Minotaur and Overmaster fell silent upon hearing Abernach's voice and all the Demons bowed their heads toward him.

"Your weapon is broken, and you're held down on the ground; I do believe that concludes our contest," Abernach said with a terrifying smug grin on each of his faces. But Eliza's attention wasn't on him, her eyes were still fixed on the broken Naginata.

"How dare you." She said in a horrified whisper.

"Hmm? Was that your surrender, I heard?" Abernach said, glancing down at her.

"How. Dare. You." Eliza snarled, glaring at Abernach; her voice seeped with rage.

Abernach met Eliza's glare for a moment before looking down at the shattered Naginata. And sighed.

"Right, Silverian Empire and the humans there are weapon fanatics. Something about your weapons, your ancestors' souls, and all that hogwash." Abernach said dismissively, causing another wave of red-hot rage to course through her.

She struggled against the imps holding her, managing to push her head and chest up before the imps forced her back down. Her head held sideways against the cold tile floor; she continued to glare daggers at Abernach and yelled, "I'll kill you! If it's the last thing I do, I'll kill you!"

Abernach gave a long, suffering sigh and muttered under his breath, looking up at the fancy chandelier on the ceiling.

"Of all the human countries, she had to be an imperial fanatic." he returned his gaze to Eliza. "Look, your weapon is broken, and you've been defeated. Like we agreed, accept the contract."

Eliza stared daggers at him and said nothing.

"Quite the stubborn one, are we? How far do I need to go?" He mused, looking around the room. His eyes fell upon Leah, who was still tied up on the platform, and a sinister smile came onto his faces.

"Well, I hadn't given the order for the elves to be cooked, but at least my minions have enough initiative to do things on their own and enough foresight to wait for my approval before going too far. How about this? Accept the contract now, and I'll let your Elf friend live. Refuse, and we'll cook her alive and eat her in front of you. Sound good?" He said, excitement coming to his eyes in contrast to the horror in Eliza's.

Eliza clenched her teeth but still said nothing.

"Well, boys, you know what to do," Abernach said, and the demons spurred into action; a couple of the guards near Leah picked her up and started dragging her towards the cauldron. While they were doing that, she squirmed and struggled against the guards.

Despair began to well up within Eliza as she watched Leah struggle every step toward the cauldron. She desperately tried to draw up whatever power she had left, only to find nothing.

A deep pain began to throb in her heart as reality sunk in. She had nothing left, and she had failed. Despite doing everything she could, using every tool at her disposal, still she failed.

The guards began to ascend the steps toward the lip of the cauldron.

"You just need to accept the contract Eliza, you only need to do that, and all of this will be over," Abernach said calmly as he watched her struggle.

Tears of frustration burned in the corners of Eliza's eyes as she tightly closed them. Was she going to lose another friend because she was too weak? No, No matter what, she couldn't let that happen again. In desperation, she reached out to the God her family had served for generations, the God she had abandoned when his high priest had sentenced her parents to death.

Her plea went unanswered as no divine miracle occurred. She got the same response from the myriad of other deities she had heard about from other countries—complete silence.

The guards neared the top of the stairs.

The Divines were silent, her body battered and broken; with nothing else she could do, Eliza was left with only one option. If the Divines would not help her, all she could do was trust in a demon.

"Fine." She said through clenched teeth.

Abernach's eyes lit up with joy, and the guards stopped just a step away from the top of the cauldron. "Finally! Say the words! Say 'I accept your contract, Abernach." his voice filled with anticipation, utterly convinced of his victory.

"I accept your contract, Isradine," Eliza said through clenched teeth.

Abernach went to punch one of his fists in the air in victory but stopped halfway through the movement when it dawned on him what she had said.

Immediately the lights around the room began to flicker wildly as another; darker power invaded the reddish-orange crystal around the room. The chandelier started to sway back and forth, moved by some unseen force, causing the shadows in the room to dance wildly.

"You dare!?" Abernach howled in pure rage, stomping towards Eliza, "I'll kill you." He growled as red energy flooded out of his hand and formed into a broadsword similar in design to his chest piece. As he passed underneath the chandelier, a loud snapping echoed throughout the room, and the chandelier began to fall.

Almost as if guided by some six sense, Abernach immediately jumped backward, barely dodging the falling chandelier that landed a few feet in front of Eliza and smashed through the tiles with enough force to even go through the floor beneath, creating a gaping hole in the middle of the room. Shattered crystals and tiles rained down on Eliza, causing the imps holding her down to scatter in fright. At the same time, the crystal lights adorning the walls shattered one by one, seemingly overloaded by the fighting energies within. With the room's primary light sources destroyed, the room was cast into darkness save for the light from the burning fire beneath the cauldron.

Now free, Eliza pushed herself up and tried to stand up. With nothing to help support her and her broken leg, she fell back, landing on her butt as a cry rang out through the room, "My Floor! Why break Overmaster's beautiful floor?" He screeched out into the darkness.

A giggle, sounding like a young girl's giggle, emanated from the darkness, seeming to come from all directions at once. And with that giggle came a hazy violet mist that seemed to seep from the shadows, quickly filling the room and giving it a purple hue.

"Stop her, Stop her now!" Abernach yelled out, ordering his minions into action, but it was too late as the shadows and violet mist began to swirl around the room before condensing towards Eliza, forming an alternating vortex of both colors.

Before it hit, Eliza braced herself expecting pain in some form. A moment later, the vortex reached her, and it crashed into her, enveloping her before it began sinking into her.

The magic welled up within her, settling into a swirling vortex different from what she had been given before. If she had to describe the difference, the only words that came to mind was that it was rawer than the magic from before. More potent.

Eliza gritted her teeth as, almost immediately, some of the magic surged toward her leg. With a snap, her broken bone was painfully re-aligned, but the pain disappeared a moment later. She pushed herself up and heard the voice from earlier beside her.

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"I'm free! I'm finally free!" Isradine's voice conveyed her delight, and Eliza felt like she could feel Isradines excitement vibrating in the air around her. Eliza looked around but couldn't see Isradine anywhere.

"So you were still lurking about Isradine." Abernach snarled.

"Heey, long time no see! It's been, what, five years since you last checked up on me? It was very lonely, you know, in that dark crystal you trapped me in." Isradine chirped, and a small shadowy form appeared in front of Eliza. Isradines voice came out of the shadow, "But then again, pretending to be weak so that you would leave me alone was very intentional."

Abernach gritted his teeth, his nostrils flaring; he growled, "You're no less impertinent than you were before, daring to take what is mine right in front of me."

"Last I checked, she made a contract with me, soooo how about you leave what's mine alone and take your loss?" Isradine said confidently.

Abernach chuckled darkly," You think I would let you go? No, I will tear your new toy apart limb from limb, and then I will disperse your essence like I should have done years ago." He started making his way around the hole, easily cutting through tables with his sword to make way.

"Tch," Isradine made the sound of clicking her tongue despite Eliza not seeing any definable part of her body. "As unreasonable and egotistical as ever, she raised her hand and pointed a sharp finger at Abernach, "sick him, Eliza."

"One, I'm going to make this clear, but I'm not your dog, so don't treat me like one., and two, Aren't you forgetting something? You've yet to explain anything about your power." Eliza said, watching Abernach, who quickly smashed a couple of the tables with one swing.

"Ah, right, Any basic magic that doesn't require an elemental affinity to cast. We don't have time for you to learn any spells using my element, so just know that it'll be hard for him to hit you while you're within the darkness."

"I see," Eliza said, looking down at the broken Naginata on the floor and extending a hand toward it. Mentally she focused on what spell she wanted to cast, and she reached for the magic within her; it responded eagerly and surged toward the naginata.

"Wait, I don't have a lot of magic, and that's more than a basi-" Isradine began to say, but the spell was already casting and couldn't be stopped. The mix of violet and black magic enveloped all the pieces of the naginata before consuming them.

Then Eliza closed her eyes, focusing on the mental image of what she wanted. She then directed the black and purple energy into the image she held within her head.

Eliza held out her hand's palm up as the energies formed into the same form as the Naginata. However, the blade was a translucent ghostly white while the shaft alternated between the shadows and violet color.

The Naginata slowly lowered itself into Eliza's hands and was solid to the touch despite its translucent nature. Eliza opened her eyes and gave it a practice twirl with one hand. She was pleased to feel that it felt practically weightless in her hands. And she knew it wouldn't feel that way for those she hit with it.

Eliza turned to look at Abernach and readied her new weapon.

"fifteen years," Isradine said diminutively.

"What?" Eliza asked, her gaze shifting from Abernach to the small shadowy form next to her.

"I spent fifteen years gathering that mana for this escape; Grandfather would have been overjoyed with my diligence." Isradine said wistfully. "fifteen years, for what? ONE spell," she said, her voice rising in outrage, "What about constructing a spirit weapon means 'basic to you? Are you crazy!?"

"I needed a weapon," Eliza said, simply returning her gaze to Abernach, who was clearing the last of the tables.

The light from the fire cast his figure into darkness, making it hard for Eliza to make much else out. "Do you have anything to help me see?" Eliza asked as she readied her weapon

Isradine sniffed her nonexistent nose before sighing, "Wait a moment, it's already started."

Before Eliza had time to ask for clarification, her vision went wobbly, and she felt incredibly nauseous. Unable to keep her balance, she fell onto one knee as a prickling sensation invaded her eyes. She rubbed at her eyes with her free hand, but it did little to help with the rapidly increasing pain in her eyes. And then it stopped. Eliza blinked several times, nausea disappearing as her vision settled. Before, she had barely been able to see in the darkness, but now she could see the entire room, the shadows becoming much lighter and the light from the fire much brighter. She looked at Abernach, who she could now clearly see.

He began to stomp towards her causing the tile to crack with the force of each step. His veins bulged across his body, accentuated by the resting mist emanating from him. Rage burned in his four eyes, his irising now a burning red color as he raised his sword for an overhead swing.

Reacting quickly, Eliza kicked the ground dashing forward through the swing, and slashed up with the Naginata at his exposed thigh. She was surprised by how light her body felt as she moved far quicker than before.

The blade cut into the skin as Eliza flew past, but even though the hit was solid, Eliza didn't feel it sink in.

She slid to a stop behind Abernach and began to turn to see what in the world had just happened.

"Duck!" Isradine practically yelled.

Immediately Eliza did so, and no sooner had she ducked than she felt the air split apart as the sword tore through it, right where her head had been.

In retaliation, Eliza immediately jumped up from her crouched position and pivoted on her heel; when she landed, she swung her blade around. Again her strike hit true, cutting across Abernachs exposed thigh. Eliza immediately jumped back, dodging his next overhead swing that slammed into the tiled floor.

"Stop scurrying around like a rat and accept your fate." Abernach snarled as he stood back up from his swing. Revealing shallow cuts that lightly bled where Eliza had struck him.

Eliza furrowed her brows.

Seeing her confusion, Isradine murmured, "His magic fortifies his body."

"Got it," Eliza said, realizing that Abernach had deliberately shown her openings to draw her into an attack. Abernach strode forward confidently, and Eliza slowly backed away to get more time to think about what to do.

She glanced back at the hole to see how much space she had. The edge of the hole was quickly approaching—an idea formed in her mind.

"Can you distract him for a moment when I say too?" Eliza quietly murmured to Isradine, hoping that Isradine could hear her. Eliza dodged backward as he brought the club down again. She moved to counterattack but was quickly forced to duck as Abernach stepped forward and threw a roundhouse kick at her head.

"I can try. Bu-" Isradine said, but Eliza didn't hear the rest of what she said because Abernach launched into a flurry of blows that took all of Eliza's concentration to avoid. Thus he forced Eliza to back up as he continued to press his advantage.

His attacks were fast, but he struggled to hit her as the shadows themselves seemed to shift around Eliza, causing his hit to miss her barely. And that was all she needed. It didn't take long for them to reach the edge of the pit, every step of Abernachs' sending tremors through the increasingly unstable floor.

Everything was set for her idea to work; now, all she needed was the distraction.

"Now!" Eliza called out, and a large crash sounded out behind her. Abernaches stopped looking at Eliza, and his gaze turned towards whatever the crash was. His eyes opened up in shock.

"You fools, what are you doing?" He yelled in outrage.

Seeing him distracted, Eliza immediately moved. She dashed forward between his legs, a feat made easy due to their significant size difference. Once through, she poured magic into the blade and spun around, swinging the blade at the back of Abernachs knees.

The magic within her responded and quickly flooded towards the white blade. It only took a moment for the white blade to have purplish-black shadows dancing around it. No sooner had the shadows reached the blade when it struck. This time cutting deep into the flesh of Abernachs exposed knees.

Abernach let out a howl of pain as his knees buckled underneath the attack. Eliza kicked the floor as hard as she could, propelling herself out of the landing zone as Abernach fell backward; when she landed, she swung her weapon one last time at where Abernach was going to land and, in the same movement, released the last of the shadows that had gathered into the blade.

The shadows leaped from the blade, forming an arc that cut into the floor right as Abernachs body slammed into it. The floor crumbled between the combined force of the attack and Abernachs weight, sending Abernach tumbling to the floor below.

Heart pounding, Eliza let out a breath of relief, seeing that her plan had worked. Using a hand to wipe the sweat from her brow, she said, "That was a nice distraction Isradine, good job."

"It wasn't me," Isradine said.

"What, then, who was it?" Eliza asked, turning to look at where the crash had occurred.

It didn't take Eliza long to find the source; the wooden staircase leading up to the cauldron's rim had collapsed.

"After her! Elf can't escape." Overmastered yelled, drawing Eliza's attention. The first thing Eliza saw was Leah sprinting full force toward Eliza. And behind her, Minotaur with a couple of guards.

Eliza moved to intercept Minotaur when a shadow formed in front of her.

"Nope, we are running now," Isradine said in a tone that brooked no argument. For a moment, Eliza thought she saw the shadow fold its arms.

"But Leah-" Eliza started to say

"Is running in the same direction you need to like you should start doing right now," Isradine said with urgency and a hint of an edge to her voice. Eliza wanted to argue, but trusting in Isradine had gotten her this far, and as Isradine said, they were running short of time.

Eliza complied, giving Leah a nod and indicating with her head towards the door. To make it easier to run, Eliza dispelled the Naginata, and it dissipated into the shadows, only a thought away from rematerialization. And then she started to run towards the door, and she had made it halfway when something ran out from underneath one of the tables and leaped at Eliza.

Eliza attempted to swat it out of the air, but it succeeded in latching onto her arm. It was an imp that desperately held onto her arm as she tried to shake it off. But its grip was too firm, so she reared back her other arm to punch it off but stopped when it spoke.

"Xalefore, come too! Xalefore no want to die! Yes! Xalefore show humans where elf man is. Xalefore come! Yes?" Xalefore said, pleading with his eyes.

Eliza sighed, "Fine."

Elation lit up the imp's eyes as Eliza reached over and, grabbing the imp by his mismatched collar, pulled him off her arm and lifted him up so he could latch onto her shoulder.

Naturally, Eliza was the first to reach the door with Xalefore, with Leah not far, but Minotaur was quickly closing the distance behind her.

Eliza's breath caught in her throat as Minotaur shortened the distance between him and Leah, who was just a few steps away from the door. He reached one hand out to grab her, and Eliza started to move to intercept but stopped when she saw Minotaur begin to fall forward.

Looking down, Eliza saw a shadowy tendril grasping Minotaur's foot. A moment later, the tendril snapped, too weak to hold Minotaur back but strong enough to serve its purpose as Minotaur scrambled to control his falling body. Leah burst through the door a second later, and Eliza slammed it closed. A moment later, the door shuddered under the impact as Minotaur's momentum carried him headfirst into the door. And then silence.

Hearts pounding, Eliza's and Leah's wide eyes met.

"Close! Very Close, yes!" Xalefore chirped up, drawing Leah's gaze.

"That's an understatement," Isradine said, now taking on a form of a small mass of shadows next to Eliza's head. Drawing Leah's attention as well, Leah finally looked at Eliza.

Eliza sighed, "Later, let's get moving first."