Flyreh stared down the hole that the two rookies had jumped into. "Did they decide they'd rather take their chances with the fall than fight me? Ballsy. It probably killed them . . but I need to make sure. And get that Black Knight Core back for my collection, too," He groaned, making for the earthworked staircase that would get him down to the bottom of the pit without injury. "What a pain,"

  <=====}—o

  Mikayla's life flashed before her eyes as she fell into the abyss.

  Fortunately for her, that included the previous time she'd jumped to her death.

  Just like she had when leaving Astralia's Spear for the second-last time, she shrieked, "Mana Assistance! Size two hundred!"

  The Black Knight swelled beyond all reason as it fell, its growing torso coming into contact with the side of the pit and bouncing off. She lost her balance, throwing her arms out even as they stretched, and her fingers carved furrows into the opposite side of the pit. A pounding headache erupted in her temples as her Mana was ripped out of her veins.

  Seconds later, her feet hit the ground, and her downwards momentum was abruptly reversed, the Armour continuing to grow and lifting her up in the process. "Size one!" Mikayla shouted through the black spots dancing in her vision.

  Dimly, as the Black Knight shrank back down, she became aware of a tiny creature clinging onto her shoulder, one that was rapidly growing relative to her. But then the darkness at the corners of her vision overwhelmed her for a moment, and when she opened her eyes again, she found Keldryn supporting her. He had also shrunk back to normal size and was gripping the spikes on her Armour to keep her steady.

  "That was a useful trick," he offered between heavy breaths. "Are you okay?"

  "I'll manage," Mikayla murmured. With a fizzle, the Black Knight collapsed around her, leaving her exposed. "That was the last of my Mana, though. We need to find somewhere to hide until I recover,"

  "I hope we can. We're trapped," Keldryn grimaced, looking around. They'd found themselves in a large, open, empty space with only two ways out; there was one rickety-looking staircase behind them, and a cavernous opening almost directly opposite to it.

  Looking up, they could already see a maroon figure making his way down the stairs. They had minutes at most before Flyreh caught up with them.

  "Into the cave," Keldryn suggested, gesturing at the other exit.

  Mikayla nodded, rubbing her eyes to alleviate the lingering headache. "There's no way it leads anywhere, not when we're this far underground,"

  "It doesn't matter, we just have to find a place to hide, let him pass us, then double back and get out of here," Keldryn plotted on his feet, ears pricked up for any hint of pursuit.

  They made their way into the cavern, but as soon as they did, something strange happened.

  [YOU HAVE ENTERED THE DOMAIN OF THE RAINBOW OUROBOROS]

  Mikayla jumped, not expecting a System message. "Did you see that?"

  "The Domain of the Rainbow Ouroboros?" Keldryn parroted. "Yep,"

  "What does that mean? A Domain?" The word tasted strange in her mouth. She hadn't meant it as a proper noun, but it had come out that way. Was this the System's translation directly altering her words? A shiver ran down her spine at the thought.

  "I don't know," Keldryn apologised. "Ask Asika later?"

  Mikayla grimaced. "I guess. Doesn't change anything. Guess we'll have to keep an eye out for snakes,"

  They continued onwards, into the cave. Torches had been wedged into the ground, providing illumination that cast flickering shadows across the cracks. The earth changed colour as they went, brightening and hardening into some kind of iridescent quartz. If they hadn't been running for their lives, Mikayla would have found the rainbow-tinted rocks to be quite beautiful.

  After a couple of minutes of running, they passed through what looked a lot like a doorway sculpted out of the rock, filled with decorative curves and crenellations. Impressive as it was, it didn't hold a candle to what they found beyond it.

  "What is this place?" Mikayla whispered, scanning their surroundings.

  They'd emerged into an impossibly large open cavern, easily the size of a soccer stadium and tall enough that you could deploy an Armour Core at size ten and still have plenty of head room. It seemed to be perfectly circular, save for the buildings that merged with the wall. Unfortunately, each of the dozen-odd buildings had been ransacked, doors ripped from their hinges and shattered against the ground. The spaces between them were thick with lawns and flowerbeds that were crisscrossed with paths, colourful stones set into the dirt. But the flowers had been uprooted and trampled, petals crushed and scattered across the pavers. A line had been trampled that led directly from the entrance towards the centre of the cavern.

  The centre of the cavern immediately drew the eye, for at its heart was unmistakably a temple. An edifice of gleaming white marble had been the target of the many footprints carving a muddy path from the entrance to its front steps. It was a circular structure, with an exterior balcony framed by Greco-Roman pillars, but its roof was carved into the likeness of a massive serpent with the tip of its tail between its fangs. The design was only vaguely recognisable, because someone had inflicted severe damage to it, ripping chunks from its face and sending cracks through its flesh. She couldn't see the interior of the building, only stare into a shadowy archway in its centre that had similar cracks and scuff marks on its facade.

  . . You . . . Come . . .

  The shadows seemed to speak to her in a hissing whisper as she stared into them. "Um, Keldryn, did you hear that?"

  "Hear what?" He was looking around, his tail bristling. "We should hide in the central building,"

  "Wait, really? Isn't that too obvious?"

  "We can either go left, right, or straight ahead. If we go left or right, and Flyreh picks the same direction, we're done. The middle building might have better hiding places," Keldryn was already making for the circular shrine that depicted what Mikayla was assuming to be the Ouroboros.

  "But I think it spoke to me," she weakly protested, despite knowing how silly that sounded.

  Keldryn's ears pricked up, but he shook his head. "Well, if there's someone in there I'd rather we know about them than have a nasty surprise later," He raised the blades on his wrists, fists clenched.

  Nodding, realising he was correct, Mikayla followed after him, nervously glancing back at the tunnel. How long would it be until Flyreh caught up?

  . . . Returned . . . please . . . too late . . .

  Mikayla jumped. "There it was again!"

  "What did it say?" Keldryn frowned.

  "Returned, please, too late," she repeated.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  "Returned?" Keldryn's brows furrowed. "Have you been here before?"

  "Definitely not,"

  ". . something must be returned, please, before it's too late," Keldryn speculated. "Whatever that is, it's not our problem," he assessed. "We just need a hiding spot,"

  "I dunno, this feels side-quest-y," Mikayla speculated as they entered the cylindrical building. "Like, um . . local culture reference, give me . . uh," She trailed off, taking in the interior of the building.

  It was half shrine and half mad scientist's laboratory. The walls were covered in hastily erected shelves and tables, containing dozens of bottles with various substances in them, liquid and solid mixed randomly. The entire apparatus was built around what looked like an oven, large and made of brown bricks that clashed with the glossy quartz that the rest of the shrine was made out of. Inside it, Mikayla could see a dozen vials of blood around the jagged stump of a stone edifice. Was that some of the blood they'd been taking from her and all the other prisoners? Were they cooking it somehow?

  Peering at the back of the room, she found the object that the oven had replaced. A strange altar shaped like a snake's head lay abandoned underneath a workbench, with an open notch inside its forehead.

  "Back here," Keldryn hadn't wasted time gawking, he was already crouching behind the oven. Mikayla joined him, still scanning the area and trying to puzzle out what exactly the purpose of this room was. It was clearly some kind of shrine, one that venerated this Rainbow Ouroboros -

  Yes! . . I called . . was stopped . . too late . .

  Mikayla rubbed her head. The voice was back, and stronger now, and with a discernible source. "I heard it again," she whispered. "And I think it's coming from . ." There was a metal panel on the back of the blood-oven, and a brief application of Sword Core pried it open.

  Inside was a Core unlike any she'd ever seen before.

  It was twice again as large as any of the ones in Mikayla's Core Controller, and she couldn't identify its material. It gleamed with rainbow light, rippling like water beneath glass. Etched onto its rounded surface was an image of a snake eating its own tail.

  Too late . . take . . let me . . die . .

  "What?" Mikayla's heart leapt into her throat. She'd had universally good experiences with talking Cores so far, therefore even if this one was much less eloquent than Nocturnus her instinct was to save them somehow. "What do you mean, you'll die?"

  No response was forthcoming.

  Mikayla considered. The words had become progressively clearer the closer she got to this strange Core. So maybe . . She pressed a hand over the top of the Core, cupping it in her palm.

  And then her body went limp, collapsing against the back of the oven.

  Keldryn started, crouching over her and shaking her shoulders as the Black Knight fizzled out. "Mikayla? Are you okay? Wake up?"

  He checked her pulse and was relieved that her heart was still beating, that she was still breathing. Next, he glanced at the strange Core, and tried to remove her hand from it, but it seemed as though both Core and Mikayla were glued in place.

  His ears pricked up as the sound of footsteps reached him. Flyreh had caught up.

  Staying carefully hidden behind the strange oven that had trapped his friend, with one eye he peered out towards the doorway of the shrine, hoping desperately that Flyreh would check the perimeter first. He couldn't leave, not without abandoning Mikayla.

  Unfortunately, Flyreh approached the shrine, leaving Keldryn no opportunity to try to sneak out.

  For a moment he considered trying to lure their foe away, but it was too much of a risk. If Flyreh noticed that only one of the two people he'd been chasing was escaping and suspected an ambush, he would stay behind and look for Mikayla. And letting him find her in this state would be a death sentence for her.

  He could make a break for it. Asika had given him the Flawless Heel Propulsion Technique, it would be enough to outrun Flyreh as long as he monitored his Stamina. He could escape.

  He wanted to.

  But Keldryn just couldn't bring himself to leave Mikayla behind. That poor Stranded girl was too soft for this world. She froze when Kaijus attacked. She insisted on seeing through stupid ideas that weren't worth the inherent peril. She was worryingly attached to the Black Traitor.

  And over the past two weeks, protecting and teaching her had made him feel good about himself, in a way that he'd been unable to for the past ten years. Like he was finally doing something his parents would be proud of.

  Flyreh was still clad in Brass-Beat Brawler as he scrutinised the interior of the shrine. "If those hooligans tamper with the refinement process, I'll chop them into pieces and scatter their bones," he murmured. Despite speaking softly, Keldryn's vulpine ears easily caught his words.

  Keldryn tensed as Flyreh advanced towards the oven-like device that they had hidden behind. His tail bristled, betraying his nerves, and his eyes raked over his Core Controller. The Scythe Core was still loaded and ready. If Flyreh was careless enough, maybe he could land a crippling blow.

  Flyreh bent down on the other side of the oven. He was inspecting the vials of blood. "No attunement. Still. What is it going to take to get that starring snake to give up its secrets?"

  Keldryn's eyebrow twitched, the only reaction he allowed himself. With Flyreh so close he barely dared breathe. Though, he couldn't help wondering what Flyreh was talking about.

  Flyreh straightened, still muttering to himself. "I probably need to pack all this up too, before the Guard arrives. What else is there to try? I could eat it . ."

  He turned away, starting to leave, and Keldryn knew he had his chance.

  Skyward Grasscutter's digitigrade legs straightened and launched him into a pounce, and glowing light wove into a deadly crescent blade. He didn't really know how to use a scythe, but the basic principle of all blades was the same; stick the pointy end into your enemy. So he gripped it in a way he knew was wrong and put his weight behind the downwards swing, aiming at cutting Flyreh's back open.

  But Flyreh's reaction time was insane. He span, arm coming around at exactly the right moment to beat the blade aside, smartly sidestepping and twisting as he went. His palm lit up with a Technique, and he slapped Keldryn into a nearby patch of empty wall between two benches of laboratory equipment.

  Keldryn's brow furrowed as he stood. Not only had Flyreh perfectly countered his strike, he'd done it so casually that he'd even been able to avoid collateral damage to the inscrutable equipment in the shrine. That was sort of terrifying.

  But Mikayla was still back there, insensate.

  So there was no other choice but to square off with Flyreh and hope for a miracle.