A small portion of the army was led deep below the earth through one of the many fissures that didn't close. The others would stay topside and try to find out where the citizens of the city went, if they weren't down below. It was mostly the retainers who were left behind - all of the royals refused to leave Alear. Perhaps that was stupid, Jack thought, but he admired them for it, either way. They were all important to the futures of their kingdoms, they knew this, and yet their faith or friendship to the Divine Dragon was paramount.

It was stupid, yes, but Jack couldn't help but find a bit of beauty in that stupidity.

Aside from himself, Alear led the charge. The rest of the group consisted of: Veyle, Ivy, Diamant, Alfred, Céline, Timerra, Fogado, Yunaka, Lionel, and Mauvier. The others were out and about trying to find people - Jack hoped they were somewhere away from the city or if they were in the city, that they had found someplace to hide. Serenissima was big, after all.

There were pathways carved into the rock faces of the fissures, as well as many rough indentations that were in the perfect shape of hands. There must have been thousands of Husks, all crawling out of the ground to assault the people above.

It bugged Jack that the entire time they were talking to Queen Seforia before setting out for the Northern Fortress, the cause of the Husks was right below them. Right beneath their feet. He couldn't help but clench his fists at that, even as they descended deeper into the depths.

The farther they went, the less light reached them. Ivy and Yunaka, thankfully, were able to light up a basic flame spell and a torch respectively. And it was at that point that Jack saw the ruins that lined the walls.

Empty rooms with doorways that led further into some God knew what area, or a crumbled outcropping that looked as if it might have been a lookout point, those were only a few of the things he saw as they descended.

"So, Solm just had ruins like these beneath the ground?" Lionel asked, his voice echoing across the walls.

"Maybe you shouldn't speak so loud, friend," Fogado said, "I dunno how far down the Husks may be, but I'm not looking to test that."

"Me neither, but to answer your question," Timerra whispered, "Yes, we always knew they were here. The very upper levels - we used them as a sewer, but nobody could ever get farther below. They'd always end up blocked by rubble, or we'd never see them again. After a while, I guess our people just got used to it."

"Fitting," Lionel chuckled. "Reminds me of the Cold War. Eh, Jack? Er, maybe not that severe."

"Was about to say, Lio," Jack hissed, "bit of a dramatic comparison, huh?"

"Much as I'm sure I'd love to hear about your nation's history, there is something ahead," Ivy said. She was just behind Alear, who stopped in his tracks.

There was very little, if any, sunlight left, and Jack craned his neck to the side to see what they were looking at. The pathway along the wall - so thin that they had to walk single-file down it - terminated in a wide open, intricately carved pathway further into the earth.

"We're definitely farther down than any explorer I remember got," Timerra said.

"You're making it really hard to keep my nerves down here, Timerra," Alfred said, his voice quivering slightly.

"Why, dear brother, do I detect a hint of fear in your voice?" Céline asked. "I would have thought you would want us to go for a casual jog through these ruins, considering your- no, I shall not allow myself to go any farther. I apologize, Alfred."

"How far down do these ruins go?" Alear asked quietly, mostly to himself, if Jack had to guess.

"Best estimates? A few miles," Fogado answered, arms behind his head as he moved forward and stepped into the wide hall. "Seems solid enough. No one knows who built this place; the archives don't go back that far."

"Wonderful," Jack muttered to himself. "In a horrific, dusty ruin with nothing to tell us where to go - I'm sorry, Alear."

"You shouldn't blame yourself for this, Jack," Alear replied.

"Yeah, they couldn't rely on you forever, could they? Just mind the gaps," Lionel commented.

"Lio," Jack hummed, "please don't say that again."

Lionel shrugged. "Just saying."

"There is only one way forward," Diamant pointed out. "I suggest we move before Seforia is…"

Diamant didn't need to say anything else to get his point across. Not even Yunaka said anything as they all moved forward. Jack really wished she would, of course. Even a faint 'zappy!' would be enough to lift his spirits. The only thing Jack heard, however, was the sound of their collective footsteps as they continued on into the dark.

Jack couldn't say how long they were down there for. Once the natural light left them, it was difficult to keep track of time. It could have been days, or it could have been minutes.

The halls and caverns the group pushed through were… strange, to say the least, in a way Jack couldn't quite place. The best way he could describe it, it was like it was several different halls, all mashed together haphazardly. Sturdy, yes, and they all tended to blend in, but Jack could see the straight, sharp lines denoting when the type of stone changed, or when the carvings along the walls abruptly halted. Not to mention the fact that it would resize every so often - growing thinner or wider at random intervals.

Yunaka's final torch went out, and Jack could hear her curse under her breath as she threw the burnt out stick to the side.

"Well, guess we've been down here for a while, huh?" Yunaka said airily. "Could always Engage to get more light, I guess, but then, what happens if we're in trouble?"

"Actually, that is a good point," Seadall said. "We have been down here for quite some time, and yet we have not seen a single Husk or other monster."

"Maybe they formed a union," Jack muttered to himself.

"Something's wrong, here," Veyle said suddenly, at the back of the group.

Jack rubbed his forehead as he turned around along with everyone else.

"What's wrong, Veyle?" Alear asked. "Can you… feel something? I don't feel anything."

Veyle's lips thinned as she turned to Mauvier. A second later, she nodded her head.

"Yes. It's - it's really hard to explain, but something's gathering deep below us. It's like- it's like, have you ever had an infection?" Veyle asked. "Any of you?"

Jack rubbed his jaw. "Had an infected tooth once. Wasn't fun. If it's anything like that, I feel sorry for you."

"It… might be like that," Veyle admitted. "Only, it doesn't hurt. I can't even tell what it is, but it's old. Very old. I didn't want to say anything because I thought it was only just me, and that's definitely the case."

"I would advise that we listen to what Lady Veyle has to say, and prepare ourselves," Mauvier supplied.

"I did not wish to mention it earlier as well, but," Ivy began, moving a stray strand of hair out from in front of her face, "there is definitely something odd about this place. And I do not mean these strange hallways. Look at this fireball."

Jack did as she asked and looked. It flickered every so often, growing in intensity before floundering to almost nothing, but coming back. He rubbed his eyes.

"I'm guessing it's not supposed to do that," Jack said.

"An astute observation. It should be a steady flame. And I must admit - I feel what Veyle feels, if only a little," Ivy continued. "We should do as Mauvier suggested, and prepare ourselves. Whatever lies in these ruins cannot be good."

"As if our people going missing into this place wasn't an indication," Fogado whispered, and Jack only barely heard it.

Jack mumbled to himself as he brought out his Flame Lance, illuminating a small area as he moved up to the front of the group, just beside Ivy and Alear. Diamant was just behind him, looking forward with grim determination. Jack could admire that. He wished he'd spoken to Diamant more, honestly. The others were unorganized behind them, with only Veyle and Mauvier comprising the back portion of the group with any regularity.

Looking down at his Emblem Bracelet as the group reached a threshold that seemed to open into a much wider chamber, Jack took a deep breath before proceeding.

What he saw sent shivers down his spine and made his jaw drop straight to the floor.

The passageway expanded into a giant cavern - even calling it a cavern felt like it was a disservice. It was essentially its own world. Buildings stretched as far as his eyes could see, with glowing crystals embedded in the architecture, making sure it all wasn't covered in darkness. Even the buildings weren't exempt from the strangeness of the long hallway they had just gone through; Jack wasn't an architect, but he could tell that there were a dozen different styles of buildings all mashed haphazardly together, as if some mad god had created building-chimera and set them below the surface.

But above all else, there was a distant temple that held some kind of light, but not just any light. It was like looking at a black hole; there was light, yes, but it wasn't coming from the source itself.

Jack jumped as Marth appeared right beside Alear. It had been a long while since he'd seen the Altean prince.

"That… no, surely that is impossible," Marth whispered.

"What is it, Marth?" Alear asked.

"That temple, it looks… it looks like the temple where I fought an old enemy of mine, in the city of Thabes," Marth said, his blue eyes wide and alert.

"But…" Jack mumbled to himself.

"How is this possible?" Diamant asked, "We're a long ways from wherever you hail from, Marth."

"I do not know," Marth replied, "I cannot know, perhaps. It feels like it is just at the edge of my memory - the reason…"

Jack looked around a bit further, taking a couple tentative steps forward.

"Guys, I…" Jack began, before shaking his head. "I didn't want to mention it because I didn't think it'd be the case here, but in the game, well, there were these side stories, you could say. Paralogues."

"Interesting name," Ivy commented.

Jack shrugged. "Sue me. I didn't come up with it. Anyway, these chapters - they took place all over the map, from Firene to Elusia to Solm to Brodia. Most of these stories, well, they had to do with the Emblems, and they took place in very, very familiar areas."

"Such as this? Is this one of those areas, Jack?" Marth asked.

"No," Jack said, shaking his head, "no, yours was Altea Castle, or something like that, on an island off the coast of northern Firene. Lyn's was the plains, Sigurd's was Miletos. But all of those can be explained away as places that just look similar. But Emblem Byleth… his was the Holy Tomb. Underground, a lot like this, actually. And it was completely the same."

"Something weird is going on here," Diamant murmured.

"What on earth gave you that impression, Diamant?" Jack questioned. "The buildings or what I just said?"

"Both," Diamant answered.

"Well, at least you're honest…" Jack replied, rubbing his forehead.

"Forgive my intrusion, I was just…" Marth said, looking out to the temple. "I fear what we may find in this place. If what Jack said is true, and this might be the temple in Thabes - we should be wary of what could be lurking in the shadows of this dark place."

"There's no going back now," Alear said. "Everyone, keep your hands on your weapons, and let's get moving."

As they moved forward, Jack could've sworn he heard marching behind him. He turned back into the dark of the strange halls they had just passed through, but as quickly as they came, it was gone.

The further into the buried city they pushed, the more Jack felt like he was about to stumble upon something he really, really wouldn't like. He'd had that feeling for a while, to be fair - always in the back of his head as he waited for the next calamity, or next revelation he had no way to prepare for. But in the city, it was heightened, acute, as if something was lurking in the shadows that the crystals couldn't reach.

Of course, even without his mind playing tricks on him, Jack knew there were things lurking in the dark. Occasionally, there'd be a rumble, a growl, even, and the padding of feet on the bare stone. Jack couldn't see them, and not even Alear nor Veyle could see them. They darted in and out of sight, glowing red eyes the only indication that there was something there before those too quickly disappeared into the dark.

Jack couldn't tell what, but something was familiar about them as well.

Aside from that, however, the group proceeded through the city unharmed. Not a single Husk nor any other monster, hiding in the shadows or otherwise, jumped out and attacked them. It wasn't good; it meant they were being allowed in. Either that, or the person behind the Husks was terminally incompetent.

The mashed-together nature of the city became more and more pronounced the further into it the group went. Instead of clean cuts together, the structures became ruined and broken apart, and then brought back together even more haphazardly than before. The remnants of spellfire and what seemed to be blood littered the streets, and more than a few bones, both human and other, were either part of the walls themselves, or clattered around like loose cobblestones.

Jack felt a shiver up his spine when one of them stepped on a bone, and a dry 'crack' rang out through the street.

Eventually, after what felt like another small eternity, they made it.

The temple hung over them like a tombstone, and the light they had seen from far away was almost blinding if looked at for too long. Jack had to avert his eyes. They were at the entrance of a small plaza that sat beneath the temple, and Jack could see the stairs leading up to the temple. He could also see people walking down it - but Jack's attention was drawn to two pillars that held giant statues. They held a blade that projected from their hand diagonally, and carried a large, segmented shield in the other. They appeared to be made out of metal, or were otherwise heavily armor-plated. In fact, they looked a lot like-

Titanus.

"Alear," Jack said, his voice trembling. "I know there's someone coming down those steps, but those statues…"

"I am almost certain I have seen drawings of old warriors that looked very much like that," Ivy said. "Is there something you know about them? I was always curious."

"They are," Jack began, before swallowing, "they are machines, I think, created by a group of people called Agarthans, but why are they-?"

"There's no time," Alear said, hand on Libération's pommel. "We're finally about to see who has been behind all of this."

What looked like only one person at first soon turned into a procession, with Husks on either side of a single one-armed person as they moved forward. Jack squinted, trying to get a good look at them. And when he did, he felt as if his veins had turned into pure ice.

"No…" Jack murmured. "No, no, no, no-"

"Finally! Brianna exclaimed, holding one arm out as a stupid grin crossed her face. "Finally, you're all here! Was wondering if I'd have to expedite the process, but nah, you made it eventually. Look at all of you! You're the ones who killed one of my best fools. You know, beside Nelucce, but he's… not in a good way right now anyway. Kinda like everyone else."

"What is your name?" Alear asked, unsheathing Libération. "I will not ask a second time."

"We've known each other for a grand total of seven seconds, and you've already got your sword out and pointing at me. Reminds me of someone I used to know-"

"Brianna!"

Jack stepped forward, not wasting any time on theatrics as he stood in front of Alear, a deep frown on his face as he looked at Brianna.

"You can't be the one behind this," Jack said, "you can't. There's gotta be something else. Tell me this isn't you. Tell me you aren't the one who did this."

"Oh, it's Jack," Brianna said, her voice devoid of emotion as her arm fell to her side. "I was hoping you weren't a part of this."

"I could say the same goddamn thing!" Jack shouted, "What the Hell is all of this, Brianna!? No, I can't keep telling myself you didn't- Why did you do this!? Why!?"

"Why? He's asking why. Why not?" Brianna shrugged. "You're standing among them like you're one of them, but you're not. And I see you, too, Lionel! Don't think I can't!"

"You-" Lionel got it, before he pushed and shoved himself to the front of the formation. "You- look, I know I'm not in the best place right now but this is some fucked up shit, Bri. You almost killed my friend because of your horseshit!"

"Friend? Is that what you call them?" Brianna asked, tapping her chin as she paced around.

"Get to the point," Jack snarled.

"These aren't people, Jack," Brianna said, turning to him. "These aren't people, and they aren't your people. You showed me the game, remember? These aren't more than a few pixels and words all stapled together. They aren't people, Jack! And you - I expected better outta you, Lionel."

"Oh, just-" Jack swore under his breath. "This is insane, Brianna. Do you even hear yourself? How many people have you done God knows what to? How many-?"

Distantly, Jack could've sworn he heard a baby's cry.

"What the fuck was that?" Lionel asked loudly.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," Brianna replied quickly. "Now, 'cause you're my old friends, I'm gonna give you a choice - cross over this threshold and stand beside me so we can get the hell out of this cesspit, or stay over there and join those characters in extinction."

Jack scoffed. "You sound like a supervillain. Are you even listening to yourself? Where's Queen Seforia, Brianna?"

"Oh, the Queen? Woke up and ran off into the darkness. Probably got eaten by some of the natives of this place," Brianna replied nonchalantly, holding up a stump where her right arm used to be. "She gave me this, you know. Fucking bitch."

"Say that again," Timerra snarled, walking forward with Venomous raised. "Say that again and it'll be the last words to come out of your murderous mouth."

"You can't murder anime characters, fuckface. Sorry to tell you," Brianna said.

"Brianna, you know I can't go over there," Jack said, "not after everything you've done."

"They're fucking anime characters, Jack! There's probably some fat twenty-something jerking off to that girl!" Brianna said loudly, pointing at Timerra. "Or maybe even her! Definitely her, actually. I saw a few Reddit posts that wouldn't shut up about how-"

"This is getting tiresome," Lionel sighed, rubbing his forehead. "These guys aren't trustworthy. I don't like 'em, but they're better than you. I can't join you after what you almost did to Seadall."

"Jesus Christ! He's fucking pixels, Lio! Pixels! He's not real!" Brianna screamed. "None of this is real! I wouldn't be doing this if it was!"

Jack turned to Alear and the others, his face in a deep frown. "It'd be too much to ask that we spare her, I take it?"

Alear looked forward with furrowed brows and a grip on his sword so tight, Jack wondered how its handle didn't snap in half.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Jack murmured.

"You wanna die for some pixels and anime tits? Fine. Die for something as pathetic as that, but I'm going home no matter what. This place isn't right to raise a-!"

A blue, streaking bolt sailed through the air and crashed into Brianna, exploding into an azure explosion that sent rumbles through the entire city. Jack whipped around, pushing his lance forward as a fireball erupted from the tip, only to meet someone he really hoped he'd never see again.

"Nuh uh uh!" Griss tutted, "That's no way to greet family, is it?"

"We're surrounded," Diamant hissed harshly, as the others turned to watch the incoming Corrupted and the remaining Hounds. Jack grit his teeth as he saw Nat among them, his grip on his Flame Lance tightening by the second.

"I had always heard that the capital of Solm held ruins beneath its surface, but to see all of this - why, it almost makes the horrid desert excursion worth it!" Zephia said, sauntering forward with a gleaming sword in one hand and lightning dancing between her fingers in the other. "Now that we have dealt with that ringleader, how about I propose a deal. You give us your Emblem Rings now, and we will kill you quickly-"

The smoke that had surrounded Brianna's form dissipated in an instant as a ball of dark energy surged forward and struck Zephia in the chest, sending her careening through the air briefly before she slammed into a wall, coughing all the while as she looked up with wild eyes and messy white hair.

"Y-you dare-!" she spat out.

"Yeah, I do dare, you fucking cu-!"

Another bolt was shot from Nat's crossbow, only for Brianna to intercept it with another orb before it could even reach halfway, blanketing the air above Alear's group with black smoke.

"You know what, fine! Blame your sister for this, Jack!" Brianna growled. "Kill them! Kill them and bring me their bodies! We're leaving this hellhole!"

Jack isn't quite sure what happened after that, as the Corrupted that had followed the Hounds and the Husks with Brianna all charged at once, with Alear's group smack in the middle. Jack saw the Titanus move, however - their bodies clanked and groaned with the strain of their movements, as several purple lights suddenly switched on around them. They jumped off their podiums and moved forward alongside the Husks, and Jack couldn't ignore how the ground beneath them all didn't seem quite as sturdy as it had before.

Nonetheless, despite the chaos, Jack surged into action, charging whatever undead monstrosity he could see. Overhead and near him, spellfire, lightning, and wind clashed together and boomed so loudly within the massive cavern that Jack was worried that he would go deaf. He stabbed a Corrupted in the stomach, and it screamed and tried to claw at him, pushing itself along the heated blade of his Flame Lance. Jack sent out a fireball from it, and the Corrupted was torn in two, only for a Husk to spot him and noiselessly attack, like the automatons they were.

Jack blocked a blow, and Chrom appeared behind the Husk, slicing it across the back with Falchion and giving Jack just enough time to push it away and start to dismantle it. Before long, it was nothing but molten metal and singed bones. Jack took a deep breath in the chaos and looked at how everyone else was doing. Thankfully, the Husks and Corrupted were fighting each other as well as them, which gave them an advantage, however small.

Alear was fighting both a Corrupted and a Husk at once, though his two opponents seemed just as preoccupied with each other as they were with him. Alfred was beside Céline as they took on several opponents at once from opposing sides. Diamant was just beside them, doing the same. Massive fireballs crashed into one of the Titanus, turning the shield in its left hand to molten slag. Ivy's handiwork, no doubt.

The only royals Jack couldn't see were Timerra and Fogado. Yunaka, Lionel, and Seadall were lost in the visual chaos. He swore he saw Mauvier or Veyle in there as well, but it was hard to tell.

Jack's luck eventually ran out when he felt the ground beneath him quake and he turned quickly, only to meet a sharp blade stabbing downward. Jack was only able to get out of the way just in time to see the massive Titanus look at him with electric purple eyes.

"Alright," Jack growled. "Let's go. Emblem, Eng-"

Before Jack could finish, the ground beneath them quaked again, but the Titanus in front of him did not move. The battle grew quieter as Jack looked down to see cracks forming in the stone floor.

"Oh," Jack said, watching one crack snake across the ground for several feet before terminating into two more fissures. "Oh, that's not good. We need to-!"

Jack never got to finish that sentence, either, as the ground gave way beneath him and most of the others. The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was a sudden stop-

Half-expecting cold, Elusian air to greet his bare skin, just like it did months ago after the fall of Destinea Cathedral, Jack couldn't tell if the fact he felt no air flow against his skin was a blessing or a curse. Nonetheless, despite the fact he could feel several pounds of rubble on him, he didn't feel any the worse for wear. If anything, he felt invigorated. That could have just been the adrenaline talking, of course, but he had no idea how long he had been buried for, and he wasn't going to let something like Destinea Cathedral happen again.

"Chrom," Jack called, "Robin. I don't know if you can help me with this, but, uh, help?"

Chrom and Robin appeared on either side of Jack, exchanging a glance before nodding and beginning the long process of getting Jack out of his stoney prison. Despite the fact Emblems only had a limited ability to interact with the world, Chrom and Robin were able to do it for long enough that Jack was out of the rubble before too long.

"Thanks. Thanks…" Jack said, running a hand through his dusty hair. "Now, where the hell are we?"

"I-I dunno, but, eh, could you… help me?"

Jack could barely see - the only light provided was by Chrom and Robin, and he still hadn't found his Flame Lance. He kept his hand on his sword's pommel as he looked further into the dark, and eventually saw Yunaka slumped against a wall, breathing heavily.

"Yunaka? Are you okay!?" Jack said, moving forward. "I don't- I don't have any healing staves, and I wouldn't know how to use one- wait, I think I have an Elixir. Hang on…"

"I used…" Yunaka said, coughing into her fist. "I used Great Sacrifice. Had to. You all could've died - again! Again."

"We do have a nasty habit of being buried under rubble, don't we?" Jack asked.

Yunaka coughed up a laugh. "It does feel like that, huh? This is the third time I've had to try and fish people out of rubble. But people aren't fish!"

Jack's lips thinned as he took out the Elixir - thankfully not broken - and handed it to Yunaka, who downed it greedily. "Depends on how you look at it. How're you feeling?"

"A-a bit better, but it'll be a minute, I think," Yunaka replied, "While you wait, uh, maybe try and get the others outta there? As many as you can find, at least."

Jack looked back to where he came from, before looking up. Flashes of light were visible in the dark above, but beyond that, nothing.

"I'll see what I can do," Jack replied. "Sit tight."

Jack wiped the stress from his brow before outstretching his hand to Ivy, who took it graciously. Once she was on her feet, she dusted herself off with a small huff.

"This is the second time something like this has happened," Ivy mumbled. "I grow tired of traipsing through these terrible places. Every time I turn to look I half-expect to see a-"

"A ghost?" Jack finished.

She looked at Jack with a near-blank expression. "Yes. A ghost. I- I always found places like these terrifying."

Jack patted his sword. "Don't worry. With this new sword gifted to me by a mysterious stranger, I'll be sure to keep ghosts away from you. Or at least, I'll keep them away from you as you blast them to hell."

Ivy nodded, a small smile on her face. An increasingly common sight, Jack realized. "Indeed. Shall we?"

"I think you're the last one I'm bound to find, so yeah, let's," Jack replied.

The two went down the massive pile and ended up where the others Jack had found were gathered: at the threshold to a massive corridor. Céline, Veyle, and Yunaka, all lined up in various stages of being somewhat wounded. Jack let out a sigh as he and Ivy stood among them.

"I don't think I'll be able to reach anyone else," Jack reported. "The others will just have to find another way out. Maybe they fell further down or further up."

"It's possible," Veyle nodded. "Still, I'm worried. As always, it feels like. Though… do you two know what you're doing?"

Jack tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"You and Ivy are still holding hands."

Jack and Ivy's eyes met for an instant before looking down. Jack, for his part, felt like his face was on fire as he hastily let go of Ivy's hand, who proceeded to look in the other direction.

"Now is not the time to have a storybook romance," Céline said, shaking her head. "Right now, we must focus on-!"

The sound of stones crushing together interrupted Céline. Another figure looked as if it was trying to emerge from the rubble.

"Hold that thought, maybe I was wrong," Jack said quickly, eager to get away from the others for a minute.

He hopped over the stones, quick on his feet as much as he possibly could be until he saw a hand poking out of the rubble.

"Hang on," Jack hissed, grasping their hand. "I gotcha, I gotcha-!"

A moment later, and Jack was staring into Natalie's eyes. He looked up to see the Emblem Bracelet she had.

"Hi, Jack," Nat said.

"Hi, Nat," Jack replied.

"Could I ask you to let me go?"

Jack hummed. "Nah, I don't think so."

"That's a shame."

"You wanna know what's a bigger shame?" Jack asked.

Natalie tilted her head. "What?"

"Losing an Emblem Bracelet."

"But I haven't lost my Emblem Bracelet-"

Jack yanked Natalie out of the rubble to the point where she was basically hanging from his arm like a monkey, and Jack pawed at the Emblem Bracelet on her wrist until it fell off and clattered to the ground. Natalie snarled as Jack held her down, trying to get her to the others until she pulled out her crossbow, pointing it at everyone as they stood up and stared her down.

"Don't come a step closer! Any of you!" She exclaimed. "Or I'll blow you up! All of you!"

"Are you really in a position to be making demands?" Ivy asked, her voice ice cold.

"You-! That princess!" Natalie spat. "You know, they were real angry with you when you left."

"I am glad I was able to cause such an impact."

Jack hastily grabbed the Bracelet of the Three Houses while Natalie was preoccupied, before joining the others. "Stand down, Nat."

"Why? So you can brainwash me? Like they did to you?" Natalie asked pointedly. "Not a chance. Not a chance in Hell-!"

The sound of armored footsteps coming from the dark corridor was enough to draw everyone's attention from each other. Jack kept his hand on his sword pommel, ready to draw it at a moment's notice.

Whoever it was, they were glowing. Jack could clearly see that. Their armor was covered by a faint blue-ish mist, but Jack thought it looked vaguely indigo. They held an ornate sword in their left hand, and their forehead was adorned with a simple iron crown. With the green, messy hair, Jack felt his jaw drop to the floor.

Jack could practically feel the loathing and animosity radiating from Ivy as the figure entered the room proper. He looked around for a moment before speaking, and it echoed through the halls.

"My name is Alm," he said, placing his free hand against his chest. "And, my apologies for interrupting, but could you please tell me who I should be fighting with? This situation appears to be… far more complicated than I thought it would be."

Another chapter down. Finals are done, so I have more free time for the moment. I'll probably start working on Homebound after this and finally get that thing completed for the five people who still read it lol.

Here's a link to our Discord server: discord. gg/u89gs745fn

See you guys next time!