Dark Souls 2: Rarity's Trials

by Blackdrag-rose

Dragon's Sanctum

Once Edric was done resting, and insisted that he was done, the duo walked down the stairs that were in front of them and came to another room that had a path on the right, a path ahead of them, and a door with a button to their left, though Rarity wasn't surprised to see so many options already. She knew that the pyramid was designed to make them confused, or at least make them regret entering the area, but before she could actually say anything Edric walked towards the room on their right, where a pair of ghostly knights were standing guard. As they surveyed the room, safely from the walkway they were on, Rarity noticed that there were two suits of armor that pulsed with dark red energy, though as she turned to say something Edric cut down the soldier that had been approaching them from the left. With the soldier dead the duo moved into the chamber in front of them and separated from each other, as when Edric attacked one of the ghostly knights they noticed that the knight was barely damaged at all.

Rarity figured that whoever built this place had designed some sort of extra defense, in addition to whatever else there might be waiting for them in the depths of the pyramid, but she turned towards the two suits of armor and gathered her magic around them before she crushed them... causing the 'ghostly' knights to revert to a form that was identical to the other soldiers they had seen, where she smiled as Edric took their opponents down after dodging their attacks.

"I see, now that's interesting." Rarity said, staring at the fragments of he suits of armor, which were no longer glowing with that sinister aura she had seen earlier, though at the same time Edric moved towards the five chests and started opening them so he could take their treasures, "We should keep our eyes open for more of those suits of armor, they'll make dealing with those 'spectral' enemies all that much easier once we've smashed them to bits."

"Will do." Edric replied, knowing that Rarity had to be right about this, as she was generally right despite the fact that she constantly stated that she wasn't the best person to ask about all of this, before he looked at his haul, "I found a Titanite Slab, some balm, a vessel of some kind, a helm that's not identical to the ones these knights are wearing, and fifty destructive looking arrows... which might not even be used, considering your power."

Rarity nodded her head, as she guessed that using arrows wasn't necessary when they had her new power on their side, before the two of them moved out of that chamber and walked through the doorway that was in front of them, where they discovered a few soldiers waiting for them. As Edric dealt with the soldiers Rarity looked into the area to the left of them and spotted a priestess in the back, near what appeared to be a circular door of some description, and some more soldiers, though they, like two of the soldiers that Edric was currently fighting, had a poisonous mist surrounding them. A few seconds later the priestess turned towards the area they were in and loosed a trio of Dark Orbs at them, to which Rarity responded by stopping the attack with a shield, though once all of the orbs were taken care of she snapped open a portal and blasted the priestess with a screaming sphere... where she took a moment as the priestess moved like a fragile flower for a few seconds before falling to the floor.

With the priestess taken care of she turned so she could see if Edric needed her assistance, though that was before Edric dropped down into the area below them and moved around the two soldiers with a level of grace that was unlike what she had seen earlier. Rarity assumed that her companion was improving his own style and had discovered a good way to avoid damage, especially since he was able to avoid taking damage before toppling both of the soldiers on his own, though she was proud of how his skills had improved since they got the King's Ring. Once he finished off the soldiers that he had been fighting he walked over to the circular door as Rarity dropped down into the area as well, though he ended up walking over a button that was on the ground, causing the circular door to rotate until the larger circle was in the north position. That caused an archer to be revealed above their heads, though Rarity blasted the archer back with a Dark Orb, knocking it to the walkway behind it, while at the same time Edric touched the button two more times until the larger circle was on their level... allowing them to finish off the archer before they moved down the path that they had discovered.

As they walked down the path on their right they kept their eyes open for any enemies or traps that might be inside the pyramid, since a place like this was going to be full of them, though they did stop at the first landing they came to and found two small areas that they could search. When they looked to their right they found what appeared to be a hidden passage that they would need to unlock in the future, though on the opposite side rested a body that had some Repair Powder that Edric eagerly collected. They then returned to the path in front of them and found a gap in the stairs, where the two of them jumped into the hole and explored the area below them, as they turned to the right and found a new area that they could explore. When they walked down the stairs Rarity immediately spotted another priestess handing on a level above them, to which she opened a small portal and loosed a screaming sphere at the flower life foe, blasting her target away from where it was standing... before she and Edric noticed a spectral knight, like the ones they saw earlier, that was waiting for something to come it's way.

Instead of engaging the spectral knight they charged forward and headed into the chamber on their right, where they passed by a second knight and headed toward a ladder, though as they moved Edric hit a button on a wall that revealed a treasure chest, which they ignored for now. Rarity snapped a barrier up around them, leaving out the top of the barrier, allowing Edric to climb up to the level above them, though once he was up there she pushed the knights back and teleported up to where her companion was standing. They then crossed over to a small chamber that had another knight and a priestess, though Rarity smiled as she summoned a circular barrier to keep the knight contained for the moment, allowing Edric to deal with the priestess before she did anything to stop them in their tracks. Once Edric had dealt with the priestess they discovered a button on the nearby wall that opened a door near their location, though they soon discovered that it was the hidden passage they spotted earlier... meaning that if they had to retreat they had a path could take, even if such a thing wasn't going to happen.

A few seconds later the duo crossed over the walkway that was near where the trapped knight was, as Rarity was making sure that it didn't move until they were far away from it, before they walked down the stairs and came to a chamber that had three more knights... and a number of sinister glowing suits of armor that made the duo smile the moment they laid eyes on them. Edric gathered the attention of the spectral knights as Rarity moved around the chamber, where she unleashed bolts of magical energy that tore the suits of armor to pieces, rending the knights vulnerable to damage once more. The instant that happened she and Edric declared war on the trio of knights that were in the chamber, because now that they weren't spectral anymore the duo's attacks caused havoc on all of them, though once the trio of foes were defeated Rarity spotted a key that was resting nearby and picked it up... as she had the feeling that it was important since it was being guarded in such a manner.

As they retraced their steps to the prior room they cut down the knight that was guarding the wooden chest, which they had to move away from since it was full of poison and only contained some talismans, while Edric moved over to an iron chest and claimed the ring that was resting inside it. From there Rarity considered how to deal with the knights that were below them, however, she spotted a button on the ceiling above her and used an Emit Force to press it, getting rid of the spikes that were in the sand below them. That allowed Edric to drop down and start his assault, where Rarity joined him and used her magic to blast her target backwards, though now that the knights were more vulnerable they were easily taken care of. Another thing they did was visit the chest that Edric had revealed the location of earlier, where they opened the iron chest and discovered some sort of stone that was also extremely important, at least in Rarity's opinion, to which she stored it with the key they discovered and continued onward.

As the duo headed down the stairs in front of them, and dealt with the knight that was on their right, they followed some stairs and came to another chamber, surprising them with even more stairs, but when they reached the end of the second set Rarity stopped them before they went further. When Edric looked around he didn't see anything, but that was before a red specter, who happened to be dressed as a jester, pulled itself from the ground and stared at them, before snapping it's fingers and sent a large fireball at them. Rarity, on the other hand, stepped forward and held her hand out, stopping the Forbidden Sun from reaching them, though after a few seconds she thrust the attack backwards and caused it to collide with the jester, damaging it instead of them. The jester emerged from the flames with parts of it's clothing on fire, though as it started the battle once more Rarity held her hand up in the air and called forth her own Forbidden Sun, to which she hurled it down at her foe and blasted it into the wall behind it... before she loosed a pair of screaming spheres that tore the jester to pieces, allowing the pair to move on.

From there they walked down the stairs to their right and walked through the fog door that was in front of them, where they entered a large area that had a lot of stalagmites scattered around the entire cavern, but as they walked out into the open area they discovered a large creature, which seemed to resemble a malformed dragon with no wings, walking around the area. Instead of engaging the creature, since they were getting a little tired from the constant fighting without rest, Rarity spotted a bonfire on the other side of the cavern they were in and pointed it out, where Edric nodded before the two of them charged across the cavern. Unfortunately the malformed creatures, as they quickly discovered that there were more than one of them, walked after them with the intent on squishing them and killing them, to which Rarity focused her magic and sent several screaming Dark Orbs into the portals she summoned, blasting the creatures back before they could be hurt.

In the end the two of them were able to reach the bonfire with nothing happening to them, with Rarity killing several of the creatures after she discovered that they were weak to dark based attacks, the duo arrived at the bonfire and lit it up, to which they took a seat around the bonfire as Rarity summoned a barrier to protect them in case the revived creatures charged at them again. She knew that they were getting close to the location of the second crown, as she could feel the power it was giving off, though she also knew that the guardian was going to be tough, but she was confident with their chances since the Darklurker was the toughest creature she had ever fought. All they had to do now was rest and recover from their ordeals before they did anything else, because once they had the crown they were leaving Shulva and heading back to Majula so they could plan where to go next... and which of the remaining two crowns they wanted to obtain next.

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[Randablitz]

"Many monarchs have come and gone. One Drowned in poison, and another succumbed to flame. Still another slumbers in a realm of ice. Not one of them stood here as you do now. You conqueror of adversities. Give us your answer." Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin.