Chapter 7 - Death Traps are Annoying

"Gastly, take her!" Locki yelled, tossing Phe's unconscious body over to the Pokemon. He couldn't see if the gas ball caught her or not as the stone spears formed out of the walls, ceiling and floor shot at him at blinding speeds.

The teen crouched low, tucking his legs into his chest and holding his faceplate to his knees. He felt the impacts seconds after. Stone crashed into his armor and lost. They shattered almost immediately, filling the air with shards of stone and dust.

Locki gasped as the pain hit him. It felt like several people had jumped him; several spears bounced on his helmet, making it feel like the world was spinning for a moment. His vision rocked side to side as another wave of spears slammed into him with the force of a tidal wave.

He flew for a moment as the spears took him off the ground and threw him into a nearby wall. His armor creaked like an old bridge as several spots sunk close to his skin, and Locki panicked a bit as he felt the dents in his armor grow larger.

Locki bit his lip, feeling the situation slowly grow out of control. He knew his armor would hold up against the spears for a while, but the longer this went on, the greater the chance of his death. Taking a deep breath, he forcefully calmed himself down while another rain of spears pelted him from all over, counting the intervals between the waves of spears as he was pelted again.

"Five seconds…" he whispered to himself. Suddenly, he felt his Curse available for activation. Locki blinked, feeling the ephemeral palm try to wrap around something in the air. Inside his armor, the teen wondered aloud, "Will it really work like this?"

"Five seconds per wave, activated by a Vulcan, stone make magic, magic that is tied to this building, based on the strength…" Locki felt his vision blur as another stone spear slipped through the hands he wrapped around his head and knocked into his faceplate. He sputtered and cursed as several of the vertical slits he looked through warped, slamming into his nose with a sickening snap. "Fucker! At least B-rank magic!"

He tightened his metaphorical grip on the magic and the intervals between waves slowed down immediately. Even the spears started to come out much slower than usual. Locki counted for a moment, clicking his tongue when it took a whole twenty seconds for the next wave to come. He weathered through the stone spears much more comfortably this time as most of them skittered against his armor while only a couple hit him in large enough places to matter.

Locki sighed in relief. He had bought himself more time, and that was all that mattered. With an exhausted huff, he snapped up after the next wave of spears stopped.

He found the room had more divots than before. Small pockets of the room had been deformed with stone spears slowly forming by pulling the surrounding stone into itself before angling towards him. The stone shards from broken spears were slowly melding back into the floor as he watched on. Locki added that information to his Curse, and felt his grip on the magic strengthen.

He grinned behind his armor, looking around for his companion. He found Gastly immediately. Locki hadn't been concerned with the little gas ball of malice; the Pokemon had proved time and time again that it could simply dodge physical attacks if it wanted to. No, his attention was more on the woman who dangled from the Pokemon's hold.

Phe's arms and legs dangled as Gastly carried her by biting into her shirt and floating off the ground. However, it was either not strong enough or didn't care enough as her wrists and knees dragged along the rough stone floor, ripping her pants and sleeves and giving her a horrible case of road rash. Locki ignored her injuries, noting that the stone spears were mainly targeting him.

"Gas!" Gastly cried, unceremoniously dropping Phe on her face. She bounced off the floor, and Locki felt that his Pokemon had done that on purpose.

"She still breathing?" Locki asked, looking at the spears that were forming around him. He counted fifteen were growing out of the ceiling and five from both the walls and floor. Frowning, he wondered if that was only because there was more mass above or something.

"Gas!" Gastly responded as the spears shot towards him.

Locki assumed it was an affirmation as he stepped out of the way of the spears from the floor first. He had learned that the spears only tracked him so long as they were attached to the building, but as soon as they flew at him, he could dodge. His Curse gave him just enough time to get out of the way of most of them while the rest skittered harmlessly on his armor, creating sparks as they broke and their pieces flew everywhere.

"Yep, armor is the fucking best." Locki nodded to himself. He was lucky that the Vulcan wasn't possessing someone stronger or else the spears could have been reinforced by magic.

With another interval of peace, Locki made quick strides over to the Enchanted Rapier still stuck in the dead male Vulcan. He had made the decision to kill the mage for two reasons: one, he didn't really want to deal with a grief stricken mage much stronger than him, and two, he was fairly sure he could get away with it. The mage was most likely a non-guild mage who had been protecting this town and had an unlucky encounter with a lone Vulcan. At most, the only complaints he'd get would be from townspeople who had been his friends or family.

A reasonable loss in his books.

Sadly, he kissed whatever connections he made in this town goodbye as he looked at the corpse of the male Vulcan. He was a good-looking guy all things considered; blue eyes and a crown of curly, brown hair with fairly attractive features. It was a sad fact that you could kill a Vulcan if you killed the person they were possessing.

Despite that, Locki yanked his rapier out of the man's chest, dodging a spurt of blood as it rose from the wound. The teen frowned and ruthlessly stabbed the body several more times, nodding to himself when it didn't react. His hold on the magic around him strengthened further.

Feeling a bit more confident, Locki took a look around again. The room was completely walled off from the outside, but the doorway to the rest of the building was still there. He was no genius about magic, so he didn't really know if that was intentional or not.

Refreshing his Curse on the stone spears that were forming again– twenty seven this time with most of them on the ceiling, he looked back to the unconscious Phe. Gastly had picked her up again, and from the blinking stare, Locki felt that the Pokemon wanted to drop her again.

He frowned. "No."

Gastly blinked. Locki shook his head. "No, we're lucky she's even breathing in the first place. I'll get more connections with Mermaid Heel if I bring her back alive."

Locki grimaced as the Pokemon looked absolutely devastated that it couldn't continue to "accidentally" injure the woman more. He knew that Gastly liked misfortune, but he didn't know how bad the gas ball had it for injuring people. It was certainly a thankful trait when they had enemies, though. Not so much for his unwitting rescue.

"Mmmm, wha…" Phe mumbled, startling Gastly enough that it dropped her again. Her head bounced on the floor, cutting off whatever she was going to say.

Locki paused. Gastly looked away from him. The armored blonde sighed and marched over to the woman, putting his ear up to her nose and mouth. A soft rush of air told him she was fine, but her misshapen nose told him that she might not feel too good when she woke up.

The young guild master took a glance at the spears that were about to shoot at him and placed a hand on his neck. A loud crack went through the silent room as he popped his neck. He reasoned that the spears formed where there was more mass so that the walls and floors wouldn't get too thin.

With that thought, Locki looked up. He counted twelve spears this time, and felt that his assumption was right. His Curse strengthening only reinforced his assumption.

"This is a good way to figure shit out, huh… damn, why couldn't I have this magic before." Locki mused before he looked back to Gastly. "We're going up, you little snot ball. Don't drop her."

Gastly bobbed, smacking Phe's head against the floor in the process. The young guild master sighed. That was probably the best he was going to get. He just hoped that she wouldn't have brain damage by the time he returned her to her guild.

Taking off out of the room, Locki ducked under another wave of spears that shot at him when he got to a long hallway. Based on the layout of the first floor, Locki knew that the building was built more like a spiral; there were a row of rooms that bordered the outside of the building and a row of rooms that were in the center. The only hallway was in the middle of those two, and it snaked in a spiral pattern so that you had to basically make a circle to get to the next floor.

All that meant was that Locki was running through a long stretch of hallway filled with spears if he wanted to get to the top. More spears formed around him, taking up most of the walls on either side of him. He passed by several rooms as he grunted in pain when one spear landed on his back, striking the area he had injured in his fight with the female Vulcan.

Locki pushed through the pain, offering a glance behind him. Gastly was smart enough to not drag Phe closer to him as the spears were mainly forming behind him and shooting towards his back. If it drew closer, then it might get caught up in the wave of spears that shot at him.

However, that didn't mean there were no spears that targeted Gastly and Phe. There were around two or three that shot at them, but Gastly easily bobbed and weaved around them, letting several pass through its body as it focused on making sure Phe wasn't hit.

After going up another two flights of stairs, Locki felt that the hallways were shortening. That either meant he was getting to the top or had accidentally let too many spears smack him on the head. He hoped it was the former as Phe finally started to wake up.

"Wha? Was' goin on?" The woman slurred, and Locki turned to see that her eyes were half-lidded. Her hazy gaze took in her surroundings for a moment before she finally recovered.

Then, she screamed. Gastly dropped her immediately, but this time she caught herself, rolling as she hit the floor. Her arms trembled as her hands dug into her sides, scratching herself raw. Phe's eyes shot around the room, finally catching his figure and warily looking at him. She looked nothing like a dignified mage from a renowned Magic Guild.

"Glad you're finally-"

"S- stay back!" She screamed, turning and running into a nearby room before Locki could speak. Gastly gave him a look as if it knew this would happen.

The teen ignored the Pokemon, rushing after the woman. She was obviously not in the right state of mind, and he had a fairly good idea why. However, even if he had an idea what she was going through, he would not let her kill herself after all the effort he put into keeping her alive.

Locki found the woman wrapped in a bundle of large thorns that extended out from her green hair. She was curled up in her spikey blanket in the corner of the room, shaking like a leaf in the wind. Her eyes were darting around the room as her hair automatically rose up to knock the stone spears that were targeting her away. Though, he did notice that there the spears cut a fair amount of her hair as there were several thorny vines that wriggled on the floor before disappearing in motes of green light.

Phe's eyes locked on him as she yelled, "Get away from me!"

"Calm down," Locki said softly, trying his best to not seem too harsh. Carefully, he took a step closer while he eyed the spears that formed around him. He was both annoyed and frustrated at this situation that he had half a mind of knocking her out again.

But then Gastly would definitely not let him hear the end of it.

"D- don't come any closer!" Phe screamed, withdrawing deeper into her hair shield. Several large vines shot at him as he ignored her words, bouncing on the floor and walls randomly as they advanced on him.

Locki sighed. He tried. He really did, and he couldn't really blame the woman for reacting badly. She had been possessed by the female Vulcan, but that didn't mean she didn't stop feeling or experiencing what was happening with her body. It probably felt like she was a passenger to her own body while the female and male Vulcan did… whatever they did.

He had heard of other people who had broken down after they were possessed by Vulcans before. They had described the experience as a very terrifying torture as they were forced to watch as the Vulcan used their body for whatever it wanted.

However, even if he knew that, Locki was already trying to escape one death trap without Phe trying to kill him too. His Curse reacted, grabbing and slowing everything about her. Locki had already gotten a plethora of information about Phe Copper, so the vines that were shooting at him slowed to a crawl.

He caught sight of the woman's eyes widening inside her vine curtain as he easily stepped through the attack. Locki calmly walked through what he counted as seven thigh-sized, green vines. He stepped over one vine that inched closer to him, ducked under one that tried to take him out at chest height and pushed the last one one out of the way as he stood in front of the terrified woman.

Locki breathed heavily. He had been using his Curse off and on for much longer than he planned, and this death trap was straining his stamina more than he wanted, especially when he was already running up so many stairs. As such, he was reasonably frustrated with Phe's fearful actions.

Gastly hovered menacingly over his shoulder, dropping a thick, purple fog over his back. The smog dropped to the floor as it formed what looked like a cape made out of noxious smog over his battered, silver armor.

At the same time, Locki released his hold over the stone spears around them. He carefully angled himself so that he stood in front of Phe, reaching for her while his hold over the spears disappeared. She flinched as they shot over faster than he had time to think.

Locki wheezed as several spears slammed into his bruised back while the rest glanced over the hard edges of his armor. The ones that missed him or glanced off his armor tore into Phe's defensive spell, ripping it apart as his armored hands roughly grasped onto her shoulders. He pulled her to the side as another spear cut through the vines above her and barely missed her right arm.

"[Calm down]." He hissed, bringing his face close to hers. Idly, he readjusted his Curse on the death trap around them and removed it from her. "I understand you are reasonably distressed, but your actions are putting both my and your lives in danger. Either [get your shit together] or I will leave you here."

"I- I- I…" Phe fumbled over her tongue, looking down at the floor. She bit her lip, and Locki finally heaved a sigh of relief as he found that she was no longer shaking as hard as she once was. "Sorry, I was… remembering my time trapped. I apologize for my actions."

Locki sneered as he saw her hold her face in her hands, and he could see tears building up behind her fingers. She was still distressed, but that was no longer directed at him. He finally turned away from her and focused on the spears. More of them were forming on the floor, cementing his idea that he was getting closer to the top.

The teen watched her wince as she tenderly touched her face. "Why does… my face hurt so bad?"

"This spell has been pretty crazy." Locki eyed Gastly, watching as the Pokemon chuckled. "It was the Vulcan's fault. Nothing you can do about it."

"O- oh… okay."

"Anyways Phe," Locki changed the subject quick, eliciting a flinch from the woman. "Can you anchor your vines in the walls and floor of the building? How far can you stretch them?"

"I- I can probably stretch them so long as I have enough magic… And I can probably put them into the building, but I have no idea how this magic will react to their addition."

"It's a better plan than waiting for the magic to end." Locki shrugged. "Start putting as many vines into the walls, floors and ceiling of whatever rooms we run by. Gastly," he looked at the gas ball that bobbed happily. "Make sure she can keep up."

"I can take care of myself." Phe huffed.

Locki didn't even look at her. His gaze was focused on his Pokemon. Gastly bobbed enough that the young guildmaster knew he could count on it to do what he asked. "Alright, I will keep my magic working, but we need to get to the top before I am too exhausted."

Nothing more needed to be said, and Locki wasn't one to say too much, either. The three of them ran as fast as the teen could go. Phe did her part, sending thick strands of her hair into whatever surface they passed. If anything, the one who slowed everyone down was Locki as he couldn't keep up with an actual mage in terms of stamina.

For the most part, they traveled rather easily. Locki's Curse served to slow the stone spears enough for Phe to dodge them with ease, and there were only a couple that struck Locki hard enough that he felt it through his armor. Though, those were few and far between.

They eventually reached the uppermost floor, finding that there were no more stairs upwards. However, much to his expectations, Locki couldn't find any sign of a window or opening in the walls. He heaved a tired sigh as the three of them looked around the top floor.

"This seems to be a dead end." Phe looked around. Now that she had finally calmed down enough, Locki could see how she could classify as a guild mage. She had hundreds of thick, green strands that glowed with magic that trailed behind her head, yet she showed now sign of exhaustion even after all that running while casting so much magic. Locki envied her reserves.

"Gas!" Gastly added helpfully.

"It seems we have." Locki said, looking at the multitude of spears that formed on the floor. There were only two that he counted that formed on the walls. The teen spared a glance at Phe and said, "How strong would you say your hair is?"

Phe blinked before comprehension filled her gaze. She stared at him, incredulous. "You- you want to bring down this entire building? With us in it?"

"I don't know about you, but my magic can't run forever. Plus, I am growing increasingly sure that there might be Vulcans below who are continuing to power this death trap by fueling it with their own magic." Locki said, and he felt his Curse strengthen again. He nodded to himself. "Never mind, there are definitely Vulcans who are powering this trap. Dunno how, but I can't outlast them if there are more than three of them."

"That… Could we survive that?"

Locki shrugged, clenching his teeth under his helmet. "I don't know about you, but I got things to protect outside." his pride for one, and his guild, too. The young guild master knew that the Scarlet Hand would go down the second he did. "I can't die here– No, I'd fucking hate to die here."

Phe pursed her lips, and Locki was confused at the respect that flew through her expression. He had seen that look enough from Dralt whenever the man talked about his father to know that she really respected him. "I too cannot leave my proteges out there alone."

Lock blinked… did she think he was talking about Kagura? He mentally shook his head, feeling that maybe Mermaid Heel might be a good fit for the young girl. They certainly would be a better influence than him.

"Yeah sure," Locki nodded anyway, uncaring for the misunderstanding. "Can you tear down the building?"

Phe frowned, lightly pulling on the carpet of hair behind her. "Maybe, I am not too sure. I normally don't use my magic like this."

"Great, there's always time to learn on the fly." Locki said, eyeing the spear tips that were emerging from the floor. "And, I think I have an idea on how to weaken the building. Think you can catch the fragments of spears and push them against the ceiling?"

Phe immediately understood what he wanted. "I can do it. But… will you be okay? We don't know how many waves it will take to reliably weaken the whole thing, and I doubt we will be able to get another chance after this."

"Then, we'll just have to estimate it." Locki said as they stood in the middle of an outer room of the building. If there was an opening in the building, he was certain there would be a window in front of him. With that in mind, he released his Curse.

Instantly, stone spears shot up from the floor. Locki did his best to dive out of the way, twisting out of the way as several spears just barely brushed past his body. Phe's vines shot into action behind him, catching the spears as they slammed into the ceiling and holding them there until they started to merge with the surface.

Locki held his breath, and nearly broke out into a grin as he saw more spears already forming on the floor. None were forming on the ceiling like he had expected.

The intervals between waves of spears increased, speeding up each time till Locki was already moving out of the way of the next wave right after he finished with the previous one. His breath picked up tempo, and he felt his heart hammering within his chest. Every time he moved and forced his bruised body out of the way of another spear, spikes of pain shot through his spine.

Locki could feel pins and needles on his fingertips as he continued. His arms and legs screamed at him to stop, and every now and then, a stone spear would catch him as he tried to dodge, further denting his armor and driving his breath out of his lungs.

He kept his breathing short so that even when he was hit, he wouldn't be completely winded. After another couple rounds of spears, his eyes darted around, and caught a spear forming on the ceiling.

"L! Should we do it now?" Phe yelled, worry coloring her speech. He knew she was dodging her own share of spears, but most of them were focused on him anyway.

Locki shook his head, hoping she could see. He wasn't given the luxury of looking away as he tried to contort his body away from a spear that would have driven into his chest. It brushed past his armor, shearing past the front of his face fast enough that he had trouble paying attention.

That second cost him dearly. Almost instantly, he was beset by another wave of spears. Several slammed into his chest while a couple crashed into his shins and joints. One particularly lucky spear caught him in his armpit– one of the softer parts of his armor. A scream ripped its way out of his mouth as he forced his body to withstand the impact. He felt his arm droop down limply after the impact. Dislocated.

"Fuck!" Locki cursed, tossing his rapier away. "Gastly, come pull my arm!"

The Pokemon hesitated for once, unsure of what to do as Locki dodged another wave of spears. Locki cursed more as he saw Gastly rush over and bite his wrist hard. The two yanked in the opposite direction, and Locki avoided a few spears that would have slammed into his helmet and upper body.

"Shit!" Locki yelled as his arm popped back into place. His fingers felt numb, but he ignored it as he rolled out of the way of a number of spears. Above him, he counted three spears on the ceiling.

He bit his lip while he stamped down on a few spears that were forming on the floor. They would form elsewhere, but it gave him enough space to avoid most of the spears from that wave, and he twisted to avoid two of them, letting them spark against his ribs.

Locki's lungs burned as he continued to cuss at the wave of stone spears, feeling another dent form in his armor. He dashed across the room so that he wasn't standing in the middle of them, and he ducked right as the spears shot at him. Most of them missed him, flying overhead and shattering against the wall opposite of him. Still, he gasped as a couple caught him while he curled up close to the floor.

"Gastly, take the rapier and just stab everything in every floor below us!" Locki yelled. He knew that the rapier wasn't very useful for collateral damage, but he only counted five spears on the ceiling even after all that, so the teen was getting desperate.

"L, just call it now!" Phe's voice cut through the teen's thoughts, but Locki shook his head.

Locki saw Gastly leave hurriedly out of the corner of his eye. He almost laughed at how fast the little ball moved, but he focused on the current situation. He estimated he needed to survive another minute of this onslaught to actually have a chance in tearing down the building.

The teen continued to barely dodge most of the stone spears, wheezing after every hit that he failed to dodge. He saw Phe's face set in grim determination to catch every spear and hold it to the ceiling, and the woman helped as she used a couple vines to knock the spears on the ceiling off course. Locki slowly grew into a rhythm, feeling that he had gone past exhaustion.

Every breath, every step, every movement, Locki's body trembled as sweat and heat built up inside his armor. He felt like his feet were soaked in enough sweat to fill a bathtub, and every time he dodged, he felt like he might slip if he wasn't careful.

Of course, that is exactly what happened. He stepped too hard to the left after a spear barely traced where his chest had been. He leaned a little too far, and he slipped inside his sweat soaked shoes.

Losing balance for a second, Locki couldn't move in time for a stone spear to ram into his helmet at the right angle hard enough to wrench it off his face. His head whipped back with the movement, allowing the spear to tear a couple strands of hair with it.

Locki was stuck in a curse as he eyed another stone spear headed straight for his face. It was like time slowed for a moment. He wasn't in a position to move his body; his legs were still spread after he almost did the splits from his slip up. His eyes followed the tip of the spear as it inched closer and closer to him.

Dodge, dodge, dodge! His thoughts screamed at him as he tried to think of a way out, but he came up blank. He couldn't move. But, he needed to [dodge]!

Like magic, his head yanked to the side. His body sunk just low enough for the spear to trace a line on his upper cheek, missing his left eye. His face burned for a moment, and he panicked at how close that had been before he locked eyes with Phe.

"Do it now!" He yelled. They didn't have any more time, and he doubted he could pull off such a stunt again.

Phe pulled the second he yelled, and Locki held his breath as more spears were forming around them. However, he felt it at that moment. The floor pitched sideways and a loud bang echoed into his chest and the floors below.

Locki felt weightless for a moment as both he and Phe were suddenly falling towards the wall across from them. The stone spears were still forming around him, and Locki curled up into a ball as four spears found their target. Three of them shattered against his legs while the last one tore into his forearms where he protected his face.

He gasped, opening up his guard he wildly spun in the air. He felt himself stop spinning as two vines wrapped around his waist. Locki looked up to see Phe fall towards him with one of her hands outstretched. Her hair flew out around her, stretching out towards him like a massive cocoon of green as the two fell through the air.

"Grab my hand!" She yelled.

Locki didn't need to be told twice, reaching out and firmly holding onto her wrist. Phe grabbed his armored wrist hard enough to dent it, and then pulled him closer into her embrace as her vines wrapped around the both of them.

The next second, they hit the ground.

Locki blacked out for a second as a thunderous impact rocked him like he had just been in the middle of a storm. When he came to, he found himself in complete darkness. Phe's thorny hair dug painfully into his scalp, and only their deep, warm breath on each other's skins proved that they survived. He felt Phe stiffen at their close contact, but she slowly eased up as she put a thin layer of vines between them.

"Haha…" Locki chuckled between gasps of pain and air.

Phe sighed near him. "I don't know how to feel about you…"

"What? I'm fucking amazing." Locki said, and he felt like she could see the giant grin that splayed across his face.

Locki paused as he felt a sweat covered brow land on his own. Phe's warm breath tickled his neck, and the teen felt a bit uncomfortable with how close they were. "You're– and pardon my language, fucking crazy, kid. Let me catch my breath and I can dig us out of here."

"Gas!" Gastly chimed in from… somewhere. Locki couldn't even see where it was, but Phe tensed as she tried to look for it.

"...do you know what that thing is?"

Locki shrugged, but realized she couldn't see him. "At this point, I'm used to it. I can't really stop it from doing what it wants."

"Gas!" Gastly confirmed.

"...I see… will it fill our air with that smoke?"

"That's… yeah." Locki pursed his lips. "Hey Gastly, can you go scout out above us. Maybe check on K when you get out there."

Phe sighed, breathing in deeply. Locki felt something above them shift. It seemed that she was digging them out slowly. "Hey," Phe said softly. "I know I didn't say it earlier, but… thank you."

"Don't think anything about it." Locki said, knowing that he was building a good image in her head. "You helped me out in the end, too."

"Still, children shouldn't be trying so hard…"

Locki bit back a curse. "Well, if you want to pay it back, do you happen to have a communication Lacrima?"

"I probably have one stored in the inn. The Vulcan didn't touch it since if they destroyed it, my guild would have been alerted. Why? Do you need it for something?"

"Yeah," Locki sighed, already hearing the berating Lon was going to give him. "I need to contact the Magic Council so they can give me a fat fucking bonus for mislabeling this mission."

Phe chuckled darkly, agreeing with him. "I think I agree with you. Mermaid Heel will definitely give the Council something to sweat over after all this."

The two chuckled happily under several tons of rubble, thinking about how much they can rip off of their government. Locki felt it was a healthy use of his time.