One Hundred And Fifteen

One Hundred And Fifteen

On returning to the Material, we said our farewells to Buck, and I agreed to stay in touch. We took a taxi back to the MGM Grand, and during the journey I could see that my sis was desperate to talk to us about the Boundary, but because we were in company she was holding her tongue. Still, her expectant gaze was painful...

As soon as we entered our room, Aiko bounded over to Eri, her excitement spilling out. “Wow Eri, you look so satisfied. What was it like? Have you got all super strong like big bro now? Don’t keep me hanging!”

Shaeula and I watched with amusement as Eri shrank back under her bombardment. Opening up some decent wine we had collected from room service on the way up, I poured us all a glass. After all, this is the final night...

“It was... very strange, yet somehow also beautiful.” Eri finally spoke. “The sky was lit with colours I don’t think I can even describe, and the desert sands sparkled like jewels. Still, it wasn’t all pretty and nice. There were monsters there...” she shuddered, remembering. “Scorpions rose out of the sands, as big as the taxi we just rode in.”

“Wow, no way?” Aiko was enthralled. “And big bro made you fight those? I’m disappointed in him!”

“Of course I didn’t ... well, I guess we did, but we made them safe first.” I protested. “Shaeula and I disarmed them with our elemental wind. Eri just finished them off. She was very brave, even when her hands were shaking she managed to spear the beasts.” I walked over and handed them the full glasses. “I’m so proud of you Eri, you did better than I, when I first was thrown to the Boundary. Anyway, a toast, to our final night in Vegas!”

“I could only do it because you were there with me, Akio.” She answered shyly. “No matter what, I know I’ll always be safe with you!”

“Damn right. That’s why I fight. To ensure that those I love are all safe and can fulfil their dreams. That goes for all three of you. And tonight was a big step towards that goal.”

“Damn, I’m all left out again. But I know you’ll find a way for me too, I can’t wait to see these impossible sights... I wonder if I could use archery there? Anyway, seriously, I trust you, bro. And thanks for always looking out for Eri. Though I suppose that’s a given now.”

“It is. Anyway. To our trip to Las Vegas, and all the many benefits it has brought! Cheers!” I said, and the three echoed me with words of their own.

“To all that wonderful money and really shoving our fun time in the faces of Rika-san and Yae-san. Cheers!”

“To our mastery of the flame and the ether we will doubtless reap tonight! Cheers-cheers!”

“To Akio, my fiancé. I don’t need anything else. Cheers!”

As we drank, my sister started ribbing Eri about her toast and how it was very different to ours. We ended up telling them both more about the strange world of the Boundary, and an hour passed.

“Well, Shaeula and I need to get going. Are you two going to stay up? Don’t forget we are flying out early tomorrow morning.”

“I want to talk with Eri a bit more bro. so you do what you need to. We’ll sleep when we are tired, right Eri?”

“Sure, I don’t mind. I want to savour this as long as possible. After all...” Eri smiled impishly. “I’m very fond of this place. It is where my love with Akio finally bloomed.”

“Wow, lewd! This new Eri is like a whole new person. Anyway, you two be good, and do what you need to. I’ll just satisfy my curiosity and see if Eri really has got stronger.”

As we headed towards the Boundary location of Casino El Diablo, which was almost certainly the heart of our target Territory, I thought about it. “Well, the most obvious thing is the temperature. The hotter the flame, the more damage it’ll do, and far more quickly too. Still... other than that...”

Yeah, wind and air is more complicated than it sounds, but compared to fire... after all, fire is actually an oxidation reaction, so maybe other damaging ones could be used...

I tried explaining possible acidic reactions amongst others to Shaeula, but as expected she didn’t get it. She had studied a little on the internet, but it was more on the colours and heat of flames. In the end she started pouting after I advised her of the need for a further course of study.

“Still, we should discuss this later.” I said, and Shaeula agreed, as we had reached our destination. For a while we could feel a pressure on us, aether being leached away, and now... well, now our path was blocked.

“I think it’s a Territory barrier.” I said, as the invisible wall in front of us barred our path. Shaeula checked it with her eyes and nodded. “It is sturdy, but I believe we can destroy it.” She raised her hand, and the wind-weasels, which I had not seen for a while, soared out, slamming into and across the barrier, grinding into it. I joined her, striking blow after blow with my spear, feeling each hit shaving off a little of the defence, the barrier trembling near-imperceptibly.

“This isn’t so bad.” I chuckled as we pushed onwards foot by foot, until suddenly a storm of arrows and spears flew at us, swarms of gnolls pouring out of the surrounding buildings, barking angrily. There was scorpions and cacti too, being directed by the leader, a huge black gnoll wielding a fierce two-handed sword.

“And here’s the welcoming committee.” I said as Shaeula swept her wind across us, deflecting the incoming projectiles. “I guess even without their boss, the gnoll can lead. I guess he’s their Grulgor.”

“Hopefully he is not quite so annoying as that useless oaf-oaf.” Shaeula scoffed, her weasels of wind this time being charged with fire, exploding brightly against the barrier with a roar, noticeably weakening it. Shaeula turned to me, expecting praise. “Was that not impressive master? I used the wind to feed the flames, creating quite the explosion!”

“Yep, you’ve learned well.” Actually, she’s got a more instinctive grasp on it that me. I reason my way through, but she understands the more spiritual aspects of the elements... my compliments were cut off as a variety of monsters surged out of the barrier to engage us. Those that had ranged weapons such as the cacti and their needles were still bombarding us safely from within though. Yeah, that gnoll is no fool.

Charging my spear with wind I started slashing and piercing through the oncoming hordes. As they fell before us I snatched what ether I could, though most was absorbed back into the Territory, streaming away towards the casino. More explosions from Shaeula rocked the barrier and disintegrated those foes that stepped outside it.

“Grr, where is the master?” the gnoll was barking, waving his blade to direct the troops. More reinforcements were streaming from the Territory, replacing those we killed. “He should be here to aid us, grr.”

“Sorry, but he’s not coming back.” I shouted, my spear driving into the gut of a gnoll. It barked out a pained howl before falling over. Ruthlessly I speared it in the head, killing it. “You are on your own, and can’t beat us. Why not surrender and serve under me instead?” It’s worth a shot, surely. Not sure how I’d get him back to my Territory, but still...

The gnoll howled in refusal, enraged. Ordering more forces forwards a squad of armoured gnolls with long spears started thrusting them through the barrier, attacking us in a way that prevented us responding. Shaeula clicked her tongue and leapt backwards, unsheathing her bells and dagger.

“It’s time to go full force! We need to get the barrier down before we get overwhelmed!” I shouted, remembering my own barrier collapsing under the attacks of the wyrm. While we had only a fraction of the power the wyrms’ breath had, we were able to attack many more times in quick succession, so... hang on, I think I can kind of replicate a big attack, wyrm-style...

“Shaeula, can you pour wind into your bells then feed it into the flame I am about to unleash?”

Dodging spears and arrows, her dagger of light bisecting several rushing jackals and scorpions, she nodded. “I shall follow your lead, master.”

“Fine, be ready to retreat too, if you get caught up in this it won’t be good!” at her nod I reached down into my reserves of fire elemental energy. I generated it much more slowly than wind, so this would be a single-use attack...

“Foehn, Inextinguishable Blaze!” the roiling mass of orange and yellow napalm slammed into the Territory barrier, and as it did so Shaeula fed it, a huge tidal wave of jade energy sucked within it, causing it to flare up, spreading like oil over water. As droplets of searing flame rained down around us we retreated, careful to not get caught in the downpour. The enemies outside the barrier were not as lucky though, and they fell, screeching and rolling, trying to put out the clinging fires, but to no avail. As they exhausted their life screaming in fiery agony, I swallowed grimly. Yeah, this isn’t a vision of hell or anything, is it?