They entered the large tower, wasting no time and on entering they saw Legion armor laying around, pixels filled the floor of the room, they had already been here and the group just hoped that they hadn't succeeded in getting the relic. There were three stair cases, only one of them leading up towards a door, the others seemed out of place, leading to the walls of the tower. With there first steps towards the set of stairs the floor shook a bit and spikes skewered through the floor and up at them, making what happened to the Legion more understanding. They had to time their movements, having to run past one by one and home that the next space didn't also have spikes, the floor was randomly covered in areas where the spikes would show up.
They finally made it through the first area and through the door that led down a long hallway, they had yet to see a monster, thinking that they Legion must have been able to handle them but there were digital blocks laying around this hall as well. When Art went to take a step he was stopped by Fenix who pulled him back.
"Wait, if this is anything like the last room there are bound to be traps that we don't know of. We have to be ready for what comes at us." The evidence suggested this and they all agreed with Fenix, they were going to have to move one at a time to be able to do this, Vixen volunteering to go. As they expected, with her first move into the hall the sound of wheels turning inside the walls and the ceiling came crashing down at her in a solid mass. She was just able to roll forward out of its way, a bit to far as the ceiling came down at her again, she tripped back into the safe space between the two ceilings as they started to rise. She grabbed at her chest, her heart was racing and she looked back at the group who were giving her thumbs up, dorky looks on each of their faces to try and hide how nervous they were about what just happened and how glad they were that it was Vixen who offered to go.
She made her way through, every four feet the ceiling came down and then four feet of safe space, it seemed like such a simple trap but if you slowed down or weren't paying attention, then it was easy to get clipped or find yourself in the wrong space. Once she got to the other side she found a button on the floor, stepping on it to hear a latching noise, followed by the a large sound of movement coming from the main room. But as she took her foot off of it the button it started rising, the sound shifting once more before a grim look came over her, her eyes shutting as she started mumbling curses.
"Guys, its a pressure switch. I have to stay here." She was now regretting her choice to go, not liking the idea of being stuck there or that they would be with out her if something happened, not to mention if someone came for her, she was all alone. The group shouted back and forth with her, trying to decide on what to do about this, it seemed like nothing they had was heavy enough, like it was made to make sure one person had to stay behind. Finally she told them to just go and to be quick about it. The faster they got through this area the faster she could rejoin the group.
As reluctant as they were to leave her they finally agreed and left the room, seeing that one of the other sets of steps had moved and was now leading to another door, not so shocking as that is what they expected to happen. They tried to move as quickly as they could into the next room, while avoiding spikes and half way up the steps they shifted, slanting down and making them slide off onto the floor, they rolled to the side, just barely being missed by the spikes. They were all feeling annoyed as Art shouted out.
"Is someone just screwing with us. Who designs these places." He made his way back to his feet and the stairs now shifted, as though they were on a timer, they would have to run up the stairs as fast as they could, only having seven seconds between the rotation. Fenix made it seem easy with his speed but for the rest it took a few tries and they quickly felt out of breath as they finally made it to the top, it was all about timing, starting up the ramp just before the steps came.
Once in the room they had a small platform that they were all standing on and in front of them was nothing but a floor. There were no walls and no floor aside from the given path that they were meant to take, the path itself was on a swivel, each bit of presser made the floor tilt more and more to the weighted side. The group had learned this through a few attempts at trying to get by, sending them off into the dark abyss below and making them reappear at the entrance with the rest of the group. They hadn't even thought that who ever goes over might not get to come back, just like Vixen they would be stuck for the time being.
"Wait, I should go." Razah pushed forward and lifted the sleeves of her long garbs and stretched a bit, "Who ever goes can't come back, this might be best if you all stay, you are our front fighters so we should leave it to you." It didn't totally make sense to the rest, sense she was one of their top damage dealers but no one fought her on it, she had her mind set on this and it seemed that she had an idea or strategy for how this was going to go. Really she didn't trust that any of them had the patients to get across, all of them much more hyper and tend to try and use speed or power to get through these things, when what this one needed was a steady step. She placed each step slowly, keeping her mind open and listening to her body, she was about to keep her balance and make the floor shift as she wanted, if it started leaning to far one way she would shift her weight to move it back into a centered placement.
She slowly but surely made it across and as she thought the switch needed her to stay there for it to work, the same rumbles heard this time just like before. The group went back into the main room, the stairs had moved just like they had hoped but now there was a giant lion beast pacing the room, it had a long scorpion tale and snakes as a mane. It stood much bigger than a normal lion would, making those who were left to fight it a bit shaken. Tophuu was the first to move in, seeing a chance at a new friend he let loose his whip that wrapped around the beasts neck, using the sliding stairs to gain momentum he slid down and pulled the beast to the floor.
The rest joined in, jumping from the top of the stairs and getting some hits in but it quickly got to its feet and roared at them, all the snakes stood and hissed along with it, sending shivers down Art, Fenix and Meekles spine, while Tophuu looked absolutely delighted at what just happened. They started doing their lower level skills, trying to make sure they didn't finish it off, otherwise they would never hear the end of it from Tophuu. Fenix went into his wolf form, that was easily his favorite form still, even with the Ifrit form, it just felt so fitting and he had grown so use to it. He laid into the Gorlion, as Meekle put it but its scorpion tail kept them all on the move, only being able to get a few strikes in before the tail launched at them.
Tophuu had tried a few times now to capture this monster but it wasn't going so well, it hadn't taken nearly enough damage to keep it in his grasp. Its tail whipped around and knocked everyone but Art away as it turned and looked at him, roaring and making the snakes come to life. As they did Art started to turn to stone, starting at his eyes and working its way through his body till he was nothing but a statue. The others started to panic for a moment as they tried to quickly heal themselves, being poisoned from the contact with the tail, it seemed this monster was full of tricks. They tried to make their way around it so they could heal Art, thankfully they had all become paranoid and started caring extra items to heal different things but as they tried to pass it, its mouth opened up and a series of fire balls hurled forward at them.
Fenix being the fastest jumped over the fireball and rushed past the monster and through a dust all over Art, some type of glittering happened as Art turned back to his normal self.
"That is the weirdest feeling ever." His eyes opened wide and twitching and his mouth slightly left open as his lips dropped at both corners. His whole body shook as he looked at Fenix, "How long was I like that?"
"Not long, just a few minutes." To Art it seemed like time had totally stopped and made it hard to tell just how long he was in there, it could have been seconds or years for all he knew and this fact made his stomach turn.
Art wanted some pay back as he started doing a bit stronger of skills, this made Tophuu cringe as he was worried that Art would go overboard and end up digitizing the monster. But he was being smart, watching to make sure he didn't totally take the health, along with Meekle and Fenix who opened up a barrage of attacks on it. Tophuu quickly through his net out and that was it, he was able to get it just in time. He let out a large breath as he held a hand over his heart, though it wasn't that big a deal the others knew what it meant to him and it was worth it to see his excitement go through the roof.
As the beast was gone a locking sounded in the area, soon Vixen and Razah came into the room, the latches had locked into place and they were able to regroup. They took a moment and told the two about the monster and what happened, Art getting vivid with what it felt like to be turned to stone and truly never wanting to feel that way again. Then they had noticed that the stairs that had moved didn't just lead them to a door but it also uncovered a door. They decided to check the bottom path first, it led into an empty dungeon that was filled with webs and old bones. A few monsters that had frilled clothing in bright colors were floating around, they were small like plush dolls almost, their faces were as black as a moonless night and two bright star shaped eyes that made them look sinister or cute, the group couldn't decide. They were unlike other monsters they had seen, that is something they all could agree on and when they were noticed the little monsters started casting spells, seeming to be some type of mage that let forth fire and ice attacks. They hit hard but they had very little health, making them much easier to deal with than they expected. They dealt with the floating mages and a chest popped up, inside was a new rod for Razah, one that upped her magic power as well as her mana heal over time, allowing her to regain mana without potions at a much quicker rate. The rest of the group feeling a bit jealous about that item but agreeing that if one of them were to have it that it was best for Razah. Sadly they didn't look around quite enough, missing a hidden chest under one of the cell beds and what was in their would always remain a mystery.
Make in the main room they started up the steps, no longer any type of traps in this area, they opened the door to the new room. It was as open as the first, this time there were stairs on either side of them, leading to a second floor and what looked like could lead even hire. Again their were no monsters but sets of Legion armor, showing that they had most likely dealt with the monsters in this area.
"Isn't there a respond time for monsters? I mean, they always showed back up in the forests after a time." Art was feeling curious about this one, something that he had wondered for some time now.
"My best guess as to why is that we have made the world real, unlike simply responding it takes them time, maybe the monster has to regain its power to manifest again, or the monsters would have to be remade by whoever made them. It seems it would depend on how they are made, some the obvious way but I am sure not all of them. It might also simply take time for them to fill an area again, meaning none of come to find this place as home yet. Where as slimes most likely reproduce at an extreme rate." Fenix had also had this thought for some time, seeing as it didn't quite fit video game pattern, he assumed it was because of the AI changing and updating to be more and more life like.
Both the path to the right and the left were blocked with gates made of lasers, with no lock to pick and no way to sneak past they had to now find the switch to turn them off. They made their way back deciding the door they had ignored in the beginning was in fact their only path, partly they assumed it was just going to be an extra room, like they had seen so many times before. As they took steps into the room the floor started to fall from under them, making them panic and start looking for tiles that hadn't fallen, they found themselves lined up on a single narrow path, the floor ahead of them still complete. They would have to slowly move and find the path, Tophuu and Meekle had fallen and were not back at the door making their way across with the others. They started moving forward, Fenix in the lead now Vixen and Art behind him and Razah just in front of Meekle and Tophuu, each step shaking the the area as tiles would fall from under them rapidly making them panic to find the ones they needed. Fenix tried to make a run for it, thinking he could out run the tiles but ended up falling through, it seemed as though the dungeon panned for all their abilities and was going to force them to play by their rules and now they had to find which random tiles that were left after Fenix's stunt, were the ones they needed.
Each step they felt their heart beat against their chest, taking it slowly and hovering their foot over the path first, though it didn't help as it was pressure sensitive and waited for their full body weight to start dropping. As they finally made their way across letting out a huge breath, as if they had been holding it in that whole time. The hall continued a bit, giving them a bit of space to move around in. The tile path fell away and the wall in front of them looked odd, a large face that reminded them of a old door knocker, assuming this some how had to be a trick wall or had some trigger on it that would take away the laser bars from the stairs they approached it, but as they got close the eyes opened up and a hallow laugh sounded from it. Beams shot from the eyes at them, burning them and carving into the floor around them, the wall was some type of trap monster. Fenix quickly turned to his elephant form, bashing against the solid wall as hard as he could, while Art started slashing and the rest opened up in their attacks.
After dealing some damage to it the wall moved forward, giving them less space to move around but the worry was that if it kept moving forward it would push them all off the ledge. They had to beat it quick and started opening up on it, using their stronger skills and attacks, but their was no room to do things like summon a large monster or turn into Ifrit. The wall had no real attacks aside from the beam he shot out of his eyes, this made it easy enough to not take much damage, but the more damage they did the faster it started moving, they were being pressed into small and smaller space. Razah started upping her magic trying to do larger spells but she had already gone down to half her mana in the time they had started the fight and she really didn't have time to heal up.
Fenix switched into his lion form, not needing to be fast he struck it as hard as he could, along with Meekle and Art would just weren't giving up as the others started to lose room to attack, soon Art lost his room as well and it was up to Meekle and Fenix who kept going, the others feeling the threat of the ledge behind them, getting ever closer. As their heels started sliding off the ledge the leaned forward against the wall just so they wouldn't fall. Fenix gave it one last strike before him and Meekle lost their form and all of them fell forward as the wall started to disappear.
"I said it once, I will say it again. Who made this place, it's like they are toying with us." Art got up to his knees and sat there for a moment, looking forward there was a single chest there waiting for them. They no longer worried about mimics sense they had finished that side quest and so they approached and once open it was a knew set of weapons for Fenix. Rather than just a set of knuckles for his hands, these wrapped around his knuckles up his hand and forearm to his elbow, where a blade protruded, extending his ability with elbow attacks to do more damage. Aside from the chest there was a box with a lever on it and a bolt symbol carved into it. With a single pull it sounded like a small zap and then the pulse of energy was gone, they quickly went back to check, finding that the left path was now open to them, while the right was still blocked.
They made their way up to find a door at the top, once opened they saw that it led outside onto a balcony that wrapped around the tower. As they took the path it started to lead up, ascending to a third floor, the door was unlocked and they made their way in, now having a path right in front of them and one to the right of them, they chose the one in front, sense that seemed to be where they usually had to go. They went in and found a set of stairs leading downward, not questioning this maze of a tower they followed it and as they went down and turned the corner they found something similar to the floating mage, except this one was tall and lengthy, its arms hung low, a bit past the knees that stayed in an odd bent position and it didn't just have eyes, this one had a smile, making it look evil and quite scary. Rather than magic it carried a large scythe with it.
They rushed out and Art immediately used his snatch ability, taking the scythe just like he did with Zellis and slashed the monster, this one had much more health than the smaller ones and knocked him back quickly as it took the scythe back. They started to understand what the Legion had to deal with when they had arrived, wondering just how many of these monsters were around before the Legion had finished so many of them off. Still they fought this one off and decided now was a good time to heal, not sure what would come next, as they had already fought two mini bosses it felt like. They moved forward finding the laser bars once more blocking their path, this time there was a switch right next to it, wondering why this one was so easy they pulled it and moved forward, only to find that they had went in a big circle, all of them now feeling stressed and annoyed as they turned around and went back to the room just before the balcony.
This time taking the other door that led up a spiral staircase into a room that had no walls, the path was broken up, like this part of the tower was unfinished, with beams to walk across and moving platforms to get to, as well as areas they had to climb up, vines tangled in the wall that they could grab onto, all while small flying wyverns attacked at them. They tried to keep their balance, seeing that there was some type of portal magic under them that would lead them back to the bottom floor if they fell and none of them wanting to climb all the way back up again. They all moved slowly and with caution, choosing their moments to attack wisely and moments where they just had to take the hits that were going to be coming for them. They knew they had enough heal potions to recover from some attacks, as they had panic bought a tone after the last few times they got stuck or ran out of healing potions.
They finally made it through but there was a treasure chest back in the area and they really wanted to know what was inside, deciding to risk it and go back for something worth while. They had to climb the wall sideways to get to it, finding that it held a bow for Vixen in it, what ever was happening they were being prepared for something more, her aim and power were both increased with this new bow, as well as allowing her to put magic into it to enchant arrows so that she could chose elements to hit enemies with.
Getting back they started their way back up, the tower seeming larger and larger as they continued, finding the next room filled with monsters, they felt at least it was a bit more normal and they didn't have to think so hard about traps. They finished off every monster, rather than skipping them they chose to take the experience points, this made a chest appear in the middle of the room, this time it had a whip for Tophuu, raising the trainer level to max for him and allowing him access to hidden skills. This seemed to be the easiest room for them, having gotten use to fighting and battling, their levels were high, but the traps and mini bosses threw them all for a loop.
As they went through the doors there nothing but a set of stairs on the other side, spanning the length of the room, at the top of which were a crushed statue, they guessed it to be one of the heroes but there was nothing left to make out which one, that made three that they weren't sure of, though they had seen the statues on the beach they were old and broke up and with three dungeons missing statues they could only guess at which heroes was to which one. However there was another treasure chest, inside were rare curse cards for Meekle, they all had images but he didn't want to waist time going through them now, putting them into his bag, as the door in front of them was larger than all the others, showing it self to be the boss room. Art felt a bit left out, as he had not gotten a single item through the entire dungeon, still he was happy for his friends and now really wasn't the time to wonder why he didn't get his.
The doors creaked as they opened, the floor was covered in a light mist and webs covered much of the area that looked like it was once a throne room. There was dim lighting from a few flames that hung from the high ceiling, the walls covered in thick dust that small spiders could be seen scurrying around on. All the signs were there, they knew what was coming next.
"You finally made it, welcome." That sinister voice once more ringing in their ears as the large spider came down the wall on the far side of them, though it had no mouth you could feel the grin that came over it. "Tell me, have you come to understand everything yet." They all looked at each other, remembering that she gave them confusing words once but they had never really thought to hard on them.
"You mean that the dungeons were all made by the past heroes, correct?" Fenix was the only one to try and answer her riddle.
"Oh, so you have thought about it, good and you are so very close." She made her way to the center of the room and a beaming blue light swirled around her, all of them feeling blinded as they tried to keep watch, raising their forearms to block some of the light, all of them clutching their weapons in case this was an attack. As the light faded the image became more clear, a woman with white flowing hair and lavender eyes stood in black armor with hints of silver on them. Though beautiful armor, it was warn and used, showing just how old it was and in one hand she held a long black sword, all along it there were engravings in some old elvish tongue. As the shock wore off that the large spider was actually a woman they started to realize she looked familiar.
"Wait you can't be." Art took a step forward.
"Yes, I can. You see we did not just build the dungeons, each boss you slew was once one of the seven." A smug yet evil smile came over her as she held her sword to them.
"Why would you turn into monsters? Just to protect the relic pieces, you were plenty strong enough to do that before weren't you?" Vixen had so many questions that came rolling off her tongue.
"We did not choose to be monsters." She snarled at the thought, "The relic was meant to seal Bahamut away, but his evil power seeped through and slowly started to change us into these things. Thus we made a plan and we stayed in the dungeons, but some hundred years ago I became aware of who I was and found that I was able to change to my old form." Though she was explaining everything clearly, even if her tone was filled with hate and disgust at the fact, the group looked on baffled and in total disbelief. "All who hold the seals for to long will one day suffer the same fate." She was done talking, her stance had changed, her sword at the ready.
They drew but she was to quick, finding her way to them with what looked like a single step to their eyes, her sword met with Arts and she hissed, showing that even now she was not a full human form, as her spider fangs came out of her mouth and threatened Art. She was quickly slammed away by Ifrit who burst into flames and charged slamming the wall that she had hit but she was gone before he got to her.
"Attack." Art shouted out as he rushed at her, not wanting to give her a chance, not going to let fear stop him. She seemed to dodge each and every attack, mocking them with her laugh as she did so, but they weren't trying to hit her, just keep her attention as Razah went into her Goddess Dweller form and shot a beam that made the room itself shake, but she was able to dodge it, and lead it towards Ifrit, draining him and making him turn back into Fenix. Razah quickly stopped the attack and found herself losing her form, they had all got so use to unleashing their most powerful moves that they were taken off guard at the fact she was dodging. It was going to come down to their fighting skills, using the new weapons they had found in the castle to take her on.
Art decided to start slow this time, having four swords summoned and trying to cover a larger area so she couldn't dodge without finding herself at the point of one of his other swords, he was trying to contain her while the rest let out attacks. Vixen started placing traps all along the floor, feeling that it would be a waist to pull out her ultimate trap if she was just going to dodge it like she had with the rest of the group. Razah had to heal up before she was able to start attacking, trying to hit her with Anubis so that she could get her to stay still long enough for them to do some real damage.
Their strategy was going well till Art stepped into a trap and webs shot from the floor and held him in place, he struggled to get out but it was as if the web was made of iron. This gave her more freedom that Fenix tried to diminish by getting in close and using his speed to try and keep up with her, showing that they had truly good fighting skills, it was as if she was trying to teach them not to rely on their magic and special abilities to much, that there were other forms of fighting. Though she wasn't going easy on them, hitting them with all she had and the sword she used left a black mark where ever she cut them, some kind of curse or effect that they had yet to figure out.
Art finally got free and she took the chance, holding out her hand to Fenix, a web shot from it and through him against a wall, Meekle was quick to pick up Fenix's place as well as Art, keeping close on her, he started using combos but all his attacks only hit for one damage, as did everyone else. It was some kind of curse that her sword had put on them, one of the symbols that lined the sword started glowing, a sword that could do different effects, none of which were in Meekle's spell list. They didn't let that stop them, one damage at a time was better than zero, she was shocked that this did not make them waver, in fact it excited her as a burst flew from her, sending them all back in a shock wave. Fenix got himself free quick but was waiting and watching like the rest of them.
"You are all doing so well, it has been so long sense I have had a good fight." The wind pressure around her got worse as she started floating up and though they didn't see her move at all slashes came down at them, cutting into the stone and breaking it up. This left them all dodging randomly, nervous as they couldn't see where it was coming from or how she was doing it. A wind spell, the Slashing Sword, a powerful attack that made strikes of wind cut through almost anything, they could see how the seven were powerful enough to defeat Bahamut. Razah felt like this was her opening, using her Anubis magic now, the wraps shot from the ground and got pulled in by the wind, making them wrap tighter around her.
They all rushed in, there damage slowly starting to come back to them as they let out attack after attack, her health started finally showing some give as it fell below half health but the wraps didn't hold her long enough for them to do much more. Still there was no give in them, they continued fighting with all they had as a large smile appeared on her face, but suddenly everything stopped when her hands reached out to them.
"I am so glad you have become strong warriors, these dungeons have done what they were meant to. You must know, the Legion is not all it seems to be, they were just puppets, with only one leader." The sound of metal covered boots on stone could be heard from outside the hall. The group was released and the portal out of the tower was opened with a flick of the boss's hand.
"Wait, but we aren't done, we still need the relic." Art begged of her, even though he heard the steps, he wasn't ready to give up, partly because he wanted to learn more from her.
"You were never meant to have them, we would not curse you to share in our fate, being remembered only as monsters. This was all to get you ready to defeat Bahamut once and for all, so that he may never threaten this world again." She gave him a smile, the sinister look fading from her face, revealing a kind soul, "That beach, that was the last place I got to see my friends, where we said goodbye, I wanted to be able to look on it always and so I build my tower here." The doors burst open and with that the once hero pushed them back towards the exit with her wind magic.
"Hello sister." The evil woman of the Legion spoke.
"I am not your sister, Dabria." The hero met her with a glare.
"Come now Alexandra. You may have thrown the only brother you had into an eternal abyss but he was my love." Her voice started getting darker, "And I will bring him back." The room started to shake and crumble around them, the rest of the group pulling Art out, who wanted to stay and fight, but that was not how it was going to happen. They found themselves back at the entrance, the top of the tower and a green light beaming out of it, they knew it was not going to play in their favor. They had to get far away from there, they had to start planning a counter attack as soon as they could or else the world was going to be lost, knowing now that the plan was always for Bahamut to be revived and for them to slay him, rather than sealing him away only to have his darkness seep into the world around them and turn them into the same kind of monsters that Alexandra and the other passed heroes became. They were tasked with creating a new fate for this world and ending the Legions reign once and for all.