A/N: Finish of the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth floor. Oh boy, offtext happenings are so fun.
To Zelda/Greenoak1: Yeah, it could have gone very differently. I really didn't want to do that line of plot though. Repercussions for turning an adventurer into an immortal, which not even the gods are, would be very extreme if done outside a Single Run. The gods, particularly Hestia, would be pissed. As for pairings, I looked at the whole 'BellxAis' thing, and Ais is a little hard to write as 'in love' with Bell, and maintain character at the same time, being . Bell is also not nearly as infatuated with Ais as canon, as his main goal is to be strong enough where he doesn't need protecting. But, it's becoming more and more possible for it to happen. As for a definite pairing, it would be a somewhat subtle RyuuxBlaec. Ryuu hates Blaec, Blaec doesn't care, but it's a bit of passive-agression between them. Hehe.
Floor three boss design has been brought to you by the Armed with Wings franchise (it's Network).
"NO!"
The masked man lunged at the others, his movement sluggish as he sloshed through the water.
A slew of flaming arrows barreled out from behind Blaec's tattered coat, incinerating the blood, and piercing the dragon's heads.
"That was too close."
Blaec walked out, his coat shrinking back to its normal form, and the masked man nodded, sighing.
"I thought you didn't finish the chant in time. I was worried."
Blaec nodded.
"I know. I almost didn't."
The dragon's heads glared at him, a shroud of poison flowing from their mouths.
"ADVENTURER. I WILL NOT BE BESTED SO EASILY."
Blaec notched another arrow, then fired it at a head, the former bursting into flames as it incinerated the latter.
"Did you think that was all I was capable of? Simply shooting flaming arrows and having a fireproof coat? No, it's much more than that."
He slung his bow on his back, then drew his black sword, holding it with two hands.
"I've enchanted this equipment with everything I have. Yes, it was difficult. Yes, it was painful. But so what?"
He swung the sword down, a wave of darkness sweeping over the dragon.
"I've dedicated everything so far to making myself stronger. There were many that died because no one completed a Single Run without dying."
He swung again, another wave crashing into the first one.
"I will change that."
The wave dissipated, revealing the murky water.
"IT IS FUTILE."
The dragon burst out of the water, hundreds of heads glaring at the adventurers. Blaec scowled.
"The rest of you, go ahead."
Bete looked at him with a quizzical expression.
"Are you sure?"
Blaec nodded.
"I'll be fine. The rest of you might not be, though."
Bete frowned.
"I can buy you some time."
Ryuu frowned.
"Will you be alright, Carver?"
Blaec nodded.
"The rest of you, get going."
Bete kicked away a head that got too close.
"GO!"
The rest of the group scrambled and clambered around the many headed dragon, Blaec firing off the flaming arrows to cover their escape.
"Dungeon, it it just us, and you."
"THEN YOU SHALL FALL."
Bete reached for his mask.
"Blaec, whatever it is you're going to do, do it well."
He placed the mask on his face, a pulse of power signifying the change going underway. Blaec smiled as Bete charged the heads, slashing and biting them.
"Divine guiding high wind, lead this impure soul to greatness, let him reach the heavens, bring forth the reign of creation, and drive out clarity. Strike down, build up, and change that which is reality, that which binds this impure soul to impurity. State that which you seek to guide me, and I will find it. The Creator of Earth, the Destroyer of Heaven, look down with mercy, and grant this impure soul power. The power to move the unyielding earth, to trap the free wind, to douse the unquenchable fire, to stop the unstoppable flood. The power to strike down foes that cannot be struck down, to live through death. Empower my magic. Smite with a great force, tear the very earth asunder upon your descension, great power from the heavens. Banish the darkness with a great light, drive out the cold with a great heat, drive out life with a great lightning."
He pointed at the dragon, who was attempting to rip Bete apart, but to no avail.
"Smiting Lightning."
An enormous sphere of lightning formed in the middle of the group of heads, rapidly expanding until it electrified the water, then pushed through it until it reached the bottom of the swamp, engulfing everything in the room in lightning. Blaec smiled as he passed out, seeing Bete take off his mask, and run to him, scowling.
"Hey, get up."
Blaec slowly opened his eyes.
"Oh, hey Bete."
He sat up, only to be slapped in the face.
"Were you trying to get yourself killed, Carver?"
Blaec rubbed his cheek, smiling at the angry yet teary-eyed Ryuu.
"It's good to know you care, Ryuu."
"When Bete brought you back, you were a mess."
The masked man nodded in agreement.
"Not only did you hit Mind Zero, you were electrocuted quite thoroughly as well."
Ryuu frowned.
"What did you do to kill the boss, Carver?"
Blaec chuckled.
"My magic. Eh, Ais, there's an elf in the Loki Familia that can use any spell right?"
Ais nodded.
"Well, my magic's a little like that, Ryuu."
"You idiot. You could have killed yourself with something like that. That black sword, it uses something similar to magic, right?"
Blaec nodded.
"A lot of my equipment uses enchantments. The actives are like magic, and the passives have limited durability, so I'd have to re-enchant them later. Why?"
"You must have a high magic stat to resist using that black sword twice, and then a spell that could kill a boss like that in one hit."
"Well, I noticed the heads kept reforming, but the body remained submerged, so I used a spell that would dry up all the water, and deal lethal damage should the removal of the water not be enough."
"You could have killed yourself."
Blaec shook his head, grinning.
"Don't be ridiculous. I won't die that easily."
Ryuu glared at him.
"You are as mortal as I am, Carver. Keep that in mind."
Blaec smiled at her.
"Of course, Ryuu."
The clash of metal on metal echoed in Blaec's ears.
"Did you find an exit yet?"
Blaec grunted, cleaving the shadow in half.
"No. The dungeon is moving too quickly to form a path out."
He sighed, then lowered his sword, staring at where he thought the exit would be.
"Ryuu, can you help with this?"
Ryuu shook her head as she slashed another shadow into pieces, only to have to block another's onslaught.
"There's too many."
Blaec nodded, sighing again.
"The rest of you, guard me for now."
The rest of the group nodded their understanding, then formed a circle around Blaec.
"Divine guiding high wind, lead this impure soul to greatness, let him reach the heavens, bring forth the reign of creation, and drive out clarity. Strike down, build up, and change that which is reality, that which binds this impure soul to impurity. State that which you seek to guide me, and I will find it. The Creator of Earth, the Destroyer of Heaven, look down with mercy, and grant this impure soul power. The power to move the unyielding earth, to trap the free wind, to douse the unquenchable fire, to stop the unstoppable flood. The power to strike down foes that cannot be struck down, to live through death. Empower my magic. Look down on those that oppose your reign. Smite them with a great power, and break that which defends them. Sweep your wings, roar in rage, and raze the enemy. Killing Breath of the Dragon King."
He inhaled, then roared, a wide beam of pure white light tore its way through the enemies, the walls of the dungeon, and anything else that dared to get in its way, leaving a large hole leading directly to the boss room.
"Good, I aimed correctly, then."
Blaec smiled, then fell unconscious again, and the masked man caught him before Blaec collapsed on the ground.
"Come. We have a boss to kill, and the path won't last long."
True to his word, the walls were beginning to reform where the blast had razed them.
"Then let's go."
The group dashed towards the boss room, narrowly avoiding the shadows that attacked them from seemingly all sides.
They barely made it to the boss room.
"You came. How pleasant."
The group looked at the tall shadowy figure before them. Much like the masked man, his entire being and attire was black. Unlike the masked man, only his eyes were white, the rest of his lean form nearly blending in with the dark surroundings. The black cloth at his waist swayed slightly as the boss took in the new challengers, noting Blaec's unconscious form.
"You challenge me with six."
Liliruca readied an arrow on her wrist mounted bow, aiming it at him.
"It's all we'll need."
The masked man held out a hand, signalling for Liliruca to stand down.
"I will finish this. The rest of you, leave us."
The boss tilted his head, as the rest of the group left the masked man and him.
"Only you, brother?"
The masked man gave him a level stare.
"Yes, little one. Only me."
He took a step forward, and the boss readied himself, his fingers extending into claws, horns jutting out from seemingly behind his face, and a wild mane of hair growing from the back of his head.
"Then you will die here, brother!"
He charged the masked man, who stopped a reckless slash with a single gauntlet.
"No, little one. I will not die today."
He raised a hand, then stabbed the boss through the chest.
"You will die once more."
The boss gave a hollow chuckle, then rested a hand on the masked man's head.
"Your existence is why I am here, brother."
Smoke rose from the hand, and the boss seemed to frown.
"Brother, what have you become?"
The masked man chuckled, resting a hand on the boss' head, mimicking the latter.
"A being cursed to walk this earth for all time."
He paused a moment.
"Do not worry, little one. I will end this all soon."
The boss exploded in black flames, yet he gave out no scream.
"Is that all?"
A burning clawed hand reached out for the masked man's mask, though the owner of the latter stepped back.
"Is this your weakness, brother?"
A pair of demonic wings unfurled from the flaming boss' back.
"Then you will die, brother."
The boss raised a hand, a small, condensed sphere of darkness forming in it.
"No."
The masked man slowly walked forward.
The boss kept charging the attack.
The masked man raised a hand to his mask.
The resulting explosion could be felt in the next floor, and the next, and the next, until it reached the adventurers.
"What was that?"
The now conscious Blaec nodded.
"The masked man and his brother."
"His brother?"
"Yes, his brother. Originally, the masked man and his brother weren't very close. The masked man wanted nothing to do with people, preferring to stay in his forge and make weapons. His brother, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with those weapons, preferring to fight bare handed, and help people when he could. After some time, the masked man's brother finally met his match in the dungeon, aiding a familia that had been cornered by a group of monsters. His last words were, 'You could have been here, brother.' We met him in the Single Run, but the masked man dealt with him easily. This time, it might be different with the masked man being a lich."
"Wouldn't that make things easier?"
"I'm not sure. Even if the masked man can't die, he needs the mask to keep the opportunity to regain his actual body. I've never seen him actually take the mask off."
Bete shivered.
"I have. It's not a good sight."
Blaec nodded.
"If he takes the mask off, even temporarily, it could damage his body if he regains it."
"Would it be better if he just took the mask off for good?"
Blaec shook his head, scowling.
"He'd never agree to that. If he takes the mask off permanently, then I run the risk of not regaining my eyes. The masked man would never forgive himself for that."
Blaec smiled bitterly.
"If I had to make a guess, I'd say that the masked man turned into a lich because he really wanted to finish a Single Run without either of us dying."
"So the rest of us are expendable?"
"What? No, of course not. All I'm saying is that if the masked man gets his wish, he may be able to regain his body, but I'm not completely sure about that. If the masked man's desire changed, then it might not be a completable one. If it's that, then the chances of him regaining his body are slim to none under normal circumstances. If Bell had died to that Chimera, and he, for example, wanted to be a hero, then he would have become a lich if I had resurrected him. And because the concept of a hero is that they don't usually die, then Bell would have been immortal, though also without Grace. I might be able to separate the lich aspect after, but if his body had been too damaged, then he would have died immediately afterwards."
"So, if I hadn't gained Limit Break, I might have ended up as a lich?"
"Or just dead. I'm not one to take a risk like that if there's too great a chance of failure. I don't turn people into liches when the chances are too high like that."
Bell shrugged, nodding as well.
"I understand. You didn't want to be responsible for making something like that."
"But, if you had turned into a lich, I'm certain you'd have been driven mad by the desire that caused you to become a lich in the first place. I've seen a lot of liches like that. One of them had the desire to kill his son, who had killed him. He did so, and resumed his life as normal. But when he found someone that he could consider his son, his desire resurfaced, and he ended up killing that one."
Ryuu looked at him.
"That was with Little Carver, wasn't it?"
Blaec nodded.
"The man's name was Aldrich King, I believe, and Little Carver was the boy he killed. I resurrected the boy, of course, but he asked to be put out of his misery. So I did. It wasn't fun, but it had to be done."
A/N: Yes, that just happened. A turn for the worst has been avoided, and is now revealed. Once again, avoid pissing off the gods when you can. The masked man's brother! Oh man!