“You clearly overdid it,” Seeyela said as the party continued to stare at the pillar of energy swirling from ground to sky. She was looking at her sister.

  “Me?” Seena said. “You were the one who started it all with two moons.”

  “Where were you even hiding those?” Yanily said, his spear comfortably back in hand. “I didn’t see them in Shared Storage.”

  “She had them shoved up her…” Laseen started.

  “Don’t you even dare,” Seeyela interrupted.

  “I was just going to say they were up your Insatiable a…”

  “Nope!” Seeyela interrupted again.

  Laseen just cackled, the flickering light from the cataclysmic pillar of destruction only making it slightly ominous.

  “In all seriousness,” Romin said, back to normal size and sitting on the ground beside Wallop, who lay flat on his side breathing heavily. “Is that going to… go away?”

  “It should,” Hiral said, one eye on the tired Bonder-pair. The ability they’d used to match the Prince’s size—even with Hiral’s help—took a lot out of them. More, the bigger they got, and they’d gotten very big.

  “You sure about that?” Right said, the pillar still going strong.

  “Not in the least,” Hiral said. “This is kind of the first time. Which means we should take some notes or something. Gauto would kill me if I…” he trailed off at the sound of scratching on a notebook. “Thanks, Left.”

  “Gauto always comes to me first now,” Left said. “I’m not doing it for your sake.”

  “Since when did he start going to you? I’m his best friend.”

  “Since he realized I’m the one with the Academic mindset, and none of the… other personality traits that get in the way of it.”

  Every head turned to look at Right, his mouth wide open in preparation for the pastry he held in one hand. “What?” he asked.

  “Case closed,” Left said simply.

  “Oh, looks like it’s…” Seena said, pointing at the pillar of energy as it finally seemed to run out of fuel. Another few seconds of it winding down—thinning—and then it was gone. All that was left to show it had ever been there was a deep pit in the earth, the stone scoured perfectly smooth.

  “Huh,” Yanily said. “I sure hope Tomorrow’s facility—and the Black Gate—wasn’t right under there. That’d be awkward.”

  “Since you didn’t say that before the fight,” Seeyela said. “That means it’s not a flag, right? We should be safe?”

  The spearman thought about it for a second, then nodded resolutely. “Completely safe. We’re flag-free.”

  “Isn’t saying we’re flag-free also a flag?” Right offered.

  Yanily just blanched. “We’re so screwed,” he whispered.

  “Whether we are, or not,” Seena said, her party leader voice coming back out. “The timer has started. We have somewhere between an estimated twenty-five and one-hundred hours until the Raze poke their heads into our world to see what’s going on. After that fight, we all need a bit of recovery time.”

  “What about the achievement, girlie?” Laseen said. “I think you mentioned there are a few dungeons close. We could slip into one to grab the reward before we go through the gate.”

  “A quick Troblin stomp?” Hiral said. “The Mire and The Troblin Throne aren’t far from here. We could be in and out in minutes. Especially the second one, since it’s just the Boss.”

  “It would be stupid of us to pass it up,” Seena agreed with a nod. “Doubt there will be dungeon interfaces waiting for us on the other side of the Black Gate.”

  “Which,” Hiral said. “We actually need to find. Let me get started on that. It should be close to here, since this is where the Prince was guarding.”

  All eyes, again, went to the mile-wide, newly carved pit.

  “Hopefully not too close,” Hiral mumbled.

  “The briar patch would be the first place to start,” Left suggested. It was where the Prince of the Swamp had initially been bound, after all.

  “In the dungeon,” Seeyela said. “Weren’t there ruins of some kind as well? It didn’t look like one of Tomorrow’s facilities. No brass.”

  “No, but…” Hiral said, thinking. “The museum in the Squalian city—inside The Palace of Creeping Death—it had some of Tomorrow’s constructs. They had to have come from somewhere, right? The temple we saw when we fought the Prince in the dungeon, maybe they built it over Tomorrow’s facility because of how special they knew it had to be?”

  “It’s a good enough place to start,” Seena said. “Who’s going to…” she trailed off as dozens of clones peeled off Hiral, then sped into the darkness.

  “I’ve got it covered,” Hiral said.

  “You clearly do,” she said with a smile, shoulder bumping against him. Then, something seemed to occur to her, as she winced. “I wonder how the others are doing.”

  “I’m sure they’re fine,” Yanily said. “Probably already finished.”

  “Only one way to find out,” Seeyela said.

  “Yeah,” Seena agreed, before she spoke again into the raid chat. “Nivian? Ilrolik? How are things over there?”

  “Busy!” Nivian said immediately.

  “He’s riding the Drocon,” Wule said. “In his full Aspect form. You wouldn’t believe how big this damn thing is. Or how funny this is to watch. It keeps trying to buck him off.”

  “So… the fight is going well?” Seena said, clearly unsure how to take the twin’s comment.

  “Nobody’s lost a limb yet…”

  “Devison has!” Yully seethed over the raid chat. “Twice. The same foot. Even after I regrew it, he went right and did the same thing, shoving his leg into the dragon’s mouth. When has that ever been A GOOD IDEA!?”

  “She sounds happy,” Yanily said, without speaking into the raid chat.

  “We’re still fighting,” Loan said. “This thing is nothing like the dungeon version. If I didn’t know better—because of View—I’d swear we were fighting The Fourth Crusade’s bigger, angrier bother, The Twelfth Crusade. It’s just that different.”

  “Do you need any help over there?” Hiral said, already doing the mental math of how long it would take him to get the party there. The answer wasn’t promising.

  Loan, in reply, scoffed. He actually went to the trouble of scoffing over the raid chat.

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  “Give us some credit,” Loan said. “We’ll handle it.”

  “And there goes the third foot…” Yully sighed.

  “… we’ll handle it,” Loan said again, more quietly.

  “So will we,” Nivian said.

  “SMASH!” Bash shouted over the raid chat.

  “Yes, yes, you go do that now,” Wule said to the little Troblin, though his next words were clearly directed at Seena’s party. “Igwanda is doing fine against the flying Drocon, but it’s making Bash and Finotol frustrated. As soon as Nivian gets it down to the ground, this’ll be a different story. Don’t worry about us.

  “And, since you’re asking,” Wule sighed in the raid chat. “I take it that means you’ve already cleared yours?”

  “Uh…” Seena said. “Just… just barely. Whew, so tired…”

  “Shut up,” Wule laughed. “You’re a terrible liar, and an even worse actor.”

  “Hey!”

  “Remember that time when we were kids, and you told your sister her favorite, green dress got muddy because the window got left open?”

  “Hah!” Seena said in triumph. “She believed me.” Then her head snapped around to look at the aforementioned sister. “… because it was true…?”

  “I’ll leave you with that,” Wule chuckled. “Looks like the Drocon is finally starting to get tired of Nivian on his back. They’re coming down now.”

  “I hope it eats you,” Seena grumbled, then winced at the glare Seeyela was giving her.

  “Loved that dress,” Seeyela said. “I knew you were wearing it when I wasn’t home. I knew it.”

  “Left was right,” Hiral interrupted. “Er, he was correct. There was a tunnel under the temple ruins in the briar patch, like we found in the dungeon. A brass tunnel. It has to be one of Tomorrow’s facilities.”

  Thank you, Seena mouthed at Hiral, the announcement likely saving her from sisterly wrath.

  “Didn’t take you long to find the briar,” Yanily said. “In the dark.”

  “I sent a lot of clones looking,” Hiral said.

  “I’m surprised that,” Romin pointed at the crater. “Didn’t destroy it all, if it was that close.”

  “It’s not close,” Hiral said. “It’s about seven miles that way.” He pointed. “Three miles or so from where we fought the Prince.”

  “He was guarding the gate from three miles away from it?” Seeyela asked.

  “That would be, what, ten steps for that big boy?” Laseen said.

  “Maybe a few more,” Hiral said, though they both had points.

  “It’s seven miles from here and you found it already?” Romin said.

  “S-Rank, my Bonder friend,” Yanily said. “And, in case you missed it, Hiral moves kind of fast.”

  “Kind of,” Hiral agreed. “That also means The Troblin Throne is just a few miles that way.” He pointed again, his arm at a slightly different angle. “I can get us there in no time. We go in, get our reward, then head straight to the gate.”

  “Good chance Tomorrow’s facility is guarded,” Seena said. “Not that they will be much of a threat to us at S-Rank. Let’s do it.”

  “It’s gropey time!” Yanily said, sounding unusually happy about it. Maybe even uncomfortably happy.

  Hiral just rolled his eyes, then reached out with his scarves to grab the others, then noticed the timer on some of his buffs.

  “Oh, Eloquently Enraged is about to fade,” Hiral said.

  “What does that matter?” Yanily said.

  “The debuff after,” Hiral said. “I don’t want to fly into the ground if my stats drop on the way.”

  “Debuff is gone,” Yanily said.

  “Huh?”

  “Didn’t you read the notification window when you activated the ability?” Seena spoke up. “I don’t know if it’s because we’re S-Rank or what, but there’s no downside to the ability anymore.”

  “Wait, what?” Hiral said, pulling up the ability again.

  Eloquently Enraged+: Increase all mental and physical attributes by 75% for 180 seconds (Cooldown: 30 minutes).

  They were right. There used to be a note about them losing twenty-five percent of their stats after the ability faded, for three minutes. It was gone.

  Tentatively—in case the notification window was playing tricks on him—Hiral canceled the buff. Nothing happened beyond his attributes dropping back down to normal. No downside. No debuff. Not even an unpleasant feeling.

  “That’s insane,” he said. “We can use it whenever we want, without the risk of it running out mid-fight?”

  “It can still run out,” Seena reminded him. “We just won’t suddenly become drooling idiots when it does.”

  “That’s game-changing,” Hiral said.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t notice it,” Seeyela said.

  “So am I!” Hiral said.

  “It’s why Gauto comes to me first now,” Left said, his notebook hidden away in Shared Storage again.

  “Shush, you,” Hiral said.

  “Your reading skills—or choice in friends—aside,” Yanily said. “Are we going? We’ve got achievement rewards to claim! Oh, and a world to save, or something like that.”

  “Glad to see your priorities never change,” Seena said. “You do have a point, though. Hiral, can you take us to The Troblin Throne?”

  “We’re already here,” Hiral said, pointing at the dungeon interface within the room of stone blocks.

  “What…? How? When?”

  “While you and Yanily were talking,” Hiral said.

  “You moved us seven miles,” Seena started.

  “Ten,” Hiral interrupted. “Ten miles.”

  Seena rubbed the bridge of her nose. “You moved us all ten miles, in two sentences, without any of us noticing?”

  “I noticed,” Romin said.

  Wallop vomited beside him. Snuff.

  “Wallop also noticed.”

  “I made sure to put him in the back,” Hiral said. “Might’ve been a bit rougher on him. Noted for next time.”

  Snuuuuff.

  “He says a little warning would help with it.”

  “Also noted. As for the rest of you, a little bit of Sealing, a touch of Dreaming, and a dash of Sound should’ve made for a smooth ride. Oh, and a sprinkle of my time runes so make sure nothing blurred around the edges.”

  “It sounds more like you were baking a cake,” Yanily said as he walked over to the dungeon interface. “Whatever! Enter dungeon.”

  The familiar blue portal that spiraled open this time came with a heavy hint of nostalgia. And sadness. Last time they’d been here, they’d literally been running for their lives, the Infested Picoli hot on their heels and looking to bash their heads in. They’d just lost almost half their number to the Enemy, and had carried an unconscious Caleon most of the way.

  Getting into The Troblin Throne had saved their lives. Yes, for Hiral, soloing the Boss had almost killed him, but it was better than the sure death at Picoli’s hands. Or, hand—singular—would be more accurate, considering they’d blown one off.

  Hiral shook his head to dispel the memories. It was all a long time ago. Back when he was E-Rank.

  “You all coming?” Yanily said.

  “Just thinking back to the first time we were here,” Seena said quietly.

  Yanily’s usual smile faltered. It had been right before they’d arrived here the last time that he’d lost two of his best friends in the world, Vix and Balyo. Those deaths were part of what made him so protective of the rest of them, in his own way. He was the spear that leads the storm. A force of nature who would wipe away any threats before they could hurt his friends again.

  “I miss them,” the spearman answered back. “It’s why we’re here, though. To make sure it doesn’t happen to anybody else we love. Once this is all done, I want to go back to… to where we lost them. Give them a proper farewell.”

  “That sounds nice, Yan,” Seeyela said. “Same for Lonil.”

  “We’ll all go,” Hiral said.

  “Yeah,” Seena said, then took a deep breath. “First things first. Achievement.”

  “Got it, boss,” Hiral said, absorbing his doubles, then entering through the blue portal with the others. As soon as he entered the white waiting room, he reactivated Foundational Split, and the whole space rippled at the release of power.

  “Heh,” Yanily chuckled. “Looks like this little E-Rank dungeon can’t handle a few S-Ranks so well.”

  “Course not, knucklehead,” Laseen said. “We didn’t even know how strong S-Ranks would be. Theoretical ceiling, remember? We’re lucky this place didn’t collapse and spit us out into the void as soon as we entered.”

  “That could happen?” Hiral asked, though he was surprisingly not worried about that. At S-Rank, could he get them back if he had to? I’d find a way.

  Seena was just rubbing the bridge of her nose. “Done is done, but maybe warn us about possibilities like that?”

  Laseen just cackled.

  “Who gets to handle the Troblin Lord?” Seeyela said, getting them back on track, as she tapped Yes to get the dungeon started. As soon as she did, a notification window popped up.

  The Troblin Throne—Dungeon

  E-Rank

  Top Clear Times

  Seena: 0:01

  Hiral: 5:57

  Seena: 7:31

  Close Window

  “The hell?” Seena asked at the same time Hiral and Yanily both barked out a short laugh.

  “Guess it wasn’t just the dungeon that couldn’t handle the S-Rank pressure of us all being in here,” Hiral said.

  “Are you saying…” Romin started. “The dungeon’s Boss just… popped because we were in the same zone as it.”

  “It’s not really far away,” Yanily said. “Just down the hall.”

  “Doesn’t change my question.”

  “Let’s go take a look,” Hiral said, grabbing the party with his scarves and zipping down to the Boss room. What they found, well, it was likely exactly as Romin had said. The floor and ceiling was covered in bits of green blood, wooden armor, and thick skin.

  “Yikes,” Yanily said. “How many dungeons do you think we can clear like this?”

  “E and D-Rank, probably,” Laseen said, floating over the puddle to inspect it. When a piece of face fell on her from the ceiling, she just sighed and floated back to the party. “We could probably avoid it by containing our energy, like we did after exiting Ascender’s Tower.”

  “Why would we even want to?” Yanily said, then looked at the mess. “Hiral, do you think you could…?”

  “Hrm?” Hiral said. “Oh, yeah, sure.” All it took was a wave of his hand—along with a combination of Energy and Breaking—to remove the gore like it had never been there.

  “Think you can do the same thing for Favela’s room?” Seeyela said with a whistle.

  Hiral didn’t get a chance to answer before Seena clapped her hands together. “Saving the world, people. Focus. Yan, let’s get that achievement and get back to Tomorrow’s facility.”

  “Sorry, boss,” Yanily said, and he swiped his hand above the dungeon interface. “Achievements.”

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