Gemini Floor 7, The Emperor’s Ascent - 1:08 PM

  Now that I was buffed up, I took a step forward and activated Fae Step. I reappeared next to Red Suit and lashed out, grabbing him by the throat. His skin was hard, but pliable. My Cable Conglomerate emerged from the Vambrace of Wires to tighten my hold on him. Crushing the boss’ neck was a slow process, but I hit him with Mark of Excess and Mark of Rot, making the Black Flame Aura twice as effective.

  Red Suit pulled away into the air, trying to fly away from me, but he wasn’t strong enough to break free. Not with his stats 20% lower than what they were supposed to be. His aura changed to one of confusion, but not pain. Regardless, I kept up the pressure on his throat.

  He struck my arm with both hands, but I took it like a champ. The foreign psychic energy Red Suit was trying to pump into my body was quickly broken down into nothing. When his attack didn’t work, his hands began glowing blue and went for my wrist, not touching but hovering just over it. I felt my skin and muscles start to rip and tear apart as if trying to escape from my body.

  My Constitution was high enough that it was slow going, but I threw up Shield anyway. His psychic powers mingled with mine in a strange, destructive way and I was forced to dismiss my protective shell before it could explode. Since that didn’t work, I did my best to crush his throat before he was able to peel my skin off. However, I wasn’t fighting one enemy; there were two.

  Blue Dress teleported to my side, her hands covered in red energy. She thrust them towards me, but I was already one step ahead. I fired off half of the Starstones hovering behind me at the place she had teleported from as I spoke.

  “Blinkback,” I cast, and she disappeared.

  <<<>>>

  [[Spell]]

  Blinkback

  Recall a creature or player who you observed use a Teleport ability, skill, or spell. You must use this within one minute of the effect in order for the Blinkback to succeed Cost: 120 Mental Points.

  <<<>>>

  She reappeared back on the other staircase just as my projectiles arrived. They peppered her body, exploding in small clouds of dust, but it wasn’t enough to stop her now harmless attack. A blast of psychic energy demolished the wall containing the elevator when her arms fully extended, revealing the structure within with a heavy, metallic screech. Surprise colored her aura that she wasn’t where she was supposed to be, and I knew her teleport was now on a short cooldown.

  As sure as I was that I could handle them both together, I wasn’t going to risk it. The twins would be even more powerful the closer they were together and their tandem attacks could become devastating. They were already dangerous on their own so that was a level I didn’t want to test.

  Wrangling Red Suit, I used my free arm to grab his leg and hoisted him over my shoulders in a fireman’s carry. The hand strangling him slipped free, but the Cable Conglomerate took over for me there. It was hard to maneuver due to the boss’ high Constitution, but this next move didn’t require me to be precise. I tilted, falling down the stairs.

  I used Drop and Flight to accelerate the trip and aimed for the metal banister so that Red Suit would go down head-first. It broke when we crashed into it, and I ensured that his skull continued to break the railing on the way down. Unfortunately, the boss wasn’t going to get distracted by this amount of damage.

  His hands began to grow a brighter blue, and he attempted to clap them over my heart. I Constructed two plates to stop him, one on either side of my body. The moment he touched them a pulse caused them to ripple and disintegrate, sending painful feedback directly into my skull. I still felt the psychic energy pass through my heart. The combination made me grit my teeth; it could have been a lot worse, but it was still bad.

  From the second floor, Blue Dress looked down at us. Ribbons of red energy swirled around her raised arms. They accelerated at an alarming pace until they appeared to be sleeves, and then they came for me. Not giving Red Suit a chance to escape, I rolled into position down the stairs and jumped over the banister towards the elevator.

  Shrapnel hit me as the place we would have been exploded, completely destroying the staircase. The amount of destruction was worrying, but there was no time to dwell on it. Blue Dress appeared at our side again with another teleport.

  “Blinkback,” I cast aloud, sending her back up to the second story landing.

  The chandeliers in the lobby were blasted off of the ceiling by whatever she did, and I promptly ignored them as they fell a safe distance away.

  Red Suit’s entire body glowed over my shoulders, and dozens of sharp pieces of shrapnel lifted off of the ground. They turned towards me and started flying. This was a method of attack I knew all too well.

  I could have tried to put Red Suit in their path, but he likely would have changed their course to hit me anyway. There had to be a distraction first. With a plan in mind, I Constructed three wicked, heavily serrated daggers and held them still against the elevator and turned so that my back was to them. I activated Crash Test.

  Still holding Red Suit, we flew backwards across the ground directly towards the elevator shafts. He slammed into my daggers before crashing into the metal wall and denting the structure. I had measured the distance and stopped before I could be dealt recoil damage. My Strength was too high now for me to risk it with my smaller pool of health; knocking myself down to Heavenly Hero range was a very real possibility.

  Squatting to make myself a smaller target, I erected the largest Force Field I could in front of me and gave it an upwards slant. Red Suit’s aura flickered as the serrated blades of my Constructs tore through his flesh from the motion. Once free, then Spun and Dropped, stabbing him repeatedly in the torso. I would have gone after any vital organs if he had any, but raw damage was the next best thing.

  Stolen story; please report.

  The objects he was telekinetically wielding finally caught up with us. They skipped off of my Force Field as I lowered my head, presenting Red Suit as the only viable target. He had no time to change course this close, and the force of the wooden shrapnel hitting him all at once threw him off of my shoulders.

  I rolled forward as a long ribbon of energy struck from above. The attack left a small crater in the marble floor and forced me to leave Red Suit behind. He was still hanging in the air on my daggers, though he was trying to escape.

  There was one last moment of power that spiked through him. His red suit turned purple as blue energy started to rush out of him for one final attack. Picking out the sharpest of the shrapnel he had thrown, I took control. They Spun like drills just like my Constructs before stopping and carving their way out at different angles.

  The boss fell to the ground now that I wasn’t holding it up, and the energy he was amassing dissipated harmlessly into the air. One of his arms was dismembered by this action and both of his legs were barely attached, but there was no blood. Instead, stuffing was coming out of him as if he were some life-sized doll.

  I reached out to see if I could pull the body into my inventory. It worked. With a grin, I took his arm as well before looking up at his counterpart.

  “Next,” I said.

  Blue Dress’ aura lit up with a silent scream at the death of her partner, and the psychic energy that permeated the hotel changed to match her as the sole owner. Her red ribbon continued to lash out at me like a whip even though she wasn’t moving her arms, and I didn’t stop dodging.

  Juking back like I was trying to get some distance, I ran forward the moment she committed to striking further away. I used Orbit to force open one set of the elevator doors and threw myself inside. Lifting the maintenance hatch, I flew upwards into the shaft.

  The sound of the ribbon crashing into metal rang in my ears as she dented the structure with constant attacks. I opened the doors closest to her, and the ribbon snaked in to get to me. Throwing up a Force Field gave me enough time to open the other set and fly myself out of the shaft and back into the foyer. My eyes immediately settled on her.

  Withdrawing the ribbon would have taken too long, and she let it disperse as I charged her. Blue Dress’ auric screams stopped the moment I tackled her into the wall, nearly putting her upper body into the next room as I placed my Reaper’s Marks on her. Red energy built up around her as she tensed. It came hard and fast, pulsing outwards. I only had time to activate Shield and start charging my own attack.

  The energy erupted from Blue Dress three times. When the first one went out, it caused no damage but made the world ripple like water. It didn’t matter that everything was solid, it shifted in a strange, reality bending way. The second caused everything to contract before stretching out, and I grit my teeth as Shield suddenly became an effort to maintain.

  When the last pulse went out, mayhem reigned. Everything in the area except Blue Dress was shredded. The ceiling, the metal elevator shaft, the furniture used to make the hotel look full. Even the Cable Conglomerate that had been outside of my vambrace was left in tatters.

  Everything that wasn’t the two of us in a fifty foot radius was completely and utterly destroyed, leaving me flying with her in my arms. A Force Field appeared above us, if only to keep the debris from hitting my head.

  I hadn’t come out of it clean, either. Shield had broken just over halfway through the pulse and the skin on my back felt like someone had taken it off with an industrial sander. My clothes were rags with half of my body on full display, but only where I had been damaged. They were still whole enough to continue providing me with their bonuses.

  Summoning the Staff of Raphael in my hands, I used Touch of Heaven to heal up and pin Blue Dress to my body. Now that I “knew” that the boss was a doll and not real, I didn’t go for the stranglehold again. Her hands glowed red as she tried to strike me, and I fended her off with Constructs, never letting the energy touch either them or me.

  Opening my mouth, I blasted her face with a very thin beam of Dragon's Breath. She recoiled and raised her hands with both thumbs and index fingers straightened. A thin sheet not unlike my Force Field appeared in front of her, blocking the attack before it could pierce through her head.

  The rest of my Starstone Constellation glowed before flying around me, striking her in the sides. Her arms remained where they were; she was far more wary of my Dragon’s Breath than the projectiles. I ejected some more of the Cable Conglomerate to grab her hand, trying to pull it out of position. Slowly, it started working. At the very least, it distracted her for the next part of the plan.

  While she fought against that, I returned the Staff of Raphael to my inventory and pulled out a pair of rusted loppers. In one smooth motion I pulled away from Blue Dress, placed her arm between the blades, and snipped.

  <<<>>>

  [[Item]]

  Walter’s Rusted Loppers

  (+3 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +3 Constitution, Shear Through skill acquired, Informed Pruner passive acquired)

  [[Skill]]

  Shear Through

  When using Walter’s Rusted Loppers, you can activate Shear Through to cut through almost anything you can put between the blades, both organic and inorganic. After using this skill, you cannot use it again for 1 hour.

  <<<>>>

  Blue Dress’ arm fell away from her body, dropping the force field she had put up. I returned the loppers and grabbed her by the head and arm, and aimed my Dragon’s Breath at her throat. A headache started forming from the prolonged use, but I knew I was almost there and pushed through.

  Despite the Cable Conglomerate, Blue Dress had a moment of increased Strength. Her hand broke free and grabbed my throat, squeezing. I choked, but kept it up. As long as my mouth was open, Dragon’s Breath would continue.

  Besides, I could feel her grip start to get weaker as her psychic powers started to break down on a level I couldn’t see. That was good. Blue Dress wasn’t injuring me as much as she hoped as I cut through her neck with the beam of holy energy. She tried kicking me though there was no power behind it.

  She had no more trump cards in her arsenal, and I managed to completely cut through the doll’s neck, removing the head from the body. Her aura disappeared, leaving her as lifeless as she was supposed to be. I roared in triumph as I pulled Blue Dress into my inventory just as I had her partner.

  <<<>>>

  [[Victory!]]

  You have defeated the Constellation Boss [Blue Dress]; +600 points.

  You have defeated the Constellation Boss [Red Suit]; +600 points.

  [[Emperor’s Ascent Gemini Quest 7 Complete]]

  The twins represent something greater than themselves, and yet they were still taken down by the one. With Gemini out of the way, only Cancer and Leo remain before the next safe zone is open.

  MVPs: Sol Ligatus.

  Rewards: 2,000 points, Gemini Emblem.

  [[Patron Quest Complete!]]

  That got a little hectic at the end, but I’m glad to see you’re still in one piece. I’m also really glad that I got you the Staff of Raphael considering how much its helped you on your journey.

  But I know what you really want. It’s back at the entrance. Go and get your spoils.

  Reward: 10,000 points.

  <<<>>>

  “Thank you for the Staff of Raphael,” I said to the sky, offering a thumbs up. “And thank you, Gemini, for being awesome.”

  I gave the ceiling, or what was left of it, a thumbs up before turning around to look at the entrance. The doors had been replaced with the ones used in the Emperor’s Ascent, but sitting in front of it was a skill book and a pair of shoes.

  Glorious, rosewood red and gold shoes.

  I grinned as I rushed over. This made it all worth it.