FMH: Everything ~ Twenty-Nine

- Taylor -

The Mage watched as Luke hurled himself against the Prince's bodyguards, half horrified as he received the beating of a lifetime. A tiny, excited part of herself recognized that, if he survived this experience, the Murderhobo would set out to actively learn how to do better.

She didn't recognize the exact methodology that the guard was using, but she knew that the dynasty’s high-level combatants, especially those associated with royalty, had been trained since birth to be able to fight against creatures and people who were stronger than them. With every strike Luke sent, which was subsequently deflected, and every attack that landed on a new part of his body to shatter his armor, it further enunciated exactly how outclassed they truly were in this situation.

“This is not a fight we can win; we need to retreat!” Taylor called out to her friends, even as she peppered the guard with lightning each time Luke had been knocked away. After the first strike, she had been unable to land a clean Spell, only grazing the man at best.

Zed, still laying flat on his back—though he had folded his arms to give himself a small pillow—didn't bother to get up. “I'm almost able to guarantee that, if they were able to track us while we weren't even in this dimension, they would have ways to temporarily shut down our escape. I mean, feel free to give it a whirl, but getting out of here is going to be harder than just leaving.”

She turned around and rushed to the position where they had entered this world, expelling a small amount of mana as she attempted to force open the connection. Her energy took hold, trying to do the task it had been assigned, only for some other Spell or Skill to interfere at the last moment and collapse the burgeoning portal. With a grunt of frustration, she glanced back at the guard slapping Luke around like a misbehaving pet. Taylor watched as Luke's gear was systematically broken, including his chest plate, when it sprang back into existence.

Each time, the Murderhobo would find some way to be back into fighting range and form in only a moment. For a short while, she assumed he could go all day.

He was a monster in human form, a prodigy of destruction.

Then Luke took two hits in a row while he wasn't wearing any armor. He was tossed back, the guard laughing at him as he tried to stand up on destroyed legs. “As my prince has commanded, I started with your legs. I am certain that you're very near death right now, and I am impressed with your sheer health! You would make for an excellent combat dummy for our youngest trainees, as you have the same combat skill level… as the dummy.”

Luke grunted a reply, but between the blood coming out of his mouth and the sheer vitriol the words contained, Taylor was unable to discern what it was. She had a sneaking suspicion that she wouldn't willingly repeat it, even if she could hear it clearly. The Prince stepped forward, his hands held out to the side in a show of generosity. “Dismiss your methods of attack and defense and willingly come to our side. With a little bit of training, you may actually be useful to the dynasty. With a few slight alterations to your Sigils, we will even be able to trust you and perhaps even send you into positions of authority one day.”

The words he was saying sparked something in Taylor's thoughts, even if she would never be able to willingly give herself up. She had as much authority as she could ever want in the Hollow Kingdom, but it had done nothing for her up to this point. The only real authority that mattered was personal power, and that was what she was focusing on at this moment. “We would need more than just a little training… we would need a lot of it.”

“Well.” The prince smiled widely, not a hint of malice or ill intent showing through his bright smile. “Going by the showing of your friend here, that is extremely true.”

“With that said, we have a mission that we cannot simply give up. I am certain that there is a vastly limited amount of time to complete it.” Taylor was speaking very slowly, hoping that Luke would be able to understand what she was truly attempting to say. “We need time, a lot of time.”

“As you know, that can be arranged.” The prince waved her seeming concerns away. “I know that you cannot simply give up; your Sigils will not allow it to happen. All we need to know is what your mind will choose on the other side, after we have stripped your current Sigils and replaced them with ours. That being said, I will ask only once. Given the opportunity, would you renounce your oath to the Hollow Kingdom-”

“Abso-abyssal-lutely,” Luke told them as he ‘walked’ toward the guard using only his hands.

“-and swear an equivalent oath to the dynasty? I assure you, our ability to craft and guard our oaths is far higher than your kingdom’s. Generations more advanced, constantly updated and regulated.” The prince had never let his smile slip, only growing it when he heard that Luke would be happy to change his allegiance.

“Oh. No, in that case,” the Murderhobo suddenly stated, getting close enough to the guard that he could attempt to grab at his leg and bite into it. His weak attack was easily avoided, though he did earn himself a kick in the face for his troubles. “You remove my Sigil, then we’ll talk.”

“I'm afraid it doesn't work that way.” Now the prince was speaking with faux sadness.

“Don’t be afraid. Just free me.” Now Luke was staring at the prince, his eyes wide as he attempted to convince the royal dignitary. “I'd be a great mercenary.”

“Luke, can you stop trying to join the enemy? Again?” Andre had a great deal of frustration in his voice as a vine snaked over, wrapped itself around the huge man's ankle, and dragged him back to the small cluster of people. “Thank you for your generous offer, Your Highness. Unfortunately, we must decline.”

He didn’t wait for an answer after that, instead allowing the various flora he had been growing under the surface of the earth to sprout upward, in an attempt to entangle the legs of his enemies. Pitfalls opened, attempting to pull the people down, as vines studded with thorns whipped out.

Seeing that the attacks missed, Andre glowered and lifted his hand in front of his face, blowing a cloud of spores off his palm. “Luke, Taylor was trying to get you to open a portal to Murder World. It's the only way we can get out of here, get training, and return strong enough to defeat not only these opponents but whatever group they brought in.”

“I can't.” Luke only had eyes for the man who had brutalized him. “I've gotta rip that guy's spine out. Gimme five minutes.”

“Luke.” Andre stated in a slightly rushed tone as the guard and Prince began summoning various dogs. In the distance, they could see dozens, if not hundreds of additional troops sprinting toward them. “A portal, if you will.”

“No, I can't. My previous statements were separate facts. One was not a reason for the other.” Luke strained his neck, forcing himself to meet Andre's eyes. “I'm still locked out of advancing myself for the better part of two months.”

The Druid cast around for an answer to this conundrum, but it was Taylor who had already done the heavy lifting on the thought process and justification. As lightning lashed out, keeping the dynasty at bay, the noise of combat and the din of dogs began stealing their attention. “The king told us to do whatever needed to be done in order to complete our mission. Well, Luke, we need lots of time and training. We need an enormous power boost. Get that portal open, and get us out of here!”

“Think that’ll work?” Luke hesitated for a long instant, before firmly making a decision and pulling out the very last of his mana-filled waterskins. He popped it open, took a deep swig of the liquid inside, then placed his thumb over the opening and started shaking the container. Taylor stumbled back, knowing better than anyone that the properties of mana dictated that agitating a container of liquid mana when it had interacted with the air was a recipe for disaster.

The Murderhobo’s armor reformed within a second of the liquid hitting his mouth, rapidly followed by tiny popping noises as his bones aligned, set, and healed. Luke hopped to his feet, darting over to where Taylor had been attempting to reopen her portal. “I'd love to get out of here for a while. How much training do you think we need until we can take these scumbags down?”

The Mage was absolutely uncertain what to say in reply to his inquiry, but started sincerely thinking about the question as soon as it was asked. “If I had to guess, we either need to find some more Spells… or Skills, I suppose, or get our levels up as high as we can.”

“Level twenty, here we come.” Luke was practically dancing in place as he removed his thumb, allowing the unfiltered mana to spray out of the opening. Thanks to its sheer power, he was easily able to penetrate the thin barrier that had been erected. Using all his strength, he smashed through both the dimensional barrier, as well as the protection against egress into another universe.

“How did you just do that?” the prince bellowed in shock and excitement. Were it not for the fact that they were escaping his captivity, Taylor had a niggling feeling that he would be more than happy to merely study them for an extended period of time. “That's not supposed to be possible, not in the slightest! There is an active command in the air! Even I, a prince of this dynasty, cannot ignore a command from the emperor!”

Taylor didn't bother answering the questions the prince sent their way, even though they started coming faster and faster as the four of them approached the portal. Andre was dragging Zed by the feet because the man still hadn't removed himself from his supine position. She stared at the open, swirling blue portal that was awaiting her, feeling a line of sweat breakthrough her passive Spells. Taylor was nervous, and she had every right to be.

“Zed went in there and was able to survive just fine,” she whispered to herself, gathering all the courage she needed to make her first step. “Everything he can do, I can definitely survive.”

Finally spent, her Thunder Beast’s Eye Spell faded. With that added motivation, the Namer stepped out of her current dimension into a much higher plane of existence. Her three friends were with her, the only thing that slowed her nervousness and kept it from turning into full-blown panic.

“Welcome to Murder World,” Zed called out sarcastically from his position on the ground, where he was rubbing at a bruised spot on his forehead that he had bruised after being dropped off the vine. “Ahh, smell that sweet mana. Yup, nothing like going from a dangerous situation where everyone wants to keep you alive for inscrutable reasons… to going into a dangerous situation where literally everything wants to kill you as fast as possible. Life goals, I tell ya.”