It has been two hours since the very start of Dolon's arena, and yet all of the people that went in have not returned.
The cave swallowed all of the forces of absolute being like a ravenous beast and didn't return a single soul back out.
The commander of the small air force looked around the empty ships parked outside the cave and swallowed hard. It seemed like it's time to call for some reinforcements.
With a shaking hand, he brought up his communication gear, and connected with Lady Lily.
When a hologram of her pops up, he was expecting all hell to break lose, but surprisingly, she is completely calm. A good two hours has passed since she announced the start of the challenge, and she had taken her time to reflect upon what that means.
Anyone worthy enough to own/bear an artifact is one to be respected. If Dolon is so confident in her ability to the point that she would throw out an open challenge, then it would make sense for her to at least be quite a bit stronger than the average soldier within her organization.
The timing of this call means a little time has passes since the start of this open challenge, and possibly most of the forces that went into the cave had encountered Dolon.
The usual communication instruments works horribly bad in the caves, but the emergency beacon can usually send out a strong enough signal.
Lady Lily and the officer both looked down at their personal interfaces to see twelve slots for the emergency beacon, and none were active.
Great.
'Um, Lady Lily? I think it may have been in our best interest to send in some reinforcements...?' The officer asked carefully and awaits her orders, or a thunderous yell. But instead, Lady Lily raised her hand and gestured for him to wait for a little moment. Then, she turned around.
'Is everything ready and packed?' Lady Lily asked around in the bridge, and got an affirmative answer. After all the sections reported, then she returned to the seat and sat down. Instead of sending reinforcements, the reinforcements will come, 'fly the ship over and hover above the area. We will use what we can to smoke her out in the next few hours,'
'Understood!' The officers nodded and turned off the communications counsel.
'Right, it's your turn now.' Dolon dropped yet another unconscious body onto the ground and looked over to Dan, who hesitantly stood up and grabbed onto the shoulder belt of the soldier's gear and started dragging it behind the rocks. Behind the cover and inside the shadow lies a good ol pile of knocked out sodiers. By the time the fifth wave of them arrived, Dolon has already given up on counting, when Dan puts it the way he did, this no longer felt like a one way trip to death, but something incredibly entertaining yet tedious at the same time.
Like the Zombie mode in the War Games.
Just as she started to take some time for herself and chug down some liquid fuels, the sky above suddenly darkens and the light within the arena dims as a result. Dan shot up from his chillaxed position on the ground and looked straight up, mouth open.
'This... this is quite an entourage.' Dan murmured and turned his head down, looking at the ground. He's trying to think of what exactly is Lady Lily planning, bringing the whole ship floating over the entire cave formation. He is one hundred percent certain of how important of an asset Dolon will be, so convincing her or capturing her will be of utmost importance, especially after the rescue of another artifact bearer.
But due to many different circumstances, the two of them ended up here and this is also where Lady Lily ends up.
'Right, I think it's time to make our exits.' Dolon slid all the blades back and clapped her hands together, 'let's get out of here.'
'That may have been a bit too late.' Dan sighed as he deflates onto the ground, 'the caves all lead to this place and Lady Lily will know it with a simple scan. I am fairly certain that we are already surrounded, and even if we make a run for it, they will be much more careful this time seeing how things turned out last time.'
'Don't give up yet, I think I have an idea.' Dolon looked at Dan, and then looked at the pile of unconscious soldiers, and Dan looked at her all confused.
'Right! So this is what you are on about!' Dan and Dolon are both jogging at some what of a fast pace through the dark caves and making quick turns left and right, 'that's an absolutely genius plan, I can't believe I never thought of it.'
'Yeah well thank me later.' Dolon dropped back half a step so that Dan will be the one leading the run, 'does the new outfit fit okay?'
'This fits great actually, since I found someone with a similar build.' Dan padded the brand new armor stripped from one of the unconscious soldiers and made yet another sharp turn, 'we are currently entering the deeper part of the cave, and I was only here shortly. But since this is out of the main connecting pathways, we should be able to avoid them for a good time. At least until the GBI forces have arrived.'
'Good thinking.' Dolon answered, 'now, let's just hope there isn't any radiation residue on your body.' The two stopped sharply, and looked at each other. Bad feelings rumbling through their stomach.
'Maybe the radiation didn't come from the armor, but from the pseudo-artifact itself?'
Dan leaned against the wall next to him and pondered, this is a massive gamble for them. To be out of the way of the Absolute Being forces means going into the smaller and blocked tunnels and hide, but if the group still have a means of tracking him, then they have just successfully pinned themselves down. Where's Cellica's power when you need them?
'Very good. Dan, you have done well.' Just as thoughts are quickly thrown around the heads of the two people sitting in the dark, a gentle feminine voice came through the cave and echoed towards them. Dan's heart sank to the center of the planet, there is absolutely no question. This is Lady Lily's voice, and she has found them.
'(Is she bluffing?)' Dolon whispers.
'Don't insult me, mysterious artifact user.' Lady Lily totally heard what Dolon said and responded before Dan could mouth the words 'probably not', 'now, if you will come out then we can talk somewhere more civil.'
'Fine.' Dolon responded, and started to head out. This is a female human, in possession with an artifact of unknown power, but a female human nonetheless. As long as Dolon managed the timing right, she may be able to easily knock out and take hostage of her with either her martial arts or the Lightning Rod, there is really no more preparation she could do other than staying alert and reading the room. She slapped on her armor to get rid of the dust as she slowly walked into the light.
Standing in the junction with one of the main tunnels is an elegant and beautiful women with long black hair and a blood red dress underneath light red body armor. She is beautiful really by any standards except for the Rockies, and Dolon wasn't expecting this at all.
'Who may you be?' Lady Lily asked.
'I am Dolon. Hi! You look good, for a bad guy. I mean, girl.' Dolon duck-stepped towards her and stopped two meters away from her so that the guards on her side, two of them equipped with the same pseudo-artifacts that she faced before in the front of the 'base', won't be triggered to start a fire fight in this tight corridor, but Lady Lily seemed genuinely interested in her that she raised one of her finger to stop the guards from making any moves.
'Thank you. Dolon, I am Lady Lily, and let's talk buziness.' Lady Lily put up a standard smile and gestured back towards the arena, 'Some of my officers has reported of what you did, you are indeed an incredible artifact user.'
'That is very nice of you to say.' Dolon replied playfully and skipped ahead while Lady Lily followed closely behind. The dimmed light coming from the arena also brightens the corridors and that's when one know that they are getting closer.
Another fifteen meters or so, and they have reached the edge of the open area. Something looked a bit different. In no time, all the rocks are cleared out and the pile of unconscious soldiers also disappeared. In the middle of the arena, there is a make shift table with two seats. Dolon supposed this is where the talk is going to take place.
'Take a seat there.' Lady Lily instructed, and Dolon followed suit. Apart from the guards beside Lady Lily, there are also many that stood all spread out around the edge of the opening space and looking less than casual. Dolon loosens her exoskeleton like a true Aquarian before sitting down, and Lady Lily followed suit, taking a sit opposite her.
'It's very brave of you to sit right here across from me.' Dolon looked at Lady Lily with genuine curiosity, 'Are you that confident with your ability, or do you trust your underlings so much about your own safety?'
'Don't you worry about that.' Lady Lily smiled coldly before starting her proposition, 'so here's the deal. You said you have an artifact, and it's something we value a lot. So hereby I extend you a formal invitation to join us, the Absolute Being, on our quest to gather all the artifact users out there.'
'And why would I do that?' Dolon asked.
'From my point of view, you were not alone here on this planet. Today's work was a rescue operation, aimed to save Zel.' Lady Lily sat up straight with a triumphant smile on her face, 'you achieved the objective, well done. But it didn't go as smoothly as you hoped, right?'
Dolon tried to think of some quippy remarks, but none came out.
'That's why you are here, with him. You realized what we are doing, that's why you took him. But strategically, it doesn't make sense for you to come back, unless you deemed the intelligence that Dan would be able to offer is extremely important, yes?' Lady Lily continued to make the perfect deductions coming out of a comic book, 'but if that's the case, why the hell is Dan here then?'
Dolon started to feel like something strange is happening, and the uneasy feeling inside of her started to bubble intensely like the sea water around the underwater volcano of Aquaria.
'What is your point?' Dolon finally managed to squeeze something out, a battle of words is not what she enjoys, nor what she is good at. As Lady Lily seemingly peels away her plan layer by layer, Dolon only grew increasingly impatient.
'However, what if Dan had an ulterior motive?' Lady Lily smiled even more seeing Dolon's current response and stopped right there. Anyone capable enough to get hold of one of the artifact will know exactly what Lady Lily is implying once they string the sequences of events together.
What if, Dan was instructed to allow himself to be singled out just so he would be the one gathering intelligence from the bearers rather than the opposite? What if he is the one leading Dolon to the current trap that she finds herself in? Things seemed to line up the way Lady Lily puts it, but still that's not what exactly happened, because that doesn't make sense.
Why would Lady Lily suggest such a thing in the presence of both Dolon and Dan except for trying to drive a wedge between the two? Dolon turned and looked at Dan, who's pinned down by two guards and is looking at Dolon too.
'What will you say?' Dolon asked Dan, 'is all of this part of your plan?'
'This happened because of my plan. Yes.' Dan sighed a sigh of defeat, 'but that's because my plan failed. Good work, Lady, but I think we will take this loss ourselves.'
The moment he finished speaking, Dan spun around and punched one of the guards right in the stomach while pulling the gun out of the holster from the other guard and shooting him in the face with a stunner.
Dolon giggled as Lady Lily stood up in a hurry and stepped back.
'Dan, it seems like you have given up your final opportunity here.' Lady Lily shook her head in disappointment, 'well, I am sure there are more candidates dying to be in your position.'
'Well, Lady Lily,' Dan threw up both hands in the air, 'I am not going to be the one dying today.'
Then, he opens his hand, and a flash bomb went off followed by a quick release smoke grenade.
Dolon knew this is the exact time to act, and shattered the table in front of her with a kick, revealing a trapping mechanism underneath while hopping over to Dan.
'All right, let's get out of here. Got shields?' Dan asked excitedly, and Dolon nodded. Without further coordination, the two switched on both shields and started sprinting towards the far end of the arena as the smoke screen slowly fills up the area.
That's where there is only two guards standing near three entrances, where the forces is spread most thinly.
'Open fire!' Lady Lily stepped out towards the edge as she commanded her soldiers. The energy bolts shot up more dusts upon impact with the ground and made the smoke effect even clearer, but it seems like the two of them are going to be getting away at this rate. Lady Lily took yet another step back, and scanned around the room.
With all the vision obstructed and only the outline of the cave, where will Dolon be?
Based on the position of where the two is sitting as well as where Dolon spends most of the conversation time facing, she would see directly ahead and realize that the far side of the arena directly behind Lady Lily is the least guarded area within the whole place, meaning it will have the least amount of resistance if they make a run for it.
And this is exactly why Lady Lily set everything up that way.
She reaches her hand to a soldier by her side, and he hands her a blaster right away. Lady Lily turned her body, staggered her feet and aimed for a shot. A bolt of highly condensed photons slung through the air and hit right on target, a pre-made dent in what seemed like normal rock formation, but was actual a triggering mechanism for localized rock collapse. The cracks spread through the rock formations like a wild fire and wherever the cracks traveled, the rocks rained down. With thundering boom, the three exits that Dolon and Dan were aiming for are sealed shut, but the trapping didn't end there.
The cracks formed by the initial shot continued to spread all the way around the circumference of the cave and dropping rocks on all the exits. One blocked after another and all Dolon can do is to witness this happening.
Where's Rydel when you need him?
The collapse stopped exactly where Lady Lily had planned, leaving only one way out for them, and that's through all the forces of Absolute Being. She checked the time, and congratulated herself inside. At this rate, Dolon will have no way out but to fight until she dies, surrender or be captured, and Lady Lily already knew what Dolon is going to do.
This occasion calls for a beat down, and seeing how strong a totally unhinged artifact user could also be a great experience for the soldiers as well as the ones carrying the pseudo-artifacts. Lady Lily couldn't really ask for anything greater.
'Well? Do we have a deal? Where are you going to stand?' Lady Lily crossed her arms and looked down at the two that stood still like the lifeless trees in the desert on the other edge of the arena.
Dolon didn't answer, but Dan turned around slowly and faces all of the fifty full armed soldiers standing in front of him. All he had is a blaster and a shield generator that he stole. Luckily, not many shots made it to him during the smoke shoot out, and there is still a good amount of shielding left.
The odds aren't great apart from this.
Standing next to him, Dolon didn't bother to listen to Lady Lily, but instead, she started to look at the actual stacks of rocks for different exits and pinpointed one where it looked the least stable. Perhaps with a strong enough blast, she will be able to make a way out.
Dolon swallowed hard, closed her eyes and began to center herself.
There is an infinite darkness, calm and cold like the deepest parts of Aquaria where light gave up about reaching to this depth a good ten kilometers ago. Then there is a white streak, vibrantly moving about and zigzagging through it.
This is what Dolon is visualizing, a violent outburst of electricity that originated from the size of a water snake. The streak grew thicker and longer the more Dolon focused in on it, and the zig-zag-ing motion became more and more violent as the cold dissipates and is replaced by the heat. Dolon opened her eyes, and the Lightning Rod is giving out such a blinding light that dwarfs even the sunlight shining onto the surface of this planet.
Electricity circulates through the patterns on the artifact and slowly creeps up her arm, leaving a gentle space between that and her skin, but close enough to give a vague stinging sensation. Dolon looked down at her arm, and pointed the Lightning Rod at the entrance she picked earlier on.
'Ma'am, should we do anything?' One of the soldiers holding the pseudo-artifact turned and asked Lady Lily, who's looking closely at Dolon.
'Let's see what she can do.' Lady Lily replied, 'electricity can't move rocks and this is not a fantasy novel. All she can do is maybe offer enough energy to melt some of them, or cause yet another explosion that leads to more collapse.'
'You know that's not going to work, right?' Dan reminded Dolon as he watches for any enemy movements, but they are all dazzled by the light show.Dolon stubbornly looked at the rocks, and had to agree with him. But it doesn't matter, regardless of how you use it, energy is energy. She raised her hand and pointed at the pile of rocks.
'She's going to do it!' One of the soldiers yelled, 'we won't know if that will bring the whole arena crashing down on us!'
'That would be silly.' Dolon looked up into the sky, and laughed, 'See, Rydel, it's time to play tricky.'
The tip of the Lightning Rod started to raise, then before it became completely horizontal, Dolon spun around with blinding speed and the dash of light like a light house by the sea at night made many of the soldiers instinctively close or cover their eyes. At that instant, Dolon lets go. Dolon lets all of it go.
All the built up pressure within the lighting rod is released, and a web of electricity slung through the air.