Rangers Endgame

Chapter 104: Invisible Hand

The Sentinels broke into a sprint ahead while the rest of the group rushed back the way they came as debris rained down.

Maeve chained together acrobatic maneuvers in her haste to escape. She caught glimpses of Akane blinking in and out of existence, urgently grabbing Masaru, then Koan, presumably teleporting them further ahead. Fissures sliced across the ceiling ahead of Maeve, but fortunately Toju was there to catch the collapsing rubble with a quick barrier.

After Maeve slid to safety, Akane appeared beside him in a flash before teleporting him and herself away, causing the barrier to fizzle out and the debris to crash to the ground. The rushing dust cloud that followed choked Maeve's lungs as she broke into a fit of coughs.

"I'm sorry," Matoi coughed, approaching her right. "That was a trap that goes off when it detects a fluctuation in radiance. If I hadn't..."

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "You couldn't have known without triggering it. But that's not important right now." She turned in the direction she believed was further down the hall. "Sound off!"

"Right here." Toju's voice said to her left, his rough silhouette barely visible against the smoke.

"I'm okay." Akane's voice said from somewhere around Toju.

"I'm alive!" Koan shouted from down the tunnel.

Afterwards, there were only the shifting rocks that filled the silence.

"Masaru, sound off!" Maeve repeated but got no response. "Everyone, follow the sound of my voice."

Toju waved away the smoke, appearing next to her as Akane soon followed, both dusting themselves off and caked in dirt. Maeve heard the shuffling of footsteps up ahead as Koan made his way over as well. The steps grew louder, but before she could see his silhouette, the footsteps stopped abruptly.

"Koan?" She worried.

Like Masaru, he gave no response this time. The only feedback she received was the haunting sound of thick liquid slapping against the floor, followed by a thud.

Sensing something was terribly wrong, she drew her sword and snapped into a battle stance. Without the need to give an order, Toju jumped in front of her with his shield up, and his two radiant soldiers jumped out, their glowing forms pushing at the shadows the cloud shrouded them in. Akane and Matoi picked up on this as well, and they both hurried to inspect the debris cutting off their escape route.

"Can you move it?" Matoi asked.

"Easily. But without knowing how far it goes, we could be here a while. It'd be more efficient to teleport us across, but..." Akane trailed off.

"You could end up inside a rock or wall if you teleported blindly." Matoi finished. Understanding his expertise was essential; he cast three small orbs and carefully wove them through the crevices of the debris as his eyes shone.

As he determined how far Akane needed to jump, Maeve and Toju listened intently. Besides the settling stones and her beating heart, she couldn't hear anything. But as she scanned the smoke, her feline eyes caught something, a slight distortion in the cloud.

Her grip tightened around her sword as she struggled to register what it was she was looking at. It was only when the distortion disturbed the lingering dust that she slashed at it. A sharp clang rang out as her blade collided with something metallic.

"You have sharp eyes." The distortion spoke. It shimmered, beginning to take a masculine form. Streaks of amber-white raked across his body, his camouflage dissolving to reveal his bandaged face and the dagger he'd used to block her blade. "I'd meant for this to be painless, but it seems that won't be possible anymore."

Maeve adjusted her grip and shoved him away, his form disappearing into the smoke. Toju sprung into action, igniting his shield to conjure a barrier that would separate their group from the assassin. However, as the barrier was being conjured to fill the space between the ceiling, walls, and floor, the assassin managed to slip through swiftly before he was cut off.

"Pick up the pace!" Maeve shouted to Akane and Matoi as she rushed to intercept the assassin.

"I thought I heard more of you," he said casually, her blade glancing off his as he deflected a strike meant for his throat. “I have a kid waiting for me, so I would prefer to wrap this up quickly.”

Toju abandoned his barrier and signaled his soldiers to protect Matoi and Akane. The assassin fired a projectile towards them, but the soldiers were quick to intercept with a sturdy barrier.

Pouring radiance into his shield, Toju layered several barriers atop one another and dashed forward into a shield bash.

The assassin's ear twitched, and he spun out of range as Toju unleashed his attack. The barriers sprang outward, the controlled burst of power ripping through the dust cloud and clearing the ruined tunnel. Maeve's eyes widened at the scene before her.

Koan lay lifeless just a few feet from where she and Toju were while Masaru was sprawled out further down the hall. Both had stab wounds to their necks.

She heard Akane gasp from behind and Toju was stunned as well. Taking advantage of his shock, the assassin closed the distance in a flash as his blade whistled through the air, hungry to claim its next life.

Maeve sidestepped to deflect his lethal blow meant for Toju's throat. She followed with a cross cut to his chest, but he was too fast, his form appearing to flicker away from her blade as his boot came crashing into her stomach.

Bile shot to her throat as she doubled over, and his second dagger flashed toward her unprotected neck. Snapping out of her trance, Akane acted quickly and enveloped Maeve and Toju with amber flames. Maeve vanished, but appearing in her place was Toju, whose shield clashed with the assassin's blade with a piercing bang.

Funneling power into his shield again, he fired barriers layered atop each other and propelled the assassin down the hall. Reorienting himself midair, the assassin landed deftly just as Maeve reappeared above him in a flash of gold.

Her sword whistled through the air as it came slashing down. The assassin took a casual step back, allowing the blade to clash against the stone floor with a piercing ring before pinning it beneath his boot. Raising his own blade, he prepared to deliver a lethal blow when his dagger suddenly vanished from his grasp in a wisp of flames.

The dagger flashed into Maeve's offhand before she drove it towards his chest. Even after the shock of his weapon being plucked from his grip, he recovered just in time to block her unexpected counterattack with his second dagger.

Snapping his knee into her hand, he managed to disarm her and return his dagger to his grasp before slashing at her again. Pulling her sword up, she deflected and redirected the blade so the butt of her handle was facing the assassin. Pushing radiance into her sword's handle, a dual blade came rocketing out towards the assassin's head.

He tilted his head as the blade buzzed past, grazing his cheek.

"It's around thirty meters deep." Matoi confirmed to Akane.

"Take Matoi first and go!" Maeve roared as she pressed her attack.

As Akane took Matoi and disappeared, Maeve turned into a whirlwind of deadly slashes, creating arcs of amber that whipped through the cavern. In the midst of her onslaught, the assassin's composure never faltered as he easily deflected and evaded her strikes.

Her dual blade form was relentless yet graceful, but it wasn't without its flaws. Most wouldn't detect the micro openings in her assault as they'd be too focused on defense, but the assassin wasn't most people.

Twisting his body to avoid the thrust aimed at his ribs, he drilled his foot into her chest, sending her careening back. She tumbled back into Toju, who stood in front of her as she recovered. The assassin dashed forward to capitalize, but Toju was already casting a barrier in response.

He leaned forward with his shield, expecting the assassin to strike it, only for white amber to claw across his body and vanish from sight. Disoriented, Toju's eyes darted around, completely unaware of the distorted air moving swiftly to his flank.

"Toju!" Maeve shrieked as she rushed to her feet, but it was too late.

Toju let out a pained grunt as a gash opened in his neck and his soldiers fizzled out of existence. Panic, anger, and guilt—Maeve's emotions threatened to overwhelm her at once as she slashed at the distortion to save a teammate she already knew was gone.

The cloaked assassin evaded, even more elusive than before, and moved to counterattack. Though he was nearly invisible, she knew exactly where he was going to strike as she'd seen him target the same point on the body again and again.

Lifting her sword, she'd barely managed to deflect a slash meant for her neck, though having no visual on the angle of his strike, the force of his attack made her stumble.

"You're good." His voice praised mockingly from her right.

Infusing her handle, she conjured her second blade and spun to block another attack that nicked her arm. She became a whirlwind of slashes, producing fluid arcs of amber that shielded her against the invisible attacks.

As she continuously blocked, she studied his strikes to find a pattern. Her sharp eyes began darting from one invisible clash to the next, accurately predicting each one. After finding the pattern, she decided to take a confident gamble.

Pivoting, she leaned her entire body weight into her swing and struck low against his next attack she'd correctly anticipated, jolting him to a stop. She quickly followed up with a thrust, aiming where she thought his heart was. Her radiant blade hissed as it grazed something soft, and dots of red flicked out from what she'd cut.

'He dodged.' She thought, already falling back to her defensive stance.

As she whipped back around, a searing pain lashed at her ankle, severing the achilles tendon. Immediately, she buckled and dropped to her knee, gnashing her teeth while clutching her ankle. She heard him step up to her from behind and the sharp sound of his blade raising for a fatal blow when soft golden flames wrapped around her form.

She felt the sensation of her stomach churning as she was pulled from space, her vision flashing with amber, and dropped at Akane's feet. Glancing down the hall, she found the distortion paused mid swing. Toju was there too, sprawled on the ground with the light in his eyes gone and the containers he'd collected over the few months they'd adventured together scattered.

The distortion turned but didn't bother chasing after the two. Akane embraced Maeve and together they vanished in a blink and reappeared in another location.

Looking around, Maeve saw Matoi and the Sentinels already rushing to them.

"Maeve, are you okay?" Sentinel Kakkona asked, concerned as he examined her wound.

She reflexively pulled away. "I'll be okay..." She said, moreso trying to convince herself than the others.

She pulled a health elixir from her satchel as Akane stood.

"I'll go back for Toju. I won't be long." Akane said, already weaving patterns with her hands to teleport back.

Before she could finish, Maeve caught her wrist, making Akane look down at her questioningly. "No."

She'd realized that in Akane's haste to get her to safety, the young ranger didn't see what happened to Toju, instead choosing to save Maeve before she was killed.

"Toju is gone." Maeve struggled to keep her voice leveled.

Akane and Matoi froze to look at her as if wondering if they'd heard her right.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Matoi asked disbelievingly, but something told her he knew exactly what she meant.

As the head of her clan, it not only fell on Maeve to lead with a level head, but she also had an obligation to protect her members. Caging her emotions allowed her to do her job with efficiency. But with each swift and sudden death of her comrades throughout her career, that cage trembled, loosening the locks that were once firmly put in place.

She drank the vial of green substance, and her wound began to mend itself.

A muffled explosion suddenly shook her out of her thoughts and the cavern. Sentinel Kiyoshi raised his shield above Matoi and Akane while Sentinel Kakkona instinctively shielded Maeve with his body. Loose rocks and pebbles dislodged from the ceiling, and dust trickled on top of them.

When the tremor settled, everyone relaxed.

"What was that?" Sentinel Kakkona asked, turning to Matoi. "Another trap?"

Matoi conjured a small mote of radiance, careful not to make the same mistake twice as before. "I'm not detecting any in this area. It likely came from the surface."

"We doubt we've ventured far from the village," Sentinel Kiyoshi said as he lowered his shield. "If so, it likely came from our Sokuba and May."

Taking advantage of the much-needed distraction, Maeve took Sentinel Kakkona's hand and stood to her feet.

"Your team is doing their part on the surface. We should do ours and keep moving." She said, carefully putting weight on her foot to test if she could walk.

Sentinel Kiyoshi nodded in agreement. "Matoi, up front with me. Kakkona, cover the rear with Maeve. Akane, you'll be in the center."

Agreeing on the revised version of the formation, everyone moved into position. Maeve noticed Akane keeping her eyes to the floor and her hands holding her elbows, not budging even as everyone else started moving onward.

Maeve laid a soft, encouraging hand on her back, stirring her out of whatever tar-thick thoughts she found herself in. She didn't exchange words but waited until Akane relaxed enough to gently urge her forward with Sentinel Kakkona following close behind.