Chapter 20: Walls of Blood
Before Echo lay the central passage of the Abyssal Sect's fortress, a grand hall with vaulted ceilings and stone walls covered in dark red runes that glimmered dimly. Shadows danced over jagged stone illuminated from torches that flickered awkwardly. Echo stepped lightly, dagger in hand, feeling every subtle tremor, detecting every whisper of movement; he was completely aware.
"This is it… the lieutenants. There's no turning back now."
At the end of the passage, four major sect lieutenants were revealed standing, and they radiated danger.
They were much stronger than any elite guard Echo faced just before.
Two of the lieutenants held matching daggers that glimmered with barely-visible divine magic, while the other two waved spiked batons inscribed with arcane runes.
The best way to describe them was they moved as a pack, they were lined up and ready to create a wall of defense against any intruding adversary.
Echo's jumped into his muscles and achieved deep activation, with Overdrive twinkling rapidly, in anticipation of the battle ahead.
Suddenly, the first strike occurred, without warning.
One of the lieutenants lunged. The dagger sliced through the air, filled with kinetic energy.
Echo rolled to the side, just skimming the dagger as it flew by, only to return with a precise, spinning back kick that knocked the opponent out of equilibrium.
Echo followed up with a dagger plunge and struck the shoulder; although some damage was absorbed through magical fortification and shielded by the runes, some still punctured the target's flesh.
Suddenly, another lieutenant spearheaded an attack from behind.
Echo launched himself off the wall, twisting in mid-air to slam an elbow into the neck while slashing into the second attacker's thigh.
Overdrive kicked in – the reflex to move faster and with incredible precision flowed smoothly from his mind into his body.
He bounced off walls, flipped over a railing, and rolled under wide strikes, using the corridor itself as part of his fight.
The battle unfolded like a movie.
Echo had a dagger in his left hand and a dagger in his right hand, slashing, parrying, and throwing at 100% synchronization.
He used acrobatics and movement to successfully avoid batons spinning through the air, spin kicking, and strategic repositioning.
Every attack from the lieutenants was met with a deadly calculated counter – joints were locked, pressure points were targeted, and momentum was redirected.
The first lieutenant recovered from his earlier strikes and let loose an unanticipated burst of arcane energy.
Echo instinctively ducked with the burst of Overdrive to flare.
He struck rapidly in a continuous roll of movement that staggered his opponent.
Launching from a broken column, Echo spun and flung his dagger, finally taking out the lieutenant entirely.
"This... this is just a taste of the beginning. I must get to Soso... I can't stop now."
The other three lieutenants began to swarm, working together to try to corner him.
Echo spun once more, launching off the wall to break up their line and colliding into the first lieutenant with a spinning kick, leaving him to crash into a pillar.
A low roll and a raising elbow made short work of the second attacker's baton.
At that time, the third attacker came from behind. Echo's over-the-shoulder dagger strike met the attacker's neck, leaving him dazed but still conscious.
Overdrive, pulsing repeatedly, permitted him to react faster than anyone could imagine, striking precisely when required.
Sweat, blood, and strain were no hindrances. The battlefield slowed in his conscious mind, all moves exact and controlled.
The corridor highlighted the drama of the fight:
Broken pillars had added a springboard for flips and kicks.
Chains hung from the ceiling that could be used to cross multiple opponents in one movement.
Dust and debris kicked up upon movement made vision difficult, affording Echo cover to reposition.
One of the lieutenants found his footing and launched a stream of magical daggers in arced patterns across the corridors.
Echo ducked low and vaulted his body over the wave of daggers.
He rolled over the hard-floored bones of the last standing assailant and then threw a dagger in the second assailants knee to stifle him.
A sudden pivot and jump, doubling up his arms into a palm strike, sent both staggered against walls.
"In each move... I will save her. In each strike... I will break them."
Again Overdrive surged:
Reflexes heightened beyond human ability, eyes dull and blurry but quickening the next attack that would land.
The lieutenants adjusted and attempted more complicated formats, yet Echo's reactions were instinctive with every adjustment.
A wondrous chain of flips, kicks, dagger throws, rolls, and striking opponents hand-to-hand left each of them - exhausted.
As if to prove a point, Echo was almost hit dead-on.
One lieutenant faked out a low slash as he brought down the baton on Echo's mid-chest.
It made contact, glancing off his arm, leaving a narrow cut opening wide across Echo's arm and head, swinging into an emotional experience called Overdrive, perked him up into high-performance.
With a flurry of flips, turning and vaulting, three at once were destroyed, and Echo landed centered in the corridor with the dagger at the ready again.
He sighed, watching them stagger around him, full of confusion and disbelief.
As his chest heaved, feeling blood and sweat involve into one, his head remained Florida clear, as he gazed upon his next steps.
In front of him, the larger room awaited next - Soso, the grand ritual chamber abode.
"Walls of blood...that won't hold me... nothing will."
Echo pushed on, observing, in:
The last of their wards lit up again, moving though unable to fully track him and take his exact path out, but then again, it likely wouldn't have changed anything.
Echo began reading their movement inference visualization, vaulting high over energy pulses, tipping as required into rolling under swinging blades, and re-located debris into second and thirds for cover.
Each breath and gear push, combined awareness of movement and the world, heart beats, reactions and perceptions were all aligned with the Overdrive aesthetic.
It was time for the final count heading down the corridor away to the end.
As he reached the very end of the hallway, at the other end low talking began - hinting to chant-perhaps ritual for the sweet release of bags emptying or taking full-of made crumbs.
Echo's eyes glanced speechless, now focused and steady.
Overdrive settled into a controlled focus, muscles coiled like springs, daggers ready for the clash.
The walls resolved from boundary into framing corridor, a hallway of shadow, blood, and determination.
"Soso… I'm here. Just a little more. Hang in there."
With steadfast determination, Echo stepped onward from the walls of blood, and entered the central chamber, the culmination of his journey into the Abyssal Sect's heart.