"Glug glug, water brat." He jeered.

The amount of strain that one would have to take up when drinking lava in its purest form was immense, to say the least. And even then, this was Aru we were talking about. As a Goddess, her body could naturally tolerate many levels of damage, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel pain.

"Grraaargh!" She gulped, for she had no other option, "Aaaaargh! You're so dead, Douglas!"

Donning a pained smile so as to Heal herself with the Green Iro Ability, all the wounds had instantaneously began to disappear. Both internally and externally, her health was back to full. To Schnell though, that just meant his job wasn't yet finished.

"So you're not only magical n' crazy strong, but you're also pretty resilient too. Hardly seems fair." He complained.

"Enough horsing around." She grabbed his body with her water hand again, in a very similar fashion to how he held her body, "Alright, let go."

"You first." He grinned, "Mn? Bhahhh!"

As she Materialized a damp cloth above his face, she had began pouring a ton of freezing cold water so that he could suffer the pain of drowning without actually doing so.

"I am the Goddess of Water, Allucius." She spoke calmly, "Did you really think waterlogging wasn't part of my repertoire? Come on, man, that's like the number one water based torture method!"

In response to quite literally getting torture as they were both falling to their death, Schnell had finally let go of Aru after realizing that he wasn't gonna die this way. When he had released her, she happily placed a water hand under her to regain her footing. He, on the other hand, realized something as he fell below.

"Hn? My nails regrew..." He noticed, "What the hell? I could've sworn they were totally gone once I grabbed the walls...?"

"As Gods, we obviously possess every Iro Ability." She turned to whisper to the reader, "Even the ones you haven't seen yet!"

"Iro?" He raised an Eyebrow.

"Forget it, just know that you underestimate the power of the Gods." She glanced back with a smirk, "Powers such as fixing up any and all wounds you may have. Trust me, you ain't dying with me around."

"Then I better get rid of you soon!" He nodded as if to take up the challenge.

This being the case, he had pivoted his body into a dive with full intent on splatting on the ground below. As she had gotten distracted from his recent attempt to defeat her directly, Aru had stopped digging their hole to the center of the world a long time ago. Their time together was now drawing to a close at a steady yet fast pace, no matter who comes out on top.

"He's gaining distance." Aru noticed, "At this speed, even making a water hand to stop him would lead to him going splat. I need a safer strategy...!"

Thus, she thought in reverse. If a rising or stationary platform was deemed too dangerous to catch the descending Schnell, then she needed to make falling water! And what's the best, least harmful falling water type?"

"Rain? In here?" Schnell noticed the droplets fall over him, "This brat can't be for real!"

And for real she was, for the droplets fell just slower enough that he was that they could properly clump up around his body. Before long, he was covered in the water droplets, and his entire body was safely enshrouded in them. Essentially, she had found a way to safely make the water hands manifest around him, so slowing him down to a halt was now mere child's play.

"Hey, be honest. What did we ever do to you?" He finally resorted to his last trick—Talking, "Is it really because of that damned Book?"

"Of course." She said as a matter of fact, "The Book has the ability to change the natural flow of the universe. It changes fate."

"Is that the case? So why did Olya find it randomly during our adventure if it was so important then?" He even went so far as to accuse her, "Really, you can't be blaming us because you guys were too irresponsible to keep track of the Book!"

"Hm..." She could only nod in silence, "You're definitely right about that. Had Auros taken care of it properly like he should have, you guys would've never gone through all this crap."

"Then...!"

"But then Shaid would have stayed dead back at the Lair in Sibirus." She added.

"Ah-"

"One of the many Abilities I possess allows me to alter my own and other's memories." Aru's Eyes glew Brown, "If you'd like, I could give that reality to you."

"Give that reality...?" He furrowed his Eyebrows, "You mean you'll change my memories to make it sound like I wasn't robbed of our adventure without the Book?"

"Call it what you will, but I see that as a merciful deal." She smiled, "It will feel as real as this reality, only much, much better. You'll get to continue past Sibirus and report back successfully to the King of Carmen. He'll give you a lot of money and sponsor your future adventures. You'll see many more sights together, all three of you, and when you grow bored of it, you'll settle down with Cassandra and have a lovely laid-back retirement with her and the kids."

"Cass...!" He recalled, "Tch, I don't want any fake memories implanted into me!"

"Suit yourself." She shrugged, continuing to dig down in silence once they safely reached the bottom of the hole, "I was only trying to help."

Somehow, her words sounded genuine to Schnell just now. Though the Sun God had treated them so unjustly, she offered quite a tantalizing way out, so to speak. Though he understands she only did that to trick him into going back to Hell, he still felt like his one and only chance at salvation had gone by. Nay, he outright refused it.

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"How much longer?" He asked halfheartedly.

"Not much longer." She noticed his tone, "Hey, sorry for this. You're totally right that none of this was your fault."

"I appreciate it, but I'm still far from done." He feigned a confident smirk, "You don't gotta worry about me, just keep wearing yourself out with all that digging."

"You can act tough as much as you want, but you and I both know there's no way that's the case." She sighed, "Gods can choose not to get tired, "you know? Just flick a switch in our brains and bam, no more stamina usage."

"That's pretty nifty." He chuckled, "Another one of those Iro thingies?"

"No, that's not an Iro Ability. Just us Gods can do it." She then thought about it, "Well, you could technically emulate the effect under very specific circumstances, but as easily as we can do it? Definitely not."

"Those guys up there, was it alright to just leave them and go after me alone?" He asked, "I get you managed to deal with me without them, but surely having them be here with you would have made things easier."

"They wouldn't have heard you out as much as I am right now if they were here." She explained.

"...Thank you."

She was indeed a caring Goddess. Though her job was to send Schnell back to Hell—a very horrible place mind you—She still did it with class and respect. She tried her best to get him here without any scratches, and those injuries he did sustain in his feeble attempt at tricking her were still fully Healed anyways. In spite of his incessant hope that he'll beat her, she even offered to erase his troubled past and irreversible mistakes. In altering his memories of his life, she could send him off with only the best imaginary life, and yet he even refused that much.

"Ah, I think... Yeah, here we are." She felt an ominous source of energy just below the ground, which when broken unveiled the dark abyss of Hell, "I... will extend to you my past offer once more."

"Nah, I like my memories." He smiled weakly, "They're not the best, and certainly not something to think back on fondly... but they're true."

"I see. A valiant reply." She nodded, pausing briefly before thinking of another thing, "Do you have any last words? I heard some prisons that deal death sentences let their prisoners choose their final meal."

"How nice, alas my appetite isn't there yet." He laughed, "However... No, I could never ask for such a thing. They'd call me way too selfish for that!"

"What's wrong?" She tilted her head, "Now or never, Douglas. At the very least, I'd like for you to leave this world without any regrets."

"...C-!" He bit his tongue, "Could you... send Shaid and Olya here with me?"

"To Hell?" She chuckled, "Whoa, you were right, that WAS selfish!"

She laughed at him, but it wasn't like she didn't understand where he was coming from. He of all people knew what Hell was like, and he knew his friends could withstand the pressure of being put inside it. If only they were with him, he figured, spending all of eternity together in a box just chatting away—Then maybe it could even be fun. Maybe, Schnell reasoned, that could be their own little Heaven.

"I can't do that, Schnell." She shook her head, "Cause the only man destined to be a resident of Hell was always meant to be you. Trust me, if that wasn't the case, I'd have sent all three of you to Heaven 2.0 a while ago."

"Hah." He laughed, realizing the stupidity of the reasoning behind this, "Hahahahahaha! So that's it, huh? Fate!? I was always destined to go to Hell, so there's no other choice but for me to go there!? Why!?"

"Because that's how this Universe Cycle preordained it." She nodded, "My condolences. Let out any and all worries you may have now, I'll listen."

"...Looks like they finally made it." He looked up.

Instinctively, she followed his gaze to find the others falling towards them. She, however, could not see anyone there... Be it her kindness or naivety, either way Schnell had abused it for his own gain. Breaking free of the water hand's grasp, he quickly pushed her into the very hole to Hell she had dug out for him before smashing the walls once more. He knew she was gonna start blasting water above her to try and flush him in as well, so he once again let the lava pour out down into the hole. Thus, the lava and water met, and obsidian formed, effectively trapping Aru inside Hell. Schnell Douglas had won.

"Good job, me." He patted himself on the back, "Now, what do I do about this lava? I guess I could let it burn me and go to Heaven, but I'd rather live if possible, honestly."

He'd rather live, he says, however the way things were looking, it seemed he had nowhere to go for that to happen. All of the walls had to be smashed for enough lava to pour into the Hell hole and block it, so he had nowhere to grab onto and climb away. Even if he did, he would need to quite literally climb thousands of kilometers up before he could reach the surface. There was nothing he could do.

"Douglas!!!!" The grumpy orc's voice hollered from above, "What the hell is Aru doing!? Where did she go!?"

"Ah, guess my ride out is here!" He smiled, "I kinda wish my guardian angel looked like Diamond more than some ugly Red oaf, but beggars can't be choosers."

The battle continues on, with or without Aru. Now it's time for the God of Fighting to make things right!