The woman took a step forwards, and her sword blazed with a pale golden flame, as she used her Flames of Judgement on it. For some reason, her Divinity was different to Jonathan’s, paler, and somewhat weaker. It wasn’t simply a question of her being lower level, as Jonathan’s Divinity had always been a rich golden color. There was something else at play here.

Notes of some other conceptual alignment resonated through the woman’s flames, with loose connections to things like the sky and the element of Air. Jonathan wasn’t sure how such a thing was possible, but apparently, it was. Had he known more about his abilities, he would have realized what was going on, but unfortunately, he had been sent to the Hells, a place where such information wasn’t forthcoming.

Three blades of white light peeled off the end of Eliza’s blade, cutting through the air itself in their pursuit of their target. The mole let out a hiss, and a bulwark of stone exploded from the ground in front of it, blocking the incoming strikes. Bits of stone flew everywhere as Eliza’s attacks carved through the wall, fracturing it under its own weight. A spray of blood jetted up behind the barricade as the mole was carved asunder, and the wall fell apart into tiny shards, revealing the corpse of the monster behind it.

Jonathan smiled at the sight, glad that yet another powerhouse had joined his forces.

As essence rushed into Eliza, Jonathan watched a similar smile cross her face. He instantly realized why.

“Tier 3?” Jonathan asked.

“Yep. I’ll initiate the upgrade when we return to the Oozing Bastion.”

Jonathan frowned. “How close were you before? How did you avoid the strength drain in the Ash Heaps?”

Eliza shrugged. “I fought with a unit. Even with the demerit to my power, it was still enough. This monster provided a massive boost to my levels as well.”

“I guess. Must be your Outsider powers at work.”

Leaving the corpse of the mole behind, the group continued off into the wilds of the newly fused realm, searching for ever stronger monsters.

A day was spent hunting down more of the mole monsters, as well as finding a nest of Muck Munchers, who seemed lethargic and drained, likely from the sudden removal of their natural habitat. All that Jonathan saw was an essence farm of sorts, providing all of the levels that were needed.

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Blasts of Divinity and light crisscrossed the field, leaving blackened blood splattered across the ground, and the bloated corpses of the toad-like beasts along with them. It was a massacre, plain and simple.

Jonathan lent a hand now and again, but for the most part, and to his surprise, his allies were more than able to deal with the threats. Eliza in particular was immensely powerful for her level, although that could have been because of her pale flames. With her new Smite ability, taught to her by Jonathan, she was even stronger than before.

Again, Jonathan felt a slight sense of wrongness. Smite had been the very first skill he had created, and it had barely needed any sort of conscious input from him. How had Eliza missed it? Perhaps Divinity expressed itself in different ways, but why then had Jonathan been able to learn Eliza’s technique, and vice-versa? It was almost as if the woman had been granted the skill by someone else.

Before long, dozens of monsters littered the ground, and all of his allies had gained multiple levels, with many of them near or at the peak of Tier 3. Eliza was the only one still in Tier 2, but it would not be for long. All of her kills served to bank essence for Tier 3, and as soon as she upgraded her class, more levels would pour in.

Jonathan watched approvingly as his followers leveled and fought, happy that he would be entering the next circle with a full complement of powerful fighters. He kept an eye on Eliza, but she did nothing suspicious, and he was forced to withhold judgement for now. However, he vowed to get to the bottom of the holes in her story, and how exactly she had ended up in the Hells.

As they headed back towards the Oozing Bastion, Jonathan sidled in next to Eliza. He had taken his helmet off to seem more approachable.

“Are you feeling ready for the next realm?” He asked.

“Definitely. I have enough essence to make it to around level 220. With my other powers, that should help me survive.”

“Good. Where exactly did you learn how to use that flame ability?” Jonathan said, wanting to see if he could get to the bottom of it without raising her suspicions.

Eliza’s eyes danced away for a second. “Hmm? It… just kind of came to me. Why?”

Jonathan smiled disarmingly. “Just because I had a much different experience. If we can synchronize how to gain Divinity skills, perhaps we can find more.”

“Oh. I’m not sure what to say. I… had a vision. The skill just kind of came to me.”

Jonathan nodded, but he was starting to have his doubts. “Right. Well, I’ll have to look out for some visions. For now, good job with leveling. We’re going to need every last advantage we can get.”

Eliza nodded and started to walk away from him, seemingly deep in thought. Jonathan watched her go, feeling a bit nervous. Now he was sure that something was happening beneath the surface, but whether it was simply because Eliza had really gained her Divinity in a different way, or because she had done something nefarious, he could not tell. Either way, he would need to watch her closely.