For just a moment, Theo doubted himself. It had been an entire lifetime since he'd seen the man who had pretended to be his ally before slaughtering all of his friends. The cloak he wore covered him completely and couldn't be unique. And yet he was absolutely sure that the man was Vistgil.

Second, he finally realized something: the darkness over the Chasm of Lamentations had always been focused on a particular point. Perhaps they had also intended to grant everyone more time, but as he saw the shadows gathering around Vistgil, Theo was certain that he had always been their true target. Though he couldn't feel cantae directly through the vision, it burned so intensely that he still felt it from across the battlefield.

Most strikingly, Vistgil appeared to be in some pain, bound in place. Theo wondered, for a very strange moment, if he would meet his oldest enemy only to watch him die in a conflict that he knew nothing about.

A man in a gray robe descended to the floor in front of him, actually managing to fly despite the pressure. Theo could instantly tell that he was a Stronghold-tier soulcrafter from the Asplundat Movement, apparently breaking from their model of stone armor. He raised a hand and ropes of cantae began to leap from the ground, snaking around Vistgil's limbs and quickly wrapping him up entirely in a shapeless mass. The blob spun to the side and the Stronghold stepped forward, toward the vault door.

Before he could arrive, a figure half again the height of most humans stepped up beside him. It was also covered by a robe, but unlike Vistgil, could not possibly be mistaken for human. Instead the robe contorted as if something twisted underneath, and purple tentacles emerged from the sleeves and base. The face itself was impossible to see, but Theo was certain it must be a soulcrafter from a world outside the Nine, one that was considerably less humanoid.

"Stand back, Outsider!" The Asplundat Stronghold's voice boomed out, reaching everyone nearby. "We have bested the guardian and now the vault is the property of the Asplundat Movement."

Instead of answering, the tentacled figure flicked one sleeve in the Stronghold's direction. A gash tore through the air and released a scream that drowned out even all the sounds of the Chasm. Shadowy purple tentacles exploded from it the next moment, attempting to grasp the Stronghold. He immediately countered with his gray ropes, failing to realize that the attack had always been intended as a distraction.

As soon as he was fully committed, the strange figure gestured toward the vault with one flipping tentacle. The doors creaked open, and an instant later, a spark of cantae flew inside. That actually puzzled Theo, since the spark didn't feel particularly powerful. It was intense, yes, beyond any cantae he'd felt, but not even formed into a bolt. Cantae like that couldn't be an attack, couldn't be any kind of technique, so he didn't-

Then the entire Chasm of Lamentations screamed as the ruins folded in on themselves. A vortex of twisting reality, like the sun compared to the shadows of the distortions of the Chasm, expanded over the city. For a brief moment, the surfaces of the ruin turned in impossible directions, a tesseract that spread in every direction.

And then nothing. Where the highest hills of the ruins had once stood, only smooth blue stone remained.

"Are you mad?" The Asplundat Stronghold was overwhelming the remaining tentacles, fighting his way free, his face contorted in rage. "How many invaluable artifacts have you destroyed?"

The figure didn't respond in any way, instead looking to the side... where Vistgil emerged from the mass of gray ropes.

He didn't explode his bonds or cut through them, he simply walked out as if they didn't exist. The darkness that had before seemed to bind him so tightly no longer had any apparent effect. As he emerged, he brushed one of the ropes off his sleeve, the entire arc of cantae dissolving immediately.

"Years of planning, foiled." Despite his words, Vistgil chuckled as if mildly amused. He didn't once glance toward the Asplundat Stronghold, fixing all his attention on the shifting hood. "I should have known you were too clever for that, but it was still a close thing."

"A draw." The unknown figure finally spoke, a strange crackling voice that seemed to echo from a great distance. "Your games have gone on long enough. They end."

"Perhaps, perhaps not."

For a moment, it seemed as though the two of them might strike one another, and Theo felt certain that it would be the most powerful duel between soulcrafters that he'd ever witnessed. All around the ruins, the fighting had stopped, even those too stupid to realize the import having noticed when half the battlefield folded out of existence. Even the voices of the Chasm seemed to hold their breath.

Vistgil raised a hand in invitation... and the tentacled figure retreated. Theo thought he caught a glimpse of three eyes glowing within the shadows, ringed by tentacles, but it was moving away. With a theatrical sigh, Vistgil turned away and began walking into the air, not flying but as if taking invisible steps.

"No!" The Asplundat Stronghold hurled a bolt of cantae, so intense and perfectly formed that it could have torn through a hundred of Theo.

It struck Vistgil in the back and one of his shoulders twitched slightly. When he looked over his shoulder, his smile was so cold that Theo flinched even from a battlefield away.

"That wasn't particularly wise." Vistgil brushed at his shoulder as he turned around in midair. "Is this even worth the time? Fithe is doing perfectly fine, aside from that one annoyance."

"You will not leave before you answer to the Asplundat Movement!" The Stronghold let out a cry and unleashed a huge torrent of gray flames that lit up a third of the sky.

And yet, when they met Vistgil, they stopped. It wasn't that he weathered the fire: when they touched him they ceased to exist. The eruption of flame split in two directions, searing into the cavern and causing a partial collapse, yet an empty swath of stone stood untouched behind him.

When Vistgil stepped down, he didn't seem to overpower the cantae, he simply annulled it. Though Theo couldn't sense exactly what had been done, he didn't think he was looking at a special technique, just a gap in power that he didn't know existed. A long time ago, he had been a Stronghold, and Vistgil had killed him easily. This time, he wasn't surprised or in shock, so he watched every moment.

Not understanding, the Stronghold continued releasing wave after wave of cantae, joining gray ropes to his flames. Vistgil walked through the assault and struck him on the forehead, a blinding white line piercing his body and the city beyond.

Unlike the gray flames, the brilliant beam disappeared an instant later. The Stronghold-tier soulcrafter dropped instantly.

Though his allies in the Asplundat Movement roared in anger, they were too stunned to attack immediately. Vistgil spread his arms wide and turned in a circle, as if inviting further attacks. When none came, he turned away and disappeared into the ruins.

All at once, Theo stood back on the shoreline. The body that he'd nearly forgotten was clammy and gasping for breath. Around him, House Blacksilver stared in shock, Karchibol most of all. Only Fiyu and Nauda looked toward him instead of the devastated ruins, perhaps putting together his stories. Senka had her face buried in his pant leg, releasing a constant low moan.

"Just... what was that?" Dhan asked. Karchibol merely sat shivering, while Janne answered quietly.

"A Dominion-tier soulcrafter. One who has passed beyond even the champion of Dris Kolonb."

Theo doubted it, and he realized that he would accomplish nothing more with this group. He made sure not to look too confident as he turned to Dhan and got his attention. "As far as I'm concerned, that's just another reason that we should retreat. All the Strongholds will be distracted, so this is the best time for us to reach the waterfalls."

"Right... the scepter." Dhan shook himself and regained a bit of his old confidence. "It clearly isn't safe here, either. Go. If anyone fires on you, we'll try to intercept them, but once you enter the other branch of the chasm, we won't be able to help you."

Simply nodding acceptance, Theo urged the others to continue. He didn't even bother struggling with Senka, since there was no time to waste, and she followed silently for once. Fiyu had maintained her sphere around them the entire time, despite the events, and now she renewed her efforts.

Though they crossed the ruin-studded river carefully, they weren't in any danger. Most of the strongest soulcrafters were looking toward the central ruins or trying to gain an advantage in the new balance, and any who looked in their direction would see nothing. Because the river itself was a threat, they concentrated on their work over the fastest-running part.

The impact of the Stronghold's blast caused stones to continue falling from the ceiling, though the cavern was in no danger of collapse. By far the greater threat was the mist rolling in from the damaged areas, causing soulcrafters to retreat or die. Theo signaled for their group to put on their masks, actually reducing the danger as they moved further away from the battleground.

But as they neared the first waterfall, they reached the end of both silence and safety.

"That man..." Nauda shook her head slowly. "You're going to tell me that he was the Vistgil you talked about, aren't you?"

"Completely unchanged, even after a hundred years." Theo glanced back over his shoulder at them, but there was no time to stand and talk, so he pressed forward. "He must have set up another vault as a trap, and tried to coax his opponents into opening it and dying in the reality fold."

"Who were those opponents?" Fiyu asked. "One of them was a Lost One, and I recognized it from the House of the Lost. Do they all take that form? Underneath the robes, its body was composed of many tentacles, and a core that... I cannot describe, because I am not sure I understood it."

"One thing we can agree on," Nauda said wryly, "we can be glad that Theo isn't that kind of Lost One."

Though Theo had been considering that angle, he hadn't come to any conclusions yet. Since they still hadn't reached the waterfall, he shared his thoughts aloud. "I think Vistgil must be exploiting connections to worlds outside the Nine. With Earth, he manipulates people to come and kills them. With this race that leads the House of the Lost, they're his enemies. It isn't a war, he's trying to control something..."

"Why?" To his surprise, the interruption was actually Senka. Though she trotted after him with a childish gait, her eyes bored into his. "Why why why?"

"I wish I had any idea." Theo wished he could stop and rub his eyes, but he needed to pay attention to the river. "There will be time to discuss all that later. We need to get over the waterfalls and search out this scepter."

"Are you sure?" Nauda asked. "You just got clear proof that he was setting up a trap in the vault. What are the chances that the scepter's location is trapped as well?"

"It's possible, but I think that was just bait. Vistgil seemed to lose interest as soon as his opponent left, so I think his interest in this is done. Our greatest strength is that he doesn't even know we exist, so this is still a chance to gain an advantage against him."

They agreed silently, and had the decency not to say that a few sublime materials wouldn't make any difference against that kind of power.