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[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=92278f][b]Location:[/b][/color] The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
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[color=92278f]“You know, I had a dream the other night that I was a shipwreck. The S.S. Missy, right there at the bottom of the ocean, lost in this forest of seaweed. And I was [i]old[/i], you know? Like, I’d been there for so long that I’ve got algae growing all over me, and mollusks on my hull. Inside me there’s this whole, complex ecosystem of coral, and anemones, and those, uhm, those spiny things. You know what I’m talking about? Spiny—[i]sea urchins![/i]. And all the time I had fish coming and going, big old schools of’em, every kind. Sharks, too, and octopi, and now and then a whale would drift over me and I’d hear this deep, lonely crooning that shivered the rust off me.”[/color] She took a bite of bread, then tore off a small chunk and tossed it to the ducks gathered in the river below. [color=92278f]“But there was this huge hole blown in my side, like someone had shot me with a cannonball and I thought [i]’huh, that’s weird. What did that?[/i] Cause it’s a dream, right? Maybe I’m a boat with amnesia, I dunno. Anyway, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Like, clearly this is what had sunk me, don’t I have the right to know how it happened? Who’d done it? [i]Why?[/i] Then out of nowhere this anchor drops next to me, and I see these people diving down into the seaweed. At first I was thrilled. They were gonna fish me up, and figure out what had happened to me. But then I thought about all the fish, and the mollusks, and the sea urchins. The whales. And I got really sad. And then I woke up.”[/color]

[color=f49ac2]“Missy?”[/color]

[color=92278f]“Hm?”[/color]

[color=f49ac2]“You sleep too much.”[/color]

--

When the shock left her, Seele moved quickly. The options cycling in her mind where nearly too fast to grasp, the choices too varied—the consequences, too dire. A mistake here, even just a simple misjudgment, could prove fatal to any of them. The bodies were already too many. The bodies…

This was not the time for doubt. If the punishment for erring was going to be severe, then she simply refused to err. As she had chambers ago, when the announcement had been made, Seele doffed her panic, her anxiety, her fear. They were as silly and impractical to her now as her hat. She needed clarity, and focus, and to be unencumbered. 

She did not think of the dead. 

As the demon reared on Alja, Seele snapped her fingers and a darkly shimmering barrier coalesced around her tank. With her other hand, she took aim at the beast with her finger gun and invoked the Fivefold Path again. [color=Darkviolet][i]Anger[/i][/color]. She didn’t know its resistances, the hit to its strength could have been negligible, but experience had taught her the value of even the most minor of buffs and debuffs. 

And speaking of. 

The Shackles manifested about her wrists. She’d shed the pilfered amulet back in the goblin room. Between it and Kazuki’s pleasantly catchy lyre-work, she felt perfectly healthy, and going into this she was glad to have more of that strange, arcane will to pull from. Her spell-power took a hit—a feeling she still had trouble articulating; it was somewhere between bodily [i]exhaustion[/i] and the mental withering of [i]inadequacy[/i]—but she ignored it and brought her fingers back up. The chains made it impossible to dual-target, so she’d have to quick-fire with just the one. 

The imaginary cylinder of her finger-gun spun, clicked shut. She abandoned the Path and embraced the Thrill. Her first target was Alja again. Her thumb flexed, and she shot the icy warrior a buff to her strength, and what portion of it the Shackles weakened, Seele supplemented with her own. The feeling [i]that[/i] left her with was much easier to describe: [i]weak[/i]. But she didn’t need muscles right now. 

Next in her sights was Leaves, who caught a minor buff to her agility. Seele kept her stat on that one, in case she needed to move and move with what little nimbleness she had. To compensate, she snapped her fingers and supplied the archer with a Shackle-diminished shield. The chains grew weaker. Seele felt her power simmering, nearing a boil.

She saw Graves rush in, arms viciously blooded, and [i]grab[/i] the demon’s hand away from Alja. His grip held, but for how long? The look on his face was anguish and fury and relentless, suicidal determination. 

Seele ripped her hands out wide and the chains shattered. Dark-bright light flared in her eyes, and she lifted one hand up against some unseen weight. [color=Lightcyan]Absolution[/color]. The ghostly violet mist encircled Graves’ feet, crawled up his armor and for the a single, fleeting moment, the guilt that weighed heavy on his shoulders lifted away. Strength flooded him like foreign blood, and somewhere in the furthest reaches of his mind there was a soft, unintelligible whisper. [color=#2E2C2C]Promise me…[/color]

That done she refocused on the demon. The Broken Chains were fading from Absolution, and as the saying went: [i]“Use it or lose it.”[/i]

She jutted a single finger out at it, evoking for a moment the very image of a spiteful witch cursing its victim. The Path was walked, there was only one way ahead. [color=Lightcyan][i]Guilt.[/i][/color]

A wicked bolt of devilish light arced from her fingertip and struck the beast through. No damage had been done, but if it failed to resist, it would suffer the weight of all five debuffs her Path had to offer, which she hoped would be enough to help her allies get a foothold against it. 

The effect of her chains vanished as quickly as the light, and a sudden, terrible sensation of brittleness washed over her. [color=Darkviolet][i]Acceptance[/i][/color]. She nearly fell to her knees, only just managing to stay upright. Something screamed at her in her mind, she shut it out. 
[color=#2E2C2C]youpromisedyoupromisedyoupromisedyoupromisedyoupromisedyoupromisedyoupromisedyoupromised[i]youpromised[/i][/color]
Despite how shattered her own defenses were, she still felt a decent chunk of her will remaining, enough at least to press on. Good. She had a feeling this fight was going to run the wind out of them.[/indent][/indent][/indent]