"She isn't by your side at all! She's with Lefiya! SHE CAN'T BE THERE!"
A comedy. A drama. A pantomime. A farce. A tragedy. A parody.
sneerehtims
onti
detaretilbo
edacaf
siH
drunk on the darkness
Drunk on the darkness
Drunk On The Darkness
Ah, it's as if I've become a
true
Fool
The foe that he'd pursued
The revenge that he'd sought
The one who was pulling the strings
The true identity of Enyo was-
"DIONYSUS?!"
"I'm sorry, Loki."
And then, the world erupted in light.
For those scattered in squads, platoons, and assorted battlegroups throughout the underground fortress of Knossos, it was a light they never saw, originating from a point within the chill, dank, artificial labyrinth that none of them had yet reached. Though the column of holy brilliance that marked the return of a god to heaven effortlessly punched through layer after layer of adamantite, obsidian, granite, and the occasional orichalcum door, in plain view of all the city that lay above, not a one of the various members of Loki Familia, Hermes Familia, Dian Cecht Familia, and Dionysus Familia in that place ever saw it.
They most assuredly felt it, though.
Felt the fortress rock under the release of the titanic force of divine Arcanum, spat out the grit and dust that fell from the ceiling as the place quaked, steadied their feet to keep their footing, even as they continued to battle the monsters and remaining soldiers of Evilus that still defended Knossos.
Or, at least, most of them did.
The members of Dionysus Familia felt something far more intimate, and far, far worse—a sudden and instant draining of strength from their limbs, a wave of lethargy as their stamina gave out, a dimming of their vision and a muffling of their hearing… it was as if they had all grown deathly ill in the blink of an eye.
Or rather, that was how it seemed to them. For when you are superhuman, becoming a normal human is an agonizing and horrific event. Of the members of Dionysus Familia, only their captain, Filvis Challia, had achieved Level 3. A scattered few, such as their vice-captain, Aura Moriel, had made it to Level 2. But the vast, vast majority of the almost 100 member Familia was merely Level 1. "Merely", though simply receiving the Falna of a deity as the most basic of Level 1s instantly gave an individual the physical prowess of the peak of humanity who had not been so marked.
Physical prowess that now instantly deserted them in the midst of a deadly battlefield, as must inevitably occur when the god that has contracted with an individual departs this plane of existence. And it was their panic as they realized this, that told those around them what must have just happened.
It would have been quite bad enough if the disaster had ended there.
But it was just beginning.
"Is…is it over?"
Lefiya Viridis managed to get the words out as she slowly, shakily got back to her feet, forcing them out with a dust-covered tongue. Is it over? What even was "it"?
She had no idea, couldn't even begin to fathom. She, Filvis, and a group of the lower ranking members of Loki Familia and Dionysus Familia had split from the group led by Gareth and her own goddess, Loki, perhaps ten minutes before. They were en route to rendezvous with the group led by…
"Lefiya, are you all right?! Get on your feet if you can, this area is still live!"
…. Anakitty Autumn, also known as Aki, the beautiful Level 4 catgirl who was one of the top members of Loki Familia's second echelon, and who had been commanding one of the groups detailed to secure their escape routes from the underground fortress. Apparently, Lefiya's group had almost made it to Aki's position before… whatever that was… had happened.
Well, that's good, I suppose.
"Lefiya, are you listening to me? Look alive, there are still hostiles in the area!"
I really don't know whatever that quake was, but we've basically won. Evilus is basically destroyed now, it's just mopping up, and as soon as Captain Finn and Gareth and Loki meet up and track down Thanatos and Enyo, we can all go home and take a nice, hot shower. How long have we been down here anyway, maybe a full day or more….
"LEFIYA YOU IDIOT LOOK OUT!"
…. wait, what?!
Just as she fully snapped out of her daze following the quake, a black form with an intricately carved and painted mask appeared in front of her.
The masked creature.
A being of indeterminate race and gender, with its form fully concealed, that had been lurking around the fringes of Loki Familia's campaign against Evilus and their unnatural allies from the Far Deep of the Dungeon for the past six months. While it generally did not attempt to engage them in direct combat, unlike its fellow creature Revis (also unlike her, it was far more normal and reasonable in terms of power, being considered to be roughly equivalent to a mid-tier Level 3 adventurer), it had been a thorn in Loki Familia's side on multiple occasions in that time.
And now, of all times, it had suddenly appeared but a few feet directly in front of Lefiya.
With its fist headed directly for her face.
Caught by surprise, Lefiya wasn't able to react before it took her squarely on the chin, and launched her a dozen meters through the air, crashing into the stone floor and skidding across it, to come to a rest at Aki's feet.
Owwww…
But even as she got to her feet once again, she was far more angry than afraid or pained. The creature possessed enough strength to do that, yes, but Lefiya was Level 3 herself. She was far too tough to be taken out like that. Plus, Level 4 Aki was here, with reinforcements from Loki Familia. There were others from both Loki Familia and Dionysus Familia that had already been here, while the creature was alone. She didn't know why on Earth it had thought launching an attack here and now would gain it anything.
And, of course, on top of all that, there was Miss Filvis…
"Ah…. Ahhhh…"
Miss Filvis?
The elven girl in question was standing not far from where Lefiya had been a few moments ago, within striking distance of the masked creature. But she wasn't moving- well, not unless you counted trembling like a leaf. Her already pale ivory skin had become an unnaturally white shade, as if all the life had fled from her and she was some sort of solidified ghost standing there. As she stared disbelievingly down at the shortsword grasped in her quivering hands, a look of horror and terror spread across her beautiful face, quickly crumpling it.
"Miss Filvis, what's-?"
But the question could not make it all the way across Lefiya's lips before it was answered.
"M-my body…"
"My sword is heavy, I can't lift this thing, th-this… is this?!"
"What happened?! Where's the lights?! I can't see anything, it's so dark in here all of a sudden, I can't see!"
"It can't be!"
In a rising babble of confusion, terror, and anguished realization, the dozen or so members of Dionysus Familia present began to suddenly panic, as all the strength drained from their limbs. And as a sickening suspicion swelled in Lefiya's mind, it was bluntly spoken and confirmed by the masked creature standing before them.
"A god's disappeared. Loki, or Thanatos, or… Dionysus."
Just like that, the events of the past few minutes were explained. Dispassionately, coldly, in a voice that sounded scrambled, somehow, neither male nor female, with nothing for an outside listener to grasp onto and begin to peel away the mystery of the speaker's identity. A god had disappeared—been sent back to the heavens, slain in the mortal world, which counted as a "loss" in their divine game, and thus precluded any possibility of return to the lower plane for all eternity.
Dionysus, the god that these young men and women had looked up to and trusted, had believed in like a surrogate father, had now abandoned them, albeit involuntarily. They were purposeless as of this moment.
"Ah, aahhh… aahhhhhhh…."
Filvis's shaking moans of disbelief began to grow louder. She raised her gaze, and locked it with that of the creature's, locked behind its mask. And when Lefiya saw what was in her eyes, for the first time that day, her own blood ran cold with fear.
"Everything is according to Enyo's will. Rejoice, sisters and brothers—the farce is at an end!"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Miss Filvis, no, don't!"
Filvis's grief and rage focused onto the creature in front of her, and she lunged towards it. Lefiya screamed for her to stop. It was folly, it was suicide, it was madness. Filvis, under normal circumstances, had the Status of a mid-tier Level 3, or roughly equal to that of the creature. Under normal circumstances, they would be an even match. But these were not normal circumstances at all. Filvis, as of a few moments ago, had been brought down to the physical level of an average civilian. Even now, as Lefiya watched her make her way towards the creature, her movements seemed so very slow. If she attacked it, the only result possible would be—
The creature casually reached out and seized Filvis by the neck, hoisting her into the air as easily as one might hoist a six-week-old kitten.
Lefiya could do nothing. The creature's surprise attack earlier had tossed her too far away for even her own Level 3 Status to be able to close the distance and intervene in time. In the back of her mind, she knew this.
But as she tried anyway, a voice floated up from her memories—the voice of the recently-banished Dionysus, speaking to Loki some months ago about the fate of three of his Familia members, found murdered in an alleyway, and who had been the whole reason for his and his Familia's involvement in this affair to begin with.
"The killer's method was simple. They would approach from the front, grasp the neck, and then—"
For just a moment, one agonizingly short moment, Filvis turned her gaze away from the mask, and looked back towards Lefiya. Her arm half-raised, as if to take Lefiya's hand.
"NO! NO! DON'T! STOP IT, STOOOOPPPPPPP!"
"—and then break it."
Snap.
The fingers of the masked creature clenched around Filvis's neck. The Strength stat of even a weak Level 3 was sufficient to pulverize most rocks and collapse a house with a well-placed kick to its frame. Deprived of her own Level 3 Endurance, the vertebrae of Filvis's neck offered about as much resistance as a twig would have.
The creature let Filvis drop, and Lefiya, a wordless shriek of horror stuck in her own throat, dove forward to catch her, hoping, if such a word could be applied to her half-crazed desire, to at least be able to hold her dear friend and look her in the eyes as she died.
Her fingertips met Filvis's.
Her hand curled around Filvis's.
And—
And out of nowhere, as if the masked creature had summoned it as reinforcements, a viola, one of the foot soldiers of the "creature" side of the Evilus-creature alliance, a giant, man-eating plant monster, appeared.
And lived up to its name.
Crunch.
Filvis, all of her, head, hair, chest, hips, legs, boots, battle dress—
Was devoured in an instant. All, save for her left forearm, still held by its hand in Lefiya's grasp.
And as a spray of warm red coated Lefiya's face, the scream came unstuck.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-"
And at that moment, as if Lefiya's grief was the trigger (though in actuality it was the release of Arcanum accompanying a god's return to heaven)…
"Enyo never saw this place as a fortress, you know. It was an altar, awaiting its sacrifice."
Those were the words Thanatos had spoken to Loki, a scant ten minutes earlier, when she and those accompanying her had finally confronted him in a different section of the Ninth Floor of Knossos.
An altar, awaiting its sacrifice. Now, it had received said sacrifice.
Therefore, only naturally, it activated.
One floor below the forces of Loki Familia, on the 10th Floor of Knossos, in a hidden chamber, a demi-spirit began to sing. The words would have been meaningless to any mortal, and to most gods. They were the opening lines of an incantation, one so complex, lengthy and powerful it defied description, one that had been ancient at the dawn of recorded mortal history.
And then another voice joined hers. And another, and another, and another, and another. Six voices in total, six demi-spirits, where Loki Familia had believed there was only one. Six demi-spirits, arranged in an arc in their individual chambers around the tenth floor, swaying at the tops of pillars of sickly green flesh. Six beautiful women emerging like incongruous flowers from the tips of hideous giant meat-sticks.
Meat-sticks that rapidly began to swell, as if mutating. The tendrils linking them to the wall and to each other began to writhe, and expand, and interconnect, and then—
And then a wave of twisted green flesh surged out of the demi-spirits' chambers, covering the 10th Floor like the lining of some diseased internal organ in a matter of perhaps just a couple of minutes, and continuing on up and down the staircases to the levels above and below.
The last ten minutes or so had been drawn straight from Aura Moriel's worst nightmares.
First, she, her captain Filvis Challia, and several others had been accompanying "Thousand Elf", Lefiya Viridis, to rendezvous with a Loki Familia group guarding one of the exit points from Knossos into the true Dungeon. All was well, the day was all but won. The forces of Evilus that had haunted this dank artificial underground fortress were vanquished; mostly by Loki Familia's incredible might, but she liked to think her own comrades had played some small part.
Then, as they approached the designated meet-up point, Knossos shook. As if it was caught in the grasp of an unfathomably immense and terrifying beast. Stone groaned. Dust fell. The light dimmed.
And it was right as Aura noticed that last one, and questioned how it was possible when there weren't any visible light sources in the first place, that she realized that she was, suddenly, feeling so very… weak. Her staff seemed to suddenly have tripled in weight. It didn't make sense, she hadn't been injured at all, there wasn't any possible way or reason that she would suddenly lose her strength, well except for that, and that was just completely impossible, absurd, beneath consideration.
A strange individual wearing a very odd mask had appeared out of nowhere, punched "Thousand Elf" in the face, and told them all, in so many words, that that very much ought to be considered. Because it had just happened.
Lord Dionysus was dead. Or as close to it as gods ever got.
Gone. Forcibly sent back to the heavens. Never again would Aura hear his wise and kind voice, never again would she see his handsome and dashing face, never again would she experience the warmth of his compassion and care. The lethargy in her limbs was irrefutable proof; the darkness filling her vision came as much from her weeping heart as her failing eyes.
And then Filvis… Filvis, she… she…
For the past six years, Aura had hated the girl. They were the same age, had come up through the Familia together. They had both taken part in the wars that raged through the streets in Orario in the Dark Ages, when Evilus had been a terrible force that raged through the city streets in the light of day, rather than a ragtag band of brutes that skulked in the shadows of the sewers. They had fought together, but even then, from the very beginning, Filvis had begun to outpace Aura, even if just by a little. Always given just a bit more of precedence in the Familia, called on first for missions, shown just a bit more strength in the field.
That was why, when word reached the forces aligned with order that Evilus was planning something on the 27th Floor of the Dungeon, Filvis had been called upon to join Dionysus Familia's contingent. Aura, meanwhile, had stayed in the Familia home, cooling her heels and twiddling her thumbs while the more worthy went to battle.
She was still there when Filvis returned. Just Filvis. A bloodstained, vacant-eyed, walking corpse of a girl, shambling back through their door. The rest of the Familia, to this day, had never gotten any real account of her own experience from her, but they'd pieced together the general course of events from others; it had been a trap. The adventurer force sent by the Guild had been attacked from all sides by every single monster on the 25th, 26th, and 27th Floors, including the Floor Boss Amphisbaena, lured to their position by suicidal cultists.
No, Filvis had never told them how she survived, but it wasn't hard to figure out. She'd fled. She could have done nothing else and survived when faced with that horde. She'd fled, while her fellows had stayed and died with honor. She'd abandoned them to save her own skin.
So they'd shunned her. It was only reasonable and just, no? What other course of action could be taken but to turn their backs on the one who'd gladly turn her back on them?
Lord Dionysus disagreed. From that day, Filvis rose higher in his favor than ever before. The Familia's Captain had been one of those lost that day; Filvis was named as his replacement. That Aura was named vice-captain, and enjoyed far more respect from the rest of the adventurers in the Familia, was scant comfort compared to the snub from her lord.
Aura's dislike and jealousy had turned to hate from that day forward. Filvis was favored, when she should have been disgraced. She was always at Lord Dionysus's side, while Aura only occasionally received the personal attention of the god she adored. Aura had agreed to put aside such grudges for the sake of this mission today, but the underlying feelings had not in any way disappeared.
And so, in spite of the shock and grief of Lord Dionysus's banishment, a part of Aura's mind had instead felt a sort of contemptuous expectation, even as the accursed masked being gloated over them.
Surely, the coward Filvis would take this opportunity to shriek and run away, deprived of her strength. She would show her true nature in front of witnesses this time, such that even the inexplicably kind and naïve "Thousand Elf" would have no choice but to pull away from such a shameful person.
Filvis had screamed, all right. In rage, as she rushed at the masked being, weapon drawn, in an attempt to gain vengeance for their murdered lord on the only target available, with not a thought for her own safety.
That contemptuous expectation in that little corner of Aura's mind had morphed into yet more shock and disbelief as Filvis was unceremoniously killed in front of her.
Just like that.
Dead.
She… she just… she…
That wasn't cowardly at all. Foolish, perhaps, but…
Was I wrong? All this time, was I wrong? How could I have been? The evidence was clear, it's still clear, there's no way she could've survived the Nightmare but by running.
I didn't want this. I don't want this. I wanted her gone, but instead she's, she's, she's…
Lord Dionysus. Filvis. How? Why?
Her mind was so shocked, buzzing with thoughts, trying to make sense of what was happening in her world, that she missed the first few haunting notes of song drifting up from the 10th Floor of Knossos.
But she couldn't possibly miss what came next. Even with her depowered, insensitive eyes, there was no way to not notice it.
From far down the corridor leading deeper into Knossos, from the way they'd come just a little while ago, a surging, sickly green… mass… came into view.
Aura didn't know what it was. She'd never seen anything like it before, and the lighting (and her vision) were too bad, the distance (for the moment) too great, to make any guesses.
She didn't need to know.
All she needed was to see the speed at which it flooded forward, coating and swallowing everything like a tidal wave of… flesh? Was that flesh?
Anakitty Autumn screamed out an order for everyone present to retreat, to flee into the Dungeon, scooping up both the catatonic Lefiya Viridis and the girl's discarded staff as she did so, but Aura didn't need to hear it. Her body was already in motion.
This wasn't something that could be fought against, not even by the strongest that Loki Familia had to offer. This wasn't something that could be won against, especially not by the likes of her.
Run.
The members of Loki Familia were already pulling out in front; they'd do so anyway, since most of them were Level 3 or 4, but with the Statuses of Dionysus Familia sealed, the gap between the two Familias widened absurdly fast, even as she could feel the gap between her and whatever this thing behind her was closing, also absurdly fast.
Run, run.
The logical part of her mind had kept track of where they were, before everything had suddenly gone to hell. It was perhaps maybe only a hundred and fifty yards between their current location and the exit, one of several concealed impenetrable orichalcum doors leading out onto the 9th Floor of the Dungeon—Loki Familia's members were already nearing it. Even with the abilities of a civilian, it should only take perhaps a minute or two at most to cover the distance for any reasonably fit person.
"Only" a minute or two.
It was as that thought flitted across her mind that Aura heard the first scream behind her, cut off as soon as it began in a choking gurgle. And the logical part of her mind went silent entirely.
Run, run, RUN!
Her mind flooded with terror, as she dropped her own staff, her hands flailing at her belt to uncouple it and its attached gear, to drop any weight she could to move just a little bit faster.
More screams rang out behind her.
She had been the first of Dionysus Familia's members there to start running, and she'd always been rather fast, but she couldn't be that far ahead of the rest of her peers. How close was the mass, the goo, the thing now, that it was beginning to claim them? Twenty feet behind her? A dozen? Five?
Fifty yards to go. Loki Familia had all piled out through the open door, into the rocky cave that she could see yawning ahead of her. She could see Lefiya Viridis, deposited on the cave floor, curled in a ball, still clutching the severed forearm of Filvis Challia. She could see Anakitty Autumn, bent over with her hands on her knees to catch her breath from the sudden surge of adrenaline.
Aura could see the catgirl straighten up and look back into Knossos. Their gaze met for a brief instant, and Autumn's eyes widened to the size of saucers at the sight of Aura; no, the sight of what was behind her.
More screams.
"No! It's got- "
"EEEEKKKKKK!"
Please
"Somebody hel- "
Don't ask no don't
"AAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIEEEEEE!"
I can't
"I don't wanna- "
I don't want to die I don't want to die
Her elegant hairstyle had come completely undone, tangling around her pointed ears in a mess. Her breath rasped in her throat as her lungs frantically sucked in as much as they could as fast as they could. Her skin ran with sweat, it ran cold and hot, hottest of all on the back of her neck was that the thing's breath did it have breath was it that close already?
Aura Moriel's legs screamed at her, but she pushed them harder. There was nothing else but flight. Flight as fast as she could. There was nothing she could do for her comrades anyway.
Two more screams, then nothing behind her but a rippling, rustling, rumbling.
Fifteen yards to go.
All of the Loki Familia members ahead of her were staring now, open jawed with fear, save only Lefiya Viridis, still insensate on the floor. Anakitty Autumn's beautiful face was twisted in agony, as if wrestling with some inner turmoil.
And suddenly Aura knew what was about to happen, even before the black-haired catgirl's hand moved towards a pouch on her belt.
She was going to close the door.
She was going to seal whatever this thing was in Knossos behind a gate of unbreakable orichalcum.
She was going to abandon Aura to her fate.
NO!
In that moment, Aura wanted to hate the other woman. Wanted to, but couldn't.
Because she knew that she'd do the exact same thing in her place.
Anakitty Autumn was one of Loki Familia's battlegroup commanders. This sort of thing was precisely what came with combat leadership. As a vice-captain herself, Aura knew that all too well.
Aura's face and dying wail would haunt Autumn's dreams for the rest of her life, no doubt. But it was her responsibility to sacrifice one life to save a dozen.
And all that Aura could do for herself was-
RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN
Adrenaline scorched through her veins, as much as her body could dump into its system, allowing it to surpass its normal limits and approach, for a brief moment, the capabilities of a Level One with a bit of experience under their belt. A muscle tore in her right calf, but it was right there, the exit was right there, only a few feet away!
Autumn's hand emerged from her belt pouch, clutching a small coppery orb. The catgirl raised it to shoulder height.
One yard away. Aura threw herself towards the exit, her body going airborne as she dove for her life.
The coppery orb gave off a flash of light, even as Aura's torso crossed the threshold and a tendril of something curled around her ankle.
The door descended, like a six-ton guillotine.
Aura's upper legs crossed the threshold into the Dungeon. Her face impacted the floor of the cave, covered in dirt and grit.
The door was five-sixths closed, the thing tightened its grasp on her ankle—
SLAM.
The door closed fully, cutting Aura off from Knossos, the rest of her Familia, and three of her toes.
The rest of her curled up in a ball not unlike Lefiya Viridis on the Dungeon floor, as physical, mental, and emotional agony roiled through her.
She'd survived.
But to call it a miracle would be the blackest joke of all.
Throughout Knossos, similar scenes took place.
Nobody was foolish enough to fight something that very obviously could not be fought by blade, bow, or spell. All who saw it ran immediately.
Above its origin point on the 10th Floor, on the 9th, where almost all of the adventurers in the fortress were located.
And three floors below, on the 13th Floor, where the intelligent monsters called the Xenos were operating. As prearranged by Finn in the days leading up to the assault on Knossos, they had entered from the lowest possible point, on the 18th Floor, and worked their way up, while the adventurers had come in from the surface and worked their way down. The goal had been to catch the fortress's defenders between them and eliminate any possibility of escapees.
The Xenos immediately realized, just like the adventurers, that there was no possibility of fighting whatever this was, and fled for the nearest exit as fast as their various appendages could take them.
All save one, who instead ignored the shouts of her comrades and took flight deeper into the complex.
"The return of a god was the activation switch to activate the altar," Thanatos said with a wry grin on his lips, staring at the ceiling but not, seemingly, truly seeing it. "It didn't matter who blasted off."
The Olympian God of Death, last of the Evil Gods, the sole remaining deity of Evilus, stood alone in his grand hall on the 9th Floor of Knossos. Facing him was the greatest collection of combat power in Knossos that day: Finn Deimne and Gareth Landrock, two of the three mortal leaders of Loki Familia and top-tier Level Sixes. Tione and Tiona Hyrute, two more Level Six fighters. A handful more of Loki Familia's second echelon, led by Level Fours Narvi Roll and Cruz Bussell, totaling eleven adventurers in all. All there in escort of their own goddess, Loki, who'd come to end Thanatos's ability to do harm in the mortal world once and for all.
Instead, it seemed, all they'd accomplished was backing themselves into a corner along with him.
They didn't know what, exactly, was happening. They just knew that something was. They could hear the rushing sound, growing louder and louder, as something flooded the complex. They could feel the shaking of even the mighty structure of Knossos under the power of whatever it was that had been unleashed.
Most of all, they could hear the garbled screams of their Familia members as they ran for the exits, coming over the magical Oculus communications devices.
There was no possibility of them doing the same. The hall where they'd tracked Thanatos to was buried away on the rim of Knossos, as far away from the Dungeon as it could be. Whatever it was was already between them and the exits; from what little sense they could make of the reports, it was already all over the stairwells too, so there was no chance of going up and out that way.
So instead, Loki devoted her energy to trying to figure out just what the hell was going on.
"A switch?! A god's return?!" She yelled at Thanatos, barely keeping her voice somewhat under control. "What are you talking about?!"
"The demi-spirits are already at work," he replied, that same ironic little smile still playing over his lips. "You can try to escape, but that won't do anything. Even if you don't know anything about what's happening, you can at least realize that that'd be futile. Right?"
Loki stared at him.
Over the oculus, came a stream of panicked babble from her Familia members, punctuated by screams. "A gross meat-thing". "Weapons don't work". "Magic doesn't help."
She hadn't felt a single blessing she'd given out disappear yet, meaning none of her own Familia had died to whatever this was. But from the sound of things, that could change at any time. And they weren't the only ones that had invaded the labyrinth. Those screams.
"A gross meat-thing" wasn't exactly descriptive, but it was sufficient to recognize the seething, pulsating mass when it came around the corner and into view at the far end of the hallway that they'd taken to reach this place.
Finn Deimne, Loki Familia's captain, reacted instantly.
"Close the doors!"
He immediately raised the key to Knossos he carried, as did Gareth and Narvi. The orichalcum doors to the inner sanctum slammed shut, cutting them off from the rest of the complex.
But the squirming sound of the fleshy flood continued, piling up against the other side of the doors that had just closed, surging above them on the other side of the ceiling, around them on the other side of the walls, beneath them through the floor. The noise was all around, driving home to Loki and her children the nature of the doom that had suddenly closed in on them.
They were trapped.
"What a shame, "Braver,"" Thanatos said, addressing his comment now to Finn, still with that little smirk. "That was the only way in or out of this hall. There is no other door." He paused, then continued. "The walls of the demi-spirits' green flesh span over hundreds of meters. Even the city's strongest, Ottar of Freya Familia, wouldn't be able to break in here now. For both of us, for Loki and for me, it ends here. It's game over, Loki Familia."
Loki's blood ran cold. It was true. Assuming that the wall of whatever-that-was outside this chamber never simply found a way in through some tiny crack, then eventually, they'd simply asphyxiate or possibly starve. While she didn't fear death—after all, as a goddess, she couldn't actually die—there was far more at stake here than her own sojourn on the mortal plane.
After all-
"If Loki gets bounced out of the mortal world here, Orario will be destroyed without too much trouble," Thanatos said.
Her death/banishment would strip the Statuses of every last member of the second-most powerful Familia in Orario, and the strongest that actively attempted to explore the Dungeon and involved itself in the city's day-to-day affairs. It would do so when most of them were either fleeing from the wave of flesh or had escaped from it into the Dungeon, itself the world's most dangerous environment on any other day. Loss of their Statuses would put every single one of them into mortal danger, just when they thought they had evaded it.
And even if all of her other children survived, the ones in here with her would be a crushing loss to the city on their own. Without them, any attempt to rally after today would be almost certainly doomed to defeat. The city would be destroyed, the lid to the Dungeon would be blown open, monsters would flood the world once more, and all of the mortal world's progress that had been made over the last thousand years would be undone.
She had to get out.
Though she tried to keep her composure with her mind racing, the sight of that little smirk on Thanatos's face made it extremely difficult.
Bastard. I bet you're just loving this, aren't ya?
And indeed, at that very moment, inside Thanatos's own head, a large part of him was, in fact, loving it.
He had been used as a sacrificial lamb, yes, but he had to acknowledge the artistry and brilliance of Enyo's whole scheme. All he had to do now was just sit back. Just sit back, wait to peacefully run out of oxygen, then return to heaven and watch as the tranquility of the world shattered. For a long few moments, several moments more than he would have done in other timelines and alternate realities in this situation, he lingered on these thoughts. The death toll of the mortal races would skyrocket. It would be just like the good old days. All he'd ever wanted during his time down here, handed to him on a silver platter.
Then, Loki and her children watched with astonishment as the smirk finally slid off his lips, and they twisted instead into a very ugly look.
"This isn't fucking funny," Thanatos spat.
He'd been used as a sacrificial lamb. Used. Ironically enough, if Enyo had simply told him straight up that he needed to sacrifice himself and asked for his cooperation in service of a mutual goal, Thanatos might well have agreed. But his pride as a god would not, could not, allow him to stomach this, even if he ended up cutting off his nose to spite his face.
But more than that—
Barca.
Andros.
Leanna.
Nobusuke.
Patel.
That psychopathic mercenary Valletta.
For reasons of a curse-enforced obsession and freely-chosen sadism. For the hope of being reunited with their deceased loved ones after death in heaven, under Thanatos's protection. For reasons as numerous as they were, they'd come to him by the hundreds. And in his own way, he'd loved each and every single one of them, all of them, now dead in his service.
Enyo betraying him was quite bad enough. Enyo betraying them, taking their earnest efforts and wiping his/her ass with them, was unforgivable. Quite literally unforgivable, Thanatos would hold onto this grudge down through eternity.
From the depths of his robe, he took out a knife.
"Go, Loki," he said, looking straight into her eyes. "A present from me."
Wait, is he actually going to-
He was.
Thanatos plunged the knife directly into his own chest, then sank slowly to his knees, blood bubbling through the smirk that had returned to his lips.
For a moment, he knelt there.
Then his uniquely divine power, Arcanum, detected that his body was on the point of death, and automatically activated to heal his wounds and save him.
But as per the terms that every divinity agreed to before they descended to the lower world, usage of Arcanum in any fashion was a flagrant breach of the rules of the Great Game. Thus, Thanatos's right to stay in this plane was forfeit.
A holy light lit the chamber.
The citizens of Orario were already on edge. A god had very clearly been seen to return to heaven about fifteen minutes before. Nobody knew who it had been, yet. Nobody even knew where the beam had come from; from all appearances it seemed to have come from underground, where no gods ought to be in the first place.
But even as the Guild, the city's government, began to collect itself and send out workers to organize the situation and calm the city's populace…
The ground shuddered again…
And from a location a few hundred yards from the first return point, a second pillar of light lit the earth.
They were only a few feet from Thanatos's launch point. The sheer force of the blast was indescribable, incomparable to anything naturally found in the mortal world; thankfully, almost all of it directed straight up, an unstoppable force punching through anything obstructing the way of Thanatos's return to the heavens in a perfect cylinder.
But even the infinitesimally tiny fraction of the divine power that had been unleashed was enough to create gale-force winds in the chamber, blowing Loki completely off her feet and sending her flying back past Finn, who caught her with one hand even as his mind raced.
A way out.
That was what Thanatos had given them.
The lance of light that carried the God of Death to heaven had pierced a gaping hole about thirty feet in diameter through the ceiling of the chamber, and through every floor all the way to the surface.
There was no ladder or rope.
The sides were steaming and glass smooth, literally even the smallest imperfection that had protruded into the blast burned away.
None of that would stop a Level Six adventurer.
Far, far above them, as he moved to the base of the hole, Finn could see the evening sky.
"JUMP! NOW!"
First, Tiona and Tione flew past him, leaping from the floor to the wall of the hole and beginning to run straight up its side at lightning speed, each clutching a Level Three under both of their arms. Then Narvi and Cruz, at Level Four just barely fit to make their own way up; they'd still be slower than the Sixes, but they could do it. Then Gareth, also clutching a Level Three adventurer along with his gigantic battleaxe.
Once the rest of his Familia members had gone ahead of him, Finn, too, clutching his goddess in one arm and his great spear in the other, leaped upwards. He sprinted straight up, along the wall of the shaft, in the blink of an eye passing the first set of holes marking the passages on the 8th Floor of Knossos that the beam had pierced through.
And as he did so, the green flood began to pour through. Thanatos's suicide had given them a way out, but it had also given the fleshy tide a way in.
Finn passed along a gap between two holes; the flood burst out of both simultaneously, curling in towards him as he raced upwards.
Inches to spare.
But his mind had no room for panic; it would only distract him at a crucial moment, and would seal his doom. There was only the optimal path forward and up, the best way to navigate the green streams that were now beginning to penetrate the shaft ahead of him, as the flood had made it to higher levels while they dallied in the inner sanctum.
Past the 7th Floor.
Past the 6th Floor.
Ahead of him, Tione and Tiona, leading the way, were already level with the 3rd Floor.
As he approached the 5th Floor, a particularly cavernous opening yawned in the wall of the shaft; apparently a particularly large passage through the floor that had been meant for usage as a main artery of traffic. Despite this, it seemed that the tidal wave had been delayed in reaching this one. Finn elected to simply jump the gap, in his haste to continue upwards as quickly as possible. There was no time to waste taking a detour that he didn't absolutely have to, he could feel the stuff right behind him. He leaped.
And halfway across the gap, he realized his mistake. The wave had been delayed reaching this passage, yes… but only by a few moments. Just long enough to appear that it hadn't gotten here as he approached it. And as Finn soared upwards over the gap, preparing to land on the upper rim of the ceiling, it arrived.
A tendril snared Finn's ankle in the moment that he landed. And in that moment, Finn Deimne, "Braver", Light of the Prums, one of the great heroes of Orario and the world, knew: he was a dead man.
Perhaps he could chop through the single tiny tendril around his ankle. It would only take a flicker of an instant. But in that instant, the rest of the mass would catch up. He was done.
Rather than bother futilely attempting to save himself, he adjusted his grip on his goddess, screamed for Gareth's attention as loudly as he could, and flung Loki bodily up the shaft in the dwarf's direction.
And right as the dwarf's face turned back to see why Finn had called, right as Gareth's features warped in horror, right as Finn's arm completed its throwing motion and let go of Loki…
The tendril around Finn's ankle thickened, and tugged.
He had no leverage to resist. He was, after all, standing horizontally on a glass-smooth vertical wall. Even without being caught and pulled, the moment he stopped moving upward, he was doomed to fall. Which he did, tumbling down the few meters between him and the surging mass behind him.
He hit it, felt it begin to envelop him, felt a searing pain begin to pulse through him.
But it was nothing compared to what he saw above him.
As he'd thrown Loki, the yank on his foot had altered the trajectory of Loki's path through the air. Again, he'd had no leverage to resist; what Finn would have ignored with ease had he been upright, here sent Loki wildly off-course.
And so, Finn watched, as Gareth watched, as their Familia's goddess, a look of terror on her face, sailed a good four feet past the tips of Gareth's gauntleted fingers, and smacked hard into the wall of the shaft.
Gods, in the mortal world, had the physical bodies of normal humans. The force of the impact alone was probably enough to fracture Loki's skull and break half her ribs. But she fell back with no one to catch her, into open air, towards the mass coming up from below.
A mass which shot up another tendril. This one did not snare Loki as it had Finn. Instead, it tightened, narrowed, and hardened, into the form of an impromptu spear. A spear which impaled the falling goddess clear through her chest.
It was, obviously, an instantly mortal wound. Loki's body sparked, and then erupted, into the third pillar of divine force to pierce the skies of Orario in the last half hour. A pillar, which like the ones before it, vaporized everything above it—in this case, her own children. Tiona, Tione, Gareth, Narvi, Cruz, and the Level Threes they were carrying never even had time to process what had just happened to them.
And so the last sight of Finn Deimne was the death of his Familia, and the doom of all the world.