7.66 - Excavation

To call the process of whittling Astrid down merely tiring would be a massive understatement. The duel reminded Rosalie of her earliest spars against Father, and to a lesser extent, Elodie, if with far less being thrown and smacked around. Indeed, Astrid stood there and acted as an impenetrable barrier, retaliating with light smacks of her shield at worst—pulling her blows as much as she could.

The power the Possession provided was finite. But 'finite' could still be a very large amount. Rosalie discovered her earlier metaphor, 'excavating a mountain with a shovel', proved painfully accurate. She fought. She fought more. For fifteen full minutes—an eternity for a duel—Rosalie danced with her spear, with increasingly little regard for her own health. Because she need not fear anything beyond a gentle rebuke of a shield.

She admitted it made for excellent practice. Exhausting, yes, and sweat covered her from head to toe and her muscles burned, but she found herself enjoying the exertion. It wasn't every day she could find an opponent who outclassed her so heavily, and in such a novel way, whom she could hone her skills against.

Her attention focused when Astrid's supernaturally granted power waned enough that she could start scoring grazing blows. She worried the woman would engage in a fight earnestly now that she risked defeat—but no. Astrid's control was absolute, something that inspired genuine admiration. It would be mortifying if, or more honestly when, her own turn at Possession arrived and she failed to resist its effects.

Astrid grew more and more frustrated as Rosalie whittled her away, teeth gritting and eyes blazing with dissatisfaction. Part of that was no doubt thanks to her rising Bloodlust. Rosalie's admiration grew. Not only could Astrid resist the shard's mental effects—at least insofar as the command to attack went—but she could do so while influenced by her Bloodlust as well.

The tipping point came, and Rosalie capitalized. Astrid's movements no longer matched hers, injuries piling up and erasing her granted power. Rosalie landed more direct hits, and Astrid grew weaker. Like a boulder rolling down a hill, the fight picked up momentum, and not another minute passed before Astrid collapsed to the floor. She hadn't once done anything besides guard herself and gently bump Rosalie away with her shield.

Rosalie heaved in deep breaths of air, her legs and arms wobbly with exhaustion.

"That looked fun," Maddy joked. "I wish I could've helped. Sorry again."

Rosalie waved away the guiltiness in her tone. "To be honest, I found that quite enjoyable."

Those were all the words they could exchange, because Astrid's body arched off the floor, and a gush of red energy surged from her—before disappearing into the wall.

Astrid sat up, blinking. Her eyes remained lightly tinted red, but not in the glowing way from before. Just remnants of her Bloodlust.

"Oh," she said after a moment. "I … see."

"That was amazing!" Maddy gushed, bouncing over to crouch next to her. "What was it like? How did you resist? I mean, I get the general idea, but tell me anyway."

Astrid rubbed the side of her head. Her brow furrowed, and she didn't seem like she'd fully returned to herself yet.

"Er, take your time, of course," Maddy backtracked. "Not trying to crowd you. How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Astrid frowned. "Hm. Used to thoughts not being my own. But only in one way. That was … different. Strange."

Rosalie offered her a hand up. Astrid took it. "Phenomenally done. You bought us a round with no penalties." Astrid had contributed greatly to the delve through that, and while Rosalie had known she would do so, she hadn't predicted her teammate's competence to shine through in this particular manner.

Astrid flushed at the praise. "Much experience with this. Unique advantage." She shrugged. "Glad I helped."

"More than that," Maddy chirped. "We really needed that windfall, because Rosalie and Zoey's possessions are going to be nightmarish. Getting to skip yours might end up saving the day."

"Quite," Rosalie said. "And much as I hate to rush you along without giving you a break"—she wouldn't mind one herself—"we ought to continue. There's no time to—"

The floor opened beneath her. Her hands shot out, but even outstretched, her fingertips grazed the ledge, and she plummeted. The shocked expressions of her teammates were the last glimpse she caught before darkness swallowed her.

***

Maddy stared at the section of floor Rosalie had disappeared through, mouth hanging open. Her head swiveled back and forth between it and Astrid, who seemed far too unperturbed by what had happened.

"Um! The shard ate her! Why—why aren't you reacting?"

"Happened earlier," Astrid said. "Is for moving us around, I think."

Maddy adjusted to that announcement. "So she's the Possessed now?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Took me, Zoey, Delta, all at once, earlier. Making new teams, I think."

"I … see." That was more involved than most shards, constantly separating and shuffling them, but all of Zoey's shards were strange. "That's good, I guess."

"Could be her though," Astrid said. "No saying—"

Astrid fell through a sudden hole in the ground, expression flickering almost irritated before she disappeared from Maddy's view.

Maddy looked nervously down at her own feet, ready to hop sideways—if there was even a point.

A few seconds later, there was a noise above, and she didn't have time to look up before an orange blur slammed into her, knocking her to the ground.

Maddy blinked up at a cocked foxgirl's head, purple eyes first surprised, then delighted.

Delta had landed, somehow, with her hands on Maddy's breasts. She gave a squeeze, a shit-eating grin growing on her face. "Oh. Hi there. You come here often, cutie?"

Maddy groaned as a horrible realization dawned. Delta paused, then withdrew her hands. She asked, "Uh, did I misread the mood?"

"No, I just—Astrid was the Possessed last, and now we're here together. That means it's either Zoey or Rosalie."

Purple eyes widened. "Ah," she said. "Yeah, that's gonna be a problem." Her hands returned to Maddy's breasts. "So we're throwing the fight, right?"

"D-Delta."

"We'll get some damage in, obviously," she continued, now well and fully groping Maddy but carrying on with a casual tone as if she wasn't doing anything strange, "but if you think I'm giving up the opportunity to be pinned down by an aggressive Rosalie, you've got another thing coming. For all those royal sniffs and haughty commands she likes to toss around, it takes two seconds flat to turn her into a subby little bottom. I wanna see her when she's taking what she wants, shamelessly."

"T-That may be, um, interesting to see, yes," Maddy said, flushing furiously, since, again, she was being groped, and why was Delta acting so nonchalant about that? Such an opportunistic woman. "But we can't afford to throw any fight. This is a fifth-advancement shard, so the boss is gonna be tough at a base level, much less amplified."

Delta sighed. She pulled her roaming hands away and settled her weight onto Maddy's thighs. Maddy tried hard not to stare between the woman's spread legs, which Delta wasn't attempting to hide. In fact, they opened a little wider with a smirk.

"We'll decide when we get there, I suppose," Delta said. "With luck, we can try our hardest and she'll have a few rounds with us anyway."

"I don't think that'd be good luck," Maddy countered weakly, only half meaning it. "I really doubt empowering the boss is something we should take lightly."

"Yeah, yeah." She sighed contentedly. "But what a way to go, right?"

***

Rosalie opened her eyes in the dark, jolting upward a second later. Her head banged into something, and she winced, though more from reflex than pain.

She was in another sarcophagus. It was nearly pitch black inside—though there was a faint glow of red coming from somewhere. Briefly confused, she discovered where by holding her hand up to her face.

Her palm washed red.

The light was coming from her eyes.

Ah.

Her turn, then.