Through The White Fox's Eyes Volume 2

by Kratos 57 naruto

"The stars have fallen, blade of the dark moon. Downed like lightning, our endless night became noon. Our beloved fell god, come back soon? Your legacy embraced our lives, like a boon. Your home here has been hewn so come back soon, our fiery god of the black moon." The folksong of Daedalus calls to him... The boy, who despite casting aside his mantle of heroes, saved them. Harem.

2. May These Flames Take Thee pt I

Ahhh, my favorite and only readers, hail. I hope you are hale and hearty cuz I'm not. I believe I already explained my circumstances in the AN that was this chapter's placeholder. There has been a new development. I went to get an interview for something and was rejected, but not before being made fun off and disgraced; in a nutshell, my country's people have disowned me. They've been at it for years and this was the last straw for me.

Imagine making fun of someone for having good English, relative to the country, and talking lots of shit as if I did bad by learning. I have never been a model student and don't have any talents but I do my best to learn my mother tongue. Fucking senile shits.

Naturally, as someone who has ample knowledge that spans numerous topics from media creation to technology and more, I'm bound to be exposed to English way more. And of course, I'm not very talkative so yeah.

I'm also sick. I have been puking my bile out for the last 6 days and am afraid I'll start crapping myself. Fortunately, my heat urticaria has reduced… somehow. I'm super tired and am prepping to work on chapter 3 after beta is done(hopefully before the 20th), my Naruto overhaul and of course, the first chapter of my DxD fic's overhaul. Whooo!
I want to sleep. I'm so tired. Before my interview, I faked I wasn't ill to an insane degree and had a conversation with a talkative girl who goes to the university I'll go to… apparently I'm overprepared for first and second year… imagine.

Enough about my edginess, let me address a couple of reviews, which are thankfully few in number. I appreciate all of you but I feel these ones are most important… wait, did I say that right? I hope this aint a case of emotional damage and whatnot. Thanks for all your well wishes. They genuinely uplifted my mood, bros. I kinda wish this community doesn't grow so I don't forget you all which is possible cuz I still don't have a high opinion of myself as a writer.

Trivium -

Interesting start to the second volume. Though I am curious why Ishtar sent Berbera to kill him after he fucked her that much. At least it appears she sent them to kill him. Maybe she sent them to grab him instead, Either way a great chapter, I'll await the next one whenever it comes out. Now back to dying from my work load. Why the fuck did I think going to college full time while working full time as a manager was a good idea I'll never know.

Answer: Find out this chapter. Those are great guesses. And as for why you thought going to college and work full time… I dunno there, buddy, maybe you as braindead as I am, XD! Severely underestimating the workload. **Brazzers logo appears**. Also Hawaiin pizza is disgusting, ewwww and I've eaten better tasting shit from chicken intestines.

Guest -

U really go over detail for the useless stuff make reading it a challenge not say going total basic just go a little less on the dumb and not important part and stop dragging our stuff all that ready just for the story to move like an hour in it time.

Answer: You really are right. Redundancy has been an awful weakness of mine and I've been doing my best but progress is slower than expected. Fun fact about this chapter is that I tried writing it without redundancy and noted that it was easily my weakest chapter. My beta confirmed this so I tried fleshing it out without going over too many thing but I feel like I failed but do be the judge of that, good sir/ma'am.

Brachiosaurus -

I already downloaded the 1st book. Imo it was really good, stellar even, but for someone who does not delve THAT deeply into lore or world-building exposition, it gets tiring. The grammar could also use some work (especially in latter chapters) although i'd prefer constant update until completion instead of risking abandonment due to the author reworking things too much.

I would like to see this one fulfilling its' trajectory.

Answer: I hope I don't disappoint, especially with the upcoming chapter three.

Tags: Humor, Romance, Dark Humor, Harem, Gore, Friendship

Formatting

"Speech"

"Thoughts or hearing someone from a distance." -Someone saying something in between someone's words-

"Inhuman speech"

"You get the idea."

"Jutsu, Attacks and Magic"

-Flashback of someone's words(Note, only applies if italized)

-Telling a story

Chapter 2: May These Flames Take Thee Pt I

The Pleasure Quarter: Hidden Stronghold

"Ugh. Okay, enough about that, Ishtar!" A pint-sized goddess yowled, clutching her temples while her upper lip peeled back to sound a hissing grimace. Reports, paraphernalia, and calculations unveiled mountains of work that the hedonistic goddess wanted no part in but was consigned to completing, regardless, due to necessity.

Each word from lust oozing goddess added a boulder's weight to the load, so she changed the topic to seek a reprieve. The savage deity placed her elbows on the desk and rested her chin on her hands.

"Two days ago, four of my girls died, and those who survived were injured, featuring gorges, stabs, third-degree burns, and more. Some developed a severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder... Telyskyurans… PTSD, of all things! And it's triggered just by alluding to the event." The level tone of speech rumbled to crumbles as spit seethed in her mouth as if poured into a cauldron.

"Even your girls are too spooked to talk about it! Antianera, of all people, is acting like a wet pussy. They can't sleep without curtains or the night light on, saying something about darkness consuming them. I leave ya for two weeks, and this happens! What the actual fuck?!" A sneer flared the nostrils of the goddess and dragged her brows into a crease.

Like the velvet rugs draped over and across the pricey, magic-stone-lit room, the hair that flowed to her lower back was crimson. Her stature was that of a child, and her top-half-masked face bore an unnatural symmetry, making her far more attractive than most mortals could ever hope to be.

Her wheat skin accentuated the golden trinkets decorating her frame; they were anklets, earrings, and a necklace with large, ivory beads fashioned into human skulls. Her choice of garb was a white loin cloth and scraps of fabric for a top.

Her fellow goddess was sitting at her focus behind a mahogany table crafted from a rare specimen known only to grow in Alf's royal forest. The purple-haired strumpet was dressed in a simple white sundress, something unusually modest for her wardrobe and reputation.

A harsh exhalation rolled out of Ishtar's lips, haling with it an expression worn and weathered by pensiveness.

"Kali… Bringing that woman into the mud is a daunting task. Even with the demi-spirit, our alliance, my expansive control in trade, and more, I cannot help but find our power… lacking. Of course, even if we do defeat her, we will have to deal with the aftermath of her departure and take down the Evils before they become an unbeatable threat," Ishtar explained listlessly, lifting her transparent vessel for a burgundy liquid and swirling it.

"Isn't that your fault, though? You were the one that allied with them! What were you thinking? Doing battle with Freya is one thing I genuinely appreciate, no jokes! FUCKING THANK YOU! I APPRECIATE IT! BUT THE EVILS?! Oh no, no, no, Ishtar! Don't give me that look. This is no cowardice." The typically battle-crazed goddess' speech trembled while her face swung back and forth between anger and hopelessness; to her, this was the equivalent of a boss being one hp and being down to her last heal before her game started lagging.

"Orario is the world's bastion. Its fall means cultures and homes worldwide will be threatened by waves of monsters, some never seen before. You already know about the black ones that hunt divinity. My… Our children's cultures will be in peril. Is your envy worth that much, you decrepit bitch?" the skull-masked deity hissed, lurching her body and encroaching on Ishtar's space.

"What will there be to rule if monsters destroy everything?" Cold water doused her heart, rolling out a plume of vapor that slipped from Kali's lips, packing with it her belabor. If any offense had been taken, then Ishtar's face did not show it. Her features were relaxed in a poker face, obfuscating potential lip-biting or vicious retaliation, which were her known proclivities.

"Us and the Evils have different ends but identical starting points. Those are the annihilation of Orario's top familias. Of course, I am only after Freya, but I am not so foolish to believe other familias will stand by idly. Many top familias will descend on us, meaning that plotting against Freya is plotting against Orario – her influence is far too vast. Her passing will send the city into a chaos that will concentrate on us.

You understand what this means, don't you, Kali? We and the Evils are similar in that we must destroy all top familias to move forward.

Once Freya is gone, we and the Evils will turn our blades on each other. They seek to destroy the world while you seek to expand you and your children's empire while enjoying archives of splendid battles. I seek to rule over Orario and show the world that I am the most exalted and beautiful deity. Many nations will fight for my bed, which will pull you and your children to many more battles depending on who you ally with. Once again, our goals will align, leaving the Evils as our mutual enemy," Ishtar presented, guiding her wrist's centrifugal force to maintain the tiny whirlpool she created in her drink.

"When I found out these bastards yet lived, I knew I had to agglutinate to their group so I would be able to cut the future's potential losses. I made an excellent choice, as you can see. Spirits, monster production, and many cursed items, to name a few. This information will be invaluable when it is our turn to face them because we can prepare many countermeasures." Ishtar closed her eyes and directed the glass to her ample lips, taking no heed of Kali's narrowed eyes.

"You are right… Strange. Something is different about you." Kali's dorsum rendez-vous'ed with her cushioned chair. "Tell me. What does this have to do with my kids dying and part of this tower being destroyed? What kind of adventurer can do such while some of your Berbera were present?" She asserted, her expression allayed from fury.

"The Fell Omen visited the Pleasure Quarter and fucked me," Ishtar spoke bluntly.

"What now?" Kali's brows jumped to the ceiling. "Damnnnnn, and here I thought you were expensive," she whistled, stifling a wave of laughter. "Was he any good?" Kali's eyes narrowed, understanding the reasoning behind Ishtar's seemingly random announcement.

"He was fantastic but far too pushy for my tastes. If given some leeway because he was a virgin, then he'd been among the best fucks I have ever had. Talented sexually and exceptionally endured and somehow doesn't shoot blanks," Ishtar praised with not just words but nods and shivers, recalling the boy mounting her savagely.

As Freya could see souls and Loki could tell if someone had the potential to impact destiny, Ishtar could evaluate the seminal contents with but some proximity. Shooting blanks means ejaculate is fluid and has low sperm content. As sex progresses, sperm count reduces with each round, presenting Naruto as unique in that his spunk remained consistent, despite, without her knowledge, his contraceptive.

Her mention of Naruto's seed addressed her cohort's question of how well he'd handle an army of Amazons using him. Siring an entire nation wasn't an impossibility.

"That aside, our mingling allowed me to peer into his soul and caused me to be… like this. He somehow and… unconsciously suppressed my divinity for a period which is why I am currently different. It's weird, you know… not having random outbursts of horniness or compulsive asset purchasing; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I suddenly started ovulating," Ishtar looked at her hands like they were aliens.

"Suppressed? Di-vinity?" Kali asked slowly as if the words were foreign. "Ishtar… if what you are saying is true then…" Kali alluded to how much his value was erected. Some gods wished nothing more than to be stripped of their divinity to be exactly like the world's inhabitants.

Being a god was nothing but a tragedy, after all.

"He is special, like one of spirit blood though I've not heard of a spirit capable of suppressing divinity. Some rival our power, but… and of course, if he is spirit blood, then he is exceptionally well trained," Ishtar responded.

"Yeah, kid's ridiculously strong. My girls want his brats, and some have tried to kidnap him only to get their asses dragged like Pleasure Quarter whores," Kali recalled, placing her finger on her chin for a pensive look. Kali frowned at Ishtar's lack of a reaction except for quietly sipping her wine.

Ishtar nodded. "That said, have you ever questioned why, when he fights, he looks like a god practicing their craft? He hardly makes any—if at all—mistakes. Before he got his regalia, he managed to go toe to toe with a monster two levels above him-"

"First spirit blooded now a god?" Kali cut her off, subconsciously bringing her head closer to Ishtar and tilting it.

"Not exactly, my dear. Nameless is not one of us, but he possesses the power of one… well two, and these powers lay dormant within. One of these powers is self-aware and seems to guard over the other, which is currently fettered to a cross," the sex dean elucidated, waving her free hand like a wand.

"I understand you think me mad, but let me put a theory on the table. Weeks ago, Seolo went up in flames because of an arc-dragon that the lion knight is thought to have slain. He affirmed he did not kill it, and according to my contacts, his words are true.

Here are some essential facts. Deep in the forest are massive craters, either a first-class adventurer or a powerful mage who, at minimum, would be at least level 4. Yet, there are no vestiges of magic power, and some are of a pure dome nature as opposed to shattered ground. One of the valleys in the forest suddenly expanded in width and depth. Eyewitnesses assert a brief moment when the storm suddenly increased in intensity by no minuscule amount.

You see, the administrator owes me a few favors and turns a blind eye to the occasional agents I insert into their, the Guild's, workforce. A certain friend of ours went on a successful quest to Seolo during that period. Now, what we know is his regalia, as the children call it, were forged by a Welf Crozzo with the help of Hephaistos herself.

Crozzo blood or goddess of forging, you cannot produce weapons that powerful from mere scraps of iron and steel. Materials required to make a legend class item like that require mithril… orichalcum… or perhaps…"

"The remains of an arc-dragon," concluded Kali, nodding.

"That's correct. If you rewatch the fight closely, you'd see that the boy's magic is not thundercloud production as he wants the masses to believe; instead, it's a form of nature manipulation. During the fight, there were instances when the dragon was supposed to hit him as he wasn't guarded by electrokinesis due to the magic being in recharge mode. He was at times jerked to the side at random and at others when his agility increased unnaturally. Wind. More proof is the battle's conclusion, where his clouds visibly coiled as if dragged by a tornado.

The flames of the fight somehow did not expand to harm civilians, and he showed that he could manipulate them to some extent by forming that flaming sword of his. There was a time at the end of the fight when he just whipped it out without touching the black blade or it being present. Fire.

There were instances when the dragon swung at empty air then we heard cracks through the dust clouds. There was an excess of rubble compared to buildings then that excess randomly disappeared. Earth, possibly.

You get the point. I believe he was the one who killed the arc dragon. Going back to the festival fight, he was level 1 but used complex tactics to force the battle to a standstill until he acquired his obsidian blade.

That aside, the average strength of a sickly arc dragon is roughly level 4, at least, meaning the one he battled was far stronger than the black dragon. Even with all these abilities, there is no way he can defeat it except if… that child I saw's fetters were broken or if the fox – oh, the other was a nine-tailed fox… or if the fox took over, so…"

"If we get him, we'll have an overpowered card to play against the Evils and Orario. That… sounds crazy, but it does sound plausible now that I think about it. Argana and Bache did point out he seemed to be holding back the entire fight… and I suppose materials…" Kali murmured off into thought.

"I see. So, you ordered my girls and yours to capture him, only for them to get their asses kicked. You intend to have him as our card against Evils and Orario and regions like Altena. They show interest in his relic-like weapons, especially that holy sword of his, while Anor Lando is interested in the dragon-slaying black sword," Kali stated in a matter-of-fact voice, drawing a nod from Ishtar.

"He is notorious for being a difficult person to get to. The only information I secured about him was his advisor's name, but…" Ishtar trailed.

"His behavior is not bound by sentimentality, making him exceptionally prudent. If she disappeared, he simply would move on and get another adviser. Magic items recording their meetings always show him quietly studying without her input so… I almost pity women who will fall for him." Ishtar shook her head.

"Who is she?" Kali inquired.

"Misha Frott," Ishtar answered.

"Ah," Kali nodded at the image of the cherub face pinkette. "Yeah… adventurers and merchants adore her, so taking her hostage will probably draw unnecessary attention, which will get much worse if we fuck up somewhere. Don't know about you, but I don't feel like dealing with Loki's group again," Kali stated bitterly, recalling how a certain prum made one of her captains fall in love with him.

"Well. That's fine. Let's nab the kid's girlfriend instead. That bar girl the other gods won't shut up about. He is prudent but surely wouldn't abandon a loved one," said Kali, shrugging. "And let's arrange a few… trap quests and surprise him. We'll use that Tamamo girl of yours to make sure it's successful," she continued.

"Done," Ishtar nodded. In her mind, the acquisition of the Fell Omen was a priority whose importance exceeded that of the renard's power—it was worth the risk. As she agreed, Ishtar evaluated his potential retaliation and the potential guards he put around the woman as he was far from foolish and naïve.

Kali sighed and arched her back, pushing forward her chest as she lifted both arms to stretch. "Righty, now that that's out of the way. Did you get any information about what Loki's up to? She's gone awfully quiet lately, buyin' shit up—like wayyy more than she needs for an expedition—while Freya simpin' on that kid and also buying a bunch of shit. You nabbed one of her kids, didn't ya? Loki, I mean."
"Ah yes… Elfy Collette was her name. I had her killed because she was worthless. It seems whatever is going on in Twilight Manor is a secret we'll lay our hands on if we get one of the executives, which is… impossible because they are strong and the potential political repercussions. That idiot Freya really did it when she agitated every elf outside her familia. I don't want to go through that, FUFUFU!" Ishtar's nasal laugh reverberated through the room, and a guffaw from Kali joined it.

Ishtar spoke about a time when Freya decided to sneak out of her familia home, causing her loyal servants to panic and rally search teams. This led to Loki familia misunderstanding and deploying, leading to the familias engaging and concluding with many casualties on Loki's side, with the princess of elves being the most notable.

It was almost as bad as when Hank J. Wimbleton almost assassinated Riveria after her being framed.

Elven broodmares in Kali's stables were prickly during that period. She honestly didn't care how they found out, but the sight of them lashing out at their masters wrenched every drop of laughter from her. Those moments were archived in the foremost sections of her experiences in the mortal world.

"Man… Killing one of Loki's brats. You are quite the piece of work, aren't ya?" Kali questioned sardonically.

"Meh," Ishtar shrugged, placing a finger on her chin. "They've no leads on us, plus it saves me the bills of feeding the monsters below," she continued, closing her eyes. "Tammuz has been giving me an earful about my spending habits, and there is this one dress I'm eyeing, hehe," she giggled, ignorant of drop jaw in front of her.

"You spend too much, he says." Ishtar rolled her eyes before continuing, "has he seen our coffers? If I left, this city would suffer a host of economic problems."

"Damn...When'd ya kidnap n kill her? How?" Kali inquired, leaping away from the topic of fashion and wealth.
"Loki's brats went on a training frenzy as usual before an expedition. A pass parade from us plucked her from her friends, and then she was taken," Ishtar's voice thematically shifted to a pitying one. "Happened yesterday, and she was butchered today," Ishtar airily detailed, opting to avoid peering into Kali's judgmental gaze.

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[-]

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"Huh? OH, COME ON! AGAIN?! WHY ARE ALL THE MONSTERS DEAD?" The cavern's walls trembled, seemingly squeezing into themselves to establish distance from an amazoness in a pareo and cloth for a top.

Her indignation stormed out of her lips leading to walls sheltering themselves with the concept of out of sight.

Surrounding her with strained smiles were five other people, one a fellow amazon in crimson underwear giving the appearance of a dancer - her bust was bountiful by comparison. There was a blonde prum garbed in gold and purple, two she-elves, one with green hair and so gorgeous she would give quite many deities a run for the money and the other with golden yellow hair and blue eyes. The last member was a human with golden blonde hair garbed in a knee-length battle dress with some armor.

If one were to ask the gods what the fuck a battle dress was, they'd answer it's a dress that follows anime logic… whatever anime is. It's enchanted and boasts resistances impractical on metal armor. Not that she needed it because she wore shorts, and her should it be found out who her boyfriend was, no one would dare lust upon her; his rep was terrifying.

The Wall of Sorrow, their current location, earned its appellation from its unique structure compared to other floors. For one, the room was a cuboid in dimension. As expected from the mineshaft-Esque dungeon, three sides were jagged and course, making one remarkably smooth wall on the left the focus.

To first-timers, brushing their eyes over the wall was like seeing a chicken with teeth. The welling bewilderment would then have its reaches stolen by gap-inducing feelings of hopelessness and despair. It was to be expected due to the wall's pregnancy with the dungeon's second, formerly first, boss, Goliath.

Traveling from one end to the other with the fearsome beast beside them was agonizing and seemed impossible to some, but to others, it was a required spice to their otherwise bland trod into the dungeon.

That said, Wall of Sorrow suited the place before them but not for the right reasons. Mushy mounds of ash stretched as far as the eye could see and rivers of fresh blood carved runes orating the karma of a fearsome party of adventurers. The dungeon's still-life anecdote was cemented by the volume of ash increasing every minute because of numerous people wearing oversized backpacks.

It was the same on the previous floor… and the one preceding that one… and the one antecedent to that one… and the—you get the idea, but the supporters were absent.

Talented harvesters and couriers drew grooves in murk while pulling around groaning statues of charcoal one could barely recognize as level 2 category monsters. For surviving their encounter with the talented monster slayers, the suffering beasts were slaughtered with methodology native to cults. Some groups were dedicated to smiting incapacitated monsters, and others focused on dragging corpses off the path to the 18th floor.

A place as dangerous as the 17th floor had been converted into a magic crystal harvesting factory. The sight would numb all viewers' mental capacity with shock. This fearsome group of first-class adventurers sans one was no exception.

"…What are you complaining about? At least we won't waste time on lesser beasts," replied the mound-bosomed amazon, Tione. Tiona, the flat-chested one, wheeled to face her sister, clamping her lips, so the fire in her throat would rush out her eyes and concentrate on the bearer of a differing opinion.

"Calm down, Tiona," Finn, the prum, appeased with a raised hand. "I understand the last two weeks were rough, but that is no excuse to lose your cool." His words, glazed with a reeling volume of charisma, doused the raging flames with a pail of water.

The working supporters shot a quick glance at the party from their peripherals before hurling their eyes back to their tasks, restraining their bodies which were shaking from the awe of seeing the executives of a clan known as The Giant Slayers.

"These people are part of the Supporters Conglomeration. Whoever did this was surely their client, and considering the supporters' position, the client shouldn't be too far," the leaf-haired and eared woman of divine beauty stated. Her austere conduct brought no shame to the militaristic mage attire she wore. If one were to interact with her, they'd meet her fabled deport. That deport would almost force them to forget she was a woman with divine features, but even such clothes couldn't do much.

Her militaristic wear kept her taut stomach out of sight, her voluminous chest restricted, and her enticing bottom flattened. Either way, the soft skin peaking from her sleeves and ducking underneath her vine-green locks was hypnotically perfect. For most to attain even a fraction of her flesh's luster, they would have to consign many hours of skin care to just one patch.

It was a pity she didn't carry her pride alone but that of all elves. This duty greatly suppressed the forest-equal beauty in herself.

The quiet exhalation of an affected maiden tackled the group's attention. Reasoning it was the result of the suspension bridge effect would shake prying eyes, but there was a serious problem with where it came from or who it came from.

It came from Ais Wallenstein, Sword Princess, who singlehandedly wiped-out hordes of first-class level monsters. The Sword Princess' third most used nickname after War Princess was Doll Princess for her Doll-like behaviour with her lack of expression when addressed or acting. The sound of a doll sighing like a love-sick teenager would startle a stranger, so one must imagine how her family would react.

She had started changing a few weeks ago, a very welcome change, leading to her attempting and successfully being more interactive with her familia and shaving recklessness. The problem was there was a period of 5 days where she would disappear for the entire day and return with startling amounts of information, all while looking far too pleased… or rather flustered like she was messing around with a paramour.

"Uh… Ais? You good?" Tiona slowly spoke the question in everyone's mind.

The Sword Princess' brows flared briefly, eyes darting like agitated rubber balls in a tiny room. "Mmmm… Riveria is here," she stated tersely, lurching sideways and weaving her arms around the senior she-elf. The affected merely raised a brow at Ais' ministration. She then shrugged and coiled an arm around her daughter in all but blood's shoulders.

The blonde human ducked her head into Riveria's bosom to enshroud her reddened cheeks.

Finn, whose gaze caught carmine creeping up his subordinate's cheeks like encroaching twilight, chose to be antagonistic and added, "We don't have to worry about you sneaking off again, do we?" His brow was raised, betraying mirages of amusement. Every time she returned that week, she rushed to finish her food with a dreamy but determined expression before disappearing to the showers and hurtling to her room.

"...No?"

""""Why did that sound like a question?"""" Their thoughts chorused in unison.

"Come on Finn! Don't be like that. Let her see her boyfriend – Wha?! – He is suspicious and all with how easily he dodges us, but he can't be bad. I mean, look at what he's done to her," Tiona's gripes joined the bog's mulch, getting crushed underfoot as they travelled to the 18th floor.

Tione snorted and added, "I agree with the idiot. We could wait a bit… have some drinks and perhaps…" The amazon's thoughts were devoured by fantasy, causing her to do an odd dance, gesticulating a salted worm's motions while her hands cradled her cheeks.

No amount of practice could stop Finn's smile from straining and twitching, stimulating his glands to pump out droplets of moisture rapidly. The golden-haired elf's smile partially mirrored the child-looking faction administrator, lacking the nervous twitching; instead, it promised SPAIN without the S.

"IF I GET MY HANDS ON HIM, I AM GOING TO BLOW HIM UP! HAHA, POTENTIAL TO RID MYSELF OF A RIVAL. THIS IS WAR FACELESS LOVER OF MISS AIS!" she declared mentally, not knowing she was pitting herself against the one person she should never challenge.

"Ah ha ha ha… I have business with Bors and his council, so I will have to refrain," he choked out, eyes darting to his sister-in-arms, who had been with him for the better part of two decades.

"YOU TRAITOR!" Finn thought dramatically, drinking the brief look of amusement etched onto the high elf's face before her focus on him was solely dedicated to the girl she held in her arm.

"Oh, Captain! Always sacrificing your comforts for us," the young woman swooned, still performing her weird dance.

The younger twin rolled her eyes and paid her no mind, as did the others except Finn.

"Think Gareth can hold the fort? With the troubles cascading on our doorstep, I can't help but feel worry for him," Finn stated, consigning his strained upturned lips to a different purpose. The hand gently circuiting the Sword Princess' shoulder paused.

"…Loki has Cadet Bordeaux hidden in the cellar, hidden in her cellar that's also hidden in a cellar that's in a cellar. Let's treat him to that. We deserve a drink. I don't drink alcohol, so he can have my portion, and you don't have time to drink, so let's give him yours… and Loki's totalling to the entire bottle," Riveria responded tersely and resumed the stroking of Ais' arm.

"Ugh! It's been hell since those Freya guys approached us for an alliance. Like! The hell is with that? Why all of a sudden? Because of them, we have to keep going into stuffy rooms and… stuff." The kvetching amazon was met with looks of sympathy because she had been most affected by the dozens of meetings that occurred quad-weekly and they compounded with her duty of training the rest of the familia's hand-to-hand.

One gift the "dumb" amazon had was communication. Even the most reticent tended to cave into her smile-jerking expressions and tendencies, meaning that it would be advantageous to have her speak to more… uncooperative characters.

She was a sweetheart by nature, and a taste of her presence always left the approached in a pleasant mood. With the disaster of East Main and Daedalus, she had been strained considerably by being sent to… well speak to people and secure deals.

Balancing this with training the less powerful – while also tending to her own training – drove her to shave off any shed of normalcy she had continuously. It's like what would happen to people if some virus forced social distancing.

Assisting the weak was blissful, but even she had limits.

"Well… we weren't the only ones busy, it seems. Even thinking about it now surprises me despite it happening two weeks ago. Freya's familia, the infamously reclusive bunch of all people, approached us for a joint effort versus the Evils. Prior experiences nurtured my expectation of their joining the war late. Earning Freya's favor is one thing but getting her executives to mobilize is… Nameless is terrifying," Finn mused, keeping his gaze parallel to Riveria's as they clouded over briefly.

"True as that may be, I still cannot help but raise a brow at the Guild's Octagram stunt," Riveria commented with a pensive gesture that pressed a finger onto her chin and closed one eye. "I can't help but wonder about the contents of their contract. A better part of their group is young, so I can imagine them not taking the time to go over its clauses because of money," Finn contributed, lightly rapping the shaft of his spear against his shoulder. He kept his eyes yonder so his best friend wouldn't catch the brief pregnant cloud in them.

"Hmmm… I think…" The Sword Princess started, attracting their attention.

"It isn't exactly a real position… or an organization. The Octagram's main function is to maintain… public order. With their waves of popularity, they are walking billboards functioning as sticky fly traps.

Right now, public order is kind of in shambles even with our Ganesha and Freya familia's presence. To make it worse, merchants are afraid and… umm… that affects prices badly. Higher prices generally mean more stress for people… even us, uhhh, we will be affected," Ais forced out, pushing past her typical word limit.

"This leads to my idea… of the Octagram being a lure to unsavoury individuals, enemies, and businesses alike. Money can calm the rich as they tend to want more, meaning they will go after the Octagram to get the public to dance to their tune. An example would be our sponsors, and evidence would be… the numerous luxurious parties that would trouble most millionaires but happen to be open to any of the Octagram despite none except the Dragonslayer and Tartarus being able to afford them.

In the case of my first point about the enemies, they'll be forced to factor in the Octagram as… they are wildcards who move as they see fit. Nameless put a stop to two Evils operations and is rumoured to be able to mobilize Freya familia… suggesting he has some kind of power over them, while Tartarus, Beowulf, and Hawkeye destroyed a major syndicate… on their own. Self-coordinating powerhouses like those cannot be ignored…

Instead of Finn and Ottar's group, it will also be about the ones who can move far more freely and do as they please. Even if they are alone, they are extremely dangerous leading to my assumption this functions to… give us more time to prepare? I think… because enemy resources will be spread thin from planning which could lead to economic failures as the self-governing group doesn't behave as expected…

and they are all difficult to get to…" The golden-haired girl paused, indicating her speech was exhausted. As halting as the speech was, her companion's faces stated she managed to express her points properly, making her heart leap in her chest.

Little Ais was screaming, "WE DID IT!"

"""…"""

Ais blushed from the onslaught of looks.

"Wait… how do I say this? Mmmm," Tiona made a show of clutching her temples and swaying. "We are first-class adventurers, and we are like… super strong compared to them, so why don't they umm… make us showier?"

"… Consider this from the perspective of an unblessed. Most have a rudimentary understanding of Falna, meaning their knowledge is limited to "levelling up makes adventurers pretty strong". They don't understand the difference in strength between… let's say, a level 4 and 5. The Fell Omen exacerbated this by overpowering a level 3 monster despite being a low-mid level 1, severely undermining level 3s and 2s," she replied, fighting down a blush. Directly addressing him cleared her speech of pauses, a detail only Riveria seemed to digest.

Women and their ability to notice subtle shifts in tones, expression and the like were terrifying. This was as true to other women as it was to men.

They thought the conclusion was amazing, but the beginning was even better.

Ais had a poster of him, painted by artist fans of his from memory, propping a cross spear on his arm while Claiomh Solais hissed azure vapors and auroras. The background was a massive vortex of flames looming over ash and scattered weapons. In the picture, it seemed like his blue eyes were on fire as he and the majestic, feathered black dragon glared at each other.

He was shirtless, hoodless, and his cloak was tattered, brushed to the side by the winds, and sweeping his snow locks to the side. Sweat glistened orange and white like distant stars while it embraced his chiseled frame.

Needless to say, it was a very popular picture

"That look!" Ais shivered, stopping herself from rubbing her knees together. She and the twins were later able to see the fight for themselves as broadcasted events could be replayed for a short period before they faded. That means if people didn't see it that day, they most likely saw it later.

The executives rewatched the entirety of the fight when they attempted to evaluate the origins of the black dragon and get more clues on the green monsters. And needless to say, none were left unimpressed; even Bete had no degrading comments.

"The other Octagram are similar to him but not quite to his extent. He didn't get killed despite the massive difference in speed and strength; that was before he got his dragon-slaying sword and updated his status.

Now think about this. With the unique composition of characters, skills and powers peculiar even when compared to first-class adventurers, drawing attention to the "fairy tale heroes" is easy. The Sword Saint has the Fushigiri Daisho(Katana-Wakizashi combo), Hairui, and Kaimon - the red and black mortal blades – along with Sabimaru and a custom yumi. Dragonslayer has his spear, primeval dragon slaying lightning, and the lion king spirit, Regulus.

Nameless has his regalia, all of which, like Ornstein's spear and the Fushigiri Daisho, are all legend class at least, flexible magic and ridiculous combat prowess.

Who would the public favor? A level one with a decorated Crozzo magic sword or a level 3 with a decent skillset?" Ais ended with her offering a rhetorical question.

"Rudimentary?" Tiona questioned.

"Knowledge reduced to the simplest way possible or… just basic facts," Riveria answered in Ais' stead.

"Ooooohhh. I get what you are saying now," Tiona said with a sheepish grin, scratching the back of her head. Still not used to Ais speaking more than three sentences at a time, the others smiled and nodded to appreciate the surprisingly complex and plausible idea.

Unbeknownst to them, in one letter to her dear, she ended with "make me smart," and he responded with, "I am not your mother, so I can't remake you to have more intelligence. Besides, I doubt I'm genius and artistic enough to craft a cock-tease as perfect as you but whatever. Here is an in-depth guide or ideas for how you can come up with ideas for how or why idiots decide to fuck irreversibly fuck themselves over or whatever."

Naruto's writing, like his thinking, was very different from his speech and actions; his writing expressed his raunchiness to levels she couldn't comprehend. He seemed more perverted every time she communicated with him, but she didn't mind as there were times when she felt hot, and that was, oddly enough, one of the things she liked most about him.

Unfortunately, like other adventurers living with coworkers, she was too afraid and ashamed to wack it. You know… enhanced senses and all. Imagine living in a dorm with brothers and sisters with hearing better than cats. It doesn't matter how subtle you are; they can all hear you.

Hanging around and frequently communicating with the boy in black was a perpetual threat to her innocence. She had long since acknowledged his perverted tendencies and was prepared to allow his advances as long as they were in a reasonable place.

"That's an interesting conjecture you got there, Ais," Finn commented with a smile that suppressed the owlish smile.

Riveria, shaken out of her stupor, shifted her mental gears in hopes of contribution. Her lips parted, and she said, "being the powerhouses we are, it takes time to mobilize and properly strategize while allocating resources.

As powerful adventurers, we are more than capable of rushing out; our chains are our duties as leaders. That said, it's easier to hype weaker individuals with feats that would be jokes to us and of course, with their exceptional abilities, they are capable of astounding feats."

A frown marred her delicate features when she recalled how weak she felt when the boy in black, Hank J Wimbleton, peered into her eyes through his crimson goggles. To be frank, Hank was terrifying. The princess never thought she would be utterly and wholly horrified by a lower-class adventurer, but it happened.

Casting aside the member of her numerous death encounters, the woman then went back to the fierce struggle by a boy against an ebony beast. His performance far exceeded his seniors combined, bagging him the win. Sure, their familia was under fire for standing there instead helping search for survivors, but the sheer spectacle awarded her fodder for thought.

A mage like herself was inclined to pursue. Her heart bloomed when she reached a pinnacle only for the clouds above her head to part, leading to her resetting her journey and pursuing once more. Bringing a smile to her face was easy for the seemingly endless journey.

This affection for magic had led to the union of traditional magic and falna magic through her mastering and revamping an art known as Liturgical Reduction, leading to her chant connection technique.

As a mage, the idea an ignis fatuus was guaranteed to grant her failure was nurtured to her very being, so when she saw it being weaponized to aid in close range without converting the user to a suicide bomber, the clouds parted again.

"Weaponizing an Ignis Fatuus in such a manner. I wonder how he came up with that… and what other secrets he is hoarding in that head of his." The high-elf swam in pools of contemplation like a study would when looking met a fascinating concept.

The sight was confusing during her rank in the audience until she later came across Lefiya clutching a lump of cursed ore and working on generating explosions from her fingertips.

"Wait… with the amount of ash here and monsters twitching like they got hit by lightning… you don't think!" Tiona's expression blossomed while her body twitched unconsciously; her eyes blazed every corner of the massive boss room for confirmation.

"Yes. He was here alright," Lefiya announced, her distant footsteps increasing in volume. Riveria and Ais blinked simultaneously, noting the maid distancing from their retinue did not register in their enhanced senses.

"What? Really" Tiona asked, her voice pitching into mirth.

"I asked one of the supporters. He is running errands on the 18th floor," she responded with a small smile. "He left his allies here to look after the suppo-"

"SCOTTS, YOU PIECE OF SHIT! I'M GONNA KILL YOUR ASS!"

"TRY IT, YOU CRUMMY, DECAYED MONGREL!"

"ALL THREE OF OUR ASSES ARE GONNA GET KILLED AT THIS RATE. YOU KNOW HOW THE KID GETS WHEN WE GET DISTRACTED! CALM THE FUCK DOWN YOU MORONS! WE CANNOT DIE BEFORE MEETING THE LORD OF VIRGINS AND COMPETE IN THE GREEK OLYMPIAD!"

""""pffftttt!"""" The giant slayers snickered at the lord of virgins moniker. The story about a masturbating boy reared its head in their memories. One of their most entertaining tavern experiences.

Ais, free from scrutinizing gazes, returned to her mental records and instinctively brushed her knees against each other.

Yeah. Super raunchy.

"Lefiya," Riveria started gently, successfully reeling her student's gaze. "What is he like?" She said, wheeling her head and tilting it slightly, causing her emerald bangs to shift into a tilt. Lefiya's brows twitched skyward.

"It's hard to describe his personality from a single encounter, but… he is difficult to find fault in as an adventurer, but as a person, he is… reticent and aloof. Despite that, however, he is an excellent conversationalist with his broad knowledge but with his reputation… I'm guessing that's only if he is inclined, so I was lucky.

That affects his words as they are always primed and well thought out. He also doesn't seem to like being led around, almost like he is a free spirit, and he claimed his prowess truly manifests when he works alone," Lefiya explained.

"He never seemed to relax, and that makes sense because he is alone and no has his back, making some tasks significantly more difficult and dangerous for him… I cannot imagine myself in his shoes." The girl shivered, as did Tiona. "But he also seemed overly lax, so I suppose stress hardly takes tolls on him."

"And this goes without saying, but he is my age, yet the amount of knowledge on the arcane seems to rival yours, so he is a workaholic genius. He doesn't flaunt it, but he doesn't hide behind a veil of humility. If he concludes he is better than you, he will say it like that if you ask him.

Another notable characteristic is how quickly he can adapt to situations. The speed with which he dismantled my kidnappers was so ridiculous he seemed like a flash flood," she dutifully reported while harboring a warm smile.

She wasn't anywhere as busy as her superiors, so she was able to establish communication with the person she wronged and was forgiven. His advice encouraged her to take a chance, and she did, netting her old best friend.

"Rivals mine?" Riveria parroted, quirking a brow. The elven royalty expected the girl to shy away, but…

"Yes, my lady. I interviewed and scrutinized him during our walk, and he answered each question with such accuracy I felt like I had a repeat lesson with you," Lefiya responded with a fading tone, her body shrinking under the mage's gaze.

"He is… so respectable I wouldn't be opposed to him being in your proximity… as long as he doesn't touch you inappropriately, leer,#**(# *(U,$*( (" Lefiya's speech became incomprehensible as her thoughts wandered off as she harboured a troubled expression.

An overprotective elf wouldn't feel uncomfortable with him being close to her. Him, a human. This threw everyone except Ais into a loop because Ais felt the same.

A beautiful sigh left the woman's yawning lips as her eyelids converged. "I see." She nodded, archiving the desire to run him through her own checks. No offence was taken because of the script written by him she was asked to look over, and her witnessing the battle. The subservience of his magic power was phenomenal, even under extreme pressure.

"Wow! So, he is like super smart too!" Tiona's voice erupted slightly, earning her a few chuckles from her companions.

"Woah! I can't believe this! We might meet him in the Under Resort!" Tiona quickly evaluated the high probability of the First Seat of The Octagram being on the dungeon's 18th floor. The only reason she never fussed about going to banquets, balls and parties was the thought he would be there, but her expectation was met with disappointment each time. "Maybe I'll just try n find him," she added.

When Lefiya had been kidnapped and hurt, the anxiety in her heart mauled her far more than the times she killed her fellow amazons back in her country. Fairy tales about heroes stayed the progress of blood and grief's maddening abyssal qualities.

This instance was similar but on a different scale. Tiona wanted to meet the person who was practically a proven modern fairy tale for her pleasure and to thank him for saving her beloved elven friend who made every stressful day far more bearable. To her, Lefiya was an amazon with white skin and particularly long ears.

The feeling was mutual; Lefiya loved her bestie so much she dressed in clothes that, while elven, wouldn't look strange on an amazon, testing her limits on modesty; they had a resemblance to lingerie, and she shortened her skirt to drive it home. To mirror Lefiya, Tiona wore a long pareo that covered her legs far more than the typical amazonness' dress.

"I… wouldn't… do that, Tiona… he really doesn't like being interrupted while working unless it's important," Lefiya pointed out.

"Oh! That's fine, then. That means I'll try to recruit him directly; after all, I am the best gall for the job." The young amazon grinned and put her arms between the oversized twin blades on her back and head.

"Hehe." Lefiya's fist hid her lip while squinting in amused delight. "Alright, but be careful. He is so shrewd he'll leave you talking to yourself with his only contribution being the occasional 'uhuh' or 'maybe'," she cautioned with a raised finger, dipping to the syllables of the last words. "You are especially vulnerable."

"Huh? Doesn't that mean he is a good listener? It's just like saying this one is good at multitasking when she really sucks at focusing." Tione's remark sent her chest sailing and wobbling forth, smirking as 'this one' bristled in her peripherals, gritting her teeth as if suppressing a spillage of acid.

"Okay? Cool, but why swing those lumps of rancid fat forward? I bet they use you to make sour milk and runny cheese. They just break your back, don't they? Any more hair, and they'll look like coconuts. I'm surprised you don't use them to fight despite looking like you padded them with live weasels." Tiona's vituperation narrowed Tione's eyes and inspired lashing twitches.

"Why you-"

Finn thumped his polearm against his shoulder, cutting them off, and chided, "Now, now. Girls, this is not the time."

Their hissing was subject to a short laugh from the others, including Ais.

Bliss wreathed them in ignorance of upcoming events. The group had decided to stay in Rivira on Finn's insistence and wallet, which he volunteered, to treat them for their back-breaking labours. Ignoring the town's odd atmosphere, the selection of their inn marked the conclusion of their pleasant morning when a sickeningly sweet shafted into their noses through the crowd at the inn's forepart.

A murder had occurred. Taking on the role of heroes, the company launched investigations that resulted in Ais and Lefiya leaving the group to pursue a chienthrope. Their pursuit led them to a curious green ball containing a humanoid salamander, much like a womb would a newborn.

Showing weakness, or rather being suddenly caged by it by unknown means, and by extent abandoning her sensory abilities, the sword princess unwittingly allowed the enemy to reenact the disaster of East Main with some alterations.

The writhing colony of caterpillars and flowers rolling to Rivira was suppressed by the elven mage's masterful spellcraft and the amazon twins' ferocious assaults. As their slaughter carried on, a sudden shift plagued their expectations suddenly.

Finn's party was solely unaffected, in the sense of not feeling like a noose coiled around their necks when a guttural roar tore through the floor's hairs of green and bulbs of intricate glowing rock and stone formations.

Its smoldering eyes, fueled by bloodlust, blistered the flesh of adventurers it slaughtered. Pitched roars performed bloodlets on victim auricles while motions from its arms shrieked like sharpened blades. Victims found their arms and legs failing to respond, just like the petrified twin balloons in their cavities turning their faces blue.

A rising, gnarled finger and quivering mouth fed another soul to the dungeon. Then another. And another. A warm and pleasant sound of rocks tumbling into a warm, gelatinous sludge.

The only orator of their fate would be the crackling of bones and whistle of wind before the viewer found their grey matter scattered like tufts of confetti. The less fortunate would be given a brief up-to-down tour of their body before the cracking of their skull deactivated their senses.

The monster's speed left its appearance to be desired, but if stronger adventurers experienced it, their eyes would render for them a thing with pair of arms and legs; it conformed to the dungeon's standard.

However, its torso was bizarrely out of proportion with its limbs due to its excessively disappointing size, so small its head was a match in space. Long, bony legs – just like its arms and the rest of its body – were covered in a purplish-blue veneer, bringing about thoughts of an insect. The thing looked like a quadripedal bloodsaurus' skeleton, almost like a dragon. One wouldn't be off if they thought of it as a grasshopper because of its disproportionate body structure.

All hope was lost for the denizens of Rivira, who weren't as quick as the others. Visual clarity rendered to them the impossibility of slaying the monster, leaving absconding as the only option. Fate turned on its head again by the hands of the hero, Braver, appearing and swiftly dispatching the beast with casual grace.

The creature, not immediately crumbling to ash, exposed to Braver the presence of the Evils because the group triggered these monsters to spawn before capturing them and forcing magic crystals in them. This allowed them to possess dangerous creatures in their repertoire, but fortunately, the could not harvest them often.

The prum was forced to leave the corpse because of the writhing army of green.

Meanwhile, the residents couldn't escape to the 17th floor because of a cave-in, so Rivira's denizens left the fight to the more qualified and decided to go to floor 19.

Elsewhere, a woman with burgundy hair attacked the sword princess, who at some point conjured her winds and triggered the embryo's discarding of its shell before it scurried off. Young Ais and Lefiya didn't think much of it until they heard a harrowing roar that rattled even those who could not hear it, especially the elves.

A moment later granted Loki's executives a canvass of the cherubic monster's nature, exposing its parasitic powers. The monster defeated by Finn was jumped onto then all hell broke loose.

There was a centaur whose lower-half was that of a spider covered in sheets of mossy green bones. Additional legs had sprouted from the corpse, and the torso plumped and widened to resemble an arachnid's thorax. Tiona, Tione, Finn and Riveria mutedly watched a woman of heavenly beauty caress the hissing, twitching spider with her claw-like nails. Alacrity carried a cry out of the creature's lips, revolting the high-elf into a vicious sneer.

She could feel it's nature, crawling and prickling into her nape, overloading her mind with euphoric stimuli; it was shoved into a furnace to serve as coals. Her beingness as an elf wretched as her eyes communicated the truth of her heart, exposing how a harrowing corruption could make even the austere princess apoplectic.

That thing was a spirit. No, it could not be a spirit. It was like saying an elf was human, but… in this context, the creature was twisted by the dungeon. It could only be labelled as something close to a spirit but not. Demi-humans, demi-gods… demi-spirit.

Mosaic joy was brushed away by her heart's thumping and the prickling on her neck. As an aged elf, she was a being whose senses alluded to spirits and their moods; therefore, she could feel… pain. So much pain and suffering. It was like watching an addict build something of themselves only for their habit to tumble onto their heads, forcing them back to square one.

"Great, ruinous sword of Lorian, scourge of the demon prince. With the resentment of the stray fire sages, manifest and blaze into my palm. You who stole the embers of Izalith's false flames and emblazoned the first flame, Blaze Edge!"

The spirit chanted, reaching her hand out as if catching a fast-moving ball.

Her magic power swelled a mirage into the air, and snakes of flame slithered out of it like from a pond or portal. Dozens of serpents dipped at her palm whilst an ominous brimstone handle appeared. The earthen mass writhed like seething water and swelled and stretched into a sword with many grooves, spikes and shells, giving the appearance it was crafted from an insect's leg

Then the flames of chaos descended, drawing crimson lines of magma into the grooves and unleashing an orange, blazing aura so bright the sword could barely be seen.

Squealing in delight, from a non-elf's perspective, she waved the sword-shaped blaze and brought the gavel of Gahanna upon the writhing masses of acid-spiting irregulars. Cries from Riveria, Finn and the twins were muted by jubilantly roaring flames as their sleaves and tresses singed slightly while they flew back from the resulting shockwave.

In an instant, the world was dyed a darker orange than the daytime lights of Under Resort. Rivers of red, yellow and orange burped out bubbles and embers as they tore through the map.

"Huaaahhhhhh!" The demi-spirit moaned as it repeatedly slashed, cutting waves and crescents that cascaded over and across the remainder of Under Resort and indiscriminately immolated and calcified adventurers and monsters. Shrieks of terror exploded in the background, elevating the sharp trills of smouldering flames.

The spider regurgitated a skin blistering, orange sludge as the chaos witch revelled in the world of ash and flame. The green grass was carbonated, and the rivers were twisted to chapped lip cracks with lava. Steam rolled in the kilometres, covering much of the floor as aquatic monsters surfaced, thrashing from foaming and hissing lakes.

Some lakes were gone.

Ash and obsidian then came, hurtling down at the mass exodus rushing to the Great Tree Labyrinth. Thankfully, their status protected them from nature's scalpels, giving them uncomfortable nicks at worst.

Caging her heart's belabour against the Evils, Riveria narrowed her eyes and called upon her experience as an adventurer. Cry as it did. Flare its magic power like a geyser as it tried. Riveria's limbs did not find fault in functionality. Her mind was lost to being her body's puppeteer, steering it for the most optimal performance while her heart hardened it with the will of an adventurer.

Thump! Thump!

Her boots crumbled the ashen grass tipped with orange embers. They marched her past pools of magma toward the entity that started screaming "Aria! Aria!" as shockwaves generated from elsewhere carried magic-scented winds.

Riveria did not stop walking. She was not alone. Beside her stood Finn and the twins, and elsewhere Ais was fighting a winning battle against the enemy. Even the sensation and question of why a deity was in the dungeon evaded her senses as they solely dedicated themselves to the green chaos witch.

---

[-]

---

Adventurers hurriedly covered a great distance in their mad dash to safety… to a safer place.

Then it appeared. Far above their heads, a shadow was cast. A tremor, not quite on the level generated by Ais' battle but a tremor nonetheless, overtook the exodus, throwing them riding, bumping and quivering steaming ground.

A familiar face yet unfamiliar shade greeted their craned necks.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

A booming roar, still not on the level of the battle elsewhere but far beyond the exodus nonetheless, trembled the entire floor causing the chaos witch a distance away to stumble. A black mass pulled with it, orange shining crystals indicating day and fell like a shooting star and landing before the adventurers while its birth debris piled at the exit.

---

[-]

---

"Finn. It's a black species. There is a god somewhere in here," Riveria called out. She knew about black species because a black dragonoid was the catalyst for her and Gareth's ascension to the sixth level. It was summoned by the dungeon's detection of a god's divinity.

"Don't worry, Bors should be able to handle this much. My thumb… is relaxed," the prum stated, not taking his eyes off the grinning demi-spirit. "Understood." The lack of expression in her tone was like the lack of heat, cold, just like the emeralds trained onto the forest-shaded centaur/spider. Spirit magic power, more esoterically known as aetheric, conflagrated and fomented chill.

Parting her thoughts from her senses for just a moment, Riveria traced faint aetheric, one not of the twisted being before her, to a clearing a great distance away. The longer the second's fraction expanded, the more set the petrification on the woman's heart.

Who's to say the same can't happen to Ais? Gareth was not around, and in as much as her allies were trustworthy and reliable, she couldn't burden them with the responsibility of her safety whilst she chanted. Basic biology spoke that the creature was quick, and its nature as a spirit made blasting it with magic not an assurance it will be defeated.

"Finn… I'll be fighting alongside you again… like the old times," Riveria stated, brandishing Magnas Alfs, the resplendent, ivory staff that was part of her image as a mage. Her elven magic power coursed into it, and a purple flicker from the catalyst's gems communicated functionality.

Widening the twins' eyes, the she-elf stepped forth, cementing she was going to fight with them. They knew she was capable of self-defence in emergencies when concurrently chanting, but for her to discard the support and choose to fight alongside them was a shocker.

"Understood. Tiona, Tione, Riveria can handle herself, just focus on offence," Finn ordered, driving his spear into the ground. The twins assured by their captain's confidence, chorused, "" Right!""

---

[-]

---

"Man, shit's outta control! Won't you do something about this?" inquired the blonde, muscular man, Guile India.

His inquiry was directed at a figure dressed in a greyish-brown ankle-length, hooded coat with golden embroidery on its tresses. Under it was a mud-hued, untucked shirt whose length placed its hem beside the mid-thigh area. Its collar was packed with golden vine trims that extended down its placket and over the hem, which then tapered into golden, inch-long tassels.

Covering his white hair was a brown hood detached from the coat with a purple jewel at its collar to keep it attached to his head

Masked, the nicknamed Nameless failed to detach his gaze from the triplet assault–two of which were laced aetheric, one suited to flames and the other to gales. He also peered at the curious monster rex fending off rays of light, pyres of fire, floods of water and lines of lightning.

"In due course."

His reply was sedentary, staying true to his evasions of aesthetics in conduct. There was a voice… and that was it. It betrayed no terror, amusement or melancholy. Instead, it cemented progressiveness and repelled idleness as it sounded inhuman, like a golem.

The triplet battles roaring like earthquakes left much of the 18th floor in ruin though somehow Rivira still stood – "stood" is relative. These battles provided ample time for pieces to shift in the shade. A light thud heralded one his' arrival. Light green of hair, the pointy-eared elven spellblade's flesh was of snow, and her eyes were of the sky. Green bloomers stretched to accommodate her hips – which weren't voluptuous by any means but had a charming modesty – and gravity-defying, heart-shaped derriere.

A sleeveless, white top guarded her torso's dignity and a green flower-shaped hood was sitting on top of it. Ryuu Lion, Gale, level 5 of Astrea familia, served under the first seat of the Octagram. Her pardon was the compensation required for the young hero's membership.

Two weeks of hell qualified her ascension to first-class. For three days, the owner of the tavern uncharacteristically left her duties to initiate the young she-elf to higher echelons of strength before surrendering her tampering to Dáinsleif, the black knight. This was goddess Freya pandering to the Omen.

In the end, the Juggernaut prepared by Jura, one that went unused for nearly a fortnight, was thrown into a blender with the she-elf, providing her with so much excelia her spirit container overflowed.

A moment was abandoned to howling winds and undulating flames. "I have cleared out the areas as per your request," her soft voice lilted. The she-elf invaded the black one's space as if it were her allowance. Had it been anyone else, he would have produced a harsh response.

"Guile, shut your mouth. The 18th floor has roaches. Flying roaches, if you can't recall. Fire monster or not, those things are still alive, so you better shut your trap before you choke on cock," Naruto, shelving the woman's report, chided and cautioned airily without paralleling his perpendicular focus.

"S-s-w-wha? Isn't that the chick from?! Wait! She's like… IS SHE-" Words roiled with the fanning flames that forced Guile to flail in place like a headless chicken. His mouth parted and converged like a suffocating fish.

"Her origins are of no concern to you. In point of fact, your security is not threatened. She is my ever-loyal subordinate, after all, no? Gale?" Naruto addressed the she-elf, reaching his hand up and coilings its fingers against hers, to Guile's greater shock, whilst he swung his legs back n forth like a child relaxing on a swing.

"… I am at your service," she responded, lowering her head without a creak. His friend froze at the small smile shining a light on her mystifying beauty, threatening to form enchanting rainbows. Normally what would happen when someone touched her was… pain. And her expression was typically doll-like, if not infuriated on rare occasions, yet there she was… smiling.

Naruto touching her was like watching someone pet a tiger, then said tiger behaves like a house cat.

A loud crack hurtled debris of varying sizes, some being tapered to crude stakes at the overly relaxed black one.

Whoosh!

A vicious hurricane of brown, green, and white crumbled the offenders to dust, and the winds tailing her drove it to the smoldering landscape below. Ryuu then reappeared beside him in a burst of speed, but not so fast it would scramble the mental mind maps, boards, and papers he was working on.

"Hmmm, Ars' appetite will be sated soon and linger long enough for it to be useful even after the fear and chaos have been cleaned. Ais is handling herself well like her colleagues." Naruto stopped swinging his legs and gazed at the ivory staff stabbed into the ground from his peripherals. The golden vines decorating its white shaft were wiggling and blooming flowers and leaves to beautify.

"There go my magic points," he thought, regarding the pearly Ars Goetia. As the Darkmoon Blade and Sacred Blade were the second keys of Ryumon and Claiomh Solais, respectively, Pandora's Heavenly Staff was the Staff of Sealed Sins' true power. Compensation for its activation was his magic points; it was a permanent magic stat reduction meaning he'd have to work to get them back up again.

The sentient weapon was on stand-by, feasting. Unlike Claiomh Solais, that scaled with faith and hope in him, Ars' appetite was far more general and could only be satiated by pain, chaos, and fear.

Naruto pulled one leg to his chest and pressed the ground with his arms. "It offends you, no?" he asked. He paid no mind to the rocking floor, whether from the quartet of first-class adventurers battling the spirit or from Goliath or from his lover's battle or what was likely the Evils bombing the floors below.

"It does," Ryuu nodded, glancing at the spider spirit shrieking as it clawed at a spear shafted into its shoulder while the flat-chested amazon slammed one of her swords' edges against one of its metallic, blade-like legs.

"Are you strong enough?" He asked after concluding his rise, directing his attention elsewhere. As if by telepathy, Ryuu's eyes followed his focus. As an elf, her vision was far superior to a human's, and adding to that prowess was the blessing which enhanced all her and other adventurers' senses.

"To physically go toe to toe against her… no, but I have taken time to explore my roots and conclude the training I left behind," she responded. "I have other tricks as well, and the pellets you bought me…" She trailed off to appreciate the anti-flame properties of the supplements. A lot of elves harried by dragons would embrace them.

"Are you ready?" He pressed.

"I…" An audible nasal inhalation betrayed her stoic feature. "I… will do what must be done. I swore to my goddess, and I am now promising you the same," she said, barely audible.

"Do you need me to come?" he inquired, finding her eyes, marking the first time his eyes left the raging battles yonder. The promise he made to her on that was still fresh on his mind, and he had every intention of keeping it. Loki's executives would probably get roughed up, but they would live. On the other hand, the spirit wouldn't, but as most people say, too bad.

The woman focused on the tingling on her nape, taking in waves of aetheric and reading the heart tied to it. "Please save her, for she has suffered long enough," Ryuu commiserated with her species' sacred entity. "And I made my decision as soon as you told me. I fully intend on protecting the one I knew to my dying breath. I will not let that monster take her nor will I let her harm you," she vowed, shutting her eyes.

"I hear you. Guile." Naruto nodded at the vague concluding sentences before shifting his attention to his other friend.

"What?" He responded gruffly, sneering at the titanic black monster wreaking havoc across Under Resort; it was where his friends were.
"I advise you to keep your distance. I cannot lend you my subordinate's security nor offer mine. I have matters to tend to. Gale, present this letter to the elven princess. Use the creature's life as a bargaining chip if you must because her cooperation is invaluable. Afterward, head straight for the battle you are needed at and use rocks and your sword to produce this sound. She will understand," he fired while creating the mentioned sound with lightning dancing at his fingertips.

"As you wish," she responded, lowering her head. Her subservience was in light of her actions, fully reflecting on Naruto since he became the first seat because of her. Whispers of her name conjured nightmares, so should it be known that she was associated with him, which was a guarantee, it would go against the Guild's efforts.

She had sworn loyalty to him and became his sycophant, so to speak. Ryuu, while bothered, was far from agitated because she had an unquavering belief that he would not abuse her, for he was fair and austere despite his perverted tendencies, which were a shock to find out about. All in all, she could no longer bow to the Alfs or her chieftains and bowing to her goddess was stretching it.

And as an elf, her culture demanded she respects authority. It was fine. Her people rejected her and saw her past and actions with contempt. She was fine. She was his, the other barmaids, and Syr's person now.

"Whatever you will see or hear. Whatever ails your mind and heart, remember no wall or mound of pain cannot be washed away. I am one of the mind. I understand our nature as people leading to my cynism but… with you, my very notions shake. We men and women of the world are props of each other's lives; some begrimed and others pristine, but regardless of their currency, they will be used. I typically see only grime, but when my eyes fall on you, I see more.

Your sins will remain true. The truth is the truth but… as something infinite has no value, understanding and experiencing the evil you are capable of leads to the betterment of your character," Naruto spoke, looking into her eyes and directly addressing the voice that labelled her as filth. He closed his eyes.

"You have made the lives of many better. However much you remember your sins, remember your virtues in equal measure. Save the friend that can't be saved; pull her from the shade, even if it means killing her. That said. Actually… wait."

Silence plugged Ryuu's ears when he placed his hand on her cheek and directed her gaze to his matching eyes. His crawled up her temple and massaged its way down to her cheek before swaying to and fro, brushing it gently. While this happened, his other fingers brushed at her green locks before a blue light slipped from them.

His other hand tentatively reach from her hand, as if entraced, and lightly tugged on its strands and pulled them forward. Ryuu's eyes shot up when golden-blonde filaments entered her view. "W-w-wh-" she stammered before his thumb lept to block her lips.

"Is it odd I want to see the person in my mind in reality and at her best? This is the unmarred you, no? The green was in the way… reapply it later but for now," Naruto said before lightly petting her head. "know you are a gorgeous enforcer of justice. Let your evils mark you and remind you of what it means to be stalwart. Now…"

Naruto ignored the crimson puddle stretching across her cheeks as she struggled to pull herself away from him.

"Like a dragon, I dislike it when my tressure is marred. I expect your full resplendence when we rendez-vouz. Should you subvert my canvass, then I will be displeased. Va faill(good bye)," Naruto spoke, using her mother tongue, causing her to openly gape as the sound of Guile scurrying away faded into the background. His voice, as plain as always, was uncharacteristically charming.

"Y-yea(yes)... v-va faill," she responded. "Tch!" she mentally smacked her lips, suppressing a belabour from chastising her for her behaviour towards Syr's betrothed. "At this rate… hah! Not just lady Astrea but him too. They believe in me." A rush of air signalled her departure.

---

[-]

---

An orange mass of flames thundered along its vector and tapered to a point that crashed into a now unoccupied space. The demi-spirit squealed at the sight of decamping brimstone and orange bathing light. A twinkle in her peripherals contracted her spine, jerking her face back in time to watch a brown spear decorated in gold rush past.

A miniature body garbed in purple and gold invaded her focus and peripherals, a sharp crack failing to herald his movement as he outran it and speared his heel at her face, meeting clawed hands. Thumping off her palm with his foot, the prum twisted at the waist and lurched his femur at her cheek, which leaned back from follow-up.

Her hand clawed and wrenched forward to dismember the offending limb only to jerk back when a kukri knife scored her cuticle. A brief jerk to her hand allowed Finn to unsheathe a dagger sheathed near his tail bone and flail it at her but met no purchase as sparks flared from its engagement with nails.

The woman had semblances of some kind of beast claw technique, allowing her to parry not only the offender but also draw light but crimson-welling grooves into his clothes and flesh. Her second arm pistoned from below with an arm, and Finn stabbed the first hand's back and spun himself away from the imminent danger.

Finn kicked off her shoulder and dove to the side to pave the way for shards of stones that hissed through the air and drew furrows on its resplendent flesh, but contrary to expectation, the woman squealed and grinned. The prum, kicking off from his landing, snapped his hand at his spear and drew it back in time to match Riveria, who had blitzed beside him. They poled their shafts and jerked in unison to stop a hand cleaving in their direction in a scissor fashion.

WHOOOSH! SQUELCH!

A wheat and white blur blew past the trio.
The spirit grinned as its amputated arm before its stump bulbed and bloomed into another with a sharp hiss. She lurched forward, embracing her spider half. In response to the sudden surge in magic power, the quartet leapt back, getting buffeted by a veil of wind propelled by an erupting crimson shockwave with the monster as its focus.

Each managed a landing, then disappeared, massive craters birthing as sole signs of their presence. The divine-natured monster waded away from high-powered spells, composed mostly of water, earth and lightning, and projectiles and flicked its legs and used its clawed hands to flick off golden shafted and handled blades.

Silver and green streaks were reflected in aerial globes of water before they were quickly infected with mud and blown away by shrieking bangs. The smooth fighting prum and the dancing amazon in red slithered around each others' paths forming shapes like double helixes with their after images. A twirling pole flinched erect and stabbed when curved silver blurs repelled bladed legs with sparks.

Finn flicked his wrist when the brimstone insect sword reappeared and parried it before stabbing the spirit's gut. Tione was quick to hop on his shoulders and run up the spear in one stride and swayed from flailing claws and ducked under green blood born from her retaliation via dual-hand amputation.

A spinning roundhouse allowed the woman to flip backflip and in a show of flexibility, dipped one leg down for Finn to grab before flicking him at the monster's face like a slingshot. The boy-sized man cocked his spear and fired his arms forward, resulting in a voluminous splatter as the spirit tilted its head in time. Its hand was quick to apply pressure to her wound as the prum elevated.

A green blur dashed overhead and swatted down the Loki familia captain. The quartet once again blurred at the spirit and unleashed an immense number of attacks.

The onslaught of attacks made it seem like she was weathering droplets from a high-altitude water fall; fending them off was pointless. Their coordination, in conjunction with their strength, was so horrific that the reveling spirit felt she was battling with thousands.

Individual dashes and hops would generate staggering shockwaves and cannon ball into her, subjecting the floor to whirlwinds of stone and dirt. The princess easily dealt with flaming swordplay while the amazons would focus on running her limbs through with their swords.

"Magic stone should be on her torso!"

""""RIGHT!""""

It didn't matter who made the call. Their coordination still had the bite of a hurricane.

The tiny prum would slide between her defences and poke at her organs, while the brown skin ones would cleave and wrench at her limbs. Its sole grace was lava its lower half spewed, controlling the area in which they could attack her from.

This also functioned to reduce their speed because they could no longer randomly shoot at her lest their strength destroys the floor below, reducing their footholds. The affaire d'honneur was a stalemate that slightly favored the giant slayers.

Knocking aside the wee person, the spirit concentrated its aetheric, churning every source of fire in the vicinity. Riveria frowned and flicked Magnas Alfs and chanted, "Assemble, breath of the land – my name is Alf, Veil Breath." Reapplying protection magic to her and her allies.

"Flame of Quelan, harbinger of destruction, guard the first flame and be my phalanx, Izalith Retaliation!" Her voice invoked. Embers behind her jumped into the air and congealed into dozens of masses of flame. Her hand fell, issuing a command, darting them after a particularly annoying green blur.

"Respond to the contract, breath of life. Follow my order and provide divine protection. Take shelter, wind of power, king of the storm. Spin a hymn here! Wind Felicital!"

The she-elf invoked, summoning a wind not dissimilar to Ariel but naturally far weaker.

Weaker did not mean useless.

The high-elf, pressing massive craters with her every step, swayed and weaved past the flurry of fireballs, using them as nothing but cosmetics to her enchanting beauty. Jumping back and spinning on her heel, she baited the spirit into leaping at her, brandishing the sword of fire. The spirit threw her elbow back and then discharged her coiled muscles to skewer the elf.

Tiona moved.

Riveria gracefully leaned to the side and kicked off the ground while the spirit suddenly found itself on its back with a resounding snap, burying the woman into the earth. A flinching crack inverted the orientation of one of spider's legs, changing it from a V to a half M, and stabbed it down to incite an earsplitting clang. Tiona's failure was crushed by the animalistic howl that barreled out her lungs as she twirled her twin blades like a Bo staff and converted herself into a hurricane of edges.

"HAHAHA! FUN! FUN!" the muffled voice cried out, puffing out particles of dirt.

Several other deranged snaps failed to deter the amazon. Her wrist worked the bottom blade forth and to the side while her foot supported it like a shield bearer, bouncing back a pair of blades spearing for her torso. She careened back, paralleling her dorsum to the floor, and arc-kicked a trio on their flats while the bottom of her blade got uncomfortably close to her inner thigh.

The sheer force of her kick yanked her body from under her twin lumps of iron, barely qualifying as blades, and hurled it over. The right hand wielding the weapon was reprieved by the left, which wrenched the mass from under and rebuked four legs away from its mistress' frame.

BAM!

"UWAH!" The spirit cried, her body howling away distance because of a fierce roundhouse of the amazoness dressed in red. Several snaps cracked, and the spirit twisted up right before swatting aside a blurred spear, forcing an ear-rupturing boom to trail far behind it. A shiver on her spine alerted her to the little person arcing polearm from her rear area.

He had used the spear as a distraction and snuck around her and caught it before attacking.

"IYAN! Embarrassing!" She shrieked as her abdomen discharged an interlocked network of magma, intent of catching the prum like a fish. Finn, unalarmed, merely released his supporting hand, which palmed his shaft erect.

His main hand carried the motion so that the spear stabbed the ground behind him, allowing him to use it as an anchor to slow his immense speed and to jump off of it like a pole vault athlete. He didn't let the spear go; instead, he took advantage of his strength-weight ratio and carried it with him into air.

The weighty rear generously dispensed more flaming nets, inciting Finn to bat one aside before whipping the magma-sodden net at the ground and pulling himself down. He reeled, staggered and swaged away from the deluge of traps, knocking down those he could not dodge. He quickly scraped off the webs and took to the air when a bed of flames erupted at his feet.

A chasing stab, bathing the world in crimson, met the spear's shaft and brushed a howl of wind against Finn's ear. The spirit, wide-eyed, squealed in delight as it intended to have its flames rush past the spear and kill him, yet they couldn't.

"Yay! Good toys! So many features! HAHAHA!" The spider hopped slightly, and every appendage tucked itself below while the woman leaned to embrace her other half. "Love! Love makes me go boom! Boom!"

Wide-eyed, the first-class adventurers halted their compound combat to hurl themselves back.

"Respond to the contract, wind of the forest. Follow my order and cut down my enemies! Gale Blast!"

Riveria chanted cocking her catalyst back and hammering it toward her feet, ejecting a high-powered, building-sized shot of wind. The demi-spirit, pouting, ceased her amor and scurried to the side.

There was a reason why Loki and Freya were considered the most powerful familias in Orario by far; their first-class adventurers had refined their skills to the point they were "broken". They differed from the generic, experienced adventurer in that they used their abilities in unorthodox ways that made them extremely hard to deal with, such as now with Riveria's use of dated magic inferior Falna-based magic.

Unlike Falna-based magic, congenital magic wasn't anywhere as taxing on mind reserves, and it actually did get stronger when the user's falna matured. With her chant connection technique capable of producing new magic via shortening of incantations and varying of magic power, the princess was a bonafide walking bastion.

Magic and pyromancies hashed at each other while the spirit, maintaining a playful façade, waved and wailed her arms and legs to bat aside the raindrops flashing with silver and gold. As powerful as the chaos witch was, even she couldn't handle the bite of twin, frenzied first-class amazons and an extremely graceful prum whose agility made it that hitting him was akin to hitting a wary rat with a poorly thrown shoe.

His golden hair undulated back and forth, easily grounding, sidelining and sailing her stabs and slashes, providing ample chance for the twins to sweep her off her legs repeatedly. A sharp crack threw the spider onto its back again, but this time, the woman wasn't in the earth. Uncomfortably upside down and covered in dirt, a sigil-bearing circle with hundreds of shifting runes and shapes appeared.

"Knights of silver have fallen to ash. The writhing demons shall arise and fester. Burn! Burn! Burn! O' Flame of Quelan. Take thee! Conjure the scourge of Manus and bathe the world in a vermilion twilight! Chaos Storm!"

"Respond to the contract, heart of the forest! As knowledge writhes, yield your body to the sweet voice! Buddhi Brahma!"

Magnas Alfs catalyzed an anti-magic spell–it suppressed the effects of enemy spells–as dozens upon dozens of pyres of flames geysered from the dungeon floor, showering the fighters with fluorescent debris.

Finn and the twins worked their way around the flaming masses of chaos, stomping to erect stone footholds to manoeuvre off of. "No fun! NO FUN!" The spirit cleaved a hulking frozen body into puddles before turning to the trio rushing her and throwing her arm forward as if to catch something, conjuring a massive ball of fire.

The suddenly birthed flame undulated like a wave, discarding its spherical nature when in range and twisted like a vortex as it clashed against itself.

"HUUUWWWWWWOOOOAAAAAHHHHH!" Tiona roared, barreling at the coiling, smoldering death and trundled the monolith blade like a comet, cleaving into existence a gust of wind that repelled the coiling flames into a wall. Her livid, snarling sister followed through, using the wall to blindside the spirit, and displayed exceptional edge alignment by arcing a knife into one of the spider's joints.

"TAKE THIS, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" The woman howled, stamping lava spewing beast's maw with her remaining knife and latching onto the falling appendage. Her fingers coiled around the appendage, coating it in her blood, and repelled the leg fragment like a stake into the spider's head. Lava hissed her dermis to ash, drawing a bestial howl that overpowered the spider.

"No! No!" The chaos witch stroked her fingered hand –

"Respond to the contract, sky of the forest! Darkness retreat in the light, and earth dyed in crimson return to reality by sunlight, Proluo!"

Riveria howled beside Tione, the tip of Magnas Alf radiating a violet aura that tapered into a blade.

The witch's eyes widened, and the spider, despite its head being lanced, bounded dozens of meters back. The witch snarled, seemingly concentrating the flames all over her eyes. "Bad! No! No! Cheating! YOU BAD TOYS! I WANT ARIA! Aria, I want to play!" she whined, glancing in the direction where the winds were howling unnaturally. As impaired mentally as it was, it understood its toys would not let her go.

"So, you fear purification spells," Riveria stated, engaging in council with the spirit's eyes. The she-elf frowned in acknowledgement of the thought that her spell simply was not enough. "Congenital purification magic cannot do anything to her because I am alone. Perhaps if I had a few of my brethren and an arch-druid, we could cast the power purification spell, Azure Engraved Beheading. If she wasn't a child afraid of a needle, then we would not know of this potential weakness," Riveria remarked mentally.

"Man! Riveria, I didn't know you could fight like that! I thought you could only cast nine spells," Tiona said, making her way to the high elf's side with Finn and Tione.

"Oh, that was elven magic," Riveria, bemused by Tiona's lack of alarm, responded before sighing. "Tione, why must you be so wreckless?" She stated before muttering a healing spell. A light thump at their sides reeled their peripherals, revealing a familiar elf dressed in a green cape.

"My lady, my benefactor requested I deliver this to you. He assured me that you know these contents," she said, reaching to her back and extracting folded parchment. They all raised a brow at the elf. The demi-spirit focused on healing her beloved pet.

"You are… What business could Mia possibly have with me? Especially now," Riveria started before switching to elvish.

"It is not mama Mia. I am employed under the first seat of the Octagram," she responded tersely.

"Very well," Riveria stated, taking the parchment and unfolding it. He had supplied them with valuable information, so she liked to think he wasn't so foolish to squander the time they could be using to stop a threat that could eradicate every adventurer on Under Resort.

Her pupils jerked smaller, and her eye lids nearly hurled her whites from her skull. "This is! It's been lost for ages! How does he?! I can complete it, but then we would need aetheric to activate it, meaning a spirit is required, and the one we are fighting against is! Unless… Ais! What in the? Does he know? How could he? Unless she told him her - wait… difficult to catch, so much so he evades even first-class adventurers, unusually knowledgeable about magic… oh… oh. Oh." Ais' numerous descriptions of her paramour floated beside what the public knew about the Fell Omen.

"Finn…"

"We'll be fine," the prum shrugged, reading the vexed look on his partner's face from the corner of his eye. "Anything we should know about?" he inquired, keeping an eye on the regenerating demi-spirit.

"We don't have to kill it… Gale, your master, how does he intend to make sure the irregular-" She gestured at goliath being tripped by a valley through a volley of spells, "does not interrupt the process?"

"I am assuming he intends to have the sword princess kill it. If not, then he will likely slay it himself. I will go take the Sword Princess' place,"Ryuu replied.

"I see," Riveria replied in Koine before addressing her colleagues, "I won't have to give you a signal but restrain her. If you see me cast a spell, it's not your signal. If all goes to plan, you'll know when to restrain her. Try not to kill her."

"Why?" Tione asked.

"Because she has been our ally since time memorial. Something happened to her, and if you recall the debriefing we had last week, there a numerous like her somewhere in the dungeon. Elven customs aside, we need her for research and the compliance of my family in Alf Royal forest," Riveria replied.

"Like the fairy tales?" Tiona asked, eyes shining.

Riveria's cool features curled upward. The girl's attitude was far too precious, so valuable the world didn't deserve her. Riveria responded, "Like the fairy tales." The gales wrapped around the high elf's frame puffed before she disappeared in a burst of speed.

---

[-]

---

"What the fuck is that thing?!"

Was the collective question roused from the fleeing monster slayers. By some insanity, a massive wave of new species had invaded their hub, forcing them to retreat. They could have fought for it, but history dictated retreating was better because they could rebuild easily.

Rushing to the 17th floor met them with wicked skull-grasshopper that was quick to tear into their ranks, forcing the crowd to descend to the 19th floor, which strangely enough wasn't the source of the conglomerate of green masses. Regardless of where they emerged from, they were obstacles they had to get past.. They couldn't turn to battle the first creature because it was ridiculously fast and could reflect magic.

Fortunate graced the living when fire walls suddenly incinerated the writhing forest, taking some of the adventurers' lives, and cleared a path to the great tree labyrinth for the remainder. It was a pity their beloved Under Resort had become the meadows of hell, but it was fine; they were sure of their security.

Then it happened. The adventurers briefly felt arcanum – the power of a god – then heard an unholy roar. A black mass fell from the sky, and their hell truly began.

Some shrieked and charged straight at the revealed Goliath clone in black, while others fell and saturated the ground with more than just sweat.

The towering, muscle-packed beast swatted the fighters aside and roared, unleashing a beam of light that took flight and plucked their lives like a blight. The thing that descended was far faster and stronger than the one incubated in The Wall of Sorrow.

"What are you fuckers doing? Grab yer weapons and ready yaselves! We have'ta kill dat thing but we ain't gonna do shit if y'all floundering like amputated pussies! FUCK!" A voice fraught with brutish charisma lambasted.

Eyes fell on the burly, scarred man charging at the beast dozens of times his size with a great hammer hoisted up his shoulder. An animalistic swipe trundled under his jumped frame then a rolling, anguished roar followed the noise of tenderized meat.

Oversized reefers crunched below its heel as it lurched back while desperately pawing at its cheek. "WOAH!" The man leapt over its hand and kicked off its nose before depositing another blow at its face, unleashing a barbaric monster-freezing howl.

Discarding the hammer, the man jumped off its shoulder and acrobatically landed a distance away, atop of a particularly large ashen tree. His lone, unpatched eye was teal, while his other had a large claw-shaped scar running over it. A sleeveless open jacket exposed his body and his lower half was covered by blue pants and brown boots.

"Fucking Finn. Ya got ya hands full don't'cha?" He thought while maintaining his barbaric dignity. The black goliath wheeled on its heel and gaveled its arm at him. Bors dumped his body into a crouch and looked to leap to the side when a massive ball of flames repelled the monster with its fiery glory.

"FIGHT!"

"GET THAT BASTARD!"

"KILL IT!"

By the dozens, people who had turned their backs on each other due to self-preservation howled and turned at the beast. An example by the chief representative of Rivira had sparked in them a flame in no way inferior to the gale-fed flames of chaos barring their escape and razing their floor.

The man smirked while already in the motion of dashing for his discarded hammer. "I'll lead the frontal assault! We need to push it toward a wall! Mages, get your asses ready and aim for the head while we'll take his legs! We don't need friendly fire!" He ordered, darting at it as if riding the howling winds generated by something else in the distance.

His jacket and baggy pants flattered when he lept up its leg and pounded an overhead into its knee, jerking the connected joint. The man grimaced at the sharp pain that travelled through his wrists, but he was able to move in time to watch its hand swat its knee.

A man wielding a hunk of metal that barely qualified as a sword trundled an arc into its left nail, lodging it within its cuticle. Three dwarves in plate lept to the air and slammed into the lever before hurriedly pulling themselves away as the beast cried and whipped through the air as it swept forward, rocketing a cloud of dust and ash from the affected place.

They couldn't appreciate their handiwork; a bloody nail was sailing overhead.

The impact threw the stout men into the air, and they were hurled to the distance by the wind in the giant's sweeps' wake. It couldn't leave it at that. It took a step forward and popped its jaw down to reveal an agitated baleful light before a resounding boom and a local cloud of smoke erupted.

Its head was caught in a huge explosion courtesy of a high-powered water jet, muffing a roar and descending it to sharp chokes – Ignis Fatuus. Its snarling head emerged from the black cloud of smoke and caught sight of the offender.

It lumbered at the human mage only for its right knee to jerk into its left courtesy of Bors, and half a dozen similarly muscled companions wielding strike weapons. The ground at its foot grooved into a crater as its towering body lurched forward, bringing its face to the dirt from which it was birthed.

"LET IT RECOVER! OUR ATTACKS CAN'T PIERCE IT, SO WE NEED TO GET IT TO THE WALL! MAGES WHO AREN'T STOPPING ITS ROAR, READY YOUR MOST POWERFUL SPELLS! BOYS, I LEAVE MORE FRAGILE DETAILS TO YOU, START PLANNING," Bors ordered, leading by example, allowing the mass of protein to push itself off the ground and unleash an ear-splitting bellow.

"Bors! Catch!" Called out one adventurer, a cat person, darting across the battlefield and hurling blue-hued pellets at adventurers encroaching on the beast's personal space. They were a magic item that raised magic energy resistance, qualifying them for fending off the beast's breath attacks.

The man grinned while ripping his body away from a swipe and swiftly scampered up its arm and cracked two heads, one howled and the other communicated harsh quakes down its shaft. A follow-up flashlight howled, cracking the ground and knocking Bors down to a nearby cliff.

"UOOHWWWAAHHHHH!"

Woosh! Woosh! CRACK!
The beast stumbled into a tumble, lumbering it over the same cliff as the leading human. Propelled by the force of offending magic, debris darted skyward, pulling clouds of dust that partially obfuscated the beast.

""" Chains!""" Echoed the howling adventurers converging omnidirectionally, a cacophony linking clangs overpowered howling winds and crackling flames. Elven archers with oversized bows loosed chain-ensconced harpoons from orange shimmering foliage and ducked away like deer.

"UWOOOOGGGG!?"

A black-furred arm rose and jerked back to the ground, erupting more chunky earth mists. It shook its body repeatedly, digging the harpoons deeper into its wrists and ankles. With a snarl, its maw snapped open only for a pair of halberdiers to blaze in and swat its face skyward.

The suddenly crimson-hued "sky" rumbled, shedding stones, rocks and crystals.

Minutes had stretched endlessly as the monster was pelted with magic and silver flashes and the occasional bonks from rocks formed from the shaking dungeon. Wild swings from the beast generated stone smash gales, rearranging much of the burning area into a crater.

Instinct guided it at higher leveled folks darting at its ankles and knees before backing away only for its frame to get pelted by strings of gossamer magecraft. Nimble prums, cat people and elves dug massive trenches under cover of smoke bombs and debris and led the beast to trip numerous times.

Bringing it down allowed many to target its eyes which it covered, making it vulnerable everywhere else. Dull cracks had smiths and supporters forking out weapons like popular restaurant kitchens. The waiters dished out as much silver as possible before returning to the kitchen and allowing the cooks and their assistants to either swap out or bring down elemental justice on it.

Their strained grins weathered against time and hopelessness, but there was no progress. The thing was just too damned turgid.

But still, the adventurers grinned, mirroring the savagery on their leader's face. They were adventurers; overcoming the impossible was in the description. They brought it down multiple times, so surely, this time… they would dish something special. A Rivira special.

"MAGES!"

An amalgam of elemental attacks smashed to the ceiling and reflected rapidly expanding boulders in Goliath's eye. It threw its body into a roll only for it to fall back to spread eagle. Four lines of dwarves with bloodshot eyes and mangled hands baptized it with bloodthirsty and spirited grins – each group for each limb, playing tug of war with chains.

"""PULL! PULL!"""

WHOOM! CRASHHH!
"Uwa! GRAAAAHHHH!"

The vermilion birthed by the flames turned every attacker's vision to blood. A twisted wail wrung their perception, forcing some of the retreating to wallow in the dirt like serpents and salted worms.

Then it happened. The light concentrated and wail undulated in a loop, diluting expressions of terror to crimson blank canvasses.

The beam darted out from the smog, running a crude, snaking drawing over the ceiling and hurtling across the forests, lakes and rivers, trailing with it plums of explosions. Boulders crumbled to high projectile threats, not mortal for most, but more than enough to force them off their feet.

Whereas the spirit bathed the floor in fire and viscous earth, these effects thundered it apart.

The attack's howl muted cries from airborne adventurers, some being so unfortunate there was a brief confirmation of their existence in vapor form. Goliath whipped its frame out of the cloud into a roll, cascading links of chains to fearsome whips that instantly mulched unfortunate victim skeletons.

Its fingers dug grooves into a boulder relative to its size and spun with it, exacerbating its momentum to black hurricane of sharp and harsh slams. Bloodied trenches on its body reset and were covered in black fur, treating adventurers to the sight of their hard produced wine being thrown into a sewer.

Like a rampaging ape, the creature slammed the rock earthward and bashed it into shockwave of debris.

"SHIELD BEARERS!"

Weighty thunks and crashes masked the brief cries of burly adventurers.

"Magic swords approaching from the North," one of Bor's helpers heralded a beamed wall of flames.

Goliath rushed its arms to its face and braced.

"SWITCH!" commanded the helper.

A squall of wind pumped forth and curled into a ramp that barreled a roaring Goliath skyward.

"WIND SQUAD TO ITS REAR IN 2 SECONDS!... MAGES FIRE! " called out Bors, recognizing the attempt and coordinating. His command unleashed another howling squall that pressed into Goliath's back, allowing a series of high-powered spells to press into the beast's torso!

BOOM!
"RRAAAAGGGRRRRR!" A guttural howl washed down their heads, forcing eyes to spot gaps patches of skin had wrenched off, showcasing deeper grooves than early! A flash of red, and lines of muscle and tissue came together.

"THE FUCK IS WITH THAT REGENERATION! THE MAGE-WALL WON'T WORK IF THE WIND-MAGE THING DID!" Bors masked his alarm. He knew better than anyone facing reality would strip them of morale. "We injured it. We can kill it if we just… That's it!"

"MAGE SQUAD, AT EASE! ARCHERS, READY THE DIMERIDIUM-TIPPED HARPOONS!" Bors roared while sprinting toward the slowly rising monster. Its hand broke a large crystal from the ground and snapped it at him. The adventurer read the telegraph and kicked off broken chains littered all over the surface.

As a strength-based level 3 wielding an enchanted hammer, Bors was capable of inflicting trauma onto the monster. Its intelligence marked him, so when he lept at it, hammer hoisted barbarically, it lurched an arced palm at him with great enthusiasm.

A sharp crack repelled its claw, courtesy of a bleeding – their muscles ruptured from the impact and bones ground – Mord and Guile. Bors grinned, jumping off their bodies with a roundhouse that blasted them to a nearby hill and dove straight for the bastard's mug.

A harsh red light awoke and glared into Bors' eye before churning and boiling it into a quivering bubble that was a step away from criticality. A black mass tipped with silver flew past Bors' and popped the mass like a petulant pimple, and the man, along with Goliath's head and neck, rocked back.

Dimeridium was a material used to bind mages because of its magic power-disrupting properties. As the adult hurtled away, he trained his eye on the headless beast, grinning with the wave cheers. "Regenerate from that you little- WHAT THE FUCK?!" Cheers died as swiftly as his smile.

"Ugh! Fine! We need to get to its magic crystal like I already thought. As long as we got mages, we got nothing to-"

Rumbles not native to any of the three battles quaked from Floor 19, bringing up masses of dispersed dirt. A plethora of cries shrieked through smog and sharp crunching munches bunched up in the atmosphere. The mass parted and jerked in multiple places, puncturing it like cheese and feathering it like cotton candy, revealing masses of varying sizes.

Bugbears, minotaurs, gun libelulas and countless other monsters barrelled out from the Floor 19. Harsh cracks dropped boulders onto the people's heads and none dared to look up because their hearts were quivering from the howling dungeon–looking up would reveal a skulled face wiggling out.

"FOR OUR GOD!"

"THERESA, I LOVE YOU!

"MAY MY BLOOD SECURE THE HEAVENS FOR YOU, BELOVED!"

Hooded men and women lept from cracks and gullies and embraced disgruntled adventurers. Bors and his co-leaders' eyes widened to size of dinner plates while they howled in unison! "GET AWAY FROM THEM!"

It was too late. Black cloaks warped into fiery flowers and mushrooms of orange.

Men and women, wide-eyed, scrambled away from coordination, putting them at Goliath's mercy which had them swept into the air. If any were level 1, they would have died in an instant. Others were torn to shreds by invading monsters while keeping an eye on the copy of an earlier monster wiggling from the dungeon ceiling, unlike the other one. It didn't seem… artificial?

Just then, a flash blue heralded three large magic circles conjuring in the air and stacking as more monsters poured from Floor 19. An Icy mist crawled out from the incripted runes. From their miniature hideouts, the people in black suddenly parted into showers of blood, with the only clue of the assailant being a flash of gold and white. Most adventurers didn't see this because of smoke.

---

[-]

---

A wailing shriek pumped embers out of the reaches of the crater-riddled field. The winds were howling. Ais Wallenstein, garbed in a veil of wind, was faced with the murderer of Harshana Dolia, Level 4 of Ganesha familia. Minutes had elapsed since the mark of their altercation, and Ais had just invoked her personal spell, Ariel.

"Give it up, Aria," the murderer spoke in perfect monotone. Her hair owned the colour of blood and hung just over her shoulders. Uneven strands implied it was long at some point before being sheered. A crimson leotard preserved her white skin's dignity. Her legs were protected by nicked knee plates, and her arms by gauntlets.

In her hand was a malformed black and oversized crimson sword that took the term great sword a little too literally.

Where they stood was a precipice between the outskirts of Rivira and a forest, formerly aflame but put out by their vicious battle. Lefiya was close by, but she and a chienthrope of Hermes familia were all but forgotten.

"… What should I call you?" The girl's soft voice inquired.

"Ha! Are you stupid? Asking an enemy, ugh... fine, call me Revis. No point withholding this when we will get very familiar," the woman responded dryly, unconcerned as knowledge of her name was no danger to her. "Yes. We will get to know each other very well," she paraphrased in her monotone, shivering the spine of the adjacent elf.

Ignoring her, Ais began stalking in an arc as if tracing a circle clockwise and Revis followed her lead but anti-clockwise. The pair slowly erected their weapons; a great sword and a rapier paired with a toothed knife, commonly known as parrying dagger or sword break.

Distance… no distance. A rush wind propelled Ais into a thrust Revis twisted away from before transferring the motion to swinging curved beheading slice. Ais' flicked wrist bit her dagger onto the black edge and swerved its vectir while her sailing rapier cleaved from the side.

The humanoid monster, creature, erected her sword to the side with moderate difficulty. Despite its size, Revis easily slipped her sword from the dagger's grip and manoeuvred it at the girl's neck. Ais ducked, and waved her left hand, batting the malform aside, and speared her sword at woman's heart.

It passed empty air, mere inches away from the torso-twisted creature who levered her heel into a circle and produced a move Ais could only identify as a platted club – it was a roundhouse. A deep scratch drew into the plated leg that met the parrying dagger.

A savage diagonal came from Ais whipping her right hand, hoping to take the offending leg only for the sword to serve as a shield. A clang initiated black and red slashes, flurrying with barrages of slicing kicks and hammering fists, denting Ais' armor and shoving pain fodder into her body.

Lefiya, helpless, watched the battle from a distance. She had already escorted the chienthrope elsewhere, escaped from a hatched fetus headed somewhere and returned to a rapidly intensifying battle. A step closer would see her body shredded by resulting whirlwinds. Crystals and earth rode the pulsing shockwaves from their sparkling blades and dented garments.

Shielding her eyes with her forearm, overpowering gales rode tremendous, thundering booms. With the winds' indignance, chunks of rocks whipped against her body, marring her clothes with stains and tears, her skin with flushes and scars and her mind with terrors and inferiorities.

Ais, with her wind, hurtled back and forth like a savage beast. The numbing of her arms encouraged her to evade the great sword's strikes as much as possible, but there were times when she had to commit to deflecting it.

The girl doved forth with an overhead and a crouching Revis batted her to heavenward. Because they were moving quickly, numerous stones and boulders were still ascended. It was one of them Ais landed on and slanted herself toward the creature while cocking her sword arm back.

"Lil rafaga!"

Pulped to dust, Ais foothold blew away when she blurred forward like an arrow, her winds expanding and swelling then the ground suddenly fissured and a hole spread for many dozens of meters deep and around.

A powerful shock wave accompanied by a tsunami of sediment radiated from the spot Revis had been standing. Revis' fighting spirit and bloodlust were gone. Ais sighed the pain of screaming muscles and joints and pulled her aetheric to its home then.

CLANG!

Desperate and the great sword collided then braced against each other, bringing both females' countenances to proximity. "Not bad. Not bad at all, Aria," she commented with an unchanging expression. "…" Ais' forehead cannoned into the woman's nose, widening rapidly watering eyes as the victim stumbled back.

"Shit!" Revis thought and distanced herself with a crack of earth. Her surprise attack expected Ais' incapacitation as she used the girl's attack to hide and sneak up on her. The first-class adventurer had exceptional senses which led to Revis' set back.

Ais dashed at Revis, ignoring her wailing muscles, and slipped cuts into thrusts and delivered smashing cleaves while jerking her left hand forth and parrying the deflecting and counter-attacking blade. "Drift!" the princess guided her winds underfoot and pushed off them, replicating one of her paramour's techniques; he gave it to her.

A thrust speared before converting into a wide arc midway, being propelled by clamoring winds, forcing Revis to duck. The creature cleaved at Ais' waist and the parrying dagger came down and popped out a puff of wind, relieving pressure from the parry.

Platted legs swept and booted legs jumped and kneed and a head tilted. The warriors danced past the maze of each others' attacks, delivering purple dyed spots to exposed flesh and lines of red as well.

In Ais' mind, she became Revis and saw herself thrusting her rapier. She returned to her body and opted a decapitating slice, widening Revis' eyes as the girl had predicted her counterattack and suddenly revamped her pattern.

Ais' point of view shifted again and she recognized dozens of potential opening on herself before circling her dagger around, sparking out shrieks as she parried numerous strikes. Revis hopped back and stomped forward and Ais to the left in time to evade a copy of Revis' sword that had erupted from where she had been standing.

Booted legs blurred to long, powerful strides as many more copies of the creepy sword chased after her. "Thanks Lefiya," Ais thought as her body communicated relief from strain as she waded past the inverted wack-a-mole game.

The black sword onslaught stopped and Ais stood a few dozen meters away from her enemy.

Ariel churned and danced over desperate, and Ais, with Ryumon in mind, cleaved diagonally twice, one slanted to the left and the other to the right, unleashing massive white, ground-ripping, crescent-shaped winds. Revis hopped to the left, leaned accordingly, dodging the first, and repeated for the right. Her blurry vision marked Ais' raising her sword for a third and motioned her body to move as the tertiary attack howled and ripped at the ground in its drivel at her.

"Wait! Where did she?" In that brief window, she noted her opponent's absence before her mind bashed her focus to the wind shark fin mere inches from her. Her eyes flitted to the wind being uncharacteristically dark and fluid at the center.

CCCRRRAAAACCCKKKKKK!
The battlefield exploded with intensity unseen before, smoldering the ensuing embered flares of sparks. Both gorgeous specimens were crouched low like panthers; one leg extended to the side while the other bent with one hand on the ground. Both arms shivered from the impact. Had they been anyone else, their bones would have turned to dust.

Ais' latest attack was inspired by her boyfriend writing her a book's worth of pages worth of wind attack ideas. She cleaved two arcs as a distraction before cleaving one and immediately dashing into it and running with it like a fish would swim in a fast stream. She raised her sword within the arc and traced its edge for descending cut.

The sheer impact sent them skidding nearly a hundred meters from each other despite Revis stabbing into the ground and Ais resisting with her aetheric-laced wind enchantment.

The pair simultaneously clicked their tongues, dove at each other, and blocked each other's advance. Swords jostled and shimmied and tore lines into their nemesises' wielders. "Aria? Is she used to my fighting style? How?" the creature howled mentally.

"What a cheap imitation of Naruto," Ais' indignation hissed. It was true; the way Revis fought was but a facsimile, a rather poor one, to Naruto's typical style of engagement. All that was happening was Ais was engaging Naruto in fast motion. The creature even healed like him, except she wasn't quite as adaptable as the boy.

The malformed blade swept wide, and the dagger followed, grabbing it and shoving it low enough for Ais to stomp on. A skyward cut was rushed by Desperate, forcing Revis to lurch back while guiding her meteoric leg to Ais' temple.

With the shifting sword as a step, Ais cartwheeled and responded with her own set of clubbing kicks before spinning, swiping her sword break up to parry the black mass erupting from below. "RRAAAHHHH!" roared Revis, heaving and hurling Ais into the air.

Wind's hugging the girl's frame paused her send, reoriented her and lazily kept her alighted in the air as she cocked her arm up such that her rapier was pointed skyward at an angle and its handle was adjacent to her temple.

"Fountainhead dance."

Then Ais dove and disappeared. Revis didn't know what happened, except she was suddenly sporting dozens of cuts while animistically waving and zipping her sword around.

It was a terpsichore.

Ais, bereft of grace, danced savagely, ripping a flurry into the air as if her technique was lost. A rampaging dragon had possessed her and dumped its rage into her gesticulating arms and legs. It was as if her doll expression was merely a pretense.

The winds surrounding her compressed into nexuses of sharpened nets, each moving in or out of tandem with the furious rainstorm of silver. Flustered, Revis looked like a target used to practice with sole red paintballs.

Revis jumped away and nearly sighed in relief at what she perceived as a conclusion. "Aria" wasn't chasing after her, and Revis nearly drooped her shoulders to reset her stance. That was until she saw "Aria" lightly rebounding back into the air while curving her back with a light hop like a Kaois desert dancer performing by a fountain and ponderously descended.

The barbaric princess dove again, this time incorporating zig zag dashes to her harsh flurries. Her winds produced additional blades that blew over and past Revis' weapon. Chef-possessed winds scored and filleted her as if prepping to spice and roast her over the demi-spirit's flames.

Revis wrenched her sword back into a hammer cut that blew her back instead of Ais, as the force produced by each strike in the rain exceeded the creature's strength immensely. Ais hoped away. There was a pause. Revis' eyelids pumped open in beat to her thumping "heart" as her wounds patched themselves.

"Is it over?" she thought, hoping the harassment would cease.

Eyes landed on Ais floating down again, inciting Revis to loudly bash her heel to the ground, erecting a massive boulder. Surely this time she wouldn't-

Revis barely wheeled in time weather the tertiary flurry. "What in the world is this?" Revis internally howled as Ais kept swinging, driving her sword to Revis', chunking it while her vicious winds gnawed grooves into her flesh. A relentless harry harassed the humanoid monster, not letting her breathe. If Revis didn't adapt, she would die a death of a thousand cuts.

Ais ended her dance in a crouch, eyes on the floors and sword pointed to the side. "A chance!" Revis rushed at her before she could produce another flurry till her instincts wrested control of her body and jerked it back in time to watch arcing wind blades flare a dome into existence for just a moment.

"FUCK!" She rasped a howl, buckling her blood-soddened body and hurling the ruined blade at the princess, who batted it aside with a flicked wrist.

- You are way too straightforward with your enchantment. Boosting your abilities and cladding your sword when you can direct your winds? Even the excess ones? Basic. Basic. Basic! Your magic is far too amazing for it to just be used like that, you know?

It's your unfair advantage and more than capable of being even more. Be like me and your seniors and Freya's, and use your ability unorthodoxly. Break it and shed convention. Become broken and a walking cheat, as the gods would say. That is the only way you can kill your enemies before they stomp you with your weaknesses. – Naruto, letter #2.

"Weak," Ais stated with a practiced cutesy tone, forcing Revis' lip to peel and bare her teeth, widening her eyes, and coiling her fingers so tightly blood dripped from her hands.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" A landform presented a new blade for Revis, one identical to the last. Ais' doll expression offered a small smile as her winds retreated into her body. "I don't need my wind to beat you," Ais added, goading the twitching redhead.

Trash-talking to agitate an enemy was something she reluctantly picked up from Tione during training and conversations. The princess had to do what had to be done to win the battle despite her dislike for it. She promised everyone she wouldn't be reckless and engage her thoughts more to cut her losses.

"My name is Ais, not Aria, and I will be your ferry to the next world," she finished, prodding at the monster's rage. "That shou-" Revis was upon her in an instant; her snarl neutralized while her rage coaled the flames in her eyes.

Their swords met again. If the raging monster's thoughts were in order, she'd realized the winds retreated instead of dispelling. The environment's air seemed to converge towards Ais slowly. Regardless, numerous cuts carried their battle closer to an adjacent plateau.

The outcome of their sword council had an uncanny resemblance to water and sodium. Shrill screeches heaved air moored to the environment, scattering the conflagration to thousands of pin-prick sparks.

The princess' sword breaker jammed the creature's deadly extension, wrenching open thresholds to pass her rapier through with needle accuracy but alas, the efforts, hundreds in fact in little over a second, were synoptic to splitting a raging waterfall with a chopstick.

THUD!

A dull impact. It echoed from within Ais' body and outside. A knee had scored into her gut, granting Revis the prerogative to wrench her sword from the parrying dagger's teeth.

Ais, parsimonious with her time and potential opportunity, lurched her back at a negative angle, watching severed golden-blonde filaments trickling, coiling and twisting. Her eyes narrowed, and the hairs ribboned into confetti in an instant. Dozens of meter-deep craters exploded space, showering the surrounding with geysers of dirt.

To most, dirt would have mounded by this time, but to them, it was like watching a person with dyspnea fill a balloon; it was also like watching a flower bloom.

WOTZZZZ! CLANG! CREE! CLANG! CLANG!

Revis' glare was a whetstone to Ais' focus. The beating heart thumped to the time signature of their blades' feverish osculation. Her enemy's strength and speed outclassed her despite Ariel, but she could edge it with the techniques her mentors and boyfriend had drilled into her.

"Breathe. Breathe. You won't fail to protect her. Breathe. Breathe. She doesn't have to worry because I am the breath of the forest, so breathe." Her mind's eye jumped to the blue-eyed elf, frozen in fear of accidentally tipping the battle unfavorably, desperately wending her catalyst at positions they had long passed.

A light hop back twisted the princess to her back and she was instantly blindsided.

-Techniques. Sword schools. It doesn't matter; it's just people swinging metal sticks around. If you are both perfect in technique, then it will be an exhausting standstill, especially if you are superhuman, as distance is a joke to us… When you are like me, you realize you sometimes have to put your body in the line order to progress – Fell Omen, Day 3 of training.

-When people are sure they have won, they'll likely commit. That will be your chance – Finn.

Ais bent to a downward dog and parried the woman with her booted heel at the wrist. Hands, while clutching her dagger and rapier, dug into the ground and leveraged her body to focus all produced force to a sweeping kick.

The woman, eyes wide in registration, desperately yanked up her clutched blade for a reset. A flash of silver and Ais' gauntleted arm, with the dagger safely punted the great sword from a worrying proximity while harvesting an arc of blood for the creature's forearm.

There was a saying, "never face a swordsman in moonlight or at night." It boiled down to the fact if a sword is shrouded in moonlight, it's harder to spot, and the same principle applies to darkness as the sword won't have a reflection. A cloud of dust had risen far above their heads, deny their field sunlight.

Desperate was lost for a second. A second that nearly cost Revis her life.

WHOOOSH!

The swing's force wheeled Ais to a mighty turn that hefted her blade into a cascade at the arms that jerked to guard the neck and chest – a second later, she would have lost her "heart". The squall that followed rocketed Revis through thicket and foliage, but that didn't stop her from identifying a dagger that was hurtling at her, intent on being her head's tenant.

Her lower back folded to club her legs like hammers, forcing a harsh backflip that treated her to the sight of drifting, crimson filaments. Narrowing her eyes into slits, she cut her flight short by channeling the ground with a quick knife hand.

She hoicked her hand out, pulling with it a new great sword and viciously repelled a deft swing from Aria's child. Revis had yet to properly rest, but her massive blade hurtled into wading lefts and rights, vibrating from dozens of impacts per second, producing a hideous tumult.

The pair separated from their nth engagement.

"Enough," Ais muttered with closed eyes beckoning her magic power to rise, earning a price in the form of a mortified look on Revis' face.

"Miss Ais," Lefiya's eyes would have rolled out of their sockets had they not had tendons keeping them in her head. The sight took her breath away. First, the swelling winds tickled her oddly, just like the far-off demi-spirits, and now this.

No one exaggerated when someone stated the girl's beauty rivalled a goddess'. To some, she was like one; to Lefiya, she was one at that moment.

Her smooth skin, garbed in a white battle dress, seemed to glow. Her honey-coloured eyes burned with chances of her loss as fuel. Her waving, dancing, gossamer filaments that twinkled like pixie dust and a crystal lake on a comforting warm day rose. The winds coiled around her body like leather belts, snaking to pronounce her figure.

Ais' dress fluttered, glimpsing the blue shorts she wore beneath.

The princess didn't want to hurt anymore.

She didn't want to rage anymore.

She didn't want others to continuously worry for her anymore.

And so the hatred-festering skill Avenger was shelved until further notice. Her beloved had pointed out her obsession with levelling up when immense power was in her hands. By her standards, the lengthy periods it took to level up should have been those of introspection, not of wallowing in her weakness.

Her arrogance led her to believe had swordplay had reached the pinnacle and that only levelling up would grant her strength. No more. Her mother's winds embraced and changed her very being as they 'enchanted' her body. She didn't know exactly how or what she was doing, except she developed and mastered it quickly.

She changed.

The winds howled, and prickles similar to those induced by the far-off spirit roused the elf. Leaves, earth, embers, and water rode the streaming breath of the world, carrying them towards Ais, whose feet slowly parted from the earth.

Spirits were divine by nature, and Ais was human, or so she liked to believe. One could see the current power as deification. Of course, she knew she couldn't defeat Finn and the other top executives with their exceptional experience, but it was a start.

The great stream broke then there was a quartet who dove precipitously to her shoulder blades. Ais, feet pointed down, bopped up and down like fishing floats as four petal-shaped, fairy-like translucent wings, rotating wings debris within, flapped gently.

"DIE, YOU BITCH!" Revis' landform shone like a magic sword and unleashed an expansive wave of crimson magic energy. The goddess of wind and fairies flapped her wings harshly, and a wave was flicked aside by a powerful gale.

-You gotta say the name of your attack Aisu! It's the coolest thing ever, and people will like you more. Make ya more marketable n stuff.

"Lux Alice," she muttered before floating toward Revis and jabbed her gaze straight into the redhead's. The appended word to Lux sneered Revis' lips.

"Fuck off!" She yowled before rooting her foot to the ground and rumbling the dungeon floor. Copies of her ominous blade jutted from the ground in rows like falling tombstones, barrelling toward the winged goddess. A single breath slipped from Ais lips, and the expanse of terror crumbled under the force of a suddenly roused squal.

With her eyes on the shattered swords, Ais was blindsided by Revis whose sword found its opposing pole on her neck. With so much as losing a strand of hair, the sword princess sidestepped the overhead and vertically flicked her wrist.

Revis' eyes watched in horror as a blade of wind rushed past the body she had barely twisted in time. She sneered and unleashed a portfolio of sword and kick training, each battering the cold air dancing around Ais' frame. The sheer speed of the girl and the dust she roused projected after images, making a mockery of the redhead who howled as she took that as symbolism that she would never reach her current goal.

A horizontal sweep found Ais above it, her body's length parrel to it before one of her wings suddenly swelled and projected Revis across the field, leaving blood-soaked enamel as souvenirs.

Revis' fist projected a donga, parting and tilling Under Resort's soil at a greater length than oxen. Her free hand stabbed her sword to the ground, released it then reached into her mouth before flicking out and tossing aside a fragment of Ais' souvenir.

"Arga Arvana Arvelia. Agaris Alvesynth."

Revis chanted. Wisps of orange bled from her hands and legs, narrowing Ais' eyes. "So, it is you," she remarked mentally before flapping her wings once, distancing her frame from the ground that suddenly combusted in flames. A bestial roar bored into her right ear resulting in her leaning back to observe a now blaze enchanted sword cleaving past her wind and dust image.

The rapier's point stabbed at the redhead's head and met only strands of hair as an orange meteor barrelled for the wrist that wielded it – Revis had evaded with a side step and countered with a vertical slash. Ais' seemingly unaware of her impending doom, continued the stabbing motion, which oriented at the ground, seeded her blade into the ground as flames came in proximity with her winds.

A rockslide's howl ripped the greatsword from Ais' wrist as Revis let a squeak of surprise as her body was yanked forcibly into a 180 turn by a small tornado Ais had planted with the tip. Ais' elbow jumped past her shoulder blades, slipped through the boreal wings, and jerked her arm forward to stab at Revis' exposed back.

The fire on the creature's legs blasted with a sharp crackle, intent on jetting her to the air, but Ais' wings extended into flaps that forced the woman down. Another sword exploded from the dungeon's floor, intent on running Ais through, but she merely leaned to the side while her winds pressed the thing aside.

Revis was fortunate she managed to lean to the side; otherwise, her magic crystal would have been run through; her shoulder took damage instead. Converting the motion of her diagonal descent, Revis twisted and unleashed a roundhouse that found no purchase, forcing her to raise her sword to deflect a stab.

"Finally… equilibrium, but I can't do anything because she is not letting me heal! Regardless, what she did is rapidly draining her reserves. I just need to hold," Revis grimaced as she continued attacking and deflecting.

It didn't matter what the creature did. The child of Aria was simply too fast and nimble and read each of her attacks like a book. Each attack from the creature found no scratch on the girl.

"Rage. Tempest," Ais muttered, encouraging her winds to forgo their breeze behaviour to that of a typhoon. She jumped away from the creature, who quickly used the power of her magic stone to regenerate her lost ear and eye, before re-attaching the fingers she lost and managed to catch with her teeth.

"Revis… you will know true terror," Ais stated before raising her sword in a familiar motion that nearly caused the monster's bladder to relinquish its hold as her eyes barreled open in terror.

"Ha," Ais sighed.

Bzzztttt!

Ais' wings faded to a neutral while she lowered her arm as her head jerked to the source that dared interrupt her from delivering punishment. The sharp, ringing buzz was a language shared by her and her paramour.

"He calls for you," announced a familiar but unpinnable voice.

WHOOSH!

Ais was about to turn to meet a leaping Revis with her sword raised high to decapitate her, only for bang to crack while another voice howled, "GET AWAY FROM MISS AIS!" With fierce speed, Lefiya appeared beside the unsuspecting hybrid and buried her fist into her cheek before releasing her Ignis Fatuus.

BANG!

Revis' body rocketed toward the plateau, bouncing and chunking off the earth.

The earlier voice's owner landed beside Ais while Lefiya weaved a healing spell from Riveria's arsenal.

"You are… you know? What's his intent? Where is he?" Ais inquired, knowing that her paramour was not one to interrupt serious battles for play.

"He intends to capture and save the rogue spirit for moral and strategic purposes and at my request. You are required in his ploy-"

"She can be saved?" Lefiya interrupted, with wide eyes, choosing to ignore a distant flare of orange light indicating the possibility of one of Riveria's spells.

"That is correct. He and our lady will see it done as soon he uses the sword princess," Ryuu responded.

"Where is-"

---

[-]

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"Zenith Tempest."

A monotone whisper intoned from nowhere after its chant.

The conglomerate of monsters from the 19th floor and beyond barreled at absconding adventurers, then… stopped. A bluish-white mist twinkled as it rolled across the entire floor as if it suddenly zipped from a horizon. Glazed, detailed sculptures formed rapidly as tufts of white built mounds of white, riding on the howling, shiver-inducing winds.

Adventurers guarding their faces with forearms peaked and saw ice sculptures looming over them, depicting monsters that would have been their end. Frost howled in indignation, drowning out that of Goliath and the amalgam of monsters and Evils lackeys.

A black star of the boreal winds barreled after monsters and Evils out of range, and they were reduced to nought but masses of limbs and lakes of blood.

Wide eyes trained on the sight, then flicked to the ceiling. An unnatural thunderous boom beckoned them.

A different kind of mist black mist unfurled in the sky, and tendrils of wind coiled, warped and howled as flashes of light crackled down upon more enormous beasts. Debris and howling creatures were dragged into vicious twisters, and sculptures were torn apart.

Fires died from the unending deluge of pack of raindrops and whirlwinds howled. A natural disaster occurred in the dungeon.

The skull grasshopper fell, ripping past pregnant clouds and deluging nature's fury on the frightened beasts below. The purple veneer on its bony limbs seemed to repel the winds, rain, lightning and winter easily. If it touched the ground, it would be over for everyone. Every first-class present was far too busy to save them. The creature plus Black Goliath would slaughter them.

Conclusion itself paused when the witch's fires snuffed into embers and coals, despite some being far from the unnatural storm.

Crystals emitting daylight suddenly dimmed, radiating soft bluish light and engulfing that part of the floor in night's bitter, chilling darkness. A singing monotone voice, in chant, skipped the hearts of many.

"Luna Ferbis Draco."

From a nearby hill, a brown shape hopped to the sky as his blue, glowing blade secreted twinkling glitter.

It flew at the skull grasshopper, barrel rolling as wind and lightning coiled around its form as another chant spilt into the air.

"Beneath the curtain, the majesty of the stars is shed by the eternal night.

Color the symbol beyond heaven and earth and Infest toward the irrational truth.

Dazzle, incessant rain"

The secreted glitter flew overhead and enhanced the night conjured by the dragon blade of the darkmoon. Blue mist followed them, creating a gaseous galaxy theme and forming a twinkling nebula.

"O' Starry sky fall!"

From the twinkling masses, pillars of starlight fell from the shards decorating the nebula. With their expansiveness, they seemed like they could consign the beast to oblivion, even with its anti-magic quality, but unfortunately, that was far from the truth. The light was deflected back to the sky courtesy of its veneer.

A huge mistake.

One of its legs was suddenly torn off, sheered by a shooting star that seemed to slow midair and ignore it as if it were sure its death was guaranteed. Masses of stone and gravel from a floor above cascaded down on the beast before it could roar while adventurers were hurled away from the site by whirlwinds.

The fluffy, black mass shifted and began cascading toward the figure wielding the sword of stars. It tethered into a drill that narrowed into a beam that rapidly disappeared into the figure's body as the lightning and wind dancing over its form howled in delight.

He garbed the Pandora-enhanced Divine Veil of The Storm God

A black one promptly replaced the brown outfit. The hood retreated and was replaced by a weathered tricorne, and the coat was replaced by a black woolen trench coat, the shirt by a brown waistcoat with three buckles, and the pants, and boots were replaced by counterparts.

His hand cocked back, brandishing the sword in a telegraphed thrust then a sonic boom rang out. Goliath, seeing this, snapped his maw open and a crimson glow hummed from the depths of his throat.

"Lil rafaga!"

-With the union of their hearts and hopes of expansion, the maiden of winds and the Fell God of the Darkmoon consolidated some of their techniques. "May my blade be with you when we are separated," said the boy. "And mine with you," she responded.

Beaming from its mouth was a crimson light that rushed at the figure who its instincts screamed at it to get rid of. The clean hit would have satisfied it had the light not split at its ends like splitting celery.

BOOOMMMMM!

The titan howled, scratching at its chest as it flew through the air as if smashed by a city block-sized hammer. A crush hiked up clouds of dust, blowing through and past the remaining pair of fights. Goliath had landed on a hill atop Rivira, providing a view for most the floor.

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"I think he is over there," replied Ryuu with a small smile before it died as the red-headed woman stumbled back to them. "I will take it from here. My sister, please leave. I cannot protect you, so please find lady Riveria and assist in preparations," Ryuu requested before raising her guard.

Focused on the elf for a moment, the sword princess nodded and dipped her head in Lefiya's direction. "This elf is strong… and he wouldn't have sent her here if she didn't qualify. What does he need me to do?" Ais questioned before turning towards the top of Rivira.

"Farewell," Ais responded, manifesting her wings once more and flapping away. "Understood," said Lefiya before rushing away.

"Get back here!" Revis charged toward the retreating Loki executive, only for her to jump back when the blonde elf darted to stand before her. "You," the creature hissed, stumbling and clutching at her temples, levying the elf a harsh glare. Then it crumbled. Its goal was threat, but it fell short when set upon the elf.

She looked away and so did the elf.

There was a moment of silence as they both took time to glare in Goliath's direction. With the scene's lapse consumed, their eyes fell back on each other.

"Alise… it has been a while." The earth darkened with moist spots.

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Goliath mewled as it weakly pawed at the human kneeling on its chest but hit nothing.

A light tug on the blade firmly stuck into its chest tickled its magic stone. Futility robbed it of resistance. The hand tugging on the blade twisted before jerking it with a sharp wrench, sending waves of ash cascading from the monster's body because of the loss of its magic stone's integrity.

Eyes were trained on the brown cloud of dust suddenly dyed black by ash. How could they not? A section of the dungeon's ceiling had just collapsed while a juggernaut died, and Goliath was hurled from its position like a pebble. Their wonder turned to awe when they saw it. Beautiful. A blue flame waving with motions akin to water. Clouds of remnant stars fell toward the flame, flaring to golden lights when they reached proximity.

The cloud shifted in gradients, with the top moving first, revealing an azure, crystalline blade as the light source. The dropping gradient revealed more, and more of the sword hoisted to the air then an inflamed peached hand.

Then a forearm.

Then a head of white hair, its head hoisted up confidently but facing away from them.

Then a bare collarbone.

Then a torso whose left half was horribly charred to the point one could see the white of his ribs and the bones of his left arm. Blue lines of light weaved and intersected into unreadable cyphers that loomed over his burned parts like secondary skin – it was like a three-dimensional art piece made of fractured runes. His flesh stirred in resurrection.

Around his waist was a black pareo, remnants of his cloak flaking up to unite as it was in recovery mode.

There was silence.

There was a lean warrior with moon-coloured hair hoisting a burning crystal sword over his head like a torch whilst his charred left arm based glowing runes trickling similar blue flames of light while gold embers fell towards them.

To some, the image of the sword didn't register; instead, they saw a young man on death's doorstep, pumping his fist in resilience. To others, the sword and runes' flames were symbolic of a torch; he would take it from there.

The churning blue flames bled gold and so did the runes as his head shifted, turning slowly to peak his cold but flaming azure blue eyes over his shoulder. The ones in black froze in horror, reeling from the lazuline flames of destruction.

End

I'm sorry for missing a bunch of stuff and being inconsistent in my correction of this chapter. I'm super tired n stuff. You already read my excuses. Overhauled Ais' fighting style. Brought in-game elements, most notably Elden Ring, consistent with my preference for the souls genre. I'd like to nominate my reformed orthodox rabbi, Titan, as the coolest nigga alive. Whether you get chapter 3 b4 xmas is upto him n stuff. Bro 100% cleared ragnarok so he should be free. Won't have internet again for a while in a few days. Wifi comes back and we moving. My ISP has a small field team tending to thousands of requests smh. Fml.

Whatever. Review, roast, praise.