Season 1, Episode 5 - The Boxtops XLI - "Osip vs Tityos"

Time seemed to slow down. Osip’s friend had died, crushed to bits, flattened by a presumed Restorationist now awkwardly perched on the elevator roof, gazing down at Osip. They looked at each other silently for what seemed like a lifetime as both men got their bearings.

Osip moved first, extending his hands, red Rddhi sparking. He launched a huge ball of fire at the Restorationist. The man punched a hole wide enough in the roof to expose his entire upper body; Osip aimed the fireball square at his chest. The column of sand retreated fast, quickly moving off of the man's hand to cover his torso, shielding him from the fireball. The sand clung to the man’s body, packed in, the flames stopped in their tracks.

Osip swore. He can use the earth as another layer of skin?

Osip sent several more fireballs, the blasts of flames temporarily blocking the huge man’s vision. When the fire disappeared, the sand swirled back into its earlier form of a giant fist extending from the man's hand, who prepared for another attack.

“I won’t miss this time-”

Osip was gone. The huge man realized the elevator had come to a complete stop; he slowly put the pieces together. While the fire blocked the Restorationist’s vision, Osip had the elevator stop on the next floor, a lit-up button on the elevator panel confirming this.

The man jumped down into the elevator, landing with such a force that the whole elevator shook. As he ambled after Osip, the elevator doors closed in front of him, the actual elevator now moving up, on its way back to its original destination.

On that fifth floor he escaped to, Osip sighed in temporary relief. The Restorationist was likely after Stefano. Osip could either move up to the top floor and protect the rat, or he could regroup downstairs for backup.

No. That would mean Stefano’s death, and more importantly, the deaths of the two mercenaries posted at his door for protection. Bullets likely wouldn’t work on the Restorationist’s sand-skin. And besides, Osip had unfinished, personal business with the man - the blood from Lukas that splattered onto Osip's fatigues served as a reminder of that.

Upwards, then. Osip looked around the hallway, red carpets and beige walls, since he still reach the staircase at the end of it and sprint to the top floor before the man could make it there-

Osip heard the wall behind him explode. Directly above the elevator’s doors, the huge man emerged from a giant hole in the wall made from his earth fist.

“Can't let you find reinforcements,” the man mumbled.

Osip cracked a confident grin, sweat rolling down his temple. “They should be here soon, though. We made an awful lot of noise.”

The man scratched his head. “I messed up,” he admitted. “Sensei told me to immediately head for the highest floor, but I forgot.”

Who the hell am I fighting? Compared to his muscles and height, his brain must be microscopic.

And Sensei. That’s what the Restorationists call the Alchemist. No doubt about his faction now.

Osip jumped backwards, dodging the huge column of sand swung down at him. The column went right through the carpeted floor and created a large hole.

When the huge man readied himself for another swing, Osip used a blast of fire to propel himself forward. He slid into the hole right as another column of sand came down behind him. He rolled out of the way and used another blast of fire to create some space; more of the carpeted floor came down with him as he slid away to safety, now one floor down from his opponent.

He took a quick glance up through the hole and saw the huge man looking at him in confusion while gathering his energy for another swing. Hoping his calculations were right, Osip used another blast of fire to get him down the hallway, just in time, because the column of sand now broke in through the ceiling above him, crashing down behind him as he arrived at the end of the hallway.

Osip had a brief moment to admire his handiwork. The last strike from the sand column so weakened the structure of the above floor’s hallway that most of it gave way, including the floor right underneath the man. Groaning with surprise, he tumbled downward, he and his dirt column hitting the floor below them with such force that they broke through that as well.

Hoping that would be loud enough for the other mercenaries to hear, and that the huge man, a floor down from him now, would be temporarily stunned, Osip sprinted for a back staircase. Arriving in the stairwell corridor, Osip saw that it was shaped like a square, with empty space in the middle of the spiral from which he could see all the way down to the first floor and all the way up to the top floor. Osip slipped over the railing, then used his fire to propel himself upwards.

Through the noise of his fire echoing around him, Osip thought he might’ve heard distant crackling and crumbling sounds, but he hoped that it was the mercenaries subduing the huge man.

I can’t die here, I got crab rangoon to eat...

He arrived at the top floor and rolled over the railing back onto solid ground. He swung open the door to the corridor, and stepped into the hallway, fire ready in his hands-

A column of sand punched through his stomach. Osip coughed violently in surprise, then in pain. The sand column ran through him with such force that it broke through the wall behind him as well, into the open sky, the sunset settling in over Elizabeth Pond.

The huge man stood before him, a thick arm outstretched, the column of dirt stretching out from it into Osip’s stomach. Behind him, Osip saw a huge hole in the hallway floor and the corpses of the mercenaries stationed outside Stefano’s room.

He used the sand to break through all the floors above him, and then apparently used the sand to climb up as well. In between gasps for breath, Osip wondered if his attacker really could’ve come up with such a strategy on his own.

“Sensei is very kind,” the man said slowly. “He helped me catch you.”

“This Sensei of yours,” Osip grunted out, stalling for time, since with his innards utterly destroyed, that’s all he could do at the moment. “Who is he?”

The man’s eyes widened in revere of his master. “Sensei is our leader,” he proclaimed. “Mankind’s leader. He is the wisest man to ever live. He will end humanity’s divisions that cause war and conflict.”

Well, at least that was coherent.

At the other end of the hallway, the doorway to the opposite stairwell corridor opened, and several mercenaries poured out.

“Start shooting!” Osip barked out.

The soldiers immediately obeyed, sending a hail of bullets down the hallway. The man retracted his sand from Osip to shield himself; Osip fell to the floor, feeling a nearly overwhelming sensation of shock, but he remembered his promised date and rose to his knees.

Much of his stomach had been gored, but between his experiences with previous injuries in the Congo, the healing factor of the Rddhi, the promise of tonight’s date, and his own desire not to die in a place like this, Osip gathered his energy.

It’s a big wound...but maybe I can cauterize it.

Instead of bringing his hands to his stomach, he aimed his hands at the huge man.

But if I combine my flames with their bullets, we can overwhelm him first-

“Sorry to interrupt,” a soft voice said next to him.

Osip swallowed and slowly turned his head; a man with a white trenchcoat knelt next to him, his hand on Osip’s shoulder.

“...Sensei,” Osip realized, sweating.

“Indeed,” the man known to his supporters as Sensei and to his opponents at the Alchemist confirmed. From the Academy's files on him, Osip recognized the man’s white hair, the fur across the back neck of his coat, and war medals.

Wait...I recognize one of those medals from somewhere...

“I was here the entire time, guiding our poor Tityos,” the Alchemist explained. Osip tried to free himself, but with a small spark of Rddhi, the Alchemist transmuted Osip’s shoulder - clothing, muscle, joints, bone - into cloth. Osip collapsed on his stomach, gritting his teeth from the pain, as the Alchemist ripped the cloth away, taking the rest of the arm with it.

“Please don’t interrupt me,” the Alchemist informed him, his voice calm. He watched his subordinate struggle with his sand against the onslaught of the mercenaries. “Tityos here is the youngest sibling of my Greeks. This is the first time he’s been on a mission without his elder sisters. It was time to let him out of the nest, so to speak, and see how high he could fly.”

His words barely registered with Osip. Pain wracked his whole body; he tried to focus on anything to center himself. His thoughts swirled around the particular medal he recognized. The encounters those high schoolers had with the Alchemist during the smuggling bust occurred at night and didn’t give them a chance to study the design of the medals. The other medal didn’t ring any bells, but the one Osip focused on depicted a vaguely familiar lake guarded by a woman dressed in robes and a distinctive helmet topped by a plume.

“I worry for my disciples,” the Alchemist admitted. “Tityos knew I was coming with him, but I hoped I wouldn’t need to intervene. Alas, it seems like Tityos still has a lot to learn.”

Tityos remained in place, his sand shielding him, but since he needed to keep the sand on his skin to protect himself, he couldn’t launch a counterattack. Stuck in place, he seemed confused about the whole thing, drawing a sigh from the Alchemist.

“Despite his looks, he’s barely older than a high schooler,” the Alchemist recollected fondly. “Before I met him, he couldn’t even read. That’s why I’m patient with him. Civilized men and women deserve no leeway for their mistakes; but those still learning of civilization, you must be patient.” He shook his head with a small laugh, as if he was a parent watching a small child trying to walk for the first time. “I told him to go straight to the top, but he decided to decapitate the local leadership. Of course, he missed the Rddhi user in the process and has utterly blown our cover now. But if I can’t be patient with a half-civilized man, how can I be patient with a half-civilized country? Baby steps...all it takes is baby steps on his part, and a little help from his betters along the way...”

The Alchemist placed a palm on the ground. Rainbow Rddhi lights flashed across the entire hallway; while the floor below Tityos remained normal, the floor below the mercenaries transmuted into dirt that quickly gave way with nothing underneath it for support. The soldiers yelled as they suddenly fell downwards alongside the dirt towards the floor below them.

Osip grimaced when he saw another flash of Rddhi light that transformed the dirt back into floor when the soldiers were halfway down, bisecting all of them.

“Unfortunate,” the Alchemist supposed. “I would’ve liked to only take Stefano’s life today, but it appears the kill count will be around a dozen.” He looked down at Osip. “So...how would you like to die? I would prefer to make it painless, but it’s up to you.”

Something clicked in Osip’s mind.

“Your medal,” Osip realized. “I recognize that from the Congo. That’s a rare medal given out to those involved in the war that founded the centripetalist regime in East Africa. That’s Lake Victoria and the woman is Athena.”

The Alchemist grinned. “I’m glad you’ve recognized it. Finally, someone has.”

“But that war was forty years ago,” Osip croaked out, horror rising within him as he realized the full powers of the man who currently had Osip at his mercy. “And you don’t even look thirty.”

“Looks can be deceiving, my friend. But at least your final moments have some meaning to them.” The Alchemist reached out for Osip’s chest. “This will be painless. Please, dream an endless dream.”

Osip let out a small laugh.

Sorry, Essex...guessed I proved your fears about your students dying true after all.

Osip rolled away, extending his remaining good arm out towards the Alchemist. At point blank range, fire in his palm, he could at least scorch this bastard-

The Alchemist’s palm reached out for Osip’s palm, turning the emerging fireball into water until he connected with skin. Osip felt Rddhi ripple through him; his remaining good shoulder turned into cloth. Gracefully, seemingly without effort, the Alchemist swung Osip, pulling him toward the hole in the wall behind them; the cloth shoulder ripped apart just in time, and Osip tumbled out of the building, into the open sky, twelve floors up.

Sorry, Erica.