“Well… it’s no pressure if we do our job properly, is it?” Salia smiled confidently at Lux, still feeling her body hurt every now and then, even if she could stand on her own two feet for now. “This is just like a controlled match on a joust, right? And I don’t know about you, but I never planed on losing this fight… so where we are locked or not, it won’t make a difference”. It was perhaps a too practical approach to it, too cold. Salia herself knew it was better that she took this approach instead of focusing on how stressful their situation was, but…
“Yes, let’s move on” she nodded to his suggestion. However, soon there was another split pathway. What should they do? Split the group again? Was that the objective of the maze? Split their group so that whichever force made it to the end was so weak that it was effectively a non-threat? “Divide and conquer, right Arthur?” one of the multiple tactical lessons she had been given by her Spirit, of course. They could not tell if that had been the objective there, but it sure was one of its by-products.
“I agree. It wouldn’t make sense for him to just be at the main exposition… he’s not a gambler that would be there thinking we won’t go there because we’re trying to predict his moves, is he? He shouldn’t be… let’s take the other route. If nothing else, at least it should be sneakier”. And she felt it was a less risky choice. But if it really was less risky, then their foes might have taken that into account as well… Just like a chess match with an invisible opponent.
Remia’s attack worked well, surprisingly well in fact!! So much so that the girl was surprised to find herself done with the beast so quickly but the moment she realised the same was true for Eowyn and Mime, she felt something was amiss. Of course, they were good fighters, but no creature is THAT easy to kill if it’s not supposed to be… “only a decoy” were Lancelot’s words to Remia.
The fish-tank was cracking because of the creature’s attempts to break it, and it was obvious that it didn’t look nice for them. “C’mon, let’s go, let’s go!!” she shouted to her nearest companions, as she pressed them onwards. Make it to the fish, and make it to the stage, those were probably the two goals they could have in mind, in terms of movement. But before they could focus too much on that… some sounds of panic distracted Remia, who looked towards the water… and saw the huge thing moving their way.
“I have no idea if we’re going to fight that but if we are, I truly hope we all perform at our best. This is going to be tough…”
The moment Meena had been fearing had come. Their assistance was required, yet it was impossible for them to provide it!! Despite the fact it was expected for Diane to boost Emily on her next movement, it was impossible for her. After all, she had just used one particular type of magic that worked as a broken dam. Powerful, of course, but the surge was impossible to be stopped and no matter what Diane wanted to do, she would not be able to stop it. Or perhaps she could, but at what price?
“It’s impossible, Diane can’t stop her previous magic surge now, she can’t help out with a spell yet!!” that was Meena’s apologetic and desperate reply, completely aware of how the situation was dire for them.
Yet Diane, who could notice Meena’s stress, realised something wasn’t right. There was one thing to do, and if her calculations were right, she could barely make it… as long as she would give Emily a very short boost. She would suffer some side-effects, for sure, but her gut feeling told her it was for the best. And when had her gut feeling been wrong? “Emily!! NOW!!” Diane’s voice sounded loud as she forced the interruption of the magic surge, and she felt her mind go dizzy as she directed her speed-boosting Vanilla Scherzo towards Emily. Diane closed her eyes, as if to prevent herself from becoming dizzier, yet as this feeling came because of the effort of her body and not because of external factors, nothing changed much. However, focusing only on her singing and leaving it all to her partners was the only thing she could do and it made her feel at ease, if only a little bit.
Diane crouched down, hoping not to be as much of a sitting duck as she felt she was.