Blossom watched with growing horror as Antoni continued punching Melis over and over again. All her Sect members had been resting in their shared room when they had heard the lead Fighter's roar of rage at the notification they all received.

The Second Floor Boss, Goblin Chief Goburakasha, has been slain!

15 weeks and 2 days remain until the Second Floor becomes uninhabitable!

After that, Antoni barged into their room, grabbed Melis by the hair, and dragged the poor kosper kicking and screaming out of the cabin and into the dirt yard. The only reason the blonde was even still alive was because they had managed to become a Crystal Caster too before their group had come to the second floor. It had been difficult to lead her Sect through the Trials since most of them were chosen for entertainment purposes rather than fighting.

Blossom was determined to see her Sect reach the top of the tower, though, and she knew they would all need to be Casters to simply survive the climb. She had even managed to become a healer like she had hoped for, giving them all a better chance of making it to the peak.

Right now, however, she felt utterly helpless to protect her ward, knowing the Fighters outmatched them in power. With Rayyan gone, only five of them remained compared to the nine the Fighters still had, and all of them were actually trained for combat. Hale and Sheila came to stand beside her on the stairs to witness Antoni unleash his rage on their companion.

"He won't kill them, right?" Hale asked in a terrified whisper.

Sheila shivered next to her and answered, "He might, but I doubt it. He's… partaken of Melis before, so it's not like he has something against kospers or blondes."

Blossom really hoped Antoni wouldn't kill them. As a kosper—someone who was considered both male and female—Melis had a specific sort of charm and was very adaptable in bed, able to partner up with any of them for additional points. They were also the group's rope specialist, both for rigging and being tied up, which was an extra form of entertainment, but Blossom had hoped their powerset would become a useful source of control should they be forced into combat. She had been right, too.

Melis had become a Pack Rigger Class by taking the Rope Aspect from their starting room, then managed to get the Covenant, Knot, and Loyalty Aspects—that last one likely due to their Blessing from the god Dog. It was mostly thanks to them and Hale, who had also gained a control-based Class as a Chain Warden, that they had made it to the second floor and navigated through it without any casualties before the Fighters found them.

Now, those same "saviors" had become their captors.

Blossom thought she had made the smart choice by agreeing to join the Fighters. She still thought that, even now, as Melis was getting beaten just for the crime of being near the door at the wrong time. The Fighters would have likely killed one of them earlier just to teach them a lesson if they had refused to join. Still being here, however… Well, she was thinking that choice hadn't been the best.

"Antoni! That's not going to upgrade our base!" Nawal yelled as she came out of the cabin. "We need to regroup and strategize! Your three-day plan is shot now, so get over it and let's move!"

Antoni landed one more punch before finally standing straight, staring at the canopy of weeping branches above them. He was breathing heavily, and Blossom was fairly certain that it was more from anger than actual exertion. While Crystal Casters still needed to breathe, it would take a lot more than some punching spree to eat through their increased stamina.

The Fighter leader turned to point a finger at Nawal and shouted, "You are not my Second, so quit acting like you've taken Jilani's place!"

"Well, it's not like you've been listening to Hasan—who is supposed to be your Second, by the way. Not sure what you seem to have against him lately."

"I don't have anything against him," Antoni snapped, giving Melis a last kick as they lay unconscious on the ground. Blossom was fairly certain that statement was a lie, considering even her Lovers had noticed the leader's temper increasing around the archer. "He's just not Jilani either," Antoni added as he turned to go back inside.

He pointed at Blossom and ordered, "Pick up the trash there and get your people ready to go out gathering again. We need to get this thing upgraded, but we're also going to be taking a little trip to see what happened with the boss and whoever managed to kill it."

Blossom didn't respond, but she did move to go heal Melis and get them back inside. She hoped Antoni wouldn't notice if they left Melis behind to rest. While she may have submitted to Antoni's power, she still cared about her Sect members' well-being, and this was starting to look like a path to an early grave for them with how the Fighters were treating them, especially after losing Muffin the way they had. Unfortunately, she just didn't see a way out for them.

Hale and Sheila both followed her to help with Melis, but Hale whispered quietly as he asked, "Please tell us you have some kind of plan to get us out of here, Bloss. We might not know what's on the third floor, but I'm pretty sure we won't make it there. Not like this."

"We should go find Rayyan or go to our base. He must have captured it, right?" Sheila added in an equally hushed voice. "Abzu didn't even want to join them in the first place. Not after Jilani cut her eye out like that."

"Jilani wasn't here anymore, and we all know she was the crazy one," Blossom pointed out as she cast her heal over Melis. She looked down at the poor kosper and added, "Even with Antoni having this kind of temper, he's not Jilani's level of sadism."

"Right, we just have to hope he doesn't get any more bad news and decide to use his sword on one of us next time," Hale sarcastically replied. "Face it, Bloss. Antoni doesn't care about our lives, just our usefulness, and we don't even really know how far that extends."

"It doesn't take three of you to bring one person inside!" Nawal called over to them, making them all start in surprise, wondering if the Fighters' cartographer had overheard them.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"I'll carry Mel in," Hale offered, scooping up the smaller Lover.

Moving some of the blonde hair out of Melis's face, Blossom took one last look over them, noting that the cuts, bruises, and swelling had all been healed. Now the beaten Lover just needed some rest. Nodding for Hale to head inside, she brought up the rear but was stopped by Nawal putting a hand on her arm.

"Hey, I just want you to know that not all of the Fighters condone what Antoni is doing to your Sect," Nawal whispered in her ear.

Blossom searched her face for any hint of deceit before asking, "Are any of them willing to betray Antoni just to help us escape?"

Nawal met her gaze for a long moment before softly saying, "Only one that I know of."

"Then our hands are tied, aren't they?" Blossom replied, pulling her arm away from the Fighter to follow the others inside and prepare them for going out into the swamp.

"Hey, Toni! You need to come see this!" she heard Hasan yell from the back room. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she shooed Hale and Sheila back into their shared room but followed Nawal to the War Room in the back. There, she saw Antoni bending to look into the periscope device that Hasan's scouting station controlled.

"What the fuck is that?" Antoni said, more in disbelief it sounded like than actually not knowing, which he proved two seconds later. "Is that a Sect base moving towards us? Who in the abyss is stupid enough to try to attack us?"

"Well, according to you, all the other Sects are probably stupid enough to, but—" Hasan's words were cut off by a glare from Antoni, and Blossom was surprised he didn't backhand the man. The archer quickly tried to recover and said, "I, um… I can't tell from this distance, sir. Plus, unless we see one of the Champions, I don't know how to tell the bases apart from the outside."

Antoni actually growled in his anger and frustration before snapping orders like they had suddenly entered a war, and in a way, she guessed they had. "Everyone man their stations! Get ready to show these idiots that no one attacks the Fighters without losing their lives! I want everyone in that base dead by the end of this."

Turning on her heels, Blossom rushed back to their room to let the others know what was happening. Three scared faces stared back at her, with another still asleep while recovering, and she knew that her first priority was keeping her people safe. It wouldn't matter if the Fighters got angry if they all were going to lose their lives trying to please them.

"Everyone, get ready to leave," she said as quietly as possible. "This might be our only chance to run for it. I don't know if the people attacking actually have the numbers and skill to win, but I know we need to leave either way, alright?"

Three heads nodded at her words, for once all agreeing on how they should proceed. It was a little surreal to think that these extremes were what it took for her own people to unite, but the harsh reality of survival seemed to shift a lot of people's priorities.

Together, they gathered what few things they had, and while Blossom was tempted to check the other rooms for items that might be able to help them, she didn't want to take more risks than necessary. Their biggest chance for escaping would heavily rely on the element of surprise and the enemy causing a large enough distraction for all of them to be able to slip away unnoticed during the confrontation.

"You all had better be ready to support us in the fight," Antoni yelled from behind their door as he gave a single bang on it. They could all hear his heavy footfalls continue down the hall, however, as if they were simply a mere afterthought, which was perfect for them.

Blossom led them all outside, even forcing Melis to wake and lean against Abzu as they stumbled down the hall. She wanted Hale to be available to help chain anything down that might come after them. Melis would have been nice to have as well for that reason, but it's not like she could make them coherent again. At least not yet.

Once they were out in the yard, Blossom led them further off to the side, while the Fighters that weren't manning one of the stations had all come out to take their places on the ground. They had spread out, intent on defending their base with their own powers, boosted by the handful of enchantments they had gotten for the base to defend from any monsters that had wandered too close. As far as Blossom knew, though, Antoni hadn't focused many points on those enchantments, saying they were a waste until the base could actually move with them.

It only took a few more minutes before the enemy base came into view, lumbering through the swamp on its elongated roots that behaved like dozens of legs working in tandem. She honestly had no idea how they weren't simply getting tangled up with one another, but there was apparently some sort of order to the chaos.

Antoni was yelling at everyone to prepare to engage, but Blossom's attention had been stolen by the incoming base as its weeping shield of vines parted for them to get a clearer look at the two-story cabin within its trunk. She blinked in shock as she saw a man in black standing alone on a large porch, waving at them with a manic grin on his face.

Blossom recognized him instantly as the Whisper who had killed Cinnamon back on the first floor, and while she had gotten to experience his brazenness and snark first-hand, she hadn't realized he was this unhinged.

"Hellooooo, Fighters!" Pax yelled at them, and she wasn't sure if it was their Crystal Caste hearing or if the assassin had some sort of magical device amplifying his voice from how far away he was. "We've come to dance! Do you have any music?! I bet you got some for the Lovers, right? Trust me, we come in peace! You have nothing to worry about! I promise!"

Oh, that sneaky, crazy son of a— Blossom's thoughts were interrupted when Antoni actually seemed to consider the offer.

"What's your name, Whisper?" Antoni called out.

Pax yelled back, "Cihan! We have some information to trade!"

Antoni turned to them as he ordered, "Stay on your guard. He makes one wrong move, I'm running him through."

Blossom frowned, having hoped for a fight sooner to get her people away in a frenzied fight, which she knew was still likely with Pax obviously planning to get close enough to just murder everyone, but she had hoped they wouldn't have gotten so close.

Apparently, she didn't have to worry about the fighting getting that close when another minute later, she heard Demir call out, "Look out, sir!" and watch in revulsion as Antoni grabbed the man beside him to use as a body shield.

A large needle sank straight into Demir's heart before he fell to the ground, and Antoni yelled out, "Attack those lying sacks of shit!"

That was when the chaos began, as the Fighters ran forward, already incanting and triggering their attacks, and Blossom saw headless horsemen appear like ghostly apparitions to meet them in battle around the enemy's base. She was about to tell the others to run when Nawal stopped to look back at them. Freezing in place, Blossom wasn't sure if the Fighter was going to order them to come with to help or not.

Instead, Nawal moved to grab Demir off the ground and yelled out to her, "Heal him! Quick!"

Blossom moved, realizing that if she gave kindness, perhaps she could receive some in return. Plus, if anything, it might get these Fighters back into the fray faster, and she could escape with the others. As she healed the man, however, she hadn't expected Nawal to say, "Just make sure he'll live and we'll move. I know Demir was in agreement with me. We'll join you if you were hoping to leave for your base."

She wasn't sure if she could take that risk. She didn't know if she could trust any of the Fighters anymore. However, as she met Nawal's pleading eyes, she realized that Nawal had already defied orders by making sure her friend survived instead of fighting the enemy.

Blossom nodded and quickly got Demir stabilized enough to move with them. She was relieved when the man seemed in agreement, like Nawal had said, and together, they fled into the swamp, leaving the rest of the fighters and that crazy, suicidal Whisper far behind them.

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