He grit his teeth as the strike was parried aside with ease by the Goddess of War. Rather than press the assault, he paused for a moment to try and comprehend the resonance that seemed to have occurred when their weapons had met. He couldn’t understand it beyond the fact that it was strange though, and he paid attention to her words when she began to lecture him.

Right then… if powerful swings wouldn’t cut it then perhaps something more direct would work. He adjusted his grip on the weapon, shifted his posture to put his body almost perpendicular to the Goddess’. With a quick step, he performed a quick thrust aimed for center mass.

((Mind you, if it wasn't clear, he hasn't met Ares yet. So, he's gonna do some...stupid stuff.))
Seeing what appeared to be a fight starting between a man and a lady, the lady looking rather cross, Cran decides now is the time for action. Sprinting towards the two, he most likely seems like a complete loon to everyone else, just barging in on a training session like that.
"Oi, oi, you two!" He calls out, to the two combatants, eventually sliding to a halt, his clogs giving him surprisingly little traction. Nearly falling over, but now right near the two combatants, Cran tries his best to seem a little intimidating. "Are you two some sort of show for these people, warriors sent to fight for coin, at the cost of blood?" He asks, seeming a bit miffed. Ignorance, fills his words no doubt, as it is very obvious he knows nothing of this place.

"Better, but not good enough." Saying these words blandly as Alexander adjusted his grip, Ares dropped her posture down, extending a single leg outwards as if a spearman dropping into a stance. For a swordsman, a spearman's stance of extending a leading leg far out from the body was idiotic at best; any combatant who saw her actions would likely pronounce them as inept.

When Alexander launched his attack though, this notion was swatted aside. The weapon Ares held was, without question, a sword. At the moment when Alexander's blade moved to strike Ares, though, her weapon moved as if it was a spear. Rather than a line, it became a point, wielded with a single hand like a short spear wielded with two. In a fluid motion that seemed to go against physics, her sword lashed out to block the attack with the side of her blade, the weapons hissing as they contacted each other-

-Only for Ares to abruptly pull back, stopping the motion of her sword as she leapt backwards, away from Alexander.

The reason for this sudden change was simple.

Someone had interrupted her.

Ares wordlessly turned to face the new arrival. It was enough that she wasn't in a good mood beforehand, but the words of the human before her had caused that anger to flare up anew.


If the presence of Ares had been oppressive before, in a single instant it became palpable. To the individual she was now looking at, there would be an overwhelming, all-consuming feeling of insignificance, of weakness. The feeling of looking at a natural disaster given form. The realization that one was a speck in the cosmic hand of the Bodhisattva. The very ability to articulate words would be lost, replaced by panic and fear beyond description. Even Alexander and the other observers, not suffering the brunt of Ares's presence, would have their minds filled with this overbearing dread, their reason stolen away by primal terror.


And just as quickly as it had come, that aura of malice faded. Taking a moment for the humans to recover their rationality, Ares spoke up icily.

"...Alright Alexander, it's your lucky day. We're changing the lesson plan. Fight this guy. If you win, you'll get my second-order blessing. New guy, no running away. You're in my domain, and I don't treat cowards kindly."

Even if she was the hurdle he had to pass at the moment, he couldn’t help but watch as she adjusted her stance in response to his own changes. Even as he lashed out with a quick jab, he paid more attention to her movements than the result of his own attack, already understanding that it wouldn’t land. What he needed to figure out was why, and what he needed to change or do.

However just like the odd resonance that had happened when their weapons first clashed, he was left confused at exactly what had happened. It was no doubt a sword in her hand, but it felt like his weapon had just met with a vicious stab from the tip of a spear. The sensation only last momentarily though, and he stepped back as Ares disengaged with a simple hop.

He didn’t know what to expect when the Goddess turned to face the interloper, but he didn’t expect her overwhelming air to further intensify. His thoughts became a jumbled mess as the urge to step back, turn about, and just run engulfed him. The moment passed as quickly as it had come, and he gasped for breath shakily as his white knuckled grip slowly relaxed. He nodded at his Goddess’ harsh orders, and though he felt bad for the man and his ignorance he wasn’t about to disobey Ares.

He twirled his weapon around several times to help loosen up the tension that had built up under Ares intense presence before he took a glance at the man that had chosen to interrupt out of apparent ignorance. The man’s actions seemed to suggest a lack of familiarity with the Deities given he failed to recognize the white-haired Goddess. If that were true then it also meant he couldn’t possibly have any of their blessings which meant he was, effectively, just an ordinary human at this point… ‘Ho boy…’ He was glad to have given this a bit of thought rather than dive straight in with the assumption that the other man was also similarly blessed; might have just killed the man by accident.

Still… it was only a guess at the moment and he would actually need to engage his opponent to see the accuracy of such a guess. He lowered his stance as the weapon rested over his shoulder. With a sharp stomp, he charged forward at full speed, leaving a small cloud of dust in his wake. A regular human would barely be able to react, while someone with a Deity’s blessing would have without much trouble. Just in case his opponent was of the latter, he whipped the sword around with a quick swing to aim for his opponent’s chest. It would be easy to adjust so the blow passed by harmlessly if it turned out that, yeah, he was just fighting a regular human.

Cran felt very small in comparison to the god, and it showed, him shaking slightly. However, Cran closed his eyes, for just a moment, before he turned towards Ares, taking a stance. "...I take it you run this place, huh? I always heard those that run these gladiatorial arenas were...strong...but no matter. If I must prove that...that I can handle..your warrior, then so be it..." Cran says, before switching to look at his foe. They looked strong..radiated some power, but Cran kept a somewhat cool head. He knew not who he was facing, nor truly the extent of their power.

This, would end very, very, badly for Cran the Pacifist.

He saw the charge, and he barely managed to move out of the way of the blade, however he tries to latch onto his foe, aiming to try, and choke them. However, Alexander's helmet prevented this, entirely. That's even if Cran can manage to grab him, and try to choke him. Cran was fast for a normal human, but he was facing someone on a whole new level to anything he'd faced before.

He tossed the blade aside when his opponent only barely managed to avoid the strike by a hair’s breadth. With a quick duck that let him slip under Cran’s attempt to lock him in a chokehold, he would then press a hand to the older man’s chest and shove hard enough to lift him off the ground and send him flying backwards.

Even if the blow had been dodged, he had already backed away from his opponent with a few quick steps. He liked to think his self-control was admirable at times, but even he wasn’t skilled enough to consciously restrain himself in such a manner. He would naturally revert to using the strength that felt most natural, and it could hardly be called a fight if the disparity in physical capabilities was considered. There was just a level where skill could no longer make up the difference and he most certainly felt that was the case between him and his opponent.

“It’s not even a fight,” he called out to Ares as he held up a hand, motioning for Cran to stop, “he doesn’t even have a Deity’s blessing.” He figured that Ares would have been able to tell, either by sensing or simply evaluating Cran’s capabilities at a glance, but still felt the need to point it out. If told to continue by his Goddess than he would have little choice but to do so in a manner that hopefully didn’t injure his opponent too badly.

The palm strike connects, Cran, who was already in the air, as he had tried to leap, was sent quite a bit up before crashing to the ground. A surge of pain shocked into him, but he rolled, before leaping to his feet. Alexander's strike had cracked some of Cran's ribs, as could be heard in Cran's hampered breathing.
"...D-damn it...totally outclassed...." Cran grumbles, before smiling, hearing Alexander saying the fight was over. ".....Thank you. Self control....admirable..." Cran chuckles, before letting out a groan of discomfort. "Have to...admit it, I envy your strength. Where did you learn to unlock your potential like you have? Was it that..blessing, you mentioned?" Cran asks. He then looks over at Ares. "...and who are you...woman with such power that it can be felt in the air like humidity?" Cran asks her, fear evident in him still.

Ares watched the interaction that couldn't even be called a fight with an irritated, impassive gaze. At Alexander's protest, the God merely shook her head, heaving out a disdainful sigh. "I'm aware of that." She replied blandly. "To be completely honest, I just wanted you to rough him up a bit. I mean, if you killed him that wouldn't have mattered much, but I wasn't expecting you to anyway." She explained, shrugging slightly as if her words were completely reasonable. "You're lucky, though. If he didn't show up to distract me from how pissed I was, and still am, at you, then you'd still be desperately trying to spar with me."

"Well, whatever. You've made it to the first Floor Guardian, so honestly I don't have any reason to keep the blessing from you. I'm satisfied for now." The War God said with a feigned yawn, a pale red light coalescing around her body, flowing like water towards Alexander's body. "That said, wasting the medallion like that was strike one. You're getting a freebie on this, but don't get any more strikes, or I'll have to start assigning you quests to make up for it."

At the words of the unblessed human though, Ares did a double-take as she looked at him. "...you're...you're serious?" She blurted out. "How in the Major World's name do you make it to this city without even...alright, no, I'm not dealing with this shit now. Out of my Coliseum. Go. Scram."

@Dawn
Cran, seeing her do some sort of strange magic, leaps back. "ACK! WITCH!" He yells, before, in a rather silly comedic manner, trying to flee, looking back at her only for him to slide due to his clogs, and smack right into the wall beside the door, as he had looked back to see if him declaring witch had angered the rather scary women he had just met. With a light thud, Cran ends up falling to the floor, stiff as a board, tongue loling out of his mouth. Honestly, he looks rather hilarious while being out cold, maybe getting a laugh from someone in the audience.

“Ah shit…” he murmured, rather familiar with the sensation that Cran’s ribs had given when his blow connected successfully. Given the difficulty in breathing he could hear from the man, his guess wasn’t off the mark and he turned his attention to Ares. He blinked in surprise, not quite used to the callous nature she showed at the moment. It was a bit disconcerting to hear her speak of murder casually and he fought to keep his expression neutral and impassive.

‘Not human,’ he reminded himself again as the red light wrapped around him and sunk in. He could feel his capabilities increase further with the second blessing and he sighed to bleed the tension that had seized his body. He turned at the older man’s reaction and blinked in disbelief as the fool ran face first into the wall and knocked himself out. With a heavy sigh, he walks over to move him from the Coliseum before Ares simply decided to have him thrown out by one of the other members.

“If you would continue the spar when I return, I would be honored,” he said with a slight bow before he picked up the unconscious man with ease. There wasn’t much else for him to do at the moment and even if it had been fruitless on his part, it was still somewhat enlightening to glimpse what he could. The oppressive presence she had radiated would also be good to get used to; it seemed quite likely that powerful monsters would be capable of similar.

For the moment he decided to lug Cran over to Thoth’s nearby lab and see if the Goddess had made any progress on examining the potion that had been left with her. He didn't exactly want to use his only piece of loot from the dungeon like this, but he was partially responsible even if this all could have been easily avoided.

By the time he'd reached the third floor, Vincent felt the entirety of the paralysis wear off of him. Heeding the warning of Alexander and Senna, he stayed away from the entrance to the fourth floor and instead chose to examine the mass of gelatinous corpses spread over the surface of the third. He'd already gathered a substantial amount of Poison Slime residue from what was left on his coat (which he'd carefully scraped clean with a knife- what remained of the Slime made it too dangerous to wear, but not to carry with a gloved hand), so he focused on collecting the Acid Slime.

Or at least, he'd intended to collect it before he'd been fed some additional information on its properties. He didn't exactly consider any of the empty vials he had in his case 'enchanted', and he didn't feel like potentially sacrificing one of them to the slime to find out if they would be able to contain the residue. Instead, he just collected what he could of the Poison Slime splattered across the floor, filling up his remaining two vials for four full total.

With that done, he remembered the other piece of information he'd been given, about the statue- spying it at the edge of the room, by the stairs to the fourth floor, he carefully made his way over to it, and carefully nicking his finger with the edge of one of his knives, pressed the bleeding tip to it.

About a moment later, he took a step back, a little spooked by the new voice that had shot through his mind and described in detail what he'd only been given a rough explanation of before. Another moment passed, and he just shook his head. He'd already heard about previous happenings in the dungeon when Thoth let her mouth slip, this wasn't too big a surprise.

Rather than use the statue immediately, however, he decided to turn and go back the way he came. Maybe someone else was making their way down- even if they weren't, he appreciated the ability to move freely again too much at that moment.

That, and he had an idea. From one of his pockets, he produced the flask that had contained the 'Intermediate Antitoxin'- he doubted any of his vials could properly contain the Acid Slime, but perhaps one belonging to a God would do the trick?

So, crouching by the pile of residue, he carefully gripped the base of the flask with his thumb and forefinger, and slowly pushed the mouth through the acidic puddle...

Not long after Vincent had managed to collect some of the Acid Slimes' remains with the flask he had received from Thoth, a single vibration pulsed through the Labyrinth. Both Vincent on the third floor and Senna on the first would feel this, a flowing thrum that rose up from below and passed upwards. Far distinct from an earthquake, it seemed cogent, purposeful, but it didn't have enough force to even make their footing unsteady.

Strange.

---

When Alexander and the unconscious Cran arrived in Thoth's alchemical lab, the former would have been met with the sight of Thoth standing in front of a cauldron, a small metallic sphere clutched tightly in her right hand, which laid suspended over the cauldron. Upon hearing the door open, she let out a sharp yelp, dropping the sphere into the cauldron on impulse as she leapt backwards. After realizing what she had done, Thoth pouted irritatedly as she peered into the cauldron. "...mou, I hope the Alkahest balance was enough." She murmured to herself, rounding about to face the two arrivals.

"O-Oh, you're back. I-Is this about the potions? I'm sorry, I haven't gotten a chance to work on them yet, but they'll be ready by tomorrow, I promi-wah! Wh-Why is that person not moving?! I-Is he okay?!"

---

The Magic God looked forwards at the intruder to her office, one who had arrived mere moments earlier, appearing from nothing.

"...you don't usually come here. Shouldn't you be bothering Ares?"

"Ara~? Do you want me gone that bad? Someone seems to be in a bad mood. Come on, lighten up a bit, what's the matter~?"

"Please just tell me why you have come here."

Loki sighed exasperatedly, making an exaggerated shrug as she shook her head. "You noticed, didn't you? The distortion, it's already managed to initiate the distortion and exit dormancy. It's accumulating Authority way, way faster than we expected. And the monsters, they're weaker than they were last time, which means it's trying to gather and conserve as much Authority as possible."

"...yes, I noticed, and came to the same conclusion. The only question is why. Something of that nature should not be necessary. I doubt the others think there's anything amiss, but...I have some notion that there's something we don't know in this equation." Heka murmured tersely, knuckles gripping the edge of her desk.

"We might be blowing it out of proportion, but...keep an eye on what happens, will you? Generating the distortion that quickly, Elan's magic foundations still existing, none of this sits right with me." Loki murmured, her expression tensing up while her jaw clenched slightly.

"I was planning on it. You watch for any compound distortions; when it comes to feeling those, you outclass me by far."

"...praise from you, huh? It's not that impressive. All I can do is a half-assed version of what Apep had. Maybe if I'd worked a bit harder on condensing my divine rights before, then he'd still be-"

"-Loki. It's not like you to act like this. What's going on?"

"...nothing. I'm fine. I'm always fine."

"Loki-"

And so the intruder left.

He scratched the back of his head and hoped that she hadn’t just ruined the entire batch of what was in the cauldron. She didn’t seemed only a bit irritated rather than outright panicked at the result though, so he figured even if it was a mistake it couldn’t be too bad of one. He moved off towards a wall and set Cran down from the fireman carry, propping him upright, he had used to drag the unconscious man over to Thoth's lab.

“Ah…” Well that was a pity… though he supposed he could just feed the potion, regardless of contaminants, and purchase an Antidote from Thoth to take care of the problem. “Fool knocked himself unconscious after causing a scene in the Coliseum.” He explained to Thoth before he frowned at the new information that flowed into his mind thanks to the Lexicon. It was a bit odd he supposed, but not of immediate concern for himself. “I suppose a Basic Healing Potion would be fine for cracked ribs? How much for one of your Antidotes anyways? Might just have him drink both if needed rather than wait around for a day with the injuries.”

As the slight vibration passed, Vincent felt grateful for just how slight it had been; looking down at the puddle in front of him, a stronger tremor could have ended up very badly for him.

In any case, it seemed his idea had been on the mark; when he rose from his crouch, it was with a flask full of Acid Slime residue.

"Not a bad haul," He mumbled to himself, as he let the acidic residue around the mouth slide down into the flask before closing it up. Tucking it in his case along with the four vials of Poison Slime, he headed for the second floor. He wasn't even at the top of the stairs when something- no, someone seemed to fade into view near the top of them.

"Hey," came the voice from the familiar figure as Vincent finally reached the top.

"Hi." Vincent replied with a nod to Senna. It seemed he hadn't been mistaken- the others were making their way into the Labyrinth again after all. "Did you feel that tremor just now?"

Senna had been creeping, using her power to feel out the world around her when the tremor came. Stabilizing herself against the wall, she holds her breath and increases her awareness momentarily, waiting for the sensation to pass. It quickly does, and after briefly reaffirming her surroundings, the girl disables her special ability.

Approaching the stairs down, the stealthy ranger catches sight of somebody climbing up, and after a moment of consideration, shows herself.

"Hey," she says nonchalantly. It was one of the men from earlier, Thoth's, she thinks. In many aspects, he reminded her of the well-educated rogue from the tavern where she used to live, and so she had mentally categorized him as "somebody to be avoided" since she first saw him. Despite this, she felt no hostility from him at the moment, and she knew that it would benefit him little to fight her here.

With this in mind, and aware of the possibilities of deception, Senna smiles disarmingly and responds in a plain manner to the older man's question.

"Yeah, I felt it. That definitely wasn't natural, but besides that, I'm not sure what it was. My guess is that it has something to do with that latest Lexicon update. The T-Temporal Dis... Dis..."

Senna struggles for a few moments, before sighing and completing her statement. "The Temporal Distortion. I can't really wrap my head around what all of that means, but I sort of get the gist of it. How about you, find anything interesting down there? Anything that might have caused the tremor?"

The small ranger leans against the cavern wall, looking sideways at the much older adventurer. Her expression was very composed, she was positive, but cautious, observing the man and their surroundings carefully, and analyzing everything they knew up until this point. Her focus was admirable, and at a glance, anybody could tell that she was a girl who presented few openings.

She's like some kind of wizard ninja.

@Zombehs@Dawn

With a groan, Cran begins to awaken. "Ahg, where am I? Oh, it's you, fellow that defeated me. Also, a new person. A lady, making something of some sort." Cran says, noticing his environment, thinking it some sort of kitchen. He then bows, making sure to not knock something over.
"...My name, is Cran. I am pleased to meet you both, officially." Cran says, his voice displaying some discomfort. Bowing with broken ribs wasn't the smartest idea, Cran thinks. After righting himself, he groans slightly. "Anyone know a place where..I can sleep? My ribs hurt quite badly....I wish to rest..." Cran says, trying to hide how much his cracked bones were hurting.

Thoth looked from the now-conscious Cran back to Alexander, and then back and forth again another couple of times. While still visibly on-edge, her expression seemed to shift slightly, confusion mingling in with her inherent unease.

"...u-um, you know Vishnu and Heka can just...cast healing spells, r-right?"

...

...

...oh.

"I-I mean, I can give you back the potion, b-but it seems like a waste to use potions outside of the Labyrinth when you can just...well, you know..."

“Yeah there’s a couple of inns around the central part of town,” he directed towards Cran before he glanced in the injured man’s direction and also introduced himself, “I’m Alexander.”

He blinked several times in response to Thoth’s suggestion indicating that no, he hadn’t known that. Well… he figured that Heka as the Goddess of Magic would be capable of something like that, but from what he knew of her he didn’t think she would appreciate being approached for a simple healing spell. Vishnu on the other hand… if he recalled correctly, the God did in fact offer a healing service albeit at a price. He had never visited the God’s temple as he had no reason to, but he hoped the God’s price wasn’t too steep.

“Right then, thanks for the info,” he said as he bowed towards Thoth respectfully. “Come on,” he said towards Cran as he offered the injured man a shoulder, “let’s get you patched up and then I’ll show you an inn or something.”

"...Labyrinth? Is that the big cave thing I heard about?" Cran asks, seeming to get excited. For a moment, his injuries seem not to bother him, as he seems nearly giddy. However, he then turns to Alexander, and bows slightly.
"It is an honor to meet you, Mister Alexander. Also, it is an honor to meet you, Miss." He says, turning to the goddess, and bowing again, seeming to not mind the pain in his chest. "..You, you seem on edge, Miss, is something the matter?" Cran asks, seeming concerned about Thoth. Also, from how he addresses her, it's obvious he's oblivious to the fact she is a goddess.

Seriously... had this person been under a rock since the Deities had descended? He didn't think it was possible for someone to be so uninformed, but apparently people were full of surprises. "Come on let's go. Again, sorry for the bother Goddess." With that he would strong arm Cran out of the lab if necessary and head east for Vishnu's temples in hopes the God would be able to heal and then take the clueless man under his wing.