23 They really are that big

3 arrows and an icicle made their way towards Yuri are breakneck speed. With a single gesture, Yuri opted to repulse everything within five feet away, including the projectiles and Falmer parts underneath him.

An arrow from Karliah found its way into the back of a Falmer head to his left, so he went right and met three more. His arms, already covered in a dull gray sheen, met the blind archer in the chest and face simultaneously. It fell back in a spray of alien blue blood. Another arrow and icicle from the two partners next to it retaliated.

With ESP he grasped them and flipped the arrow while returning them both to sender. Control like that was harder the more objects and accuracy he attempted to achieve but hitting them both in the chest was doable. They weren't dead yet, however. The already struck Falmer rose again with a bloody nose and let out a screech before charging with abandon.

It tried to swipe its right claw at him diagonally, only for Yuri to create an icicle and dodge left while shoving said icicle in the underside of the Falmer's jaw till it protruded out the top of its head.

Yuri moved on, seeing the wounded aiming again. He tp'd {teleported from now on} behind them to ensure they'd miss and went for the caster. He struck the back of its knee, then approached and snapped its neck in one smooth motion. The archer almost notched another arrow but was met with ice bullets that filled its chest till dead.

Karliah wasn't being approached. In a twist of fate, Brynjolf was and he was out of sight of Karliah's bow.

Yuri tp'd up to the mud platform Brynjolf had dug into the corner of and gained the attention of the two daredevil wannabe via their crazy senses.

Before they could turn around, Yuri had shoved his steel-coated fists through their chests. It also seemed that his arms held an orange hue.

Behind Aren's back, Yuri had experimented with heating his skin while the 'metal skin' spell was active in the hopes of granting him an edge toward armored opponents even when he was amid CQC. It worked, though he couldn't grant himself too much heat or risk hurting himself or canceling the effect of his skin durability spell.

Brynjolf looked up to his savior with stars in his eyes while Yuri tp'd up to higher ground to finish off the last stragglers who still held bows near the exit door.

After finishing them off, he was delighted to find that the mercenaries and the Falmer he had killed had actually given him 245 RP, making his total 8845.

Yuri had beckoned his so-so crew to follow him up afterward and they climbed the non-man friendly mud inclines to get to the dwemer door.

What followed were more repeated changes of scenery between Dwemer spaces that had suffered serious natural renovation and were thus covered in Falmer huts and chaurus nests, and tighter hallways that the automatons still guarded dearly against the reclaiming act. Karliah and Yuri took point for the Dwemer, while the occasional swarm created by a small sound would happen that would force them into a frontal confrontation. Brynjolf was healed by Yuri multiple times.

He did not expect it to take multiple hours of what seemed like an eternal change in atmospheric pressure. How deep could this thing possibly go?

It wasn't long after that that Yuri and Co. found a set of highly incriminating stairs that led to another bronze door. It was nearly 20 feet down and spoke volumes of a final boss room.

Yuri started down the stairs first, followed by the two. They reached the bottom, and an uneasy feeling took the two other than Yuri. He opened the door with a clank, having already sensed nothing behind it. A hallway made of smooth stone on every wall, floor, and ceiling stretched 50 feet forward before a half-circle platform led to what they could only describe as a drop-off. Yuri knew there would be stairs to either side since he recognized the room.

"Stay here," Yuri said. With his ESP he saw the statue of the Snow Elf that stood since before the Dwemer made monsters and slaves out of them. He also saw what Mercer had in store for them behind it, and he didn't like it one bit.

"I'm here for Mercer, you can't make me leave him after all this time" Replied Karliah predictably.

"You're welcome to die if you like because I can assure you that what is past this hallway is nothing a bow and arrow can handle," Yuri replied.

Before she or Brynjolf could offer more complaint, another voice butted in.

"I'm not sure who you are or how you felt it, but you're quite perceptive for someone who takes the company of fools" A gravely and treacherous voice resounded through the smooth stone corridor. The voice's owner appeared in a puff of dark smoke at the edge of their vision.

"Mercer!"

"Karliah, I had a nagging feeling you refused to die" Replied Mercer.

"I will avenge Gallus today at all cost" She spoke coldly with vindication.

"Hahaha. If you're so intent on avenging that busybody then come and join him" Mercer once again evaporated, and Karliah fell for the bait before running down the hall.

Yuri pushed back Brynjolf and erected a wall of ice in front of him before turning back around. Karliah can get herself killed, but Bryn is of even less help and has already served his purpose.

Yuri hadn't planned to let Karliah die today, but if she walks into a trap and gets herself killed the key is all his. His eyes followed the fool as she was nearly at the end, having already drawn her bow and getting ready to shoot as soon as she left it.

Unfortunately, his ESP also followed the fucking monstrosity that was hiding behind the already looted Snow Elf statue as it brought its hand on its shoulder and pulled itself up a head taller than the statue's height.

"They really are that big. Why must historians be so fickle with the facts" Karliah was only 10 feet away from certain death. "Damnit," Yuri tp'd to the edge of the corridor and grabbed Karliah before pulling her back and throwing a ward in front of him.

"SSSTTTTTSSSSS" A billow of steam came out of the Dwemer Centurion that stood at least 60 feet tall. Yuri perfected his Flame Ward spell, which assisted with the billowing heat, and connected himself to the Eye while powering it through his right hand as much as possible. His mana drained rapidly, and for the first time, his entire arm felt the strain of moving that much mana through it while his heart tightened and ached in his chest. He cast Greater Healing on himself with his now empty left hand to tide the possible damage.

"Provide cover fire or stay back. This is out of your league" 'Erebus' admonished in a deep and unrelenting voice.

She responded only with a nod of mixed emotions. Yuri took that as enough. He looked at his newest enemy,

The room was longer than he remembered, and only a little bit wider while being largely unblemished save for the loose stone the metal monster was kicking up. The Centurion had plenty of walking room before hitting the statue it climbed around or the wall Yuri was in. A space behind the statue held the Centurion's charging station, with a small staircase wrapping the statue that it used to get around it.

The most noticeable thing about it was that Mercer was sitting on the damn thing's shoulder with a grin full of victory and schadenfreude. The only way this guy could've controlled a centurion was with that damn key. He was even more interested.

Unfortunately, no matter how cleverly he sleight of hands it off of his corpse, he would only be casting suspicion on himself with Karliah if she couldn't retrieve it. He would have to follow Karliah to the Sepulcher and mark it for later to avoid suspicion, then take it at a later date. He had no plans of killing her just for the key as Mercer did, that would be painfully retrospective.

Yuri knocked those thoughts out of his head and quickly made a battle plan. He would need to take advantage of his increased mobility over the larger and slower enemy while aiming for the controller if possible or whittling the thing down. No way he was taking that steam breath on again.

Yuri tp'd to the other side of the... wait...

'Fuck! I can't teleport!' Yuri thought, while Mercer's grin grew wider as his hand was held out to him.

Yuri tried using Telekinesis to grab Mercer by the neck, only to be blocked by presumably the same mechanic he was using to suppress Yuri's space abilities.

Before the Centurion reeled in another hissing breath, Yuri used Earth magic to cling to the walls and run diagonally up the back and jump to the other side facing wall away from it. He erected a small platform for himself at eye level with the metal beast and his arm grew foggy as he charged his famous lightning bolt. An arrow glided through the air and approached Mercer then harmlessly bounced off of some shield he had.

"She won't be any help," He thought out loud.

Yuri released his thunderbolt, and with the sound of war drums, the room flashed as it struck the metal titan square in the chest. The centurion staggered, and Mercer grew bug-eyed but remained fixed on his puppet. Noticing he might need to help the Centurion, he reached out and tried to snap Yuri's neck himself.

Yuri felt his telekinesis coming from a mile away and blocked it promptly. The guy was an amateur, but an annoying one. Devoting time to thwart his telekinesis would cause Yuri to have to split his focus and delay him, which is probably exactly what he hoped for.

The centurion was up thanks to Mercer's distraction, and this time he reeled and fired a five-ton punch without bothering with the steam. Yuri jumped to avoid it and landed on the fist that crunched his platform into powder and was still shaking from the force.

Yuri relied on gravity magic and telekinesis to keep his balance while he strode forward to the shoulder connected to the arm.

Mercer was relaxed. Too relaxed. He got up and dusted himself off leisurely before pulling out Chillrend from thin air and giving it a test swing. Yuri halted in place.

'Shit, CQC is a non-option with his swordsmanship'

Yuri charged a spell in his right index and middle finger that finally elicited a frown from Mercer. He held up his sword to guard right before a bright red laser tore through the air and hit Chillrend in the spine. Yuri guided his laser spell down to try and cut him somewhere but was soon frustrated by the fact that Mercer didn't need to move at light speed to block it, just had to follow the motion of his fingers. So Yuri aimed somewhere else.

Mercer was confident in CQC, so he made the Centurion stand still while they fought on his arm. Yuri aimed at its neck.

Mercer panicked and made the Centurion turn its head toward its own arm and fire a steam blast. By the time it did, Yuri was already halfway through its thick neck and had a ward in front of him with a 'spear hole' he was firing his laser out of. The centurion's head was soon falling toward the ground while steam was exiting its mouthpiece in plumes instead of streams. Yuri quickly canceled the spell while nursing his right arm with a heal from 'overheating'.

Mercer took the opportunity to charge and aim for the head. With a horizontal swing, Yuri was forced to duck and use his superhuman agility to its maximum before aiming a dull gray fist to Mercer's abdomen.

Mercer stabbed the ground and Yuri's punch rebounded off of it, but Chillrend didn't cut him. Yuri used his other hand to repulse Mercer and gain some much-needed distance. At this point, the Centurion began to tilt toward the entrance wall.

Mercer quickly teleported off the thing and went to the book the statue was holding to land. Yuri didn't feel suppressed anymore and teleported himself to the shoulder opposite and above Mercer.

'He can't use space techniques and stop others from using them at the same time.' He noted. Mercer frowned and knew he had been found out. He quickly teleported by Yuri's side and swung in the same motion, but Yuri simply switched places with him before charging a series of fireballs around him. He started using Fire spells to offset Chillrend if only a little bit. His only hope would be immediately and aggressively cauterizing if he were cut.

Mercer fired an Ice spear and Yuri fired three fireballs simultaneously. One of them met the spear and destroyed it, while the others went around and tried to hit Mercer. He teleported once again, right above Yuri while aiming a suppression at him with his left and swinging Chillrend straight down with his right.