A Banishedborn. Here, on what remained of the slopes of Lionshard mountain. As if Rieren’s luck couldn’t get any worse.

The man even looked the part too. He was dressed in splendid, scaled armour of red and gold scales, crimson tassels flying off his shoulder. Gleaming gauntlets covered his forearms, similarly constructed greaves adorning his legs. The red hair on his head hung down like a mane.

He had a strange short spear in his hand. It looked like it was made of some kind of rock that resembled dried blood.

“Which one are you?” Rieren asked.

“I would be mortally offended at that question,” the Banishedborn said with a sly grin. “Had I been mortal. I am, thankfully, not any longer. Rasashen of the Graven Wound is my lord, and by his merit and wish, I, Essastior, will bring an end to your tyranny, Arianaele.”

Rasashen. One of the more obscure gods she hadn’t had many dealings with, other than that time she had nearly killed him off. He hadn’t dared to stand against her directly after that encounter. Clearly, he was trying to get a leg ahead of the others in this case.

Though, considering the fact that Kervantes—curse that mechanical bastard—had used the Dew Talisman, Rieren was surprised it wasn’t one of Destrinn’s Banishedborn come to take her head. Had to be some sort of godly politics at work.

Rieren looked past the tall man. Farther behind, a wall of black-and-gold flames indicated where Essalina and the other Arteroth had protected themselves against the thunderbird’s crashing landing. They were safe. She wasn’t sure how she ought to feel about that. But then, if they were alive, perhaps she could make use of them.

“Nothing further to say?” Essastior asked. “I hoped you would have some magnanimous last words I could carry back to my lord, but alas. It seems your head will have to do.”

“It was the Emperor’s own words not to harm those dissidents from the previous timeline that the empire has identified as threats,” Rieren said.

That made the Essastior pause for a moment. “How could you possibly know that?”

“Did you think my supposed ignorance of the matter would have made your murderous intentions alright?”

“Not at all. But you see, the thing is that I am not affiliated in any way with the Emperor. I am not part of those who are safeguarding him and ensuring the Elderlands move in the right direction. As such, I am not obliged to follow whatever commands he wished to bandy about.”

Rieren had been afraid of that. She hadn’t expected anything she might say would ever stop him, but it had been worth an attempt.

Essastior raised his short spear high into the air. Red tendrils of energy were spiralling down his arms from the point where he gripped it. Now that Rieren looked closer, she could see that the spear was wrapped in what looked like tiny red briars. It was these same briars that were coursing down their wielder’s arm and drawing reddish gold blood.

The blood sizzled as it struck the ground. A whirl of energy burst into being around the Banishedborn. His Domain. It looked strong. A quick slash by his spear sent a wave of the red energy coursing straight at Rieren.

She had already summoned her Domain in response. A quick stomp sent much of the stormy water around her rising up in a short geyser around her. All the water was suffused with the same glimmering energy as before.

The protection it offered was only scant. As soon as the bloody energy collided with her Domain water, they exploded into a lightning storm.

Rieren was fast enough to swing her sword with Earthfall Blade active. It prevented the blast from reaching her directly. But the arcs were flying in every direction and she couldn’t protect everything, unfortunately.

Wherever else they struck down, little detonations went up at all of the impacts. Rieren wasn’t fast enough to prevent all those blasts from hitting her. She was thrown off her feet when one such little explosion hit the ground a few paces away from her. As she was flung backwards, the rest of her Domain blew up under the Banishedborn’s attack.

At least Rieren hadn’t been hit too hard. She was still able to reorient herself to land on her feet before she crashed down.

“My, my, you survived again!” Essastior sounded quite surprised. “But how many attacks can you last without falling apart?”

That was certainly a good question. Her whole Domain had been destroyed by just one of the Banishedborn’s moves, and it was apparent to all who observed the debacle that it had to be the least of his powers. If Essastior brought his true strength to bear, Rieren would be flattened in a matter of moments.

She gritted her teeth together. What was the point of getting this incredible power from Batcat if it still failed to keep her safe for as long as she needed to be?

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

A wash of black-and-gold flames erupted at the Banishedborn’s back. He was quick to counteract it, of course. Before the Arteroth’s fire could touch him, he had swung his other arm at it. Red aura flickered to life around him, bringing with it a disembodied wing of the thunderbird.

Rieren stared. That wing was much larger than she had thought at first.

Not only did the wing block all of the Arteroth’s attack, a single swipe from it also sent the entire barrage of flames hurtling back to their wielders. The wing also dragged its lower feathers along the ground, sending a little landslide crumbling down the mountainside. No consideration whatsoever of Lionshard’s already destroyed state.

That hadn’t even sufficed as a distraction. Not for a single moment had the Banishedborn taken his dark eyes off Rieren.

“That was a poor attempt at a distraction, would you not say so?” Essastior asked.

Rieren grinned sardonically. “Perhaps. But—”

She froze and staggered. Batcat suddenly appeared before her with a shimmer of soft white light, staring at the Banishedborn without a lick of fear or trepidation. At the same time, she could feel herself returning to her regular state. Her form shortened, her strength decreased, and she no longer had the sense that she was filled to the brim with power.

But Batcat had appeared at the same time too. Had that disappearing act been a part of granting her the power to become her past self? Was that how it worked? She hadn’t even been able to count how long she’d had the power.

“What an adorable little pet,” the Banishedborn said. He lowered himself down onto his haunches, making clicking sounds at the cat and wagging his fingers. “Come here, kitten. If you move, I will not have to kill you alongside your little mistress. Come on. Come over, please.”

Rieren licked the inside of her mouth and swallowed down the strange feelings arising at Essastior’s act. It didn’t matter he was kind to animals. After all, he was part thunderbird himself. He was still her enemy, still here to kill her.

Batcat didn’t move. Apparently, it felt the same way she did.

The Banishedborn shook his head regretfully. “Well, have it your way, then. I did offer you a chance.”

He raised his spear overhead again, but before he could activate whatever skill he might have used to end Rieren once and for all, Batcat acted. It coughed out a little hairball.

Rieren stared at the little ball of wet fur. She didn’t get the time to wonder if it was meant for her, whether she ought to use it on her blade and enchant it with whatever power was suffused in that hairball.

The little hairball exploded.

The swirl of Essence coming from the little blast made Rieren stagger backwards. That power was tremendous, but more than that, the feeling was what had driven her the initial impulse to retreat. The Essence coming from it wasn’t normal. It was corrupted. Abyss-Aspected. Batcat was—

An Abyss Rent popped into life between Rieren and the Banishedborn.

“What in the world?” the Banishedborn had sent away his Domain to take several steps backwards as well. “You keep a little Abyss Summoner in your pocket?”

Rieren would have gladly said yes to that, but she didn’t have any idea what Batcat’s intention was in this specific instance. All she knew was that she could trust it. After all, it had not only helped her along so far in her journey, it also had an imperative objective it had to see to. And that required Rieren being alive.

She got back to her feet. At least the Abyss Rent had granted her a little space from the Banishedborn. She had to make use of the brief reprieve Batcat had granted her.

Not that she understood how it was doing… whatever it was doing. The last time it had coughed out a hairball, all it had contained was Divine-Aspected Essence. Essence that had allowed her to kill a powerful Abyssal.

It was arguable that the current hairball also contained Essence, just Abyss-Aspected instead of Divine-Aspected. Though, just the presence of corrupted Essence shouldn’t have caused a manifestation in the form of an Abyss Rent. That was only possible through the dungeon’s Creation-Aspected Essence.

Her eyes widened in realization. Batcat had ingested an Abyss Rent not long ago. It had been the one she had cultivated away on her path to reach Mid-Awakened. That alone wouldn’t have been enough. It must have somehow ingested some of the dungeon’s Essence as well.

“Too afraid to attack now?” Rieren asked as she got to her feet.

The Banishedborn looked between her and the Abyss Rent. “I am not surprised you would go to such lengths just to claim victory. The gods had warned me not to take you lightly, despite your apparent weakness.”

“Then come and end me, if you dare.”

Rieren had already picked up Batcat as the Banishedborn indeed prepared to attack again, despite the presence of the Abyss Rent. But just as she was about to step into the rent, it flared.

A bony spike burst out. Rieren staggered backwards. She had seen that before. It was the same kind of spike that had killed that guard. The one she had determined to belong to the Gravemark Puppeteer. So this had been Batcat’s intention. To pull out an Abyssal that could take on the Banishedborn.

This meant the Sect Leader had been right. The cursed monster hadn’t died after all.

But no, even an A-Grade Abyssal wouldn’t be able to stand against a Banishedborn. Most of them were at least on par with how strong Rieren had become with the help of the Temporal Recollector, if not even stronger.

Rieren stepped backwards, farther and farther away from the Abyss Rent. The Banishedborn had retreated once more too, watching the rent warily.

“Batcat,” she whispered. “You need to grant me my former strength once more. Now, while he’s busy with the Abyss Rent.”

If Batcat had heard and had been about to respond, it didn’t get the chance to do so. Instead, the cat, Rieren, and even the Banishedborn all stared as the wielder of the bony soke slowly stepped out of the Abyss Rent.

It wasn’t the Gravemark Puppeteer as Rieren had thought. Or well, not just the Puppeteer. The humanlike figure that stepped out was at first difficult for Rieren to recognize, what with the tattered robes, the grisly wounds pouring dark blood, and steely webs haphazardly mummifying half the body.

But that mask was unmistakable. Appraiser, one of the Forborne Emperor’s Masked Avatars, was standing before them again.

He wasn’t alone, however. The webs wrapping him held several others connected to him as well. Two of those were surprising enough to make Rieren’s breath catch. Mountain and Forest. The Anachrons she and Amalyse had faced at the peak of Lionshard mountain. How had the Avatar acquired them?

But more than the Anachrons, it was the central figure that really made Rieren freeze. Trapped to Appraiser’s back, much as the Sect Leader had been at the top of the Puppeteer’s webbed construction, was an unconscious Elder Olg.