Blades collided, and Vivi was blown back, crashing against a wall behind her.

  The wall was, of course, really just a part of the behemoth’s intestines. It buckled inward by Vivi’s weight, as if she’d hit a soft pillow. Ether began welling up all around her. The wall tried to trap her.

  Vivi growled, pushing ten thousand ether into Lucius’s reserves as she slashed wildly around herself, hitting the wall. Her sword cut in—and like popping a balloon, ether released from the behemoth’s wall, exploding and throwing Vivi forward with force.

  Right toward the dark figure’s sword, thrust at her face.

  Vivi saw death as her instincts raised Grandpa’s sword in a panic. Next thing she knew, a jolt shot through her hands as the tip of the monster’s ethereal blade collided against hers. Immediately, the godslayer swung again, forcing Vivi on the defense.

  The swordsmanship that attacked her was the most unnerving thing Vivi had experienced. The godslayer’s expression remained calm and unchanging, its stance and fighting style systematically perfect. Its aura was mildly hostile, though it didn’t extrude its presence onto Vivi. It merely attacked Vivi with perfect calmness, as if she was just another opponent it had to defeat.

  And it was winning. Only the fifteen thousand ether in her body kept her in the fight, desperately on the defense as she swung her sword wherever her ethereal senses felt the next danger to her life. Blades clashed with violence, thousands of wisps sparking from the godslayer’s sword from each contact.

  Her ascension was already running out. Wisps burned by the thousands for what felt like every second. She wasn’t merely keeping herself at eight thousand ether now; she had to keep herself ascended at fifteen thousand or more.

  There was a short pause in the godslayer’s relentless attacks. Vivi’s senses panicked, thrown off rhythm as she tried to figure out what would happen next.

  Then the next attack came, far heavier than the ones prior.

  The blow landed on Grandpa’s sword with an ear-piercing sizzle, and Vivi was blown off the bridge, freefalling until the next bridge lay below. Spikes awaited as the behemoth shaped a trap.

  Gritting her teeth, Vivi fell sword first. The tip of her blade collided with a spike, cutting in half before hitting the ground, where she crashed right through like a spear cutting through. A rumble came from ahead as the bridge snapped, destroyed by the crush runes.

  The behemoth’s pumping ether resounded like a rampant factory, filling not only her ethereal sense, but also her ears with a loud scraping and sizzling, as if powerful steam was being released all around her.

  The Godslayer’s presence followed her rapidly, far faster than the speed gravity pulled Vivi down. It arrived next to her, slashed, and Vivi was once again blown toward the walls.

  This time, she slashed at the wall before ether could build and trap her. She planted her feet on the ground, landing with a light shockwave.

  Then her footing wavered, muscles threatening to rip in half by the insane amounts of ether she was abusing.

  The godslayer was already on her, attacking her with relentless calmness. Its aura remained the exact same; dormant, yet incredibly powerful.

  Vivi felt herself slowing down. Another trap built within the behemoth’s walls behind her as she defended from the white ethereal blade dancing ahead of her. The godslayer pushed her to the wall.

  Spikes formed, ready to pierce Vivi. She had nowhere to go. Excess ether slowly, quickly, killed her from the inside. She would die.

  The godslayer lifted its sword, preparing a final blow.

  Vivi stumbled on her feet, stance wavering as the sword shot toward her, sizzling with heavenly ether.

  She reached into her void core.

  The blackness took control in an instant, the void wisps awaiting at the closed door of their core to flood her body like a dammed waterfall. Death Sense replaced eyesight, and new instincts wielded her sword.

  She parried the godslayer’s attack with a manoeuvre that somehow felt natural, knocking the monster off of its balance for a fraction of a second—enough for Vivi to take control of the fight. She pushed forward, slashing.

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  Grandpa’s sword immediately showed its strengths. The godslayer’s sword erupted with each contact, tendrils of wisps exploding from it as it struggled to keep its shape. Vivi continued hitting, as if hammering a blade on her anvil. The crush runes slowly made their way to its insides, ready to blow it into pieces.

  Then the godslayer’s calm aura erupted with power, its blade repairing itself.

  If that’s how you want to play! Vivi thought, matching the monster’s ascension with one of her own as she pushed twenty thousand ether into Lucius’s core.

  Over thirty thousand ether concentrated inside her with pressure that crushed the air around her. That was enough ether to kill her in an instant, ripping her body apart in one clean cut.

  Void ether protected her. The hundreds of void wisps acted exactly like a protective layer. They brought pressure away from Vivi’s insides, and instead pushed the ascended ether against each other, making them more and more concentrated. Her body felt safer now than it did with fifteen thousand ether.

  She slashed again, preparing a heavy blow. Her sword arched at the godslayer from above with the weight of god’s palace, colliding as the godslayer helplessly defended.

  The shockwave ripped the ground apart. The godslayer thrust through the bridge; in an instant, it crashed against the very bottom of the behemoth’s body below, where cracks spread from the impact.

  Its sword shattered to pieces as the monster pushed itself up. Vivi jumped off to finish it off.

  For a moment, she thought she saw panic in the godslayer’s aura. She could feel the shape of its eyes. The monster was afraid.

  Then its aura flooded to life again, ascending, and its sword reformed. A new blade even more concentrated with ether appeared. Its aura matched Vivi’s.

  You can dream, Vivi thought, and pushed another fifteen thousand ether into Lucius’s core, void ether flooding into her body.

  The godslayer froze in place. It gazed upwards like a coreless human gazing powerlessly at an impending storm. It went into stance and held its sword to block.

  Grandpa’s sword exploded upon the sword, sharpness runes leading the beautiful metal into the godslayer’s ethereal blade, where the crush runes took effect, cracking the toy into a million pieces, before Grandpa’s blade continued to the dark figure beneath, like a reaper cutting Vivi’s enemies from existence.

  The godslayer died in one clean swipe. A beacon of ether rose from its body.

  Vivi quickly picked it all up. 5467 void ether, 3097489 live ether, as well as a burning white skill wisp. She picked it up, and the skill filled the last slot in her core.

  She had no time to examine it. A deadly headache of void ether still pillaged her head, trying to take control. Around her, the pumping continued. The behemoth was still alive.

  Not for long. Vivi jumped up to the closest bridge. Then to the next, continuing up. She made it to the bridge filled with spikes. There, she merely kicked at one of the spikes, shattering it and giving her a spot to place her foot. She jumped to the next bridge.

  In thirty seconds, she had climbed to the bridges before the pumping heart. It thrashed about in a panic, as if trying to talk to Vivi, pleading for its life.

  This city is my home, Vivi thought, stepping closer. And you’re not going to destroy it.

  She took a running step, jumped, and drove her sword through the behemoth’s heart. It slid through effortlessly.

  The pumping stopped. Just like that, the behemoth stopped moving. The factory stopped pumping, and the bridges, walls, everything inside began disintegrating. Any support columns began cracking.

  The ceiling would probably collapse. Vivi would need to get out of here, lest she get crushed underneath whatever materials had reanimated the behemoth.

  She quickly collected the ether from it. Another three million. There were skill wisps as well—what looked like multiple different rare skills. But Vivi’s slots were full.

  She had a different battle she now needed to deal with. Survival.

  Void ether kept flooding her. Beneath it, she could hear Lucius’s quiet and vague voice, overpowered by the void wisps. The feeling was exactly as it was in Shivenar. Vivi felt herself slowly turning into a monster. The void core was open, and it wouldn’t close.

  Lucius, can you hear me? Vivi thought.

  “Vivi!” his quiet voice shouted from some dark corner in her consciousness.

  It’s not as bad as last time, she thought. She felt the void ether pinching at every thought she tried to form, but they couldn’t steal her mind from her just yet. Perhaps it was due to her different state of mind. She wasn’t filled with utter rage this time. Void ether seemed to fuel itself with rage.

  This time, Vivi felt calm and collected. The reason for activating her void core had been entirely different. She wanted to defend, not destroy. She had time to assess the problem with logic.

  Lucius, let’s do this properly this time, Vivi thought. You know how to do it.

  “Can you hear me?” he asked, barely audible.

  I can, Vivi thought. I’ll give you ether. Push it all on the void core. Shut it.

  She took a breath, as if to remind her body that void ether wasn’t what gave energy to her organs. She directed a damn of ascended ether on the void core, and pushed it shut by force.

  Now, she thought. Will we do this the easy way, or will you try to kill me?

  The void core protested, of course. It wanted to take control of her. She had just collected a hefty amount of void ether from the godslayer. Those wisps wanted to pillage her as well, turning her into the being she’d just killed.

  But the flow of void ether wasn’t nearly as violent as last time. Vivi pushed with force and confidence, telling her void core to just shut up and do as she said.

  And it listened. It was forced to. The door was slammed shut, and no more void ether poured in.

  The behemoth’s ceiling collapsed, having turned to sandstone. The hard stone crashed on top of her, and she collapsed to sleep underneath the rubble.

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