Meera was more than happy to leave the archdragon's stomach. She was a little anxious in there. It was a small corridor where they could be cornered, but out in the open, they had many more opportunities to make a run for it if they were set upon.

There was a downside as well. Out here, there was no place to hide. Anyone could recognize them as they ran down the stairs or up, depending on where Lainor took them. Who wasn't taking them anywhere as he stood taking in the sights.

"You better hurry up, Cultist," Meera said. "Need I remind you of the dangers of being cornered."

"Give me a moment," Lainor said. "It takes a moment to sift through her memories."

"Besides, I doubt we'll be cornered, dearie," Kalrina said. "It's like the dragon keep is almost empty. They must be fighting out there, and those here must be initiates. The sorceresses that remain will be nothing more than messengers, so not strong enough to contend with us."

"Aside from most of the Five and your Sovereign who are in the Hall of Judgement," Meera countered.

Kalrina's eyes widened. "Yes, we should definitely avoid that place. In any case, I should not be walking out in the open wearing my face." She waved a hand over her face, and her features changed slightly, but not by much. The biggest change was the hair. They were green. It took Meera a moment to realize that she had cast an illusion on herself to look like her sister.

The memory of Arvena's bloody head rolling down Akhessai's stone arm flashed in Meera's mind. She spoke without thinking. "There's something I need to tell you about your sister."

"What did she do now? She already betrayed me. They gave me a death sentence because of her. What more could the self-serving bitch have done?"

Meera opened her mouth to tell her, but no words came out. Her eyes met Kalrina's. She swallowed and tried again. "She's no more. She must've been on watch, so…the dragons killed her when they invaded. I'm sorry."

Kalrina's face remained impassive, and she formed no words as she looked into the distance. Meera didn't know what else to say. Lainor looked between the two of them and broke the silence.

"I know which way to go, but it won't be easy," he said. "We have to go through the intestines, which means—"

"Tight corridors and lots of living quarters," Kalrina interjected. "Here's to hoping the news of the Sorceress of Mirages' death wasn't announced to everyone."

Her voice sounded mostly normal, but Meera's ears did pick up an inflection of emotion as she said the part about her sister's death. If it were any other situation, Meera would've joked about the witch not having a heart, but a sibling's death was not something one joked about.

They descended toward the intestines. Meera remembered when she got out of there and finally got a good look at this place. Now, she was headed back down, and she would kill Lainor if he said they had to leave the way she had come in. If she ever ran into Silas and Cossus, she would ask them to wipe her memory clean of that disgusting event.

They reached the intestines without any incident, as no one was on the steps. Not even any Daughters were to be found. Kalrina was right; the sorceresses were busy fighting the dragons. Let's see how true that is once we enter the living quarters.

They descended the steps into the dragon's gut and found it empty. Doors had been flung open as the sorceresses and initiates must've ran to take up their stations. They strolled through the corridors with no worry—Lainor in front, Meera in the middle, and Kalrina in the rear.

Her face, or that of Arvena, was like a mask, betraying no emotions, but her body did. She was bent forward slightly while she stared at the ground. It was like the news of her sister's death had broken her, but she refused to let herself show any emotions.

"It's just around this corner," Lainor said, picking up the pace. "There is a room that only the Daughters use from time to time. It has a secret door that leads to a staircase built into the archdragon's leg. We can use it to get out into the forest."

"Let's hope no dragons are waiting for us," Meera commented.

Kalrina said nothing. She was uncharacteristically quiet. Meera was about to ask her if everything was okay when she saw a tear drip from her chin, followed by another, but no tears left her eyes. Meera gasped a little when she realized the witch was crying and hiding her tears behind the illusion.

Meera almost stopped to comfort her. But since her back was turned to Kalrina, she didn't know that Meera knew she was crying. She kept walking and let Kalrina deal with her grief in peace. It was best to let those tears out than to keep them in.

As they turned a corner, Kalrina quickly wiped at her face. Her hands disappeared within her illusion. Again, Meera didn't say anything. Just as they had rounded the corner, a voice reverberated through these empty corridors.

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"Halt!"

The three of them stopped in their tracks. Kalrina leaned back to look around the corridor and sighed. "How are you not dead?"

Meera frowned and joined her, and her jaw almost dropped. It was the Jailor. Her clothes were ripped in places, and her spear was bloody, but the woman herself didn't even have a bruise on her. Meera would have found this impressive, even downright fearsome if she didn't know about their healing skills.

"Listen, just let us go. You know, you cannot beat us," Meera said, taking a stance beside the witch. She noticed the cultist edging towards the room with the stairs. She pulled off a regular chakram and hurled it at the room's door. Thanks to her improved Dexterity and highly leveled Mirror Wing, the chakram flew at blinding speed to embed itself halfway in the stone door.

"Just because I'm not looking at you doesn't mean I cannot see you, Cultist," Meera said without turning from the Jailor. "I would suggest you back up from the door."

Kalrina looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, someone's being a bad boy."

Having seen the power of her regular chakram, Meera took off two to try them out on the Jailor, but Kalrina stepped in front of her.

"Allow me, dearie. You watch the little bad boy over there. We don't want him scurrying off. Besides, I, alone, should be enough to handle her." The witch cracked her knuckles and motioned for the Daughter to come for her.

The Daughter slammed her spear into the ground twice while chanting something in a language that sounded very familiar. With each slam, another one Aksha peeled out of her. Now, there stood three of them, but only the Jailor held the spear.

Kalrina grinned as she rubbed her hands together. "Ah, even more of you for me to kill. You shouldn't be so nice to me, dearie."

The witch shot what looked like a Mirror Shard Fury. A beam of white light carried sharp mirror shards. The daughters collectively created a shield of green poison that dissolved the mirrors as soon as they touched them. But Kalrina didn't waste her mana. She swung her hands around and littered the room with mirror shards.

A daughter made the mistake of stepping forward. Kalrina flicked a finger up. One of the sharp shards, which must've been the size of a small dagger, shot up and slit her leg open from her calf to thigh and kept traveling up. The clone of Aksha jumped back in time to save herself but to no avail.

Kalrina teleported to the shard that was still shooting up, caught it mid-flight, and slashed the Daughter's throat. Then went on a mad spree of repeatedly stabbing the clone's neck with the shard. The most eerie part was that the witch didn't scream or curse her for ruining her life, as Meera expected. No, she laughed as the blood washed her face, making her look like a demon who relished in the pain of others.

The Jailor thrust her spear towards her. Meera was about to intercept, but the witch teleported away. The second clone that the Jailor had made shot green poison darts at her, but Kalrina blocked them effortlessly with her Mirror Shield or whatever the evolved form of Mirror Tower Shield was called.

Meera hadn't noticed before, but the shields had a slight reflective component. The darts pinged off the shield and flew back to the Daughter, though not with the same intensity as before. The Daughter waved a dismissive hand, and the darts diverted mid-flight to embed themselves in the stone wall.

Then, both the daughters descended on the witch. The witch cackled as she teleported to avoid all their attacks. But that was not all she did. She slashed at them, leaving deep cuts in their arms and sides. Blood stained their clothes, and their assault slowed while the manic witch was enjoying this far too much.

The Jailor jumped back to create some distance between the two of them. Kalrina saw her chance. She raised her hand, and the scattered shards rose in the air. With a flick of her hand, they shot towards the remaining clone. The woman didn't stand a chance. She was stabbed with so many shards that it was hard to find a spot for her that didn't have a shard protruding out of her.

"Just you and me, dear," Kalrina said with a smile, which would've been endearing if not for the blood dripping from her face.

The Jailor stepped back. "Y-You won't get very far. I've already sent a message to my mother. She'll be coming any moment."

"It's good to know that Aksha can know fear," Kalrina said. "I'm looking forward to seeing it on her face."

"Finish this up, witch," Meera called. "I don't want to tangle with the real one just yet."

"Where's your sense of adventure, love," Kalrina replied.

"Are you going to hurry up, or should I her off?"

"Fine. Fine." She shook her head. "The impatience of youth, am I right, Baby Aksha? But then you yourself are nothing more than a baby."

Oh my god, this woman doesn't shut up. Meera groaned inwardly. "I'm giving you till the count of five before I step in."

Kalrina started the count herself. "One." A spear formed in her hand. "Two." The Jailor lunged for her, and their spear clashed, making the witch smile. "Three." Their spear clashes echoed through the corridor. Finally, Kalrina's spear broke, making her stumble forward. Seeing her chance, the Jailor lunged for the sorceress, but she wasn't there. She had teleported behind her.

Kalrina stabbed the clone in the side with another freshly formed mirror spear. The Jailor gasped as the spear went in from her right side and came out bloody on the other.

"Four," Kalrina whispered into the dying woman's ear.

The Jailor staggered to the side, holding the wall with a bloody hand. Her hand left a bloody streak along the wall as her legs gave way, and she fell to her knees. The witch gripped her by the hair and pulled her to the ground.

"Now, will you convey a message to Aksha if you live long enough to see her," she said.

The Jailor heaved, struggling to breathe with the spear, which no doubt had pierced one of her lungs.

"Tell her, Kalrina said, that she'll finish the rest with you."

A mirror machete formed in her hand. First, she hacked off the Jailor's fingers, then her hand, then took off her arm at the elbow and finally at the shoulder. The Jailor's screams chilled Meera to the bone. She was reminded of the times when Aksha tortured the witch.

Meera couldn't bear to look anymore. She hurled a chakram, but Kalrina blocked it with her machete.

"Five." She smiled at Meera. "I'm done, love. I'm saving the rest for the real one." Turning back to the Jailor, she patted her cheek. "Well, I hope you don't die before then, dearie."