Shortly before Moglit and Aria were taken.
Dozens of pillar-like tentacles thrashed out of the crimson liquid-covered grounds of the coral maze, and the fountains of scarlet showered down on Silvia and Savana.
Brandishing their weapons, flashes of scarlet Aura and flames scattered about the battlefield.
The scuttering sounds of rumbling footsteps came from far behind, the spiders were on their way.
Place these powerful tentacles on top and it became a hassle for them.
Running atop a tentacle, Savana slipped beneath another incoming tentacle, her daggers parrying the few inches of flesh that almost crushed her.
Pushing off into the air, flames erupted beneath her feet and sent her flying at a nearby tentacle.
Her Aura and Fire Magic mixed, a deadly combination thrust from her serrated daggers; the rippling flames drew a trail through the air.
Splash-
Splitting it in half, Savana appeared on the opposite end of the battlefield.
Silvia was up ahead fighting an abomination of a Corrupted mixture of tentacles and slithering snake heads.
Her scarlet Aura melted with the crimson skies; the flashing lights lit up Savana's face forcing her to cover her eyes.
Looking back at where she came from, the group of 60 or so odd tentacles thrashed at the ground; they tried reaching her.
Savana used the brief moment of respite to wipe the sweat off her face, she was running very low on Mana and Aura.
Standing there, she looked inwards at her 4 Stars for Mana and Aura; they were dim, drying.
But there was something between them, something flickering with darkness; something imbued with her uniqueness.
She could see something chained by 8 Stars in between.
A black Star.
The Star and the chains surrounding it only appeared 3 weeks or so ago.
Her dark flames were always a mystery, but now she could see the source.
It was whatever that thing was.
The odd thing was that the chains didn't seem to be sealing the Star, they were absorbing her 4 Mage Stars and 4 Aura Stars.
Savana couldn't do anything about it either, she could only watch and hope it wasn't anything terrible.
Except...
For some reason...
[...Finally.]
Something within her was gleeful.
Excited.
"Savana!"
Silvia's voice rattled her awake, another tentacle was barrelling down at her.
A stray slice of scarlet Aura gouged half of the tentacle, throwing the bisected half beside Savana.
The grumbling ground reminded Savana that she was in the midst of a battle.
Playfully twirling her daggers, flashes of dark flames echoed on their edges, drifting around her like wisps.
The bellowing heat from those dark flames erupted, and the crimson liquid beneath her bubbled from the insane heat.
Licking her lips, Savana prepped herself for a long, long fight.
If her Reservoirs weren't enough then she'd just have to learn how to use it better right now. Was it difficult?
Sure.
But she wasn't the best up-and-coming Assassin for no reason.
If Silvia could do it so could she.
At the same time, Silvia's Aura retaliated succinctly at the odd, hybrid.
Liquid splattered beneath her as she dashed around the snaked-headed tentacle abomination thrashing at her; her sword sliced and diced everything with practically no errors.
Jumping and squeezing in between the myriad attacks, her hair suffered the most as portions of it were crushed and ruined.
Crack!
Planting a foot on the coral wall, she quickly stepped up and ran on it using her momentum.
Bang! Bang!
Two snake heads smashed into the coral behind her, causing it to collapse beneath its weight.
Whipping herself around, Silvia brandished her weapon, the blinding crimson lights broke into a chaotic mess as piles of flying snakeheads were severed from their necks.
Covered in the decay of Abyssal Power, Silvia kept her Aura flowing all over her body to keep it at bay.
This was too much decay to treat casually like those Corrupted Humans from before.
BOOM-!
Suddenly, an explosion rattled their battlefield to its core.
A shockwave of winds, liquid and decay rushed in all directions.
Flying mid-air amidst the powerful winds, Silvia poured her vision past the waves of crimson liquid flying up into the sky like fireworks.
She stuck her vision at the eruption of black flames.
At Savana in the middle of it all.
[...What is she?]
Something inside her warned her of Savana's danger.
Savana stood right beside the odd hybrid of tentacles and snakeheads.
Her bellowing black flames burnt away at every layer of decaying flesh on that abomination.
[That Aura...]
Goosebumps drilled into Silvia's spine.
[I know it.]
Ba-dump.
The existence within her beat quietly.
Ba-dump.
Opened its eyes enough to let an inch of light through.
Ba-dump.
And uttered one word.
A word which mixed into Silvia's core, bringing out the not-so-fun side of her.
A word throbbing with impurity.
[#!+#@#?]
Then.
Her scarlet Aura.
It squeezed into itself, churned inwardly; then, blew into the sky.
A whirlwind of black and red severed the sky into two halves.
And, between them, the abomination of a monster exploded into pieces, chunks of its flesh sped past their heads and into the coral walls.
The mess spread and smashed face-first into the tentacles, burning and disintegrating them like butter beneath a hot knife.
Silvia's unique Attribute cut into the black flames, splitting them and breaking them down as she tried to calm Savana's sudden outbreak.
She had no idea why this happened.
Nor what caused it.
But it was too random.
There were no traces of these dark flames from Savana before and now Savana was erupting with these flames from all her pores.
Her wine-red eyes were turning darker.
Turning a shade closer to black.
'Did she lose control?'
That's the only thing she could guess.
[~#!=##?]
Ba-dump.
Her heart throbbed at the sight.
Holding back the odd feeling within her, Silvia pushed herself into the dark flames, cutting them away at every step as she approached Savana.
"Sa-!"
Boom-!
The black flames erupted with another wave of powerful heat, forcing her back a couple of steps.
Holding her arms up, Silvia grit her teeth; her hair fluttering wildly behind her.
"Damnit!"
---
Luliya felt her Divine Power slipping away like a broken dam; as dense as her Divinity was, she couldn't handle keeping up this barrier for so long.
If not for the powerful winds drying her, her chest would have been plastered into her robes from the sweat.
Fortunately, the winds weren't strong enough to blow her off her feet thanks to Randuin's aid.
"Lucas, can you create a tunnel out back for us to leave through?!" Charles shouted at their young Priest through the blasting winds.
Lucas hesitantly shook his head, "No! My Divine Power is too weak for that!"
"Shit!"
Yun looked between Charles and Lucas, he never stopped trying to think of something.
A pulsating heart filled with Abyssal Power...
The pillar of black and red from behind is most likely linked to Silvia and Savana...
Moglit and Aria...
The coral maze...
The Realm Tear...
The red liquid, the red skies...
There had to be a link somewhere.
Something to help them out of their precarious situation.
He didn't know how the 1st Squadron entered.
But for them, they were first entrapped by a Corrupted Gate Dungeon that appeared out of thin air; then right after beating it a Realm Tear appeared.
It felt too artificial.
It felt like someone had set them up.
Why would they want to bring them in here if that was the case?
Just to kill them?
Unlikely.
He had never heard of someone creating a Realm Tear, but only if he was crazy enough to believe that someone had made it...
They could have outright killed them.
There was no need to go this far.
So.
What if Aria and Moglit weren't dead?
What if they were taken somewhere?
...
It's possible.
But it was too risky.
He couldn't risk everyone dying here just to confirm a crazy theory.
But...
If he was crazy enough...
A small cackle escaped his lips.
"Fuck it."
"It's better than dying like a rat." He whispered those words to himself, but, a sense of madness strung together his next set of words.
"Lucas! I'm going to charge in! Use that opportunity to escape, I think Aria and Moglit are fine!"
Yun's body flashed by Charles and Lucas; Randuin and Luliya barely caught a glimpse of his tall body speeding by.
Escaping the encirclement of Divine Power, the decay of Abyssal Power punched his body.
He drew one of his daggers and wrapped it with a dense coating of Aura, then-
Flash!
It flew back into the encirclement, into the ground beside Charles' feet.
Lucas quickly figured out what Yun meant.
Smacking his palm into Charles' back, he turned around and sprinted to the back of Luliya's Divine Power.
His hands spewed out every last droplet of Divinity within him; he was going to create a tunnel.
Yun was planning on taking on the brunt of the Abyssal Power which was momentarily going to grant him enough time to lead them out of here.
It was a sacrifice based on a gamble.
As for what the gamble was, Lucas hadn't figured it out yet.
But Yun had to be confident in his analysis to risk his life like that.
Randuin and Luliya adjusted their plan accordingly, they couldn't stop what had already happened.
Charles picked up the dagger and stared at the coating.
He knew what this meant.
'Idiot-!'
Biting his lips, Charles Von Sildoret, the Prince, returned.
With a sharp gaze, he twisted his body and walked beside Lucas.
They had to get ready to leave.
As for Yun.
The Corruption was blasting him without pause.
Soon enough it was going to encase him.
And that was going to be the deciding factor.
-----
Aria's moans echoed throughout the cave.
Inside the set of barriers, Aria's upturned eyes struggled to look at Aranea; every time she almost caught a glimpse of Aranea, another wave of ecstasy crackled through her body.
Cursing through her erotic voice, Aria dug into the cushioning beneath her.
But, at some point, the frequency of the shocks started to die down.
And finally, she caught a glance of the short, two-haired monster.
She kneeled in between her legs.
And currently...
Drip-
Her blood was draining from her nose, splattering onto her pants.
Her sclera was tainted a dark red from broken blood vessels.
Her hands were squirming and spasming.
And her voice-
"I-I kn-ow..."
It was broken up, screeching yet quiet; like the whisper of a dying bird.
Aria had no idea who Aranea was talking to.
But she could feel the agony in those words.
Aria's mind was muddled from the mixture of pleasure, anger, despair and confusion.
And the confusion grew stronger at that moment.
What was happening to Aranea?