In the deeper ramparts of the conflux, Karlos was still in his avatar form concealed. His long whiskers brushed against the corals on the walls. Faris was still chained to the wall, unable to avert her gaze from the monstrous beast. Karlos brushed his quivering whiskers, and turned his eyes upwards. "Intruders..." He bellowed darkly, shuffling his body around to acute more to the vibrations.

"What are you planning?" Faris demanded, as the Dragon's attention was turned away from her. She figured her best option was to talk some information out of him. At the same time she tried to remain calm; despite her steel emotions it was unnerving to be so close to a potentially dangerous creature.
"Shinryu wishes one thing." Karlos replied, tracing his eye back to the uniformed woman.
"Shinryu... but we..." Faris didn't understand. A year ago, Shinryu had been destroyed in order to obtain the Ragnarok: a weapon that could destroy Ex-Death.
"Silence! Shinryu requests nothing more but to restored to how he once was. And all he is asking us to do is provide him the dragon feed. But right now there is not enough Magic in this world for him to drink from. So us, the five dragons, have researched a successful way to restore the magic to this world,"
"And that is...?" Faris wondered.
"Magic came to this world in the first place because of mortal curiosity. Several scribes sacrificed themselves in the name of their beliefs and became Shinryu. We dragons can now re-enact that event with the assistance of tools, and this is the way we will create more magic."
"Any you plan to use me as a tool?"
"You will have no choice over this matter" Karlos' pupils shrunk making him appear somewhat crazed.

Suddenly, some finned creatures leapt from the pool nearby and landed on the ground, spewing water on the coral floor. There were three of them, two were green Sahagins, but there was also a Crimson Sahagin which was much larger than the other two and hunched over.

"Each of the five dragons are assigned a very particular role. Mine is experiment with you mortals. These three Sahagins will take you to a room nearby, where I will conduct the ritual,"
As the three scaly monsters drew closer, Faris knew she had to be hasty. The two green Sahagins latched tightly to her body and began to dig with their sharp claws, drawing blood. The large red Sahagin invaded her personal space as it looked into her face and snarled before undoing the tethers that bonded her to the wall.

Using the brief moment her arms were free, Faris used her now free arms to dodge the sluggish creatures grasp and pummelled it with her fist, causing it to fly over and force the smaller Sahagins to let go.
"Don't take it personally mate." Faris wittingly remarked. The Sahagins had still left deep wounds on her body, seeping blood, but she ignored them.

Karlrex'os became enraged "Those who resist, will resist in vain!" He threw his right claw down in a rage, causing tremors on the ground, which caused Faris to stagger. The group of Sahagins were quick on their feet again, in fear of punishment and torture by their master and gave chase towards the quick pirate. Faris jumped at them, and slid through an opening left by their disorganisation.

With Karlos also in the room, simply running around would do no good for long. It was then she remembered the pool of water the Sahagins' had surfaced from at the end of the room with seemingly no means for escape. It was her only chance. One thing bothered that bothered her, was how long the tunnel was, but with the Sahagin's chasing her again there was no option but to try. She made a dash for the torrent of water, and Karlos had noticed, causing further anger within him. Karlos attempted to dash for her on his six legs, but his body was too slow on the ground to chase her, and with that Faris leapt and dived head-first into the water. The tunnel, miraculously was much shorter than she had presumed and she began to quickly swim to the exit. As she prepared to launch herself for the water's surface above, she was prevented from going further.

She looked down and saw the bulky crimson Sahagin had grabbed onto her leg, trying to pull her back down with his might. She wrestled her leg free and kicked it again, before pushing to the surface for air. The creature seemed far from willing to give up as it's sharp blades for teeth began to gnash. As if anything could get worse, Faris could hear heavy tremors from Karlos as he smashed against the wall, trying to break through.

Faris launched herself onto dry land to avoid the red monster, she had little chance to react when the Sahagin leapt out of the water after her. Matters were made worse as Faris realised the room she was now in was vast, and filled with even more green Sahagin. There were coral machines making strange noises as well, to worsen the atmosphere. In front of the machines were basins of water; a Sahagin pulled out it's contents and a silver coin gleamed from the distance.

Faris now began to hear cries from the room, not just by the monsters but the groans of people that were chained to the wall. Some of the people were untethered and being dragged on the ground by Sahagins, some dead, some so weak that they couldn't fight back. However, there was one among them she recognised.

Lenna.

The red Sahagin behind her gave a roar, attracted the other Sahagin's attention to the bishonen character as she stood up, trying to catch a glimpse of her younger sister "Lenna!" She cried.
At this point, she didn't care so much for her own safety. With that said, the fish-like creatures leapt at her and while unarmed, she had little means to defend herself. But despite the lack of a weapon, she managed to withhold the countless hordes of monsters that were attacking her. Lenna looked back silently in fear and another Sahagin dragged her into another room.

Meanwhile, with Bartz, Sabin and Krile, they had caught ear of Faris' cry to Lenna. She was close by. Without saying a thing between them, the party followed the noise, filled with hope. As they entered an open doorway, they were laid witness to a vast room, where they could see vicious Sahagin's pile onto their friend.

Krile and Bartz charged with blades baring to protect their close ally from further harm. Sabin challenged the creatures of the deep with his bare fists. Krile hacked down a fiend, that was clawed tight to the pirate's body; giving her some ease. The woman seemed battered, bloody and scratched and panted heavily, but she was at some relief. She pulled herself to her feet with daze, nearly falling back down again and staggered to a sharp piece of coral debris from the stalactite of the floor. It was sharp, and long enough to be held as a rapier; it would serve well as a temporary weapon.

They began to hear people cheer behind them, weak people that thought once that they would never be free, that now saw a future. Some were crying with relief.
Sabin, Bartz, Krile and Faris stood now, back to back, fending off the zounds of monsters that attacked them. It was then when the Red Sahagin approached and lunged for Faris again, desperate to appease his master. Before she knew what was happening, she was thrown to the floor with the red monster atop her, gnashing it's jaws malevolently. Bartz slashed away the last green Sahagin and rushed to her aid.
The crimson Sahagin's bulky body weighed her down; the coral sword had escaped Faris's hand in the commotion and was out of reach rendering her unable to defend herself. As the monster prepared to bite with it's huge fangs, it's move was halted by the slash of a sword. It's body collapsed, and allowed Bartz to kick it aside, off of Faris's body. Krile, then assisted her damaged body upwards by providing her hand. "Thankyou," Faris spoke in reprisal.

She was still dazed as she stood up, covered in grazes much more severe than Bartz, but simply shrugged them off before issuing her own thoughts "Bartz, Krile, are you alright?"
"We're fine," Bartz replied "But you should be more worried about yourself!"
Sabin couldn't quite make out Faris, due to her ambiguous looks and instead decided to remain quiet.
"I'm alright," Faris assured "What matters most though is that we free these people" She walked over to a group of shackled people, and began to unchain one of them. "My name is Faris Scherwiz, and you stranger?" She asked.
"Sabin Figaro" Sabin introduced.