With Edelgard out of harm’s way and no time to lose, the group continued to advance into the crater after the close call. As the group shifted around the ruins to avoid the large pits of quicksand, Geralt kept a careful eye out for anything around. He, of course, couldn’t detect the BTs, though, so he wound up having to focus instead on the BB carriers. Edward, Goldlewis, Primrose, and Roland. He knew Goldlewis the best, and Edward not at all, so his eyes tended to drift mostly towards the Former Secretary, though Roland on the same side caught his attention as well. As long as nothing corporeal intervened, Geralt would just need to keep quiet and he’d be fine.

As the group pivoted around the quicksand pits, Geralt gave Ace some room to move, which proved wise when he felt himself slowly sliding downwards, though he had little trouble extricating himself, owing to the Orphan’s monstrous strength. Grimm’s jaunt up into a set of ruins above was only barely noticed, short-lived as it was, and after not very long at all Geralt and the others found themselves above a ravine with a river of lava at the bottom. “Damn.” He sighed, pulling himself from the ravine’s edge as Sectonia summoned a platform for the group to use. He noticed Ace’s hesitance, but chalked it up to the rain, the effects of the SFE itself, the size of the group compared to the size of the platform, and the pressure that was on him. He had no idea about the monster hunter’s distaste for magic.

Of course, as the group began their crossing atop the magical platforms, Ace’s scoutflies became agitated and glowed red to warn them of danger just as demons began to appear. “Of course.” Geralt rolled his eyes as he cast Quen before drawing Odysseus’s Bow and nocking an arrow. Ace was quicker on the draw, however, Geralt’s Sign-casting giving the monster hunter the edge in draw speed necessary to defeat the lone demon easily.

That state of things didn’t last forever, though, as more demons began ascending, in multiple varieties, and Geralt hopped and dodged about, firing arrows at any he could see, softening up for allies or finishing them off. Though the platforms weren’t overly large, the group still had plenty of room to fight with.

When some Gargoyles came in close, Geralt summoned the Hydro Twinblade and became a flurry of attacks, moving between them in a flurry of blows that left them all wet, which he detonated with an Igni blast, Vaporizing the entire group and turning most of them to ash. He quickly finished off the remaining Gargoyle with his Twinblade, collecting the fallen Spirits of the demons to be crushed once they were free of the rain and battle.

Once the tide of demons finally stopped, Geralt joined the others in recuperating. It seemed that Edelgard took some nasty hits from the magic blows the demons were using, and once she and Edward had put some healing into her, he offered a First Aid of his own, though it seemed the slime from the Viral Rifle had taken care of what their suppressed magic had not. Once they had all come free of the ravine, Geralt returned to his orbit of Ace, though for the time being he watched their rear to make sure no more demons attacked from behind.

Blazermate found that no one really wanted to carry her, none really had the broad shell back bowser did, so she guessed her time of being lazy were over. At least as she moved through the mud, she found that her feet didn't clank like she thought they would. At least unlike her heavier compatriots, her light weight meant her metal body didn't sink in the mud. Still, she wasn't happy about having to walk on it. At least climbing over all the stuff in the way wasn't too difficult outside of getting filthy... And after all that time last night she spent cleaning herself... She wasn't completely silent though, as her medi beam let out a low healing hum as she kept it on her team mates to generate ubercharge in case something happened. The rain mostly drowned this sound out though as you had to listen carefully for it.

As they got to a split in the road, an area apparently infested with BTs, a downed ship, and a chasm filled with demons, Sectonia conjured a platform to help cross the chasm. Considering that path was both the fastest path out of this rain and seemed the safest as they could handle demons, Blazermate elected to take that path. Granted she had to fly a bit which would cause noise, but she could help one of the medium weighted people cross the gap in that time if they came with her.

As for the demons or those dealing with them, Blazermate did what she mostly did, kept them healed and overhealed. She didn't deploy her projectile shield though or use any other abilities yet as they were very, very loud if she used any of them and she'd rather not make too much noise if she could help it.

---

Being one of the BB carriers, Roland had to stay near the parameter of the emitter. The rain worried him far more than the BTs at this point though, as thanks to his gloves he could move through the area completely silently. Even the splashes of him stepping in mud were silent with only the splashback of the mud being heard as if it was a very, very distant sound. Besides the few BTs that they passed and one close encounter, so far things had been going pretty well. Being one of the more athletic members of the group, getting past most to he obstacles around the area wasn't too difficult for him although much like some of the others, he wasn't keen on getting muddy with what could be millions of year old mud. Come to think of it, T Corp would love this place, but he doubted they'd harvest a natural form of time like this as it didn't involve any human suffering.

Once he reached the three forked road, the chasm, the ship, or the BT filled area, Roland would've preferred to go the opposite way of the BTs if possible even if he was sure he himself could go through that area without much difficulty. At this point the giant bee conjured a pink crystal platform over the chasm to help everyone cross, which didn't surprise Roland anymore considering a giant bee seemingly obsessed with beauty was right there in his face so of course she can do weird things. Being one of the BB holders, Roland elected to be one of the last to cross himself in order to keep the parameter. There were some mumbling of some wanting to go to the ship, but Roland was much in the mind of Sectonia; get out of this rain and danger as fast as possible. At least the demons didn't view him as a big threat when he did cross unlike everyone else, his mask making them care more about the others than himself. He wasn't about to shoot a gun at them either, as those did make noise even through his gloves if he hit something.

Once the method of marching was set out, and the Seekers set out, they immediately ran into a complication, in this case the drop down into the crater the blast had caused, and what a crater it was. An entire city, smashed down into a pit of mud.

Not that they could see much of it, thanks to the rain, and so the focus was more on the immediate problem, namely how to get down there.

The Koopa kids immediately gravitated towards the water, but with the field going along the rocks, that was far too risky to really consider. Instead, Jr peered over the edge at the mud slope, then glanced down at his feet, looking thoughtful. He silently got his sister’s attention, pointed to both of their boots, and then at the mud, before making a questioning shrug.

Rika tilted her head in half a moment of thought, before shrugging in a ‘why not’ kind of way and then boldly stepping a foot down onto the mud, only for her boot to stop above it rather than sink in.

Wet enough for her ship girl tech to work, it seemed, the mud below only shifting slightly from the pressure. With a grin, Jr joined her, his own replicas of the tech working just as well, while Rika looked up at the Witch, and offered her a (very large) hand, offering, it seemed, to carry her down the slope this easy way.

How convenient. The Witch had just been starting to get used to this place, the sodden and shattered corpse of a long-lost empire calling up manifold memories of her trek across Wraeclast. The only difference was the exact nature of the apocalypse wrought upon each land—and did that really matter, when all was reduced to ruin, and everything still around was desperately trying to kill her?

Feeling at home wasn’t always a good thing. Yes, she probably could have picked her way down the slope, sure-footed thanks to the grim experience of having to walk across even more unpleasant landscapes, but that would only have left her tired, and rattled, and probably not a little drenched. Rika was new, and much too alive for the Witch’s liking, but she’d shown herself trustworthy enough thus far. If she wanted to risk carrying a scorpion on her back, this sorceress wouldn’t stop her.

Her pale hand curled around Rika’s extended thumb, and the rest of her clambered swiftly up after it to perch on the shipgirl’s palm. Despite all the new gear weighing her down, she was incredibly light, like a bird that had been stretched out into unnatural mimicry of human form. Now, safely off the ground, she shifted into the most stable position she could manage and clung to Rika’s oversized digits, always alert for a crisis. Her faintly glowing eyes stared intently out into the rain, as if she could somehow will the invisible BTs into sight.

“Walking on water… You’ll have to teach me that someday.” Her voice was a soft murmur, mixed in with the sound of the rain. Though her attention right now was firmly fixed upon her own survival, it hadn’t escaped her notice that both Rika and Junior were able to cross the mud in the exact same way. And if they could both do it, then why not her as well?

Rika seemed to confirm this with an agreeing nod as she brought the Witch closer to her chest, and used the other big hand to offer back support, centralizing their collective mass and fully securing in the process. This did put the Witch somewhat in her field of view, but one of the mini planes hovered over and began to float just above them, the little camera on the front scanning to and fro as the ship girl used it to make sure she wouldn’t dash herself against the rocks.

Ahead of them also was Jr, who had been impatiently sailing to and fro, and then waved at them to hurry it up. A somewhat unnecessary gesture however, given that those taking the rock trotting next to them were painfully slow in comparison to what they could have managed on their own.

Something Miss Fortune demonstrated when she went sliding past them with none of the control they had due to leaving her rigging at home. Jr made a failed attempt at catching her, and then after a moment’s dithering, sailed down after her, a barrier flaring around him, possibly intending to carry her back up if he had too.

Fortunately both the catgirl found herself an overhang, and Jr joined her there, causing Rika to sigh and release a breath she’d been holding, the ship girl having hovered just at the edge of the field while Jr had raced on ahead.

Then she looked thoughtful, tapped the Witch very lightly to get her attention, and then nodded towards said overhang as an option they could also take, before shrugging her shoulders in question.

The Witch hadn’t missed the sliding Fortune either, though her immediate reaction had been to choke back a chuckle at the reckless beast’s mistake. It wasn’t worry that shone in her gaze as she looked on at a companion in peril, but a wry amusement: What would happen, now that she was outside the main shield? Would she fail to scramble back in time, and wither before the Witch’s eyes? That would be quite interesting to watch, and she’d get a free zombie out of it besides—yes, she decided, she rather hoped that kitty would roll over and die right there.

But alas, the girl-beast was quick, and Junior was already sailing ahead to her rescue regardless. Would he have done the same for the Witch, if she’d been out in the rain? She pondered this, but made no comment on the slapstick chain of events, at least until Rika tried to get her attention.

In answer, the sorceress shook her head, and silently mouthed a few words. “Slow and steady.” The kitty had just demonstrated the dangers of rushing ahead, and the Witch was of no mind to follow her. Better to keep pace with the rest of the group, to stay a nice safe distance from the edges of the shield, and most of all be close enough to notice right away when one of those machines went off. If they ventured out too far and got snuck up on by invisible monsters, their fates would be well and truly sealed—and the Witch wasn’t quite ready to embrace her own death yet.

Fortunately, it wouldn’t take them too long to catch up anyway. The Seekers all clambered and stumbled and sailed along in their own unique ways, until Nadia and Junior both were welcomed back into the fold. Just in time for some real excitement to begin: an odradek went off, chirping and flapping its wings like a bird. The Witch’s eyes suddenly widened, and she leaned so far forward that she very nearly tumbled right out of Rika’s hands.

Where are you? She wasn’t such a fool as to go running off in search of the undead, but at the same time the BTs fascinated and frustrated her. She should have taken one of those baby tanks, so she could see, so she could understand. Who knew what sort of fascinating visions she was missing out on right now, what kind of knowledge might lie just beyond her sight?

With her hovering drones, the ship girl carrying her gave her an unintentional summary of what was going on beyond the rain and bodies: She took in a sharp intake of breath as her head snapped in the direction of the incident, held it while fingers pressed in just a little tighter, and then a release breath, grip, and locked gaze as the unseen danger passed.

Jr gave a point, thumbs up, and head tilt in query in addition to these tells, to which the ship girl gave a nod, fully confirming that they were not about to be vaporized off the face of the world. Then, having run out of sailable mud, she moved to set the Witch down on solid(-er) ground, crouching down a little to place feet on the ground.

At that point, it was back to foot slogging across the merely wet rather than watery ground, but fortunately after the initial learning experience with alerting the BTs, the seekers got the hang of being sneaky and watching the odradeks to work out where the unseen threats were. Sinkholes also proved a problem for some, but the koopa kids simply floated on those, and were strong enough to pull any nearby out without too much issue.

Naturally, just as things were settling into a steady rhythm, they got to a complication, namely the crevasse blocking their way forwards.

The two koopa kids took a look at it, and quietly considered if they could ”Jump?” the pit, but that proved to be unnecessary a little later when Sectonia created a platform. The other options were ”dry?” regarding going down into the crevasse itself, and ”treasure?” regarding the crashed ship.

True, there was tar all around, but the kids could sail over that, albeit slowly, which turned a potential death sentence into merely a risk of losing shield up time.

As pleasant as it had felt to be carried around like the queen she was, having her own two feet planted firmly upon the earth reassured the Witch in a way she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She had a sense of being more in touch with this land, in tune with its dark powers. Just her and one vast, hateful continent, locked in a dance of death… The only thing missing was her retinue of undead servants. For now, these living ones would have to do.

Once she’d touched down, she wasted no time in setting off along with the rest of the group, her pace unfaltering as ever. She didn’t race swiftly ahead, nor did she lag cautiously behind: hers was a march as relentless as the living dead, devouring the ground step by dispassionate step. Quicksand wasn’t an obstacle she was familiar with, but that didn’t matter: the Witch was happy to let others roam forward and puzzle out the safe routes across the terrain, the winding trails of their footprints a guide she could use to avoid most dangers. Let her allies tempt fate and stake their lives on the journey; she was perfectly happy to reap the fat fruits of their courage.

However, for all that she did not fear this land and its perils, it would be obvious to anyone that the Witch was growing antsier with every moment. Odradeks chirped and clapped and spun, and she wisely kept her distance from the things they pointed out, but she could not help but stare. Could not help but hope that maybe one of the BTs would catch a so-called ally, and she’d get to watch, and see exactly what it was these dead things did when they got a hold of a warm body. Her eyes blazed with frustration, and the narrow fingers of her right hand twitched, on the verge of reaching for her wand. Here was a sorceress used to blasting her way through problems, used to routing all enemies with ghostly hordes so she could freely pick through the spoils of war. Having to hold back, to stay quiet and passive, to just leave these dangerous and fascinating creatures that she wanted so badly to know better—it really didn’t suit her.

Luckily, things soon took an interesting turn. It wasn’t the gaping chasm that drew the Witch’s attention (yet another time-wasting obstacle), nor the fiery orange glow that pulsed deep within (she’d seen lava before, and she wasn’t a fan). Once she caught sight of the ship, she had eyes for nothing else, and no sooner had the Koopa Kids spoken than she voiced her answer with barely contained glee.

“Treasure.”

She started forward, turning only just long enough to beckon for Rika to follow. Not that she wasn’t confident she could deal with any threats herself, but the girl’s ability to slide across water could be useful for getting over the pool of tar surrounding the craft. As for the other dangers, the BTs, the Timefall, they would just have to chance them. She’d made it this far by playing cautious, but now a valuable bounty lay nearly within reach, finally giving her a viable reason to cut loose and do what she did best.

”Treasure” Rika echoed enthusiastically, not needing much encouragement to go along with the plan. Neither did Jr, it seemed, who promptly scampered along after them.

Even as she strode towards her goal, she pointed in different directions, signaling to those who dared follow along with her. Rather than venture across flat ground and risk getting caught in the Timefall on the way out, they’d take the ledges within the ravine, relying on overhangs to minimize their own exposure without descending deep enough to deal with whatever lurked at the bottom. Once again, the Witch proved herself a capable hiker, as she doggedly made her way along the narrow and rocky paths without so much as glancing at the drop below.

Of course, they couldn’t rely on the emitter’s field and the cover of the cliffs forever, not without descending deeper into the ravine and losing sight of their goal. After about half a minute of walking, the Witch found a section of cliff with some easy handholds and unhesitatingly began to clamber up, emerging into the open air and the pouring rain.

Rika came flying up and then lightly touched down a moment later, the ship girl, her brother held under arm, managing to simply leap up the cliff face through a combination of spirit granted mobility and a magic rune on her gauntlet’s palm.

As their shield began to light up from the constant assault, the Witch picked up the pace and jogged across the muddy ground to the edge of the tar pool, and the Koopa kids followed suit.

A quick test with the toe of one boot showed the surface to be surprisingly firm, much less risky than she’d first assumed. With not a moment to waste, she strode across the field and ducked under one of the craft’s spider-like legs, where she paused to catch her breath in the safety of shelter. First, a quick glance around her for any oncoming threats, then, a look back to see if the others were keeping up. Finally, she turned her eyes back on the ship itself, and peered at the hull of the craft in search of an easy point of entry.

Her checks found, in order, no (visible) hostiles, the kids catching up with her and ducking into the same cover, and then finally a hole in the side of the ship, just a short jog from their hiding spot.

That final glance also revealed vague signs of life inside the ship, vague shapes shambling through the shadows behind the wall of rain.

”No BTs in there then” Jr guessed quietly, before glancing at the others, nodding, and making a run for the breach in the ship’s hull, with Rika leading the charge.

She ducked inside and out of sight of the Witch, after which there came a few sounds in quick succession: ”Hi there!” some kind of groan, and then a slam as something heavy impacted with the wall, follow finally by ”Rude” from Rika

Once she got inside, she found Rika unharmed, amidst the rather dead looking bodies of a few lanky beings in strange armor. An odd sight indeed in this world of light. These were scattered across some kind of control room, including one with a more fancy looking helmet sat in a seat pointed directly at the singular window in the room.

Even more strangely, the bodies were lacking actual heads, the helmets’ fronts blown open from the inside by the detonation of the unfortunate beings’ brains. The Witch got a good look at this when one of the bodies, which had been slammed into the wall a few moments ago, tried to pick itself up in order to lunge at her in a very zombie-esque fashion.

“Hmm…?”

A blinding crescent of blue-white light flashed through the air, catching her attacker clean in the midsection. Ice blossomed out from the impact point, and the creature stumbled, momentarily slowed by the patches of frost that suddenly formed all across its body.

The Witch cocked her head, examining it with a quizzical expression. “How fascinating. Then her wand twitched again, and a ball of fire struck the alien dead-on, blasting it nearly in half.

It wasn’t alone, however. No sooner had one fallen than the sound of the fight prompted a handful more to come stumbling into the chamber. They emerged from the rear of the ship at a rapid pace for their kind of undead, running, and then leaping, at the intruders into their resting ground. Stranger still was one who came in bent over backwards, its long arms allowing it to perform a bizarre quadrupedal gait, before it floated up into the air. When it did so random bits of machinery around started doing the same, before being hurled at them, poltergeist style.

And that was the Witch’s cue to hide. “Good luck,” she whispered, even as she ducked behind Junior and let him take the brunt of the assault. A girl like her simply wasn’t built for weathering blows. If she could help it, she wouldn’t so much as poke her head out of cover to aim another spell.

…Not that she needed to. Already her wand was moving again, casting twice more. Two of the headless corpses (the ones that hadn’t been moving) abruptly stood up, swayed in place for a moment, and then charged into the fray, now relentlessly attacking their own kindred.

She had, as it turned out, picked very suitable companions to hide behind in all manners except for height. Junior raised his right arm, the once covered in metal runes, and from it sprang forth iron, first in the form of a shield which he caught a leaping zombie with ease despite the massive size difference, then a hail of knives that lanced out from the side of the shield, paused just after clearing its edges, and then lanced in to skewer the undead from all sides. After that pushed the disintegrating body aside and spat a fireball at the foes, the flaming shot bursting into a rain of flames that lingered on the ground, burning other zombies that came after the struck one.

At his side, Rika’s halberd flickered on her back, and then appeared in her gauntleted hand in time to skewer another leaping zombie, before the weapon flickered once more and took on the form of a lance and shield combo. With the first zombie style impaled on the lance used the other part of the pair to knock one of the charging zombies back with a shield bash, before discharged a flak cannon round from its mounted gun right into its torso. This sent it stumbling back into the path of another zombie, sending both sprawling to the floor right before the timed charge in the round ripped both of them apart.

Unfortunately, both they and the Witch’s friendly undead were mostly dealing with what came at them, which left the floater free to hurl things wherever it pleased. A splintered shard of metal impaled the Witch’s undead minion who was not wearing the fancy helmet, a stray wall panel crashed against Rika’s shield, and then one of the blocky monitors from the ship’s control system went hurtling over the heads (and shields) of the Witch’s short defenders.

The young sorceress had less than a second to make her choice: try and blast it out if the air, let her energy shield take the hit, or cut the casting and throw herself to the floor? On instinct, she went for the third option. The monitor blew past uncomfortably close to her head, but ultimately left her unharmed—albeit nearly out of mana and not in any good position to contribute to the fight.

Her free hand quickly worked to uncork a mana potion and tip it past her lips (it tasted of magic, like bottled lightning with a hint of citrus). Crouched down behind the front lines like a rat, she waited for the next wave of debris to fly past before she abruptly sprang up and returned fire in the most literal sense possible.

Over the heads (or lack thereof) of the other combatants flew a crackling sphere of flame, and then another. Before the possessed corpse could even finish gathering more metal to throw, its intended projectiles were blasted apart in a pair of deafening explosions, both of which were wide enough to singe the creature itself. Rocking in midair, it floated to one side as it searched for more ammunition—

At which point Loki’s Horns triggered on the Witch’s third cast, and three explosive fireballs came simultaneously roaring out in a wide spread.

There was nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. The entire ship briefly shuddered as four projectiles (including an extra one launched straight backwards) detonated all at once, lighting the floater on fire and once again dashing apart its projectiles before it could let fly. Its psychokinesis was no doubt a powerful tool, but once a true spellcaster got going, there was nearly nothing that could match them in terms of sheer destructive output.

…Of course, after three consecutive casts the Witch’s mana pool was already ebbing away again However, her long-range duel had bought the frontliners time to fight on unimpeded, and her own zombies never stopped pressing the attack. Without fear, nor pain, nor remorse, they did nothing but attack, attack, move on to the next target, and then attack some more. One of them still had a jagged piece of metal stuck all the way through its torso and hardly even seemed bothered by it. Their mindless blows weren’t likely to fell many enemies on their own, but they made excellent meat shields, and forced the enemy undead into one-on-one slugging matches that left them wide open to being flanked and taken out.

Take advantage of this the Koopa Kids very much did. Free from having to worry about flying debris, Jr hurled his shield like a discus at one of the zombies who was distracted fighting the friendly undead, before forming a spear of iron and charging into the fray with a ”Yaaaah!”

”Perish peons!” his sister demanded as she charged along with him, delivering an at a jog lance strike to a zombie before her rigging turrets hammered it 4 barrel barrage from their disruption cannons.

Zombies turned on them, only for those attempting to counter flank to run into the blocking blade of a blood knight, and the decoy log of a lightning scythe armed ninja, before both strikers struck back with a powerful cleave and a grapple slash respectively.

With their sides protected, RIka switched back to her helbard, hacking its sharpened spine like blade into a foe, before flipping the weapon and shotgunning another with its base mounted cannons, while jr produced a storm of iron shanks from his arm that shot out at the surrounding foes, riddling them with stab wounds.

With the advantage now decisively theirs, the Witch could make riskier plays. She raced forward into the fighting proper, and raised up a fresh zombie as she did, this one tall enough for her to safely crouch behind. While the possessed corpse was steadily burning to a crisp right now, it would be a few more moments before it finally gave up the ghost, long enough for it to throw a few more improvised projectiles. No doubt the other Seekers could handle these—but at this point it might not even matter. The enemy ‘leader’ was about to be faced with an overabundance of targets, more than it could take out if it tried.

One of the Witch’s zombies collapsed to the ground, no longer physically able to keep going. Her newest one charged forward to replace it, and was joined a second later by another. Two more followed after them, bulking up the frontline to a full five friendly zombies. A wall of meat, relentlessly pushing onward even as the sorceress scuttled about behind it and sniped at her foes with translucent kinetic arrows.

”Oh nice, more minions” Jr said as he took no issue with using one of the now friendly corpses as cover as well, building up floating host of spears while behind it, before popping out and nailing an enemy one with a barrage of shots. When he tried this on the kineticist however, it managed to catch some of them, before promptly starting to hurl them back one by one.

Still, its supply of troops had dwindled to the point where it was outnumbered, leaving it in prime position for takedown. It was Rika who provided this. She pulled back a gauntleted fist while behind a zombie, magic charging in the machinery, before she tapped the palm of the other hand, launching herself above the zombie and unleashing the stored power. The charged fist went rocketing forwards and towed the ship girl along for the ride, sending her crashing into the floater and punting it up into the ceiling while she landed below it.

The gauntlet used to deliver the charged strike failed right after, flopping down to her side while the ship girl herself seemed more unsteady for the lack of it, but she didn’t let that daunt her. Instead her halberd reappeared in her other hand, cannon end pointing towards the foe, before she gave it a close to point blank blast with both barrels.

Finally, the spear flickered again, appearing point first, and the princess drove this point into the floater, skewering its beaten, burned and pellet riddled body with a final blow that took it out of the fight.

With the main threat dealt with, the Witch’s zombies quickly mopped the war of attrition against the hostile ones, the living fighters alongside them merely speeding up that process to its natural end. Once it was over, they were left with no hostile zombies and a gaggle of eight friendly ones, which the two kids seemed to have zero issue with.

”Nice power, that’s really handy, long as you're already doing alright in the fight” Jr complimented, before wondering “Though does it mean we can't loot their spirits?”

”Can we just take what’s on them? Like whatever that is?” Rika asked, pointing out a ring one of corpses that had been fully dead when they arrived rather than walking about being a nuisance had been wearing.

“Why not? My servants don't care for trinkets.” As she spoke, the Witch pried off the ring and inspected it for a moment, then tossed it over to Rika. “I have no use for this one. But maybe you’ll find it more to your taste, sailor girl.

In the meantime, once the mess of the battle was sorted out, Junior would find that the spirits of the re-killed undead were indeed still present. The Witch’s zombies had no souls to call their own: it would be simpler to call them dolls or machines made of meat and dark magic. The corpse provided the material, but all traces of consciousness and individual identity were left behind once they entered her service. If the not-dragon thought he could scavenge anything of worth from those, then there would be little to stop him, but the Witch did not concern herself with such trash.

If she was going to take any soul, it would be Rika’s. Not now, while she yet lived and breathed, but… The time would come. There were spells that did raise the spirit along with the flesh, and one day the Witch would wield them again, swelling her army with the mightiest soldiers she could find. When that day arrived, she wondered, would the sailor girl be the first?

Having fully recovered, the group took a closer look around the ship, and soon found two things. First, an eye-like scanning device in front of a locked door, and secondly the very large guns of the ship, the guts of which had been exposed to the open air by the crash.

While Rika rooted around in the guns, and specifically their ammunition stores, the other two had a look at the scanner and door, the latter of which proved rather unbreakable. As the Witch squinted and poked at the scanner, Jr guessed that ”It’s looking for something” before holding up a hand in front of it, causing the green glow it was emitting to blink and then turn red in rejection.

”Something their boss would have had probably?” he suggested, glancing back at the one who’d been in the ship’s driver's seat, the one with the fancier helmet, and groaning as he said that ”but he doesn't have any pockets!”

The Witch frowned. “Bring him over here, then.” She pointed with her wand, and a dutiful pair of zombies yanked the body out of its seat and dragged it wholesale to the door. Without the slightest bit of respect for the fallen, the Witch lifted its hand and scanned it, triggering another red blink.

“...Their engineers must have been a truly worthless lot.” How would the crew have used it anyway? She couldn’t imagine them lifting their boots to scan them every time they needed to open the door. If it wasn’t the hands, then the next best thing would be…

“...His head’s missing. Still, the helmet’s worth a try.”

Green flash. The door hissed, groaned, and then slowly slid open, revealing some kind of storage space packed tightly with shelves. Most of what they’d held was either gone or damaged beyond repair, but one lucky piece remained untouched: an unassuming rifle. Unassuming at first glance anyway, as when Jr retrieved it, and test pulled the trigger, it unleashed a stream of plasma that started cutting straight through the bulkhead of the ship.

”Oh wow”

The Witch was unimpressed. “I could do better.” Why lug around heavy machines to spew fire, when a simple wand and some skill in thaumaturgy would do? She turned on her heel, flanked by her zombies, and ambled over to see what Rika had dug up.

Rika had made her own find, namely enough ammo to fill both her rifle and her halberd’s dual cannon, apparently in the form of ammo pickups that refused to do anything, even be moved, other than refill ammo of a presented weapon. Why this was the case was unclear. She also had, for some reason, ripped out a random piece of circuitry at the heart of the ship’s gun.

The button on it did, admittedly, blink very pleasingly. The Witch leaned in, her eyes glowing with interest, and faintly smiled. “Very pretty. I’ll take this one for myself, if you don’t mind.” Assuming Rika had kept the metal band, it seemed a fair enough trade, and they could always swap items around at the armory later.

Further searching through the dim confines of the ship revealed little else they could make use of. Perhaps the spirits would drop something handy, but sitting about crushing them all would take up time, and so Jr suggested they just send them to the armory if they didn’t want any to use as strikers.

“I’ve had enough of this place.” The Witch made her way back to the gaping entrance, and stared out into the rain. “Let’s get back to the shield. Where have all the others gotten to, anyway?”

Rika, who still had her scout hovering around the SFE field, gave them a quick update: ”Lotta angry red guys tried to kill them. Didn’t work. Looks like they’re still resting on the other side of the lava pit after that. Dunno about the lava canyon team, but definitely sounded like there was shooting down there, so they must still be good”

“Hmm.” The Witch’s noncommittal answer made it hard to tell whether she was pleased or disappointed. “Quickly, then. The dead here are restless, and it’s best if we don’t linger when they come knocking.”

She pointed her wand at the side of the ship, and all eight of her zombies swarmed it at once, ripping a huge panel of armor off its side. Whatever the craft was made of, it was evidently hardy enough to withstand the Timefall, and the Witch’s undead servants now held it up above their heads like a giant umbrella, wide enough for the sorceress and anyone else who cared to take shelter as they moved.

Together, the gang raced back the way they’d come, sprinting through the rain, leaping (thanks to Rika’s featherfall rune) back down cliffs, and then hustling along the crevasse to catch up with the [whichever you’d prefer] team. The Witch had to make her zombies throw their cover down the pit once they got to the cliffside paths, but by that point the terrain already provided cover from the rain. Before long, they were within sight again, coming up from behind to where Sectonia had set up her platform. If she’d be kind enough to let them cross, they’d soon join the rest of the Seekers on the other side, a little richer and more experienced for their detour.

Once confronted by the multiple-choice question of where she’d be going, Nadia found herself hesitating. Leaping over the gorge had never been a problem for her to begin with, so Sectonia’s assistance made getting across a cakewalk, but the alternative route tempted the feral as well. Though she’d made plenty of friends among the Seekers already, it hadn’t gotten any easier for her to willingly place her life in others’ hands. In her childhood as a ragged little alley cat scavenging slums for scraps in Little Innsmouth, she learned to rely on nobody but herself to and grant her trust to precious few. For a few wonderful years after that she’d found not just friends, but a family that she could finally rely upon in the form of the Fishbone Gang, but the gang’s slaughter at Black Dahlia’s hands left her heart almost as scarred as her body.

Since then, the Life Gem made death a non-issue for the most part, meaning Nadia seldom needed to take anything seriously. But despite her bravado in front of Juri, she fully believed that a voidout could wipe her out once and for all. She was confident in her own instincts and abilities, but much less so in her allies. She’d been keen to keep some distance between herself and the others from the beginning, which was why Nadia preferred the mud slide to the rock slope, and since then the team had endured at least a half-dozen close shaves with BTs. It wasn’t a huge surprise, given how few of the Seekers seemed to have any stealth experience, but all those near misses definitely had the cat burglar on edge. With so many blunders, it was only a matter of time until someone screwed the pooch, and Nadia didn’t plan on paying the ultimate price for someone else’s incompetence.

So when Primrose and Therion took a detour into the ravine itself, followed by Sandalphon and Zenkichi, Nadia felt very inclined to join them. Anything to get away from this bumbling horde. That changed, however, when she looked toward Ace to gauge his thoughts and found his face filled with uncharacteristic fear. Despite all the horrors lurking around this haunted wasteland, the sight of her knight in distress rather than shining armor took her by surprise, igniting her protective instincts. How dare someone put the ever-courageous, ever-smiling monster hunter on edge! Change of plans, then. If this abysmal place could even get to someone like him, Nadia wasn’t going anywhere. Much to her chagrin she couldn’t sharpen her claws and shred these offending ghouls like curtains, but she could still stick around to support him as best she could. The success of this mission depended on him, after all, and Nadia wanted Ace to know that despite everything she’d been through, he could depend on her, too.

Of course, things went to hell right away. Moments after a few frontrunners moved across the crystalline platform to secure the other side, and Ace himself headed to its center so that everyone could cross the ravine within the safe zone, a pack of demons popped up from below. “I hate bein’ right all the time,” Nadia muttered. Right off the bat 'one rotund, cyclopean demon opened fire at Ace, and without hesitation the feral threw herself into harm’s way. Luckily Pit had the same idea, and was much better equipped to deal with the situation than Nadia. Bounced back by the Guardian Orbitars, the fiend’s barrage blew up in its face, and Ace himself returned fire to neutralize the threat before it could cause any more issues.

Edward, Midna, Edelgard, and Grimm leaped to the team’s defense, and in their weakened state, they fought all the harder. Grimm in particular allowed the others to hog the demons’ attention while he floated around behind them to lacerate their wings and backs with his claws. Nadia, however, just watched. The Cacodemons, Gargoyles, and Lost Souls all seemed vaguely familiar from her previous misadventures in Redgraccoon City, but she’d definitely slept since then, so the best way to deal with these things wasn’t fresh in her memory. And even if it was, this battlefield was a little too crowded with heroes to lend a hand. Given the current conditions, fighting these airborne adversaries was a dangerous game, so while her allies played it Nadia held out in front of the Cadet, content to body-block for him if push came to shove. “Don’t worry, Ace!” she grinned, watching Lost Souls detonate one after another. “I’m not about to let anyone I care about die, so consider this a demon-stration!”

Geralt had occupied a defensive position in the group close to Goldlewis and Snake so far, but when the Witcher moved to the forefront to help put down the demonic incursion, Goldlewis circled toward the opposite side of the crystal, with the SFE between himself and the marauders. This was not a decision borne of cowardice, but one of careful consideration. For one, his fighting style took up too much real estate to employ on an arena this size without jeopardizing his comrades’ safety through friendly fire. He also didn’t want to put another BB at risk, given their vital role in this expedition. For the most part, though, he just didn’t think the others needed his help. Even while suppressed by the SFE, they wouldn’t fall to small fry like that. The much bigger problem was the BTs, given how much noise the skirmish was making, and Goldlewis wondered how much weight Sectonia’s crystal could carry, as well. Keeping an eye on the fight, he led Sectonia, Snake, and Juri around the fight and to the ravine’s far edge, careful not to progress beyond the bounds of the SFE’s safe zone.

Once the furious but brief fight came to an end, and the team reached terra firma, a few members turned their eyes toward the crashed ship. Juri voiced her interest, but it was the trio she ate with that morning who actually left the group to check the wreck out. Junior, Rika, and the Witch scurried out of the white bubble and into the dreadful timefall, protected by their bubble shields until they could dive through a hole in the derelict ship’s wall and take shelter inside. Grimm watched them go, silent as ever, but fully aware of the risks involved after his own brush with a BT. He deigned not to join them, instead sticking with the main group as it pushed forward in the Qliphoth’s direction. Even after a number of Grimm’s teammates split off, this main force still commanded an impressive seventeen, including three BBs. Odradek readings indicated several BTs to the right, in the vicinity of the chasm, so the team gave it a wide berth as they followed its path northward. The echoes of gunshots from within couldn’t be helped.

Compared to the first leg of the journey, this area was much more open and featured fewer landmarks, but the going wasn’t much easier. Like the remains of some old battlefield, first carved up into trenches and then shelled by distant artillery, it was covered in miniature craters and ridges. In this light, it was difficult to tell the quicksand from the mud, but Rika could skate across it once her detachment returned, and Grimm was light enough on his feet that he could dart backward the moment he started to sink. For that reason the Troupe Master took point, next to Edward, as the team advanced. With only three BBs, the carriers naturally arranged themselves like the points of a trident, their followers less spread out. In this way the silent procession snaked around lurking BTs and treacherous obstacles, steadily headed northward without incident.

It wasn’t long before that changed. As the Seekers neared the northern edge of the ravine, Primrose’s team climbed up a slope and rejoined them. Though Sandalphon and the others had run into trouble themselves, their route had turned out to be the easy one. They found their allies weary and on edge after a tedious, stressful, and sometimes circuitous trek through the open wastes. Grimm’s countenance betrayed nothing, and Goldlewis maintained his composure, but this place was definitely starting to get old to Nadia. How much trudging around on all fours in the mud could one girl be expected to take? Still, it wasn’t feral impetuousness that kicked things off. Throughout the trials so far, one of the BBs had been putting on a brave face, but a stressed infant could only take so much. After watching tirelessly for BTs, coming dangerously close several times, and being within inches of vicious demonic attackers, all without a moment’s pause to rest or be comforted, Baby Mario began to break down. Sniffles and whimpers, muffled by his pod, eventually turned to sobs, and then finally, flat-out bawling.



Goldlewis had been watching a handful of drifting gazers when the wailing began. The veteran whirled on Edward, panicked. “What in sam hill!? You gotta shut him up!” He didn’t mean to be so brusque, but to say this outburst could have dire consequences would be an understatement. Not eager to exacerbate the situation, he glanced back over at the BTs, but this time he saw nothing. He froze, looking around in a desperate attempt to pinpoint the dark specters, only to notice that the splashes coming toward him weren’t made by rain, but a dozen handprints incoming from different directions. The odradeks went wild, clicking in a frenzy as they constantly changed direction–left, right, ahead, behind. The Seekers were surrounded.

Immediately, and without a word, Grimm broke formation. The tall bug charged out of the safe zone, protected by his raincoat as he pitter-pattered toward the Qliphoth at high speed. Several handprints veered toward him, picking up the pace like bloodhounds on a scent trail. Before they could grab him, however, Grimm disappeared in a flash of crimson flame. He’d teleported, perhaps to safety since the Qliphoth wasn’t too much farther, but not everyone he’d left behind had that luxury. By that time, a low roar echoed across the area, and a tar pool expanded from Edward’s position that quickly undermined the whole group. An awful chorus of groaning, gurgling voices broke out beneath them, and only the BB carriers could see their sources: corpses molded from pitch, reaching out from the pool by the dozen to seize ankles, calves, coattails, and more. Some of the Seekers could shake them off, but not everyone. There were just too many of them. Nadia managed to escape using Charge to become a bolt of lightning that zipped out of the BTs’ grasp, but she couldn’t get far enough. Sandalphon only managed to delay the inevitable with Vault, and no matter how many times he broke free Goldlewis could not reach the edge of the pool. Once he and the others fell, the hands dragged them along the ground, spreading them out. One by one the heroes were tugged beyond the SFE’s perimeter, until finally Ace’s own struggle came to an end, and the Stable Field Emitter smashed against the ground.

Tar, rippling like the surface of the sea, spread across the whole area. From its depths, buildings from the destroyed city began to rise, sink, and rise again, as if slowly fading in and out of memory. Finally, a monster emerged from the tar, a creature as tall and broad as a garbage truck. It looked to Goldlewis like an enormous lion, but ink-black, with a mane of writhing tentacles rather than fur. A death mask of golden, lustrous chiralium adorned its face, and when it roared, its mask split vertically to give its prey a glimpse of the oblivion that awaited them in its gullet. Though just a lone predator against an abundance, it only needed to catch one.

Over everything, the aging rain poured down. The shield packs wouldn’t last much longer, and the hunt was on.