Return of the Tower Conqueror

  Graveyard of Swords (VII)

Cain and Diya jumped at the same time, the latter appearing a bit dazed and confused while the former already started charging Wind into his feet as he sprinted toward the ravine's entrance. Diya followed shortly after, though was much slower than him, arriving there only a few minutes later.

She stopped by his side and followed his gaze that turned to the right, the road they took to get here, and frowned as well.

"... thirty... forty?" she mumbled uncertainly.

"Fifty-eight," Cain replied, sighing. "Go wake the rest, we're leaving."

"Can... can we fight?" Diya asked.

"No." Cain shook his head firmly, prompting Diya to merely nod her head before she headed off back into the ravine to wake up Emma, Jamal, and Senna.

Though he couldn't have been certain, Cain believed that the group was a part of the 'Roaming Blades' clan of sorts within the Graveyard of Swords. They were a largely nomadic group who traveled the span of the Graveyard and lived through mostly hunting and robbing.

While their individual prowess was far from scary, the fact that they always stayed in fairly large groups and were uncannily well-coordinated was what made him pensive over trying to fight them. Do we head straight to the Blade Mountain and try to look for a place to train there?

Frowning, he glanced back and saw Diya practically dragging the three that appeared all out of sorts having been woken up less than two hours after they went to sleep.

As more and more Mana Traps continued being triggered, and at a higher rate, Cain realized that the group must have noticed the traps and were rushing in their direction. His frown deepening, he hurried the four of the ravine and down the sloped road cutting through the 'roof'-like structure created through the angled and bent swords from the two sides.

On the way, Diya informed the other three what was going on and brought them up to speed, prompting their silence and absolute focus on running away.

"Stop putting up traps, Diya," Cain said after they'd ran nearly a mile of distance away. "That's how they're tracking us."

"A-ah! Sorry!" she quickly apologized.

"Don't worry about it. We'll lose them soon enough."

Cain dipped to a small, narrow opening in-between the strangely-shaped, earthly cliffs. It was roughly ten feet wide and descended sharply, with the two cliffs eventually appearing to move away from the path, opening up dark abyss on both ends that appeared to lead into the depths of hell.

"Be careful not to slip," Cain warned without stopping. "Emma, you should toss Diya on your shoulder since we'll speed up slightly."

"Alright." Emma obliged, quickly picking up the young girl who cried out in shock and tossing her over the shoulder, holding her there tightly while the latter struggled to endure the bitterness.

Though Cain put on a hurried and flustered front, he wasn't truly worried over being caught. He saw the opportunity for more training and took it as, even if he wasn't particularly worried now, that doesn't mean they wouldn't genuinely have to run away as though their lives depended on it sometime in the future. Part of being a great Conqueror also meant having the ever-elusive skill of 'running away' as a part of an arsenal.

His alarmed attitude seemed to set the others on fire as they ran even through the exhaustion as was evident on their faces. Cain only slowed down once they reached the end of the path and once the abyss on two sides closed up, leading to an exit and into open marshlands. It was a fairly strange sight to see, especially as swords continued to even stick out through the water, though none paid much attention to it.

They stopped by the edge and took a short break, which was more than enough for the trio -- especially Emma and Jamal -- as not only their general Stamina but also its recovery was quite high for their level.

"I still think we should have fought," Senna commented as the group settled down into silence. "You keep yapping about the practice and whatnot, and we just ran away from the perfect opportunity."

"Oh, a suicidal teen. How original." Cain snickered silently, prompting the young girl to glare at him. "Sorry, sorry -- full of bad jokes today."

"And every day."

"And every day," Cain assented to Emma's assessment with a chuckle. "But why would you want to put your life in danger? Do you think I want you guys to train so we can fight Goku or something? Nah, I just wanna make sure you don't die against the guys we could probably defeat as we are right now. Better safe than sorry and all that."

"What about the whole 'you can't improve unless you put your life on the line' spiel?" Jamal asked.

"Bullshit," Cain shrugged. "Of course you can. If that were actually the case, nobody would ever get good at anything since we'd all die getting there. I'm not saying surviving those moments doesn't have any benefits, but they sure as shit aren't worth enough to put your life on the line. You all know by now this isn't a game," he warned again. "So, why are you so quick to toss yourselves into the flames? Slow and steady wins the race."

"Unless it's an actual race, ironically." Emma pointed out.

"What, no?" Cain said. "Remember that old fable or shit about the rabbit and the turtle? The turtle totally smoked that guy."

"It's... it's a fable dude -- it's supposed to convey a message..." Jamal said.

"And it did -- slow and steady wins the race. Why are we even debating this if we agree?"

"..." the three of the four looked at him emptily for a moment before shrugging and looking away, too tired to argue with him. Cain merely chuckled, taking out a bottle of water and a cigarette.

He found himself relaxed, even at peace -- a feat he never thought even possible in the Towers. Yet, it was unfolding before his eyes. The impossible was being upturned, and he was a part of it.

After resting, Cain was the first to stand up and stretch lazily, moving his sights over to the Blade Mountain that actually came within their view -- it was faintly hidden behind the distant clouds, but its outline and silhouette were somewhat visible. Between them and the mountain was a fairly straightforward journey through the marshlands and then further up the sword mountains and around them.

As far as he knew, there were several ante-Human encampments on the way over, though none that should pose any trouble to their group, even if he takes a step back and doesn't participate as to give the others more room to test themselves out in reality rather than just in the illusions.

"Will... will we train again, before the boss battle?" Diya asked suddenly.

"Hm," Cain nodded. "Unless you want to stand on the side and watch me whoop the boss' ass while you're sucking on your thumb."

"Ah, so you are being an asshole on purpose." Senna commented.

"On purpose?" Cain glanced at her, smiling faintly. "Nah, there's a much simpler answer than that."

"Huh?"

"I just am an asshole, y'know? It's so much fun."

"Don't buy it, guys," Emma chimed in. "Inside, he's a real softie. For our first Valentine's together, the chap worked himself to the bone the previous summer just so he could afford a fancy dinner and a genuine gold necklace. And then he proceeded to bawl his eyes out when we watched Marley & Me later that day."

"Everyone bawls their eyes out at Marley & Me, though." Cain said.

"Yup," Jamal nodded. "This neighbor of mine, like, full-on-gangsta dude, watched it and cried like a little bitch."

"Like, especially when the dog's looking at him at the end... damn..."

"Stop it dude," Jamal grumbled. "You're gonna make me do it again. Wait, did you not cry at it?" he asked Emma with a horrified expression.

"I don't know," Cain said. "She ran out of the room like three seconds into the last scene. Though, I do distinctly remember the walls weeping as well."

"... I was trying to help you," Emma glared at him. "Help you, asshole."

"Diya and Senna are looking at us weirdly," Cain said, his eyes turning into slits. "Fellas, I don't think either watched the movie."

"What? No way!" Jamal exclaimed.

"Well, looks like we know exactly what we're doing once we leave the Tower," Cain said. "We'll have a familial gathering during which we'll laugh and make jokes and then ruin the whole thing by watching Marley & Me. Hey, maybe we even toss Hachi onto the screen just for a good measure."

"Dude, no, you're gonna kill 'em." Jamal warned.

"Hey, no badass was ever born without first wetting his eyes several times," Cain said. "Just consider it a part of their training."

"... yeah, that's dumb."

"Can't believe you went there."

"Oh, screw you guys," Cain rolled his eyes and began walking to the front, grumbling. "Come on, let's go. The first boss awaits. And we shouldn't let it wait for too long..."