Rieren wasn’t sure who was more surprised by the appearance of the Masked Avatar through the Abyss Rent.

She was already frozen, her mind a little slow at taking in all that stood before her. Then there was the Banishedborn himself, who stood rather gob smacked in a pool of his crimson, bloody energy. Farther behind him, Essalina and the Arteroth soldiers were standing still as statues too, silent observers of the new madness that had sprung in their vicinity.

Batcat was the only one who seemed unsurprised. The winged kitten was staring intently at the Masked Avatar’s back, however.

Rieren turned her attention back to Appraiser again. He was larger than before. Big enough now that Elder Olg could be strapped to his back with little trouble. The two Anachrons had been forced into kneeling positions on either side of him. An aura of danger, heavy as a shroud of mourning, hung about him.

Despite the fact that he was standing motionless, threads were dispersing off his body and flying off in all directions, bursting with a life of their own.

“What manner of creature are you?” Essastior asked.

Even the Banishedborn was hesitating. That should have alarmed Rieren. Most Banishedborn were more than strong enough to deal with both an A-Grade Abyssal and the Masked Avatars too. He shouldn’t have needed to worry.

But then, they didn’t rise to the position of a Banishedborn without having honed their survival instincts to a sharpness that would make a knife’s edge envious. And this Banishedborn’s instinct was apparently telling him to be wary of the Masked Avatar standing before him.

If that was even the Masked Avatar any longer.

“I…”

He stopped speaking. The voice was no longer the one Rieren recognized as Appraiser’s. There was a bloated sense about it, like he was trying to speak through multiple airways in his neck.

“I do not truly know what I am,” he said, more sure of himself this time. “Things have a way of… losing all rhyme and reason when you turn into an Abyssal.”

Essastior’s lip curled. “I cannot recall ever seeing the likes of your kind walking the realms. A new breed?” His eyes roved over the Masked Avatar’s form. “An experiment?”

If that was supposed to be an insult, there was no sign of its effect on the former Masked Avatar. “I am… an ascended being. Truly, the things one can find when plumbing the depths of the Abyss. Deeper and deeper, the things one discovers gets wilder and wilder until all lines between what is something and what isn’t something disappear.”

“That is an elaborate way of saying that you are now an Abyssal.”

“Meaning is no longer assigned. It turns into something one controls.”

Essastior tutted. “Your little Emperor will be heartbroken to find one of his sworn subjects now serving the greatest threat his measly empire faces.”

The former Masked Avatar took one step forward. “And it is because of these threats that I now am… what I am.”

Rieren and the Banishedborn both understood the unsaid message. Appraiser considered Essastior the true threat to the empire here, which, Rieren actually agreed with. Him and his kind sought to turn the entire Elderlands into their plaything just as they had more or less done in the last timeline.

The Banishedborn raised his short spear into the air again. His Domain materialized around him, a pool of growing blood crackling with energy and sparking with dark lighting. Red aura flickered all over the area, bringing with it the sharp scent rusty iron and wounds going bad.

“Whatever you might be,” Essastior said. “You have no hope of standing before me. I am a Banishedborn of the Rasashen, god of blood.”

“And I…” The amalgamation of Anachrons, Abyssals, and humans started channeling his own Essence. “I am Appraiser, Scourging Avatar of the Forborne Emperor.”

Rieren stared at his broad, webbed back. A Scourging Avatar. That wasn’t an official title. It wasn’t even something that others used in secret or spoke of in legends or anything of the sort. But considering all that she had learned about Appraiser over the course of their interactions, she was beginning to understand what he meant.

All throughout his actions, Appraiser’s intention had been to remove the malign influences acting upon the Emperor. He had believed that if the gods’ wishes were fulfilled—that those they considered undesirable were dealt with even if it meant going against the Emperor himself—he could have reduced their hand upon matters.

Unfortunately, as he had learned with time, that wasn’t the case. The gods weren’t about to loosen their hooks once they were in place, regardless of whether their goals had been met.

So, Appraiser was starting on an overt warpath to oust them and their influence.

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Batcat murmured a soft meow.

Rieren nodded at the kitten. “You are correct. We have an opportunity here. But you will need to grant me my former power once more.”

With agonizing slowness, the winged cat turned back to stare at her with a flat expression. Rieren grimaced after a moment. She supposed she shouldn’t have been expecting the cat to use the same ability again so quickly. In the end, she was going to have to do some testing just to figure out the parameters of Batcat’s memory-empowering ability.

Farther ahead, the Avatar and the Banishedborn were preparing to begin their battle. The air was becoming redolent with their powers. Red lightning sparked around Essastior as crimson wings fanned out from his back, a scarlet bolt held in his hand like a spear.

Meanwhile, the Avatar had released the bodies from his direct clutches. The dead Anachrons had fallen to a heap, and even the Elder on his back had been lowered to the ground. Bony spikes protruded through the holes in his webbed bindings. When Rieren focused Essence in her eyes, she found corrupted Essence swirling around him like a storm.

The battle began with a ferocity she hadn’t yet seen in her new life. Red lightning exploded all over the mountainside. Rieren was forced to dash away with Batcat to take cover from the rain of crimson ruin, rocks and dust flying everywhere.

Things got lost in the chaos. Rieren couldn’t see much, could barely hear anything over the sound of explosions and furious power. She did detect the Avatar trying to summon his Domain. The earth rumbled as tree roots burst out everywhere, twisted and afflicted dark blisters and rotting pus. Instead of gold, the light coming off his enormous tree was a heavy brown.

Batcat purred.

“Yes, I am aware we can leave, cat,” Rieren said, keeping her mouth covered against the dust and her profile low so as not to be spotted. “However, we will never receive a better chance at freeing Elder Olg.”

Batcat disagreed with a disapproving meow. Rieren shook her head. A part of her knew that the same reason she hadn’t rushed after him when he had taken on the Avatar in the Abyss applied here.

This was her best opportunity to leave. There was nothing compelling her to stay. She and the Elder had both made their choices in the Abyss.

But for one, she owed Elder Olg. How many times had he taught her, raised her, and saved her over the years? Uncountable. Even at the very end, when it had come to make the ultimate decision, he had held his pupil’s wellbeing over his own ambitions and unflinchingly sacrificed himself. The strength behind that kind of resolve was staggering.

For another… Rieren glanced down at Batcat, who was intently observing the unfolding pandemonium. Uncorrupted Beast Cores. That was one of the ways she could increase the power of Batcat’s ability, and by dint of that strengthening, she could raise the potency of her own peak.

Rieren needed the Beast Cores of both the Anachrons the Avatar was using.

Thankfully for her, the battle was slowly moving down the ruined mountainside. The Avatar was doing an excellent job of attempting to overwhelm the Banishedborn. But at the same time, Essastior had claimed more than enough of his attention to ensure that he wasn’t overly worried about his captives.

All Rieren had to do was a wait just wait… and wait… and—

“Now, cat,” she said as she hurried off. Batcat confirmed that it was following with a soft meow.

Rieren moved while still keeping her figure low. Of course, she would no doubt be sensed by the powerful beings trying to kill each other in short order. However, neither could afford to divert their attention to her.

The ground was crumbly under her feet and the air was clogged with dust. Red sparks flashed everywhere without warning. Rieren pushed through it all. Even in the gloom, she had caught sight of the Avatar’s webbed strands, the glint of silver guiding her to her destination.

“Keep an eye out,” she told Batcat when she finally reached Elder Olg.

The Anachrons were slumped over a few paces on either side of the mummified Elder. All three bodies had long strands of webs running off into the distance, leading to where the Avatar was battling it out with Essastior. Tiny vibrations came down the strands, indicating that they were indeed still connected.

Rieren pulled out her Receptor sword and swung. The clang was dull but loud and distinct. There wasn’t a scratch on the webs.

She looked at the centre of the webs. “Elder, can you hear me?”

There was no response. That was a little worrying, but she shoved it aside and focused some Essence into her eyes. Just as Rieren had suspected. Each thread was carrying Essence along the strand back into the thick of the battle. Of course. Powerful as the Avatar had grown by absorbing the A-Grade Abyssal’s strength, it was still not enough to tackle a Banishedborn.

At least, not until he began using the Essence of two Anachrons and an Elder of Lionshard Sect in the Exalted realm.

“Batcat,” Rieren said, coughing a little in the thick dust. “I need you to take away the Essence in the threads.”

Rieren would have tried to do so on her own, but Essence already being channelled by others couldn’t be taken in by another cultivator. Especially when there were external conduits like these strange silver webs.

That might not be the case for a Spirit Beast like Batcat.

The winged kitten considered the situation. It didn’t seem bothered by the dust and the shaking. A moment later, it started chewing on the threads.

Rieren wasn’t sure that was the healthiest thing Batcat could be eating, but her eyes confirmed that the Essence flow was indeed being interrupted. That meant the Avatar would no doubt be alerted to what was going on here soon enough. Rieren would only get a short window. Good thing it was all she needed.

Summoning her Domain, Rieren swung her Receptor sword through the stormy water. She waited for a second to ensure that it was properly coated with the trace amounts of Divine Essence in her Domain. One quick slash was all it took for the threads to be severed entirely.

With nothing to keep him propped up any longer, Elder Olg had been about to hit the ground just as the Anachrons had done. Thankfully, Rieren was close enough to catch him.

“Elder,” she said, pulling off the webs keeping him wrapped and trapped. “Elder, can you hear me?”

It took some shaking and shouting before Elder Olg regained consciousness. Rieren couldn’t blame him. His body was emaciated and covered from head to toe with the same blisters and pustules she had seen on the Avatar’s Domain tree. A corpse’s skin often looked fairer, and simply shaking him removed what little hair he still had left on his body.

“Ah…” Elder Olg’s voice was a perfect representation of his physical state—as weak and raspy as brittle paper. “You should not have freed me.”

“Save your strength, Elder. I will take you with me and—”

“Too late.”

Batcat hissed at the same time as Rieren looked back. The threads she had cut off were wriggling about like chopped-off lizard tails. Every vibration travelling along their lengths was stronger than the last. Her eyes widened.

The threads were alerting the Avatar that there was a disturbance. That Rieren had attacked his source of power.