Standing knee-deep in sewage, Kasper mourned his trousers. Anna wasted no tears on hers. They both wore the same clothes, but they fit her better. A confidence surrounded her that Kasper lacked. One born from a knowledge of one's skill and accomplishments. She had nothing to prove. If Liron didn't know, he would think her to be a member of a Sacred House. Between the two, she was more dangerous.
Angin had spun his staff around. The built-up energy wasn't much, but enough to send forward a wave of sewage. Kasper gasped at what disgrace was rushing towards him. Anna remained silent. Angin and Liron stumbled onto their legs. Wherever the wolf had wanted to go was their only option now. The tunnel offered no branching turns.
Liron glanced behind as they ran. Kasper's sphere had blocked the wastewater, blowing it into the walls. They climbed onto a piece of debris, using it as a board. Kasper's gift propelled them forward, shooting over the sewage. Having learned from his past mistakes, Kasper created a shielding sphere around them, blocking his downside, too. His gift blew the sidewalk apart as they flew past, hurling the wastewater in front of them.
His sphere protected them from all physical threats. But they wouldn't block light. Angin threw a blinding bomb behind them. Kasper yelped. Anna knew what this one ought to be, closing her eyes in time. She held onto her lover, directing him, becoming his eyes. Spinning around his staff, its orb vibrated, brimming with energy.
Kasper and Anna caught up to their prey before they reached the end of the tunnel. So close. As the sphere was about to touch them, Angin turned around, releasing his staff's momentum at them. Unlike his fireball, as the shockwave collided with Kasper's gift, the sphere broke. The force behind Angin's attack cancelled the gravity manipulation. It collapsed, blowing apart in an invisible explosion.
All four were flung into the air. Kasper and Anna dove deep into the wastewater. Angin and Liron darted through the tunnel's exit, landing in a hall. They rolled onto a metal floor, a series of plates forged together, standing in the air, held up by an iron scaffolding. They were nothing but a narrow path, too tight for two people standing next to one another. Only at the entrance to the tunnel a larger floor allowed to move one's legs around
Liron's vision spun, and he sat up.
Angin looked around them. "This… this is the reprocessing center… I think."
"The what?" Liron asked, lifting himself up on the railing of the metal floor.
"This is where the sewage goes. The city cleans the water so it can be used again."
"For drinking? That's disgusting."
"Who the fuck cares!" Angin barked. "Get on your fucking legs! This isn't over yet!"
"You speak true, Alchemist," Kasper said, stomping towards them, covered from head to toe in wastewater. Anna was slightly behind him, soiled as he was. Yet she did not care. Unlike the Lordschaft.
Angin and Liron dashed away. The reprocessing center was massive. The sheer size of their floor alone dwarfed the forge in Eisenrahm, but it was narrower. Looking over the railing, four more floors are going down. Each was equipped with six gigantic tanks, large enough to fit half a plebeian house in there. They were on the highest floor. All the pipes Liron had seen led here, connecting into the tanks, filling them with sewage. In one day without care, the tanks had begun to spill over. Wastewater had drowned the first floor, the sea level rising. The pipes groaned and the metal all throughout rumbled, pressure building up inside them.
The platform Angin and Liron ran on stood above these tanks, allowing workers to examine them and perform maintenance work. The path ended at the reprocessing center's wall, an actual metal floor attached to it. It allowed dozens of people to stand spread out, meant for a busy stream of laborers passing through. The same was true for Kasper's and Anna's side. The Lordschaft leaned onto the railing of the metal platform, a smug grin on his lips. Their two sides weren't far apart. The hall was stretched long, not wide. Kasper's whip would reach them.
The skeleton of a staircase stood at the corner of the floor. Angin and Liron could reach it, but it would not matter. They didn't know where the exit was, and their enemies could easily drop the tanks on them. No, the safest spot was here.
"So, we've finally reached the end, you and I," Kasper said. He strolled around, making use of the size of the floor he stood on, making larger rounds. He played with his whip in his hand, performing warm-up strikes with it. The sound of it echoed throughout the hall.
Anna stood tall and disciplined. She had the eyes of a predator. Wide and open, no malice in them. Simply the need to hunt down, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
"Harras has tested me, indeed," Kasper continued. "But our heavenly father wants us to be better. To become strong enough to fight back against Drom and the Qilesh alike. I…"
"Shut up!" Liron roared. "I've had enough o' you, you shit-stained cunt!"
Kasper paused, blinking. Anna clutched her pearls. "Wha… what?" Kasper asked, taken aback.
"Oh, did the piss also go into your ears?" Liron asked. "I'd say be careful it doesn't go into this head o' yours, too, but it'd be among its kind in there!"
Kasper struck the ground with his whip, cutting off Liron with the sharp hiss. "You dare talk to me like this?! Know your place, Ravenspawn!"
"I know my place fine enough already! It's not under your boot! You want me on my knees, beggin'? Then come and try me! But I'll tell you one thing: once this is over, you'll be on your knees, and I'll piss in your face! Oh, I forgot, you already are covered in the yellow! You must love it! You enjoy nothing more than drinkin' yourself stupid on it!"
"No, I don't!" Kasper screamed, slapping the ground with his whip. "Silence, you… you wretched beast!"
"That's it?" Liron laughed. "That's all you have to say? I didn't even say anything good, and you can't fight back? What are you without the gold crown you were born with?! You're a talentless pig fucker restin' on your name! You're a disgrace for the Lockrams, and that says something. Even in my shithole, we've heard o' what Nag did. You could think that your family was already in the shitter. Well, here you are, swimming in piss and shit, searchin' for a…"
"Enough!" Anna barked, her voice sharper than the echo of Kasper's whip. The Lordschaft panted, having turned red. He had failed to put an end to Liron's insults, striking the ground in a vain attempt to make him stop. A child on the verge of tears, his lover stepped in.
She opened her hand, summoning her Conduit. A whip, covered in sharp pebbles. A rock the size of her hand hung at the end of her weapon, lying on the floor next to her. Kasper readied himself. Liron had never seen a whip before, but this foul tool was long. Fifteen feet at least. The Lordschaft had never used it at its full length, wrapping parts of it around his forearm. Now he intended to do so, holding it by its handle. Despite his horrid personality, Kasper was a master at wielding his family's weapon. Since he could hold it, he had trained with it, becoming an extension of himself. No one outside his family and his lover could wield his whip.
Kasper and Anna walked up to the railing. They didn't need to cross the connecting platform. Their whips could reach Angin and Liron from where they were standing.
"She's right," Kasper said, his voice a deadly whisper. "You pushed your luck for far too long, Ravenspawn. I will peel the skin off your body and rub salt onto the exposed flesh. Then I will make you drink my piss. How about that for an insult, you cunt."
"You are getting better," Angin said. He had observed the exchange with great pride, having picked the right apprentice. "A shame you won't get another chance to improve."
"You cursed heretics," Anna said. "Each word you utter is an insult to the ears of the righteous. Be Harras our witness, we shall eradicate you and put an end to Drom's profane design."
There was much left unsaid, but the time for words was over. Angin pulled out his blasting rod, spinning his staff in his left hand. Liron summoned his Conduit, turning it into his black blade. This night would be one of deeds.
A moment of stillness, Ekon freezing underneath the tension hanging in the air. Kasper and Anna broke it, their whips swinging forward. The rock on Anna's whip grew, transforming into a boulder. Its momentum accelerated with its expansion, taking Liron by surprise. His youth and the training inside his dreams saved his life, jumping backwards at the last moment. The gush of wind left in its wake slapped Liron in the face hard. A taste of what that blow would have felt like.
Kasper aimed for Angin, the sphere around the whip's tip coming for the Alchemist's life. He dodged, nothing but a half step. Risky, but it saved time and effort. Both things he desperately needed. Kasper and Anna performed their attacks in unison, missing their targets at the same time. Despite the nature of their weaponry, their thongs never got into each other's way.
Angin and Liron returned the favor. The Alchemist fired his blasting rod, and Liron cast his smoke sickle. The pair evaded the attacks with ease, the flames dying to the sphere around Kasper, and the smoke hitting the wall behind them, Anna dancing away. Transitioning from defense into offense, the two moved forward as one. When they fought, they became a mind sharing two bodies. Their bond, bred from a corrupted soil, was meant for conflict. Both being dirtied in the same sewage, and wearing the same clothes, from far away one could think them to be a copy of one another.
As their whips flickered forward, they appeared to collide. But Kasper pressed the index finger of his free hand on the thong, altering the trajectory of his attack. Anna did so as well, perfectly attuned with her lover. A strategy they didn't need to speak out or signal. They communicated through the flow of combat. They switched targets, Kasper's whip swinging at Liron and Anna's at Angin.
Both dodged, closer than they would have liked. Taking either head-on would have guaranteed what Kasper had promised. The railings were torn apart, metal shredded. As Liron countered, he knew the game the Lordschaft played.
If the two of them had wanted, they could have ended this fight from the get-go. Anna was a Mage, yet she used the simplest spell in her arsenal. While not as skilled as her, Kasper knew how to use his whip, Gift, and both in tandem better than his previous attacks indicaded. Their opener had proven them to be a deadly threat when working together.
Kasper wanted this to be a slow fight. One they would win bit by bit. Liron's words had hit him deep, apparently buying himself and Angin more time. Or it would end in them suffering unlike anything they had experienced before. If Kasper got his way, that is.
But they spared them for another reason. At this moment, flowing alongside one another, sharing a trust and understanding of the other, they enjoyed nothing more. If their prey fell too quickly, their moment of tenderness would end. What greater proof of their union than an act like this?
Dodging and countering. Their exchange tore the reprocessing center asunder. Kasper and Anna hit the tanks accidentally, blowing through them, wastewater splashing high. Liron lost count of time and space. The horrors he had seen, the fate of his parents, and what could await Emma. All forgotten, his focus honed to a single point. His blade and he, connected as closely as his opponents. Only swinging his sword and casting his spells mattered.
His strikes were simple. Liron never attempted the complex chains of slashes and motions Lance had shown him in his dreams. But he didn't need them. Bereft of these higher arts, he came to master the basic ones. The foundation on which all stood. For the first time, he didn't have to think about the proper form of his haue. He didn't need to remind himself of pulling on his knob when slashing, hitting with the right edge alignment, or beginning with his footwork before he started his attack. These separate aspects, seemingly impossible to juggle them all at once, united. They found their spot, cooperating with a shared goal.
Liron saw no enemies anymore. He didn't see Kasper or Anna. Or Adenius. Or the Empire. He saw nothing but the whips coming his way. And once dodged, he thought of little else than picking the right hau. While his arsenal was limited, he still had the choice of a few. But they came to him, his hands moving without his doing. His body became an extension of his blade. It steered him forward, using him so it could do what it was meant to. Without a human hand, it couldn't. Emma had described playing the lute to him like that. All the notes in Ekon, the most beautiful songs that could end wars and heal broken hearts, hidden in her makeshift instrument. The lute couldn't reveal them to anyone, as they were trapped inside it. That's why it had needed Emma. It was her responsibility to find them.
And Liron found it.
As the battle raged on, the back-and-forth building in momentum, reaching its natural end, Liron finally understood. None of his spells had hit Kasper or Anna, but the smoke lingered. It hovered behind his opponents, waiting for an order. With his concentration achieving a flow as never before, he could sense them stronger than before. Faint little lights, about to be devoured by the engulfing darkness, now they burned hot. A thought alone, and they moved. Liron didn't need to look at them. He spoke his will in his head, and they reacted. But his smoke could only move. Until, at least, two clouds of dark met.
They fused, growing. Within seconds, he had all the smoke present combined, amassing into a wall blocking the entrance to the tunnel. Not big enough. It needed more size.
Angin noticed what Liron was doing. The Alchemist and his apprentice lacked the same coordination as their enemies, but they learned to speak without words at this moment. Angin ensured neither would turn around, keeping them occupied in the battle alone. He countered Kasper's whip strike with his staff. The blowback hit Angin hard, but he knew it would come, digging his heels into the ground. He stumbled, but he didn't fall.
Kasper hissed, having to retreat his whip, disturbing his performance with Anna. The Mage never stopped, adjusting for her lover's temporary pause. Liron suppressed a smile, continuing his barrage of spells, his smoke wall expanding with each missed hau.
They underestimated the Alchemist and the Ravenspawn. They would never expect such a feat from a boy yet to become a man.
Liron enjoyed the bout, as did the rest. On two sides of a conflict, these four found a strange kinship at this moment.
The reprocessing center didn't, though.
The floor Angin and Liron stood on broke. Kasper's and Anna's strike hadn't just hit the tanks but also harmed the iron scaffold holding the platform up. The damage was too much to endure, and the outer section began to collapse. Angin and Liron blinked, both about to shoot back as the ground underneath their feet shifted. With their instincts heightened, they acted immediately, leaping backwards.
The groaning of metal broke Kasper's and Anna's trance, too. They had their fun, but now this needed to end. They unleashed a combined attack, two vipers cutting through the air. They came for Angin from both sides. His staff didn't have enough momentum to block another attack, and he was still in the middle of evading the collapsing floor.
Kasper's sphere blew off Angin's left leg, and Anna's boulder slammed into his arm, breaking both of them. The Alchemist flung around, crashing into the wall. His weapons fell out of his shattered hands, swallowed up by the sewage below. Liron heard what happened to his master, but he never glanced in his direction. He knew his master wanted one thing and one thing only from his apprentice. To win.
Liron shot forward his smoke. A sluggish and slow beam that would do nothing on impact. Yet Kasper and Anna jumped aside, certain for the spell to hold some danger in itself. Only as it passed them, never aimed at them, did they realize its purpose. The beam attached itself to the wall of smoke, reaching high and wide, connecting Liron and his creation with a bridge of dark clouds.
Liron's arms trembled as he held his blade high, embers igniting his sword, giving it a burning edge. He had accustomed himself to his sickle spell, but this output had drained him. Much more, and he would have fainted. But now he needed only one more hau.
Liron slashed through the smoke in front of him, igniting the beam. The explosion was tiny, but it carried it forward to the wall of smoke. Kasper and Anna stared at it, having no time to prevent the inevitable. Angin raised his head, grinning.
The explosion of the amassed smoke wasn't tiny.