Down in the Dungeon.

“Tears? Again Neze?” said Revis. “Why are you crying again?”

“I do not really know," Neze wipes the tears from her face, she is befuddled why this happened again. "But... I felt something deep inside resonate with me, and… it felt like a knife in my back. This…odd feeling of betrayal?”

“Oy! Miku! Mico!” Revis shouted. “How are things up on the surface? It's been a long time since went up."

“We do not know.” Said Mico, the Unique Sprite of Space. “I can no longer see the surface. Once the world shook, my vision was cut off. I would assume it had to do with the Hero, Cirrus Zephyr. Right, sister?” She looked at Miku with her blue eyes slightly covered by her bangs.

“What!? Miku! What aren’t you telling us!!” Revis shouted. “You left something out, didn’t you!!”

“No.” Miku, with her eyes half open. “You simply left as I was saying it. I can repeat it if you—“

“Do it!!!” Her voice echoed through the dungeon.

“…In short, during the Black Dragon’s return, Cirrus Zephyr went and faced it. He fought valiantly till the bitter end and managed to bring it to and through death’s door, but his body was afflicted by a great poison. With the strenuous labor he did, his body finally gave out, and he passed on, at least at first. Nox then returned, and with her help, Cirrus slew the Black Dragon and then passed on.”

“You should have told us!!!!!!!!!” Revis was now in her face, shouting with fury, both in her voice and face. “Come on!! We need to go and—"

“Let me finish Revis.” Her glare landed on her.

“What is it!? The greatest obstacle is now gone! Nox and that coward Circe are dead! Now we can go and—"

“They are still alive.”

“…Hm?” A silence filled the room. “What do you mean…”

“I mean, Revis, that they are still alive. Nox had reincarnated into someone who would be called the Moonlit Hero. Along with her siblings, the Polytropos Hero, the Phantasmal Hero, and the Dungeon Conquering Hero. Their threat is equal to or greater than their father.”

“Sister, can you explain why I can no longer see anything past the 90th floor? You must know, correct?” Asked Mico.

“Indeed. Neze, you said you felt something just recently, correct?”

“I did." Neze nodded. "Is it connected?”

"Hm," Miku nods. “When the earth shook, a new god appeared on the surface, and they took some of Ouranos’s job so Ouranos could further strengthen his seal. In turn, your powers have significantly been cut down as well as my own. Looking into the future has become more cumbersome."

“That didn’t explain anything,” Revis said, still angry.

“So the only way for a god who watches over the world to make sure no god uses their arcanum to now extend to the 90th floor could only mean one thing. A new god has appeared upon the surface, and it’s able to use some foreign power to muddle with my powers greatly."

“Let me see if the earth can tell me,” Neze said as she kneeled with her hands open.

As Neze was about to place her hands on the ground to learn from it, Miku and Mico felt something deadly approaching from afar.

“No!!! Don’t connect with the earth!!!!” They both shouted with their eyes wide open.

 

Back at Elysian Valley, within Elysium’s domain, he opens his eyes.

“Oh?” He softly says this with Nara in his arms in bed, her tails wrapped around him as they lay in bed in one another’s comfort. Even their long hair are tangled together. "Look at that."

"What's wrong?" Nara opened her ruby eyes. She gently touched his face. "I see anger growing in your eyes."

"Nothing that concerns you." He kissed her forehead and holds her even closer. "I will deal with it."

 

When Neze placed her hand on the ground, the instant she reconnected with the ground, she felt something look at her with emerald eyes and silver pupils.

It quickly turned its gaze at Neze with fury in its eyes. A familiar, cold, rage-filled voice rang in her mind.

‘I see you. Down on the—'

Bam!!!

“Guh!!!”

Revis kicked her off the ground.

“Huff!! Huff!!” Everyone in the room was tensed up; they all felt something coming for them.

Tap!

Tap!

Tap!

They turned to the sounds of someone walking towards them. From the shadows, two figures came out.

One was a woman who had dark red hair and eyes like dull blood, with the darkness clinging to her.

“What is all this racket?” the woman said. “You are going to wake up my partner.”

“G-Grand Spirit of Shadowed Brilliance, Scáthach! Our apologies.” They all said that except for Neze, who was still trying to recuperate.

“It is no longer Scáthach; I have chosen the name Ferdiad.” Ferdiad looked at Neze. “… Neze, why are you kneeling down in fear?”

“I-I have seen death…” she said, trying to pick herself up.

“Mmm… Well, keep it quiet, my partner and your vessel’s old friend are tired after feasting.” She held out her hands, and from the darkness, Lyra formed in her arms.

Her body has changed, with her arms, legs, and the ends of her hair covered in darkness. Its appearance is as if the darkness is alive and trying to consume Lyra’s body.

“…I now know what that foreign power was you were speaking of. That new god... it's Cirrus; the earth itself is undyingly loyal to him now. The moment I connected with the earth, it immediately betrayed me.”

The spirits who knew and met Cirrus felt their blood run as cold as a Russian winter.

"Ah, now I see.” Said Miku. “We are stuck here in the dungeon. We can no longer reach the surface without dealing with him and his children.”

“Then we should prepare,” Ferdiad said. “Like we have been doing these past years.”

"You still should have gotten us when Cirrus died." Revis said still very angry. "Without him we could have made it to the surface without issues."

"Had I informed you it would have resulted in a complete annihilation." Miku sharply glared at Revis, she was getting annoyed by the redundancy of Revis. "I am the Great Sprite of Time. If I say the time s not right then it's not time. I make my choices very carefully and deliberately to ensure we all have the best chances of success. Do you think seeing into the future is easy? Do you know how many times I have seen the death's of our fellow Sprites? Enough to fill the dungeon up to the brim."

"Then when can we move? Or are we really stuck in the Dungeon?"

"We are stuck here. We are trapped in a cage."

"Could Mico not take us to the surface?" Ferdiad suggested.

"Blocked." Mico spoke up. "Hah." Mico sighed. "Sister. It is like our words left one ear and out the other."

"I was not here when you were discussing this."

"Did you think we wouldn't notice you eavesdropping?"

"Well?" Ferdiad looks keenly at the sprite of time and space. "If you ate enough magic stones would you be able to take us to the surface."

"Of course." Miku added. "But that would do nothing but end all of our deaths. You Ferdiad are most likely to be captured, all the others, I am including the Grand Spirits that woke up in this, will be slain. No matter what we will stay here in the Dungeon and wait for them to come, we wait until his children have arrived here. Am I understood." She said in a stern tone of voice."