Slash. Stab. Hold. Dodge. Slash again. With the epiphany Nephis had received, she fought with renewed vigour. Dodging attacks and directing her own in the serenity of her own mind. Now, she wasn't just stuck to the wearisome process of look-process-attack, she felt the attacks, predicted the course of them with her own instincts.
These simple minded creatures of immortality… A grin tugged at her lips, as she fell into the rhythm of battle, of repetitive movements under dim cavern.
There was also the fantastic news of decreasing number of skeletons with each minute. As slashes and stabs connected, Nephis could feel it in her bones — her movements might be growing sluggish from repetitive fights to the death, but the enemy was tired too. A glance to Effie was all she needed to confirm the shift — battered and bloody, the huntress smashed and smashed and smashed, covering more area than she had before.
It was time for a switch.
"Shift!" She called, and her cohort nodded, understood. Almost immediately, Caster sprinted forward, replacing her as she moved to the rear to accommodate Sunny's echo. With the focus of the fight changing from front to back, she as the best swordsmen had to cover their cohort.
Locking eyes with Sunny, she nodded. Heeding her command, he shifted, dancing to the frontlines with a bloodied gaze, he was magnificent: weaving through and slashing in the joints with a blade of moonlight itself.
And with that, the fight continued in spades, the mood of the cohort brightening at the prospect of leaving the catacombs.
Finally, after a few more minutes of frenzied slaughter, the tunnel they were fighting in opened to a large cavern with a bottomless chasm separating both sides, only connected with a rope bridge. Changing Star drank in the sight — to move forward, they could only go one by one, and… someone would have to be the last to cross.
…She mentally assigned herself the task. This would be a day to write home about, if they managed to survive. No. It should be when they survive.
"So what now?"
"What else? We cross the bridge!"
With the confirmation from the huntress, Nephis dove for blood. Narrowing her eyes, she gazed beyond the visor of the Starlight legion's visor, flames flickering in her as she scaled up the power, biting hard on her lips to relive the pain as she sought to fight and fight and fight—
A blur of a shadow appeared beside her, and the burden on her shoulders fell for a moment. Why? Why? She was enough, Nephis didn't need help, she could manage it, it wouldn't be as dangerous if it was her, she could always bring herself back from mere half-death—
"Retreat to the bridge!" Her scout, her shadow said, "Saint and I will hold them off!"
A pang of something rang in her at the echo, but shock soon faded and consumed everything within her. Why.
She opened her mouth, her voice escaping her hoarse and broken, "Are you sure?" —No time to rest! Another cut to the abomination before her, another slice, another, another!
"Yes!" The boy beside her screamed, "But when you get to the other side, you have to destroy the supports of the bridge. Do you understand?"
No, Nephis wanted to say, she didn't understand. Why? When she was the strongest amongst them, and had the most feasible rates of survival. Her mind drifted to the bridge, and she immediately understood his proposal — she had no way of getting across.
A slice from a skeleton appeared from behind, and she— Nephis leapt out of the way, her heart thundering in her chest. Focus. If her scout, the wittiest, most cunning of them all said so… he had a way. More importantly, Sunny was no fool who would sacrifice himself. If anything, he yearned for survival the most amongst everyone she ever knew.
A moment later, she opened her mouth, even when she knew his decision, "What about you?" No, Nephis wouldn't assume anything about Sunny — she had made that mistake before, and it has costed her greatly. Perhaps he…
Her companion didn't let her finish the thought, a husky laugh from beside her. "Don't worry about it. I have a way to get across!"
Unnoticeably, the clenched hand on the pommel of her sword relaxed, and as Changing Star opened her eyes, bright flames soared through her. Alright, she'll humour him this time. Though the part of the leader in her protected against such a decision, the friend, the desperate Nephis who chased an impossible goal wanted to know what's going on in his head.
Admit it, you wanted to see what cards he held. —Now was not the time for such things!
"Alright," She muttered, blocking another strike. Just before a skeleton came rushing at her again, Nephis gracefully removed herself from the battle, sparing one last glance to her knight of shadows. He would hide behind his echo at times, silently waiting for an opportunity to pounce and kill. She wanted to grin for the nth time that day. Sunny might be a weaker Sleeper than her, but he was certainly a more spiteful, determined one.
With that thought, Nephis flicked her sword, snuffing out her flames and ran across the cavern, arriving at the bridge in minutes. Nodding to the cohort on the other side, she darted forward without much thought, careful with her placing and dancing across the bridge.
Effie waited at the end, a silent raised brow when it was her who came through.
"As soon as I get across, cut the bridge!" She ordered, lacing desperation and authority to her voice.
The huntress simply blinked her eyes, muttering a "huh?" under her breath but nodded, a grim expression on her face. If anyone understood, it would be her. The rest of the cohort was another story. Caster tilted his head in question, while Kai's face changed from, shock to disbelief than shock again, and Cas… Cas simply stared, and Nephis just knew those eyes behind the blindfold were blank, blank, blank.
She didn't think much of it. Instead, focusing on running, on lessening the burden on her scout. Even then, the voices in her head echoed in silent desperation, regret digging its claws in her mind despite the knowledge of his prowess.
In a second, or perhaps the most agonising minutes of her life, Nephis leapt across the bridge to the other side, and Effie's shield crushed the ropes of the bridge with a devastating blow.
She whipped her head around, searching, searching… there! With his back turned, Sunny ran towards the edge, his echo silently holding off the hordes. He lingered at the edge for a moment, and her heart feared the worst, of another death for her greatest legacy, when—
A shadow rushed towards him, enveloping him in a ghastly light. His echo swung her sword a last time, before melting into the darkness of the cavern.
What just happened?
Without anything holding back the horde, the bloodthirsty abominations rushed forward, their claws of stained red digging, digging, digging—
Their fingertips brushed past his back as he jumped. Leaping off the edge. Soaring.
Sunny! She screamed in her mind, biting her lips as she could do nothing but watch him fall. Where's your brilliant plan?
And he fell. He fell. Falling… falling… falling…
He didn't rise. He didn't magically appear right beside her with a smile and laughing at her expecting the worst of him. He wasn't there. He wasn't there!
Her legs trembled, as her mouth opened in a scream, yet no words could come out.
Tick tock. Tick tock.
Seconds passed, and the cohort screamed.
Tick tock. Tick tock.
Hope faltered within her. Nephis trembled.
Tick tock. Tick tock.
The horde ran right into the chasm, claws raised, chasing… chasing…. For a boy who was no longer there.
Tick tock. Tick tock.
It was all her fault, she should have been stronger, held her own, somehow find a way with her as last while defending the cohort and living and breathing despite the impossible situation she was in and she had her flames she could heal herself even if she fell into that bottomless—
A scream rang.
"Hey, idiots! I'm down here!"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Sunny.
Her Sunny.