Rieren knew exactly what this reminded her of. The last time she had seen something alive kicking around inside a dead body, Elder Olg had come bursting out of it. Or well, she had been the one to cut him free, almost slicing him in the process.

This time, Rieren was a little more careful in revealing him to the rest of the world.

“It is a very strange feeling,” Elder Olg’s disembodied, muck-covered head said. “To be confronted with the same exact situation as a while back, as though you are repeating a former experience.”

Rieren was still trying to rein in her surprise. “What?”

“Me being stuck in the belly of a monster. You cutting me free from it, your sword almost hitting me in the process.” He took a deep breath, though it was weird to see him not need to exhale it out. “The feeling of free, fresh air again, how delightful. And look, there’s even that dreadful red lightning close enough to kill us all too. It’s all a bit too familiar, isn’t it?”

“Elder,” Rieren said. “What in the eternally cursed Abyss are you doing here in that thing?”

Whatever positive feelings the Elder might have greeted her with suddenly vanished as his face grew tense. “You are correct. There is no time for idle chatter. Rieren, you must help me.”

“To do what?” She looked back as lightning flashed dangerously close to them. “We need to get away from here. This is far too close.”

“Actually, we’re in the right spot.”

She stared back at him. “For what?”

“To possess the Abyssal.”

Rieren stood still, her eyes agog at her former teacher. She had the acute feeling that he didn’t mean the monster he was currently buried in. Oh no. His idea was different.

The monster he meant was the Dreadflood itself.

“How in the world are you going to do something like that?” Rieren asked. “That is an S-Grade Abyssal. Actually, how are you able to possess any monster to begin with? Is it the Beast Core?”

“It is actually my corruption. All the Abyss-Aspected Essence I channelled within the Abyss has corrupted poor Foxwolf’s Beast Core as well. Otherwise, my Essence wouldn’t have been compatible with anything that the Abyssals channelled. Now, however, I can use my corrupted-Essence-fueled Beast Core to replace the Abyssals’ Beast Core and take control.”

“That… is horrifying.”

“Yes, of course, it is. But think of the possibilities, Rieren. No one wants to suffer under that titanic monster, after all. Judging by what has happened so far, I assume your efforts at containing it have failed. As such, I offer the only way for us to stop it from destroying the Shatterlands.”

Rieren swallowed. He was making a good deal of sense, but that only made her more uneasy. “Is this truly about stopping the Dreadflood from destroying Falstrom?”

It had already rushed over, flooded, and eradicated two-thirds of the Shatterlands. The capital was all that was left.

Elder Olg stared at her. “Do you doubt me, truly?”

“You are channelling Abyssal-Aspected Essence and trying to take over monsters. I would be a fool not to doubt anyone who does that.”

“That… is fair. But aside from assuring you that I am who I have always been, I will admit this—I believe I might have finally found something akin to my calling.”

“Possessing Abyssals is your calling?”

“No, no.” He paused. “Well, I suppose that is how my calling is currently manifesting itself, so I suppose, yes. But really, I’ve been wondering about the Abyss ever since I entered it. While other duties dragged me out too quickly to assuage my curiosity, that is not the case any longer.”

Rieren shook her head. “You are still an Elder. My Elder. Nothing can remove the past.”

“The past is irrefutable, yes. But look at me, Rieren. I am a monster by every sense of the word except for the mental one. No Sect will allow me within their borders. Even if I were to return to Lionshard, my presence would hobble the prospect of future applicants. I cannot go back to my way of life before, no matter what I do.”

“So instead, you intend to embrace being a monster?”

“Why are you so bothered by it, Rieren?”

She had good reason to be wary. The Abyssals couldn’t be trusted. Even when they weren’t mindless brutes out to kill all mortals, their intelligent ones wished for the same thing, even if it meant deceiving the very mortals they intended to eradicate.

Take the Gravemark Puppeteer. Right before Rieren had finished killing the Avatar, it had thrown its lot in with her in a desperate attempt to renege on its alliance with the gods and stop her from killing its prized puppet—an Avatar. A lie. Just two days ago, she had discovered that it was manipulating events in the Shatterlands, all to facilitate the region’s destruction.

Something Rieren was vehemently against. If she had decided to work together with the monster on the slopes of Lionshard mountain, she would have eventually ended up being betrayed.

Rieren wasn’t one to be taken in by any Abyssal so easily.

“Isn’t it worth an attempt, Rieren?” Elder Olg asked. Whatever he said next was overwhelmed by a furious collision of bolts behind Rieren, so he was forced to repeat himself. “Will you stand with me, or against me?”

Her answer came for her, from behind once again. Another thunderous blast made the ground shake, and Rieren turned just in time to see an enormous wave of dark liquid heading towards her location. A column of crimson lightning a few paces farther back from it made it difficult to see, but the way it was rushing at her was impossible to miss.

Rieren dashed away, yelling at Batcat to follow. Her throat caught with the intent of telling Elder Olg to do the same, but he was staring resolutely at the onrushing wave of darkness as though it was an opportunity more than it was any danger.

“Stop the Banishedborn, Rieren,” Elder Olg said. “Just for a moment. Hold him.”

Before she could reply, the wave swallowed him. She didn’t even get to ask how in the world she was to do something like stopping a Banishedborn in the middle of an ongoing battle.

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Batcat prowled around her feet with a loud meow.

“That is true,” Rieren said. Looking down at the kitten finally allowed her mind to settle down on what she needed to do. The discovery that Elder Olg was not only alive, but also seeking to become an Abyssal had rocked her. But her priority was clear. She had to save the Shatterlands. “It is time, Batcat.”

The kitten understood. As Rieren began channelling Essence outwards on it, the cat disappeared.

A second later, power flooded her. The Spirit Bond technique was stronger than before. All the Beast Cores she had fed the cat made their presence felt, imbuing the kitten with greater strength and allowing it to take Rieren deeper into the past than before. Instead of Early-Ascendant, Rieren felt herself grow to Mid-Ascendant levels of power.

At a higher realm like Ascendant, even a single stage’s worth of ascension provided a great difference in power. Rieren’s skin turned the colour of the moon, her hair turning into liquid darkness not so different from the Dreadflood’s body. She outgrew her robes enough to make some of the seams rip and tear.

Her power made the air around her twist. The very earth trembled. It was always strange that Batcat’s ability took her to a point where she was already channelling a great deal of Essence.

Rieren’s sudden empowered appearance was enough to make both the Banishedborn and the Abyssal pause. Their battle had flung them away from each other to create a temporary gap, one that allowed them both to turn and take note of this new development. She certainly wasn’t going to sneak in and backstab the Banishedborn.

Her Domain had a strange effect on the ones already summoned. Rieren’s empowered water frothed and stormed over the dark pool of the Dreadflood’s body. The Divine Aspect imbued into the water quickly dissolved the darkness to nothing. It was even washing away all the pools of blood forming Essastior’s Domain.

Except, the blood didn’t leave so easily. Wherever Rieren’s Domain tried to push it back, the blood turned to ferocious lightning. This had the effect of vaporizing away areas of the water.

Leaving big gaps where the dark flood could resurrect itself.

Rieren decided not to pay too much attention to the complicated interaction of the Domains. It was normal for powerful Domains to behave erratically, and to become unreliable in a wider area. She would need to count on her skills, techniques, and what she could do with her Domain in her vicinity.

“You dare to finally appear, Arianaele?” Essastior said. His voice was loud enough to echo over the entire area. “Dare to show your face after putting me through such a betrayal? Such humiliation? Come face me so that I may tear you apart with what little honour you still have.”

Oh, he was rather angry. Rieren began to think it wasn’t simply because she had ended up summoning him inside an Abyssal’s liquid body. Perhaps he really had tried to follow up on the fake leads she had offered in their last encounter, and that was where he had suffered humiliation. Not her fault he decided to take her word for it without putting much thought into it.

Essastior charged at her in his avian form. Red-and-black wings sprouted off his back as he took to the air, crimson lightning wreathing and turning him into a comet of scarlet power.

One that was aimed straight at Rieren. Not good.

Nearby, the Dreadflood looked to protect itself with its own dark lightning, but it had suddenly fallen still. In the split second before the Banishedborn struck, Rieren knew that ideally, she ought to draw Essastior away from the Abyssal. This would allow Elder Olg to carry out whatever magic he was performing with greater ease.

But the monster was already creating a defensive measure against the Banishedborn’s attack. Rieren would be foolish not to use it.

Silken Passage was fast enough to carry her to a spot just behind the Dreadflood’s possessed body. Essastior followed her motion unerringly, the crimson comet now heading at the Dreadflood and not just her. Thankfully, the net of black fluid, corrupted Essence, and dark lightning was enough to stop the Banishedborn’s furious blow.

Of course, the collision still created a powerful shockwave that Rieren had to deflect with Earthfall Blade. Even worse, the brunt of the force was strong enough to send the possessed Clanmaster flying.

Rieren was facing the Banishedborn all on her own, now.

Silken Passage was the only thing that would keep her alive. She couldn’t use the same trick of targeting the positioning of her opponent’s limbs to place her sword where it needed to be. Essastior’s arms moved in a blur, even for her empowered Mind.

Instead, she had to rely on Silken Passage’s speed boost. It wasn’t fast enough to outpace lightning itself, but it did make her motion quick and erratic enough to prevent Essastior from targeting her properly. The crimson bolts missed Rieren and hammered down in her trail, and she kept on moving fast enough to prevent being hit by the ensuing blasts of their impact.

Of course, she couldn’t keep using the skill indefinitely. It was going to run out before long.

From what Rieren remembered, at her current stage, Silken Passage had twelve uses of forty-five paces each. Quick estimation suggested she had used up at least three of those charges just against the lightning.

Thankfully, the Banishedborn switched up his attacks at seeing how his bolts failed to hit their target. This time, he combined all the lightning forming on his body into an enormous blade. A glaive erupted from his hand, one that could chop down a mountain.

Essastior slammed it down. It blasted out in an ever-widening arc, flashing over the ground and making everything—including Rieren’s Domain water—explode upon contact.

Rieren was fast enough to jump over it. But that was only the first part of her dodge. Essastior, a seasoned Banishedborn, wouldn’t let her evade so easily. A dragon made of hardened blood had formed over the arm he was pointing in her direction, and it fires a beam of concentrated lightning at Rieren, dark scarlet like blood but glowing like a star.

Wrath of the Swordwing was all that saved Rieren. It was a technique she could summon rather quickly, and long years of practice allowed her to send the storm of swords flying in time to intercept the beams. They exploded upon contact, their detonations shading everything red.

Rieren got no rest when she touched down onto the ground. The Banishedborn’s blood had burrowed into the ground itself to evade her water. As soon as Rieren touched down, scarlet liquid blasted out of the ground and quickly formed solid shapes that attacked her. One formed a large arm swinging a scythe, the other was a draconic maw that tried to chomp her in half.

She had to jump over one and bash the other back with Earthfall Blade. But even that was devastating. Just that split moment of distraction, one that couldn’t have lasted longer than a few seconds, was enough to bring Essastior bearing down on her.

Rieren was barely able to meet him blow for blow. She swung her blade with all she had, her Mind and Body stretched to their limits.

There was no way she could stop using Earthfall Blade. The Banishedborn’s assault was relentless. His arm turned into a blur as she tried to hammer in blood-and-lightning-wreathed fists down upon her.

None of it was enough. At one point, instead of striking her, Essastior hit the ground under her instead. Rieren’s blade was nowhere close to the blood-drenched fist that sank into the combination of their Domains. There wasn’t even time for her to switch focus onto the resultant blast. Essastior’s other hand was still hammering away at her, keeping her sword busy.

That was why the explosion rocking out from the blow to the ground sent her flying off her feet.

Of course, that wasn’t the end to the Banishedborn’s tricks. Rieren yelled out, summoning up a geyser of her overheated water to stop her rearwards momentum and allow her a footing to escape her enemy’s next blow. Except, she was jerked to halt long before. Jerked hard.

Her foot flared with enough pain for an involuntary scream to bubble out of her. All her momentum seized as it caught on something, making it almost feel like her leg was about to be ripped off.

Rieren was just able to look down to see a coil of hardened blood locked around her ankle before she was tugged back the way she had been struck. Her sight was arrested by what was truly awaiting her. Essastior had summoned up his enormous lightning glaive again, raising it high into the air to slam it down upon her.

And then rope of blood locked to her foot was suddenly severed. Rieren crashed back to the ground, rolling and splashing in the water mixed with blood.

“You monster,” Essastior yelled. “You think you can stand against me?”

Rieren looked up to see the Abyssal standing about a dozen paces before her, the torn rope of blood in its hand. Something strange was going on with its head. It seemed to be shaking all on its own. A moment later, it exploded, sending blood and bits of bone and flesh and ooze plunking everywhere into her Domain.

Instead of the Clanmaster, it was Elder Olg’s grey-haired head upon the Abyssal.

“Maybe not alone,” the Elder said, his voice ringing with power. Lighting flickered along the length of one arm, iron-coloured flames racing up the other, while dark liquid boiled to life around him. He looked back at Rieren with a crooked smile. “But unlike you, I have a disciple—a powerful one at that—to count on.”