Gilbert's status before labyrinth awakening...

<3rd POV>

I can't believe those ingrates left me on the floor! 

Gilbert sits up from the rock-hard floor wincing. Clutching his head, a pulsing headache hammers his bald dome a notification rings.

Ding!

[You have a concussion and will experience 2 hours of slight dizziness unless purified.]

Warning! 

[Casting spells higher than Lv.10 has 30% backlash!] 

  The priest punches the wall in frustration but immediately clutches his bleeding knuckles, painfully moans. 

"Dakja, If this is a lesson, it's too much for this small servant to bear... How long have I been down here?" Gilbert looks at his wrist sand clock to see that a day and a half had passed since separating from Belace. These frivolities wasted so much time. The Cleric branch has to be informed- Augh!

   Gilbert turns to see what poked his back, but only an empty cell greeted him. 

Out of nowhere, a gust of wind blows harshly from the dark corridor that knocks over the few candles lighting the cell.

How is there drift in an underground sewer system? 

Could somebody have dropped by for maintenance? 

 Bewildered, Gilbert cast [Holy candle] and leans into the corridor but is pushed back onto the cell floor by an unseen force. 

Furniture and rocks float off the ground as giggles emit from the dark crevices. 

Prankish tendencies along with scary laughter; this must be a bogle.  What did Lila's monster chrome say about these things again? 

[Bogle: Spirit/Golbin

Toiling Poke: interrupts***** lon* castings

Screeching: disables****** enchantments 

shrouding: hide ***in darkness***

These goblins confuse and scare their victims to feed.] 

 What else was there? Bogle's are typically passive spirits that hole up in abanded houses to wait for approaching victims. Why are these goblins -

Crash!

 A chair launches past Gilbert's head and crashes into a thousand pieces against the wall breaking his thoughts.

  Gilbert shrieks at the sudden behavior change, Did these things go into rampancy- Don't poke my head!  

[Dizziness debuff refreshed]

[Debuff will now last 2 hours and 30 minutes]

Gilbert curses profanities at the dastardly poker aiming at his head's weak point but there was no time to search.

Without warning, floating debris tornados.

Gilbert swiftly ducks, rolling under the nailed-down bed, avoiding the wooden splinters and pebbles. 

These goblins have frenzied!

 I need them to calm down, or else they'll devolve to hobgoblins. But if they turn here- No, it's for the best if I don't think about it.

First, what's caused them to be so angry? I should sneak around and see if anything is missing. Hmm... [Fade] reduces my threat, but I'll end up in a coma from backlash- Aaah!

Bang!

A wooden chair hits the bed hard, almost toppling it from the foundation.

Unable to take any more mental damage, Gilbert opens his spell menu.

[ Urgent Heal lv.22

Fade Lv.27

Group heal lv.25

Holy aura lv.17

Prayer lv.13

Purify lv.12

Chain of light lv.11

Holy candle lv.9

Cleanse lv.9

...]

 [Cleanse] has a calming effect for spirits, but the spell takes 5 minutes to cast...

Tsk...

Gilbert reaches for his belt but fumbles over his empty waist pocket.

Where's my nap sack- those twerps! Gilbert prays for salvation, Dakja saves me!

  A memory of his first dungeon came to mind in answer.  

After a long tiring day of constant vigilance and seeing our supplies running empty Belace led us to a warp area. But before we could enter the rest area we were ambushed by a couple of crooked failed adventurers. I'll never forget her confident words.

 Look here chickies, when ya' outta supplies, got no skills and tucked into a corner without a friend to rescue ya's hiney, 'nd all else fails... intimidate the sucker!"~ Belace.

Gilbert musters his courage roars, "Goblin, surrender!"

If you don't, I'll make you kneel for 45 days and then sentence you to the Nether Realm.

The guard observers will immediately capture and fetter you in silver thorned chains before taking you to soul trappers. And they will be the least of your worries-" 

Bang!

All at once, the cell cot Gilbert is hiding under is thrown across the room, exposing him. Shards of wood pelt the priest crossed arms.

[ -15 damage sustained]

[ -26 damage sustained]

[ -31 damage sustained]

These goblins are too far beyond my current state. 

Gah!

 Gilbert sprints to escape into the corridor, and stepping on the threshold, something seizes his arms and pulls him back into the darkness.

"No! I'm not going to die like this! [Frost Sca-]!... 

Bloody Tide! You two!"

 Turning around, the frozen light of his spell unveils mid-way the Quabets brat's shivering cold hands clasped on his shoulders. 

Previously...

The sibling left behind to wait for Tokito's return had nothing to do. Bored, they explored the maze of sewers and passed the door they broke in. Both Aukai and Nahele peer in to see the priest lying unconscious.

"hoa pāʻani"

""Yes. Let's play."" 

 Camouflaging into the corners of the cell, the siblings patiently wait for the priest to wake up and play with them.

Present...

Humiliated, Gilbert slaps the two children off his legs and stands to dust the loose dirt and splinter from his clothes. 

Despite his disorientation, the priest managed to navigate the twisting sewers.  

Gilbert barges into the machine butler's office, clamors, "Hatter, where is that accursed Quabet! A discussion for raising his brats is in order..." Silence fills the room as he spots Hatter's once jittery moss-cover metal body cleaned and moving smoothly, "Did you get an upgrade?"

 After putting its documents in a drawer safe Hatter calmly greets, "Good afternoon, Master Gilbert, to your inquiry, the gentleman Quabet should be at the auction house. To your second question, the answer is yes and no. My functionality is temporary until the Quabet finishes his repairs." Hatter excuses itself and pushes back its chair. It questions, "Why-yy are yooo-" the tunnels begin to quake fumbling the robots' words. 

Several older orphans enter the office exclaim monsters were spawning from an odd fog that appeared in the tunnels.

With no time to assess the crisis, Hatter picks up a wall phone amplifies its voice box, "Qui-i-ick eeeevery-y-yone paaaack up and he-e-ead to the suuuurface!"

*******

Above the sewers, hundreds of caps move aside, and the filthy devoid roadway is filled little by little with children of all ages. 

Hatter and Gilbert waited for the last child before absconding from the abanded house. 

A child cries, " Hatter, the ff-f-fog's here too!"

An expanding distorting red mist bears from the city center, causing the group to become restless as there was nowhere else to run.

 The jolting ground undoes Hatters' jaw. 

It stutters, "Ma-a-aster Gilbeeert, from my-y-y knoooowledge banks, these eeevents sho-o-ooould reeeeesult from a labyrinth breaking." The ground unexpectedly settles. 

For a second, Hatter processed that the worst passed before suddenly its chest pinged an alarm.

"My instru-u-uments detect incoming monsters."

 "That's impossible! Hailers would've sounded if monsters invaded the inner city's walls." Gilbert rejects the notion sees the mist closing in.

The priest raises his barrier [Holy Candle Shield{lv 12}], causing a harsh backlash to hit him. Feeling something drip from his nose, Gilbert wipes his face found blood drenching his sleave. 

I pray the city's barriers activate soon. I don't know if I can hang on for long.

Minutes pass. Everyone lingered beside Gilbert, praying for the barriers to activate and the fog to clear. However, it became evident that the city's defenses would remain inactive.

The priest whispers, "Why haven't the guards activated the protection wards-" 

Gilbert's eyes widen as he recollected the shape of the dilapidated church district.

Wards are powered by prays dedicated by high-level clerics and offerings from the common masses. However, the negligence and persecution of worshipers depleted the god's base protection source. 

The priest angered by such atrocity faces Hatter and the orphans, exclaims, "We can't wait here anymore. The wards have been neglected for too long." Gilbert details the church's state. 

"I-I-I underrrrstand. Staaaaying here is suicide. No-o-one of the sentries willlll caaaare to re-e-escue those in low-paying neighhhhhborhoods. Children prepare for tactics R ."

The younger toddlers cried loudly from the news while the older orphans moved to Hatters' arrangement. They all knew no one would look for thieving dirty orphans who couldn't even pay for basic protection fees So they made contingency plans in case they needed to flee.

Hatter struggles to get them in line as a few children nearly run out of the encirclement, "I'm brrringing the youngsters to hi-i-ide in a safe place. Please commmme with u-u-us Maaaaster Gi-i-i-ilbert." But its voice box sparks in panic. 

Monsterous rats attracted to the orphan's cries suddenly appear and attack Gilberts' shield.

Gilberts' nose bleeds further but he manages to hold his shield steady.

Slam!

"Guh! I can't. I'll bring you as far as I can, but I must follow Guild adventure protocol-Ah!" A crack appears from the rat's continuous hammering. "My barrier can't hold for much longer. We need to leave! Now!" 

Gilbert and Hatter lead the orphans as monsters constantly slam to break the barrier.

 "Hurry, my mana reserves are drying. I don't know if we can make it all the way- Auhh! Damn these beasts! I wish Belace was by my side! She'd rid these rodents easily-!" 

Without warning, two pairs of hands yank Gilberts' cloak as the space fluctuates. 

""May your wish be granted!"" "E hoʻokō ʻia kou makemake."

"N-o-oooo!"

Hatter hurries to grab the priest's shoulder but is too late. Nahele, Aukai, and Gilbert vanish, taking their single means of protection.

The barrier gone, Hatter hugs its young ones as the fogs and rats draw near.  

  In a strangely decorated hall, the air fluctuates. Gilbert, Nahele, and Aukai are spat onto the floor from the fluctuating space.

  "What have you two done!" 

Gilbert stands and slaps Nahale's face removing their mask. Stunned from the lack of Naheles face he doesn't notice Aukai approaching behind him. Still tired and dizzy he's swiftly overpowered.

"Ahhhhhh! Give me back my robe!"

The two with Gilberts' cloak in hand dash through the decorated halls until they reach a giant ominous door!

Seeing the priest coming closer, Nahele and Aukai enter and try to close the door fast.

"No you don't!"

Before the door could close, Gilbert's spell [Chain of light] pushes in but misses.

Instead, it reaches further inside until it hit something then wailing scream of despair sounds.

******

<Tokito POV>

The door burst open with Nahele and Aukia running in with a chain of light coming after them. The two managed to duck only for the chain of light to continue forth.

 Before I could even process what was happening Calamity was blocking the chain of light in front of the Boss waif.

A scream pitches as darkness engulfs us.

....

We were back in the space we first met... 

But something was very different.

Nothing was there except the single eyeball mouth that Calamity left me... and it was entangled by the light chain... shrinking.

" Calamity what's going on-"

“You’ve changed...” 

I stare at it not understanding.

“The reason you're in this world was to avoid this situation from happening. Yet you gained not only close acquaintances but walked straight into a city without batting an eye. Did you even think about the repercussions?” 

This was the first I saw the god cry. 

“Calamity?”

I wipe off crimson tears from its teeth lashes. My right hand blackens and blisters, touching the destructive chaos. 

Angered by my carelessness, Calamity scolds, “See! Two weeks ago, you would've distanced yourself and acted cautiously. Now you do this... you... care." 

Calamity wraps Tokitos' hand painfully tight.

It states bitterly, "Maybe curiosity made you give people a chance... but this is too drastic of a personality change.” 

The god sighs, "I think it's time to part ways..." 

Its tentacles drawback, showing a healed hand. And yet the pain festers.

"WHAT?!"

I scream in rage and my fist flies but halt brushing the gods' cornea.  

Calamity looked sad and pained.  

Fist pulled back to my side, I ask, "Why do you have to leave?! It's not like I wanted to be here-"

"I don't want to leave Tokito! I have no choice." 

Its tentacles point at the chain wrapping it.

"These chains are from a god of guidance and clarity. My complete opposite."

The information begins to sink in. I watch as Calamitys' eye body continues to burn and shrink, unable to fight back.

"Normally, a Chaotic God could fight this attack off if they have enough power of faith from their believers... But I am not even chained to this world, much less a single believer." 

I don't know what came over me until I pulled back my burning hands from the chain. But efforts were futile.

Calamity gives me a pained smile.

 ""We're sorry we couldn't teach you more. We simply wanted to be with you... and that is our fault. But don't worry. We won't leave you alone.""

The Chaotic God that used to tower me is now half my size and continues to morph. 

The binding chains seemingly melt into Calamity, its form becoming odd. Tentacles and teeth shrink as it said its last few words. 

"This one will always... watch... over... you..." Calamitys' eye shuts before its dissolves and forms into an egg.

"..."

I hug the egg before darkness returns me to the Boss's room.

Silla

Hatter