Varyn felt his chest tighten when he heard Elyra's declaration in the distance. Their relationship was certainly strained when he first asked her to return home and his offer was refused, but it hadn't devolved into hatred yet. It had been, at most, a daughter's rebellious demeanor. Now, she had gone so far as to declare that she would kill him, even at the cost of her life.
It saddened him greatly to have reached this point, but it was inevitable given his plans. He was somewhat prepared for it, yet it still hurt him nonetheless, and it was all Bastion's fault.
The pain and sadness in his chest were slowly replaced with anger and rage toward the man who had taken his daughter. He had driven a wedge between them, and for that, he must die.
Quickly, he downed a mana potion, approached them through the shadows, and reinstated his control over the Shadow World to prevent Elyra from leaving to call for more reinforcements. He now had to kill Bastion and capture his daughter to ensure he could still maintain his position as the Chief of the Shadow Wolfkin Village without suspicion.
To do that, he needed reinforcements of his own, so he called for his four most loyal Shadow Guardians, who had sworn their loyalty to him. From the shadows crept four shadow wolfkin, who appeared kneeling in silence, ready for further orders.
'Capture my daughter, Elyra, and imprison her in the dungeon,' he said through telepathy. 'I will take care of the Duke and delay him for as long as possible.'
They nodded in acceptance before surrounding Bastion and Elyra, ready to pounce.
Meanwhile, Bastion and Elyra came up with a plan of their own through telepathy, which only took them a second to process before enacting.
'How are the girls?' Bastion asked.
'They escaped not long after you drew the Chief away. Lilia healed James and left him weakened with the goblins, where he will try to gather the survivors. They are about a day's run away from here,' Elyra replied.
'Good. Now, I want you to use Shadow Recall to reach my brother, Alexander, and have him bring reinforcements while surrounding the Shadow Wolfkin Village at the same time.'
'I can't,' she replied with difficulty. 'The Shadow World has been sealed. I cannot use Shadow Recall to pass through.'
'Alright, then we'll do this together. I'll chase him down while you try to trip him up. All we need is one good debilitating blow, and we'll be able to take him down.'
'Yes, Master.'
'Ely, are you sure you want to—' Bastion began, conveying doubt, before his thought was interrupted.
'Yes, Master. Varyn is no father of mine,' Elyra replied with conviction and visceral hate.
'Alright. Let's start with you trying to escape west toward the border while I cover your retreat.'
'Yes, Master,' Elyra replied before taking off on foot.
She didn't manage to get far before four walls of shadows erupted around her, trapping her in a dome formed by combined Shadow Ramparts. The dome also severed the telepathic connection between Bastion and Elyra.
Quickly, Bastion opened fire with his autocannon, targeting the side of the dome to consume the skill's mana, but a scythe suddenly swung toward him from behind, threatening to behead him. He reacted immediately, swapping weapons with his Weapon Slot before blocking the blade with his shield.
"How dare you!" Varyn shouted in anger. "How dare you bring my daughter into this fight."
"What fight?" Bastion shot back, turning to face Varyn behind him. "Did you mean our little game of cat and mouse, where you ran like a coward afraid to face me?"
"Graaa!" Varyn growled before continuing his assault.
He attacked with speed and precision, targeting the gaps in Bastion's armor while continuously using Slash at level 7, which allowed him to strike four times in an instant. His form was ruthless, with wide swings that left him seemingly open to counterattacks.
Bastion blocked every strike with his shield without using any skills; even Reinforce was inactive. He knew from the first attack that Varyn was putting on a show rather than risking his life with each overextension. His own experience fighting Elyra had taught him exactly how deft shadow wolfkin were, and from his point of view, Varyn was trying to delay the fight rather than go for blood.
This meant that Varyn's goal wasn't to kill Bastion but to buy enough time to capture Elyra and wait for the potion's effects to wear off.
What Varyn didn't know was that the potion didn't have a fixed duration; instead, it acted as an energy reserve. Bastion had a significant amount of energy stored in his body, and as he expended it, he would gradually return to normal. According to Seraphina, if he managed to survive without using it all, the reserve would naturally deplete over the course of about a week.
Right now, Bastion had enough energy to keep the fight going for at most a day, assuming he continued to chase Varyn down as before while freely expending his stamina on skills. If he simply maintained a defensive stance, however, he could easily last three days instead.
As for Elyra's predicament of being trapped in a dome and forced to battle four assailants of equal strength, Bastion wasn't worried. Their aim wasn't to kill but to capture, and Elyra had more than enough toys to play with, courtesy of Bastion, Seraphina, and Lilia.
The fake battle continued as Varyn attacked relentlessly while Bastion calmly blocked every strike. All the while, he was trying his best to find a single opening in Varyn's assault. Unfortunately, Varyn was skilled enough to prevent even one actionable attack from being countered. Even if Bastion had decided to take a hit in exchange, Varyn was simply that well-guarded.
As Bastion had expected, the Shadow Rampart dome suddenly collapsed, releasing a swirl of white smoke that spread across the area. When the smoke cleared, Elyra stood tall, while the four shadow wolfkin that had surrounded her lay on the ground with their necks slit.
She had used one of Seraphina's Sleeping Mist Potions, which could knock out even Rank 2 opponents if they breathed in enough of it. She, meanwhile, still wore her mask, which prevented her from being affected.
She also had other devices that would have been handy in a completely enclosed room, like Bastion and Lilia's Disorientation Grenade. Essentially a flashbang, concussion grenade, and stink bomb all in one. It releases a bright flash that lingers for five seconds while simultaneously exploding with a loud bang and expelling a puff of extremely foul-smelling substance capable of knocking out anything with acute senses. The perfect weapon against shadow wolfkin like herself.
"Run, Elyra!" Bastion shouted. "Get reinforcements!"
Elyra immediately bolted west toward the Kingdom of Brilliance, while Bastion attacked Varyn in earnest, throwing out orbs of light to prevent him from slipping into the shadows. He even illuminated his armor, which was covered in diamonds, making him look like a disco ball.
Varyn panicked when he realized his four Shadow Guardians had failed to capture his daughter. They weren't any weaker than her, so it was strange how she managed to beat them. Still, he couldn't allow her to escape, as it would be the end of him if they managed to secure reinforcements, so he ignored Bastion and began chasing after her.
He used Dash and immediately began closing the distance, while Bastion used Charge to follow. Occasionally, Varyn would use Dodge to evade Bastion's whip sword, creating some distance between himself and his daughter. However, Elyra was simply too slow in comparison, so the chase remained relatively even.
Suddenly, diamonds began raining in a wide area in front of him. He could try to push through, but something told him not to push his luck. He attempted to dive into the shadows, but Bastion's accursed orbs of light prevented him from slipping through, forcing him to take the long way around.
Bastion noticed that Varyn was taking a detour, so he quickly summoned and mounted his diamond steed before taking out the autocannon and bombarding Varyn, who was taking the long way around. Still, the barrage was largely useless, as Varyn used the surrounding trees for cover, although it did slow him down.
Their chase continued for roughly an hour before Varyn finally managed to catch up. He used the trees as cover to avoid the storm of bullets and jumped along branches to bypass the minefield of diamonds, before finally pouncing on Elyra from behind.
That was when Elyra suddenly turned, holding out Bastion's Disorientation Grenade and letting it explode in her hand between them.
Varyn's senses were immediately assaulted. He was blinded by a flash of light, his sense of smell and even taste overwhelmed by a horrid stench, his hearing deafened by a loud, sharp bang, and even his sense of touch assaulted by a ripple of pressure as he flew through the air.
Elyra took her chance and attacked with her twin swords aiming at his ankles, but Varyn was nothing if not experienced. Through sheer instinct alone, he managed to block the attacks and caught them on his arms as shallow wounds instead, ensuring he couldn't be pinned down.
He tumbled to the ground and immediately bolted away at full speed, intending to run for his life, but that was when Bastion deployed his own trick. Pebbles, who had been waiting patiently, softened the ground where the disoriented Varyn intended to step, trapping his feet in the soil before slowly swallowing him into the earth.
Of course, merely being buried in soil wasn't enough to hold a Rank 2, so Varyn jumped with all his might while activating Jump in an attempt to reach a tree branch above him.
Unfortunately for him, Elyra was one step ahead. She threw her sword at the branch, severing its connection to the tree and preventing Varyn from continuing his escape. Exposed and defenseless as he slowly fell, he became an easy target for Elyra and Bastion.
Realizing his predicament, Varyn drew his poisoned daggers and hurled them with deadly precision at both Elyra and Bastion.
Rather than defend, Bastion used Charge, ignoring the thrown daggers, fully intent on getting his hands on Varyn. Elyra, meanwhile, threw her own daggers with deadly precision, hitting every dagger Varyn launched and deflecting them just enough to miss their intended targets.
Before Varyn could land on the ground and continue his escape, Bastion grabbed him by the ankles and pulled until his other hand closed around Varyn's neck, holding on tightly to make sure he didn't get away.
"I finally got you," Bastion growled, a menacing smile spreading across his face.
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