[X] Let Deed guide you to where Schach is.
- [X] Carry Deed, Vita and Zwei with a clone to get there faster.
- [X] Fight your way through the night-demons' tunnels; if Schach and the others got in, there must be an entrance somewhere.
Even if Vita remembers Deed's presence, you're pretty sure you can come up with a story about her death against the night-demons that will pass muster. After all, not even you are perfect! On the other hand, returning with Vivio and her entourage - or at least their bodies, if the worst happens - will likely mean that you'll be able to get more help finding Satsuki. If nothing else, they'll be better-disposed toward you than if you don't even try. You pat her shoulder reassuringly. "You remember how to get back to them?" She nods, wincing in pain.
"Y-you'll have to -" You press a finger to her lips to silence her.
"All you'll need to do is point the right way." Her lips quiver, and two of your clones dart away from the portal to pick up Deed and Vita, making sure the Unison Device stays carefully tucked into Vita's coat so she won't get lost. The third bursts into a frenzy of violence before the night-demons can react to their sudden absence, and you swing Laevateinn idly before flying through the tunnel ahead of your clones. Lights are mounted high on the walls of the tunnel, one every ten meters or so, and provide enough light for you to see clearly, but probably not enough for a human to see well; you make a point of smashing them as you pass. The passage is mostly clear of enemies, although the evidence of recent combat is quite obvious. You glance back at Deed - she didn't intend to come back, perhaps in the hope that the night-demons would take her death to mean that Schach and Vivio were also dead. As you fly down the tunnels, however, it becomes obvious that the night-demons either didn't believe that or were interested in finding the bodies, because you start running into work parties of brown night-demons carrying mining picks; one group was led by a somewhat stouter-than-usual specimen wearing a yellow helmet that projects a light to see by. Some of the paths are easily dismissed, being too narrow for Deed to have fought her way through, or leading straight down, but others are more difficult - you're forced to backtrack at two different 'hubs' where many tunnels meet. Eventually, however - no more than twenty minutes - you reach the collapsed tunnel segment that Deed indicates is where she left her superiors. Your clones turn to make sure nothing sneaks up on you, the one not carrying anyone turning invisible and moving farther down the tunnel, and you call into the rubble. "Hello? Schach? Are you alright?" You start shifting some of the rubble out of the way.
"Can you hear me? We're still in here, but Sister Schach is hurt!" Faintly, you hear a girl's voice, one easily recognizable as Vivio's. Different, somehow, but still hers.
"Stay back from the collapsed area! I'm going to dig through." You wish you could just burn through the rocks with Laevateinn, but that would probably kill them - through suffocation, if not by fire itself. The flames may be magical, but they do propagate more mundane flames that try to burn, and they definitely give off heat that could make it hard to breathe. You start pulling away the smaller rocks and using one of the night-demons' picks to break apart the larger slabs. The noise attracts the night-demons, of course, but between the invisible clone and bursts of lethal bullets, none of them even come close to reaching you. Even with your strength and speed, it takes ten minutes of savage smashing and tossing aside loosened rubble before a path opens - not much of one, not even enough space for you to squeeze through without transforming into a bat, but enough to permit sight. You see a little girl with red and green eyes … Vivio, apparently in her 'normal' form. Her relieved smile locks up and her eyes widen when she recognizes you, then her whole body stiffens and she skids back as a rainbow nimbus engulfs her. When it fades, she's back in her adult form, fists raised combatively and standing on the balls of her feet in a fighting stance.
"You! What are you doing here?" You blink slowly before sighing and shaking your head. Why did you do this, again? … Right, better chance of getting help finding Satsuki. Someone coughs from behind her, out of your sight.
"Calm down … Lady Vivio …." Schach, sounding worse for wear. Vivio looks back guiltily and relaxes her stance, but when she looks back she goes back to glaring at you. You consider tossing the pick through so she can dig herself out, but that would probably take longer than if you keep at it. Besides, it shouldn't take that much longer. You get back to work, wishing for once that your power wasn't quite so destructive - it would be easy to clear the rubble if you didn't have to worry about causing more of a cave-in - but it only takes a few minutes to accomplish your goal. Vivio screeches angrily as part of the rubble collapses, but it's only waist-high for you and so there's plenty of space for her to climb over. She hesitates, though, and graciously - worriedly - helps Schach up first. You help the knight down, no longer curious as to how Deed was able to go on her suicide run: Schach is nearly as bad off as she is, with two deep wounds on her right side, a jagged gash on the back of her right thigh, and at least two breaks in her upper right arm. You wait for Vivio to clamber after her.
"Do either of you remember how to get out of here?" Schach shakes her head wearily and Vivio scowls.
"Why don't we just follow the way you came in?" You smile sweetly and shrug.
"Well, I don't really fancy going back to the night-demons' world, especially since they seem to have an effectively inexhaustible population, but if you want to get Schach and Deed killed to salve your pride, I'll give you the directions back to their portal." Her glare intensifies, and you can hear her teeth grinding even through her growl.
"L-Lady Flandre … Lady Vivio …." Vivio starts and drops her head abashedly at Schach's attempt at a stern tone; you shrug at the exhausted knight and turn to float back down the tunnel to your clones. You frown at the night-demons as you review the encounters you've had down here - almost entirely made up of the brown sort, with a scattering of reds and no greens or blues that you saw. But back at the portal, there were definitely all four sub-species ….
"… So here's how we're going to do this," you say once the Belkans catch up to you. "I'll be vanguard. The clone carrying Deed will be rearguard. Schach, you'll be carried ahead of Deed and before Vivio. Vita will be carried behind me." Vivio shakes her head.
"I can fight," she says stubbornly. "I'll be rearguard."
"Like it or not, you're the least expendable person here. If the night-demons have some kind of serious magic they're willing to use, and it kills on contact, you get to be the most protected person. Hopefully you can keep up well enough that we can outrun them. And you can't take point, because that has to go to someone who can survive potentially being ripped in half because of an over-enthusiastic green night-demon with big claws. Understand?"
"Yes." Schach's answer is quiet but firm, and while Vivio looks like she wants to say something, after a moment she simply nods her head.
"Good. … I guess we don't know how to get out, so I'll be basing my actions on which paths lead up and if I can detect any fresh air or other possibilities. If you think I've missed something that is likelier to lead us out than the path I'm on, speak up." You turn and dive into the fray, letting your clone move back to pick up Schach as you tear into the night-demons with Laevateinn. You fight your way to the tunnel the path branched from, letting your clones shoot down stragglers, and use Laevateinn to clear out the tunnel of immediate pursuers. Then you turn and fly down the tunnel, Vivio and your clones sorting themselves out to follow you. To your surprise, Vivio is able to keep up with you; you're slowed more by having to keep the wounded in good shape than you are by her.
"Thank you for not being too hard on her." You keep your eyes forward as Schach's tired voice reaches into your mind.
"It would be easier if she would leave me alone." Curiously, the higher you go the smaller the groups of night-demons you find. Are they trying to withdraw? Or are they just being security-conscious? But if that were the case, they would just be using the nigh-invisible greens ….
"A month ago, she couldn't even look at a picture of you without going berserk. She's trying very hard." You refrain from sighing.
"Do you think you can contact someone above ground yet?"
"I've sent out a message, and so has Vivio, but we can't tell if anyone received them." Curious; Vita was able to communicate with Shamal despite being on the other side of the portal, so why can't Shamal and Vivio communicate when they're only separated by earth and sky? Before you can ask Schach, the world wrenches around you and you slam into a pillar that wasn't there before, largely because you're in an entirely different area. Instead of the dark and enclosed tunnel you had been in, you find yourself on a platform above a lake - still underground, but no longer in a stuffy, confined space. It even smells fresh, and when you lean over the edge to look up, you see the twinkling of stars!
"Ah, it seems you really don't want to be our ruler after all. Well, too bad!" The spokes-demon's voice reverberates around you. Vivio, kneeling on the ground, winces and covers her ears, and even Vita cringes. "You've done so much damage that now we need you to put us back in order. Although if you toss that little Kaiser down to the lake, I'll try to make your … adjustment period … less painful." Its voice turns sweet as it makes its offer, but you simply sigh and roll your eyes. You float over the edge and look down; something is in the lake, and - oh, that's a lot of night-demons, and they're all either blue or red. "No, hmm? Oh, well, we'll work something out. Once the brainless duo wake up, we'll be the power here again! Not even that wretched Cradle could kill them! Of course, we can't really control them … but …." Its voice turns seductive. "If you would be so good as to come down and put on this helmet, I'm sure they would listen to you …. Time's running out." The cavern shakes, and the wall across from you splits, sending chunks of stone tumbling into the lake below, and you stare at the creature that had been entombed there. It's a dragon.
It's a very large dragon, probably as big as the bigger one that Caro could summon. It's one visible eye slowly blinks open … at least, you think it's an eye. You can't see a pupil. Maybe it's blind? Your thoughts are disrupted as it blinks again and the air around you charges with malevolence. Vita starts convulsing and you start to clench your fist. Then you register what would happen if you actually broke this dragon and drift back to the platform so you can drop to your feet. And the spokes-demon said there were two of them.
What do you do?
[ ] Start flying and hope you get away before they wake up.
- [ ] Carry Vita yourself and have that clone carry Vivio. Otherwise, you would have to carry the brat yourself.
[ ] No stupid helmet's going to boss you around! This time tomorrow, you'll have those overgrown lizards playing fetch with … large ships, probably.
- [ ] But have your clones carry everyone else out, just in case things don't go the way you want them to.
[ ] Get everyone out of the cavern, but only until someone comes along to get them somewhere safe. You're going to stay in the area and kill the dragons when they leave the cavern.
[ ] Other?
