Chapter Text
Rejoice is bored. It’s an unusual feeling for him, Rejoice is not the type of person to let himself be bored, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Not that he’s desperate, but the Mace will be worth it.
Normally his attempts on Tai’s life are far more exciting: the rush of adrenaline with every totem pop, the burn of exhaustion in his arms with every sword swing, the flash of fear every time he sees Tai plummeting out of the sky towards him. The point is it’s fun.
Sitting in a tiny two by one hole waiting for Tai to come back however, is not fun. It’s boring as hell. And sure, he’s a little tired from having to dig out the trap, but that’s nothing compared to the bone-deep exhaustion that comes with a good fight. Especially when paired with a victory, it’s a kind of high Rejoice can’t get enough of.
He tries to distract himself with thoughts of what will happen once he gets the Mace. Tai will go splat, Rejoice will pick up the Mace, and then he’ll get to taunt Tai once he respawns! He can already picture it, an armorless Tai spitting insults and curses at him, only to start shrieking in fear once Rejoice starts attacking him. And once Tai actually regears they’ll have a proper fight, and Rejoice will completely demolish him. With barely any effort!
Once he actually gets the Mace, defeating Tai and terrorizing him for the rest of the server will be a piece of cake! The hardest part is surviving the sheer boredom of waiting for him to come back. He’s honestly about to start punching the walls when he hears it. Tai’s voice.
“Are you serious?” Rejoice grins, he’s half tempted to open the wall just to see it happen, but he’s not about to risk letting this go to waste.
There’s a faint splash, the sound of netherite on dripstone, and then a shocked “No way.” Definitely not the sounds of Tai falling to his death. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t low.
Rejoice bursts through the wall, to find Tai already trying to swim up the water, water he managed to place where Rejoice missed a button. He decides to deal with his frustration of failing to kill Tai by succeeding to kill Tai, which really shouldn’t be too hard, considering the idiot seems pretty confused over the whole thing.
Unfortunately for Rejoice, that’s easier said than done. See, the whole reason he’d spent hours searching for Tai’s base was specifically so he couldn’t use the Mace in a fight due to the lack of airspace. But since Rejoice had dug out the trap, he’d effectively created a tall, enclosed space with nowhere to hide. Perfect for a mace wielder. And with a dripstone floor, for bonus lethality!
So yeah, Rejoice is not winning this. Tai’s already shoved multiple gapples down his throat, dashing his hopes of a quick kill, and he very much has the higher ground.
So Rejoice flees, returning to the bottom of the trap and burrowing into the wall. “That’s so stupid.” He mutters to himself as he crawls away through the dark tunnel. If Tai tries to follow, he doesn’t catch up. Rejoice doubts he tried, probably more preoccupied with the deadly new addition to his base.
Frustration burns through him, he should’ve killed Tai there. He’s frustrated whenever he fails to kill him of course, but this time is different. He was so close. But no, all because of one tiny, stupid mistake he’s failed again. And Rejoice had him in such a good spot too!
Whatever.
Rejoice is tired. He’s frustrated with Tai and with himself, but he’s not a quitter. He will kill Tai, maybe not today, and maybe not in a head-on fight, but he will do it.
For now though he retreats, but a plan is already forming in his mind. Next time Tai is dead for sure.