"I-Isamu," the other man breathed, staring at his compatriot's body.
Kumagai dropped him like a garbage bag. His form tumbled and didn't get up, even face down in the sand. There was no shaking, no bleeding, no rise or fall of a breathing chest.
Dead.
He would've done the same to Kumagai-san, she knew, but it still made her stomach roil.
She'd never seen a dead person before. There had been blurred photos on the news and censored images in textbooks, but she'd never seen a dead body in person.
It looked like he was sleeping. With all the blood, maybe he was a location change from recovering in a hospital, but still, sleeping.
Sleeping, but never to wake.
Even the cruelest, meanest people she knew, she could not imagine them dead. "Dead" was something for executed historical tyrants or elders who passed in their time. It was something one read about happening to another person's loved one, but never to your own.
She glanced back up at Miu, slowly recovering her senses above them, and felt the weight of Toraichi in her grasp.
Hisako found paragon routes in games to be a difficult but rewarding challenge. Even in games that didn't have morality systems, she practiced mercy–even when there wasn't a reward or even a mechanic for the NPC to react to any kindness given to them by her player character.
Games with complex morals, where death had to be given out selectively like sentences in an unfair trial system, made Hisako quiet. She didn't play those games with others watching. Mostly because she'd pause the game and think about it for hours, maybe even days, before making a decision.
She didn't have time like that now. There was no prompt to submit a moral choice or an optional objective to spare a life.
If she had to, she would have to kill Miu or any of the other Trapdoorers because there were real lives at stake, and there was no mechanic that made spared enemies reform.
Hisako was playing a riskier kind of game now; a game in real life, she told herself. A hardcore, veteran, realistic difficulty-mode game where it was kill them or let them kill more, and she was always a completionist when it came to saving NPCs.
"Are you okay?" she finally asked Kumagai.
Kumagai nodded and looked smugly at the surviving Trapdoorers. "It was a good warmup," she purred. "I can see you've survived a round."
It was awkward, shouting over the Trapdoorers between them to converse.
"I didn't know doors inside doors were allowed," she said.
"Yeah. Watch out for that. It gets weirder the deeper you go."
Hisako nodded. She wanted to catch Kumagai up, but shouting where she'd sent Serizawa and Hajime was a bad move.
"Miu, the one in the sky–she can fly, and she has poison blades in her wings, she can slash with and throw. There's a really fast-acting poison in them. Some kind of numbing thing, I think."
Kumagai nodded. She nudged the body of Isamu with her foot. "He was nothing special, but he's done now."
"Nothing special?" the other man roared. "None of you are making it out of this door alive!"
His door snapped into existence violently–a thick metal door labeled "ARMORY" that unlocked via the twisting of a long lever that drew back two massive deadbolts. When it opened, a beam of light shot out into his hands and formed a spear.
The spear had an odd glow to it, and it gleamed with mirror copies of it in a way that was more prismatic, dazzling doubles than wavy mirage mirrors. There was a trick to it, Hisako was sure.
The other woman's door was more familiar–a light-wood, rounded-top thing with a wooden knob. Elegant, simple, and rich with a woven texture to the main body. It sprouted from the ground at her gentle command.
A rapier, just as fine as the door, appeared in her hands. The rounded guard was decorated in delicate petals, and a fine silver vine curled down the handle to protect her wrist. At her feet, meek succulents bloomed, to her disgust.
"A desert door, Noboru. I can't fight like this," she hissed.
Noboru curled a mean lip at her. "Then use your own door, if you can get them into it."
Before they could start the fight, Kumagai sprinted forward. Her door burst open mid-step below her feet, and twin knives appeared in her hands. She spun them, changing to an ice-pick grasp, and threw herself into a slide.
The woman dodged with a reckless roll softened by the sand.
The man blocked with his spear; he shoved his weapon down, blocking a knife, and a myriad of spears formed a small wall to block Kumagai completely.
The trick, Hisako thought. It's a multi-attack weapon.
He spun the spear and jabbed at Kumagai, who had to dodge or be pierced by the small volley of spears that stabbed forth. Her retreat was his advance–they fell into a rhythm.
He was familiar with his weapon at a level Hisako envied. Every spin of the weapon, every swing, every stab felt like it was second nature to him. He danced with his spear.
"Miu!" the woman shouted. "Get down here now!"
Hisako flinched, realizing she'd been watching and not doing. She threw Toraichi again, up at Miu.
The other woman's warning was either ignored until the last second or not processed until the last second. Miu moved, but not quickly enough to completely avoid the attack; once again, Toraichi sliced through a wing.
The end of the already damaged wing fell clean off, barely missing the yanked-back wounded arm of Miu. She screamed and jerked in the air, finally off-balance, but not grounded. She seemed to fly all the same, though her other wing had to compensate awkwardly, and her body jerked in the air with each flap.
She pulled Toraichi, intent on catching Miu on the "backswing," but had to break her concentration when she saw the other woman dashing at her, rapier raised.
Miu dodged Toraichi with a sudden plummet, and Hisako focused on the other woman, sensing Toraichi's return rather than seeing in.
Fighting against blades was far more familiar than Miu's weird wing attacks.
The rapier jabbed forward at Hisako, and she knocked the point away at the neck of the blade. She turned her arm as if countering a punch, and grabbed the blade like she would for an arm-bar. She twisted them both, locking the blade and entering the woman's space for attack.
Her body buzzed with adrenaline, and she had to calm herself against the terrifying feeling of a blade tucked under her shoulder. It's not sharp, she reminded herself. It's a rapier. It was just a cold line of metal with a dangerous end.
The woman's eyes widened, and she visibly struggled to decide what to do. Hisako decided for her.
Hisako's free hand flew out and grabbed the wrist holding the blade. Her fingers clenched on the weakest spots on the woman's hand, and she ripped her hand free from the hilt. She spun, legs twisting up the woman's stance, and took her to the ground, pushing her arm over her shoulder and forcing her down.
The woman grunted as she hit the ground. Her rapier slid in the sand, out of reach–not that she could move with Hisako folding her into a pin.
The woman struggled, but she was held down by her own arm thrown over her shoulder. Hisako pressed down with her knee on her elbow, and the woman winced and arched her back uselessly, trying to escape the pain of the hold.
She punched with her unpinned arm, and Hisako caught her first and twisted her into another hold. She kicked out, but she could not reach Hisako in the hold.
"This is checkmate," Hisako informed her. "Unless you want to dislocate your shoulder, elbow, and wrist."
Small cactuses and succulents bloomed below them, but their prickly hides didn't do anything to Hisako's boot-clad feet.
Still, the woman struggled helplessly, panic rising in her face. "What now?" she spat, face turning red. "You gonna kill me like your friend killed Isamu?"
"Surrender."
"Kill me."
"No."
"Then no." Her mouth curled into a horrible smile, yet she sweated and struggled hopelessly. "Miu!" she screamed.
Hisako looked up at where she knew Miu to be. The woman was still there, but she was glaring down at Hisako now, one hand over her injured eye and struggling to stay level as she idled in the air.
Hisako secured her hold on the woman and extended her free hand out to will Toraichi into her grasp. She put her eyes back on Miu and kept them there.
Miu angled her wings and began a dive, broken wing catching horribly in the descent. She stuttered through the turbulent air, struggling to keep speed and direction.
Toraichi found her hand, and Hisako had only a moment to make a decision.
She jumped back, abandoning her hold on the other Trapdoorer. Miu landed where Hisako had stood, wings flaring out and throwing a cloud of daggers.
Hisako shoved Toraichi into the ground and launched herself up, over the handle, with the aid of her power. Several of the knives splintered against Toraichi, and several flew past.
Further along, Noboru cried out in alarm as a few daggers nearly reached where he and Kumagai fought. Kumagai picked up a pair of the daggers and threw them at him, forcing him to hop back to gain a good dodge range.
Hisako wondered if they had an antidote to Miu's poison. Was Miu resistant to it?
She touched back down, raising Toraichi.
The other woman rose, rolling her shoulders and raising her rapier. Miu's chest heaved, and she clung to her wounds. It seemed to be more fury than exhaustion.
Hisako chewed on her lip. Two-on-one against two people she could barely go toe-to-toe with was not good.
Before they could start their attacks, she hurried to the foot of the ziggurat. "Kumagai-san! May I suggest a tactical regrouping?"
Kumagai sprang out of close combat with the man and sprinted toward Hisako. Miu and the other woman prepared to intercept her.
Miu launched a volley of blades, and Kumagai rolled out of the way, smoothly going down, rolling, and jumping back up into her sprint like nothing had happened. The other woman tried a more direct approach; she stood in Kumagai's way, blade ready, but Kumagai, similarly to Hisako, grabbed the blade and went through her, her own knife raised.
The other woman had to drop to the ground, releasing her rapier, to avoid the stab, and Kumagai stepped on her collar to continue, winding her.
Kumagai, by forcing the two to meet her on her terms, had controlled the combat and escaped unscathed. Toraichi had a larger swing radius, so Hisako couldn't force such a reaction, but there was something to be learned from Kumagai's run-and-gun fighting style.
The senior Doorkeeper met her on the first step, and they began to sprint upwards. Hisako kept an eye behind them. The Trapdoorers were following, slowly as they collected themselves, and Miu was just barely hovering, not flying after them.
"I sent Hajime-san and Serizawa-san up the ziggurat," Hisako said between puffing breaths. "I figured they would either be able to clear the door, or Serizawa-san could help Hajime-san reopen his door."
Kumagai made a strained face. "Good plan, but Serizawa-san may not be adequate for this door's Rank."
Hisako's eyes flicked about, scanning for Doorwalkers. She saw faint figures tending to the gardens. They stared as Hisako and Kumagai passed, but they didn't move against them.
"I didn't know what else to do," Hisako admitted.
"He should be fine. The door doesn't feel too hostile."
They ascended at an even pace, climbing terrace after terrace.
"Hey!"
Hisako's steps stuttered, then stopped. Kumagai paused a few strides later.
"Hisako-san!"
Hisako looked over the level they were on. The higher up, the thicker the foliage. The level they were on felt like a small botanical garden. Hidden between two fan-like leaves was Serizawa's face.
"Serizawa-san!" Hisako whispered.
She hurried to him, and he pulled her down behind the thick stems of the plant. Kumagai followed. In the thick of the foliage, Hajime was hugging his knees and covering his eyes with his hands.
"So, unfortunately, he has no idea how to work his door," Serizawa explained. "Also, unfortunately, there are a lot of big walkers at the top, and I can't beat them alone."
"Is there any good news?" Hisako joked.
"Hmm. No," Serizawa concluded.