---

@HereComesTheSnow

---

Esben wiped his hair out of his eyes. He hadn't yet stepped out from behind the cover of his own pillar, but that made little difference to the torrents that Leviathan was intent on unleashing upon the party. The rest were similarly drenched, some worse than others; it was nearly impossible not to notice Éliane a short ways behind him, struggling with a thoroughly waterlogged rotary cannon. "Of course she tried to set that up here," he muttered to himself.

It was a shame she hadn't been a bit faster, given what the eidolon was up to now. He wasn't much of a monster fighter, after all.

He jogged over, coming to a stop behind a nearby pile of rubble. "May I borrow your rifle? I promise I'll try not to break it." With an unhappy glance his way, she handed it over wordlessly before returning to her impromptu maintenance. Esben nodded appreciatively, peeking back over his new cover. "Cover your ears, Eos," he commanded sternly, before disengaging the safety and firing on Leviathan's barrier.

He would have called Selene back, as well, to try and speed up Éliane's work—but the glowing sprite had ideas all her own. Given that Izayoi hadn't been able to capitalize on the boost she gave, and already well aware of just how fast the samurai was, she had left her side and made her way over to Rudolf. She shuddered for a moment coming close to him, like a chill wind had just passed her by, before pressing closer. Once again, her glow suffused Rudolf, and the younger man would suddenly find himself moving noticeably faster.

Out of the corner of his eye, Esben could see Miina preparing a similar spell, from what he'd seen of her repertoire thus far. "Put it on Rudolf, Miina!" he called, before sending another shot into the barrier. If they were to bring everything they had to bear against the Eidolon, then until Éliane was ready to fire with the cannon, letting loose a whirlwind of blades was nearly their only option—letting Rudolf become a whirlwind all his own seemed an effective enough method, especially if he was bringing his own borrowed powers into the mix.

@The Otter@Psyker Landshark@Raineh Daze

There was no resistance as his blades passed through the space where the Serpent's neck had lain, mere fractions of a second beforehand. No impact to shock his bones, a sensation that all the same seemed to almost shatter him. The silence too was deafening— a void where the sound of, if nothing else, the ring of her sturdy scales rebuking the steel of his twinned swords should have filled his ears. At once, the embattled boy's blood turned to ice, as the tail ends of a sideswiped guffaw rang in his head.

Oh, that is rough. You had better be real careful when you next enter the Gold Saucer, and this is what we get for it.

A choked, gritty snarl escaped Rudi's throat, as the taunting impulse left him a parting gift of 'look up, by the way', prompting him to throw his body to the side as Leviathan's massive head hurtled down to crush him, before her instinctive jerk away from Galahad and his falling lance (by some burnt stroke of luck coming to roost) corrected her course and brought her skull crashing into his torso regardless, knocking him into a far-less controlled tumble. Not far away, he heard the seas roar, as water surged around her.

Without really thinking, he slammed the wings into the earth, trying to arrest his movement once he felt the ground beneath him again. He'd put on as brave a face as any for this Trial, but really... what the hell were they thinking? Any of them, let alone him? This was a primordial Eidolon.

The seas roared, and then crashed. He hardly had time to look up, before his wings were stripped and he once again was tossed away, a rag caught in riptide.

Of course they could hardly scratch her. Of course he would miss— her falsified counterpart, a zombie faye with a coral horns and some parlor tricks tacked on compared to the real thing, had already been enough to nearly wash him away beneath the tides, barely a scratch made in return.

He coughed and hacked as he tried to clear the stinging salt and swelling sea from his lungs, his nose. His hands were free now, he could tell that through the proprioception that didn't need to reorient itself after the second trip through maelstrom in as many weeks. They managed to clear enough of the spray from his brow, and slick away enough hair, to crack one eye open.

His swords, plunged into the earth and bereft their wielder. His teammates, all strewn across the field as he was. Their hope of proving their valor before the storm. Before the storm, he felt a paper tiger.

Leviathan, encasing herself in a roiling orb of brine, as raw aether gathered within each bubble of the foaming waves that surged within. Her coup de grace, surely. He watched Izayoi's wind slash tear into the barrier's outer layer for an instant... but be itself shredded, swallowed, and sealed when it passed.

He had stashed Valon's lance not far from here.

But what was the point?

Each word of the Lady of Whorls' furor echoed in his mind like a ringing bell, the thunderclap of an oncoming hurricane. Even as his grasp closed around the weighty lance, and his heart hammered as he tried to will himself onward, he saw no way through. If Izayoi, who had once rent open the seas not so long ago, couldn't manage... then surely he would fare no better. Even with all the power he had borrowed, he could barely force his way through a pale imitation of her whorls. Let alone this barrier.

It was beyond him. His measure was not there. He could throw himself against that thing all he liked— for him, for any of them, it was as a steel wall. The side of an ironclad fortress, while Leviathan's mighty cannon was doubtlessly mere moments away from firing, whatever that huge mass of power was going to be. This was their last moment. This, in all the important ways left, was the trial. And it had found them wanting.

Out of time. Out of options.

... Shots rang out. Voices, screaming over the boiling roar of the tides. They were lost to him. All he could hear was the rushing water. All he could feel was the bitter cold sinking into his bones, the way it had below the waves.

And then, tiny hands brushed his shoulder for a fleeting moment, and the outstretched palm of another desperate ally he couldn't see turned itself over to his direction. Paired blessings, anointing him, of all those present, as the one who would act. And...

---

Time... shifts.

---

By its lonesome, being granted haste is an unnatural rush through the nerves. It’s like every weight upon you, right to your own skin, has been lifted and pulled away. Lightning, blessed by Dhinas, courses through you where your blood used to be. Your vision sharpens. Your hearing almost fades.

It’s free access to that oft-mythologized “flow state” every follower of Himstus knows of. It’s more than that, even— already, I watch the grains of sand fall through the hourglass one by one. Already, I can feel the aether surging through me, as I live these seconds more thoroughly than any I have known.

With one haste layered upon them, even an untrained commoner can equal the finest knight in raw velocity, the fleetness of foot and thought. While I’m no warrior savant, I would still like to believe myself well-trained; enough that I have stepped quite broadly into the realm of supernatural. No man may reach that peak for more than a moment through their own training. It doesn’t matter who they are. This is why the spell is so coveted by warriors the world over— imagine dehydrating yourself for three days only to take a liter of coffee right to the dome. It's the difference between standing still and a dead sprint. Between a dull gray and a blinding, blazing red. It’s like life has been breathed into you, when you had forgotten you were one foot in the grave.

That is the first haste.

The second… feels…

—I crouch low. A sprinter’s stance. The grip on my armament is white at the knuckles but my arm is still, calm. Ahead of me, I watch the world that had slowed to a half-crawl seem to stop. Eons later, my mind finds the word, this taking so long a testament to how poorly I learn for all my good teachers’ efforts—

…Multiplicative.

I look to Miina, her arm still outstretched in the instant her spell took hold upon me. I realize that I have spent this same instant coming to terms with my new echelon, and am spending yet more of it looking over my shoulder to Esben. There is still smoke rising from his rifle, and the fairy that brought her wind to me, Selene, is still far closer to me than him. Her wings do not beat. They drift.

I am as removed from the first haste as that state was from my highest natural gear. I wonder for a moment if I might not explode, having this much magical potential running through my veins like white hot magma. My chest is soft, warm down, a chocobo's feathers in the summer. My limbs do not feel themselves move, they are so filled by energy— I simply trust that they have, because I've no other recourse. My heart hammers like the whole of Midgar. I'm not sure I can truly discern one beat from the next.

Worrying? Ought to be. But I have to shelve it. In this altered state, that is oddly easy.

Finally, I return my gaze in that moment to Leviathan ahead. Even in this eternal second, the energy of her channeled aether is powerful enough that even those of us that have not been cursed with naturalborn ability to manipulate the breath of the world can feel it in our bones, in the deep, gnawing dread. That shell around her too, an aquamarine pearl of surging steel, is still no doubt strong as ever. I’ll need to punch above my weight all the same.

Memories flash through me, collected images and words. I am before a fire, hearing Galahad’s advice. Let the weight of the spear’s head carry it through the lead, and follow with my body behind. Gather my energy through the legs and trunk, then leap forward.

I had given the concept a try a few times between then and now. Too committed and too singular for fighting another man, but… I have it down enough to level against a big, stationary, and undeniably protected target as this.

I am at the dunes, after giving all I had to a burst of non-hasted speed, thrusting out the strongest barrier in my arsenal and watching it nevertheless begin to crack as a titan tried to force its way through. Even though it in and of itself was a singular moment I had forged.

So from that my lesson is that there is no necessarily uncrackable wall. No barrier that can’t at least be weakened, if you hit it hard enough behind a sturdy enough weapon. And this thing, pilfered though it is, profaned though it is, was made to pierce through a mighty wyrm’s hide. And I will put behind it a strike at least as hard as that Revenant tried to impale us with.

I am below the waves, lunging for this Eidolon’s false copy, a faye reanimated and trapping me in the leaden notes of her song. It was only a scratch upon her scales, and only piercing a vortex instead of a whole barrier, but my blackened flames do still shepherd my blade home.

How much can I pour into punching through that thing? What do I have left to burn? Enough to reach out and touch this eidolon... a little more thoroughly than a scratch?

A second voice answers me. You’re not particularly giving yourself much time to live out the fortune you’ve already shaved off, it says. It’s rather businesslike about the ordeal through that stilted, staccato cadence it always goads me with, but I can feel an intrigued smile at the corner of the entity’s nonexistent lips. Everyone, eventually, runs out of luck. Period. Not just the good stuff, but the bad stuff too. Still, there’s good news and bad news to this. I can still give you the blaze you want. Enough to fortify this strike further than any other... but you’re going to be hearing a lot more from me from now on.

With something quicker than a thought, Valon’s spear is a bonfire of profaned flame, the black tongues erupting from my palm and licking at the air as though writ upon the world with a heavy, broad calligraphy brush and anthracite ink.

You know, I for once don’t feel like living my next days dreading the bad news— not when I first need to go and earn them, from the bad news that’s already before me. If I turned a day’s finger over on the monkey’s paw once already in this fight, this one…

Yeah, I’m better off not even knowing what I’ve just done to my life. At least until I know I’ll get there. I’ve surely sold some noble end twice over by now, so if I am to die an unlucky man here…

That’s the spirit, champ. It says, pleased that I know better. The conversation is over. My vision, so broad and clear with the speed I am granted, narrows to a pinpoint.

The body no longer responds to the will. If anything, the opposite is true. My mind is informed by the shape my action gives it. The motion is already there. The messages sent long past. At this unreachable pinnacle that only Izayoi has known, intent is not call and response. It is holistic, pure, as it puts power through my legs.

My breath is a hurricane. My twisted aether the black storm. My weapon, and my limbs, the crashing lightning.

My mind, the eye. Serene at the center. Nothing left to do.

For the first and only time, for I know I will never reach this again, I understand why she responds in a more reverent voice than she affords her prayers for our victory, when I ask what she is missing from the days of her prime. I understand it now. This is where we warriors reach out and touch divinity.

The instant overflows. I taste the Godspeed.

The ground cracks beneath my feet, and that fractional moment, that lone shard of still time I had been living out so much within fades into the aether, as I launch myself through the next. The flames at the tip of my bloodred lance gain ruddy hue as I cross the distance, a streak of black in my wake. I am suddenly before her, throwing my whole being behind the point.

Ye serpent, crawling at the base of the World, the cradle at the roots of life itself. You are of the primordial sea, to it you were cast, and to it you shall return, by thy ancient name in my tongue— Jormungandr. I anoint the weapon in this boy’s hands the same as the wise old man who first tossed you to the mighty oceans. The one-eyed king, in the land of the blind. It will strike every bit as true as that which was hewn from the Yggdrasil. Strength and skill will not stray it from its mark, for it is the wolfbiter, the swordbreaker, the rocking—

At first haste, I believe I said your weight leaves you, and you feel like you can do anything and everything at once, for you’re so fast nothing holds you down.

At second haste, however, in putting the Godspeed into any attack…

I learn quickly that speed is a weight all its own— and one far greater behind the point of this lance, biting and burning deep into the watery barrier, than even a human wrecking ball like me could muster with strength alone.

---

---

In one instant, the Kirins' most wayward, lost soul had been spread-eagled and strewn along the battlefield by the Tides that had surged around Leviathan, same as the rest—

And the next, his voice cut through a silence that should not have been there, a single name leaving his haggard throat.



And in his wake was the clap of thunder, no matter how clear the day overhead.

---

Galahad sputtered and cursed as the Leviathan sent him flying with a blast of water, armor crashing against the ground as he tumbled like a wet sack- a sack clad in steel, but a sack all the same. A gauntleted hand roughly ripped the helmet off of his face as Galahad hacked out seawater and pawed at his face to clear his vision. They'd barely scratched her.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Galahad cursed aloud as the Leviathan pontificated at them, his replies practically lost in the storm. "What sort of Etrosdamned trial is this?!"

Any grumbles and complaints he had were quickly lost as the Eidolon began to channel its next spell- a tidal wave that would surely kill them all. The blood drained from his face as he watched the barrier of water wrap around the Lady of Whorls, Izayoi's shockwave having seemingly little effect. They were strewn all over, there was no chance to run. They had to make their stand here, break the spell or else they'd die.

Galahad quickly scrambled to his feet, his head whirling around, looking for the others, looking for options. Some of the others were already getting up and moving on their own. Good. He saw Izayoi sheathing her blade for another one of her fearsome draws. Also good. Next to him he spotted a familiar looking instrument, a few feet away was its owner. Lunging for the instrument, Galahad grabbed it and thrust it into Ciradyl's hands.

"We need to strike hard and now. Imbue us with power." Galahad demanded as he began to sprint back into the fight. The air whipped around them as Rudolf zipped past him, erupting forward with a flaming black lance. Had they not been in a life or death situation, Galahad would've been most impressed by the form. Praise would have to be held off until later though, as his eyes tracked Rudolf's angle of attack and where his black lance's thrust would land.

Armored feet skidded to a halt next to the samurai as Galahad pointed the spear point of his halberd forward, his voice already straining as he began gather electricity into the palm of his hand. "You see where we need to strike, right? Time it with mine. 3 seconds."

With that, the armored dragoon leaped, enough electricity trailing behind him that it looked like a lightning bolt was traveling in reverse course from the ground and back into the sky where it belonged. The bolt cut a wicked, jagged path through the air, reaching its crest as Galahad flipped himself in the air.

One.

Wyrmfang flipped in Galahad's hand as he reversed his grip, holding it high above his head. A signature strike if Galahad ever had one- one meant to slay the most powerful of dragons and beasts, to sunder adamantine scale and skull alike. Enough electricity surged through the halberd to make it's shape unrecognizable, the Dragoon practically holding a bolt of primordial lightning in his hands. He reared back, his eyes narrowed in the whipping winds, his fore hand guiding his aim.

Two.

He saw it, the wake left by Rudolf's attack, the sheer speed of it all. His eyes tracking the dark lance. Galahad seemingly slowed himself in the air, catching himself as he waited with bated breath- waiting for the impact. He heard the cry of the young warrior's voice, and saw the strike land.

Three.

A herald of lightning and thunder, Galahad put the entirety of his strength into his throw, his arm whipping forward and loosing his bolt of lightning. Wyrmfang streaked through the sky, forcing it to split and make way, crashing down towards the Eidolon and its barrier. Moments later, Galahad fell toward the ground as well, residual lightning trailing behind him as he followed the wake of his own weapon, bracing himself to make impact and to drive the weapon through the barrier and deep into the blasted Leviathan's skull.

---

Éliane was rather annoyed, but her emotions were… a little mixed.

She was annoyed, because if she had made good with her threats to the Grovemasters, they wouldn’t have to be dealing with this mess –and an extended mess was what it was, stupid barbarian politics—but on the other hand, they were in yet another grand fight. Éliane wasn’t so twisted that she would be happy about any random senseless battle, though, and even worse, it was the type of battle that was depriving her of the ability to actual do battle.

Barely into the entire thing, the nasty water whore had soaked her new rotary cannon and it had yet to fire— and for the moment, it was even her only weapon that could probably only do significant damage since she lent her rifle to Esben. She still had her gunblade, but it seemed anemic in comparison to waves…

Just about fed up with the water, she began to rely on something she usually didn’t—her materia. Within moments, she whipped up a hot, dry wind around her and her gun, quickly drying it out with the heated air—

And then she finally brought the cannon to bear on the Leviathan and her barrier. She depressed the trigger, and the gun whirled to life with the heavenly sound of high caliber bullets rapidly leaving the barrel. Within moments, a fresh hail of armor piercing bullets joined her teammates’ in striking against the Leviathan.

“Challenge this, asshole!”

The girl sucked in a deep breath.

This was beyond any of their prior opponents.

This was beyond anything she had seen before.

She could feel the power rippling through the air, washing over her body like an ocean's waves. Even more than the battle at sea, it felt like she was going to be plunged down and dragged under.

For an instant, a mere instant, her heart was frozen.

For that single instant, she couldn't help but feel fear surge through her very being.

She had been picked up by chance by a deserter, and it had lead her here.

What if her destiny was not as a grand hero? What if mere chance had gotten her this far, and now it was by mere chance that she would die?

What if

what if

what if

what if

The phrase ran itself through her mind over and over again as the muscles in her legs seemed to lock in place, her grip on her spada shaking. Her heart threatened to rip its way free from her chest with its incessant hammering.

what if---

...

That was just it, wasn't it?

Her mind went hurtling backwards in time. Back to old tales.

What could he have done, then? It's so frightening.

It was something that had played out in her mind ages ago.

When a legendary hero was faced with a monstrous, insurmountable beast. A creature that exceeded all his former foes, one who could destroy him in an instant.

It was scary.

What hope was there to stop it?

And yet he stood bravely. Even if he was terrified, even if he felt like it could be the end, he still stepped forward and gave it everything he could.

Even if it was by pure chance that he survived, even if it was by nothing but the thinnest possibility that he pulled through and succeeded, he still strove for that tiny, thin margin of possibility.

That was part of being a hero, wasn't it?

"... What are you doing, Robin Fey?"

The voice she heard was her own, speaking to herself aloud over the din of battle. In the few moments she had spent locked in place from fear, her allies had already stepped forward and given their all to stop Leviathan's attack.

"They're about to leave you behind. You can't let yourself be shown up."

---That was right.

What was she doing? Locking up on the spot, freezing in place from fear alone. She could still move, couldn't she? She was still breathing.

What kind of hero let their fear overcome them like that?

Her father wasn't who she thought he was all these years.

And maybe it was by pure chance that she'd came to this place.

But that chance still existed. That chance had still let her reach this place, still given her an opportunity to change this world and do good.

And that chance was now in the form of the slim opportunity they retained to stop this attack.

Robin stepped forward.

She'd never used this technique in battle before.

Could she even pull it off?

Maybe, maybe not. But heroes performed daring acts that could just as easily fail all the time.

She raised her spada, its luminescent blade glinting not only from its brilliant edge but from the energy that now surged along it.

Leviathan's attack wouldn't succeed.

"'O blossom, flower at the edge of my sword---"

Robin stepped forward. The world blurred around her.

She was at the very edge of Leviathan's barrier, now.

The first thrust was easy. She'd performed plenty of thrusts before, after all. It was what came after that would be the most difficult part.

Her right arm blurred.

A single second, a single fraction of a second, a single infinitesimal moment---

Not one passed between the first and second blow.

The technique was one that seemed unreachable, impossible. For most of her life, she couldn't wrap her head around how someone could ever strike four times at once.

But impossibilities were a given when one was a hero, weren't they?

The third came easier. Her blade danced in her hand, surging with brilliant light. The fourth followed naturally.

She could see the miniscule gap between each thrust. It was as if the world had come to a halt, for her.

But outside, it appeared the span of time between the impact of her first blow and her last simply did not exist.

Robin had struck four times in a single instant, each blow leaving behind a trail of golden light.

"Bloom resplendently---"

She twisted her body, dragging her blade across the barrier, biting at her opponent in her final strike.

"---Flash Rose!"

The light burst.

The flower opened.

For a scant few moments it lingered, a rose of golden light.

And then it was gone.

Double-layered haste magics. Twin lances, one of shadow, and one of lightning, plunged into the barrier. Four golden, shining thrusts, all made in an instant. A relentless storm of bullets hammered away. Truly, the Kirins brought all they had in the name of survival.

And yet, it wasn't quite enough just yet. Their efforts chipped and fractured at the barrier, piercing through several layers of practically-solidified water with great effort. But not quickly enough.

That was where Izayoi came in.

"I am the storm." She intoned a mantra to center herself, aether welling around her while the others had been preparing their strikes.

"I am the squall!" Her knees bent, sword ready to draw. Shin-Zantetsuken wasn't suited for smashing through a static defense. Ranbu had very nearly killed her to use in the desert, but this wasn't nearly as taxing. Until the return through Osprey, it still would have been too much for her. But the last few weeks' worth of combat experience had served to harden her body to the point where it was entirely possible she might just execute this without suffering too many ill effects from the strain.

Izayoi surged forward, her feet practically slamming off the ground. As the Revenant had in the deserts of Osprey, she seemed to split apart into three afterimages, each splitting off and surrounding Leviathan's barrier to deliver a furious assault of slashes from three separate angles.

There were two ways to shatter a magical barrier: overwhelming force at one point or forcing the aether composing it to spread too thin to be viable by attacking from multiple different points. The rest of the Kirins were almost through with might alone. It fell to Izayoi to disperse the remainder of the barrier enough for them to succeed.

The Revenant had never managed to complete the remainder of the arte in their duel, but here, all three afterimages faded away after delivering their slashes, only for the original to reappear in midair, sword sheathed once more as she descended.

"I am the sword!" Izayoi's falling battojutsu strike slammed into the center point of the shield, and both Rudolf and Galahad found themselves smashing through, their spears piercing deep into Leviathan's scales as the Eidolon writhed in pain, forced to abandon her spellcasting.



Leviathan coiled and spun her body, hurling the two Edreni men off as she bucked, now furious as they managed to deliver critical blows.



The titanic sea serpent dipped her head below the plateau, her body quickly wrapping and looping around the entire cliff face until her tail rose where her head had been previously, and the Eidolon's cavernous maw rose above the entrance of the ruins, cutting off any path of retreat. She snapped her fangs downward at the Kirins while her tail slammed, rampaging about the cliff face and ruins as bubbles of water magic formed at random above before dropping downward to crash against any Kirin unfortunate enough to be caught in their path.

Nearly exhausted from breaking her limits as she was, Izayoi nonetheless managed to step out of the path of Leviathan's tail, scoring a thin gash along it with her retaliatory cleave, gasping for breath before drawing herself up.

"Come, then!" She bellowed back at the Eidolon, reaching the throes of battle frenzy herself as she forced her tired body into a charge towards the head. "We finish this here, primal!"

Impact, an agonizing jar stretched over infinity in the double-layered time. It was the sensation of his bones, strong as even they were, fighting against a rebound that seemed endless in its attempt to force them out of place, to crush them between itself and the weight of the commitment and velocity behind his own exceeded limit. Black tongues of flame licked at his arms¹ as they spilled out from his white knuckled grip, burning through the layers of swirling water bit by bit. Each one met was a steel wall, each one broken another jolt that shook him to the bone.

It was everything he had and more, collected into one single, perfect strike. He'd torn through so much of that barrier from the raw force he had leveled alone... But it still wasn't enough. Even in time with Galahad. With Robin. They couldn't get through.

A storm. A swell. Behind. An oncoming sword.

Pulling away wasn't an option. Retreat was death.

He grit his teeth, the taste of copper filling his throat—

And the last layer shattered as Izayoi's attack struck true, and his efforts were rewarded with a spray of blood not his own as his blackened, burning lance bit deep into Leviathan's hide, one of twinned fangs. Her roar echoed in his hastened ears, and so committed to driving the spear home was he that as its heavy blade bit deeper and deeper into her flesh, he couldn't pull away before her writhing length flung him off. His lungs inflamed, his muscles flagging, his mind and heart racing still, he tumbled end over end before finding solid footing as he landed—

...Now we're in the thick of it.²

He locked eyes on the aftermath of their assault, just in time to see the Lady of Whorls' massive head dive below the cliffside... and bringing the glittering shard of ruby, still bearing the last wisps of the black flame that had been laid upon it, over the side with her. Maybe his grip had been jostled by the impact. Maybe the moisture had left the haft too slick.

Maybe his luck was already taking its dues.

Either way, he was once again unarmed, in the sternest test the team had ever faced.

Retreat was no option.

He didn't know how much longer the hastes would be laid upon his body, and already Leviathan had emerged anew, swiping with tail and fangs from either side of them, peppering the area with scattered bullets of sea magic. He threw himself to the side. A burst from above forced his instincts to will his body to get the hell out of dodge. The deluges that had wracked the field meant that he didn't know where those paired swords had gone—

One arm reached high over the shoulder. The other low to the hip.

May thy blade chip and shatter. At the speed he lived these next moments, he could not answer the challenge with his voice.

Two more lines of black fire writ upon the world, lending weight to feather-light slashes in one hand, and length to the short but potent fang in the other.³

The enemy, ahead and behind. He had been flung far enough away to be clear of the lashing tail, which already had Izayoi setting herself to work on it.

Therefore, somebody needed to cover rear guard.

He pivoted on his heel, choosing the closer target and throwing himself low to skid under the snapping jaws, his anointed speed carrying him far, too far to retaliate, unless he arrested his motion immediately—

The flame of the rondel bit deep into the earth at the base of the abandoned shrinegrounds as Rudolf slammed hit home, trusting the stiff and sturdy metal within the heavy fire to hold fast as he flung all that momentum back around, a great burning wheel upon a sudden axle. His teeth grit as his arm felt like it might tear right off from the unfamiliar strain.

But more importantly, at the edge of that terrible centrifuge a burning arc was cast into the base of the mighty sea serpent's skull, before she could even pull her head back for another swipe.

---

---

• _{1. Granted, because of our symbiosis-adjacent arrangement here, the only thing actually getting burned by these is the water he's trying to get through in the attack. While it's easiest for a meathead like him to consider his luck as wood on a campfire, things would get very out of control if the manifested flames could recursively burn more luck than he spent on sparking them. And if self-immolation was on the table, you can imagine how anyone getting to this point would be an unsustainable prospect.}
• _{2. Hey hey people. Like I said, hearing a lot more from me. In this instance that's a good thing— you'll need somebody to keep you company while the kid retreats into a shell of reactions.}
• _{3. I do have to mention how barbaric that practice is. Are those people swordsmen or shamans? You would think somebody steeped in that kind of animism and/or spiritualism for five years would be a little more careful about where he spends his own fate, but even my warnings fell on deaf ears. And I'm in his head, directly benefitting from the trade.}

… damn it. They'd pierced the barrier with everyone, just about, but the attacks hadn't brought it down. And it didn't seem likely that anyone that had been involved in breaking the barrier would be able to pull off the same feat immediately after. That left… well, quite a lot of them, really, but it was still more ways to stab or explosives. And while there'd been so much testament to the effectiveness of stabbing, at heart Miina couldn't really say that the Skaelan focus on technological warfare seemed… optimal.

At least, not when your enemies stopped being conveniently limited to rather familiar limits. Unless they had some secret way to make bullets more than what they were? That—

This wasn't the time to get distracted. Think, Miina… her best attack against a single opponent normally would just be to stab them and then work on the ice. It was, in a lot of respects, ideal given her mediocre talent: she couldn't pump out a stronger spell, so just make the way the ice worked far more effective than normal. Tossing it at people was basically just elemental stabbing, which was a blunt instrument. Freezing someone solid was undoubtedly deadly… yet even more blunt, hard to pull off, and just overall intensive. Plus, it was very upsetting when whoever you were trying to freeze just shrugged it off. No, she'd just concluded that if you took the same amount of ice but guided how it crystallised in someone's blood, in their chest cavity… all those things that helped with healing and working out why there was an injury? It could do so much more damage as it specifically shredded everything important.

But that was useless against Leviathan. Even if there wasn't the central conceit of trying to weaponise the Eidolon's own element against it, it was simply too big. Where even on a giant magical serpent would constitute a vulnerable point, anyway? No, she couldn't just pull off that trick. Fire… eugh, Leviathan was the opposite of combustible, she couldn't think of any way to apply the same principle. No, she needed to maximise damage by lightning.

Except lightning wasn't nice. It could sort of be controlled, the Mystral guessed, but it was all so eager and fast to leap that it was barely worth it, guiding it from one target to the next was one thing but trying to contain it and keep pouring on more… it was an interesting thought, but not practical here. Not by raw control. Could she exploit it? It always wanted to escape, taking the easy path… play with it too much in a jungle and you really started to know that.

She had an idea.

"C-Cover me!" Well, maybe someone could? It was unlikely, even by the standards they'd displayed so far this was… stupid. But she needed to not be killed before attempting her idea.

Jumping onto the swiping tail was definitely the stupidest thing she'd done. Sure, it got her close. Sure, she was armoured. Sure, it wasn't a direct hit. But it was still momentum, and an impact, and breathing was now a lot harder. But that wasn't important, she had one hand on Leviathan, and the other was braced to pierce the beast's scales just a little.

In one hand, she held a protection against lightning. And in the other, her sword crackled. And now—thrust.

As was its wont, the thunder spell surged forwards, seeking to scorch as it went and just ground itself. But Miina couldn't be allowing that, could she? If she could just direct the defence to that part of the great beast, the magic would have to rampage elsewhere, and if she could steadily block that off too, and keep both going, it could only intensify as it jumped around and around, the magical lightning looking for its escape—

How long could she keep this up? Moments, if she was dislodged. Or pancaked, but being so focused on magic at least meant forgetting her own mortality. Maybe seconds, if she was lucky, and her request was heard. But it would have to be enough to help, wouldn't it?

---

Thankful as he was that Éliane had managed to bring her cannon to bear at last, his ears weren't terribly pleased with the sudden roar of high-volume fire coming from just behind him. Eos, still low to his chest, had already plugged her ears as tightly as she could as he dropped back behind cover. Still, his hearing wasn't so overwhelmed that he couldn't recognize everything else that had just been done as Leviathan began bellowing at them. "I would rather like it if she would calm down," he groused, watching as the head that had just been behind him suddenly placed itself well ahead of him.

"Or at least if I'd had a chance to plan for all this nonsense. I knew we would never be able to rely on overwhelming firepower forever."

"You mean you didn't have a plan for this?!"

"Do I look like I make a habit of fighting beasts and Eidolons?"

Rudolf slid under a strike, lashing out with one of his own. Behind him, Miina called out for cover, and he could see her out of the corner of his eye running for Leviathan's tail. "Selene!" he called out to the purple-hued fairy, hovering near Rudolf. "On Miina!" He couldn't offer much cover beyond trying to catch her, but with some help from Selene she might manage to react to anything in time to keep from needing it. "Eos, you get up to Rudolf. I don't think he was ready for that. Someone will be behind you to drag him out of the way if necessary."

Both fairies darted off instantly, two blurs of light streaking through the air. Selene tracked Miina easily, transferring her speed to the diminutive mage; and Eos, hands outstretched, hovered near Rudolf as he began to slow back to normal. "Robin, get up to her head, see if you can't keep her blinded! Éliane, you have anything to help with that?" He set the rifle back down next to her, drawing out his sword and buckler. "If so, I'd prefer you use it. Just don't hit me."

With the rest keeping Leviathan distracted, and with the clear damage she had suffered and energy she had spent, it was a simple matter for Esben to make his own quick advance. Wide bounds carrying him forward at a rapid pace—behind a pillar, next leaping behind Arton, spinning on the ball of his lead foot and leaping atop one of the coils of Leviathan's body—he closed the distance rapidly. From behind Rudolf's arc of flame he leaped atop another of Leviathan's coils, pushed off of it to alight atop a broken pillar. Jumped from it to the next, higher up; scrambled up part of a wall, ran across an arch, sailed over to the next pillar, up above the Eidolon's snapping head.

He may have lacked Galahad's ability to take to the air like the dragons he hunted, or any of the magics or technologies the others could bring to aid in their attack. But he was sure-footed, and as Izayoi first had learned, more than capable of keeping up without a boost to his speed.

A little bit of solid luck burning in his pocket for good measure, just to make sure everything lined up his way and footfall landed perfectly, only helped.

He kicked off the top of the pillar as a globe of water slammed into it. He twisted in midair, slapping aside a chunk of the stone shrapnel that came his way. In response, the second gemstone that he'd set in the handle of the buckler began to glow as well as he started falling towards the top of Leviathan's head, lending extra weight to his blade, as well as—

A fireball erupted from his left fist as he turned the buckler sideways, heavy lead balls flying out with a crack like Éliane's rifle. Where they aimed to slam into Leviathan's scales and blast them aside or crumple them inward, he turned with the recoil, descending point first for the same spot. This farce ends now!

---

Galahad cursed all of his bad luck as he was sent flying again. Tumbling across the ground a few times before he caught himself, rolling back up to his feet. All of that effort had stopped them from dying in that instant, but it did little to end the fight, the Leviathan was still well up and kicking. Or thrashing, rather. Galahad willed himself forward, his halberd flying through the air and back into his hand.

All of his muscles screamed at him, spent not just from the leap, but the limit break that followed immediately afterwards. Usually such an attack was meant to end fights, but here he was, nearly spent, and continuing a fight while well and truly gassed. Leaping again was possible, as much as his body begged him not to. The others were tired too though, and they had yet to give up the fight, so he couldn't either.

Galahad broke into a sprint, closing the distance as he followed behind Rudolf's flaming arc, weaving left and right as bubbles of water exploded and crashed around them. Dirt and stone kicked up as he turned and flung his halberd at the Leviathan, residual electricity still crackling on his weapon. The Leviathan was close- perhaps too close for comfort.

He watched as Rudolf arrested his motion, flaming arcs flying towards the Leviathan, though leaving the young man a bit more exposed to danger than perhaps he'd like. Diving for the hunter, Galahad grabbed him by the arm, and then the collar, rolling onto his back as he dug his feet into the ground.

"Perhaps ironic from the man who literally jumps at his enemies," Galahad grunted, his voice strained. "But flinging yourself into danger won't solve all of our problems. This fight is not over yet." His legs tensed, ready to leap the two out of the way of any massive maw or tail coming down to smite them.

---

Given the urgency of the situation, sadly Éliane had not had the chance to cackle like a maniac as she poured in the high-volume fire, but she could settle for the barrier being broken through their combined firepower. She was also going to bemoan the loss of so much ammunition after just restocking the expensive and hard to find stuff, but that was a problem for future Elly, not present Elly.

Thankfully, the gambit by extreme firepower worked, as things should be… but that hardly calmed down the giant leviathan. Maybe they would have to put it down after all? Sad days when the water bitch was better served pointing her anger at Valheim…

Éliane finally paused her fire, conscious of her dwindling ammunition as she eyed up her still enraged foe and as her team began to make their own play. Seeing Miina’s surprisingly bold attempt, she was already on it when Esben called out.

Pulling out couple grenades, she eyed Leviathan’s head speculatively, frowning when she realized that the creature was out of throwing distance…

But not batting distance. Unsheathing her gunblade and dropping into a batting stance, one after another, she pulled the pins on the explosives and tossed them in the air… and smashed them with her weapon to explode against Leviathan’s face.

Robin was in the same geographic area, but no doubt she would be fine…

---It worked.

It had taken so much effort, from all of them working together, but the barrier had shattered and Leviathan's attack had been interrupted.

That was all that mattered. From the very edge of defeat, they'd managed to grasp the strand of hope and hold on, together. They'd managed to give themselves the opportunity to claim victory.

That was it.

Robin couldn't let herself slack off now.

She sucked in a deep breath. She'd tried to blind Leviathan already, and it had worked for a few scant moments. That was clearly what Esben was working off of when he made his request. She'd already been moving before he finished speaking, pouring as much power into her legs as possible to reach her goal as swiftly as she could, light flowing up the edge of her blade.

---Wait, are those grenades?!

Elaine had already acted, using her weapon to smack the explosives right towards Leviathan's face, in hopes of hitting her all the harder. Robin sprang backwards, trying to give herself a bit more room in hopes of avoiding the blast.

Wait, wasn't this a good opportunity?

Raising her spada, feeling magical energy surging over its edge once more, Robin loosened a bolt of light towards Leviathan's face. The moment the smoke from the grenades cleared, she'd get a blast right to her eyes!

Black flame, bullets, and buckler slammed into Leviathan's skull while Miina electrified her from the tail upward. Leviathan screeched in rage and agony, rearing up and charging another water jet in her mouth before a combination of grenades and light magic disrupted her focus.

Izayoi followed up not long after, leaping onto Leviathan's body from the midpoint of the serpent and repeatedly plunging the tip of her katana between the Eidolon's scales. The titanic sea serpent seethed, whirling her body around to shake everyone atop her off once more before runes of casting materialized around her head, another spell in the process of charging .



An orb of flame crashed into Leviathan's upper body, cancelling out the spell as she writhed for a moment, recovering quickly.

"Leviathan! All of you! Stop!" A familiar voice cried out. From the edge of the ruins, Cid appeared with Eve following along not far behind him, the latter offering the party a slight wave as the priest hurriedly marched forward, his staff plunging into the ground with every step. Up above, Ifrit landed atop the highest point of the waterlogged ruins, eyeing his fellow Eidolon with a warning glare.

"Every last one of you needs to stop this needless carnage, immediately." Cid's voice was clear, loud, and grave. The aged priest slammed his staff into the ground to accentuate his point, as shockingly, Leviathan bowed her head to him.



"They were deceived, Leviathan. I can assure you that whatever insult was given, none of it was deliberate. Your battle could be seen all the way from Costa Del Sol. I know these warriors well enough that they would not have conducted such a profanement of the rites on purpose had they known of the ancient ways. Incidentally,"

Cid turned his gaze back towards the Kirins, his expression deathly serious.

"Who instructed you so poorly? This had to have been deliberate-"

"That would be me." Another familiar voice cried out. Grovemaster Isolde emerged from the ruins' entrance in much the same manner Cid had, bringing nearly two dozen men in Brightlam Cathedral uniform with her. "I apologize for the deception, Kirins, but at last, you've delivered Cid the Heretic directly into my hands. Surrender him into my custody, and I'll have no further quarrel with you. I'll even support your aims to bring toward the other Grovemasters once more. Zacharias is a lost cause, but Alambert can be turned. With two Grovemasters out of three, you'll have the support you need to stand against Valheim. What say you?"

Pulling the knife free from the ground once more, Rudolf stood—

And staggered again to his knees.

The blessings went, as the blaze made contact with Leviathan's soft underbelly, burning a heavy gash through where the steel itself had only left the barest nick upon even those scales. At once, he was abruptly thrust back into the normal world— his only buffer from slamming full-force into the brick wall of single time the brief seconds between one haste falling and the next. Just enough of a window for him to realize what was happening as it came...

And then it was upon him like quicksand. Just as the sudden swiftness had rendered each limb and breath feather-light, now it was as though his will was spilling out of him. Like drowning. Almost, it seemed like loosing his next breath would be a mistake, like there was a momentum within it he wouldn't get back once it was gone. It wasn't that his strength had faded, but...

Pain¹. Dull, burning pain, blossoming through his chest like paint on canvas. If you had flipped the cliffside on its head and drove all the weight into his sternum, or maybe locked their opponent's massive jaws around him and told them to chew, that sensation was probably close. His breath was shallow, too shallow to keep itself within him as Galahad's tackle collided with his torso, carrying him clear of an unexpected fireball.

His head swam.

He heard the older man's voice in his ears, and Leviathan's high above them both— but even where his ears now existed on the same tempo as normal speech, the voices were muddled, dulled, underwater. Drowning too, beneath the low roar that had subsumed him, with each pulsing wave of exhaustion that traveled up through the veins in his neck. They were tight, like stones forced through the bottom of the jaw. ²

He wanted to whimper, but didn't have the voice for a groan. He bore the pain silently, save for a hollow wind atop his tight gasps for air.

Bloodshot eyes tried to focus, to regain their bearings on the world, to little avail. The world spun, each attempt as fruitful as those to command his body to move, or his mind to forge a thought. His gaze was listless, half lidded, unfocused, as a symphony of light and sound erupted around them nearby. Color, heat, light, sound, fresh figures appearing, the vertigo of the man leaping to pull him clear of it all.

He didn't know what was happening.

Something of this seemed familiar. He recognized that there was a lot that he should, but he had to try and breathe.

There was a burning tar where his heart should be. He wanted to claw at it, tear it out of him, but the impulse died at the shoulder.

A point of green light in the mix grew close, buzzing furiously with a grimace on its face.

Wait... Light didn't have faces, that was—

—AZERWQXYRTKBYUH—³

As Eos's palms finally reached him, her flight extended without warning by the sudden relocation by way of dragoon, the verdant healing energy was, for better or worse, like grabbing a live wire. The pain in his chest lingered, but began to hollow— the pain of his muscles that he'd had the dull shield of exhaustion to ignore was now sharpened as he felt a few re-knit where his thrust with the lance had seen them pulled, beneath his notice till now thanks to the adrenaline.

Speaking of that, the dump through his system was still very much real, and while his heartbeat and breath were now finally once again under control, he was still every bit as ragged and worn as he felt— but now lucid enough to know it, thanks to the fact that he could manage a lungful or two of air.

And know the last of the many voices that had joined them, all too well.

"...Why?" came the stricken, confused rasp. He hadn't screamed the name of the strike revealed to him the way he had tghe shield, but his throat was still every bit as desert dry. A gnawing lump in his gut took hold as his eyes narrowed, trying to pierce the glare that had caught Isolde's glasses and catch a glimpse of the green he'd seen beneath, only one night before. "'Heresy', he..."

...He couldn't.

Uh oh, boss. a familiar voice chimed in, dripping with wry satisfaction at getting to rhyme a stanza Rudolf had never expected. Maybe she did like me.

His eyes drifted between the two holy figures. The headache from having his wings ripped and crashing to earth had reached a skull-cracking peak, nausea settling in beneath the ball of ice it felt like he'd just swallowed. As unpleasant as any sensation got.

"Cid saved our lives. Why set us against Leviathan? Lure him out? Hand him over? He— You—"

You really shouldn't be talking. I don't think you're able to even think out to the end of the sentence before you're saying it. This is how you get yourself into trouble.

The words certainly spilled out that way, hardly wearing the guise of structure. But blindsided as he was, he couldn't help himself. It didn't matter how little he was thinking straightforwardly, or whether or not he could get it all out in one clear shot. She surely hadn't just conned them. This couldn't be another time. Not again. Not again.⁴

"We all stand against Valheim here! Why are you selling the idea— It's your country! What possible reason, Master Isolde?!"

A desperate plea. Despite how wrapped up it was in exhaustion, frustration, confusion...

It was not so different at all from the one he had approached her with, just hours before. That he might appeal to her reason, no matter what blasphemy he may have harbored.

"What about responsibility? The greater good?"

---

---

• _{1. Arrythmia. Specifically, ventricular tachycardia. If he could think clearly at all, he'd have known he was, probably, a few minutes out from an episode of cardiac arrest, as his nerves took longer to adjust to the new speed everything was working at than the heart chambers they were telling to maintain at double-hasted full ahead. But of course, that's the rub when those chambers don't have any time to get enough blood in the pump— thinking clearly tends to stop. It's even gotten to me a little, like sulfur on the winds from who knows what.}
• _{2. Cannon A Waves. High amplitude bloodflow from the atrium trying to force open a valve that shouldn't be closed, since the aforementioned tachychardia has the ventricle below contracting off-beat and too fast. In brief, jugular veins should not have that kind of pressure launching through them. It's quite painful, and to use a medical term, "very bad for you".}
• _{3. No artistic license used here. That's a quote.}
• _{4. Just because you don't like the deal, doesn't mean I lied about it.}

Staggering to her feet, Miina levelled a determined glare against Leviathan. Yes, her ribs were aching far far too much to just be bruising, and she couldn't heal it and maybe throw up some sort of last second barrier, so she'd just have to ignore it for a little longer because being crushed was much worse. Magical protection or physical, if only she had some experience with this sort of attack—

Cid!

Whatever hopeful feelings blossomed with the nice old priest's timeline intervention (and hey, that was Eve again! She still wanted to look at that tail some more) were promptly quashed. They'd been fed the wrong ritual? Why? What was wrong with just explaining, why did everyone always feel the need to be as confusing as possible!

This was why she needed her brother back. There were lots of reasons to want it, but he'd been the one that actually understood what the others had been saying, when they were trying to set her up for something – especially when they'd been meeting with any other groups and she couldn't fall back on familiarity – or when they just wanted to take advantage of having a mage around when she would just help if they weren't so damn circuitous about it. Every single time she went anywhere, it was always people like this! Mob bosses, Ciradyl – as nice as she was, and at least she came along after, – and now even this stupid grovemaster!

At least she could start healing now, and Rudolf's interjection gave her time to realise that, the Mystral pressing her free hand to her chest before it pierced anything important. It would have been smart to think about what she was saying, not just leap into it, but she was sick of this always happening, and now she was tired, and sore, and soaking wet, and this was supposed to be someone they could trust.

"F-F-Fuck you! Cid's nice! He's saved us twice!" Miina shouted, "You just tried to get us killed! Nobody cares about your stupid religious arguments! They're not important! Not now!"

Oh, and she knew this type too, bringing a big force with them when they said sorry. That was what what's-his-face did back in Costa del Sol, and when she said no, he'd started going on about tying up loose ends, and Isolde had proper soldiers. It was unlikely they could take them all, but if she was pointing a sword, nobody would expect anything, so she might be able to at least make the important one pay. Better make it something explosive, just in case she moved…

"F—"

---

A shock ran up Esben's outstretched arm as the point of his sword connected, driving through scales rent asunder by the blast from the miniature cannons on the reverse of his shield. Just as quickly she reared, a mighty shake sending Esben flying off. He twisted in the air again, landing with his feet and one hand to the floor, skidding backwards a ways as he came to a stop from getting launched away from the writhing Eidolon. He stood straight as soon as he was done, blood dripping from the hand still gripping his buckler where the skin had been ripped by his backwards slide.

Selene and Eos both darted his way, hovering just beside either of his shoulders as the truth of what had been happening was revealed at last. As he'd come to expect, it was a trap, it was the wrong ritual...and Isolde had lied to them. He spared a single glance where Eve stood behind Cid, nodded at the latter—

And immediately swung upwards with his sword, knocking the point of Miina's up into the air and shocking the diminutive Mystrel into almost immediate silence.

Not that he expected they'd be able to get out of this without cutting or blasting their way through, but nearly the entirety of the party needed to take the moment they had to breathe. Especially when the foe facing them next was completely fresh, and had more than double their number. So, let them breathe, and he would probe a bit...and hopefully they would be inclined to let him do the talking for once.

"Deception does come easily with power, doesn't it?" he asked urbanely, walking up to the front and facing the youngest Grovemaster. "I'd always thought it would be a difficult thing, to lie and use people so often, but I suppose it really isn't. I suppose Zacharias was just as useful for you, hmm?" It wasn't lost on him that the eldest of them had been the most opposed to having anything to do with them...nor that, compared to Zacharias's shock and Alambert's impassivity, Isolde alone had been the one to openly think over it as though there was something to what they said when they gave Cid's name.

Moreover, that she had been the only one to offer any arguments as to why Neve could not come along. "You saw a chance to gain this the second Izayoi mentioned him, ja? Was it your suggestion from the start?" He, at least, seemed to have some genuine enjoyment in thinking through the steps of the plan she'd had in place. "I'm curious what heresy you refer to, though, before we can make a decision on the matter. Of those who know of his existence, I can think of rather few that would accuse him of such."

He smiled at the mousy woman and her entourage.

"Do you think to deal with them, buy yourself some time, and rely on the alliance to hold them off when they inevitably come knocking again? Or are you just tired of being under their thumb?"

Isolde gave an amused, wan smile at Miina before looking to Rudolf and Esben, not even bothering to dignify the former's insults.

"In order, then. My responsibility, as you put it, is to Drana Asnaeu and her people. Whatever path we must chart in order to ensure our prosperity, then so be it. From our perspective, you are the only ones standing against Valheim at the moment. Osprey is shattered. Leonhart cowers on his throne while sending cutthroats across the land. And Skael is as inscrutably silent as usual."

Her smile turned sad, as if legitimately regretful of the situation.

"Perhaps you could manage it. Rally the continent to resist. Or perhaps you fail and invite greater reprisal upon all those involved. If I am to take that risk upon you, it is only fair that you take the same risk on I and hand over the Heretic."

"Child, I assure you, I am-" Cid began, only to be cut off by a suddenly-furious Isolde.

"You are a charlatan and a fraud! You wear the face and name of hallowed Cidolfus, founder of our Cathedral and first of Etro's Caretakers! Whom passed away centuries ago! Reveal your true face, daemon!"

Cid clicked his tongue at that, as if suddenly understanding.

"...Ah. Then no amount of reasoning shall work." He sighed, reluctantly raising his staff. "Kirins, I would beg your assistance in this confrontation. Were I alone, I would simply...leave. But then that would leave you with her displeasure. Her words are true, from a certain point of view, but I have been naught but honest with you regarding my goals. I can only tell you that my covenant with the Mothercrystal binds me to this path."

Behind him, Leviathan and Ifrit roared as Eve assumed her Dreadwyrm Trance, mantling Bahamut's might as she stared down the Grovemaster and her templar knights.

Izayoi had stayed silent throughout the entire affair, having understood Esben's intent and taken the opportunity to catch as much of her breath as she could. Considering the battle against Leviathan, it wasn't much and wouldn't be for any of the Kirins, but even the slightest recuperation was better than none. At this, though...her hand fell down to the hilt of her sword.

"I tire of Dranan obfucscation and condescension." She snapped, an inch of steel cracking out of its scabbard. "You will either let us pass and fall in line, or you will be accessory to betraying all life on this continent. Make your choice."

"Dispelja."

Isolde's staff slammed into the ground, and a wave of cleansing magic spread out across the entire ruin near-instantly. It hardly affected the Kirins, but as for Cid's entourage...

Leviathan and Ifrit managed brief roars of pain before they simply dispersed into aether, covering the area in motes of deep blue and crimson. But Eve howled as her Trance was forcibily ripped away, Bahamut's power stripped entirely as she fell to the ground, convulsing. Cid fared little better, the seeming backlash of his summons ripped away from him causing the old man to clutch his chest, falling to his knees as his staff clattered against the ground.

"I...I..." The cleric hyperventilated, eyes wide as he fought for breath, staring up towards the Kirins. "I'm...sorry...you must...live on..." A last, desperate wave of his hand summoned just enough aether to teleport both Eve and himself away to parts unknown, leaving the field just to the Kirins and Isolde's knights.

"Protect. Shell. Haste." Isolde hadn't stopped, firing off spell after spell on her own contingent of soldiers, her boons washing over them with all the potency of a master of white magic. "Regen. Reraise." She finally stopped, taking a moment to catch her breath before straightening up, glasses glinting as she looked towards the party.

"This is your final chance. Tell me where he has fled to, or face the might of a fully-realized White Mage and the church's finest."

"Make your choice."

---

Esben could feel the shredded skin on his hand knitting back together rapidly under Eos's hands, where she floated down and laid her hands on his arm. Selene pulled something out of one of his pockets as Isolde spoke, the pair hiding together behind him as the group was addressed. He could hear something scratching behind him as the pair worked—

His journal. The fairies had swiped his journal, and Selene was quietly humming something while they wrote in it.

"What are you two doing?" he mumbled, barely turning his head to address them. In response, the journal was snapped shut, placed back in his pocket, and he shuddered as a jolt of electricity ran down his spine. "There's the pact!" Selene said, lifting back into view. Eos did as well, her hands stained dark crimson.

"We knew we needed to get it done fast," she whispered, looking over at Isolde. Selene nodded in agreement. "There's no way she doesn't try to dispel us all, but you should be able to call us back before too lo—"

"Dispelja."

She was suddenly silent, the words cutting off in an instant as the pair were reduced to free aether in the wake of Isolde's spell. The Eidolons lasted slightly longer, enough to feel the discomfort of their dissolution, while Eve and Cid were reduced near to uselessness...and winked away in an instant. Leaving the empty ruins, nine facing off against twenty-five. Yet more reason not to allow Neve to come with them, knowing the betrayal had been planned from the second Isolde had heard them state Cid's name.

Refreshed with Eos's last-second ministrations, Esben still stood at the fore of the party, weapons held loosely in his grasp. The warriors of the cathedral, burnished half-armour gleaming, did not strike such a relaxed pose. Their weapons were at the ready, archers trained on the Kirins, and all ready to fall in around Isolde in a moment if they needed. His eyes scanned over them quickly, committing each face he could to memory. So, too, did he note the Grovemaster's shell cracking when Cid spoke before—anything that could threaten her hold on the situation was worthy of an immediate attack, then. There would be no dialogue with her.

After a moment, it felt like his blood thawed back out, the shock of having the two fairies dispelled passing quickly. "Your words don't add up, Grovemaster," he observed slowly. "Beyond the first. Charting whatever path you must to protect Drana Asnaeu...Yes, I'm sure you would, and would convince yourself it was correct until the Blight-beasts came and mauled you alongside your fellows. But is he a heretic, or a daemon, a hell-born deceiver? One of your education should be well aware of the differences in these terms. Are you misguided, or are you taking the play of a demagogue, playing to the prejudices of these forces you've brought with you?"

Hasted. Protected. Strengthened to almost every measure Isolde could manage in such a short time, and that was without knowing what she may have done with them before coming into view. Alongside the armour they already had, there would be no easy way to take any of them out if it should come to it.

"You speak of what is fair, yet you come prepared to get your way by any means necessary. You ask us to turn over one that saved our lives, one who we have no power over, no knowledge of which of the many hallowed grounds in this world he could have gone to, in return for empty promises, maybes, guarantees that you can't see through to their completion—after a history of deceit toward us. Truly, you advance Valheim's cause well. I only hope you haven't already sold out your crystal to them for the same such falsehoods you offer us, for if you aren't strong enough to protect yourselves, you can trust them to renege on their deal ."

If only he'd learned from Eos and Selene how to summon them. Maybe the pages they'd written on would give him some sort of an idea, when he had a chance to look at them.

"Back down, Isolde, or be remembered as the highest traitor to your people and your church, if either are left after your actions. I'm sure people will love the story of how you betrayed and attacked, in pursuit of information that didn't exist, the only nine who were actively trying to stop the invader's heels from crushing down on them."