Annabelle’s Bastion

A strong gust of wind rushed past Anna’s head as she dodged another menacing punch from the lizardman statue aimed at taking her head off.

More stepping to the side, more punches. The statue had some rhythm to its blows, making them at least somewhat predictable—but they were still too fast—she barely dodged them. Its hits were a mix of hooks and jabs, and each one carried the weight of a wrecking ball.

Another punch from the left.

It only ever aimed at her head.

There was no break in its assault; Anna was left heaving as she carefully dodged every punch with minimum movement. She was left backing up and kiting around the large room.

Thankfully, it was empty, providing her ample space to be as nimble as she wanted. Well, barring moving toward the presumed goal; the entrance to the next room. She couldn’t go near that.

The fight was nostalgic, but unlike Jared, her smaller stature and swift movements weren’t going to save her.

Because…

“There!”

She ducked below a jab and launched a full-powered punch of her own at the tall statue’s stomach.

To no effect.

Anna’s barrier shimmered across her arm, and the statue seemed entirely unharmed as it slammed its arms downward.

“It’s too durable!” Anna shouted as she rolled forward and past the statue, dodging the devastating blow.

The scenario was familiar, but it was only now she realized how big of a setback not having a combat Sigil was.

There were no tricks available to her here, not with such an extreme level of defense.

She was completely out of her depth, and most fights would only ever be melee until she got a magic ability!

During her fight with Jared, she had to do almost the same thing; dodging until he decided to do something else. That was the problem—when he decided to change his approach. When confronted with something that would only throw punches until she fell, she saw no path to victory.

No retreat and no path forward.

A strong gust of wind rushed past Anna’s head as she dodged another menacing punch. It was robotic in its movements, but its durability and unlimited energy made it an impossible opponent.

It was horrifying; each blow made her heart skip a beat. She hated melee combat!

The statue didn’t move too fast, but that wasn’t something she could take advantage of. Her attacks had no effect, there wasn’t anywhere to go, and there weren’t any noticeable weaknesses on it.

Run?

Impossible.

There was another door to enter, but the statue seemed to increase in speed and ferocity if she even tiptoed near it. Its entire demeanor changed to a bloodthirsty beast. It did appear slightly open, but she didn’t think she’d be able to get to it. Not even sneakily. Even when the natural movement of the fight took her close, the statue would get enraged.

It was likely some kind of power-saving thing. Why go all out from the start if the enemy couldn’t even pierce its defense?

“What do I do?!” she exclaimed, weaving through another series of blows. One to the right, then another followed to the left.

The same two punches.

Over and over, with an occasional mix of hooks.

Deep down, she hoped the entity within her would say something in such a dire situation. So she shouted. Yet—as per usual—she received nothing in return. Whatever was inside of her was clearly content with watching her die to either mana depletion or having her head explode. Perhaps that was its goal? If she died, the entity would gain control of her body.

That was a possibility!

She dropped her body and nearly went for a punch but quickly pulled that idea. If she kept trying that useless effort, her barrier would shatter.

Whoever made the statue seemed content with just allowing its powerful body to do the work. It wasn’t able to hit her, but she couldn’t even crack its smoky-grey body with full enhancements!

All she could do was dodge and think as much as she could!

But she was running out of mana—quickly.

Dodging the punches was draining so much energy she could feel herself drying out.

She kicked back just as the statue threw another blow.

However, the statue did not follow.

“What?”

It uncurled its fists, showing two-inch long talons on each finger.

“Great…”

She was left with little time to stare as she found herself desperately avoiding the wild swings of its hands.

The statue’s swings were faster than its punches, and Anna’s barrier shimmered even as she managed to avoid the brunt of the blows. Each talon scraped against her body.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Its claws ripped through the air, sending chills down her spine as they swiped past her head.

About to be cornered, she weaved to the left and swung her leg with as much power as she could at the back of its knee in an attempt to sweep the statue off its feet.

Yet nothing was gained except a cracking noise.

“No!” She shouted in horror as a black wave spread across her shin.

Her barrier cracked, a single line at the impact point that spread up to her knee.

But she couldn’t stop, so she rolled away and jumped to her feet.

The statue didn’t give her time to dwell on it, immediately turning after her and continuing its deadly slashes.

Anna was terrified, her chest tight and her stomach in knots.

This was a fear she had never genuinely felt as sweat poured from her forehead and her mana rapidly drained.

Each slash was either barely dodged or managed to get a small slice at her barrier.

She couldn’t continue like that.

With a thought, her ring whirred louder around her forehead, and a black glow formed in her hand, giving away to a jagged rock.

It wouldn’t do anything but turn the rock to dust, but she had to try something!

In that same second, she twisted to the left and threw her palm toward its giant chest.

A hopeless effort just to see if there was anything she had to pierce its body.

Contrary to what she expected, the statue moved its arms to block in an X shape, making her hit its forearm instead.

The rock shattered in her hand, causing her barrier to slightly crack further around her palm.

“Oh!” Anna exclaimed as she jumped backward. That reminded her!

She recalled the statues outside with the holes through their chests, both in the exact same spot!  That was likely where its power source was! If she could figure out a way to pierce it…

However, there just wasn’t a way she could see to do it. Whatever stone the thing was made out of seemed indestructible.

Her fists weren’t enough. The knife obviously wouldn’t do much, and there wasn’t anything in the empty room—other than the next door.

“The next door,” she whispered right as the statue got to her again for its swings.

More ducks, turns, and twists.

God, she was almost gone.

But that was another detail she had forgotten! What happened to the person who broke through the outer door? They obviously made it through, which would explain how it wasn’t completely sealed!

Even while thinking, she was careful to dodge the slashes from the statue. Every crack sent her mind into overdrive and made her chest tighter with desperate urgency.

She looked at the second door, and a lightbulb went on in her head.

When the thing first attacked, it stopped at the door—it wouldn’t destroy it! No other punch stopped, even when it hit a wall. But the door… it wouldn’t touch it.

“It’s my only shot!”

She jumped away to gain some distance and pulled on her enhancements as much as possible. It didn’t do much, but she had to try. Even with this, she didn’t think she’d be able to outdo the rage from the statue when she even inched toward the second door.

Her barrier status didn’t allow her to think further.

With another gust of wind from the slash aimed at her head, she ducked and threw her fist toward the statue’s chest.

Displaying contradictory reflexes, it easily brought its arm to block her fist.

But that wasn’t the plan, and her fist didn’t make contact.

Simultaneously, she twisted her body and dashed past the statue and toward the second door!

The thick, coarse-looking door seemed entirely unharmed and was even slightly opened. Whoever came there before her must have had the same plan!

As expected, the statue seemed to gain a fury that felt palpable—a rage at the mere idea of her approaching the room.

It was as though a truck was speeding at her from behind, fully intent on plowing through her.

Anna pulled another rock from her storage and cut all enhancements from everything but strength.

She wouldn’t survive if she didn’t turn—she could feel it.

“Try this!” She shouted as she turned and launched it with full power right as she got to the door.

The rock went right for its chest, and it chose to block it instead of aiming that slash at her head.

But her relief was just for a moment, as its other arm wasn’t so careful. It didn’t do what it did last time and only brought one of its arms across its chest!

The wind ripped as it swung its left arm in a verticle arc at Anna.

Her eyes became saucers as she simply stared at the arm.

It was like time froze, even though she was still moving backward from her instinctual jump toward the door.

At that moment, Anna felt with certainty that she was to die. Her barrier would shatter, and it would cleanly slice through her head.

Many thoughts raced through her mind.

What if she had a combat Sigil? Maybe a movement one?

Wasn’t her decision silly? Couldn’t she have gotten a combat Sigil first, then a support later? The destination would have been the same. That decision ended up helping nobody, not even herself.

Not even Aria needed her stupid Enhancement Sigil.

How was Aria doing? She had a good Apex Sigil, surely. She was probably harshly punished, but she was a strong woman. Did she miss her? Anna missed her a lot. She wanted to hear reassuring words spoken with absolute confidence. That would have made her time so much more bearable, and they’d have probably already solved the planet’s mystery.

She wanted to see her parents again, her friends on Earth, her old home.

Were they even looking for her?

They probably wouldn’t find her body here, forever lost in some obscure chamber built into an underground labyrinth.

But…

She wasn’t going to die so easily, and pure survival instinct took over.

Anna twisted her body as best as she could and brought her arm up to block. Simultaneously, her mana seemed to go into overdrive as her vision became blurry and exhaustion settled. Everything went to her legs and left arm, pulling from even the barest of reserves she had.

Within that simple second, time passed in a blur.

First, a shattering.

It was like an icy lake that had been rapidly cracking, only to shatter all at once.

A searing pain made her scream as it sent waves across her arm.

But, at the very least, her arm wasn’t removed, and she wasn’t instantly killed.

Her legs had kicked the ground as hard as she ever imagined they could.

She was flung backward with no control or landing spot in mind.

The statue swung again, both arms intent on ripping her apart.

Her body slammed against the door—a door that was surprisingly easy to push open. Her launch didn’t end there, and she went even further into whatever the room was.

But she wasn’t able to admire it as the impact took her breath away.

A moment later, she regained her senses.

She could feel her heart pounding against her chest, the sweat pouring like buckets from her head, and the hand she couldn’t stabilize from their shaking. Her legs didn’t even have the strength for her to stand.

Her arm hurt.

There was blood coming from a long cut across her forearm.

“N-not… not t-to… deep.”

She groaned in pain, but it wasn’t as deep as she initially feared.

But it was the first time she had seen her own blood from an injury of that scale.

Her breathing hitched, and her eyes wettened, but it wasn’t the time to be wallowing in the feeling.

A glance toward the open door revealed what she had hoped for, even through her blurry vision.

The statue stood there, its menacing, empty eyes staring directly at her with its arms at its side, a little blood on its left talon. With its rigid posture, it stood at the entrance, unmoving.

With a heavy, shaky breath, Anna pulled on the last bit of mana she probably shouldn’t have touched and activated her Hyper Enhancement.

Focusing on pain nullification and recovery processes, she used it on herself. This was the only part of her ability she could use on her own body since anything that touched her mana or abilities was useless.

Before she had a chance to feel its efficacy, she fell to the ground.