Like the Gates of the Abyss opening, the elevator creaked open, welcoming them to their new home. Not one soul dared to take a step out of the elevator.

Not one to wait for something bad to happen, Yoru pushed her way through. When the criminals realized that she would be the one to take the first step out, they parted a way forward for her and her companions. She muttered under her breath, loud enough for any of them to hear.

“Cowards.”

Kenichi followed behind her, Aria strapped to his back. The mercenary pushed himself out to join them. He was wearing that ridiculous metal mask over his mouth, he looked proud wearing it.

“Jealous?” He asked when he noticed her glance.

Yoru thought it looked stupid but in the spirit of getting along with him, she decided not say it out loud.

She took a few steps outside and stopped to look at the giant wall in front of them with the many many holes carved through it. It looked like a pincushion and a chill went down Yoru’s spine. She didn’t like the way it looked. She tried to concentrating on her ears, but heard nothing but the pitiful humans following behind her as if she were a shepherd for a flock of sheep.

She had been told that they would be dropped at the very bottom of the Wishing Well. This wasn’t the bottom of the Well, so where had the elevator dropped them off at?

Yoru saw Aria rouse from the corner of her eyes. She turned to the broken priestess, her eyes were glowing a cerulean blue.

“They’re coming. Giant bugs with legs like a sharpened sword. They come in hordes. Take those that they deem worthy. Kill those that they deem worthless.” Her voice crackled in a whisper like that of a dying flame.

Then, she went slack. Her eyes unfocused. Drool dripping from her open mouth.

Yoru and Kenichi looked at Aria and then looked at each other.

Immediately, she pulled out the small dried piece of glowing blue fruit from her pouch. Kenichi did the same.

A Spirit Key.

Aria was unlike them. She had not inherited the Goddess’s Curse. She did not need to use a Spirit Key to harness Spirit Energy. Her Gate was open without using one. What should be a blessing might as well have been a curse for her.

Her ability to see the future had destroyed her mind. No longer was she the Priestess called the reincarnation of the Moon Goddess. Her silver hair that had been long and sleek, had been cut short and was drier than a corn husk. The wings on her back were dirty and grey.

Maybe if she hadn’t left the Order, then maybe…

Yoru shook the thought away. She didn’t have time to think about that. She chewed quickly on the Key. The bitter taste coated the inside of her mouth. Her nose in turn wrinkled from the taste. She forced it down and wanted to take a drink to wash the bitter juice from her mouth.

Almost immediately she felt her Gate creak open. Spirit Energy flushed throughout every inch of her body. She could feel her aura dance like the waves of sea storm.

Her ears suddenly picked up some scrapping sounds in the distance. It confused her for a bit, reminding her of the sound of swords hitting stone.

“Legs like a sharpened sword,” she murmured. She held out her hand, and her beloved black sword, Shadow Heart, arose from her shadow. Some of the prisoners behind her gaped as they witnessed it.

“Magic?”

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“There’s no such thing as magic. You saw her eat a fruit. That was a Spirit Key.”

“Hey.” Yoru turned to the prisoners behind her. She pointed up. “You better take out your weapons.”

Before they could ask for what, a hideous cry shook the air. Their unsaid question was answered, and Yoru scanned the wall, looking to find where they would be coming from.

Didn’t take too long to spot them, because they spilled from every hole on the wall. Jet black spiders the size of dogs. There were screams and yelling. Some prisoners looked excited and brandishing their weapons in pure exhilaration. Others ran back into the cage, only for it to snap shut. One of them was cut in half, his upper body left in the elevator as it pulled up.

The few prisoners that were still in the elevator gloated and looked relieved as they were pulled up.

The elevator stopped, and the top opened up. The spiders leapt inside the cage. Yoru didn’t need to see to know what happened to those poor fools. She dodged and stabbed a spider through it’s abdomen. It spat out a hideous screech, it legs flailed, one cut managed to cut her cheek. She wrenched Shadow Heart free from it’s abdomen and its warm guts spilled out.

A blast of air pressure cut a row of them. Subaru stepped over the corpses, steam sizzled between his lips. His right hand held his iron mask. Kenichi smashed a spider’s head as it attempted to attack him, his foot a mess of gore and blood.

“Stay together!” She barked. “I’ll lead! Subaru take the back, and blast any of them that come from the rear. Kenichi, guard Aria. We’re going through the hole over there.”

The hole she pointed to the nearest hole to them. While they were doing great defending for now, they were going to be overrun soon enough.

The bear gave a solemn nod and the oni gave a dispirited shrug.

Yoru led them, cutting down any spider that came close with the black blade. A criminal right next to her tried to cut one down with their axe. The thing bounced off as if it were made of rubber. The criminal trembled in fear before he was sliced in two.

More descended upon them. Yoru blocked its leg. She had intended to cut it, but seeing it up close the legs were sharper than a scimitar. She shoved it aside, dodging another attack from the spider, before bisecting it in two with a clean stroke.

With more of the prisoners being killed or dragged away by the spiders, more and more attacked them, screeching in rage from the death of their brethren. Yoru gritted her teeth as she stabbed another in the abdomen. Before the light in its eight eyes died, it swiped at her. Her arm burned

The wound was shallow, but blood continued to trickle. Yoru touched one of the blades, feeling a liquid coating it.

“Be careful!” She yelled behind her. “Don’t let them cut you. Their legs are coated with some anti-coagulating venom!”

“No shit!” Subaru said. His face was covered in cuts. He blew another sound blast cutting through several of them.

Kenichi continued to defend Aria, smashing the spiders with his blows infused aura.

They were easy to kill if you had the right equipment, but they were aggressive and an endless supply of them kept on spilling forth from those holes.

The criminal from earlier bumped into her. He looked up at her, his eyes wide and a sparkle of hope returning to them.

“Please!” He grabbed her leg. “Help! My father can make you a rich-”

Yoru stabbed him through the chest. Blood dribbled from his mouth. He looked down to his chest, not understanding why. Yoru kicked him off her blade and stepped over his body. Three spiders descended upon him, wrapping him up in a cocoon, no doubt to be used as meal for later.

Kenichi gave a slow shake of his head, disapproving of her behavior. It wasn’t really priestess like, she guessed at what he thought.

Nothing mattered to her right now. Only surviving.

They were close to the hole, to their exit, when a voice screeched.

“Death! Death!” Aria suddenly screamed awake.

“Which one?” Kenichi asked.

Before Aria could mutter the answer, the very ground they stood on shook. Yoru gritted her teeth. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it was certainly not something natural. She felt it below her. A giant pressure swallowed her whole.

She was in complete darkness, drifting like a wayward piece of wood from a broken ship. The destination the waves took her, pulsed with power and purpose. It drew her in. It wanted her to find it. Calling for her.

Yoru snapped back to reality, seeing Kenichi scream for her to wake up as he was being overwhelmed by many spiders. Aria was behind him, balled up and cowering as she saw the unforgivable future that was set to come.

Subaru was being dragged away. He was unconscious, his eyes rolled up and his mouth foaming. He had been no doubt hit with the same pressure as her.

How long had she been unconscious for? Regardless she swiped Shadow Heart from the floor and cut the blade spiders on top of Kenichi. With the spiders off of him, he took Aria in his arms. His gaze went to where Subaru had been taken.

“We got to go.” Yoru yanked at his gi. “He’s gone. If we try to rescue him, we’ll all be taken.”

His eyes wavered, but they become resolute and gave her an affirmative nod.

They ran through the hole, escaping the hell that had greeted them.

The piece of the Goddess sealed in this abyss had resonated with her soul. She was compatible with this piece and it called to her.

Welcoming her here.