My blurry vision cleared up and revealed the area around me. It all felt gloomier and... sadder?

「 ■■■■■ has weakened the effects of Ocean of Tears Lvl. 17 」

The vivid colours faintly returned and the sadness that stuck in my core faded away. Was Ocean of Tears what caused the attack on Astral Wanderer's domain? That was the most probable cause at least.

「 ■■■■■ is struggling to fully suppress Ocean of Tears Lvl. 17 」

「 The defense of ■■■■■ has been weakened. 」

「 ■■■■■ has fully suppressed Ocean of Tears Lvl. 17 」

I see why Astral Wanderer was worried.

"What's going on?"

Khai and Ava turned around at my question, both looking as if they were on the verge of emotional collapse.

"How are you withstanding it?"

Khai spoke - Ava remained silent.

"It's my aspect."

「 Khai ■■■■■ used the Stellar Form Heaven's Seer on you. 」

「 The defense of ■■■■■ is currently weakened. 」

「 ■■■■■ has slightly offset the functionality of Heaven's Seer. 」

「 Heaven's Seer has confirmed your statement to be true. 」

No trust between us anymore, great. Might as well check him out - with Aspect Insight.

「 Stellar Form, Aspect Insight, has activated. 」

「 Aspect Insight has been challenged by Deity's Gatekeeper Lvl. 10 」

「 ■■■■■ is too weak to suppress Deity's Gatekeeper Lvl. 10 」

「 Aspect Insight has been cancelled due to an error. 」

Since when did he have such an ability? Did his patron gift it to him? Either way, we drifted further apart than I thought. Before he only used it once on me and that was because of my exaggeration; looking back, I'd do the same thing to him if I could read lies. Hold on, wouldn't the Deity's Gatekeeper stop Ocean of Tears from affecting Khai? That would make sense...

"Whatever you say."

"I feel like I keep repeating this question, but what do we do?"

"The principle is depressed, so we make it happy and that means it is saved."

"Doubt that will work, seriously doubt."

"Well do you have a better idea?"

"Uhhhhhhh... no..."

"Then I don't want your complaints."

"But we still have to wait a whole day."

"And we can use it to-"

"No, you can't."

Ervant's voice crept up behind us and echoed through our ears. The game moderator appeared out of the liquid, remaining in a suit.

"Huh?"

"The game moderators have decided to speed things up. It all seemed too... fair?"

"Speed up how?"

"Your time limit to complete the game will be reduced to a week and the principle should be appearing here any moment now."

Like Ervant's ominous way of talking, the shock of hearing that adjustment crept up my body and left my mouth gaping open... figuratively. I stared at Ervant's sparkling sharp smile and he continued to talk.

"Come on, let's go watch it descend. As you're my favourites, I'll use my powers just this once!"

He waved his hand forward and snapped his fingers. I felt like my body spun to the left and the world rotated with me; then when the circle finished, the area around us was already different. We were positioned at one of the ends of Tower Bridge with a large number of people surrounding us. The dizziness from the teleportation set in and I almost threw up.

"Jeez, you guys are weak..."

"Shut up and leave."

Khai became angry, I was a bit frustrated with the game moderators as well. Ervant obediently shook his head and liquified himself to exit; at the same time, the previous beam of swirling blue energy pierced through the sky and hit the middle of the bridge. The beam gradually thinned and revealed a lone tween with hair resembling that of black straw; dark rings around his eyes that exaggerated the irritation of his sclera, and skin which paled from the lack of sunlight in isolation.

Hold on...

"That's him!"

I shouted and pointed at the Principle of Isolation.

"Who?"

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Khai replied.

"The boy I saw previously."

"The one who attacked you in Sky's View?"

"Yes!"

Reacting to our loud conversation, the boy raised his head and stared our way. The dark ocean-blue essence came from his eye and floated up above his head. He waved his hand through the air and a crescent wave of condensed energy burst out towards us. It cut through the towers that stood upon the bridge with ease as if they were nothing but water. The towers, severed from their foundations, dropped down a few inches and broke apart the frames around them.

「 Stellar Form, Armillary Sphere, has activated. 」

I weaved the stars and let the sphere burst out. It was enough to cover the three of us while the rest of the people scattered, I'm sure I saw the vampire guy in the group. The attack let out by the principle collided with the Armillary Sphere and bent around it before fading away.

「 The defense of ■■■■■ is gaining back its strength. 」

Armillary Sphere had almost collapsed under the attack so I took it down. The principle bowed his head down to the ground again and continued to walk. Negative emotions permeated through the air and reached us; then I felt a feeling similar to the one forced upon me by that one secondary game.

I stared at the child and its aether aura came to view even if it was translucent and far away. The aura plagued the bridge and it came forward as the child moved towards us. We took a few steps back from it and it began retreating back to its owner.

"Do we fight?"

Fighting it now would be the best choice, "it'll only get stronger the longer we wait."

Cosmic Slicer's concealed form crushed in my palm and formed the deathly blade, now I could use the new ability.

「 Stellar Ability, Cosmic Comprehension Lvl. 1, has activated. 」

「 Cosmic Comprehension was used on a weapon belonging to the Cosmic Arsenal, the effectiveness of Cosmic Comprehension has been doubled. 」

「 Your understanding of the cosmos is limited, the effectiveness of Cosmic Comprehension has been halved. 」

Didn't that just cancel out then? Besides, I thought of getting an enchantment for happiness - or some sort of anti-depressant...

「 Cosmic Slicer aligned with the minor constellation Lyra. 」

「 The alignment granted Cosmic Slicer the Soothing enchantment. 」

Soothing? Could I get more information?

「 Soothing: Every landed hit on an organism will inject a universal benzodiazepine into it, slowing its cognitive functions and weakening any mind-altering influences. 」

Didin't expect that to come up, but the enchantment will be useful if I manage to hit him. Getting close does seem like a bad idea...

"What's that?"

Khai asked, staring at my sword. His question brought me back out of focus and caused me to hear the soft tune playing from the blade.

"The alignment thing I told you about previously."

"Cool."

As if trying to prove he was better, Khai spun his staff around and slammed one of the ends onto the ground. I silently judged him before turning back to the principle; he was still ambling towards us.

「 The defense of ■■■■■ has been fully restored. 」

Perfect, that'll be useful if he uses Ocean of Tears again - or if Khai wants to prove how little trust there is between us.

「 Attention, all abilities used by the Principle of Isolation will now be notified in the same manner using your own abilities is notified. 」

「 Principle of Isolation (Isolation) has activated Endless Depths Lvl. 21 」

Pillars of water rose up from the River Thames and into the sky, towering above the bridge ahead. They bent towards us and fiercely shot down like rain, aiming for the area around us if not us. Reactivating Armillary Sphere didn't cross my mind so instead, I used Cosmic Sight, given the expected 30 minute timer. If there's any conflicts and the time is shortened I'll-

"Wyatt!"

Ava shouted and I noticed one of the water pillars coming right for me. The cloud of stardust that circled my body moved me to evade the attack. Since no penalty was administered, I could only assume the pillars counted as looking at the principle. The stardust spun my body around and moved me like a steady stream of water, letting go of me perfectly so I wouldn't fall.

I couldn't imagine Ava's reaction nor could I check it, any penalties would drag me down. My coins were heavily invested into stats, which now cost 50 gold instead of 25; especially the new 'Aether Capacity' stat that came out with this game.

「 30 stat points have been invested. 」

「 Physical Strength + 5」

「 Durability + 5 」

「 Mental Prowess + 10 」

「 You feel your entire body develop. 」

「 Aether Capacity + 10 」

「 You feel the constellations drift closer. 」

「 Gold Balance || 175 」

With Cosmic Slicer's alignment, Cosmic Sight, my increased stats, and Khai, we should be able to do something to do this principle. I gave Khai a glance and he nodded. The golden ichor coated his staff and I saw Divine Flow activate, bringing forth his magnificent aura. Ava was left to distract the pillars; our whole plan was made without an exchange of words.

「 Stellar Ability, Advanced Swordsmanship Technique Lvl. 3, has activated. 」

Cosmic Slicer became - how many 'cosmic' things do I own? - easier to wield and I broke into a sprint. My eyes were locked onto the principle to not break Cosmic Sight and I could only hear Khai trail behind me. Background noises faded away and all of my senses were focused on the tween ahead. The distance between us slowly closed and I brought up Cosmic Slicer, bringing it back down almost as quickly.

「 Isolation has activated Melancholy Lvl. 36 」

The aura that covered Tower Bridge previously broke out of his body and enveloped me and Khai. My limbs felt weak and I fell to the ground before being able to inflict any sort of harm on the principle.

「 ■■■■■ is struggling to suppress Melancholy Lvl. 36 」

「 The defense of ■■■■■ is weakened due to extreme submersion. 」

Not now, please not now. Deep-rooted emotions of solitude, inner anger, self-loathing, sadness, and despair dug through my mind, bringing me to tears.

「 Isolation has activated Manor of Endless Isolation. 」

I watched my vision become blurry and dark until my breathing became rough and soon impossible. Gasping for air, water entered my mouth. It stole the little bit of air left in my lungs and I felt myself sink into this pit. My senses calmly broke away and the blanket of water wrapped around my body to help me fall into an endless slumber.

.

.

.

The surface of the water broke and my body began falling. Panic set into my body now that the calmness of death by drowning disappeared. My back hit against a smooth surface, the impact brought my vision back and knocked the water out of my lungs.

I coughed and wheezed until I was able to get up. The area around me was a stream of water which drifted through this plane. I was standing on some sort of stiff water; I could tell it was water by the ripples that appeared on it but I wasn't able to go into it like an actual liquid.

As my senses returned to me, the emotions forced upon me came back to haunt my mind. I felt like nothing. A simple void. A null being. The comfort of watching the beautiful floating river wasn't able to negate the agony these emotions brought me. My body stood plainly, like an average stickman drawn by a 6 year old.

「 The defense of ■■■■■ is gaining back its strength. 」

The notifications were muffled in my consciousness and I only grasped the first two words. My dreadful feelings weakened, yet remained prominent in my head; taunting me like a cat and a dog.

"So this is who you've chosen to be a patron for, Lone Captain?"

「 The Lone Captain of a Crowded Ship watches over you. 」