The group continued moving forward, the mist being exceedingly thick as the echoes of Albedo's gunfire faded slightly.

They had once again matched up against a group of beasts, this time the group faced a swarm of crocodile like corrupted abyssal death-machines that tried to eat them for an early lunch.

However, they had managed to efficiently take them down, ripples now radiating outward from the carcasses of the slain beasts, the deep stench of their blood and scorched corrupted bodies clung to the air heavily.

Zeus was at the forefront of the group now, his massive Battle Axe soaked in the blood of these beasts as his boots crunched against the slick obsidian stones, "You weren't kidding when you said it was wave one,"

He said, a grin tugging at his eyes as he stared at Lucian, winking and mouthing, 'You owe me money,' to which Lucian just turned and ignored him.

Meanwhile, as all this was going on, the others continued walking forward, taking careful steps to avoid being submerged in the vicious waters, where they could still see various shapes writhing below the surface.

Veronica was moving with Miranda and Elara, and leaned in closer to them as they moved across the stones, her voice low, but her tone of voice betrayed some noticeable excitement as she spoke.

"So," she began, a mischievous spark in her blue eyes, "Is no-one going to talk about what happened with Lilian and Albedo? They hugged, AND maybe kissed, I wonder how they met,"

Miranda arched an elegant brow, but didn't deny it, "It was hard to not think about. From what my reports were, Lilian didn't have any special relationships with men, so even I'm curious as to how they met and got so close,"

Miranda said, but her voice grew a bit more controlled as she spoke, "If they're truly in a relationship, I'm more worried about the political ripples. The top student at the Academy dating another top student and Noble Heiress at the Demon Academy would complicate a-lot of things,"

Veronica waved a dismissive hand, grinning. "Oh, come on, Miranda. Stop turning every crush into a treaty negotiation. No-one needs to think about politics here,"

Behind them, Elara walked in silence, her green eyes fixed on the shifting waters. She said nothing, but her fingers tightened slightly on the strap of her satchel.

Veronica's grin sharpened as she noticed the small movement. "Elara," she teased softly, "you're awfully quiet back there. Don't tell me you're rooting for Lilian."

Elara blinked, startled from her thoughts. "I… I just think it's complicated," she said quickly, though her cheeks warmed beneath the mist. "Albedo has… a lot on his shoulders. Whoever stands next to him will have to carry it too."

Miranda glanced at her, eyes softening for a fraction of a second, "True. And that may be what draws Lilian in. She thrives on danger and responsibility in equal measure."

Elara lowered her gaze again, the mist hiding the faint blush that lingered as they moved deeper into the hungry fog of the Ashen Waters.

And in front of all of them, Albedo's eyes glimmered purple as he scanned the waters, noticing that the river itself seemed to be changing and warping to provide more of a challenge.

The riverbank narrowed into a jagged pathway of fractured rock. To their right, the Ashen Waters stretched into an endless void of whispering waves.

To their left, a sheer cliff of black basalt rose high into the mist, veins of violet light pulsing faintly inside like the heartbeat of a buried leviathan. Every step felt like trespass.

A sudden sound cut through the ambient murmurs, a low groan, deep and resonant, like stone bending under pressure. The waters ahead began to bulge upward, the surface rising in slow, impossible defiance of gravity.

"Brace!" Miranda barked as she sensed it.

The river erupted. A wall of black water surged forward, not like a wave but like a living thing, tendrils of liquid stretching outward with grasping purpose. The mist above it swirled into a spiraling vortex, sucking the air from their lungs.

Zeus roared and planted his axe into the stone, a burst of golden mana erupting from the blade to form a radiant barrier. The surge slammed against it with the force of a collapsing mountain, spraying acid-laced foam across the stones.

Sparks of sizzling corrosion ate at the golden shield, chewing through divine light like hungry teeth.

Behind him, Morgana whispered a spell through clenched teeth. Shadows leapt from her fingertips, coiling around the group in a protective ring that hissed and steamed as the acidic mist struck. Her eyes blazed black, but sweat beaded her brow as the river pressed harder.

Meanwhile Albedo was just calmly firing off shots in Graviton mode, the space bending continuously in a crushing manner, causing the black water to convulse and collapse in on itself.

~WHOOOOSH!~

Suddenly as they were walking, the river itself screamed, the sound invading their minds with a chorus of a thousand drowned voices howling in layered agony.

Simultaneously, the water surged once more, this time even more ferocious than before, transforming into distinct forms.

Limbs of liquid corruption reached toward the stones, shaping themselves into half-solid monstrosities.

The first to fully emerge was a towering figure of liquid muscle and bone-white spines, its head a warped mockery of a human skull with too many teeth and eyes that burned with amethyst light.

Smaller creatures slithered from the mist behind it, eel-bodied fiends with hooked mandibles, spined crabs dripping acid from jagged claws, and insectoid horrors that crawled along the rocks like living shadows.

"Multiple contacts!" shouted one of the weaker students in the class.

Albedo's response was a cold flash of movement. He dropped low, sliding across slick stone as a tentacle of black water whipped past where his head had been a heartbeat before.

Havoc fired once, a crack of violet lightning bursting from the muzzle. The gravitational bullet struck the skull-faced giant in its core, imploding the liquid body in a violent collapse of pressure.

Zeus bellowed a war cry, leaping forward with a sweeping strike of his axe. Golden arcs of light cleaved through two eel-beasts at once, sending steaming fragments splashing into the water.

Behind him, Morgana's shadows writhed into a field of black spears that impaled three more creatures mid-leap, their screams dissolving into wet gurgles.

But the river itself fought back.

The stones beneath their feet shuddered and cracked. Veins of violet light pulsed through the basalt like a heartbeat, then erupted upward as razor-sharp spires of corrupted crystal. One speared toward Albedo's chest with lethal speed.

Source Code flared in his eyes, fracturing time as he immediately analyzed every single slight change in mana in the surrounding area, and used that to make an immediate plan.

He pivoted, twisting just enough for the crystal to shear past his side, slicing a clean groove into his coat. Ruin snapped upward, the barrel glowing with a silver arcane light.

~CRACK~

The crystal exploded into shards, each fragment dissolving into mist before it could strike anyone else.

"Keep moving!" Albedo ordered, his voice carrying above the chaos. "The river wants us still!"

They advanced step by step, every footfall a battle. The path grew narrower, forcing them into single file along a jagged ridge barely wider than a cart.

On either side, the Ashen Waters churned with malicious intent. Waves rose and fell in unnatural rhythms, occasionally forming faces, twisted masks of soldiers and beasts long dead—before collapsing back into liquid shadow.

Elara stumbled as a sudden tendril of water lashed upward from the river's edge. Albedo was there before it struck. He seized her wrist and pulled her behind him, Havoc already spitting a round of pure gravitational force. The tendril shattered like brittle glass, spraying a rain of black droplets that hissed against his mana shield.

Her green eyes widened. "It's alive," she breathed.

"Yeah," Albedo said without looking back,"and it's hungry."

The air grew heavier the deeper they went. The mist thickened into a tangible weight, each breath tasting of rust and ash.

Somewhere ahead, a deep, resonant boom echoed across the endless river, like the slow heartbeat of a god buried beneath the waves. The Amethyst Depths were close, but the river wasn't finished.

The water directly in their path began to rise again, not in a wave this time but in a slow, deliberate column. It spiraled upward until it towered above them like a black monolith.

Inside the column shapes swam, hundreds of them, each a fragment of something once alive.

Faces pressed against the surface: demons with hollow eyes, elves with mouths stretched in silent screams, humans frozen in terror. Their features distorted and melted into one another, forming a single vast visage of suffering.

Then it moved.

The column split into three writhing arms of water and crystal, each one snapping forward with bone-breaking speed.

Zeus swung his axe in a wide arc, golden light searing through the nearest tendril. Morgana's shadows coiled upward to meet the second, their clash sending shockwaves of black and violet across the narrow ridge.

The third came straight for Albedo.

Source Code lit his eyes like twin stars. He raised both pistols in perfect synchronization, Havoc glowing violet, Ruin silver.

"Time to end this" he whispered.

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