The wind whistled and white clouds streaked by as the two goddesses embraced. Equals, for the first time, even in height, with Valerica’s head buried into Momo’s shoulder.

“Gods,” Valerica said, laughing coldly as she withdrew her head many long moments later. Her hair was mussed, her eyeliner dripping. “Would you look at that. How humiliating.”

Momo leaned back to get a good look at her, shaking her head instinctively.

“Having emotions isn’t humiliating.”

“Oh, not that, darling.” Valerica wiped her fingers beneath her eyes, her hand coming back black with makeup. “I have no issue with shedding a few bodily fluids. I was only referring to the fact that I am about to die with my face in such a state.”

Momo looked at her in alarm, but the other woman’s face revealed nothing.

“It’s really a shame,” she said. Valerica flourished her hand delicately upward, green magic curling around her fingertips. Her somber smile had begun to grow into a fully-fledged one, all teeth, with her sharp canines peeking out. “I always dreamed of rotting away beautifully, under some tree, covered in mold and moss. But perhaps being consumed—devoured—is an even more gorgeous metaphor. Oh, what a delight!”

The wind seemed to whistle even louder suddenly.

“Valerica,” she said, reaching out to grab her wrist. “What the hell are you talking about—”

“We have visitors!” Valerica laughed maniacally. “I call on Morgana to switch my domain!”

It was only at that moment that Momo finally craned her head downward, seeing for the first time the enormous, undulating black mass that was rising from below. It was not one single massive creature, not a cloud titan or a dragon, but hundreds of disparate heads and bodies and blackened limbs. It had not been the wind hissing at all—but hundreds of simultaneous animal cries, singing together in a freakish chorus.

Type: Nether Demon. Level 170.

Type: Nether Demon. Level 152.

Type: Nether Demon. Level 89.

…

Momo’s mind went utterly blank.

The demons were coming too fast for her to react; the threat was simply too massive. What spell could she even use? Nearly all her magic was made of Nether. Would it even harm them? She doubted it. She had managed to evade her own nether demon with nothing but quick reflexes, but she couldn’t dodge her way out of a monster tsunami.

Before another thought could cross her mind, they were upon her. A black hand clawed around Momo’s ankle. Then another. Their fingers felt like flaming matches, Momo’s skin burning with the intensity of the sun.

Certain death had arrived, and she was out of time.

“[Protect from the Elements],” Valerica yelled, then followed with, “[Acid Rain]!”

Momo felt an overwhelming numbness flow from where her hand was wrapped around Valerica’s wrist, and quickly spread throughout the rest of her body, gooseflesh prickling across her neck and down her legs.

The only sensation she could still feel was the burning around her ankles. But that didn’t last much longer, as Valerica’s green mist congealed above them into a cloud-like form, and hundreds of acidic green droplets sprayed down onto them, burning holes straight through the demons. The torso of whatever creature had wrapped itself around her legs was promptly severed from its arms, and its fingers unclenched soon after.

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Their bodies rapidly dissolving, the creatures violently dispersed. They went from traveling in a tight pack, each demon nearly indecipherable from the next, to hovering in disarray at the periphery of the acid rain, which sprayed down in one long cylinder. The rain served as a temporary shield for Valerica and Momo, as none of the creatures dared come near it.

“Huh. I didn’t expect that to work,” Valerica said, turning to her. She had a wide, devilish smile on her face. Not the kind you’d expect from someone who was fending off imminent demise. “But it appears it’s only a temporary fix. Their limbs are already growing back.”

Indeed, right in front of Momo was the very creature that had been searing the skin off her ankles, and sprouting from its shoulders were two little black stubs, quickly reforming themselves into proper appendages. Momo noticed that behind the creatures, the mountains had begun to darken. The trees on them had gone bare, all of their leaves gone.

“They’re eating the environment,” Momo said, more of a question than a declaration as she looked towards Valerica. “Devouring the nether inside this place to rebuild themselves.”

“Ooh, so astute!” Valerica said, clapping her hands. “Well observed.”

Momo grimaced. She did not feel astute. Hundreds of blank, eyeless faces were hissing and screaming at her, clawing at the air. No, she felt terrified, and more importantly, confused.

“Why can these ones fly?” she asked. “The demon I met in my onboarding couldn’t fly.”

“Ah. Well that one’s easy. The onboarding dungeon has different rules than the rest of the Nether,” Valerica replied, her hand rigid in the air to uphold the [Acid Rain] spell. It seemed to be one of the spells that required ongoing concentration to keep active. “It was most likely suppressing the majority of your demon friend’s powers.”

“Oh. Fun.” Momo did not like the idea that the demon she fought in onboarding was a heavily suppressed version of the real thing. “How long can you keep that spell going for?”

“For quite a while, I presume,” Valerica said, gazing up as green liquid drenched her hair. If it wasn’t for the elemental protection spell she had cast, neither of them would likely have any hair left at all. Or skin. “But the fact that I’m able to fend them off so easily is plowing quite a few unpleasant holes through my devouring-the-gods plan.”

“And thank god it is,” Momo muttered.

“I suppose you’re right,” Valerica sighed. “I really do need to stop relying so heavily on sending a horde of monsters to do my dirty work. It didn’t work for Sera during the first Calamity. Why would it work now?”

Momo wasn’t listening. As always during Valerica’s soliloquies, there were bigger fish to fry. “We need to get out of here. I’m going to open a rift portal,” Momo said, already looking down at her hands. She had used them to open one once, she could do it again.

“About that…”

Valerica gave her a guilty glance. Momo did not like the look of it.

“I sort of designed this area so that you can only enter and leave through one exit: the rift that connects it to the Vacant Edge. Nether demons have an annoying tendency to create rift portals even when they’re incapacitated—it’s second nature to them, since they can open them by chewing on the Nether like it’s an after-dinner snack—so I was forced to take that precaution. Without it, they would have escaped.”

Momo groaned. “Crap.”

“Don’t get down on yourself, darling. First ideas are never the best ones.”

“That would be fine if I had a second one.”

Valerica tilted her eyebrow up. Momo blew out a breath.

She’s right. Just focus.

Squinting, Momo drew a path in her mind from the clouds back down to where they had emerged onto the fields. The portal was so far away she couldn’t actually see it, but she knew roughly where it was. If they dove toward it with enough speed, they could probably outrun the demons.

Maybe.

Momo had seen just how quickly they had ascended to their location. She wasn’t confident that the demons’ were actually slower than them. They were very… aerodynamic.

“Once we go through the rift portal to the Vacant Edge…” Momo began, turning to Valerica. A shiver went down her spine when she made eye contact with the blank face of the demon lurking right behind her. Its mouth was open and drooling. “Can we close it behind us?”

Valerica nodded. “I believe so. A few demons might escape behind us, but the rift portal can’t fit all of them.”

“Okay,” Momo breathed, cracking her knuckles. “Can you keep the acid rain effect going above us as we fly toward the portal?”

“Well, no.”

Momo’s lips fell. “No?”

“I fear this spell has a cooldown of one Nether week, darling.” Valerica smiled tightly. “As soon as I stop maintaining it, I won’t be able to cast it again.”

“Oh, of course.” Momo was starting to understand why Morgana decided to throw in the towel. Being a god required so much patience. “Why are these cooldowns so long?!”

“God spells are very powerful. If one could fling them around with such ease, then Kyros would have cooked Alois to smithereens already.”

Momo frowned, remembering the current state of her queendom. She prayed Sumire was faring better than she was.

“Okay,” Momo said, taking a steady breath in. “Plan C, then.”

Valerica grinned, delighted. “Which is?”

“We fly…” Momo rolled up her sleeves. “As fast as physically possible.”