Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

"Well, maybe I just forgot it, or something."

I take note of each contender's weapons.

 

"Even less of a reason to worry! You'll learn it soon enough, sweetie. I always do, and you seem ageless, so you should too!"

Both mages are using a staff that appears to be omnielemental, though the assassins use very slightly differing armaments.
Both use kunai, two daggers, and chem bombs that look like they release toxic gases over smoke.
One set of daggers is volt and cryo, the other appears to be terra and pyro.

 

"But he never mentioned it, so it must be recent, and he created me, so he would know if something bad's going on and I don't know who he is or where to find him..."
Crystal seems a bit stressed.

I wait to see if the pyro dagger connects with the smoke or gas, and if it does anything.

 

"If something bad was going on, he'd let you know. He had to have a reason to make you, sweetie."

The pyro dagger does indeed light some of the gas bombs, but not all of them. It's a somewhat spectacular burst of flame that temporarily obscures vision of the battle itself.

 

"But he's gone, he's not here. How'd he tell me?"
Crystal seems more upset than angry.

Curious, I re-engage myself in the actual battle.

 

"If he made you, he could just leave you the info as the memory."

One side tries to get their assassin to cut through the barriers and keep a dominant stance, whereas the other tries to hold their ground and exploit an opening from the other assassin overcommitting and disabling the mage, clearly trying to bait them into a mistake.

 

"...What? What do you mean?"

I focus on the integrity of the mages.

 

"If he made you, then anything he needed you to know he could simply slip into your memory. That's what I do. If I need a new servant bot? Program it with the basics, like I made it and it should obey me."

Both are unscathed, but both seem to be starting to cut back on their energy exertion in attempts to outlast the other. Implicitly, they both must be getting tired.

 

"Wait, really? You can just do that?"

I focus on the integrity of the rouge-like fighters.

 

"Yeah. It's extremely common with golems, constructs, and the like." Xlentia says. "I lost my mechanic a while ago, but the remaining bots I have are all in cryostasis. Well... and a few other things."

They're both fighting like they're riding the peak of adrenaline, but it's obvious that the mages have to be fueling them.
One seems to be trying to throw the other off to the side to get an opening at one mage, whereas the other seems to be doing everything possible to be keeping a weapon or himself between the defensive setup and his mage.

 

"...Pieces?"
Crystal guesses after a few seconds.

I wait for something to happen, intrigued in the fight.

 

"No, just various creatures."

The fight drags on, eventually to the point where both mages are doing next to nothing for their assassins, who soon also begin to tire.

 

"Oh."
Pause.
"Can it be the other way around?"

I check the stocks on bombs, if it's obvious.

 

"What do you mean?"

If there are any left, they haven't been on the outside of the assassins' robes for as long as you've been watching.

 

"The inserting memories thing. Can you take them out?"

I continue watching.

 

Stephanie sighs.

"I just miss Ihra..." Stephanie says mournfully.

 

"Oh, yeah. Just as easy as putting them in. Hurts whoever does it, though. Seems to always hurt when I have to take away a precious memory..."

The battle continues, no conclusion in sight.

"I wouldn't be so down about that. It's not impossible to get her back, and there's a way that hurts Xlentia less. It just... requires more dirty work than I'd ever be willing to do alone." Linoa says, somewhat hesitantly. "You'd need the help of your friends, most likely. See, there are reasons Xlentia opened the four portals she did. Relics lie in each of them, and they do have significance to a... safer method."

 

"What if I managed to get enough charges for Xlentia and these relics?" Stephanie asks.

 

"Oh..."
Crystal shifts in his seat.
"That's... kinda scary."

Impressed by the endurance of each side, I continue to watch, focusing more of the rouge-like warriors.

 

"Then a fifty percent chance for repercussions becomes a two percent chance for repercussions."

"Sweetie, if I find out they did that to you, there's an erasure tablet with their name on it." Xlentia says, smiling gently.

The assassins are starting to trade blows, though their light armor seems to be doing a decent job of covering for mistakes.
The mages start casting weak elemental bolts as a deterrant for openings each assassin leaves.