The group had made it past even the fourth floor by now. Sadly, they never got to dig through it due to how the Shrine was set up, but they also didn't have anything to do in there either now that the beds were gone.

"Well, we're officially no longer in the Shrine's barrier." Elegy said, "I can feel the White parts of my body getting numb again."

"Gah!"

"Nerys! What's wrong?!"

"Disorientatin'..." She shivered, "Roights n' lef's jus' switch'd."

Given she was half and half, this reaction was to be expected, though none of the others thought about it before. The scare, they felt however, was more than unnecessary.

"So how long do we have left until we can stop digging?" Hats asked.

"Until we reach the Living World." Sab replied.

"In otha' wurds, notta' clue."

"Easy for you to say when I'm the one actually digging." Elegy glared back.

After scaring her enough, Elegy had to endure a hellish revenge from Nerys' slaps and fists. Back then, he managed to block the initial few hits with ease, but given the tight space they were in, as well as the fact he refused to hit back, and eventually even the legendary swordsman fell against the female seafarer. As the loser, he was forced to keep digging until the bitter end.

"Much to my dismay..." Elegy muttered under his breath.

"Wot wuz' dat?"

"B-Be that as it may!" He jolted, "What will we even do if we reach the World below?"

"Oh right, I wonder if we'll remain in these bodies or not..." Sab glanced at his own.

"What will we do if the people don't accept us?" Hats worried.

"Oi! Wot's tha' worryin' about?" Nerys hugged him over the shoulder, "We'll jus' be sailin' tha' seas, in that caes, har har!"

Of course, it wouldn't at all be that simple. As romantic as that idea sounds, it just wouldn't be viable for anyone but Nerys herself. Few people are good with sailing in general, so expecting a bunch of inexperienced men to suddenly pick up its intricacies in a flash is nothing if not wishful thinking.

"Ignoring the fact these guys don't know anything about seafaring..." Elegy pointed at Hats and Sab, "Who even knows what era we'll end up in."

"Ah, that's right." Sab agreed, "The best we could hope for is if we end up in my modern era, but there's a very real chance we end up in one of yours."

"Er' werse—an era nunnav' as hail frum." Nerys pointed out.

This was, by all accounts, treading into the unknown. Beneath them, neither safety nor danger were guaranteed. Hell, they might even end up digging for infinity, searching for an end that may never arrive. Then again, the deeper they got, the more their resolution grew. They didn't wanna back out, not after how far they've come. Regardless, this didn't mean they had other qualms.

"What will we do about Vastoria?" Sab asked.

"Huh?"

"Are we abandoning her?" He reiterated, "And Sheep too, not to mention Migu. Aren't they our friends?"

"W-We..." Hats bit his tongue as he nervously looked over at Elegy.

"...Hey now." Elegy chuckled, "Who said we were gonna leave them? Obviously we'll go back to get them!"

"But Vastoria needs to get healed first!"

"...We'll figure it out."

He was running out of things to say. In truth, Elegy had accidentally forgotten all about the allies that brought them this far. It wasn't intentional, and this was only the case because of his thirst for adventure. He felt bad, but chances were he'd have to hold off on actually digging to the bottom until they were all rounded up.

"You can't figure it out." Sab crossed his arms, "Even if we did heal her, we'd still need to dig a separate hole for Sheep since he can't pass through the Shrine's barrier."

"Dude, if we heal one, we heal the other!" Elegy's anger rose.

"Then what about Migu, huh!?" He shouted, "You think she's just gonna fall from the air, huh?!"

The other two wanted to step in, but the air between Elegy and Sab was far too bitter. The tension was at an all-time high, and it was anyone's guess as to who was gonna swing first and when, including the two men. Elegy couldn't take it anymore, however...

"Then what the hell do you want from me!?"

"I want you to think about your teammates, dammit!" Sab shot back, "Leaving them behind... Even I wouldn't do that to you, and you caused me the most trouble of all!"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"...Then you do it." Elegy spat at him before continuing to dig, "You think you're so good, round 'em up yourself."

"Matey!"

"Elegy!"

"Hrm..." Sab extended his wings, "I guess I will."

"Laddie, nau holup' jus' a sec!"

"You too, Elegy, you two need to make up!" Hats stepped in as well.

Just then, everyone went dead silent. They heard something from above, fast approaching. A terrifying, blood-curdling scream that would make anyone tremble. Elegy didn't dare swing even once more, and Sab refused to fly up in fear of having to face off against whatever the source of this screaming was.

"C-Come on, dig!" Sab ordered Elegy.

"Excuse me!?"

"I don't know what that shrieking is, but in case you haven't noticed—it'll be here any minute!" Sab took the pick from him and started digging himself, "We could reach the other side any second now, so we better dig until the very last moment!"

As if motivated like never before, Sab dug with an incredible vigor to him. After a few more speedy and strong swings, he eventually did it. With this, they had reached a thin layer of metal. Tapping on it suggested the other side was at the very least hollow, meaning they are most likely at the border between worlds.

"Find a way to dig through it!" Everyone scrambled for an answer.

"Come on...! Break, damn you!" Sab swung at the metal sheet to no avail.

"Crap, the shrieking is here...!" They glanced up, "No-!"

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***

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I jumped down the hole. I did it, and I didn't look back. Well, not like I could anyways. Gravity just wouldn't allow me any takebacks, I'm afraid. How cruel.

"Migu, calm down!" The brain in my hands shouted.

"Ahhhhh~!"

Though it may seem on the outside that I am very scared—internally, I'm terrified. Yeah, these screams show only but a fraction of my true power... The power to shriek like a scared idiot.

"Seriously, quit it! We don't know who's down there!" Energy shushed me, "We need to make a good first impression."

"Yeah!? Well, going splat isn't exactly the best first impression to give somebody either!"

Geez, just how deep is this hole!? We've been falling for so long, my throat actually got tired. Not like that's gonna stop me from shouting though, that's here to stay.

"I-I know!" I tried reaching for the walls, "If I try to just grab on to the side..."

"Don't!" He stopped me, "At best, you'll rip your fingers off, at worst—your entire arm." Energy explained, "Either way, it won't stop your fall."

"Then what do I do?!"

"Pray that whoever's at the bottom will break your fall."

We expected the hole to end somewhere inside the Shrine, meaning I could just land on my feet without any issues, but my body's already starting to numb up again. This is an issue, my echoes are already starting to grow weaker, meaning we're closing in on the bottom. I'll need to somehow land on my spine...

"...Tch, sorry, but bear with it!" I clicked my tongue, holding his brain out in front of me, "My shoulder isn't gonna like this, but it's better than dying!"

"Oi, you're gonna use me to break your fall!?" He yelped.

"You can't feel any pain anyways, so who cares!?" I braced for impact, "Ngahhhh~...!"

I had my Eyes closed, but my shoulder definitely informed me when we hit the ground. Surprisingly, we broke clean through in spite of this. Just when I had hoped to stand on both feet again, I found myself in a freefall state once more. Peeking my Eyes open, I was astonished by the view splayed out before me.

"W-Whoa..." I gawked at the expanse in front of me, "Is this... the Living World?"

"M-" Gale's voice made my head turn, "Migu! It's you, isn't it!?"

"Matey, ye' kno' this lass!?" A girl with twintails and a funny accent asked.

"You guys, more importantly..." Sab yelled, "We're still falling!"

Oh, right. I was just way too baffled by this lineup that it totally slipped my mind. The atmosphere around us was still dark, signifying we were in space. Regardless, something was indeed pulling us to the ground. From this high up, it's only possible to make out the basic geography of the planet. I couldn't quite make out any giveaways about what era we were in, but this was definitely the world I used to live in.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" I smiled.

"Uwooh~" Twintails inquired, "Holup, whoi's it curv'd?"

"Whoa, you're right!" A golden one armed hunk added, "Is this another illusion from Heaven?"

"You idiots, the world is a sphere." Sab rolled his Eyes, "Common knowledge."

"No wae!"

Guess those two are quite old themselves. To not know the world isn't flat, they must be more ancient than Throne...

"Sab, can you still use your wings?" Gale asked.

Just as he asked this, Sab's golden wings melted behind him.

"I... can't." He glanced back, "Huh, not just the wings...!"

The same happened to all of us as well, or rather, our gilded parts. Gale's scars, Sab's hoops, the guy's arm, the girl's... entire half. We were back to completely White beings, albeit some of us still missing some parts.

"What's happening!?" I yelled.

"Guess we're left with no other way to find out!" Gale was oddly enough grinning, "Whoa, the sky is slowly turning from black to Blue!"

"We're entering the atmosphere!" Sab explained, "This means air is finally around us!"

Oh, so we didn't need air before. That's good to know. So if we survive this, will I be able to breathe underwater? I kinda don't wanna find out, though. Just bring me to land and I'll be happy. But to think that we did it. This isn't an illusion, it's really here, after all this time...

"You guys still numb?" Gale asked.

"Yep!"

"Yeah."

"Aye!"

"Looks like we'll be landing somewhere in the desert of Abyssus Solis." He could hardly keep his excitement in check, "It's gonna be a trek and a half until we find any form of civilization, but so long as we stick together, it should be fine!"

"Almost there!" Sab's voice cracked, "Nerys, let go of my hand, dammit!"

"Oi'm scarred!" She pouted, "At leas' gimme sum' courage, laddie!"

Soon, the one armed guy also latched onto her. Following suit, Gale grabbed Sab's other hand before extending his right to me. I guess we're doing this. I'd form a circle with the one armed guy, but for obvious reasons that's not quite possible. The ground was fast approaching, and Sab lost his wings. All we could do was wait and hope for the best now.

"Shall we do a countdown?" Elegy asked warmly.

"Ten." I started us off, "Nine, eight..."

"Seven." They all started chanting after me, "Six, five."

Five more seconds. It hardly feels real, but in five more seconds we'll have escaped Heaven 2.0. This isn't the end, though. We still need to find a way to bring Vastoria and the others over as well.

"Four!" We continued, "Now, everybody! Three, two, one...!"

Admittedly, I closed my Eyes at the last moment. Can you really blame me? I was about to faceplant on the hot, hard sand after falling from space, and yet I couldn't even use my hands to shield my face. Though, when I opened my Eyes again, what I saw left me speechless.