All training methods followed a similar path, with 1 being the lowest and 9 being the highest.
It was too big a coincidence for everyone to truly believe it to be one, many theories and conspiracies arose from this.
Such as, a greater being descended upon the world and spread it amongst the people.
Such as, there used to be one method and it broke off into many after a great calamity.
Others believe that to reach a higher level, a 10th, you need to reach the 9th Rank in all methods and combine them to form one supreme Realm.
These were all rumours though.
There was no proof for any of it.
Realm Tears were a place where even someone in the 7th Rank would be cautious and worry for their safety.
Not to mention a bunch of young students still wet behind their ears.
And right now, these same students...
Pah!
Her palm slammed into Silvia's face, "What the fuck have you done." Savana wasn't pleased with her squadmate in the slightest.
The sound of the slap echoed through the red skies, the stinging sensation on Silvia's face rang beneath the red palm mark.
Savana was about to go in for another one but Luliya's voice awoke her.
"Stop, the situation won't get any better."
Clicking her teeth, Savana pulled her hand back.
Silvia rubbed her face and glanced to her left at their spectators.
It looks like they weren't the only ones here, "2nd Squadron? You were here the whole time? You're not dead?" Silvia asked them curiously, ignoring Savana's fiery gaze.
But the 2nd Squadron was just as confused as they were, "What do you mean 'whole time', we only just arrived here. And dead?" Charles was the first to step up and talk to them.
Lucas was a good leader for their Squad, sure, but he wasn't too good at social situations with people he didn't know.
Luliya, Randuin, and Silvia looked at each other, then back at Charles.
They all had the same sneaking suspicion.
"When did you come here?" Randuin asked.
Charles looked at the Holy Knight, and the Saintess beside him; he noticed them from the start but couldn't give a damn about them.
"Just now."
Randuin changed his question, "What date?"
"The 14th."
Savana looked at her Squadron, she now had the same suspicion as them, "And you said you guys just came here? Just now?"
Turning his gaze to Savana, "Yes."
"We also just came here, just so that you know. But here's the thing, we entered on the 30th." Silvia calmly delivered the news to him.
The 2nd Squadron stood frozen.
"We both came here at the same point in time but entered at completely different points in time. I think that's what happened here."
"How are you so sure?" Charles wasn't willing to believe something so ridiculous.
Luliya entered the conversation, "Your Life Signatures were extinguished on the 14th, you have been considered dead for a bit more than 2 weeks now."
Dropping that bombshell, the blind Saintess crossed her arms and began observing their surroundings; she couldn't sense any danger for now.
Getting the gist of the situation, Charles used a few seconds to sort his thoughts out.
"So... We are considered dead, we entered on the 14th, you guys on the 30th, and we ended up at the same point in time."
"Sounds about right." Silvia said so while also checking out their surroundings.
Savana, however, was focused on something else.
She was looking around frantically for someone who went missing on the 12th.
Aranea was never declared dead but they also never received news on her; all they said was 'We're doing our best.' and that was it.
But knowing Aranea, and knowing how knowledgeable she was, there was no way she would struggle getting out of the Ashen Falls Mountain Range.
Unless something inexplicable happened.
Something like entering a Realm Tear.
But, no matter how much she searched, she couldn't see Aranea's face anywhere among them.
[Where are you!]
Dark flames fluttered in her heart.
The rest of them, bewildered, in despair and lost finally took in their surroundings.
Taking a couple of steps, the wet sound beneath their feet drew their eyes to the crimson liquid beneath them.
It wasn't viscous enough to be blood but the smell emanating from it was weird, like an old, dirty towel left to dry in the sun for days on end.
This liquid was all around them.
The weird rock formations surrounding them were covered in the liquid, dripping into the ground every few seconds.
The sky was red and the sun was unavailable.
It was a sunless, red sky.
Silvia and Savana covered their feet with Aura and quickly climbed up the closest rock formation, standing on top, they looked around at their surroundings.
"This is a Fragmented Realm, there's an edge." Silvia pointed towards a section where she could see the world being cut off.
The crimson liquid fell off like a waterfall and small pebbles would occasionally break off and drop below the horizon.
Savana looked in the other direction, towards the centre of the Fragmented Realm.
A worried look grew on her face, the pools of crimson liquid grew deeper and wider; at one point it even looked like an ocean.
And worst of all...
She could see fresh traces of destruction in the distance.
Savana pressed Silvia's shoulder, "Let's go down, quickly."
Silvia didn't question her decision even after their small fight and followed her down to their Squadron.
Savana placed a finger on her lips to hush them, "We're not alone, I saw evidence of battles in the distance, be careful."
While this applied to everyone, it was mainly at Randuin, Luliya and their short Berserker, Moglit.
Most of the 2nd Squadron looked way too exhausted to shout, let alone fight.
Silvia walked beside Luliya, and while cleaning off her armour, "You lot, what happened to you?"
"We were trapped by a Corrupted Gate Dungeon's overflow, then right after we beat the overflow we saw a Realm Tear right behind it. It pulled us in and here we are." Charles ran out of energy by the end and dropped down into the odd liquid.
Fortunately, it had no known negative effect as far as they could see so far.
"How about you?"
Silvia shrugged, "It's complicated but the process was the same."
Charles noticed someone was missing from their group, "And where is that thing?"
Savana frowned at his words, but Silvia answered for her before she could berate him, "Aranea went missing on the 12th, right before we reached the Imperial Camp; she's been missing since."
"...I see."
Crunch-
The sound of something snapping abruptly resounded, coming from the 2nd Squadron's direction.
Aria looked down at what her hand had just broken.
A...
String?
It was tainted red but she could still see its core colour.
Suddenly.
Rumble... Rumble...
The ground began shivering.
Rumble!
Quivering.
The rock formations around them croaked and broke apart.
And from the distance, from the direction where the world was cut off, all 9 of them heard the sound of shrieking.
Crackling shrieks.
The sound of their clattering legs thundered across to them.
"Randuin! Get Charles and Yun! Savana! Get Aria!"
Silvia sped through toward Moglit and Lucas, their group was too exhausted to run so they had to do it for them.
Savana rushed at Aria and picked her up on her shoulder while Randuin did the same; Luliya followed close behind them.
She moved as though she wasn't blind.
The undulating ground rattled the crimson waters, splashing it high; frowning, she turned her head toward Randuin and dashed behind him.
Keeping close, the group sprinted for a few minutes but the shrieks only grew louder.
"We can't escape." Savana muttered at Silvia.
"I know."
"Now what?"
Silvia shrugged, "Find something for us."
Clicking her teeth, Savana sped ahead of them, rushing up every outcropping of rocks to get a vantage point.
Finally, she reached one that let her see what was behind them.
16 legs, 64 eyes, 128 pustules on their back.
8-Veined Spiders.
But the grey aura oozing from their pustules proved that these were also Corrupted.
And there were dozens, maybe even a hundred of them.
Every single one was a Lower-Medium Corrupted Monster.
But at the front of the pack were 3 much larger Spiders, 16-Veined Spiders.
Medium Corrupted Monsters.
'This is bad.'
They could have dealt with them if they were in top form but they weren't. The 2nd Squadron was exhausted and they also had their fair share of battles today before entering the Realm Tear.
Jumping down, the water splashed around her feet and into Aria's face, causing her passenger to curse her out momentarily.
Everyone spared her a look, when they saw her shake her head, their sense of urgency increased.
"Follow me." But she did see a vague route they could take.
The place it leads to though...
She'd worry about it later, they had to survive this first.
-----
An enormous laboratory filled every inch of the scarlet castle.
Tubing, see-through glass tubes stuffed with creatures, equipment tossed on the ground-
It was a mess.
And Aranea opened her eyes at the back of this mess.
Her [Chain Breaker] was stored away.
Surveying her surroundings, she instantly knew where she was.
The heart of Revshika, the Drowned Castle.
Also known as-
"Reynauld's Cesspool."
Aranea quickly cast some Magic to clean herself up, the stains of blood on her clothing and the sticky feeling on her chin and nose weren't pleasant.
She started to walk around the area, taking in the scenery.
It wasn't often you'd get a close look at the Drowned Castle, even in the game you barely had a chance to explore the laboratory before everything popped off.
There was also no point in hiding.
Reynauld knew she was here.
He also knew where the other 9 were.
She knew for a fact that only the 1st and 2nd Squadron would have entered, he had his eyes on the 1st Squadron from the start after all.
On her.
He should be here soon.
He wasn't in the main laboratory right now but somewhere deeper, in his private cave.
She needed to find a way in there, and what better way than to follow along with Reynauld?
Step-
A crisp footstep echoed from behind her.
Step-
Then, she heard a sob; a crackling, maniacal sob.
"Ah~! My God!"
Turning around, she came face to face with the man in the distance.
"Saint Aranea~!"
His decapitated head floated beside his exposed, fleshy, rotting neck; its mouth spat out with joy and sorrow.
"I've always wanted to meet you, our Saint!"
Dropping down the floor, his knees cracked as he shoved his head and neck into the ground; he bowed at her like she was some sort of Deity.
"Our Lord!"
Sliding his face and neck off the ground at full force, chunks of flesh ripped off gruesomely as those grey eyes stared into Aranea's infinite swirls.
And Aranea-
"Have you completed it yet?"
His grey eyes dripped with glee, "So you knew my Lord, you knew-!"
"Almost! It's almost complete!"
Fumbling up, he bowed at her and gestured for her to follow him, "I'll show you my Lord!"
Aranea smiled and followed behind him.
Reynauld?
The boss of the First Act?
This insane madman who was so easy to fool?
You'd be a fool to believe the First Act was difficult.
Except the real fool, would be you.
Because this insane madman?
He wasn't insane in the slightest.