"So, you lot have finally revealed your true colors."
If there was one word that I could use to describe our situation right now, I'd probably use the word 'fvcked' just because of how apt and accurate it was to the current problem standing right in front of us. Sure, it could be worse, but I don't think that things could be so much worse than being faced down by a fat old man menacingly eating a sandwich right in front of us.
And it was going so well too. After we ducked and evaded most of the patrols trying to find us, Guidance and I decided to pick up the pace and try to get to our friends faster. We had made good progress, and we were even within the line of sight of the massive mob possibly surrounding Shade and company when this guy came along. Well, that and that Head Intellect woman came along from a distance and started directing people toward us. Even from all the way out here, she was audibly barking out orders like it was going out of style, her voice coming out faint due to the wide gap separating us.
That was when things started going from bad to worse. With Lewis knowing who we were, we couldn't let Shizu be captured while she was unconscious and defenseless
"Well, in our defense, we were fully intending on going about this all peacefully before Guidance here got sucked into some sort of secret facility," I retorted, my [Manifest] trained against the man that had almost single-handedly whooped our asses once. "Surely, that would be more of an excuse to try and escape, right?"
"That may be true, but making a sizeable chunk of the city explode killing hundreds, possibly thousands of people makes your argument look paltry in comparison, Moriya."
I winced at that number. I really didn't want to think about that stuff even after everything had been said and done, but just looking at the carnage that the explosion caused was more than enough proof of his estimates. And even if they were estimates, the sheer size of the crater was just telling of the damage that we had inadvertently caused.
"It... It was an accident..."
And of course, now was the time for Guidance to let the gravity of our problems sink in. Only now, after we've possibly killed dozens of people trying to get to our friends, did she realize that we kind of already had a ton of blood... on our hands...
Great, now I'm letting it sink in myself.
"It doesn't matter anymore," I called out, hoping that my words would snap Guidance out of her own spiral. "What's done is done. Sure, it happened, but crying over it won't bring anybody back."
"That, it might not, but that doesn't mean you can evade the wrath and justice that Marquee demands," the old man replied back with a low tone. "There's no escaping us now, kid. You and your group of sellswords had caused untold damage to Centrax, even more than the failed Vestygian invasion just half a decade ago."
I took a deep breath as I prepared myself for a fight. Behind me, Guidance bristled, Shizu still behind what we hoped to be the safety of cover as we both teamed up to try and defeat this guy.
"It is truly unfortunate that we have to cross blades like this, Moriya," Lewis sighed, pulling out his dagger from his back pocket before brandishing it against me. "Still, know that your group will be tried and judged fairly by the system, even if it would inevitably end in a death sentence for all of you."
[COMBAT COMMENCED!]
[LEVEL SYNCED]
Yep, this was really happening...
[Lewis Marc: Level 50]
[Hound of the Desk]
[ENEMY HP: 100%]
And there it was... A level 50... Wait, was that his level the first time we fought? Damn... my memory's starting to fail me hard with all of this stuff going around... Blinking, I gave Guidance a passing glance, my girlfriend returning it with a hesitant glance of her own as we both held our silence.
"Guidance, I don't think he was level 50 the last time we fought," I told her.
"I... I don't know what to say to that," she blinked in confusion. "What? Do you expect me to know every single thing's level? I don't think that's relevant right now."
"Right, sorry about that," I sighed. "It's just... A lot of stuff's happened today, huh..."
"Well, we can reminisce about the... blood on our hands after everything's said and done," she forcibly called out, her voice almost wavering as she audibly psyched herself up. "So, we clearly couldn't beat this guy as a group before. What do you suggest we do now?"
I let out a loud sigh as we both focused up and prepared for our assault. And when I said to prepare, I actually meant strategizing and hoping that we could somehow find a way to defeat this guy before he wipes the floor with us like last time.
"What do we know about him... He's fast. He's strong. He's got a [Manifest] whose only power leans more or information... supposedly," I enumerated off the top of my head. "Anything else to add?"
"He'll for sure have a ton of health on him," Guidance postulated. "He's got a dagger that can melt metal, and he constantly eats sandwiches like they're nothing."
"Oh yeah, he can also heal using them, right?" I suddenly recalled. "Think we can try and take those sandwiches off him then?"
"That's gonna be your problem, not mine," Guidance quickly rebuffed, her eyes narrowing as she fell into deep thought. "You'll have to shoot those sandwiches down whenever they come up. I'll keep healing you instead of dealing damage; keep you topped up so that you can keep shooting. It's not like I can use my level advantage against him anyway."
That was unfortunately the case. With the level sync doing its thing, Guidance wasn't going to just one-shot him like she probably did with the robots back inside the facility. Then again, that had always been the case whenever we got stuck inside an instance like this anyway.
"So, what do we do then?"
"We try our best and bash our heads against the wall, I guess," I sighed. "It's just the two of us against him, and I have a feeling that we'll just respawn if we die anyway. Is there a barrier surrounding us, by the way?"
"Seems like it," Guidance replied. "We're stuck here until we beat this man."
Taking another deep breath, time seemed to slow down as the world around us fell into chaos. The Head Intellect's raspy voice echoed out from the distance, her glare piercing us despite the distance between us and her. In front of us, the Academic lazily twirled his dagger around, a piece of his sandwich still in his mouth as he clearly didn't take us seriously. My senses went on overdrive, the sheer weight of the situation fully kicking in despite how dire it already was earlier.
There was no room more room for planning. We've reached the extent of our strategizing. Now was the time for us to see if we could push through.
[*BANG!*]
Not even giving an inch, I fired my first shot. A silent [Blood Shot] soared through the air just as Guidance gave me a cast of [Adloqium] and [Medica]. This will be a hard-fought battle, one that I might just have to cheat in order to survive.
"Too slow."
Predictably, the Academic dodged the attack, bobbing his head to the side before he rushed to our location. His dagger glowed orange hot, his massive stature doing little to slow him down.
"Moriya!"
Nodding at Guidance, we both split up to the left and to the right respectively. Aiming my pistols at him, I fired my shots, hoping that my speed would somehow outpace this old man long enough that we could whittle him down.
"Commendable."
[*BANG! BANG! BANG!*]
I ignored the praise as I kept up the attack. Sprinkling in a few [Moves] here and there, both my passive [Hematopoiesis] and Guidance's [Medica] kept me topped up long enough for my attacks to pack some real punch. I could see here just behind Lewis as she stood her ground, her keyboard glowing as she kept on casting [Moves] while I took aggro for dealing more damage than she did... only...
"Annoying, aren't you..."
My eyes widened as the Academic suddenly turned, ignoring my attacks as he made a beeline for Guidance's location.
"[Blood Shot]! [Iron Spread]! [Hemolysis]!"
I threw out a rapid-fire of [Moves] in an attempt to regain aggro, only for them to fail as Lewis kept his attention on Guidance's healing.
"There will be no more of that for now."
[SILENCE: 45%]
I quickly sprinted my way toward my girlfriend's location. Still, my eyes widened at the new attack being cast. That didn't happen earlier, and I certainly didn't remember him acting like this the last time we fought.
"Let there be silence."
[*FWOOSH*]
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