Upon activating her skill, the ground seemed to fall, her footing disappearing. Vivi felt a rush in her gut from the sudden change in elevation. Her head spun, until her eyes finally realized the ground hadn't fallen; she'd shot thirty feet in the air, her head level with rooftops around the plaza.

Warp Of Nature, at its lowest and unevolved level, was a rather situational skill. All the skill did was fling its wielder into the air uncontrollably. Vivi already felt herself falling.

A blue dagger flew at her from below. Vivi's heart skipped a beat, realizing just how fast the dagger was moving. Veronica Lifeweaver's aura exploded below. Her eyes were closed, daggers flying to Vivi.

A cling resounded, and the dagger was redirected. Another presence appeared in the air. A more familiar presence.

"Vivi!" Coshi Dala said. Blossom's blade blooming brightly in her grip, the Luminary grabbed Vivi from the waist and jumped in the air.

Coshi's foot landed on a translucent circular platform. She jumped. Right after the apex, when the jump began descending, another platform appeared. Coshi tossed herself forward with a run.

"Such a weird use for this skill," Lucius pondered with calm curiosity.

The Luminary was clad in a dark grey raincoat, freshly bought and beautiful. Vivi's heart thumped. Coshi looked so majestic.

Despite the raincoat, the Luminary was drenched, hair sticking together in wet streaks.

"I am going to be honest, Vivi," Coshi said, grinning. "I don't think this raincoat worked very well."

The ring of thick rain clouds loomed overhead. Lucius, we should have prepared full rain suits!

Veronica's daggers flew after them. Coshi turned, gritting her teeth as she slashed at the attacks. Each freckle of the Luminary's body lit up. Blossom withstood Veronica's daggers easily, though Coshi's defense was only defense. She slashed in all directions, still holding Vivi, defending herself from five daggers at once.

The platforms below them disappeared, and Coshi began freefalling toward the ground. Even during the fall, Veronica's daggers followed, thrusting from all directions.

Four daggers attacked at once. Coshi growled, eyes sharp blue. Blossom cut three of them, pushing them out of trajectory. The fourth was aimed straight at them.

Vivi swung at it with her backup sword. She was sloppy; her swings were far slower than Coshi's, but she managed to knock the dagger with the side of her blade.

"What's with this human!" Coshi shouted as they landed. "She's standing still with her eyes closed!"

"Veronica, the Control Tower," Lucius said.

The landing was far from safe. The swarm of daggers continued, while the spirit blades of dozens of hunters sparked into life, surrounding Vivi and Coshi.

Coshi placed Vivi down. "Let's go."

The Luminary charged the line of hunters fearlessly. Vivi stayed close, trying her best to defend Coshi's back. Lucius's ether surged through her—Vivi tried her best to make use of the few channeling practice sessions she'd performed, though most wisps still flowed through her quickly.

Coshi did most of the work. Sparks of ether spread as Blossom shattered a blade, utterly destroying the spirit without resistance. Coshi kicked the defeated hunter to the ground without killing him.

Veronica's floating daggers attacked. Vivi faced them in a state of near panic. She could barely see the daggers at this pace, let alone react to them. The daggers thrust at her.

She gritted her teeth and haphazardly raised her backup sword.

Lucas and Anthony slashed at Veronica's halo of blades. Lucas wielded Vivi's unnamed three-runed sword, and Anthony had crystal. They were both drenched and clad in grey raincoats.

Vivi's heart was beating. I'm still too weak, she thought. I can't keep up!

Not without void ether.

"Run, Vivi!" Lucas called. "The teleporter!"

"Yes, thank you!"

More ether hunters were blocking the escape. Coshi fought six hunters at once; only then, with a few of Veronica's daggers still swarming her, was Coshi pushed to her limits. Vivi saw a dance of pure beauty and practice. Blossom seemed to be everywhere all at once, dealing with every threat, while snapping spirit blades in one go.

A swiftness rune was definitely the correct choice, Vivi noted.

Hunters behind the fray fell, more swords snapping. Ethereal presences approached from behind. The rest of the demons showed up.

The Luminary's lights, the rest of Anthony's gang, the raid party of raincoats and runeswords approached behind, overpowering the ether hunters in seconds.

Vivi ran to her allies. With the main defense line cleared, the streets became clear. The demons dashed and turned. One last defense line of hunters blocked the steps to the teleporter.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The hunters weren't weak. Easily third elevation, wielding spirit blades with weapon enhancement skills.

Faced with an onslaught of Vivi's runeswords, the hunters froze in place. The demons trampled past, leaving the hunters without the slightest chance of recovery. The demons stepped onto the teleportation platform. Lucius dove to the teleporter right away. As a spirit, he was the only one who could operate it.

As the fighting momentarily calmed down, Vivi spotted someone on Lortel's arm. The woman carried an unconscious body from the shoulders.

"Grandpa!" Vivi shouted.

Grandpa didn't respond. His eyes were closed and limbs limp.

"He's unconscious," Lortel said. "Damned humans attacked us with daze powder. We survived, but your old man inhaled some."

Daze powder? Vivi thought. Isn't that deadly?

"A cloud of daze powder kills in seconds," Lucius said. "Inhaling just a little is dangerous. But he might survive."

Might survive? Vivi thought in horror.

There was no time to worry about that. A strong ethereal presence floated outside the teleporter. Strong enough that her skin crawled from the feeling.

Veronica Lifeweaver was ascended. Her dark dress had turned to a void-like pitch black. The woman herself was like a rift in reality. Her body was filled with so much concentrated ether, the human behind the layer of ether had turned into a mere humanoid shape. Wisps of ether burned from her shoulders. The halo of daggers spun behind her, ready to attack, but dormant.

Somehow, Veronica could still speak. Her mouth wasn't moving. "A demon invasion. Very interesting."

Vivi's allies held a line of defense, ready to defend. "Hello, hello," Coshi said. "Pleasure to meet you, and all that."

The patterns on the teleporter lit up in red as Lucius operated it. "This will take a moment…"

Veronica's gaze was directly on Vivi. Her tone was surprisingly calm. "An unexpected betrayal. You have grown into a grave threat, Vivian."

"I am not an enemy," Vivi said. "I just want my family back."

Veronica still wasn't attacking. She must have realized she couldn't defeat everyone alone even with her exalted skill. Anthony and Coshi were both fourth elevation, and the third elevation hunters weren't weak either.

The teleporter rumbled a sound it definitely wasn't supposed to. Lucius? Vivi asked. Where are you taking us?

"Just taking aim…" Lucius said. "I think I can form a better teleportation this time…"

Just take us to Frievania! Vivi thought. No need to take a risk!

Wisps began escaping from the patterns in the teleporter. The platform was enveloped in light. Vivi felt herself being pulled in.

"You've unlocked a powerful ability," Veronica said. "An interesting find. A second core. You will soon learn of the ruin that death sense captivates."

What? She saw it?

That was Vivi's last thought before the teleportation ate her.

***

Consciousness returned underwater.

Vivi took a breath, only to break into a cough. She waved her hand in the water, hitting something solid. In a panic, she filled herself with ether to better see underwater.

She was at the bottom of a container of sorts, rising upward. The calm water wasn't pressurised, and the container wasn't deep. By the time Vivi understood where she was, her head was already above water.

Water droplets sprinkled on her from above, though not from rainfall. Vivi's shoulders reached above water as she stood. Suddenly, she felt very stupid.

She stood inside an outdoor fountain. The sprinkler column was double Vivi's size, and the fountain itself was like a large pool. Heads popped above water after Vivi. Anthony Ailman shook his head free of water. Lortel rose with Grandpa in her arms.

The sky was low overhead, made of stone with dim daylight gems. Vivi first thought she was on the fourth level. The wider landscape down the cliff, however, disproved that possibility right away. She blinked and froze with her mouth ajar to take in the dark yet atmospheric view below her.

The fountain was located near the edge of a steep fall. A chasm spanned hundreds, maybe thousands of feet down. A sparkling river flowed violently at the bottom. Thick columns of stone grew upward from the bottom, some rising a few hundred feet, most close to Vivi's eye level.

The tip of each column opened up like large flat bowls. Islands, roughly the size of Shivenar's town square, filled the landscape. Each island was filled with life. Buildings, people moving about, fountains, bridges connecting islands to each other—though none of what Vivi saw was normal. The houses were more like stone igloos, and the streets were…

At first, Vivi thought the streets were made of crystal laminate with surgeways underneath. The shiny translucent paths looked very similar. Squinting closer, the streets seemed to be made of flowing water. The island had more water than it had ground. Everywhere, the water glowed, offering light where the dim daylight gems didn't reach.

"Invaders!" someone said behind her.

Vivi turned to find that she, too, was atop one of the islands. The speaker was a startled and short woman. No horns, dark blue-ish skin covered in freckles, and fins for ears. Her hair was lightly wet. Droplets of water ran down her waterproof shorts. Her chest was covered with a similar cloth as Coshi's.

"Ehm, guards?" the woman called, her voice uncertain. She took half a step back. With a confused tone, she asked, "Are you invaders…?"

"Friends," Vivi said. "We mean no harm."

"Oh, sorry!" The woman bowed quickly and nervously. Eyeing Vivi, she tilted her head. "Miss… what are you doing in the fountain?"

What is this conversation? Vivi thought. Where are we?

Coshi's head popped up, splashing water all around her. The Luminary wore a wide grin. She didn't admire her surroundings, as if she already knew where we were. "Alunea! That's a surprise!"

"Eh?" The woman, Alunea, blinked in surprise. "Coshi?"

Coshi climbed out of the fountain and shook her raincoat free of water. Next to each other, the two looked quite similar. Both had freckles and similar face-shapes, though Coshi had fangs and no fins. The Luminary immediately went for a hug, grabbing Alunea. The woman received Coshi nervously.

"How did you get there?" Alunea asked.

"Teleportation," Coshi said. "A handy tool, it turns out."

"What?" Alunea asked. "Have you grown into a god?"

Coshi laughed. "No, but I've befriended a spirit of one."

Vivi watched dubiously from the pool. Her soaked dress floated underwater, clinging to her skin. In her consciousness, Lucius's nose twitched as he slowly recovered himself.

"Ugh," Lucius said. "I might have shot us a little overboard."

Where are we?

"The sixth level, it seems," Lucius said. "Looks like one of the hallowed chasms."

Hallowed chasm?

"A rift within the levels where ether doesn't gather," Lucius said. "The hallowed chasms are like their own little worlds away from the kingdoms. That fish girl is coreless. She can't collect ether, and she won't die if she doesn't have any."

The air around Vivi, as Lucius said, had almost no ether, but for Vivi's allies in the fountain. I thought every living thing required ether?

"Not in the hallowed chasms," Lucius said. "Anything that's here works naturally. And don't ask me why. These places creep me out. What reason is there to visit if there's no ether to gain?"

Vivi turned her head to the left, where Lortel and Lucas were lifting Grandpa out of the water, over the fountain.

Grandpa really was alive. In a coma, perhaps, but alive.

The hunters might deem us betrayers for this, Vivi thought. But down here, we have allies.

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