7.65 - Resistance

The shock of seeing Astrid posted at the entrance faded quickly, but while Rosalie's muscles tensed up, ready to lunge forward, something held her at bay.

Because Astrid was just … standing there. Frowning slightly. She made no move to attack, nor to banter like Delta had. There was zero question whether she'd been Possessed. The glowing red eyes dispelled any doubts.

A silence hung over the chamber. Rosalie glanced over her shoulder, and Maddy looked as confused as she felt.

"Supposed to fight you," the Harkvalen finally said. "Yes?"

Rosalie gripped her spear tighter at the words, but Astrid's posture didn't change. She didn't lean forward to charge. In fact, the question sounded bewildered, not threatening.

"But have simple rule." Astrid's frown deepened, brow furrowing with it. "Never attack teammates. No matter what head says. So. What do?"

Now Rosalie was truly at a loss.

"Guard doorway?" Astrid continued. "Stop you? But not hurt. Yes. Is … something."

"P-Pardon?" Rosalie said. "What's happening here?"

"Will not leave this room. But will not attack. Unless you give me permission to?" She sounded confused. "I will attack if given permission? Or never? Never attack teammate. No matter what head says."

"Oh, wow," Maddy breathed from behind Rosalie.

She felt a shimmer of magic.

"I put up an illusion around our mouths, so she doesn't know we're talking," Maddy said, walking carefully up to Rosalie's side. "I think she's resisting the mental influence."

"That's possible?"

"Apparently! Every second of combat for her entire life, she's been resisting mental effects. And there's no such thing as true mind control, at least as far as I know. So … yeah! I think she is. I mean, listen to what she said, there aren't many other ways to interpret that. Never attack a teammate. It's a rule she set to deal with her Bloodlust."

"I would think not attacking teammates is a given for a wayfarer."

"Well, yes, but not at that scale. She has to deal with the fact she might lose control constantly. So she's made an inviolable rule. Not even the Possession will make her break it."

"Nothing supersedes a shard's effects," Rosalie said hesitantly. "They set their own internal rules. They can't be ignored like that. Can they?"

Maddy shrugged. "No such thing as full mind control," she repeated. "Not even shards can get past it, I guess. And shards are semi-people, remember? Not gods. I bet she wasn't expecting this either."

Rosalie considered that, baffled. "What now, then?"

The two girls watched Astrid stand guard at the only exit.

"She did say she'll stop us if we try to leave," Rosalie said. "So it's not like she's our ally."

"Yeah. That code of hers only accounts for hurting her teammates," Maddy said. "Um. So maybe we have to fight anyway? Still, this is fascinating!"

"Will you be able to do similar?"

"What? Resist? No way."

"Aren't you also familiar with mental effects? You're an illusionist."

"Casting them, sure! I guess I'd be better than most people, but not like that." She gestured at Astrid. "She has Harkvalen Bloodlust. Dealing with that is on a totally different level than my mom or sisters casting illusions on me, sometimes."

"I see."

"Plus, she probably isn't as corrupted as the rest of us," Maddy said, biting her lip in amusement. "The effect is playing off our desires. This is her first real shard, so she hasn't been … loosened up." Her cheeks colored. "That's, uh, crude phrasing, in retrospect."

Rosalie's face also heated, and she didn't reply. They were fair points. Astrid certainly seemed interested, but the relic-panties alone proved she had walls to knock down.

They mulled over the situation. Astrid didn't seem like she wanted to start a conversation. She was frowning deeply and holding her shield at the ready.

"So she'll try to non-violently prevent us from leaving, stymying our progress through the shard," Rosalie said. "This is … a good thing?"

"It's better than having an actual Possessed chase us down, I suppose?"

"We could make this a permanent stalemate. Do we trust in Zoey and Delta to handle the shard by themselves?"

"We don't know how the boss works yet, not fully, and I don't think we want to send those two against it alone. It's probably best to keep trying to team up."

"I'm not sure what to make of this," Rosalie admitted.

"Neither do I."

"What are the odds this is a trap? To lower our guard, and she'll attack when we try to pass?"

"That doesn't seem like Astrid," Maddy said dubiously. "Her personality should be the same."

"I don't disagree. Still."

"Non-zero? But I doubt it."

"Hm."

"The shard might dispel the Possession if nothing happens, too." She laughed, sounding generally excited by the development. "This is so interesting! She broke the shard."

"Could you sneak us past her?"

"Huh? I doubt it."

"Your illusions have fooled her before."

They both paused as they remembered the most prevalent example. During their first shard together, they hadn't looped Astrid into the strangeness of Zoey's class yet. And thus needed to undergo 'recharging' sessions using Maddy's illusions to hide.

Maddy gave a high-pitched laugh, waving her hand. "Yes, but she's also super strong right now. That extends to mana detection, I'd figure. I'm not even certain I'm hiding this conversation from her, and I'm doing everything I can for a simple application—just hiding our mouths and the sound. That'd be the reason it's working, if it is."

Astrid hadn't reacted, so Rosalie didn't think she'd heard through the sound barrier.

"I just thought it'd be smartest to try," Maddy added. "Not sure how she'll react to us planning how to get past her."

"And what is our plan?"

"There's no way I can wrap us in invisibility and sneak past an equal-level wayfarer, especially a super-powered one. So, either we sit here and let Zoey and Delta get some free delving done, or we take Astrid down and accept the benefit of having skipped a round of Possession."

"Which is no small boon," Rosalie said.

"Seriously amazing," Maddy agreed, looking admiringly at the Harkvalen warrior.

The idea of hunkering down didn't sit right with her. For all she knew, Zoey and Delta were in trouble as they spoke, so at least nominally working toward them appealed to her.

"Battle plan, then," Rosalie said.

"Really depends on whether attacking her will make her attack us back, or if she'll stay defensive the whole time. Even if she has these rules set for herself, there's no saying what'll happen when you start stabbing her with a spear."

Rosalie grimaced.

"Let's ask her," Maddy suggested.

"What?"

"She's still herself. Let's see what she has to say."

Rosalie hesitated, but didn't disagree.

"Dropping the sound barrier," Maddy said.

The faintest trace of magic flickered across her senses.

"Um, Astrid?" Maddy called out. "We need to get through. You won't let us?"

Astrid frowned at her for a long time, enough Rosalie thought she might not reply. "Must stop progress. Should attack. But will not."

The woman sounded distressed, which suddenly made Rosalie's mind up. Whatever was going on in Astrid's head to be fighting against the influence, it probably wasn't pleasant. They needed to dispel the Possession for that reason alone, not let Astrid suffer for the minor—perhaps not minor, though—benefit it provided.

"But we really need to get through," Maddy said. "We might have to fight you if you don't let us. Are you going to fight back?"

"Will stop you. Will not attack." She raised her shield, covering most of her body from view.

Maddy pursed her lips. She faced Rosalie. "So. How ridiculously hard do you think breaking through the guard of a super-amplified Astrid will be?"

"I struggle in a regular one-on-one," Rosalie said dryly. "And we can't afford for you to confuse her further. She's in a delicate enough state without an illusionist casting befuddling spells. So it'll be up to me alone."

"Yeah, I was thinking that too. Sorry."

"Hardly your fault."

"At least it'll be a good workout?"

Rosalie sighed. She lifted her spear. "It's going to be a little more than a workout. Come on. Let's see how she reacts."

She approached Astrid warily. The woman wasn't large enough to block the entire doorway, so when Rosalie stepped left, Astrid matched the motion, her shield held up to block her. Rosalie hopped right and tried to get past, to see how Astrid would respond, but her movement was met easily, and Astrid softly shoved Rosalie backward with her dragon-scale shield. Not afraid of jostling her, then, but the push hadn't been remotely rough enough to leave a bruise.

Rosalie stepped back and considered the redheaded warrior.

"I understand you're confused," Rosalie told her, "but we need to get past, which means we have to fight. If it counts for anything, I'm sorry."

She raised her spear and adopted a fighting stance.

A super-powered guardian focused only on defending. This was going to be rather like excavating a mountain with a shovel, wasn't it?