Rieren didn’t have any time to wait. Those old ladies in the city had been wrong. They weren’t closing the gates to stop one lowly cultivator from leaving Falstrom.

What they were doing was shoring up the city’s defences before the S-Grade Abyssal finally struck.

“We have no time to lose, cat,” she said.

Batcat agreed with a low growl. Its eyes were affixed upon the lightning in the distance.

Rieren brushed away the easiest dirt to peel off her robes then summoned her Dawn Cloud again. There was no time to consider that channelling Essence might alert those who were searching for her. Such concerns paled in the face of the Dreadflood actually reaching the city.

She jumped aboard her summons, as did Batcat, before they set off.

Rieren’s plan had always been to use the legendary sword relic she had recovered to stop the Dreadflood. With it, she could redirect the inevitable meteor shower right on top of that incalculably powerful monster and end it before it threatened the heart of the Shatterlands.

But there were issues with such a plan. For one, it looked like the defenders had failed in stopping it or slowing it down.

For another, Rieren couldn’t tell when exactly the meteor shower would land. She had slowed it down on purpose with the help of her friendly Aetherian, Demargo. While that had prevented its arrival while the sword was still in possession of the Gravemark Puppeteer, it also meant she could no longer count on the meteor shower arriving when she did need it to.

So many conundrums. At least the path Rieren had to take now was clear—halting the all-powerful Abyssal’s progress somehow until the meteors came in.

If they came in. For all Rieren knew, Demargo might have convinced all the Aetherians to no longer fall upon the Mortal Realm at this exact location, unlikely though he had said it was.

No point in worrying about things she couldn’t control. Rieren focused on her journey ahead and how exactly she would stop an S-Grade monster from doing whatever the Abyss it wanted.

Falstrom fell behind her before long. Her Dawn Cloud might be the fastest Domain Summons to exist, but it could cover great distances at a very respectable speed.

Rieren was slightly relieved to see that the lightning had fooled her into thinking the Dreadflood was already on Falstrom’s doorstep. That wasn’t the case. There were still several leagues between the city’s front gates and dark edge of the monster’s liquid form.

Still. It was close enough to be easily visible across the plain. Close enough to be a very real danger.

The soldiers Rieren normally saw patrolling the grounds outside the city had now gathered close to the walls. They would likely be the last line of defence against the monster before it was allowed into the city itself. But they wouldn’t be able to do much. Rieren’s real attention fell upon the ones who still had a chance against the Abyssal.

About three leagues away from Falstrom’s walls, the last of the ragged cultivators had gathered together in a mobile camp, accompanied by those few who had advanced far enough in their class to assist.

Rieren approached from the side. She was well aware that there might be among them at least one or two who were aware of Rieren’s actions upon the slopes of the Stannerig mountain. They might even be waiting for her arrival so they could apprehend her directly. It was all too easy for things to get messy.

Not that Rieren had no precautions against such an occurrence. She had tasked Gorint Malloh to pass on the message that she wasn’t to be stopped. Ideally, her attack had revealed how Mercion was a puppet being controlled by the Gravemark Puppeteer, and Malloh and the Clanmistress would have been able to convince them that Rieren had helped them.

It was a long shot, however. People liked being angry more than they liked being wrong.

Besides, her friends were there. Amalyse and Rollo were waiting for her. She decided not to consider the possibility that they might have given their lives in the effort against the Dreadflood. The Stannerig and the Ordorian wouldn’t have allowed the scions of two powerful clans, one of whom was an Archnoble’s brat, to come to any grievous harm.

Not until they themselves fell, of course.

“Prepare yourself, cat,” Rieren said as they landed a few hundred paces away from the little camp.

In answer, Batcat entirely lifted off the ground and flew away. Rieren was tempted to yell at it to return, but she decided against it. Better to trust that the cat knew what it was doing when she had to coordinate with the others first.

“I shouldn’t be surprised to see you here, should I?”

Rieren froze on her way to the encampment. Apparently, Rollo had been strolling outside and had spotted her before she could see him.

“I have many questions,” Rieren said. “But what you are doing here is not one of them.”

Rollo grinned widely at her. “I have many answers and I am obligated to speak none of them too.”

“Then I will be on my way. Try not to die.”

“I can’t die. Not when that thing’s already eaten all the other Abyssals.”

Rieren paused just as she had been about to restart her journey to the camp to look over at the approaching edge of the Dreadflood. Eaten all the other monsters. That sounded unpleasant, but not surprising. The Life Stifler that had been granted the moniker of Dreadflood was infamous for devouring everything in its path with no distinction.

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Shaking her head, Rieren entered the little camp. She didn’t recognize most people there. All it consisted of were a few hastily erected tents surrounding an open area in the middle where everyone had gathered. How convenient for Rieren.

It was a little harrowing to see just how many of them there were. Just seven people. The rest had either died or retreated elsewhere.

Rieren might not have recognized many of the people there, but Amalyse certainly knew her on sight.

“Rieren,” Amalyse said, walking over to meet her while the others turned to see the newcomer. The taller girl embraced Rieren, squeezing her hard. “Are the others coming soon?”

By others, she had to mean the rest of the Archnoble clans and their cultivators.

Rieren had to shake her head. She considered the truth for a moment, but that would lead to too many questions, and they didn’t have time for those. “No one else is coming.”

The old paranoia reared its head again, but she stomped on it with all she had. Rieren had to focus on how to claw out a victory in this situation, not hiding away from the others. If it was even possible.

“I know you,” one of the cultivators said. Rieren knew him too. He was the large man who had flown around upon gigantic rocks when she had fought her second Arisen. “Did the Clanmistress send you? I don’t think even your strange powers can stop the Dreadflood out there.”

“There is much you must know. Please try not to interrupt while I talk.”

Rieren quickly explained the situation to her new companions. She pulled out the old sword relic to aid in her tale. While she left out the part about Mercion being controlled by the Gravemark Puppeteer, and thus the truth about how she had acquired the legendary blade, she eventually finished impressing the importance of finding a way to stall the Dreadflood.

“She’s right,” another woman said. She was the one wearing the bright green robes Rieren had seen before. “If there’s anything that can stop that monster, it’s going to be a literal meteor strike.”

“We’re just supposed to take your word for all of it?” another man asked.

His skepticism was echoed by some of the others. They all looked to Rieren for proof, though she had Amalyse standing up for her as ever.

“You don’t have an actual idea, Golbrun,” Amalyse said. “Maybe if you can come up with a better plan, we’ll start casting aspersions on Rieren’s one.”

Rieren nodded in gratitude at her friend, but she decided to speak before Golbrun could reply in anger. “I learned it from the Aether itself. It is difficult to believe, but the Aether connects to the Mortal Realm via shards of its being. One of these shards has been forged into this old sword. With it, we can control exactly where the incoming Aetherians land.”

“So we can make the monsters fight each other,” the big man said. “I like that plan. It’s worth a shot. Like Arraihos said, we’ve tried everything else we could think of and nothing’s worked.”

“That’s not at all what I said,” Amalyse muttered.

She didn’t speak up louder though. It was clear that the other cultivator was doing his best to keep tensions to a minimum.

“How are we to go about it?” the woman asked, starting at Rieren directly.

“Simple,” she said. “We confront the Dreadflood directly. Ultimately, it is a Life Stifler. We have fought such monsters before. The same rules apply, even if it is far stronger than the variants we normally see roaming the world.”

“That is true enough, but I am more concerned with the sheer power of this S-Grade Abyssal. You have not seen how strong it is. Even simply stalling it will not be at all easy.”

Rieren understood that well. “We must do what we can.”

“Do you know how long it will be till the meteors gather here?” the large man asked. “We must time things so that we aren’t caught by the same shower we intend to use to destroy our foe.”

“I am afraid I do not. I already slowed it down so it wouldn’t fall upon Falstrom while… I was still there. I cannot tell how long this slowing will last.”

“Wait. You were waiting in Falstrom with that thing in your possession? Why? What reason could you have to keep such a dangerous artifact in the city?”

It was a good thing Rieren had come prepared to answer questions like those. If she had been caught unawares, her very first impulse would have been to answer with the truth, and then backtracking from that would have made them all far too suspicious.

“I did not have the sword in my possession when I found out how the Aetherians intended to come down upon the Mortal Realm. Therefore, without having the sword in my possession, I desperately ensured the Aetherians were not about to land just then. So I stalled them.”

“That means we’re going to have to fight that thing indefinitely,” the complainer muttered. “Just great.”

“What is your decision?” the woman asked, facing the large man.

It would appear that he was the de facto leader of this little group. He considered for a moment, then nodded.

“We have no better recourse,” he said. “Let us put our faith in the one who has saved us once already, despite suffering terrible persecution for it, and do our best.”

He smiled broadly at Rieren. For the first time in what felt like a long while, Rieren actually flushed. She hadn’t realized that there might be those who appreciated what she had done with the Arisen she had killed. Of course, she understood that it was part of what had made Oromin act so favourably towards her.

But hearing someone say it out loud triggered a sense of satisfaction outside of her she didn’t think she would ever properly feel again.

They didn’t have much preparation to do, other than sketch out a hasty battle plan. It was best for them to confront the onrushing Abyssal on multiple fronts and well spread out from each other. Though, staying in little groups would help in case any of them got caught.

The nine of them, which included Rollo who had decided against attending the meeting, broke into four groups. Three little teams of two, with one team of three—Rieren, Amalyse, and Rollo.

She led the way to the battlefield, with Amalyse and Rollo not far behind.

“You think we’ll finally die this time?” Rollo asked conversationally.

Amalyse grunted. “Abyss, Rollo, can you ever ask a normal question nowadays?”

“What is abnormal about any single word I said?”

“We will not be dying,” Rieren said. “I will make sure of it.”

“Really? By turning into future-Rieren?” Rollo sounded more interested than skeptical. “I like your little superpower. Do you think anyone else who grew strong in the previous timeline has figured out the same trick yet?”

That was… a good question. “I cannot say. But also, they do not possess a Spirit…”

She realized that there was no sign of Batcat. A momentary spike of worry made her pause, but once again, she reminder herself that the little kitten was more than capable of taking care of itself. There was no point in her trying to wonder what the kitten was up to. She had to focus on her goal.

“Rieren,” Amalyse said. She had sped a little ahead of Rollo to walk beside Rieren. “I know we’ve both been busy with a great deal of things, and it might not be the right to ask this but… there’s more you haven’t told me, isn’t there?”

Rieren glanced at her. “What makes you think that?”

Amalyse stared at her flatly. “You think I don’t know you?”

“Am I that transparent?”

“I can read you like an open scroll.”

“Hmm, it does make me wonder that we have an actual, mechanized wagon but no books yet.”

“What?”

Rollo cleared his throat from behind. “We’re almost there.”

His gaze was fixed past Rieren and Amalyse. They turned to face the same direction, then took in a collective deep breath. The Dreadflood was barely a field’s length away.

It was time to face down the S-Grade Abyssal directly.