A/N: Hello again, remember how I once said that my schedule gets bloated at the end of the month? Did I say it here? Well point is… it's even worse as I approach the end of the semester, much to do and very little time, and in fact, this chapter had to be cut somewhat short as I couldn't fit everything without making things too long, or delaying posting it even further.

Once again sorry for the delay… but hey, welcome back and I hope you like the chapter, time to go into the sewers and into more unrestrained action. Wooo!

Beta: Genatools

Chapter 11: Old Compatriots

Eskar, Beatrice and Oscar said their goodbyes to the rest of Firelink Shrine, trusting them to be safe while they were gone and headed for the Depths. One thing they did before heading down was stock up on Estus, the Rite of Kindling being used with Rhea's approval of course.

"My deepest gratitude, Lady Rhea." Oscar said to her as he collected the fire in his flask.

"Sir Oscar… My life only has purpose because of you and your companions. Thee should not be in my debt, as I should be in yours." Rhea spoke.

"Lady Rhea… I'm sorry for what had happened."

"Please don't be… regardless of Petrus' true nature, you and your companions stood firm and brought his sins to light. I feel that… in the end… you've given me, and Nico and Vince, proper closure." Rhea did her best to smile, but there was a sadness behind it.

"... You don't… need to… let it seem like a trivial matter."

"I'm not… I cannot… but I know the kind of people Vince and Nico were, I want to keep going for them. And I do not wish to lament for Petrus anymore. I do not know what to think of the church just yet but… I wish to focus on a worthy cause. Thy and your companions' it's a worthy one, and you've allowed me to help and use my faith to aid… Sir Oscar, you three have molded the duty and the life I had and made something new, something I know how to do, and something I'm glad has changed. You've given me a new chance, and no matter the pain, I do not wish to go back and know the alternative, what would have happened. And I know my faith in you will not be in vain." Rhea finished her speech.

"Lady Rhea… I appreciate your faith in us. Please, be safe, and do not be afraid to speak with others while we are gone." Oscar said. He wished he could do more, but Rhea's journey was her own in a way, and he could turn back time and spare her the pain of truth. Whether by new purpose or by her devotion, she kept her chin up, but he knew that the events would affect her and leave her distraught. Maybe not now, but if the feeling quickly returned, a spiral could lead her into a pit of despair, and she could even end up Hollow.

"Do not worry Sir Oscar. I may not have known them long, but Laurentius and Griggs seem like good souls, they protected me from Petrus after all. I… may not talk much, and talking might be difficult, but their company is a source of relief, and in all honesty, I say they might feel the same way. Even the warrior by the bonfire."

"Him?" Oscar asked in surprise.

"He may have lost hope… but he hasn't hollowed yet. And the presence of others… I've seen his smile from time to time. It's as if the quiet company reminds him of more peaceful times." Rhea smiled.

"Hmm… perhaps." Oscar wondered what went through the Crestfallen Warrior's mind. "We'll do our best to return soon." Oscar stood up. It was time for him to go.

"Farewell Sir Oscar, you have my blessings, and Sir Eskar and Miss Beatrice have them as well. Vereor Nox." Rhea joined her hand in prayer. With their goodbyes said, the trio began to move back into the land of Lordran.

"Are you two ready to go into the Depths?" Beatrice asked Eskar and Oscar.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Eskar said.

"As am I. Rhea sends her blessing to all of us," Oscar said to them.

"Hmm. You know, it's the first time I've been given blessings by a priestess. Let's make them count, shall we?" Beatrice said to them. Eskar and Oscar nodded in unison and so the three of them went on their way and towards the aqueduct. With their experience, they dealt with the Hollows guarding it easily, barely strafing to avoid their attacks and retaliate with either weapons, kicks, punches, or spells.

They went through the aqueduct and reached its end, the shortcut they had opened still open, but not only that, the Hollow Lady… or rather the Hollow-looking Lady still behind the bars, and eager to trade with them.

"Oh, it is you, dearies, have you changed your mind? I have plenty of still fresh moss. Vee hee hee!" The undead merchant welcomed them. Lucky for her, Beatrice was thinking about buying some moss.

"I believe we have," Beatrice said.

"We have?" Eskar asked.

"Yes. The Depths and the wastes further below are so putrid that they become poisonous. Purple moss is quite handy at dealing with poison in one's blood." Beatrice explained

"Oh, you three are going down? Vee hee hee. Then you dear are right, if you want to survive, you'll need my moss." The undead merchant laughed.

"Then we should be prepared." Oscar agreed to buy some of the moss. Eskar still had plenty of moss gathered from his time in the Darkroot Garden, but regardless, more moss couldn't hurt, they had the souls to spare after all. They bought two dozens of Purple Moss clumps and Blooming Purple Moss clumps. On top of that Beatrice decided to use the souls she had to spare to buy a purging stone.

"Oh ho ho… Much obliged. I think I like you. Vee hee hee hee hee hee!" The undead merchant snickered.

Going down to the Depths wasn't difficult. Without having to cross the lower Undead Burg and deal with the Hollow Thieves and the rabid dogs the trek became far easier than previously. Even when they reached the entrance of the Depths, the same room where they had found Laurentius, the Hollows were largely absent. There were no butchers on sight, and it seemed like the hollows never recovered from the combined assault they had spearheaded. They barely had to kill six Hollows as they reached the point where they had split with Siegmeyer.

"Hye!" Oscar wrenched his sword out from one Hollow and then killed it with a cross slash across its chest, the Hollow fell and went limp. "We should be good to move on." He said after taking a quick breath.

Eskar snapped a Hollow's knee with a kick and then did a front kick to smash its head against the wall. "Then shall we." He said.

"Let's not dally, more Hollow can always appear… or worse," Beatrice said while she herself admired her own work. Hollows defeated with a couple of soul arrows and fireballs.

"That door over there should lead further down… wait… where's Eskar?" Oscar suddenly realized Eskar was missing.

"Huh…?" Beatrice looked around and noticed Eskar moving towards the lair of the previous butcher that resided in the area. With all the Hollows and the dogs gone, it was easy to cross over.

"The butcher had a stash, I can see it from here," Eskar told his companions. His curiosity nagged at him to approach what used to be… a possible cannibal's kitchen. Yet if one was able to ignore the putrid stench of the nearby meat, they would see a chest that seemed oddly pristine. The trio examined the chest and opened it. It turned out to have a Large Ember inside.

"An Ember…" Oscar marveled. "Why… or how would an Ember like this end on the Depths?"

"There could be many reasons… Thievery is an option. Yet you should remember that the Depths are a place where many undesirables were forced to live in, whether because they were undead… or because not even the low life of the Burg could stomach them, yet none of them would go as low as to end on Blighttown. This place is a sewer in more ways than one, and all waste ends here…" Beatrice told them.

"Are you trying to tell me, someone, deliberately let this Ember fall down here?" Oscar asked.

"It could have been long ago… or simply come with an undead smith. It doesn't matter, it ended down here all the same." Beatrice said.

"And they probably kept it to help them. It's similar to the Divine Ember we gave Andre, it must mean it can be used for smithing." Eskar reasoned. "Wonder if they ever used it for that," Eskar said as he looked at the rest of the kitchen.

"Hmm… How many other butchers and Hollows we'll find?" Oscar asked Beatrice.

"I… do not know. I am not capable of knowing how many undead or others got sent down here, doubt I would be able even if I lived in the area." Beatrice's brow furrowed.

"R-right… sorry." Oscar apologized.

"But I happen to know one thing… Once the curse began to spread, and cities and kingdoms began to fall, places like these… their natural inhabitants claimed them back. Rats and other monstrosities might be what we should worry about the most." Beatrice concluded.

"Other monstrosities?" Eskar began to wonder.

"There could be other rabid dogs… or perhaps even… bugs… Blighttown is below the Depths, and even in my time, I've heard to not simply be a place filled with disease, but also monsters. Perhaps demons… or perhaps the poison down there turned people into something worse." Beatrice said.

"Hmm… regardless, we won't know if we don't venture forth and-" Oscar and others jumped back as they heard a shriek coming from nearby, next to them to their right in fact. With their weapons drawn they looked towards what seemed to be a chute behind some boxes and barrels, no more sounds came from it, yet that didn't mean they wouldn't let their guard down.

"It certainly came from down there… this is… is this where they throw their waste?" Oscar looked at the chute and all the smudges and pieces of meat hanging from the sides.

"This doesn't look like waste… only meat. Who throws away only meat?" Eskar pondered.

"There's something down there." Beatrice could guess, and she was right. The three of them knelt closer to the chute and noticed it was a small drop to what seemed to be a room below them. They looked at each other and Eskar decided to poke his head down first, the drop was small but they could hardly see anything besides the walls and the floor at the bottom, regardless Eskar decide to see if he could spot anything down by peeking a little bit more, what he hadn't expected was the edges to be slippery.

"Fza-" (Shi-) Eskar cursed and quickly put his arm on one of the walls, stopping him from falling down.

"You are fine… perhaps it's better if we leave this hole alone." Beatrice said as she gave her hand to Eskar so he could rebalance himself.

"Perhaps… the let's-" Eska was about to take Beatrice's hand when a Hollow came from below the chute, jumping up and grabbing the arm that Eskar had used to stop himself. The Hollow pulled Eskar down with him, making the Absolver fall into the chute and use his feet and other hand to stop himself.

"Eskar!" Beatrice jumped into action, Oscar did as well as both of them held on to Eskar's hand, Eskar himself trying his best to use his feet as supports against the walls of the chute, but the angle was odd. If he had been pulled from his feet it would have been easier, he could have even kicked his attacker, but he was being pulled by his arm, almost head first.

Eskar moved his wrist in a circle and managed to get it free, but then two other Hollows appeared and pulled him down, it happened too quickly, and Oscar and Beatrice's grip on Eskar failed.

"No!"

Eskar rolled on the ground despite still being held on to by the Hollows, in fact, he used the momentum to get away, yet one of the Hollows still managed to hold on to Eskar… and as it tried to drag Eskar, that was when he saw it. A giant, unclean, and terrifying rat.

Eskar quickly recovered and killed the Hollow holding on to him with a knee to the stomach, a kick to the shin, an uppercut and mid punch, and finally, a side step followed with a spinning back kick that sent the Hollow crashing below to where the giant rat was, it seemed to be enough to kill the Hollow. He immediately had to fight another Hollow that came for him with a broken sword, and stopped the attack with a swift Faejin parry, stopping the Hollow's arm on its movement and countering with a gut punch, a mill double punch, a spinning back elbow, and a spinning hook kick followed by a roundhouse kick. The attacks had hit hard enough to fracture bone and kill the Hollow, yet he couldn't lower his guard as others tried to attack him. He responded with a plexus elbow and a back kick that pushed one Hollow away, and then beat another with a leg breaker kick followed with an illusion twist kick to the Hollow's head, ending the Hollow by unfolding his sword in a slashing motion, and then finishing by drawing his longsword and slicing at the Hollow's chest.

Oscar and Beatrice had jumped down without a second thought. Beatrice hitting one Hollow with a soul arrow and then another with a soul mass, meanwhile, Oscar thrust his sword into a Hollow, backhanded with his shield, and struck it down with a slash of his sword. Another Hollow tried to attack Oscar, but Oscar parried the attack with his shield and then rammed his sword into the Hollow, pulling his sword out with a quick kick that knocked Hollow's corpse a couple of meters away.

"Are you alrig- W-w-what the-!" Oscar slightly panicked as he saw the monstrous rat. It didn't compare to the giant rats from before, this one was at least five times bigger than any giant rat he had seen.

Eskar hit a Hollow with a double strike of both his swords and then knocked it prone with a spinning heel sweep, finishing the Hollow off with a soul dart to the head. "We… we should be fine," Eskar said as he did a reverse grip thrust without even looking at an oncoming Hollow, and then did a spinning hook kick to its head, killing it.

"... That thing… the meat. They must have been feeding it." Beatrice said as she fired a soul arrow to the last approaching Hollow. Once all the Hollows had been dealt with, they could appreciate the situation better, they were on the rafters of one of the sewers, and the rat seemed unable to reach them, even if it was screeching and seemed ready to try and pounce at them.

"It… it's stuck down there. And… we are stuck here too." Oscar said as he looked around for an exit.

"We could climb back up the chute," Eskar said, one person alone probably couldn't climb up the chute easily, but the three of them could boost each other and climb back up without much issue.

"Seems like a reasonable idea." Beatrice as she walked along the edge of the rafters, making sure to not get too close to the edge, the rest of the area was cut off by iron bars as well. But she noticed there seemed to be an odd shield that was close to the edge. She got close and picked up a red shield with the design of a spider, which for some reason seemed to agitate the giant rat.

"It's looking at you," Oscar called as the rat screeched and scratched at the wall closest to Beatrice. She slowly backed away and it seemed to make the rat far more hostile. It rammed itself into the side of the wall, and seemed to have hit a weak spot on the wall, as part of it began to collapse. Crack formed around Beatrice's side of the rafters, she tried to run, but the giant rat once again rammed itself and managed to knock down the entire side of the wall and the rafters. The stone collapsed and Beatrice fell down to the rat's level.

"Beatrice!" Eskar didn't waste time. As Beatrice landed and was now eye to eye with the giant rat, Eskar jumped on top of it with both his blades and thrust them into the beast. Oscar joined him and also jumped on top of the giant rat, thrusting his sword down and hitting the rat's head with his shield.

The rat screeched and thrashed trying to shake off both the Absolver and the Knight, Beatrice used the opportunity to make a fire orb and hit the rat on the side of its head, burning away fur and putrid flesh. The rat thrashed harder and managed to force Oscar to jump off of it, yet Eskar kept his balance and stayed on top of it. He pulled one sword out and then thrust it back in, then doing the same with the other stabbing the rat repeatedly with his weapons as the rat kept thrashing. Beatrice formed a soul mass around here and then a great heavy soul arrow, hitting the rat with a barrage of projectiles, knocking it back. Oscar rushed the rat and blocked a wild thrash with his shield, and retaliated with an upwards slash and thrust, finishing his attack with a shield bash and horizontal slash. The rat tried to step back but Eskar used his Earthquake Tension Art to force the rat down, he then dragged his impaled swords across the rat's back all the way to its neck, jumping off the rat and leaving it barely able to stand. Oscar then killed it with a two-handed cleave of his sword to its head, decapitating it.

"Hah… it's dead." Oscar said between shallow breaths.

"Thank goodness…" Beatrice also let out a shallow breath. They all noticed as it left something behind, a sprite of humanity.

"... Why is it that overgrown rats have humanity within themselves?" Oscar questioned as he slowly kicked up the black sprite.

"I… do not know." Beatrice said as she looked away. Even if perhaps humanity was more complex and other beings could have it, the question was always there. If humanity was inherit to humans, then did that mean that beings that had it were human enough? Some powerful beings had humanity, beings with powerful souls and it helped humans feel closer to that kind of power. Yet at the same time, the thought of being close or similar to abhorrent rats was one most wouldn't be comfortable with.

"Even with humanity… they don't seem to be more than rats," Eskar said.

"It's true... humanity it's strange, it seems to cling to almost all veins in some way." Beatrice agreed.

"... If these black sprites are humanity, then what makes it different from the soul? I've heard that more than once. I wonder if someday I'll know." Oscar said.

"Ni leviĝas lebukunk. Ni difinas ipsi nos. We rise and fall for we are. We define ourselves." Eskar recited "We should always remember that." Eskar told his companions.

"It is true enough," Beatrice admitted, she then looked towards the rafters and the chute. "It's fair to say we won't be able to go back up anymore."

"No… there's no way to climb back there again," Eskar said and paused. "Are we… trapped?" he said while looking for an exit.

"... Maybe one of these tunnels is open." Oscar looked around as well.

"Wait…" Beatrice signaled to them. She spotted something on a corpse next to a blocked off tunnel, she could see smaller rats on the other side. She did her best to ignore the smell… and to look towards the gruesome piles of waste and meat that were nearby but she managed to find something on the corpse, a key.

"... Think we'll be lucky and be able to use that key somewhere in here?" Eskar asked, where there was a key, there was a door. But who knew if the door was even in the Depths.

"Perhaps… we've been lucky before so let's just hope," Beatrice said to him.

"Hey! This path is open!" Oscar called to them, he had found a tunnel that was of human size, too small for the giant rat but big enough for them. The three of them began to follow the tunnel in hopes of finding a path forward, but now they were more careful, stepping wearily and with their weapons drawn.

"That thing must have become too big… got itself trapped there. Did the butchers keep it as a pet?" Oscar asked the others.

"Maybe… or perhaps they felt the rat was their obligation and fed it, as if it were their protector," Eskar said.

"Madmen…" Oscar shivered.

"Precisely," Beatrice said.

The trio moved through the tunnels and walked into a more open area evading a small drainage that would have been big enough for them to fall on. What they found was a multitude of tunnels with even more waste, foul smell, and rats only smaller ones this time. Instead of being the size of a house, they were about as large as a full-grown man.

Eskar did a low kick to one of the rats, did an upwards slice with one of his swords, and then killed it with a hammer kick. Beatrice fired one soul arrow after the other and killed three rats without much effort. Meanwhile, Oscar blocked the lunge of one rat with his shield and riposted with a downwards swing that split its skull, and then he did a horizontal upwards swing that killed another rat as it tried to lunge at him. The corridors and tunnels were narrow, and they could hardly see what awaited them past the next corner, or even difficult to see what was beneath them.

"What was that?" Oscar looked at his feet.

"Hmm?" Eskar looked towards Oscar, Beatrice did the same.

"I felt something near my foot, something moved…" Oscar pulled his foot out of the water and then he did the same with the other one. After a few moments of silence, it seemed as if nothing had been the issue, but the feeling was short lived as a beige and grotesque mass jumped out of the water and wrapped itself around Oscar's leg.

"Uuagh!" Oscar screamed and quickly began to stab the sludge with his sword, but it wasn't working. Eskar did a stomp kick towards the sludge followed by a thrust of his own sword, but he could tell he didn't piece much, the thing was mostly soft, and it seemed to absorb the impact of their attacks.

"Slime! Stand back!" Beatrice yelled and got close enough to use her pyromancy flame at close range and use a combustion spell. The Slime burned and recoiled as it tried to flee, but it was simply too slow to try and attempt it. Instead, it evaporated into souls as Oscar drove his sword through it and Eskar helped him free his foot by cutting the extension the Slime was using to wrap around Oscar's leg.

"Blasted thing!" Oscar stepped back as he shook his foot off from the remains of the Slime, the three of them stepped back and felt something, however. They saw as the light around them dimmed and shadow seemed to form in front of them, as if something was behind them. They turned to see another Slime raise itself to try and wrap itself around the three of them.

Eskar reacted first with a combustion spell driven into it with his palm, and then hit the Slime with a precise powerful gut punch that seemed to break the Slime's entire structure, making it fall back on itself, unable to defend itself from Oscar as he thrust his sword and killed it.

"Are there any more?" Eskar looked around in all directions.

"I do not know. Perhaps not right now…" Beatrice did the same, but it seemed as if they had defeated every threat for the moment.

"Good…" Oscar took a deep breath and sighed. "Were these the… other monstrosities you spoke off?" He asked Beatrice.

"There are many beasts and creatures out there. Rats and Slimes would thrive down here on these sewers but there could be more, perhaps giant toads… or maybe part of these tunnels are below the Darkroot Garden, and Ents and Demonic Foliage could roam part of them." Beatrice said.

"Hmm… wait…" Oscar motioned them to be quiet, he had heard a faint sound, and soon the others heard it as well. Footsteps, but not ones you would expect from rats, it was akin to a sound one would expect from being with two legs trying to move through the water of the sewers. Perhaps a human, or another creature.

They stayed with their guards raised and waited to see what was approaching, as it would turn the corner pretty soon, but then they heard another sound. They saw as a rat came from one of the side tunnels and lunged itself towards the stranger, not minding them at all. The stranger hadn't even turned the corner, but the trio saw as he lunged back at the rat with his own sword, thrusting through the rat's head and making himself known.

"Oh? Ah! It is a pleasure to see you again… even if perhaps this is not the place for a reunion." Solaire of Astora said to them.

"Solaire!" Oscar relaxed and welcomed his fellow Sunlight Warrior. "We hadn't expected thee of all people here." He said.

"It is good to see a friendly face." Beatrice smiled at Solaire and Eskar moved forward as well, doing a bow out of respect for the Knight.

"I say the same. I did wonder where thy journey would take you. It seems our paths cross again." Solaire greeted all of them.

"And what brought you down here to this place?" Eskar asked Solaire.

"Ah, I simply continue the search for my very own sun. Hah hah hah" Solaire said without hesitation. The trio looked at each other, all of them remembering Solaire's search.

"Seems like an odd place to look for one's sun," Oscar said, the sewers weren't precisely pleasant to look at.

"Even more, it's underground." Beatrice jested.

"Heh heh heh. Well, the most perilous paths can give us purpose, and who knows what we could find past this palace, or perhaps even in it of itself." Solaire said.

"Likely… the stench of Blighttown," Beatrice said.

"Perhaps, but even in such a place, one can find beauty or purpose. I'm willing to find out, but already finding and meeting you again, I say the adventure was worth it. Hah hah hah." Solaire said. The trio appreciated the gesture, they were, however, interrupted by the screeching and water splashes made by a group of rats coming their way. They seemed to be also protected by some magical barriers.

"It seems we have more to deal with!" Oscar raised his sword and shield.

"Looks like it." Beatrice aimed her catalyst.

"I have to admit, it feels good to fight alongside you again," Solaire said as he raised his shield and sword.

"Here they come!" Eskar said as the rats approached them and got close enough to attack. Beatrice hit the front rats with a barrage of soul arrows and a soul mass, her magic breaking through the barriers and leaving the rats exposed to other attacks. A great soul arrow from Beatrice put one of the rats down while Oscar used his shield to punch another to the ground, struck it down, and then thrust his sword through another rat's mouth. Solaire flipped one of the rats over his shield while striking at another with his sword, the flipped over rat was taken care of by Eskar, snapping its neck against the wall with a flying spinning roundhouse before it could land and turning towards more of the rats. He rushed in with three slashes with both his blades and a spinning hook kick to kill one rat, and then did a low slash to another, leaving it without an eye and folding Risryn's sword, turning the energy of Shards it granted into a great soul arrow that killed another rat. The previous rat tried to step up, but it was killed by Beatrice with a good strike from her catalyst.

Solaire and Oscar wouldn't stay behind on their efforts and so both of them threw lightning spears to kill five rats in a blast of lightning, the water of the sewers making that lightning hit all the more stronger. Beatrice herself threw a fire orb and fired a soul spear to take care of some of the last rats. Yet it seemed as whatever was shielding the rats still remained, as more rats protected by magical barriers came for them.

"Stand fast!" Oscar called to the others, all of them taking a couple of steps back as the rats threw themselves at them, bashing themselves against Oscar's and Solaire's shields while Beatrice and Eskar used sorceries and pyromancy over their companions' shoulders to kill the rats one by one.

"I say their attack has failed," Solaire said as he used a powerful downwards slash to kill one rat.

"We should be able to push forward ourselves then," Oscar said and the others nodded, they got ready to move towards the direction the rats had come from until three more rats began to rush towards them.

"Just how many are there?!" Beatrice yelled as she killed one with a soul arrow.

"Not enough to beat us," Eskar said as he got ready to rush one of the rats. He would have if he didn't suddenly find his foot stuck on something. Eskar looked down as he tried to pull his foot from whatever was holding it and realized he had found another Slime, this time it wrapped around his foot.

"Eskar?" Beatrice wondered what was wrong as Oscar killed one rat as Solaire rushed forward to kill another.

"Slime!" Eskar said as he used a combustion spell to get the Slime off him and killed it with a strong kick.

"Eskar! Watch out!" Oscar warned him. A rat had come from another nearby tunnel and was lunging at Eskar. Oscar moved in between the rat and Eskar and used his shield to protect them both, but the rat was big enough to push both Oscar and Eskar back. Normally they would have been fine, but what happened was that they tripped into another slime, and said slime was next to another man-sized hole drainage that went at least one floor down.

"Damn it!" Beatrice used her catalyst to hit the rat and then killed it with a soul arrow, but the rat had managed to push Eskar and Oscar into the Slime, and said Slime quickly tried to wrap around them.

"Keep your balance!" Eskar said as he punched the Slime with his primacy flame and made it recoil. It was then that they noticed that it wasn't a single Slime, but three, three Slimes that had already wrapped around Esakr and Oscar and had dragged them towards the drainage.

"Oh no-" Oscar muttered as he and Eskar were pulled and fell in. Beatrice moved in quickly to try and help them, killing one of the Slimes with a fireball, but having an unfortunate consequence. The SLimes had been using each other as support to hold themselves over the drainage, now that one was gone, the other two fell down with the weight of both Eskar and Oscar.

"No-no no no!" Beatrice tried to reach them, but they had already fallen down, stuck in the middle of a tight drainage with water falling on them, and the two remaining Slimes still trying to devour them. Oscar and Eskar still fought though, Oscar impaling one of the Slimes with his sword, Eskar hitting another with an elbow, and the two wrestling with Slimes to get them off them, kicking and punching all the way. They overpowered the Slimes and got enough space for Eskar to use magic. They knew they would fall down the drainage, but they nodded and decided it was better than to keep fighting Slimes in space that barely fit in, and so Eskar used a combination of the Gravity Tension Art and the Earthquake. The effect was the Slimes plummeting down to the ground, and Eskar and Oscar doing a hard landing on top of them.

"Eskar! Oscar!" Beatrice called to them. "Can you hear me!" She cried at the drainage.

"We are fine… Ugh!" Eskar called back, alleviating some of her fears.

"We are… in one piece. This place is even filthier, we must be further down!" Oscar called. "Maybe that way we can find the- Basilisks! Basilisks!" Oscar began to shout.

"Basilisks?!" Beatrice panicked, fearing for her friends.

"Don't breathe, do not walk into their breath!" She could hear Oscar's warning, she had to get down there.

"What has happened?!" Solaire rushed back once he heard Beatrice's distressed tone.

"They fell, they are further down. Surrounded by Basilisks! We need to get there!" Beatrice began to think about her options. Oscar and Eskar had been lucky, or unlucky enough, so that the Slimes had cushioned their fall and slowed it down, jumping down the drainage would more than likely break her legs.

"I know where they are. Do follow me." Solaire began to run in the direction of one tunnel, Beatrice soon joined him and both of them began to sprint to save their fellows.

Eskar had never heard of the Basilisks, yet he didn't need to figure out what would happen to him if he stayed in the vapor they exhaled for too long, the crystallized and rock-solid statues in the sewers gave a good idea of what would happen to them if they did so. The creatures themselves were unnerving, with those giant eyeballs over what seemed to be their mouths, Eskar wondered if they were eyeballs at all, as they seemed rather… unmoving and unfazed, even for a beast.

But if there was one consolation, it was that the Basilisks were not creatures with tough hide or more durable than some of the skeletons they had faced. They also seemed to not have any other natural weapons other than their cursed breath, and they could barely do anything after blowing out their breath. It was all the opening he and Oscar needed to kill them.

Eskar and Oscar rolled in different directions as one Basilisk jumped at them and blew its vapors towards them, both of them rising with attacks of their own. Oscar did a crouching slash to a Basilisk that tried to get near and used its vapor on him, and Eskar a low spinning heel kick followed by a rising kick. Eskar killed the Basilisk he had attacked with a reverse grip downwards thrust and then pulled the sword out with a reverse grip slash to another Basilisk, hit again with a rising Mill Slash, and finished with a quick Meia Lua kick. He didn't waste time and did a two-handed slash with his longsword against another Basilisk before it could try and blow its misty breath, then hit it with a point-blank great soul arrow that formed from Eskar's hand, and finished it off with a spinning back kick that slammed the creature against the wall.

Oscar killed his share of Basilisks as well, hitting one with a rising slice of his sword and then kicking it against the wall, pinning it with his shield and thrusting his sword through it, he then kicked it against the wall for good measure before turning to another Basilisk. Oscar killed another Basilisk with two continuous strikes of his sword and a cleaving cut, he turned with a spinning attack as he felt another Basilisk inhale, he stopped it in its tracks and then hit it with a shield bash and a kick, knocking the Basilisk on it's back. Oscar put his shield on his back, and two-handed his sword, finishing the Basilisk with a jumping attack that decapitated the Basilisk. Only one Basilisk remained and Eskar and Oscar took care of it, it tried to jump towards them but Eskar forced it to the ground with his Gravity Tension Art, slamming it and leaving it stunned. Oscar rushed it hit it with his sword destroyed one of the 'eyes', the basilisk quickly began to scurry away and flee, but Oscar grabbed it by its tail and then put all his strength into throwing the creature towards Eskar, who received it with a spinning hook kick, twisting the beast's spine and killing it.

"Hua… huh… We made it…" Eskar exhaled.

"We are still among the living, but we are still… trapped down here..." Oscar let out a shallow breath. "Are you well?"

"I am."

"It's good to hear, there might be more after all." Oscar and Eskar looked in all directions, they were still in the same sewers, only with tunnels not as narrow as before, and with far more waste accumulated on the walls and floor, on top of the cursed statues.

"They… crystalize their prey?" Eskar asked.

"No. They curse them. I don't really know how or why… but I always heard to never try and approach a Basilisk nest. I was lucky to have heard a tale once from an old soldier, I didn't know how they cursed people back then, but he told me that if I ever find one, to not let them blow their breath." Oscar recalled.

"I say we were lucky to have you with us. If you hadn't told me…" Eskar wondered what being cursed truly meant, or what it would do to him.

"I owe thee and Beatrice. For now though, we should move. I never thought I would say this, but I much prefer to face the rats than to stay down here with these monsters." Oscar said as he grasped his shield once again.

"Agreed." Eskar nodded and the two of them began trying to find a way back up.

"I don't believe it," Oscar said as they found a ring at the end of one of the tunnels they had gone through.

"What is it?" Eskar asked as he looked at the ring, keeping an eye out for any other Basilisks or monsters that decided to come their way. The ring itself was a dark silver ring with a black pearl, an odd black pearl with an ominous white light at its center. It then moved, and he noticed it was a black eye.

"This thing… I've heard of it. It's the Evil Eye. It was a monster that once assaulted my homeland. It's soul was trapped in a simple ring." Oscar said.

"And this is the one?" Eskar wondered if such a rin would be forgotten in a place like the Depths. Yet the more they found ancient artifacts in odd places the more he started to believe it, he had already done so back in Adal.

"... I do not know. Yet this dark eye, I've seen it in pictures, in books. And it seems to be alive." Oscar said.

Oscar didn't move to pick up the ring, but Eskar did, he picked it up and examined it, nothing seeming out of the ordinary other than the eye staring at him. "Does it do anything?" Eskar asked.

"I do not know… but, you can keep it, I do not wish to have it," Oscar said and Eskar looked at the ring. It took some effort, but he managed to fold the ring like the rest of his belongings and keep it with him.

"We should keep moving. Beatrice and Solaire might be worried and looking for us." Eskar said.

"Let's double back then. This path didn't work, but I bet the other will lead us out of here." Oscar said and both of them picked up the pace running through the sewers to catch up back to their friends as soon as possible. One surprise however came when Eskar noticed something in the corner of his eye. As they ran through the sewers Esakr noticed a figure in the distance, he signaled Oscar and he managed to see it as well. As they approached it, they noticed it was behind bars they could not cross, but also that it had a mask.

"Is that…?" Oscar muttered.

"Abszolút!" (Absolver!) Eskar noticed, he recognized the mask as one not easily taken by any common prospect, nor by one of Arcell's minions. The stance, the clothing, he had only seen such a mesh of Uring and Tear styles from other Absolvers and Prospects. Eskar rushed towards the figure and Oscar followed him, up until they reached the iron bars.

"Atendu!" (Wait!) Eskar yelled as he reached the iron bars. The Adalian looked in his direction and then decided to run in another. Going past a corner he and Oscar could not see.

"That was one of your people?" Oscar asked

"He looked… sane," Eskar said, the appearance of the Adalian had been a complete contrast to the Prospect they had found on the Undead Asylum. "They are down here… some of them are."

"Perhaps we will not find only the bell, but you people as well… although, they could have picked a place that smelled better," Oscar said.

"They would have… he's either exploring, or just as lost as we are…"

"If he's as lost as you, and he's one of your people… then why did he run? He must have heard your language." Oscar asked, and Eskar could not think of any logical answer. Fear was the only thing he could think of, but fear of what, he couldn't guess. His train of thought got interrupted however as both he and Oscar felt a sudden cold chill crept up their spines.

The air got cold and there was an eerie tingling in the atmosphere, then they recognized a sound, the sound of someone being summoned, but it wasn't the same as summoning someone through a Soapstone, it somehow felt darker. They noticed as well as the area surrounding them began to fog up and distort as if they had walked inside a strong being's lair. It was then that they saw it, a red figure rising from nothingness and facing them.

"T-that is… a black phantom," Oscar said almost as a whisper.

"The ones that-" Eskar paused as he looked at the spectral red spirit, its armor covered in barbs and thorns.

"We have been invaded… and he wants our humanity." Oscar said as he raised his blade. Eskar did the same and so did the black phantom.

Kirk, The Knight of Thorns raised his barbed and bloodsoaked blade towards his new two victims, for his intention was to kill them and plunder whatever humanity he could. All for his Fair Lady.

A/N: Cliffhanger ending, well I'm truly sorry but this time I have to do it or else I'll prolong this far too much. By my estimate, everything I had planned would make it a 14k chapter, and that isn't even the norm for this fic. But I cannot delay posting this further as I'm already past the schedule, I am a slow writer for better or worse... and trying to add more would take more time, and deprive you of a chapter for even longer. But don't worry, all my plans for the Depths will be on the menu and nothing will be skipped over as we tackle what I cannot put now in the next chapter, in fact, things are going to take a turn… somewhat.

You'll also get the next chapter before the end of the month, so do not worry. Thank you for reading, review if you so desire and I hope to see you in the next chapter. Farewell, and have a good week.