206. Hair to Split Hair
60 seconds to avoid permadeath. And even fewer seconds to smite the boss.
Just as Serac had become old hat at Frenzy, she’d also grown quite comfortable with time limits. As such, her instincts went into overdrive, crunching risks and benefits into split-Ksana decisions.
By her count, the fused entity of Gladiolus and DREAMPROWLER had a Max Health of just over 5,000. Which meant he would [Bleed] for upwards of 25 points per second. Of course, Serac would have to give herself the same affliction, but right now, that felt like a risk well worth taking.
[Chamber One: BLOOD FOR BLOOD]
[GLADIOLUS aft’BRANAGH Status Effect: BLEED]
[Wayfarer Status Effect: BLEED]
[26!], [26!], [26!], …
[4!], [4!], [4!], …
[1!], [1!], [1!], …
[1!], [1!], [1!], …
A right mess of numbers, complicated further by VOIDLING graciously sharing Serac’s [Bleed] tick! But the upshot was that Gladiolus, being the beefiest of the [Bleed]-ers, ate by far the biggest DoT. It wouldn’t outright do the job on its own, but given enough time, this one Cartridge should turn out to be Serac’s biggest hitter for the fight.
Good thing she made it stick, having taken the shot without hesitation. Good thing the boss’s tiger frame made him such a big target to aim—
[SCALPEL Spell: CAUTERY]
A burst of rust and flame. The acrid scent of boiled blood and singed fur. Gladiolus had superheated his blade and turned it on his own wound, dealing [257!] in self-damage while ridding himself of the [Bleed] effect!
“You cheating bastard!”
“What kind of a surgeon would I be if I couldn’t deal with a bit of [Bleeding]?”
The man had a point, Serac had to grudgingly admit. But that didn’t make her failed gamble hurt any less. For she and VOIDLING continued to lose 5 HP per second between the two of them, having traded back just over 300 of Gladiolus’s HP. No point and no time to cry over spilled blood. Onto the next Chamber—the next gamble.
Change of plans. If it wouldn’t bleed, then break it.
[Chamber Two: METABOLIC SHIFT]
[PULVERIZER Alternate Form: GRENADIER]
Even after its passive effect had run out, the [Rumpepille] remained in Serac’s system. She now recalled the tadpole grenade launcher, at the expense of locking herself into a ‘mini’ time limit inside a time limit. Exactly 20 seconds to burn her remaining [Satiety].
The intent was simple. Hunt for a Poise-break as fast as possible. She could try landing [the Grind] with PULVERIZER’s base form, but she didn’t trust herself to go toe to toe with a raging tiger at melee range. Which left [Rumpepromp] as the ranged alternative.
The intent was simple; the execution would be anything but. Even as Serac readied to put her plan into action, her target fought back. With surgical precision, backed by full-blown madness.
[Breachspawn Technique: NIGHTMARE STRIPES]
[SCALPEL Spell: TRANSECTION]
One entity committing the crimes of two. Shadows sloughed off from Gladiolus’s fur and flew everywhere, morphing into illusions as they touched the umber ‘memories’ of a bygone world.
The room’s peculiarities that Serac had earlier filed away as ‘interesting but irrelevant’ instantly became a matter of life and death. The mannequins of long-dead Mrigas and Tiryagas burst to life, re-enacting their truest and most self-affirming moments.
Children chasing, jumping, wrestling. Lovers in the throes of passion. Murderers caught in the act and relishing the fear they inspired. So many lives and so many ways to live them, and all beholden to no [Oath]—only to each other and the inevitabilities of coexistence.
Interesting but irrelevant. It should’ve been just that. Yet, for at least one Ksana, Serac was caught up in the dream-like psychedelia. By the sheer sensory overload. And this time, there was no stuffy Viceroy to shine [Dawnlight] on what really mattered.
[Transection] swept across the room at waist level, even as illusory shadows jumped all around. Oriole, startled as he was, leaned on his feline instincts and liquidity to dive under it, losing just the tip of his tail as he did. VOIDLING, seemingly unaffected by the illusions, used its polemace to catapult itself over the cut. As for Serac…
She jumped. Off-balance and one Ksana too late. [Transection] swept through and cut off her left leg below the knee! A wound so clean it barely bled.
[217!]
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[72!]
Adding insult to injury, Serac lost her balance as she landed heavily, straight into a faceplant.
[24!]
[8!]
Oh, this is bad. Serac had come into this fight with big words and even bigger attitude. She certainly hadn’t expected to bow out of it on one leg!
But she also hadn’t come into it alone. VOIDLING sensed its moment, taking over while its Oathkeeper struggled to get back on her fe—foot.
Maceman and tiger locked themselves into a mini-duel. [Grasp]-[Water]-[Earth] combo to match the reach and savagery of SCALPEL. The first two attacks nipped the tiger to the tune of [223!] and [251!]. Serac leveling up her [Integrity] finally paid dividends now, translating directly into VOIDLING’s damage potential.
Gladiolus, no doubt sensing the danger, rolled out of the way of [Earth]. As he rose back to his feet, he did so with a barely perceptible twitch of his surgical hand.
[SCALPEL Spell: DISSECTION]
Such a casual gesture. Such devastating effect. The vertical cut caught VOIDLING flat-footed at the end of its combo. It tore through the left side of the maceman’s body, lopping off an arm and a leg in one fell swoop.
[430!], [430!] -> [860!]
Two checks for two body parts! Damage amplified by VOIDLING’s negative mitigation. Serac witnessed the disaster as she hopped on one foot. And as soon as it happened, she saw it for the death sentence it was.
Both Gladiolus and VOIDLING were down to roughly 1,300 HP. But while the former sat pretty with four intact limbs, the latter now fought with half a body. Not to mention the continual HP loss, both from [Bleed] and its own passive effect.
Serac herself was in no better shape, roughly 600 HP and still ticking down. Forget sixty. This fight could be over within the next few seconds.
Well, then, nothing for it but to throw out everything she had. On this count, she and VOIDLING were of the same soul, the same mind.
[Breachspawn Technique: SPLITTING HAIRS]
A sixth VOIDLING technique, unused in the previous encounter. It too gave rise to a written ‘character’ with a splash of ink, another one that was a little tricky to interpret. Roof, walls, and floor to enclose an empty cave. Space. Hollow. Void.
If Serac thought the presentation had been strange, it was nothing compared to the technique’s actual effect. For that was when VOIDLING split into two. Two smaller copies of itself, each with only a quarter of its previous Health. But both with its own polemace and four intact limbs with which to wield them.
And wield them they did. Two simultaneous mini-combos of [Grasp]-[Water]-[Earth]. Their Attack Value too had been quartered, dealing only [56!] and [63!] in damage. But they still packed a wallop in terms of Poise damage, helped by double the checks. The smaller, nimbler forms also allowed the VOIDLINGs to land [No Stone Unturned] for a modest [76!] and a hefty Poise check.
Serac wasn’t idle while her mini-Breachspawns put in the hard yards. After overcoming her initial shock, she focused on her artillery role. Bouncing on one foot while aiming—
[GRENADIER Technique: RUMPEPROMP]
—into Gladiolus’s massive frame. But it didn’t quite go as planned. For the tiger man remembered his misadventure at the Riverside Necropolis. And here in the hidden basement of the Duskpool Infirmary, he made the conscious decision to tank the chip damage from quarter-macemen while focusing his evasive efforts on the tadpole grenades.
[Rumpepromp]! [Rumpepromp]! Two more grenades whiffed, eating 25 MP each time. It didn’t help that Serac had to lob them while hopping around on one foot. She even gave an honest attempt at ‘dual-wielding’, firing REVOLVER from the right. No good. Her principles of marksmanship simply hadn’t accounted for one-legged shooting.
An Oathkeeper-Breachspawn duo was finally fighting on the same page, complementing each other’s kits while working toward the same goal. Yet their combined effort fell just short. Their handicaps were too great to overcome, and the boss too wily and capable in his own right.
Double mini-VOIDLING combo. Three [Rumpepromps]. Four REVOLVER shots. They hadn’t been enough. GLADIOLUS remained on his feet, patient in defense while waiting for his window to strike back. That window would surely arrive and soon, constrained as all Pathsighted creatures were by their resources.
Both VOIDLINGs went momentarily still, Stamina-depleted. Serac, the least mobile of the combatants, still had a sliver of green left. She must pair it with a fourth and final lob of [Rumpepromp]. If she were to miss again, she too would be Stamina-locked and short on Mana besides (not to mention drained of [Satiety], too starved to keep [Metabolic Shift] active).
[GRENADIER Technique: RUMPEPROMP]
The tadpole grenade flew, tracing the most direct route to a raging tiger. Raging yet utterly in control. For Gladiolus, in all his feline liquidity, ducked—one last dodge to force open the punish window.
We’re done for. Serac sagged on her one foot, herself nearly Poise-broken by the sheer disappointment. But then—
[Oathborn Technique: SHADOW LEAP]
Had he hesitated for too long, wrestling with the decision to turn his claws against his friend and mentor? Had he crumbled under the pressure, a novice Wayfarer floundering in a fight far beyond his level and ability? Or could it be that he’d simply hidden his claws, waiting for the perfect opportunity to make his presence felt?
Whatever the reason for Oriole ere’Quinlan’s delayed contribution, he certainly announced himself in emphatic fashion.
One more shadow broke into the fray, cast in the earthy-red glow of a jasper gemstone. It took the form of an agile cat, far smaller than its tiger cousin yet no less surgical in its approach. It leapt high into the air with one paw outstretched, then batted the grenade back to its intended target!
[242!]
Poise-break! The tiger—at fucking last—tumbled to his knees.
Sapped of strength and stripped of the ability to fight back, Gladiolus aft’Branagh yet wore a searching sneer. An animalistic drive for power and dominance. An all-too-human desire to leave his imprint on the world—in its truest, ugliest, most unadulterated form.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Serac rasped, matching the mad doctor sneer for sneer. “I’ll remember you, alright. As the worthless criminal you were.”
One last shot to finally put an end to the madness. Serac had to make it count. To that end, a one-legged marksman lowered herself into a position of maximum stability. Shooting arm resting on the intact right knee. The left stump digging into the floor for additional support.
The open wound screamed out in pain, as bad as any Serac had experienced in her Penitent origins. She didn’t care. Because victory was the sweetest analgesic.
[Chamber One: CATHARSIS]
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