Chapter 22: Next Door

"Are we there yet?" Stephan asks Lincoln as he cuts down another soldier.

Lincoln looks up at the many floors that they are still about to climb, and his heart already starts sinking.

"It wasn't this much of an effort when I was escaping," Lincoln comments, unaware of how attentively Stephan is listening to every word that he is saying.

"WHAAAT?!" Stephan's rage coming out of his eyes, "Are you saying that you aren't sure where we are supposed to be going?"

He takes his anger out on the incoming soldiers, striking them down with one swing of his scythe, sometimes, he uses his bare hands to rim them in half.

"I was in such a hurry and besides, my mind was still slightly foggy from the torture," explains Lincoln, trying to avoid a fight between him and Stephan, and looking at how tense he is and how easily he is ripping apart the soldiers, he does not want to be on his bad side right now.

Stephan takes a deep breath, "I'm alright now," he responds without anyone asking.

"Remind me who we are going after first?" Lincoln asks, irritating Stephan bad.

"SHINYO," he responds, through grinding teeth.

"Not your sister?" he finds this strange.

Stephan responds with a silence which is as strange as not going after her sister first, but before Lincoln can ask any more questions, he somberly responds, "Shyama can take care of herself, Shinyo on the other hand, he doesn't have any way of replenishing himself when he gets tired, or worse."

Lincoln agrees, but cannot give Stephan a smug smirk as he initially intends to because of how he holds a look of defeat.

They eventually make their way up through the floors. Lincoln's mind occasionally drifts towards Birch and The Others especially when he notices how there are no Scouts present inside the tower.

"Birch and The Others are doing very well drawing the ire of their entire army, aren't they?" as he scans the floor for the room that Shinyo can possibly be in.

"Birch is normally good with that," Stephan praises, "Sometimes, to his own detriment. Before we knew it, he became some sort of father figure of the group."

He freezes listening to Stephan as he rarely hears him give out praises to anyone, except in anger when he did so for his sister.

"Stop gawking into nothing," complains Stephan, as he notices Lincoln freezing, "We don't have any time for this, where to now?"

He snaps back into reality and looks around the many rooms on the floor they are currently on.

"WHERE?" rushes Stephan, "This is literally a race against time and life."

"Rushing me won't make finding him any quicker," Shinyo argues as he closes his eyes, tapping into Stygian, "Here."

Lincoln leads Stephan to a suspicious-looking double door at the very end of an empty hallway.

"It's a trap," warns Lincoln, "There is no location more suspicious than this one. It could be a trap."

"But, is this the only place you think Shinyo is," asks Stephan, but his eyes are having the same doubts as he has.

Lincoln nods, "Very sure of it."

"Then, we don't have any other choice, do we?"

They step through the door, and the fact that it is open reinforces their suspicions, but just like Stephan mentions earlier, they do not have a choice.

Inside is a large room with torches dimly lighting it. The walls are of solid-looking stones. Heavy by the looks of it. In the middle is a circle with cobblestones that forms an angel in gold and white that is radiating strong light, and directly opposite to it, at the bottom part of the encirclement are arms of black reaching out to the light.

In spite of this, Lincoln voices out the very first thing that crosses his mind, "Don't they have electricity in this place?"

Stephan looks at him with bewilderment, and then amusement. Lincoln notices.

"What?" he adds, "They have all the modern technology known to this generation, but, not enough power to light this room? Just torches? And only four at that. Tired of torches!"

"Is it because you've been in so much darkness recently?" a voice in the corner asks.

Stephan and Lincoln scramble to find its source, but they end up looking towards one corner of the room.

"Relax guys," he greets them, "It's just me," and then comes out Tump.

"What are you doing here?" Stephan asks, "But that's good. You're unharmed because we have to hurry and find out where Shinyo is."

Tump nods and follows Stephan out the door. Lincoln stands on high alert, his hand closely on Stygian, as his suspicion for Tump is still nagging the back of his brain.

"What are you looking at?" Tump asks as he notices Lincoln giving him another bad look.

"Ah, fuck it!" he adds, launches himself towards Stephan, cocking his arm back to strike in full swing, Stephan is not yet aware of this, and reacts too late when he does. But Lincoln comes in between them, blocking Tump's attack before it can reach Stephan.

"You?" Stephan adds.

"Who else did you think it was?" he asks.

"My sister!" Stephan responds with conviction, now stepping away and drawing his large scythe. Lincoln follows.

"Oh," he laughs, in full height, then he adds, "Don't worry, she's on it too."

"Shyama too?" Lincoln asks, the confusion in his eyes, but he does not put down his guard.

"I will explain later," Stephan tells him, "And thanks, by the way."

"No problem."

"You know what?" Stephan whispers, "I admire you. You are handling all these better than I do, even that piece of metal. You were far better with it than I was."

More confusion paints Lincoln's face, "What do you mean was?"

"Again, something that we have to talk about when all of this is over," and then, it's as if a mental agreement passes over both as they decide to strike together. Lincoln from the right, Stephan from the left. Tump blocks of them at the same time, drawing out his sword to stop Lincoln whose blade is slowly taking the shape of Shinyo's sword.

"Ooooho!" exclaims Tump, "Call me impressed!"

"Where is Shinyo?" calls out Lincoln.

"I don't know," Tump responds, "But wherever he is now, he must be gone!"

Both Lincoln and Stephan disengage from their initial clash. Lincoln is the first to strike again as his weapon is much lighter. He throws a feint before flashing behind Tump. He lands a swing, giving him a gash on his back, but Tump only laughs.

"Nice!" he calls out, showing no signs that he is in pain, "My turn!"

He flings himself near a wall. His eyes turn white, causes a light tap on Lincoln's back distracting him just enough for Tump to launch an attack forward, both his bladed bracer and sword in a swing to strike, but Stephan takes the blow with his scythe and flings Tump back to his side of the room. His back crashing to the wall.

His face now clearly in pain, but he keeps and maintains his composure and gives them a smile.

"Why did you come to this room though if you were looking for Shinyo when it is obviously a trap," he teases. Pacing back and forth, waiting for a weakness, but both Lincoln and Stephan do not give him the opportunity to find one.

Both attack at the same time once more hoping that he is incapable of dodging or blocking their attacks, but he does. What he is unable to block, however, is the sliding kick that Stephan throws, knocking him out of the air, landing hard on the stone floor. Lincoln swears that he hears a crack as he falls.

"Aaaargh!" Tump exclaims in agony. The left side of his face, swelling quickly; worse than his. His skull clearly sustaining a fracture that has his eye turning bright red instantly.

Lincoln looks away in pity, but Stephan doesn't care. He walks over to the agonizing in pain like a child whose toy is being taken away. Tump scrambles away from Stephan, the fear in his eyes. Pleading.

"Where. Is. Shinyo?" he asks, "Last chance."

"He is in the other room," he confesses, "The one next to this one."

"What should we do to him?" Stephan asks, the fury in his eyes. Lincoln cannot look at him, but knowing Stephan, if he does not give him a response, he will strike him down.

"Just leave him," suggests Lincoln, the human in him speaking as he still is unable to look at him directly, "He is going through enough, and from the looks of it, he might not have long to live."

"A quick and merciful strike then?"

"No!" he argues with conviction, "I had doubted him from the very first time we met, and he deserves death with all the betrayal that he did, but to suffer this much, I cannot cause him any more pain."

"You're too soft."

"Rather that than throw away what little that makes me human," he explains, his eyes on the motionless Tump.

Stephan looks at him with admiration.

"Anyways," Lincoln proceeds, "We should get Shinyo and be out of here," as he picks up his crucifix in the middle of the encirclement. He looks at the design one last time before leaving the room with a still wailing Tump on the floor.