Rangers Endgame

Chapter 119: Hold Out

KIYOSHI:

Kakkona began to freefall between pillars that started rupturing into jagged tendrils, all racing to eviscerate the falling Sentinel. He saw a flash of worry on the youth's face before amber flames wrapped around his form and pulled him out of space, the tendrils crashing into one another in a horrible screeching explosion.

Relief washed over Kiyoshi as he realized Akane had rescued him. Kakkona had done it. He'd sent up the beacon to Dai, albeit through a reckless deviation from the plan, but he'd done it nonetheless. The next phase of the plan was the tricky part. They still didn't have an accurate way of telling how much of the room the Savior could manipulate.

Returning his attention to him, he found him scanning the twisted environment, likely in search of Akane. After a couple of seconds, however, he let out a soft sigh and swept his palm above himself. The light from the surface died out as material from the room sealed the gaping hole in the ceiling.

"Attempting to flee." He turned to Kiyoshi. "Perhaps I have given Sentinels an overabundance of credit." He made a claw motion with his hand faced down, and the ceiling churned and transformed into hundreds of gleaming stalactites as a new countermeasure. "Though I can admit you are slippery, it is only a matter of time."

'A matter of time indeed.' Kiyoshi thought.

Glancing to his left and up, Maeve had just emerged from a crevice, blood trickling down her face from a wound hidden within her dirty hair. He nodded subtly to initiate the second phase of his plan, perhaps the most difficult part, and she gave a firm nod back.

Infusing his shield, he encased himself in a bubble of radiance. Seeing him make his move, the Savior fired a volley of javelins, but a husk had already taken Kiyoshi's place. The javelins crashed into the husk harmlessly as Maeve rushed to retreat.

The Savior's eyes flicked to the side, undoubtedly tracking her with his periphery. As she leapt from her ledge between two pillars, he shot a hand out to her. The pillars rippled in response, and spikes exploded out on both sides of her. Pushing radiance into her hilt to conjure a twin blade, she slipped into an elegant mix of evasion and slashes until she reached the other side, disappearing out of sight.

With a simple flex of his finger, the Savior wiped away the terrain obstructing his view and rearranged it to block her escape. Snapping his gaze to Kiyoshi, he let his other hand fall, which opened up a gaping pit in the Sentinel's path.

Kiyoshi slid to a stop, raising his shield as dozens of spikes slammed into it. It was as he feared. Escaping the Savior's line of sight wasn't an option. And neither was retreat.

"Kakkona!" Kiyoshi shouted into his communication artifact.

The young Sentinel blitzed beside him in a flash as he tore through a barrage of javelins with his fists that were meant for Kiyoshi's exposed back. A web of fissures formed at their feet, and they were forced to move again.

The bottom dropped out of Kiyoshi's stomach as he leapt off the side. Grand pillars rose all around him, and tendrils of writhing marble and earth crossed over and beneath one another in an incomprehensible network.

He left behind husks as he fell, drawing away spikes as he could do little to avoid them in midair. Despite pouring more radiance into his shield to absorb the fall and landing with a roll, he winced as his body complained from the shock. Glancing behind himself, he watched as Kakkona drilled his fist into a barrier the Savior had conjured to protect himself; the shockwave from the impact sliced through the constructs around them.

After flinging him aside, the Savior flicked his hand towards Kiyoshi. Catching something soaring towards him in his periphery, Kiyoshi spun and slashed through multiple spikes that shot from a slanted wall beside him.

"Three o'clock!" He barked just before Kakkona launched a barrage of punches at a wave of earth, reducing it to rubble.

As Kiyoshi sped through the chaos towards the Savior, the man twisted his hand in a circular motion, and walls ripped free from the earth to form a tunnel around Kiyoshi. Several blades manifested from its interior from every angle. Using the radiance he still had at his disposal, he conjured husks to throw off the Savior's attention, but the sheer number of them meant he couldn't avoid some of their pathing.

His radiance-infused shield shrieked and flickered, threatening to give way from constant bombardment. His uniform ripped and tore as he accumulated gash after gash.

Maeve appeared behind the Savior, and he was forced to defend himself again, the tunnel slowing as his concentration shifted. He rushed out of the tunnel to assist his ally and get a read on his surroundings.

There was no sign of Akane, but she was last on the outskirts of the Savior's radius. However, even if she was still safe, she couldn't pull them out of danger without having a clear line of sight. Within the bowels of the tangled maelstrom, it'd be impossible.

Maeve was tossed aside and landed on her feet beside him.

"Focus on conservation!" He warned, knowing they'd collapse under the weight of these constant attacks if they couldn't manage their limited reserves.

Her sharp gaze flicked towards Kakkona as the young Sentinel snatched a speeding prong from the air that was aimed at her neck, his mangled gauntlet grinding it to a halt. The Savior expanded his fingers, and before Kakkona could react, the prong ruptured into dozens of razor spines. Blood burst from his hand as they bit deep into his hand, ripping even deeper when he reflexively yanked it back with gnashed teeth.

His radiance flickered, and the drain on Kakkona was clear. Kiyoshi couldn't assist as the pillar beside him erupted into multiple elongated shapes that vaguely resembled serpents. Dagger-like teeth lined their maws, snapping dangerously as they darted toward him with ruthless coordination.

A bolt of pain ran through his arms as he deflected and slashed through the assault. One snake bit down on his sword, painfully jarring his swing to a stop. Another clamped down on his thigh to drag him forward.

Channeling his radiance into the bottom of his shield, he conjured a mini barrier that acted as a guillotine. As it sliced through the snake on his leg, he wrenched his sword free and deployed a husk to escape their range.

He gingerly prodded the wounds left on his leg. They were deep, but the bone beneath the torn muscles was still intact.

During that time, the Savior had a protective ring of spikes around himself. Above them both, Kakkona and Maeve were fending off a swarm of pincers, each one large enough to split a human in half.

Three closed in on Kakkona, and he managed to reduce two to crumbling debris with a couple of blistering jabs, favoring his left side. The third, though, opened around his torso, but he just barely caught them before they closed. He'd wrapped most of his radiance around his ruined hand, but even when reinforced, it still quaked under the pressure.

Maeve darted towards him using the snapping pincers as platforms. Fatigue was etched into her features, and she'd abandoned maintaining a twin blade, instead choosing to imbue her metallic blade in short bursts to hang on to as much radiance as possible.

Leaping over a gap, she slashed through the pincer, releasing Kakkona from its crushing hold. She landed with a hard thud on solid ground, her usual grace reduced to clumsy movements as she teetered on the edge of collapse.

As the Savior lifted his hand to capitalize on this, Kiyoshi rushed to interrupt him. He glanced at the Sentinel and fanned his fingers at him. A wave of saw blades burst from the ground, racing toward him with lethal ferocity. Kiyoshi deflected and dodged, heedless of the remaining razors that managed to rip open his legs and sides.

His sword collided with the Savior's barrier with a distorted shrill, giving Maeve the time she needed to gather herself and run to help Kakkona. As Kiyoshi was pushed back, he noticed the young Sentinel's radiance waning as he spun, punched, and waved around any jagged manifestations that came too close. A pillar curved to his flank, and he'd just narrowly brought his guard up before smashing into him.

The gauntlet on his ruined hand shattered, and blood flowed freely down his arm, drenching his sleeve in dark red. Maeve picked up the slack as he recovered, carving out an escape route. As she did, Kiyoshi finally caught glimpses of Akane.

The conjurer was sprinting along a ledge trying to get a good line of sight on her allies, her hands already weaving patterns together. But her fluent movements were slower compared to earlier, and he suspected she was approaching her limit as well.

As Maeve opened up a path, clawed hands of marble exploded from the platforms she sprinted along. Her stamina visibly plummeted as she threw herself onto the next platform. As she fought to put her feet under her, more clawed hands burst from under her and clamped down on her leg.

She desperately hacked away at the hands tearing through her armor and flesh, but her body lacked the strength. As the Savior slammed his fist shut, the conjured hands' iron grips snapped closed.

A raw scream ripped from her throat, muffling the sickening crunch of her bones. In a fit of rage, Kakkona smashed through the marble hands, severing their hold, and caught Maeve in his arms.

Akane quickly pulled the two from their location and dropped them off beside her. Kiyoshi tried reaching the opening Maeve had created, but the Savior had already sealed it. Kiyoshi abandoned monitoring his meager reserves and conjured husks to buy himself time to carve out another opening.

He leapt from whatever surface that was close enough to another, slashing away at the wild conjurations. His body ached from both the physical toll and the drain on his channels.

Something punctured his calf, but by then, he was enveloped in amber flames and appeared beside Akane. Looking down at his leg, there was a spear-like object jutting out. With a trembling hand, he yanked the spear out and tossed it aside.

Akane sank to her knees, panting heavily as Maeve quivered silently behind her with suppressed agony, her mangled leg bleeding profusely. Kakkona was quick to pull out his health elixir and bring it to her pale lips. Though the bleeding mostly stopped, it couldn't reverse the fractured bones.

Kiyoshi barely had time to process his new surroundings when large tendrils of earth rose from below the ledge. Ignoring the pain that shot through his leg when shifting his weight on it, he took Akane by the waist and leapt away as the tendrils drilled into the ledge.

He set her beside Maeve as Kakkona rushed to keep the tendrils at bay.

"Akane, keep her back. Drag her if you have to!" Kiyoshi ordered as he ran to join Kakkona, favoring his relatively healthier leg.

As he and Kakkona fought bitterly to hold the line, doubt began to creep into the edges of his consciousness. They could no longer find a moment to retaliate. The Savior's attacks were becoming more complicated and relentless.

The Savior casually rode a pillar to meet their eye level, his impassive mask never wavering as he continued his onslaught with only the barest of movements on his part. "You could've been so much more," he said, his baritone voice a frigid undertone to the death-seeking terrain. "But instead, you chose to push aside understanding in favor of blind condemnation."

His eyes went behind Kiyoshi and Kakkona to Akane, who used the last of her strength to pull Maeve up against the back wall. Panic was evident in her features as the heaving Maeve held her hand, but it did little to calm her.

"And because you judge without compassion, you were bound to cast yourself and those around you into a pit of despair."

Kakkona's radiance flickered out, and his fierce movements slowed drastically. Clawed hands emerged from the ground and seized Kakkona's arms and legs. Akane sluggishly went to teleport him away, her fatigue allowing spikes to thrust themselves into his side.

He vanished and reappeared at her side, choking on blood as he pulled the spike out.

As more clawed hands tore from the ground, grappling with Kiyoshi's shield, a serpent caught his other arm by the wrist. As he struggled, a spike drove itself through his arm. He screamed as his dismembered appendage wheeled through the air and flopped onto the floor before him.

He was then pulled away in a flash of amber and appeared in front of Akane.

Her hands trembled violently, and she coughed up blood as the backlash hit her. She fought to stay conscious, but her eyes ultimately closed, and she fell limp in Maeve's arms.

With no other choice, Kiyoshi gritted his teeth against the pain and raised his shield, using the remaining radiance he had to form a dome around everyone.

His grip on consciousness slipped, and the twisted world around him began to blur. He looked towards those he'd failed. Maeve was pressing Akane into her with her own eyes shut, stroking her hair comfortingly.

"I'm sorry..." Kiyoshi pushed out even though he knew they couldn't hear it. He'd dragged everyone into following his flawed sense of judgment. And now they were paying the penalty for it.

Cracks slithered across the barrier from the constant barrage. Another spike thrust into his back and out through his chest from inside the dome. With a hollow gasp, his radiance gave out and the barrier fell.

His lids became heavy, but before he and his team were finished off, an earsplitting crash exploded from above. He didn't even have the strength to flinch.

The conjurations stopped, and he looked back to see what had happened. His eyes widened as hope reignited within him. Even the Savior's eyes turned upward in shock as he paused his assault.

Light from the surface poured into the room like a jet stream. And rocketing through the massive hole in the ceiling with his warhammer was their reinforcement.

Dai had finally arrived.