Minutes before disaster struck –

Frost’s relentless game of cat and mouse caused debris to hail upon the golden arena. Plywood, stone, and gore carved from the walls of this seemingly subterranean space plummeted, pulverizing the scattered hearts like crushed pomegranates.

Jury guarded her face as blood squirted in all directions, as did sparks from her claws as she dragged it along the stands, tearing these putrid beings apart like they were no more than sentient fabric.

A bloodbath played out in the background as Ignis made quick work of the Reorganizers, all the while the triplets bombarded the heart with an array of electrical attacks.

There was nothing present that could fathom inflicting even a single scratch on themselves. A one-sided massacre perfectly portrayed their rabid prowess as Jury stopped for a moment, observing the cavernous wound Frost had inflicted prior with Prejudice.

Then, she turned to the collapsed tunnel where clumps of rocks bled.

Is Frost going to be ok!?

There was little else that mattered more to her.

And despite knowing how powerful Frost was; this enemy had managed to creep underneath her skin. It was the first time she had seen Frost display such an insatiable hunger to kill. The only thing that came close was whenever she spoke of that betrayer.

“Frost is not responding. My words only fall on deaf ears. She’s experiencing the same throes she first experienced under the Will of the Amalgam’s power.” Nav expressed, causing Jury’s face to contort in worry. “But she’ll be fine.”

She can’t be fine if she’s not listening to you! Please, keep trying to get a hold of her!

She deeply understood Frost’s heart. How she always aspired to remain strong, despite the unfair situation she was always put in. Jury vividly recalled the first time Frost broke down into tears back in the Black Forest following her first ever rampage against the Accusers.

She never wanted to see her like that ever again.

Jury spring boarded herself into the air after swiftly pounding the ground with her tail. The one thousand Judge’s Aids were still present in this bloodied circus stage, and she used them to slingshot from eye to eye with immaculate prowess.

Her body naturally contorted and arced into aerodynamic forms as she made passes at the golden Heart, shredding its grafted shell with her blackened claw.

 

Dungeon Heart | HP: 50,000

 

“Frost thrives under immense emotional pressure. But I also share similar sentiments. We may be reaching uncharted territory. That Impuritas has an uncertain connection with Iscario. We always believed him to be a lone actor in Frost’s betrayal.”

Nav shared its insight into Frost’s fury. In the meantime, Cer threw herself straight into the Heart by merely biting at the ground. The electrical maw did not pierce through the hardened dirt. Rather, it slid along it, dragging its teeth along the ground as it suddenly jerked shut, throwing Cer upwards.

I don’t understand why they’d want to hurt Frost though! What did she do to them in the first place!? Frost – she… didn’t she arrive in this world not long ago?

“That she did. And Ignis states that people will hate you not because of who you are, but because of ‘what’ you are. I’m sure you understand that particular sentiment.”

Jury hung from one of the Judge’s Aids for a short moment, her eyes scanning the battlefield.  She was met with a cruel stare from Ignis, and a sadistic grin from a nearby Cer.

As Demi-Humans, it did not matter if they were good people or not. What only mattered was that they were Demi-Humans in the eyes of the people in Grandis, and therefore, were subject to life-long anguish.

… I do. Even as a Corrupted I do remember what happened during those long 26 years.

Jury also suffered similarly for her ambiguous appearance. Throughout the years she spent protecting outsiders from the skewered beast of the Black Forest, she had always found herself subject to their prejudices.

Just because of what she was.

How… how do they even know what the Amalgam was supposed to be in the first place? How could have they judged Frost when they didn’t even exist prior!?

“The Archivist is also deeply curious about Frost’s existence.”

Please tell me in what way!

“That Frost is familiar to her in some capacity. She’s certain of it now after our battle with the Greed Counter. For context… the Archivist has existed for 350 consecutive years. Her memories likely fall further back. Yet Frost has existed for less than a quarter of a year.”

Jury’s eyed widened at this revelation.

The Archivist knew Frost!? Is that why she’s talking so much all of a sudden– Angh!?

“OI! Jury! Stop hanging around and lend us a hand! Or claw! Tch!” Cer complained, snapping Jury straight out of her minor trance with a small electric shock. “RES! Hurry up and get those Captains out of there! The chains are giving way!”

Metal shrapnel fired as the giant chain links snapped. The imbalanced load within the Heart caused it to tumble in turmoil, beating frivolously without a care in the world as its HP rapidly plummeted.

And with it, so did the Heart with a tremendous crash.

 

Dungeon Heart | HP: 10,000

 

Res was lucky enough to drag the still impaled Broker and L.S away to safety, watching the Dungeon Heart’s skin ripple like fabric in a turbulent storm. Ber swiftly joined Cer within the Heart and began to violently electrocute everything within, eradicating all the little hearts until only the golden skin remained.

“Just like those bouncing hearts, huh?” Cer commented on the exploded hearts.

“Yep. Just like them. But if they really were, then we’d all be dead. The Big Red Heart killed a lot of Moons.” Ber nodded, folding her arms victoriously as Cer finishing off the Dungeon Heart with one final, shocking nibble.

 

Dungeon Heart | HP: 0

 

“Idiot! You moron! You fucking dumb doppelganger mut!” Res suddenly laid down a number of slurs, contesting with the groans of Broker as both the Golden Index Captains had their HP drop to 1 again. “Where is your situational awareness!? We are not the only ones here! Have some respect for the members of the Ateliers!”

“You didn’t do it earlier? It’s fine, it’s fine. They won’t die unless you cut them off from that ring.” Cer shrugged, caring little for them. “A perk of having your soul taken by that Demon. But you think I’ll get rewarded for this kill?”

“With a wire scrub. Little wolf, please be careful in the future. They may be Impuritas, but they’re still with the Golden Index.” Jury reprimanded as the Dungeon Heart was finally felled.

“Impuritas huh. They look like any normal weirdo to me.” Cer confirmed. “And stop laughing, Laughing Stock.”

“Ahaha. But I cannot… help it.” The tall woman gleefully groaned.

The dungeon immediately began to tremble again.

To Jury and Ignis, it seemed like it was the natural sequence of events. But the same could not be said for the triplets, who instantly swallowed their anger and looked upon each other.

They were wracked with confusion.

“… did they send the Liquidators already? How kind of Caldera Industries. But you’d think they’d wait until everyone was vacated.”

“I find it hard to believe that they’d destroy a dungeon so quickly without confirmation of the Heart’s defeat.” Res thought otherwise, realizing that something dangerously unnatural was beginning to unfold.

 

< Leaving – Entering D3 | Epiderma >

 

“A spatial distortion!?” Ber blurted out.

Somehow, with no apparent existence of a train or a Caldera Industries machine, they were under the influence of a potentially disastrous spatial distortion. The metallic screeching was ever present all around them, and from their knowledge, trains did not make such a sound.

Jury’s ears flapped as the animal ears of the others folded. It became borderline unbearable, inflicting damage upon them as Res instantly fell to her knees and began patting at the ground.

What’s going on now!?

“Possible spatial distortion. On a wide scale.”

You mean enough to encompass the entire dungeon?

“Likely. I’ve had Snap leave the dungeon to investigate the outside –”

An unparalleled quake nearly caused Jury to lose her footing. It sounded like the entire dungeon had caved into itself, causing Ignis’ already angered face to sour further.

“Get on the ground Cer! Ber! Something’s underneath us!” Res exclaimed, instantly prompting Cer to dig up the dirt with a single bite.

Jury cleaved through the resulting cloud of dust with her thick tail, instantly dispersing it as Nav continued to speak.

“… Jury. I have some unfortunate news.”

What is it? Tell me. Please tell me! Hurry!

“The thousands of people beyond have disappeared. Craters litter the immediate area. The sky is pitch black, and there is but one exit left that connects to the rest of Brandar. I’ve urged Snap to evacuate on Frost’s behalf. I truly fear for the worse.”

… the counterfeit coins that explode. Don’t tell me –!

“Coins!? What the fuck are so many coins doing here!? Res! Explain that!” Ber was immediately taken aback, finding a bed of coins layered deeply beneath them, like some sort of unnatural layer of sediment.

“GET AWAY FROM THE COINS!” Jury yelled for what seemed to be the first time, swiping every single one of them away with her tail.

And it was in that very instant where an abnormal chain reaction of explosions began to devour the circus, leaving only a vacuum behind in their immediate wake. Air was instantly sucked into the absent space, creating miniature suctions that began to painfully drag L.S towards the growing explosions.

“Hehe… oh no… Ahaha. Is this where I die?” She giggled to herself, saved only by Jury who swept her up in passing, wrapping her body with her tail. “Oh…? My savior! Are you perhaps an angel in disguise!? A travelling stockbroker who bails me when my assets fall under my safety net!?”

Jury did not share a word with this… completely normal person. Neither did she really understand her analogy.

The razor-sharp barbs dug into her tail, drawing blood. The strength of her tail was immense and could easily carry several people simultaneously. But not large enough to carry Broker along, which was left under the care of the triplets.

“Hey… you’re seeing what I’m seeing as well, right!? The coins are making spatial distortions!” Cer could not believe her eyes as the group attempted to flee the immediate scene, only to find that the chamber itself was being eaten by these explosions.

Not only that, but the world was suddenly anatomically incorrect. The floors were displaced and walking in any given direction would result in them appearing up to dozens of meters away.

It was a like a spatial maze, and it was utterly impossible to for their minds to decipher it.

If a normal person were to glance into this shattered world, then their mind would undoubtably break.

“These coins are loaded with the spatial distortion phenomenon!” Res exclaimed, her voice appearing in every simultaneous direction, right before Nav shared one other piece of information.

“An Express Train is passing through! Snap was able to briefly analyze the train on passing! It’s uncontrollable!”

“Don’t kid yourself Res! That’d mean they either have some kind of skill, or a technology similar to Caldera Industries!” Cer shouted at the top of her lungs, the shattered world disappearing. Everything appeared like there was a layer of cracked glass in front of their eyes.

“Ignis! Are you ok!? Is everyone still here!?” Jury cried out, competing with the others who desperately tried to reunite with one another.

Segments of the fragmented world plunged into total darkness one by one.

“Ignis has been taken! It is indeed a spatial distortion! She’s found herself in a strange place of red and gold!”

“WHERE!?”

“The Derma layer!”

“Wait – What if it is the same technology? Trains have been going haywire as of recent! You don’t think this has something to do with it!?” Cer came to a frightening realization. “With all the technologies going –!”

“CER!

“CEEEERR!”

A unanimous cry sounded from the remaining wolf triplets. It wasn’t anything Jury had heard before. It was chilling. Desperate. Almost as if they were on the verge of tears.

“WHERE DID YOU GO CER –!”

“BER!? Ugh… No. No no no. AAAAAAGH! JURY! IT’S JUST US!” Res deeply lamented, only managing to make Jury out from the distorted scenery, seeing her body in almost 15 different places. “IN ALL LIKELIHOOD WE ARE HEADING INTO THE DERMA LAYER! WHATEVER YOU DO, PLEASE TAKE CARE OF MY SISTERS IF YOU FIND THEM –!”

Res vanished unceremoniously.

Jury didn’t know if she was even inside of the dungeon anymore.

It was silent. Dark. Lonely.

The world had turned black as nothing but a bitter cold swept across her flesh. Even L.S had disappeared from her grasp, and with it, so did a quarter of her tail, which profusely bled, before it shortly ceased as the muscles contracted tight enough to keep her blood contained.

“… Frost… everyone… Nav. What’s happening anymore?”

Jury solemnly spoke these words, but nothing left her lips.

Like there was no air here to transmit sound, and yet she was able to breathe normally. She was somewhat acquainted with how physics works in a way thanks to the books of Frost’s homeland.

But she couldn’t care less about it here in this void.

Because there was nothing she wanted more than to spend her precious time with Frost… and the others. And it was all taken away again.

“Stay safe. All of you.” She begged from the bottom of her radiant heart, clasping her hands together almost in a prayer.

“Jury. Please be careful. The Derma layer is where Beholders, Stars, Moons and the Exalted have ventured to and never returned from.”

Nav warned not just to her, but to all those Blessed by the Amalgam.

 

< Leaving the City of Diamonds | D3 | Epiderma >

< Entering D2 | Derma >