Time for a family reunion.
Yun was backed into a wall, literally. So he decided to just throw things at said wall and hope something sticks.
The idea came to him at the frozen battlefield, right after Miri threw Mortin's body off the cliff.
She had mentioned that the Plague was sensitive to light; the confirmation came when Yun woke up from the Soul Plain to find Miri and the entity sitting around in the dark with no fire. They couldn't risk alerting the Plagued monster of a human of their position, even if it meant enduring the frostbite until sunrise.
He immediately thought of how to exploit that piece of information, and it just so happened that he had a Vestige that could produce a light.
He didn't expect it to be this bright, though. The Curse really meant it when it said, "The deeper the darkness, the brighter the light."
There was one problem: False Maliki would inevitably come barrelling towards the source of the light, ready to tear it to pieces. Yun couldn't let that be him, so he tried provoking Miri by revealing his treachery to her, hoping to get her between him and the corrupted Captain.
It didn't quite work out that way, but that was okay. She was already standing at the mouth of the cave, after all. Their clash would surely disturb the seals carved on the wall, keeping him in position.
Either way, he was about to find out.
The rumbling drew nearer by the second. A resonant drone was slowly building, sounding like a horn announcing the approach of death itself, and everyone in the cave held their breath, dreading the crescendo.
"What have you done, you dolt?!" shouted Miri.
She raised her broadsword, taking a wide, defensive stance and whispered, "… Gate of Eternity…"
A blood-red aura surrounded her and an invisible weight settled in the dark crevice.
Yun quickly dismissed his luminous Vestige and braced; it had already done its job.
Then…
With a thunderous crack, two broadswords clashed, unleashing a calamitous shockwave that shattered the cave's mouth. The entity ducked and kept low, making way for Miri who was thrown back by her brother's might.
Ignoring the stone fall caused by the cave's collapse, Maliki brandished his broadsword and sauntered towards Yun and the entity. He wore a confident smile while his eyes wept black tears. The image of his slow approach made Yun shiver.
The corrupted captain's face had been stricken with a partial mutation of sorts. Cracks had formed underneath his eyes that grew worm-like tendrils that licked the air and hissed like they were searching for prey.
The cave continued to crumble. Meanwhile, a drowning Yun watched with anticipation as a sole crack travelled along the stone, patiently making its way towards him. It split off like tree branches and disappeared behind him.
Next thing he knew, Yun came crashing down on a pool of his own blood and tears.
Finally!
Now that gravity was no longer his enemy, the blood blocking his airway flowed out in a coughing sputter.
But…
Maliki now loomed over Yun and the entity.
The invisible heaviness pinned them both down in place. Yun choked and scrambled trying to break free, but it was of no use.
Maliki drew his arms back for a devastating vertical slash, and right then, a cold truth settled into Yun: one swing from that broadsword would decimate everything in its path.
This can't be it!
"Girl!" the entity shouted.
Miri recovered and launched herself at her brother faster than Yun's eyes could track.
"Argh!"
She met the slash with a parry of her own, knocking it off its deadly path. Relief washed over Yun, but it didn't last long. It soon became clear who was the captain and who followed behind.
Maliki made an impossibly quick recovery and thrust directly at Miri's face. Panic flashed in her eyes as she wrenched herself sideways. The thrust still managed to carve out a chunk of her face, and the remaining force blasted away at the cave's structural integrity.
The Maliki sibling's clash of steel raged on, doubling the pressure bearing down on Yun. Any more of it and he might've been crushed. He strained his neck muscles just to catch a glimpse of the entity, and its face suggested that it couldn't handle anymore either.
It shouted, "Your Eternity is much too heavy, girl! Close the Gate!"
Miri had just performed six consecutive slashes that Maliki briskly avoided, only to be kicked away before she could attempt a seventh. She hit the wall next to Yun, her impact causing it to crumble further. This cave was going to bury them all soon.
"You know I can't do that, that thing will slaughter us. I'll just take it away from here."
Miri stood back up, bent her knees, and jumped.
"You just make sure that the gate leading to the Temple is opened."
With quick and light steps, she ran along the cave's ceiling and landed just behind her corrupted brother. The sentient tendrils on his face hissed and Maliki turned with a swing of his sword, but Miri wasn't there anymore.
She had leapt from the floor to the ceiling, and used that leverage to launch herself back down and land just behind her brother before he could react. She pressed the tip of her sword on his back before shouting, "Ignite!"
An explosion of vital essence threw Maliki out of the cave, although it didn't look like it did much in the damage department.
Miri stood still for a beat, chest heaving. The huff of her laboured breaths was drowned out by the sounds of crumbling rocks and falling stones. She turned to the entity and nodded, then gave Yun one last look before following her brother out.
Yun watched her slender back disappear into the dark slopes. The pressure lessened faster the further away she went.
Man… I really had no chance against her, did I?
Yun quickly picked himself up and began scanning the cave for the map. And wouldn't you know it, there it was in the gap between him and the entity. Sometime amidst all the chaos, it had fallen out of its grasp.
Don't think, time to end this crap.
The entity had placed its hands on the case, but Yun simply knocked it out of its grip. He also gave the entity a swift kick for posterity's sake.
He made his way to where the map landed, ready to pick it up and bolt out of the cave, only to find that rocks had fallen on the case.
Shit! Please don't be damaged.
He dodged some stone fall and knelt down to rummage through the rocks in search of the case. A few stones hit him on the head, opening a large gash, but he ignored it. After his vital core awakening, that euphoric sensation still lingered and never faded completely, raising his pain tolerance.
Getting his tongue cut off still hurt like nothing he's ever experienced before (second only to the celestial core), but it could have been much worse.
His mouth also continuously drooled blood, making him dizzy, but he wouldn't be dying from blood-loss for at least an hour or so. He had to pass the First Vision before then.
The sturdy case appeared and Yun wasted no time snatching it up. He cracked the case open to make sure he wasn't scrambling for nothing, that would be embarrassing.
After confirming the contents, Yun rose to escape, but before he could leave, something tackled him out of the cave.
Together, they tumbled down the slope.