested his sword on his shoulder.
"Get the smug guy!"
"At least give me a better reason than that." Roko sighed as a pair of knights charged at him.
The pair of knights attempted a coordinated attack on Roko but he deflected their blades with relative ease. Slashing at their heads, Roko sent the two scrambling backwards, retreating away from his blade only for Roko to step forward to press his offense. The two knights tried dodging to the side, letting Roko progress past them as they then tried to stab into Roko from both sides. Twisting his body around just right, Roko nimbly dodged the attack from both angles, thrusting his sword forward in another jab at one of the knights. That Starry Knight tried to stumble back again only to immediately fall into the cistern's waters.
"That idiot!" The remaining knight tried to lunge forward to try and push Roko into the water as well but Roko's foot shot out and landed a nasty kick directly into the middle of the man's face, knocking him backwards and also out of consciousness. Standing alone once more, Roko was forced to quickly block as the Starry Knight's leader made a personal attempt at a surprise attack on him.
"How are we losing to even this guy?!" Their leader snarled.
"Are you asking me?" Roko said, pushing the knight off of him as he turned around to face him, "Cause I have no idea how either."
Roko jabbed at the knight's head, the man lifting his sword to deflect the tip away from his target. Roko swung his sword hand around, pivoting around the leader's sword to try and punch him with his occupied hand. The leader quickly turned his body away from the attack and dragged his sword along the edge of Roko's, shifting the leverage to better block Roko's sword until he had them both in a standstill, swords locked against each other. For the moment the two remained in this clash, trying to overpower the other until the leader scowled and pulled their swords around, trying a disarming maneuver. In response, Roko hooked his sword under the leader's sword as well and with a little bit more power, he sent the leader's sword flying into the air along with his own. The Starry Knight's leader watched, his jaw agape, as their swords dropped into the cistern channel, sinking deep underwater.
"Can't use your swordstyle now can you?"
The leader spun his head around only for Roko to land a strong uppercut into the man's jaw. As the knight stumbled back, Roko landed three more punched into his open body, finishing off his combo with a straight into his opponent's face. To give a bit of credit, the leader remained standing after Roko's attacks, bruised but still conscious enough to scowl at him,
"That's enough! All men, prepare to blow the ice wall and escape!"
"Blow the ice wall?" Roko frowned, "That's bad, the base will get flooded again!"
"I won't let you!" Vespa shouted, lunging forward only to get intercepted by a pair of knights. Roko tried to jump in as well but without a weapon, all he could do was dodge the knight's weapons and watch as two knights climbed up the side of the ice wall and attached a spherical object that very much looked like a bomb. Roko tried to steal another sword again but after using his tricks once to steal a sword, the Starry Knights weren't going to allow him to do so again. Annoyingly, these knights seem to be doing much better on defense than offense, coordinating well enough to stop Roko, Vespa and even the black dragon Aldeztroi from even coming close to the ones setting up the bomb.
"Set the time for a minute!" The leader declared, "All men, prepare to get submerged!"
"Stop!" Roko shouted, "Corissa's still resting here!"
"You expect me to believe you have the hottest woman in the world in your dingy ass base? Get real." the leader scoffed, "Start the timer!"
Roko cursed as he tried even harder to break through their defenses. He even took a few scratches and slashes but without a weapon of his own, Roko could only effectively bounce off the Starry Knight's bladed defenses. Vespa seemed like he wasn't doing much better, his dragon being personally kept at bay by the leader who had just requisitioned a new sword from the knights working on the bomb. The timer had already begun counting down, growing shorter and shorter every time Roko glanced at it in between his breaching attempts. But it was no use and soon the bomb was ticking down it's final ten seconds. Roko's mind ran but he couldn't think of a way to stop it in such short time.
"Varis, throw me!"
To everyone's shock, someone was suddenly launched through the open corridors and crashed into the ice wall. Corissa gripped the bomb tightly in her arms as she shouted, "Holy!"
The timer ticked down to 1 then began shutting down completely, the two simply falling back into the cistern water with a much less explosive splash.
"What the-" The leader looked dumbfounded, the time for the bomb to explode now having long passed with no results. And from a blinding speed, Varis appeared next to him, grabbing him by the head before slamming him ruthlessly into the ground.
"Boss!"
The remaining knights were stunned, utterly unsure of what to do next, leaving them easy pickings for Roko and Vespa to finish them off as Varis dived down to retrieve his princess. With no other tricks under their sleeves, the three all shoved the knights into the channel, letting Varis open up the icy channels for a moment and let them get swept away back outside the base.
"We did it." Roko gasped, clutching close some of his bigger wounds.
"We did indeed." Vespa grimaced, "Now there's only one problem."
The black dragon Aldeztroi roared and began launching breath attacks at their surroundings.
"What the hell?!" Roko cried.
"With no more enemies, Aldeztroi is rampaging wildly." Vespa explained, "We have to stop it. Force it back into sleep."
"Can't you just dismiss it?!" Roko shouted.
"This curse was never under my control."
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Roko scowled, "It's going to destroy the ice wall we just saved!"
"You have my apologies."
"Goddammit." Roko growled, "How are we going to destroy a dragon?!"
Aldeztroi turned it's head towards the ice wall, black fire glowing in it's mouth as it launched another fireball at the only thing saving them from the flood. In an instant, Varis slashed the fireball in half, letting the halves explode harmlessly against the walls. With that threat over, Varis then launched towards the dragon, grabbing it by the neck and slamming it back down into the water into a giant splash that quickly began to freeze over into a beautiful suspended ice sculpture. Though there wasn't a lot of time to appreciate its beauty as electricity began to ran out along it's frozen body and utterly destroy it with an earthshaking boom. Vespa could only watched, dumbfounded alongside Roko was was only slightly less dumbfounded as Varis finally emerged back out of the water, drenched but unharmed. No black dragon in sight.
"Whoa." Vespa blinked.
"That was reckless." Roko sighed as he handed Corissa a cup of hot chocolate.
"I didn't really understand what was happening." Corissa laughed softly as she huddled up in a warm blanket, "But I recognized a magical bomb when I see one. I couldn't really run with this wound in my side so I had Varis throw me."
"Well all that activity just reopened your wound." Roko said crossly, "We had to redoctor it."
"Sorry..."
"You saved us." Vespa said as he closed the medical kit, "You shouldn't be apologizing."
"I was also the one who got us into this mess." Corissa said sadly.
"That was Sirius' drone's fault." Roko said picking up the slashed drone off the ground, "Don't worry about it."
"That was Sirius?" Corissa asked.
"Probably not. Probably his accomplice."
"Right..." Corissa took a sip of her drink.
"You're surprisingly good at doctoring wounds though." Roko noted, "Were you a medic?"
"I was for a short moment." Vespa replied softly, "When I failed to save someone by fighting, I retreated to save people with medicine but...even then I..."
"..."
The door to their room opened and Varis strolled in to break the awkward silence, holding Roko's dismantled phone in his hands.
"Thanks." Roko said as he took the halves from the black knight, "Is it dry now?"
"Let me see." Vespa said as he took the pieces from Roko, "...Seems so. I'll just put it back together now."
"Say, how do you know so much about pho-"
Roko was saying as Vespa put the magical phone back together only for it to instantly begin ringing, shocking everyone there.
"I bet I know who it is." Roko said, taking the phone back from Vespa, "Yep. Helena." With a beep, Roko answered the call, "Hello?"
"ROKO?! Oh thank god you're alive!" Helena cried, "Guys! Roko's alive! You okay? What happened to you?"
"Alright, so that's going to be a long story with another half attached to it now. Let me know when everyone's ready."
"Wow." Helena said, dumbfounded by Roko's long explanation, "That all happened in two days? No wonder no one could find you inside Mulapin. Smart thinking using the old base to regroup."
"We couldn't have done this without all the work we've already done already." Roko sighed, "Regardless, we can try and return but I'm assuming the perimeter is still guarded and while we can try and return through the sewer again, it honestly might be best to quickly clear out all the remaining Sealiths while we're here."
"You sure? Is Corissa going to be okay?" Momo asked.
"I-I'm fine!" Corissa cried, "I-I'm...ow..." Corissa grimaced as she tried to stand up.
"Yeah she doesn't sound fine." Melia said.
"We have enough supplies to survive until she recovers." Roko said, "Thank god we couldn't move everything for once."
"Even with all the ones that must've spoiled by now?" Azimuth asked.
"With only four of us, it should be fine."
"I also have my own rations we can use." Vespa added.
"I can't believe you stayed behind, Vespa." Azimuth said, "But at least you're fine. I'm counting on you to help these three come back, got it?"
"I'll...do my best." Vespa nodded.
"I'm glad everyone's fine." Kaguya said, "Is there anything we can do on our end to help?"
"Unless you can go underwater like us, then not really." Roko replied, "Just wait for us to return. And once we do, you'll probably be able to return to this base again."
"Wait, what about the food?" Momo added.
"I said we'd be fine here."
"No I mean on OUR end." Momo complained, "We're going to have meat and vegetable soup again tonight!"
"Get used to it!" Roko snapped, "It's not like you're going to be starving!"
"Easy for you to say! Corissa is right there to cook for you!"
"Corissa will be resting until she fully recovers so I'll be doing the cooking for now." Roko scowled.
"That's even worse for us!"
"Just shut up and wait for us to return!" Roko shouted, "Once we're done, we'll finally start preparing to attack the gargoyles! Get ready for then!"