12 Miles Below-Chapter 49Book 7. : Symphony of destruction gone wrong

"Debris? Most of the crabs are hand sized, I don't think them raining back down on us would be difficult to handle."

They were indeed raining down just about everywhere. A few already pinged off my helmet, mostly broken parts. The Odin were well out of the way right now, and they'd man the walls once it was certain the smoke wasn't going to overtake them.

"Not the crabs, I meant the pipe organ." Cathida corrected.

Exactly on time, I heard them start falling back down. Even at this distance I could hear them hit the ground far off with a discordant ring. The explosion had happened in front of the organ, so they'd been blown into pieces backwards into Bob's domain.

We waited a few more seconds and heard nothing else. "Okay, good to go deary, only wanted to make absolutely certain those weren't going to land on your head." Cathida said. "Journey will attempt to remain at the lowest possible stealth settings, not that it changes much inside that cloud. Nothing's coming in or out of it. Good luck on murdering your target early on."

We got this. Stay positive. Superior spoke through the soul link. Just because early parts of the plan are working doesn't mean terrible things are always going to happen right after.

We both knew that was a lie. The plan working out the airlock was already worrying me greatly. That's not how things usually go when it comes to Feathers.

I started dropping explosives and other ordinance that I wouldn't be able to carry with me into that inferno. "Scrap raining from above, that looks downright ominous." Most of my gear stayed on me. Like the knightbreaker, sidearms, blades and other goodies I keep with me for good luck and additional stabbing. Things that could explode were left on the ground here, where I'd come back and pick them up assuming I survived through the next little gauntlet. My cloak and cloth sections were left on, the clock was ticking and I didn't have time to take it all off. Wrath would probably make me new ones with enough begging and pleading.

"Don't take your helmet off." Cathida said, a low cackle in her voice. "If the heat doesn't fry you, suffocation will. Nothing living is going to make it out of there."

I gave it a look. "You don't say."

In front of me, the only thing leaving the column of ash and smoke was a deep red ember glow at the base, flowing upwards in small specs. All done with preparations, I gave the massive cloud of death a salute and started the jog forward into basically hell.

The smoke hit me like a wall. One moment I could see, the next I was swallowed by darkness that pulsed with hungry red embers. My HUD struggled to compensate, outlines flickering as it tried to make sense of the chaos. Journey's warning bells chimed with extreme temperature and low oxygen alerts - a nostalgic sound almost like the start of an expedition into the freeze.

The armor informed me I was now on fire, a gel-like substance collecting over my exterior still burning even this deep into the smoke. "Journey informs me the ambient heat has passed the threshold where it would feel comfortable deploying nanoswarms for anything outside. You'll have to wipe the lens manually if we get hit by anything," Cathida said.

I couldn't see more than a few feet ahead despite Journey's headlights. If not for the glow of fire, I'd be in complete darkness. This wasn't just from the power cells - this was Wrath's Plan C. She'd added a burning agent above the cells, a self-powered flammable gel that would stick to everything and burn even without oxygen. The explosions had broken it into a fine mist that rained down as literal fire, reforming into smaller droplets that would burn for about ten minutes.

That's how long I had to find and assassinate To'Naviris.

I started hearing twisted crunching under my boots as I waded deeper. The white mechanical crabs, or what remained of them, littered the ground in such density I couldn't find a clear place to step. They piled up like small hills, forcing me to scale them rather than walk around. Each step sent more tiny explosions popping under my boots where twisted metal broke apart and released fire underneath.

"Have you found him yet? Journey's already lost track of where we are, coordinate systems don't work in this mess." Cathida asked.

"YOU APES DESTROYED MY ORGAN."

"Found him now." I muttered, turning my direction to where the noise was coming. Another minute walking to the source of the wailing, and I found him. To'Naviris was still well alive, raging as he blindly patted the pipe organ.

I couldn't see him visually, but in the soul sight he didn't look in great shape. For one, he was completely on fire from head to toe. And still on fire. For two, his hair was gone, parts of his chest looked to be dented inwards with fissures on the skin, and he was also completely nude. None of the clothing had survived. It was like I was hunting down an anatomically correct Greek statue with cracks all over. That was also on fire just about everywhere.

I slowed my approach, but it was still supremely noisy as I had to wade through the sea of dead mechanical crabs with each step.

He continued frantically verifying the damage over the instrument, before his head snapped in my direction when I'd finally gotten too close. I froze, watching him through the soul sight. His head stayed fixed on my position. Then turned to the left and right. "You. Uncivilized. Animal. Where are you? Show yourself. I know you're sniffing around here somewhere."

He knew the general direction I was coming from. But sound wasn't enough for him to be certain at this range. I stayed completely still, hidden.

My hand reached behind my burning cloak, and unhooked the knightbreaker with careful motions. The soft noises of the clasps and safety turned off were completely masked by the flames around me.

Zero visibility here. No scanning either. I had no way to see him or aim, but that also meant he couldn't do anything either.

He turned back to his organ, moving around, patting it like a dead dog. Maybe he assumed the noise was a smaller explosion, or something. There was enough chaos around me to hide.

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Could I land the shot using just my occult sight? My hand hovered over the trigger, ready to fire, aiming in his general location. If I hit, I'd catch him by surprise and end the fight basically right now.

But I had no visibility. No line of sight, Journey couldn't assist with anything either, the HUD was scrambled enough. All that was in display was billowing darkness lit by the dim embers. I couldn't see the knightbreaker launcher itself, nor my hand holding it.

"You've ruined my performance. Ruined the atmosphere. Ruined EVERYTHING. Get out here and die like a dog, if you would be so kind. It's the least that you owe me after destroying MY ORGAN." The Feather seethed, pacing around the broken base of the organ.

Was I aiming the weapon off center? I debated with the knightbreaker, and decided I needed to be greedy here. I sent occult images left and right, watching them zip through some of the dead crab sea, silent and unnoticed. Then both detonated the shockwave fractal.

The sound was immediate. Crab bodies were sent flying around. And were instantly squashed as To’Naviris manifested two occult hands and slapped down hard on both locations, screaming incoherently the whole time.

Okay. I can’t get closer. This was as good a shot as I was going to get.

I exhaled, aimed one more time, and fired.

The actual shot was more of a dull thunk. Fires around us both easily covered the sound as the knightbreaker flew through the cloud of ash, on target for To’Naviris.

This might be the easiest Feather fight I’ve ever had. Blow up a bunch of cover, sneak in, and then assassinate the Feather in one hit. That’d be two plans pulled off in a row. A new record.

The round was still on target - and then To’Naviris himself moved. Not in an attempt to dodge, but rather to walk around his organ and pat blindly to check on more damages.

Ah, that’s unfortunate. Superior commented as we both watched the round sail past him, a foot off target. I didn’t see the Feather so much as turn his head.

The round landed further off, likely shredding a few already dead machine crabs as it sunk into the junk pile. And right after, it was smashed hard by an occult hand reacting to the sound nearby.

I silently swore in my helmet. Wrath could make more of those for me, but not while Relinquished was watching. Which meant I needed to save my shells.

Think we could get closer? I asked.

You’d be taking a big risk… but it would be real nice to see a Feather get killed by one of these puppies. Put the fear of god back into the lot. Send a message, you know?

I like the way you think Superior, good idea. We can get closer with a bit more subterfuge and stealth.

And by stealth, I meant shockwaves and as much noise as I could do.

I advanced slowly through the pile of machines, wading in the fire. Blue occult battled against red embers as I sent ghost after ghost, all triggering shockwaves in different directions in order to confuse the Feather.

He was having a field day over there, snarling and stomping around down on any sound. “I WILL SQUASH YOU FOR THIS.” But he stopped himself mid-rant, more speaking to himself next. “No, squashing you is too light of a punishment. I WILL DISMANTLE YOUR BONES ONE BY ONE AND CRAFT THEM INTO WIND CHIMES FOR MY MORNING DEVOTIONALS - AND THEN SQUASH YOU FOR THIS. After the devotionals are all said and done, of course.”

Issue was that now he was starting to reach down into the ground and start yanking up debires left and right, like an insane man ripping trash up off the ground. Which meant I'd not only have to nail the shot aiming, but also hope he didn't accidentally toss something right in the way of the knightbreaker itself. I'd need to get even closer to guarantee a good hit.

Progress was steady and I was getting closer to the insane feather step after step. Up until I realized I’d run into something of a trap.

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To’Naviris had decided to skip the dramatics. Instead of one giant occult hand, many spread out like grasping tentacles, all ripping things out of the ruins around him. Turns out his insane shuffling around in the trash heap had been for a purpose - to find specific pieces of trash. The small occult hands reached down and all yanked up occult spears from his dead minions. Those ones that wouldn’t turn on, he tossed aside. The rest were lit back up and aimed in my direction. “I see you sneaking about. I can hear you. Your sins could use a sharper POINT.”

About a dozen sailed through the ash cloud. One hit off the side of my shoulderplate. A glancing blow that knocked off about eleven percent of my total shield. Besides that one spear throw, the rest of his firepower missed me by a mile.

That wasn’t what I was worried about, I suspected he was trying to sound me out somehow, and I was proved correct as the Feather instantly snapped his attention to where I really was, started cackling like he’d won a raffle, lifted his hand and slapped down hard.

He was fast on the occult.

Just not over-clock fast anymore. I beat him to the draw.

A few things happened all at the same time.

First, I had to get to safety. So I launched an occult image upwards to the side, and had Superior manifest an occult shield right by the leg. I don’t know how Superior manages it, but he’s clearly the one in charge of defense now. Somewhere in all that monk isolation training he’d gone through, it had reforged him into a monster when it came to occult willpower, a fact we gleefully abused.

The second thing I did, was launch an occult grapple upwards onto the fleeing image, landing right on the dome. Lashes didn’t work against the mirrors themselves, flying right through them. An occult shield was capable of blocking physical hits which meant it was tangible in the material world. And the occult grapple would latch onto anything tangible.

As for the actual strength that an occult ghost could pull, we hadn’t yet found an upper limit. But one relic armor was clearly well within its ability to tow out. I had a feeling it was more related to Superior’s ability to maintain the occult dome against a pulling force rather than the occult mirror image following through on my pre-set will.

The combination yanked me right out of the sea of dead machines, and off into the air, where I followed through with more occult ghost grapples to stay in the air. The ground might make noise everywhere I touched down, but so long as I flew around like this, I’d never make more noise than air whistling around.

I launched another set of occult ghosts to cause general havoc on his senses. If sound’s the only way he was tracking me, I’ll make it come from every direction.

A few more occult ghosts descended while I found a good spot to land and I had them all trigger shockwaves one after another, masking my actual landing. In the meantime, he’d slapped down multiple locations where my shockwaves had ripped apart his dead minions. The compressive force he could put down was enough to crush the machines to the point Wrath’s miracle gel would get squeezed out.

Right, so I vote we keep the knightbreaker on reserve and try killing him with the usual tactics. Superior sent.

Counterpoint, the knightbreakers are only going to be at maximum efficiency here - where he can’t see them. Dead sure someone’s already leaked to him what to look out for. And weren’t you the one who wanted to murder him with this equipment?

Superior contemplated for a moment. What if they didn’t?

What do you mean?

I mean, what if our gang of Feathers didn’t give him any clues or hints. You know Feathers aren’t all working perfectly together all the time. They’re territorial, snooty little stuck ups with way too much ego. What if they want him to fail?

I’d say that’s probable for To’Sefit and To’Orda, for different reasons each. But To’Avalis would sell his own grandmother if it would buy him an extra ration bar that he needed.

What if he’s leaked only enough for To’Naviris to run your ragged a bit, and draw out our full set of skills, so that he can take us on later himself?

That’d be closer to what I remember of the bastard yes. Fine, we’ll save the knightbreakers until I get a better shot at him.

I wasn’t going to get a good aim now that he was active and moving around. Not in this environment. So the next best plan with the knightbreakers were to aim it out in the open, and see if he recognized the threat they presented or not.

We sent sixteen occult ghosts flying right for him in the meantime. Eight from me, and another eight from Superior. Each of the ghosts was ready to swing an occult armguard into his body. I don’t care how powerful Feather shields are compared to relic armor ones, the occult waffle pattern on my armguard was a discount knightbreaker in effectiveness. Sixteen of them would overload even an airspeeder’s shields.

To’Naviris manifested his giant occult hand again and spun it around him, slamming into each ghost around him. Given how he moved, I don’t even think he was aware his move just saved his life, I think he was trying to catch me anywhere nearby him.

Occult Blender time? Keith Superior asked. The name was still a work in progress, but it did have a nice ring to it.

I gave him a thumbs up. Occult Blender time.

We’d hit Wrath with that out the gate and it had kept her at bay despite a full overclock going.

Grapples were sent out and ghosts all flew right after him.

Blind. Deaf. On fire. And now lacking an army to call for help from, To’Naviris had to deal with that one the old fashioned way.

As in he didn’t.

He could see them a fraction of a second before they collided into him somehow, but lacked the sheer reflexes to work on that to the fullest. As it was, he narrowly avoided the armguards, and constantly failed to escape the reach of the longsword followup that slashed through. His shields likely took a beating in those few seconds of uninterrupted beatdown.

Best part was that I could continue the assault from my safe hiding spot.

A pulse came out of him. “YOU PEST.” He screamed out, all those smaller tentacle like occult hands coming out of his body, digging down into the shattered baseplate of the organ as if looking for something. Each occult hand came out holding a dagger or sword. Or a weapon of some kind.

Now it made sense why he was so attached to that thing. It was his weapon box. And he’d probably had stores of other things locked in there. Likely no-functioning now.

I did try to stop him, but that sweeping giant hand continued like a rapid radar, scattering my attempts to assassinate him here and now.

It was clear he couldn’t continue the fight in this territory, not when I had so many advantages, so he decided the best idea was to run. The hand wrapped around himself and pulled upwards, lifting him far up and away. My ghosts chased after him, doing the same occult grapple technique that let me technically swing myself around in the air, unfortunately even with the extra speed Superior and I weren’t able to catch him in time.

He left my soul sight’s range. Fatal flaw in that. “Scrap. I didn’t think he’d actually run from this. What kind of Feather does that?”

Cathida laughed, “What was he supposed to do deary? Stand there and let you cut him up into chunks?”

“...I mean, is that really so hard to hope for?”

“I believe that may be a tad bit spoiled, yes.” The snake said, clearly not on my side in all this.

Far above, I could hear that he hadn’t completely gotten out of this without a scratch. Despite the sounds all around me, I could hear occult blades clashing against one another.

Looks like Wrath caught him escaping the ash cloud.