Chapter 53: Breaking Through
Chief Khan looked incredibly irritable as usual. His long, black hair was pulled back and tied and instead of the loose, cloth-like material he so casually wore in the pit, he was now wearing an overbearing suit of armor.
A dark silver chest plate, coarse black pants with the same silver knee guards. The most imposing part of his armor though was his shoulder guards; two roaring wolves made of polished black steel sat on his shoulders, their eyes a deep red gemstone.
Four of his men stepped in front of the group and prepared to intercept the approaching wolves, but before they could attack collectively one of the four continued to walk ahead.
He inhaled a massive amount of air causing his stomach to push out and expand. He clenched his fist into a ball and put it to his lips then blew into his hand.
Immediately, a mustard yellow smoke blew out of the man's hand and covered the area before him. The pink wolves charged into the smoke, inhaling the yellow smoke. Within moments, the wolves stopped advancing and began gagging in the smoke.
High pitched squeals continued to resonate around the arena from the wolves. They collapsed onto the ground still coughing until eventually blood spilled out of their maws and the disturbing cries dissipated.
Emile panicked and turned to Blood who had also seen the total domination of the three wolves.
"Maybe the podium is optional." Emile whispered.
"You think?!" Blood replied.
Just like that, one of the trials ended in only a few minutes and the cohort of enemies advanced closer to Emile and Blood. Grabbing Blood's one arm, Emile ran back to the maze through the handful of arenas they'd already subjugated.
Luckily, just as they exited the stone dome the wall that had vanished reappeared allowing Khan's cohort to select their next trial.
"What is he doing here?!" Blood asked between breaths.
"I don't know!" Emile responded, "Luna said he wouldn't care!"
"Yeah? Well your girlfriend was wrong!" Blood raised his voice.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Emile corrected.
"Okay." Blood said sarcastically, "So then what do we do since every single pathway in the maze leads to the same deadend! We can't hide!" Blood yelled.
"Oh you wanna hide now? What happened to fighting everything you see!" Emile snapped.
"I'm already down an arm! Kind of running out of things to sacrifice!"
"We blow up the wall." Emile said.
"We what now?" Blood asked.
"We blow up the wall. Do the same thing you did to the drake and the Nimbus Charm will make up for the speed!"
"Do you just go with the first thing that pops into your head?!" Blood yelled.
"Yeah pretty much!"
Blood summoned his dagger and tossed it to Emile who quickly cut his arm. They were going to need a lot of blood to make a person sized hole in an indestructible wall. So for the multiple hours it took the two to make it back to the deadend, Blood siphoned Emile's vitality away.
***
Blood stood at the end of the narrow path, the furthest he could get while facing the deadend. He pulled together gallons upon gallons of blood and formed a massive arrow in the tight space.
The tip of the arrow was shaped into a spiral cone like a drill and stretched from wall to wall, completely occupying the pathway they were in. Emile stood off to the side behind Blood, only his head crept around the corner to watch the show.
With the Nimbus Charm in hand, Blood spun the arrow. After minutes of dedicated spinning, the arrowhead became a destructive vortex that would rip any living creature to shreds.
"Here goes nothing!" Blood yelled.
The Nimbus Charm illuminated the small space just before the makeshift battering ram exploded forward. It instantly cracked the wall as an intense vibration traveled through the entire maze.
Even though the arrow didn't immediately break through the wall, Blood kept spinning it as fast as he could. The grooves on the arrowhead dug into the stone and pulled the rest of the arrow deeper into it.
Another crack shot up the stone wall then more light erupted from the Nimbus Charm, Blood had more than enough essence to activate the charm twice. The arrowhead instantly sped up and pushed further into the wall.
Then, all the subtle green lights vanished and Emile and Blood were left in utter darkness with only the sound of grinding stone to accompany them. Emile heard a loud crash and the intense suction towards the arrow died down.
The lights flickered on and off between green and red until they eventually remained red. Emile tried to look at the wall, but so much stone dust filled the tight space that seeing anything was difficult.
Not to mention the unbearable scent of burnt rock, a cursed stench that resembled rotten eggs. Blood reorganized the blood from the battering ram into a large, flat plate and then slammed it down.
The dust was immediately expelled to other sections of the maze revealing the colossal hole inside of the wall. The duo rushed to the hole and climbed through.
They entered another identical section of the maze and proceeded to run down one of the paths. Meanwhile, essence converged all around the maze and formed into the shapes of beasts and man alike.
"I can't believe that worked!" Blood said excitedly.
Emile turned around a corner and an arrow immediately lodged itself into his shoulder. Blood quickly responded and launched a crystal shard at the Wooden Puppet standing at the end of the path.
The puppet dispersed into pure essence only for three more to appear behind it. As the puppet disappeared, so too did the arrow in Emile's shoulder allowing him to heal it instantaneously.
"Other way! Other way!" Emile yelled.
But as he turned to go back the way they came, he saw more pink wolves sniffing the ground near the hole in the wall. The wolves looked up and made eye contact with Emile.
The leader of the pack raised its head and howled while the two other wolves followed suit. Blood handed Emile the dagger then patted him on the back.
"You get the wolves and I'll take the dolls. Goodluck." With that Blood turned away and ran down the hall towards the Wooden Puppets.
Emile summoned the Nimbus Charm around his neck and firmly held the dagger. Taking each step with caution, he approached the three wolves who also slowly advanced towards him.
'Okay'
'You got this'
The moment Emile entered the range of the lead wolf it lunged after him. Emile stepped to the side to avoid the beast, but one of its claws clipped his arm. Blood spilled out and ran down his body.
Before he could retaliate another wolf jumped in. Emile held his arm up to block the attack and the wolf bit down on it. Excruciating pain traveled up Emile's arm while the wolf continued to grind its teeth into Emile's arm.
But now the wolf was close enough to strike. With his other arm Emile stabbed the dagger into the wolf's ear. The tension on his arm subsided and the wolf turned to sparks.
[Chosen Vampiric Wolf Slain]
Seeing a member of its pack die, the third wolf hesitated to attack. In that moment of hesitation, a bright light burst forth and a dagger slid through the entirety of the wolf's neck.
Emile stood behind the dissipating wolf. His arm already stopped bleeding, but using the charm drained his essence completely.
[Chosen Vampiric Wolf Slain]
The leader of the wolves tried taking advantage of Emile's turned back and lunged in for another strike. Emile quickly spun around and parried the beast's attack to the side.
He grabbed the top of the wolf's head, pulling its fur as great as he could. Then he plunged the blade down through the wolf's nose, breaking through its mouth and bursting out of the beast's chin.
With the dagger lodged in the mouth of the wolf, the creature struggled to break free. It pulled away with all its strength until the dagger tore through its jaw and nose.
It tried to open its mouth but the muscles connecting the jaw together were severed. With nothing left to do, it pounced on Emile and tried to claw him to death. But Emile held the dagger up and the wolf's body crashed directly onto the blade.
[Chosen Vampiric Wolf Slain]
Emile ran down the hall to meet up with Blood. When he turned the corner he saw Blood still engaged with the Wooden Puppets, although instead of there being three of them there were now seven and the number was increasing.
Blood formed a crystal wall for himself to hide behind. Arrows littered the surface of the wall and cracks traveled far between the crystal shield. Meanwhile, Blood split the rest of his blood into a hundred bullets.
The crystal bullets flew above the shield then crashed down the passage, completely obliterating the seven Wooden Puppets that stood there.
But one last puppet turned the corner and ran towards Blood's shield. Emile flipped the dagger around and held the tip of the blade. Then he threw the blade down the corridor and it pierced the puppets head, stopping it in its tracks.
[Chosen Wooden Puppet Slain]
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone