"So, what you're saying is that we're fucked."
Artorias snorted, a tired sound which made his body shake.
"Only if you're ready to accept death."
Seirios looked at his cousin with disbelief.
"You have a plan!?" he shouted in a whisper; his tone tinged with incredulity.
But Artorias only shook his head.
"It's more off an idea, well, it's not even that," he admitted, a sheepish grin appearing on his tired face.
He all but deflated. "So, we're screwed?"
His cousin scowled, throwing a weak punch at Seirios' shoulder. He barely felt it.
"Stop being so pessimistic dumbass, you'll just drag yourself, and in turn me, down. You want to live, don't you?"
"What kind of question is that!? Of course I do!"
"Good." Artorias nodded, his eyes gaining a little more life to them. "Keep up that energy, we'll need it for this."
"Wait what?"
'Why does it feel like he's going to use me as bait?'
Artorias ignored him.
"I've had some time to think about it, and I've identified at least three different talents the chimera has- "
'When did he have the time to do that!?'
"-The first is a potent mind hex, it makes you admire the thing and clouds your thoughts, it lingers like an infection until the body purges it. Though, from how only I was affected by it and not you, it seems as if it can only be activated through direct eye contact."
"That's terrifying…" and he wasn't referring to the abomination trying to hunt them down.
"You didn't look into its eyes, did you?" Artorias asked, double checking his hypothesis. Seirios dumbly shook his head, he hadn't even glanced at it.
"Okay good," Artorias seemed to relax at his theory being correct. "The next is the morning star on its tail. It's emitting a strange gas in the shape of clouds, I saw it winding up to its wings, so I'm thinking it's an ability made specifically for creating things, it also means its wings are not worth being targeted."
Seirios nodded again, his mind too preoccupied with shifting the very basis of how he had viewed his cousin up until now.
"The last, is some sort of invisible force, maybe a manifestation of its will? I'm not entirely sure but it was releasing something into the air to make it feel so oppressive. I'm thinking that it might have something to do with tricking the brain to feel something akin to dread…"
Artorias frowned, finally noticing his dazed look.
"What? Are you even listening?"
"Are you…" he paused to steady his thoughts, his mouth suddenly feeling dry. "…Are you seeing this as a puzzle?"
He watched as Artorias blinked, startled by the question before his brows furrowed and he tilted his head.
"Are you not?"
A single thought echoed in his mind from that response.
'Terrifying. He's fucking insane and terrifying!'
Who in the world viewed Fallen Spawn at the Rank of a Terror as puzzles to be solved! Seirios may act like a fool, but his intelligence was nothing to scoff at.
This entire time he had been confident that even if Artorias tried to betray him, he would win in any fight that would take place between them. But now?
Now such a thought didn't seem so plausible.
Because even with a mind hex cast by a terror lingering in his mind, distracting and clouding his thoughts, and his own bodies naturally tiredness making him drowse.
Not only did he have the mental strength left to teach him the dangers of a chimera, but he also had the mental resilience to think and analyse the abomination itself, even being able to create an idea of how to slay it.
All of that, whilst his mind was being plagued by the lingering effects of a powerful curse and working at a limited capacity.
It made him wonder, just how much of Seirios he had already seen? How many plans did he have ready to take care of him in case of any betrayal?
The only comfort he gained from this realization, was that Artorias seemed adamant on the idea of getting both of them back to the garrison alive.
A part of him, the part that was raised in a world where the strong ruled the weak, couldn't help but gain a healthy respect for his cousin.
Even when severely limited by his exhaustion, he was still standing and planning on how to deal with a terror so powerful, it was in its own unique league of strength compared to the others of its shared rank.
The rest of him, the parts of him where his sanity remained, couldn't help but be thankful this terrifying Ascended was on his side, working with him to keep them both alive.
"Anyways," Ignorant to the thoughts currently swimming through his mind, Artorias continued. "There's some other things that you should be aware of, the first, is its scales. You probably already know this, but we won't be able to pierce it in any way that matters. It's simply too tough for our bodies to match its strength- "
He interrupted his cousin before he could get any further in his explanation.
Whilst he appreciated Artorias' faith in his knowledge, he still had severe gaps in his education from spending the majority of his life growing up at the border.
"Why won't we be able to pierce its scales?" he asked, raising his hand to stop the other teen.
Artorias raised an eyebrow at his action. "We're not at school, you know? You can just ask."
Seirios only shrugged. With his earlier realization, he wanted to be on his best behaviour around the other Ascended.
"As for the why, well, it's our souls. They're not strong enough to produce the energy necessary to give us the strength required to break through its scales. Think of it in a similar way to the mundane bullets we spoke about before. The stronger the abomination- "
"-The stronger the power necessary to break through its hide, or scales in this case."
"Exactly," Artorias nodded, a small smirk on his face.
It looked awfully smug, or proud. Seirios couldn't really tell the difference. His cousin's expressions were too similar at times to tell apart.
"So, how are we planning to kill something that our weapons will be useless against?" he asked, his curiosity peaked, even as dread began to settle in his stomach.
"It had me stumped as well, I'll admit." Artorias shuffled from where he sat, his hands moving to the lower pockets of his cargo trousers. "But then I remembered these."
From his pockets, Artorias revealed two large sharp and curved horns made of bone.
Curiously taking the one he was offered; he inspected it in his palm. Whilst some scratches were visible in the bone, it looked new, almost pristine.
"What are these?" he asked, lightly swinging it through the air. It was light in weight but still felt perfectly comfortable in the palm of his hand.
"The horns of a deviant I killed a few days ago," Artorias freely admitted, slipping his horn back into one of his pockets.
Seirios almost dripped the horn in his hand at the admission.
'A deviant, he killed a fucking deviant whilst looking like that!?'
Whilst Seirios had also slain a deviant before, he had done it with a healthy body and plenty of energy. Artorias, since he had met him, looked like he was one soft breeze away from meeting death.
'Honestly, it's like he's holding on purely out of spite or something.' His earlier massacre of sixty-two brutes didn't feel so special anymore, paling in comparison to his cousin's own achievement right now.
"Alright then, so, how's this meant to help us?" He asked in a tired tone, not even bothering with questioning the other teen.
After what he had seen and noticed, Artorias killing a deviant didn't seem as unlikely as he had initially believed.
Artorias tilted his head in confusion, seemingly flummoxed by his lack of reaction, before beginning to explain.
"Well, Fallen Spawn are creatures that try to mimic life and follow their own corrupted version of our ascension process-"
"They do?" he interrupted.
Artorias only shrugged. "It's my own personal belief that they do, so don't take it as gospel- "
'The hell is a gospel?'
"-But, just how our souls and bodies grow with the ascension process to contend with stronger spawn, the abominations which mimic us, in theory, do too."
At Seirios confused look Artorias sighed and rephrased what he said.
"In other words, a deviant has the strength to contend with something more powerful than itself, i.e. a terror, something that's one rank above it, allowing it to further grow its power and strength to complete its ascension…or descension in this case."
"So…this is all based on a personal theory of yours?"
"I mean, it's supported by circumstantial facts?" He defended weakly. "How else do you think a deviant can grow into a terror if it's not challenging something stronger than itself. We Ascended have to do the exact same thing the stronger we get."
"We do?"
"Oh, for the love of the Dievas," Artorias sighed. "If we get out of this alive, I'll explain it to you, but for now, we're running out of time and need to focus," he stressed.
"Right, right." Seirios did his best to ignore the embarrassment he was feeling.
Not because of his lack of knowledge, he had no shame in admitting he was lacking in that department, but because he had allowed himself to become distracted and overwhelmed once again.
"Okay, now listen. There are still some more things you need to know about the chimera before we face it…"