Chapter 25 - Down

Everything rushed quickly.

Freezing cold.

The pressure sucked the air out of his lungs and forced its way down his throat. 

He tried to raise his arm, to get the medicine down his throat, but it was futile.

The forces on him were pulling him down so fast, he couldn't resist it.

Violet luminescence surrounded his body, reinforcing it from the scathing impacts on the pipe.

He as tossed around like clothes in a washing machine, he couldn't control his form at all.

At best, he straightened himself out, as the forces pulled him in every direction.

Instead of being helplessly ripped apart by the waters resisting, he chose to flow with it.

There was no swimming back up, and there was no surviving the battle against mother nature, either. He knew it well.

The moment he straightened out, his descent grew even faster. There was no kind of training that could prepare someone for this situation, all he could do, was pray and accept whatever outcome came. 

He hadn't expected Marce to be capable of something like this. She was in love with Awick, and so, he had let his guard down, never thinking that she might be that much different to his sense of justice.

But, he understood it.

In this moment, as his life was in the balance of fate, he was surprisingly calm, once he had accepted his death.

He suspected that it had to do with the Girl, and the nature of Awick's justice. She knew he would never allow a child to die for him, and so, if they made it to the Girl, and were unable to save her, than, Awick would be killed to save her.

She was going to kill the Girl when she found her, if she couldn't save her. 

Based off what he had seen so far, it was highly likely that a Master was behind this plot. And Spider being involved, essentially confirmed it. Their Boss was still missing, as well, who was a renowned Master in the underworld.

She had likely caught on, that a Master was involved, and came to the decision that defeating that master would be too much, but, killing the Girl would be far easier.

She was far more thinking, than he had expected.

He'd underestimate her ability to think. But, he had not lost his touch. He had taken a serum of water breathing, from the Labatory, in case he fell into the water or needed it, if the battle took a bad turn.

Even the schematics didn't know where he was going. After a few hundred feet, the pipes in the schematic he had seen, just disappeared.

He felt an extreme pain in his arm. He kept his eyes shut. He could only pray. He wasn't extremely religious, in the traditional sense, but he did believe something was out there. 

And to that, he prayed. 

Perhaps, it would listen.

He slammed against a hard surface, and he felt like his back would have shattered, had it not been for the reinforcement from his aura.

He was forced to open his mouth, because of the clash. All of the air he was holding in, was taken in an instant. 

He wanted to clutch his throat, but, he couldn't resist the current, or he would be torn to pieces.

Now with no air, and unable to breath, he descended at a more angled curve. The current was a little slower, but still too fast. 

He could feel it slowing down, as the pipe started to slowly curve. He knew it would take only a few seconds. Just keep his mind in the game, for a few more seconds, and there would be an opening to eat the medicine he had so desperately clutched in his hand all this time.

As his mind started to fade, from lack of oxygen, the opportunity came. 

There was a slow current in the pipe, as if it was on the precipice of something else. He quickly stuffed the medicine down his throat. 

Instantly, the pores on his body opened up, and he could breath again. He opened his eyes, hazarding a look, his vision enhanced like a fishes, by the same medicine.

The pipe from top to bottom, was ten feet at most, and left to right, about the same. He was on the lower side of it. He looked ahead, there was a great drop.

Above him that drop, there was an opening, that he could see, had no water. An exit…

He reached into his clothes, and grabbed out his magic crystals. Even if meant blowing off a hand, he decided that he needed to get up there. 

Grabbing the string of magic crystal he threw them ahead of himself, and drew his sword. They were a lot lighter, and were carried along a lot faster. He covered his sword in violet aura, leaving the rest of his body vulnerable, but he had no choice.

Bracing for the impact, he threw his sword forward, and it pierced the magic crystals, creating a string of blasts that caused a soul ringing noise to bounce off the inside of the pipe, nearly killing him directly.

He lost conciousness for a second. The water was starting to rush back again. He reached up, and grabbed the at the air pocket above the drop, looking for anything to grab, when at last, his hand found purchase.

He dragged himself up, looking and smelling like a sewer rat, he was just grateful, extremely, grateful, that he could at least smell.

It was freezing. Hurting. Smelled terrible. But none of it mattered. 

He swore in his heart, as soon as he got out, he would give the church a donation that would make their heads spin.

He had won his gamble. 

He looked up. It was a few feet of steel bars that protruded from the wall, heading up to a grate.

Once he was up there, he took some time, to just breath.

To savor the fact he had survived. 

No amount of training could ever prepare someone for going down a pipe at dozens of feet per second, slamming into it's walls until hitting the bottom, and then exploding crystals at point blank.

Everything hit him all at once, and he started laughing.

"...Every hero companion, suffers an ill fate, was it?" He grit his teeth down hard enough to bend steel, at least, he felt so. 

His eyes were red, staring at the pipe wall, he wanted to smoke, but, he he had been shaken up like a pinata, and most of his candy had fallen out.

He was lucky he had secured those crystals firmly, since they were more precious than his other things.

He looked down at his arm. A long gash was across it, but it wasn't too deep, and the bleeding wasn't too terrible.

At the speed he was going, he decided it was likely a tiny offshoot of metal that had grazed him at terminal speeds.

He smiled. And started laughing like a maniac again. He held his head. Looking down at the rushing water going down the pipe.

Something in him, told him to jump. To go head first, and forget about everything else. He resisted the random urge, and looked up instead.

There was a light. He slowed his beating heart, to a near stop through the manipulation of his breathing. He prepared for the worst.

"...I'm gonna die Karl." 

"Shut up and grab the bandages." 

"I'm serious. If I have to heal one more person, I'll drop dead," Red put the torch up on the wall's holder, and slide down the wall, "What are we even doing here. What does this have to do, with saving Dumbar?" 

Argo leaned against the pipe wall, listening as he wrapped his shirt around his arm, to try and stem the bleeding. 

Karl looked at Red and rolled his eyes, "We lost at our prime against Karlan. No one wants to admit it. But we lost. We need to do this." 

"Need to use monsters? What are we, who use them?" Red grit her teeth, and let her head hang between her legs, staring at the ground she continued, "Are we the bad guys, Karl?"

"No," Karl grabbed the bandages from the back of the room, one of the rolls, dropped, rolling over to Red, "Grab that." 

Red let out a sigh, and lumbered up her exhausted form, crossing the room, and crouching down to pick up the bandages.

Her heart almost jumped out of her chest, when she saw a pair of burning violet eyes staring back at her from the dark. 

She felt like she had come into contact with death itself. 

"Red, hurry up!" Karl called back, and Red had a choice.

She could expose Argo.

She could also ignore Argo.

"...I'm seriously going to quit soon. I haven't seen the sun, in too long," Red picked up the roll of bandages, and turned over to Karl, "I want to go home."

Karl shook his head.

"Until Dumbar is restored… we have no home to go back to."