Vivi blocked the monster’s ambush with her sword by sheer luck. She stumbled backward by the force of the impact, managing to barely stand.

“It’s strong,” Lucius said. “Nothing like the monsters on the upper levels.”

The monster was an assassin wearing a multi-layered ethereal hood. Its weapon was a white misty dagger. The face beneath its hood was pitch black, and so were its hands and limbs. Its skin appeared unstable, made of black-tinted pure ether.

“A ghost blade!” Lucius shouted. “We fight!”

Ether flowed through her, preparing her for battle. Lucius’s reserves had grown enough for Vivi to feel a considerable boost in strength. Against this monster, she had to go all out. There was no time to ensure nobody was watching.

She wielded her sword with her right hand, letting Lucius turn her left into claws. She held the sword in front as her main weapon, the claws slightly back. If the monster got too close, Vivi could use the claws for a quick counter-attack.

That was the plan at least, until the monster charged. In a flash, the dagger was aimed at her face.

Vivi panicked and swiped with her claws and swung her sword at the same time. Her form was bad; she could barely see her target, and her guard was wide open. Her swing swiped air, hitting nothing.

The monster’s ethereal figure flashed by the side of her eye. The monster easily dodged Vivi’s attack, preparing a counter-attack.

Vivi attempted to recover, but she was too slow to defend. The dagger’s sharp tip was thrust at her face.

“I got it!” Lucius said. The cat’s red figure retracted from Vivi’s body. Lucius held out his claws dagger, blocking the dagger. The blow sent Lucius flying, but the dagger was parried away from Vivi’s face.

She swung with her sword, having had enough time to recover.

The monster jumped back, reassessing the situation.

“I can fight too,” Lucius said, quickly floating back beside her. “Spirits aren’t merely enhancements. If you fail to defend, I can help.”

Thanks, Vivi thought. She took a moment to catch her breath. Her nails had turned to normal. Without Lucius empowering her core, no new ether would flow through her. Fighting separately had a cost.

Vivi had to be the main fighter. Otherwise, she would quickly turn into an etherless liability. Lucius knew this. He flew back inside Vivi’s core, turning her nails back to claws.

“We’ll lose on the defense,” Lucius said. “Attack him with no fears. Focus purely on offense. I’ll take care of its attacks. Trust me on this.”

Vivi understood the idea. Executing it was far scarier. She stood still, instincts jumbled, uncertain what to do.

“Just charge it with your sword,” Lucius said. “Imagine you’re hitting a doll. If it runs, you charge after it.”

Vivi took a deep breath. Then she did what Lucius asked, charging the monster with her sword.

Her swing was clumsy and uncertain. The monster blocked easily. Vivi’s heart dropped as a counter-attack was once again thrown at her throat.

Lucius appeared from her core, blocking the attack. “Keep going! Don’t stop!”

Vivi lifted her sword, clumsily swinging again. The monster jumped back. Lucius flew back to her core.

Vivi cursed underneath her breath. Her inexperience showed. She was slow and unconfident, lacking in all of the skills a fighter was supposed to have. Just because she had a weapon didn’t mean she was strong.

But she understood what she had to do. Lucius would defend while she attacked. She needed to win.

Vivi cried out and charged the monster again, this time swinging with force. She missed; a clash sounded as Lucius blocked another counter-attack. Vivi attacked again, trusting her spirit to defend her life.

The monster threw more and more attacks at her, while she continued missing. She managed to block a few daggers, but her blind spots were entirely up to Lucius. Without her spirit, she would have died a dozen times over. Lucius was exerting his all to keep her alive. She charged the monster again.

Focus! Vivi told herself. She was swinging mindlessly, still subconsciously afraid in her head.

With her next swing, she tried to see. The monster’s movements were fast, but it wasn’t teleporting. It, too, used the same laws of momentum that Vivi did. She had to focus.

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Slowly, Vivi began to ignore distractions. She was getting into the fight. She watched the monster’s movements, predicting where it was going to go. Where would it try to attack her next?

Read its movements… See where it’s going to jump…

There! Vivi thrust her sword forward as if it was a spear aimed at the monster’s chest.

The monster was taken aback in surprise. It twisted its stomach unnaturally to barely dodge the attack.

Lucius appeared from Vivi’s core. This time not for defense, but for offense. He swiped with his claws, hitting the monster’s face. Glowing claw-marks appeared underneath the pitch-black hood. The monster’s footing wavered.

Vivi slammed her sword down.

The sword landed, cutting the monster in half. The assassin dissolved into a clump of bones, ether sizzling from within.

It took Vivi a moment to realize she had won. Wisps of ether rose from the monster’s body.

In the dark, there was something magical about ether. The wisps shone like a campfire in the cold. Lucius quickly collected the ether from the monster. His reserves rose all the way to 140.

“Your first kill,” Lucius said. His voice was exhausted, but he was grinning. “A real kill, fought fairly. How does it feel?”

Our kill, Vivi said. I would have died if I fought alone.

“Good thing I’m not going anywhere,” Lucius said. “Although, you will need to learn how to swing properly. It will get tiring if I need to constantly save you.”

Vivi sighed to calm herself down. That was one of the most terrifying things she’d done. But the rewards were massive. Lucius already had more ether than what nimrods had to earn in a week.

Something moved down in the tunnel below. Vivi glanced down to see a surprised head peeking in from behind a corner. A horned head. It was a demon.

Vivi’s heart dropped. Had someone seen Lucius out in the open?

“Hello?” she called. “Who’s there?”

The demon revealed himself fully. Vivi squinted. Something was familiar about his red-skinned face. The demon seemed to recognize her, too.

Oh, hell, Vivi thought. It was Lars. The leader of the group of slaves. The same demon who kicked her on her first day.

“You?” Lars asked, face wide open in surprise. “You defeated the ghost-blade?”

Vivi instinctively prepared a step backward. She wasn’t eager to be kicked once again. However, as she looked closer, she noticed something had changed. Lars didn’t appear hostile. Rather, his expression was spooked. The overconfident wits were knocked out of him. He looked as if he’d grown ten years.

Vivi stood her ground. She took a forward. “I did kill it. Is there a problem?”

“No, um, no there is not,” Lars said. He stepped out of her way, letting Vivi into the next room down.

A group of demons were sitting across the room with gloomy expressions. A few of them were tossing rocks into an underground river. Vivi recognized a lot of the demons—it was the same bunch of red-skinned slaves that had followed Lars on the first day. The group had shrunk by half from the first day, and a lot of the men had broken weapons.

Lucius laughed inside Vivi. “Not so easy, is it? A day in, and they’re already beaten down.”

“Is this your territory?” Vivi asked Lars.

“No,” Lars said. “We were trying to climb back to the hub. A ghost blade spawned above, blocking our paths. We were told strong monsters were rare up here. We weren’t supposed to meet anything like that! We’re lucky nobody died to its ambush.”

“Well, it’s clear now,” Vivi said. “You’re free to go.”

Lars clicked his tongue, looking uncomfortable. “You really killed it? How?”

He didn’t witness the fight, Vivi thought. Good.

“I’m not as weak as I look,” Vivi said, giving Lars the side eye. She calmly walked past, ignoring Lars’ baffled look.

“Let’s go, then,” one of the others said. He stood up and patted himself down. “We gained enough ether. Almost, at least. Our weapons will need repairs.”

The rest of the group stood and headed back to the hub. Nobody said anything as they passed Vivi. At most, they looked apologetic, sorry for themselves.

Vivi watched them go. The sorry bunch of demons left without goodbyes.

A sour taste welled in Vivi’s mouth. She didn’t have any reason to feel bad, but for some reason, the sight was sad. Lars and his group were nimrods. They were fighting for survival, just like everyone else. Sure, they were assholes and bullies, probably all criminals in their past lives, but they were all slaves in this cruel prison. And the prison was eating them alive.

“Impressive,” a new voice said from below.

Vivi turned her head. The new arrival was a horned man, wearing a black jacket. His eyes were black, but he didn’t seem to be one of the blue-cloaks. He leaned against the wall, smirking at Vivi. “You defeated a ghost blade alone?”

Vivi raised her sword cautiously. The man had a lot less muscle than Lars, but somehow, this man felt a lot stronger.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” the man said. “I’m not here to kill you.”

“Did you watch the fight?” Vivi asked.

“I eavesdropped,” the man said. “That bunch of muscle heads came down to the lower levels asking for help. A ghost blade apparently blocked the path and nobody could kill it. I was about to help them. It seems I was too late.”

“Sorry for taking the kill,” Vivi said.

“Not at all,” the man said. “I’m Ven, one of Aang’s officials. We’re always welcoming of the strong. What’s your name? What group do you belong to?”

“Vivi,” she said. “I don’t belong to any group.”

“Fantastic,” Ven said. “There’s probably room for you on the lower levels. Come with me. I’ll show you around.”

Vivi considered the offer for a moment. It was too early to guess what Ven wanted from her. To rob her? Unlikely, but always possible. To recruit her into some contract? Maybe.

“Let’s see what he has to say,” Lucius said. “If we go with him, he’ll take us to the lower levels. I can keep examining the place meanwhile.”

Vivi agreed. She sheathed her sword, sneakily offering it to Lucius’s spatial storage. “Thank you for the offer.”

She joined Ven’s company. Hopefully this isn’t some beginners’ trap…