Lexie instantly flashed to where Little Fae was, but she was too late.

Little Fae was in Pvilycht's hands, amidst a small whirlpool of earth and wind that he'd created around himself as a barrier.

Ryn had her hand extended out, but she was stuck in place, like her feet couldn't move.

She sent Lexie an alarmed look.

"He took down my barriers like they were nothing," she said.

"How? An explosion?"

She shook her head. "I think it was more like he…dismantled them. I don't know how he did it. It was like they just collapsed the second he touched them, and then suddenly my feet couldn't move."

"I did not destroy it, Fae. I disassembled it," Pvilycht said. "You want to know my power, cousin? It is that. The power of creation and uncreation. Apart and together again. Once I understand the basic makeup of something, I can break it down to its essential components and dismantle them when I want to. I can also fuse things back together..." An evil smile spread across his face."...the right way. I can demonstrate for you if you'd like."

"I would not like," she ordered, though her heart raced with anger and excitement. He was more powerful than she'd initially assumed. She very much wanted him as a disciple now.

"Can you not place a curse on him?" she asked Ryn, who shook her hand.

"The name he gave you is not on his soul."

"How is that possible?"

"His soul was manufactured. It is complex, not a true soul. It is an amalgamation of different things. The coating is….he is an abomination."

"That is what they call me," he said. He lifted the Little Fae in the air, and he had a hand around her throat. "An abomination that should never have been made. Obviously, I view things differently. I think there should be more abominations, and I thank the Great Lord Neqal every day that he made me one. I'm now better than the sum of my parts. I have none of their weaknesses and all their strengths."

Lexie stood back and stared at him. She couldn't tell what race of creature he was, but she knew that she was getting increasingly annoyed at the fact that he had Little Fae at his mercy. The Little One's eyes were wide. She opened her mouth and let out a high-pitched call that made Ryn flinch and Lexie's heart drop.

"What are you doing to her?" Lexie asked. At the same time, she mentally flipped through her cards to see which one she could use, one that would not hurt Little Fae. She had a much bigger catalogue now, so that took more time as well.

She activated the magnetic link with Little Fae, tried to drag her back, but it didn't work for some reason.

"Did you know, cousin, that Fae are not born with emotions?" he said. "They are born as blank slates, and over the years, they are tuned with the 'proper' emotions and responses."

"Really?" Lexie's gaze flickered to Ryn, who wasn't denying it, but that might be because she was too concerned about her charge's well-being.

"This primary education of the Fae is very necessary," he said. "Because this is when they are embedded with the proper physical and mental rules of society and learn appropriate communication. This is particularly important with the Light Fae, the Pure Fae. And when that education is interrupted, well, these undifferentiated little powerhouses can be turned into anything you want. And I am the perfect person to do that. I can't wait to see what she becomes under my influence."

Every protective instinct surged, and Lexie no longer cared if she killed the creature or not.

Lexie unleashed Handy Helper at him, fifty hands throwing balls of voids, but they all dismantled before they reached him. Even the fire turned into ash and dissipated in the air.

She sprayed him with small VOID bullets, used mini golems, tried trapping him in a forcefield, and choked him by drawing air from his lungs. She used a card to make the Earth open underneath his feet and another to attempt to weave the air around him into a vice, something Ryn had recently taught her to do.

None of it worked.

He even started stopping her cards before she drew them.

Lexie was getting frustrated.

"Why are you not attacking me?" Lexie asked.

"That will come later," he said. "For now, I want to experiment with you all and see what you're made of. This Fae here is very interesting. High chaos potential. I will start with her."

"Not likely," Lexie said and held out her hand. She needed to be closer to form a psychic connection and activate her soul card.

But suddenly she felt….agony.

It felt like her body was splitting at the seams, like her bones were rejecting her skin, like she was separating into different, distinct elements.

She screamed and tried to shoot him again, but her fingers failed to call the cards. They, too, were slowly coming apart, and she fought to keep them together,

But, in her pain, she noticed something.

Once Pvylicht focused on her, Ryn could now remove her feet that had been trapped to the ground. She was able to weave something around his body, dragging his hand down as she leapt at him and tried to grab Little Fae.

He simply disintegrated before their eyes and appeared behind her, trapping Ryn's feet again.

Meanwhile, Lexie was getting broken apart. She resisted forcing her fingers and bones back together, but it was like her body was rejecting itself, her mind fighting against a stronger compulsion.

She would overcome it. She was stronger than it.

She had to break his hold somehow.

Before she could, someone grabbed her, and Lexie felt herself being taken away.

She was flung through space, and she appeared somewhere else, deeper in the forest from where they just came.

She glanced behind her and saw that they were back in the forest, and it was Cecilia who was standing behind her with her hand on her shoulder.

"What did you do?" Lexie asked her, pissed.

"I saved you," Cecilia said, bending over to catch her breath. "That guy…that thing, he was going to kill you."

"I wasn't going to die," Lexie told her, "I was going to destroy him or enslave him."

"How? His ability is dismemberment. How on Earth are you going to beat that?"

"Take me back there and you'll see."

"I'm not taking you back until you prove to me that you can beat him."

"You can't keep me here," Lexie told her.

"Watch me," Cece said.

"You can't do that!" Lexie felt like stomping her feet for good measure, but she thought that might ruin the effect she was going for. "You're not the boss of me!"

Cecilia smirked. "Actually, seeing as how neither of your parents is here right now, I am the boss of you. Now tell me how you plan to beat him."

Lexie blew out her breath through her lips.

"His ability is psychic, not physical," she said. "It was why he was able to disassemble some of my attacks, before they even happened. It was why my body could not call the rest of the cards I wanted to. He would not have been able to figure out in such a short time frame which attacks I was choosing without that. I think I know how he does it, too. He formed a psychic connection to me and Ryn during our conversation, but for some reason, he didn't do that to you."

"Maybe because I didn't understand everything he was saying." Her eyeballs moved in thought. "I could translate some of it, but my Eldritch isn't that good."

"Yes, maybe. Or maybe he didn't bother because he didn't think you would be a threat. I think he can only maintain two strong psychic connections at a time, because when mine took hold, Ryn's slackened."

Cecilia nodded. "Alright. I think so too."

"His powers have another limit, I believe. Distance. The farther away he is, the weaker the psychic connection. Maybe if I take away his voice, it might also work, although I don't know if it matters now that we already have the connection. Oh, and it doesn't matter where we go. He'll still be able to find us. I can sense it."

"Wow. You figured all of that out in such a short time."

"Yes." Lexie thought about it. "I guess I'm a genius again."

Cecilia smirked. "So? What do you want to do?"

"I will use the V'Sala to attack. See if he can get close enough to harm him or take over his mind. I will also craft clones of the V'Sala and Handy Helper to activate my cards from a distance. He can't psychically hold all of them back."

"You can do all that?"

"You still doubt me? After all this time?"

"It's just..." She blew out a breath. "You're very powerful, it's scary."

"You get used to it. We have to go now. I don't know what he's doing to Ryn and Little Fae, and I don't want them destroyed."

"I still don't think we should go back. I care about them too, but you're my priority."

"Even if we stay here, he will find us eventually and destroy us. And that's less than ideal. There's power in numbers." At least, Lexie told herself, that was why she was so eager to go back. That and the excitement of finally facing a worthy opponent.

It probably had nothing to do with the fact that she was very worried about Ryn and Little Fae.

Worry. That was an emotion she shouldn't have.

"Can you get me there or not?" Lexie said, losing patience.

"Yeah, in a second. I can teleport within a given level," Cecilia said. "That's how I've been getting away from some of my attackers. This was the first time I've done it for more than one person, so it's a little tiring. I don't know if I'll be able to take all your clones with me."

"That's fine. I'll activate it the second we arrive. Try to get us close but not too close. And stay out of view, so he doesn't get into your head. I'll keep him busy."

"Okay." Cecilia took a deep breath, then held Lexie's hand, closed her eyes, and they were once again flung through space.

Lexie activated V'Sala before Pvilycht realized they were there. She also duplicated him and activated Handy Helper. She was going to throw as many attacks at him as she could and see how he responded to them.

As they attacked, Pvilycht switched his attention from Ryn back to her. Ryn had also been having her limbs torn off, but she'd managed to hold her pieces together, weaving them even as they strained against her hold.

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Little Fae was crouched on the ground, holding her head, screaming. Lexie guessed he'd started his experiments. Rage flowed through her. How dare he?

The V'Salas had launched their attack, and the first failed to reach Pvilycht, exploding before it made contact. So did the second and the third.

Then all of them exploded.

It seemed the V'Sala's did not act as independent entities, and he could control them through the one V'Sala.

Lexie made more. She also made clones of herself, with one of her newer cards.

As she did, Lexie felt that presence in her head again, her body tingling.

"You know this will not work," he said. "I can still reach you through a clone, because it is your mind in the clone."

Lexie kept launching attacks at him, hoping that one of them would finally stick, but when a fiery cannonball almost hit, he disintegrated and appeared right in front of her.

"I see you." He sang as the feeling in her magnified. "I knew you would be back, and now I have you again."

"Yes." She smiled. "I was counting on that."

Because this had been her plan all along.

She'd wanted him to get close enough to soul touch him without his knowledge of what she was up to.

Even as he tried to split her body apart this time, she was able to withstand the attack more easily. Lexie had split her consciousness between her various clones and the V'Sala, dulling the effect he had on her body.

It was basically introducing degrees of separation from the creature, and while she did, she reached out psychically and activated her soul card, touching Pvilycht's soul.

She was plunged into a mind of hunger and chaotic creation. Pieces and scraps flew past her, and they expanded in her brain even to the very first atom.

She felt his confusion, felt him trying to disengage, but she kept him still, weaving him in place.

She felt the mad urge to create, similar to the one she felt sometimes, but more frenzied. While her creation was more neutral, his was destructive. He liked to take things apart and put them together again, but in strange, grotesque ways, just because he could.

But there was something else that caught her attention. Even as he was frozen, his mind kept working. It kept looking for and transmitting information, learning about her powers.

He was learning about her soul card, trying to work out how to take it apart and put it together again. More than that, he was transmitting that information somewhere else.

Ah. So this is what he really wanted.

This had been his true purpose. Neqal had sent him here to steal the soul card, or perhaps figure out how to copy it so he could make one of his own. Was that what the Other Old One had been told to do as well? Had he been sacrificed just so Neqal could see how her power worked?

Pvilycht tried to take apart the soul card, but he couldn't understand it, and Lexie wasn't that easily subdued. She turned up her light until she could tell that she had him in a thrall. He broke it the first time, but she steadied him and went deeper to understand his psychology and his power.

She saw deep into his mind, took him apart, and put him back together again. She made him want to be more compliant, and she turned off his defiance.

He slumped in her hand.

It felt…wrong.

Lexie paused in the process and decided to turn him back to how he was. His defiance might be useful to her in the future. And if he continued to defy her, then she would simply torture him the old-fashioned way.

Yeah, that was better. It wasn't mercy. It was utility.

Lexie temporarily restricted his power with the card that Ryn had helped her craft. Now that she'd seen his soul, she didn't need a name. She had his entire identity in the palm of her hand.

Even when Lexie finally let go of his soul, Pvilycht did not move. He was kneeling, staring at her in awe.

She asked him, "Now are you going to answer my questions?"

He nodded slowly.

Assured, Lexie glanced at Ryn. "Are you okay?'

Ryn nodded, although she was wincing in pain as she crawled to little Fae. "I need to check on Zu-Lo-Ya."

The young Fae had stopped screaming, but she hadn't moved. She was still in a fetal position. But she was alive, and that was what mattered.

"So," Lexie addressed Pvilycht again. "You said that Neqal can see everything that's happening here."

He nodded slowly. "That power…your power. It's divine."

Lexie waved that off. "Yes, yes, it's nice. Does it mean that Naem can also see everything? Are they working together?"

"I do not know."

"He sacrificed you to find out more about my power. That means that he's interested in me. Would he like to meet me?"

"I think so," he said. "But Naem keeps him away."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"But you have a good guess."

"I do not."

Lexie blew out a frustrated breath.

"What is their relationship like?" she asked. "Naem and Neqal."

"They are brothers," he said. "They are Lords. They are a powerful duo. One changes, One stays the same."

"What do you mean?"

"One is the constant. One is the variable. One is predictable. One is not."

Lexie frowned. "Are they both experiments?"

"Existence is an experiment. Your power...I...."

"What's on the mountain?" she asked. "What reward can we expect from this level?"

"The knowledge on how to achieve your heart's greatest desire," he said. "The exact step-by-step method. Anything you want. The Mountain will give you the answer. But only for one heart's desire."

"Even if what we want is an escape from the dungeon?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Has anyone reached the mountain yet?"

"No. There are too many players still."

"So it really is a battle royale."

"Yes."

"It didn't feel like it at the start."

"It is the trick of the level. The Mountain regularly introduces new players to the level. The farther in you walk, the less likely you are to meet them and kill them. Hence, the mountain shifts farther away from you. More players enter than are killed. If you walk in the opposite direction, then you meet more and kill more."

Lexie thought about it. She turned to Cecilia, who was approaching them tentatively.

"Do you think you can teleport to the mountain?"

Cecilia said. "I don't think so. The mountain doesn't work by the same rules of physics that the rest of this dungeon works by, and it will throw off my calculations."

"Calculations?"

"Yes. Teleportation works by calculations. There must always be a constant, and through that, you must figure out the variables. I think that's the reason why I can't teleport to different levels of the dungeon. Because no two levels exist on the same plane and they don't work by the same teleportation laws, and hence the constants will not be the same, making them inconsistent."

Lexie wasn't sure what Cecilia was talking about. Mathematics had not been her best subject as a human, and that remained true as an Eldritch. The memory of feeling frustrated when Aiden taught her about it suddenly felt very fresh.

But the thought of every level being on a different plane interested her.

"How do you find the constant?" Lexie asked.

"I can read it," she said. "It is one of my skills. Once I have access to a level, I can read all the numerical values for that location and the teleportation constants in that level. I can then calculate the variables to get me wherever I want to go."

"But not the mountain?"

Cecilia shook her head. "Not the mountain. Although I can try."

Lexie thought about it. "Or we can just kill everyone else in this level except us."

"Lexie, no," Cecilia said. "Everyone else might include other humans and innocent creatures."

"So?"

"So, they've done nothing wrong to us."

Lexie still didn't understand what that had to do with anything.

"You don't kill innocents, Lexie. It's why you didn't kill me, right?"

"No, I didn't kill you because I didn't want to."

Cecilia blinked at her.

Ryn had finally healed enough to get up. She carried the Fae into her arms and walked over to them. "The more vital question is, even if all three of us get there, whose heart's desire gets answered? And how do we keep more creatures from coming into this level and keep the Mountain away from us?"

"We can't." Lexie realized with a flash. "I think that's the trick. Whenever someone gets close to the mountain, the dungeon allows more people into the level, so that it keeps them away. It forces us to slay each other, and get rid of the players, in increasingly entertaining ways." Clever dungeon. Giving them false hope.

"So what do we do now?" Ryn asked.

"We need to get out of this level somehow," Lexie said. "You are sure you can only teleport within a level? Even if you remember the numerical values of another level?"

"The problem is the constant. There must always be a constant, and if the constants are different then..."

"What if I gave you a constant?" Lexie asked. "What if I were able to make another level exist in the same plane as us? Could you find a constant there and use that to teleport us?"

Cecilia frowned and shook her head. "I don't understand."

"Yasycht, the one who spawned this dungeon, has the power of doors. He can make several planes exist in one. So technically, if I can wield his power, then I, too, can make several planes exist in one. I can envision it in my mind, and we can form a psychic connection so you envision it too. Can you use me to find a constant?"

Cecilia gaped. She glanced at Ryn as though expecting the Fae to tell her this was a joke. But Ryn looked very serious.

"You told me that Yasycht said he would kill you if you tried to wield his power again without adequate training," Ryn warned.

"He won't kill me. Not with Naem watching."

It was now occurring to her, as her memories returned, that Naem did not leave her here to die.

He'd specifically told her that she would not die, so that was not the aim of it.

He wanted something from her. So did Neqal, which was why they were both probably watching her. And very soon, she would find out exactly what.

"Besides, I'm mentally and physically stronger and more powerful than I was," Lexie said. "I have better control of my soul card. I will not take all his power. Just enough to get us out of this level."

"Even if all that were to work," Cecilia said. "I don't know that I can transport four people at a time. Five if we include him." She pointed at Pvilycht, who was still dazed and confused.

"We do not have to include him," Lexie said. "I will make a creature card using him and leave him on this level, using him to observe how it works better. Perhaps, through him, we'll learn an alternate way to make it up the mountain." If Pvilycht could achieve that, then she would advance their relationship to master and disciple. She didn't think he would be opposed to that, given how he still stared at her like she was a god.

"Still," Cecilia said. "Four people are a lot."

"I will make you a potion to boost your mana," Ryn offered. "And I will make sure we stay linked during the transport."

"How?"

"Well, I have already formed a link with you without your knowledge. I will utilize that."

"Wait, what?"

"It's annoying," Lexie said. "But it's kind of her thing."

"It is indeed my thing." Ryn nodded.

Cecilia looked tired.

"Okay," she said, defeated. "We can try."

While Cecilia drank the potion and worked out her first set of calculations, Lexie created the creature card and had Pvilycht push his essence into it. Pvilycht still kept babbling about her divine power and wanted to form a soul bond, but Lexie ignored him.

When they were done, she said, "Ryn. Weave a door."

Ryn nodded, and she held her while she used the rocks to weave a doorway.

Lexie then stood there long enough for the dungeon to establish that it was indeed a doorway and for Yasycht to claim that space. She formed the psychic connection with Cecilia, using a card she'd created as a variation of <Music To My Ears>. This one, though, would affect sight, so Cecilia would see what she saw.

Then she closed her eyes and reached out with her soul card.

She was plunged into the mind of Yascht, but she was careful not to go too deep or look too hard. She simply searched for the knowledge and image of a different level, ignoring everything else but that.

It wasn't deep knowledge. It was knowledge that was on the very periphery of what she already knew, knowledge that was more easily accessible.

Still, her head ached. Her brain felt like it was exploding, and her nose bled.

She held on, thinking about all the people in this dungeon who needed her, who she...she...cared about.

Fine, she would admit it. That was the emotion. She cared about them, against all odds. She would figure out what that meant later.

Thankfully, the pain didn't last too long. An image of another level flashed in her mind, and she felt an inexplicable connection to it.

She held onto it. Cecilia, now!

Without further ado, Lexie's consciousness was ripped from Yasycht, and she was falling with gasping breath onto the ground.

Lexie spat a leaf out of her mouth and got to her feet instantly, spotting Cecilia groaning and sitting up next to her.

Lexie looked around. They were in a forest, but not the same forest they'd been in previously. This forest was sunny. Very sunny.

"Where are Ryn and Little Fae?" Lexie asked, glancing around with a rising panic when she didn't immediately spot them.

"I don't know," Cecilia said. "They should be here somewhere."

Suddenly, a roar shook through the trees, along with loud, thunderous galloping.

Behind them, a huge bear-like creature was running at them, saliva dripping from its mouth, its eyes red and crazed.

As it jumped onto them, Lexie wondered whether she should kill it directly or turn it into a creature card.

Cecilia screamed and activated her tiger, but before it could do anything, a whistling gunshot rang out, and the bear exploded into pieces, chunks of it flying over Lexie and Cecilia's faces and bodies

Shame.

"Gross!" Cecilia retched and heaved. "Oh my God, I'm going to be sick. Don't look at me."

"I won't," Lexie dutifully turned away, but then she tensed up again when she heard footsteps.

These were quieter and human-like.

Strangely familiar.

Lexie's heart started racing. She got ready for a fight.

"Who's there?" The voice said, and Lexie's heart stopped.

She knew that voice.

She knew it.

What..how...why...

Why now?

"Cece?" It dripped with shock. "Is that you?'

Cecilia stopped retching long enough to also release a shocked response. "Max?"

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