The chunks of stone, pieces of the floor broken by Lindon's cannon, are shaped by yellow earth aura into fist-sized balls. Yellow light flashes and they're hurled at Lindon, who dodges the first, deflects the second with his armor, and by the time the third arrives, Kiro is on top of him, sword in hand.
Without the new armor, he'd be dead already. I give you fifty-fifty odds of surviving, and only a twenty percent chance of killing him.
Wow. Looks like you really did need a plan.
Wind bursts from Lindon's green armor as he activates the Skysworn's emergency wind barrier, knocking Kiro back a step and grabbing the enemy’s armor with his Remnant hand. The hunger binding devours the strength of the armor.
It works: the Ruler binding stops shooting Lindon as it loses power, and just in time. Lindon's armor had been starting to crack. Kiro tries to fight back, but he can’t muster enough power in time. He falls to the ground, trapped in powerless metal.
It doesn't work: Kiro takes a step back, and Lindon reaches out with his white arm, but the Underlord is too fast. He brings his sword up, and Lindon has to pull his arm back or lose it.
Now Lindon is on the back foot, and Kiro has every advantage. The Ruler construct keeps pelting Lindon with projectiles, breaking his Skysworn armor piece by piece, as Kiro pushes him backwards.
Eventually, Lindon runs out of tricks, and is pinned to the stone by the Underlord's sword.
You'll have better odds if you fight to run away, but I know that’s not what you want. You want to win, I can tell.
I’ve got a plan for you, but it’s not an easy one. You’re going to have to take some risks...
~~~
Yerin used her Endless Sword like the wind, and an invisible blade struck Meira's scythe, knocking it back before it could slice into her.
“You stabbed him,” Meira muttered as she leaped down the hall, swinging her weapon at Yerin. “You cut him. You hurt him. You made him bleed.” The green flame of her scythe passed without harm to the stone, but each swing was more pressure on Yerin, pushing her back down the hall.
Meira’s body had been reforged in soulfire, but Yerin’s Steelborn Iron body gave her more than enough physical strength to match her. Unfortunately, physical strength wasn’t coming into play as much as Yerin wanted.
That was her only edge. She couldn’t summon her Blood Shadow unless she had no other choice. It was too strong now; it could even speak. It was only holding back from draining her dry because it felt like it. What if it changed its mind? Would it hollow her out and wear her like a suit? Would it be her, walking up to Lindon while he had his guard down?
No, the Blood Shadow wasn’t an option. She had to win this one herself.
“I'll kill you,” Meira said, her voice suddenly pleasant.
“You're cracked in the head,” Yerin said, whipping a Rippling Sword at her opponent. The silver slash flew through the air, and Meira avoided it effortlessly, but the point was to buy time. Yerin created a few more feet of distance between them.
Meira's helmeted head twitched. She reached out one hand, gathering up a ball of green light, and then pointed to Yerin.
A lance of life-madra blasted at Yerin, who managed to get the flat of her white blade up in time to catch the beam.
“I'm not insane,” Meira said, suddenly calm. “I owe him a debt. He took me in, when his family didn't want him to. He trained me at his own expense. He has been with me every day since I was a girl. He will be a wise, selfless ruler, and I have sworn to protect him.”
She drew back her scythe, the blade burning green. “And while he was under my protection, you stabbed him in the back.”
Sweat rolled down Yerin's face. She had barely stopped that Striker technique, and her lifeline was shaky as it was. If she slipped and let one attack like that through, one more sweep of the scythe...that was it. Her Path was over.
If Meira had followed up that attack instead of stopping to talk, she might have been dead already.
Yerin shivered at the feeling of death passing so close, but her training took over as the Underlady dashed back at her.
She activated the Endless Sword with all six of her Goldsigns, conjuring a storm of silver power. The vital aura was strong here, but not much of it was sword-aura...and even if it had been, the aura was too strong for Yerin's Gold spirit to control completely. So the Endless Sword was no stronger than usual.
But she poured her madra into it and didn't bother with control.
She rang like a bell as a thousand invisible blades chewed through the air around her. Her own green armor was chipped and gouged, and a handful of new paper-thin wounds appeared on her skin as the technique passed a little too close to her.
Meira slammed into the Endless Sword head-on.
Her armor screamed and sparks flew as the blades of aura tore long scratches in her brown plates. A chunk of her helmet was torn away, exposing green and silver Remnant parts beneath, and smaller pieces on her chest, shoulder, and limbs tore away as well.
But Meira didn't defend herself.
She pushed through, heedless of defense, scythe swinging for the kill.
The blade of green flame closed in, with Yerin raising her master's sword to meet the weapon, but she could feel death breathing down the back of her neck.
Silently, she apologized to Lindon. To Eithan, to Orthos. And even to Mercy. She knew the pain they would go through after her death.
But she also felt a little relief. At least, by going first, she wouldn't have to feel the pain of losing them.
Something in her soulfire stirred.
Yerin’s sword reached the scythe, and the scythe reached her. She couldn't tell which would strike first.
Then a red hand reached out of her chest.
It grabbed the scythe, stopping it long enough for Yerin's blade to connect. The weapon was knocked aside, but Meira spun into a kick aimed at Yerin's back.
The Blood Shadow rose completely.
It was a more complete copy than when she had seen it last, so it must have made good use of that meal. It had her hair, but bright red, her skin except pink. The whites of the Shadow's eyes were almost really white, its irises fully detailed but red. Six blades gleamed metallic red on its back, and it even wore a sacred artist's robes. Crimson, of course.
Its bladed Goldsigns caught the kick before the attack connected with Yerin, pushing it aside. Meira backed up a step, bringing her scythe around.
From a sheath at its belt, the Blood Shadow drew a pink-bladed copy of her master's sword, pointing it at Meira.
Horrified, Yerin tried to pull the Shadow back inside her, but it resisted easily. Yerin shook; how much control did she have over the spirit? How much control had she ever had?
At least it was pointing its sword in the right direction, but how far could she trust that? How long would it protect her, and what might make it change its mind?
For the moment, Yerin set her thoughts about the parasite aside. Something had shifted in her soulfire a moment ago. What was it?
She was relieved to her bones that she hadn't been killed, of course, but for a second she had touched on a deeper fear even than that. She felt like, if she could only examine her thoughts for a moment, she could touch it again.
An explosion echoed through the halls, along with a flash of light.
Yerin felt it in her spirit: a detonation of many different techniques all at once, howling with power like a dragon Lord's roar. Even through the overwhelming aura in here, it was easy to sense.
Meira spun around, ignoring Yerin, her head turning down the hall. Around the corner, they saw a billowing cloud of smoke and debris. And Lindon, standing there holding a launcher construct that blazed with spiritual power.