Though their group reached the waterfalls easily enough, as they looked over the first cascade, Theo realized that of course it couldn't be that easy. Getting across the battlefield to the lower region might have been difficult for most, but it wasn't impossible. A cluster of Asplundat soulcrafters moved about on a central island between two layers of waterfalls, collecting sublime materials.

No, not just materials, but debris and broken armaments from a battle. This group must have slipped around the others in order to reach the waterfall region first. Exactly how, he wasn't sure, but now they were methodically searching for the fallen Scepter of Separation.

"Him again." Nauda pointed toward one of the sides, where Homez coordinated several others. Theo resisted the urge to say anything about it being better to have killed him earlier.

By his count, there were four Rulers and seven Archcrafters scattered over the central island. Though it was slightly odd that there were no Authorities, the Asplundat Movement might have used the same strategy of sneaking in lower tier soulcrafters during the battle. Unfortunately, the three of them couldn't fight numbers like that, at least not under normal circumstances.

"Do we need to fight at all?" Fiyu asked. When they glanced at her, she gestured over the waterfalls. "The destructive water has prevented them from setting up elaborate wards, and they are unlikely to be able to pierce my technique. Perhaps we could simply move ahead of them and find the scepter first?"

"It's worth trying." Theo looked over the group, noting how they searched aggressively and mostly threw objects they found into metal boxes. "I think if they had found it, they would have immediately called their allies, but we can't be sure. Investigate what they've found, then the regions they haven't arrived at yet."

Fiyu tilted her head to the side. "Not all of us?"

"I think we should stay back to assist you in case they have backup, or notice you somehow. Besides, you can slip in better alone."

"Senka too." The imp left his leg and hid under Fiyu's cloak, though she didn't attach herself in the same way. Since she appeared calm at the moment, Theo just waved the issue away. Maybe she could smell out the scepter, or more realistically valuable sublime materials the Asplundat soulcrafters had already located.

After Theo and Nauda positioned themselves behind cover, Fiyu and Senka slipped away, vanishing from his sight as he left the sphere. Even exerting his full gravitational senses, he had only a faint awareness of their position as they moved further away, then he completely lost track of them.

It was worth an attempt, but Theo didn't believe they could find the scepter first. More likely, Fiyu would be scouting the location in preparation for the inevitable fight. Theo sat down and entered his soulhome, considering the only option that he thought could give them an edge against such numbers.

This deep into the Chasm of Lamentations, his gravitational fields were too weak to dominate a battlefield. They would be slightly better as a Ruler, but even more so in the immediate rush of energy that followed an ascension. He'd already made many preparations while Tythes had imprisoned them on the island, so he was essentially ready. A Ruler ascension would probably be lost in the chaos of the battle, so it wouldn't attract attention, then they could sweep through, grab the scepter, and escape.

The real question was whether or not an ordinary ascension would be sufficient... Theo had only climbed up to his roof when he felt a touch in real life and Nauda's spirit emerged in his soulhome.

"You're ascending?" she asked as she floated after him.

"I think it's the safest way." While traveling through the Chasm, Theo had gathered many different kinds of sublime stone, and though many weren't appropriate for his soulhome, they were more than durable enough to help ascend.

"Safest assuming that we need to fight, but a fight here is dangerous. With flight so suppressed and the river everywhere... it'd be easy for anyone to fall in."

"Which is why I want to strike them all at once, before they have time to retaliate."

"I'm not telling you to stop, just..." Nauda's spirit folded her arms and frowned in his direction. "I think you need to take two possibilities seriously. First, we might be able to negotiate with them. Second, they might have more soulcrafters lying in wait."

"So you're proposing...?" He kept positioning the rough bricks regardless.

"Let me go out and talk to them. If it works, we get through without unnecessary risk. But if they do refuse to negotiate, it will draw out others and group them together."

Theo turned from his construction long enough to grin at her. "I can agree with that logic. Getting the timing exactly right might be difficult, but I think I can manage it." He returned to his work, now building small walls around the foundation. "Are you just doing this because Homez is there? I'm not convinced he's as reasonable as he acts."

"I'd like to at least avoid more acts of war against an empire as large as all the Ruling Cities combined. Would you be able to send them out of the Chasm instead of into the water? That would get rid of them just as effectively, for our purposes."

"I'll try, but that's assuming that both you and Fiyu fail."

Since that was the most likely outcome, Nauda sighed and left his soul. In her absence, Theo continued to rapidly build the structure atop his soulhome. He was willing to consider all options, but he fully intended to have the power to back them up.

Though it resembled a new room, his construction had no ceiling and pushed into the limits of his soul far too intensely to function as a chamber. If he'd been planning on an ordinary ascension, a normal pyramid would have been more durable. But he didn't anticipate that breaking through the pressure would be beyond his abilities, so he planned something more difficult, an advanced technique that he previously hadn't used until Authority.

Instead of a path upward, he was building a crucible. In the moments when he attempted to pierce the sky, sublime materials that his soulhome could normally never support could be temporarily incorporated. It would make the ascension immensely more difficult, but if successful, he would forge a bond that would last as a Ruler. And fortunately, he'd just spent a great deal of time in the Chasm assembling such materials.

The most valuable was clearly the dense stone from the center of the island, previously too difficult for him to even draw into his soul. He might be able to manage it during the ascension process, but it would set another time limit and nasty consequences for failure. Before he made the attempt, Theo started to add other materials he'd assembled into the crucible, though the walls shook with the cantae of the materials, threatening to explode his work.

Outside, Fiyu had yet to return, so he took a step back and fashioned plating out of the blueshards they'd collected earlier. He'd never imagined they would be worth anything but money to him, but the durable crystal reinforced his crucible well enough. That established, he could put together all of the other materials, though he still needed a covering to prevent them from threatening the integrity of his soulhome while he waited.

For the actual ascension, he intended to use the solidembers, which would help the crucible at the same time. While he waited, Theo took a bit more time to reinforce the walls, build some simple stair steps, and increase the height a little more.

Just about the time his spirit required a break, Fiyu's stealth cantae passed over him. He reemerged to find Fiyu and Senka, carrying a few materials but frowning.

"They are guarding the unsearched area carefully," she said. "They seem to believe that the scepter will be found on the western end, but are afraid that one of their own might take it and behave selfishly."

"So there's no way to steal it?" Nauda asked. Fiyu shook her head slowly.

"We took some of their sublime materials, but even that risked attracting attention. Not many were valuable, but perhaps this..." Fiyu handed Nauda an armament in the form of a glove, which appeared reasonably powerful. Though Theo intended to examine it, he was soon distracted.

"Senka found this." She thrust both hands up, revealing a glowing white sphere. Theo glanced in annoyance at first, then looked again, taking it out of her hands.

White fire burned deep within the orb, roiling and surging in patterns that reminded him of the surface of the sun. It was unquestionably a Ruler-tier material, and quite suited to his soulhome. He glanced at Senka, wondering if she had retrieved it specially for him, but she plopped down and stuck her head between her legs. While he considered the new sublime material, Nauda stepped to the edge of the bubble to look over the enemy soulcrafters.

"It doesn't seem likely, but I think we should try to talk to them." Nauda turned back to make eye contact with everyone. "Theo, we'll have to plan the timing carefully. Fiyu, take an ambush position to support me. Senka, I suppose you should just stay out of sight."

They agreed on the basic details, then the others carefully made their way down the rocks beside the first waterfall. Theo barely kept track of them through his doorway and returned to his soulhome, beginning all the final steps.

The most essential question was exactly how close he should cut it. If he didn't attempt to use the crucible at all, he could easily ascend to Ruler. Piling in every possible material would test the limits of his spirit and result in a disastrous failure. It would be more sensible not to take a great risk, but this ascension would be the last easy one, and thus his last chance to use the crucible technique without deeper risks to himself.

In the end, he placed the miniature sun inside the crucible and then forced the island stone into his soul. It made his hands bleed before it managed to pull it inside, and the sky immediately began to rumble ominously. He had to drag it up to his roof a little at a time, the weight threatening to collapse his soulhome, but he managed to drop it into the crucible without damage. That done, there was nothing left to do but trust his own judgment and begin climbing the side.

Building up into the sky had already tested the limits of his soul, and as he climbed up a second time, he felt it push back against him. Pressure began flooding down over his soulhome, but he'd designed the roof well and it all rolled off. Only the hastily constructed crucible began to shake, and he was confident that it would hold.

When he reached the top, he threw his will upward, piercing as deep into the sky as he could. Immediately the air rushed down more intensely, and a vicious acid rain joined it, burning his skin. Before it could deal any damage, Theo kicked the lid off the crucible, grabbed two fistfuls of solidembers, and hurled them inside.

They finally exploded within his soul, blossoming into fire as thick as stone. The flames roared within the crucible and rushed upward along with the blasting cantae, burning his spirit horribly. But the intense heat evaporated much of the acidic rain and blazed a column into the sky.

Though the flames and the acid made his body into a single mass of pain, inside his soul Theo could push on with willpower alone. He let the column of flame carry him skyward, slamming against the limits of his soul. Instead of piercing through, he lingered in the flames, letting the pressure build further below. The crucible screamed and released white hot steam as the overwhelming cantae stretched him to a breaking point.

Was Nauda done with her negotiations? He had pushed himself a little too hard and could barely feel outside his soul. When his soulhome threatened to fall apart, he waited until the last possible moment and then pierced the sky.

As the new cantae flooded down, his scorched lungs took a new breath.

~ ~ ~

When Fiyu slipped away, rendering Nauda visible to everyone, there was no more time to waste. She planted her staff firmly and cleared her throat. "Excuse me."

The soulcrafters of the Asplundat Movement all reacted instantly, whirling on her position. Though they didn't attack, they did begin gathering, absurdly afraid of her despite the fact that she appeared to be a lone soulcrafter approaching their entire group. Only Homez looked suspicious, his eyes sweeping over the waterfalls around them.

"You've felt the battle change, haven't you?" She did her best to make eye contact with as many of them as possible. "This is about to get worse, much worse. I propose a truce: we forget about the Scepter of Separation and retreat to a safe location. There won't be time to find it, so you'd be risking your lives unnecessarily."

"What kind of city trick is this?" One of the Rulers raised a fist, a sledge of stone growing around it. "That scepter belongs to the Asplundat Movement, so the tyrants of the cities cannot use it to exploit anyone further."

"Then you agree that it shouldn't be used?" Nauda made sure to look at Homez then, since he was the most likely to be reasonable. "So do we. The chaos we've seen here would be nothing compared to what will happen if any of the leaders obtains such a powerful artifact. Let it remain lost. Take back your materials and your lives."

"What happened in the ruins?" Homez asked quietly. "It felt like a dimensional void."

"That's... complicated." While Nauda tried to consider what to tell them, something emerged from the stone behind her and attacked.

She realized that it was a stone-armored Ruler, cantae bolts and his fist flying toward her, but he'd attacked slightly too early. Nauda spun, letting the bolts scatter off her body, and the strength of her gemstone belt held. Deflecting his stony fist with one arm, she used the other to tap her staff against his body and flip him overhead, sending him skidding toward the others.

"I could have thrown him into the river." She wasn't actually sure about that, since his armor could partially resist her binding, but she tried to project confidence to the group. "I didn't, because we're sincere about forming an agreement. Forget the scepter. Better yet, let the water destroy it."

For a time there was silence... but she saw Homez shaking his head sadly. He didn't intend to attack her, but in his gaze she saw that they would never agree. It had always been a low chance, but she had still hoped. Nauda sighed and set her feet for battle.

"Surrender and you will not be harmed," one of the other Rulers said as she began to circle. "The Asplundat Movement is generous with prisoners."

Before Nauda could respond, Fiyu flickered from out of her technique, her cantae blade slicing deep into the other woman's back. Even heavily armored, she let out a cry of pain and staggered forward. All of the other soulcrafters immediately abandoned restraint, power flooding from their soulhomes as they rushed on the two of them.

And then a new source of cantae exploded from atop the waterfall. Theo descended from the side, his coat fluttering wildly in his new rush of power. Flush with cantae from his ascension, he barely needed to extend a finger and one of his fields slammed down over the Asplundat soulcrafters.

Some Archcrafters crumpled, but many of the Rulers endured, and as they began to adjust, they sneered. Exactly the same reaction as so many others, and with the same result: when Theo reversed his field, the entire group fell into the air. As he landed, Theo cast a sideways field, and though it wasn't as powerful as before, it still sent the majority of the group sailing into the air, over the second waterfall.

Though it had become a battle, and Nauda wouldn't weep long for soulcrafters who had been about to attack her, she was glad to see that their trajectory took them beyond the final stretch of the river. Instead they collided with the misty boundary and slipped from the Chasm of Lamentations.

Though Theo's surprise assault had sent the majority of the group hurtling away, four of them remained, including Homez. One was an Archcrafter with a different armor blueprint that had apparently bound him to the ground, while the other three were Rulers. Not weak ones, either, so they were in for a tough fight.

Several boulders grew from raw cantae and flew in their direction, only to fall short due to Theo's field. When he withdrew it the next moment, Nauda launched herself at the group and saw Fiyu run with her. The other woman slipped behind the Archcrafter, cutting deep into the armor and distracting him, leaving three for her.

Nauda hit them with her staff forming a whirlwind around her, colliding with their armor in crunch after stone-shattering crunch. She couldn't easily penetrate the armor, but she'd noticed that when she damaged it, the soulcrafters usually flinched and took time to repair the damage. Thus, she could maintain the initiative with a full assault and batter them backward.

It couldn't last forever, and one of the Rulers managed to endure her staff strike and slam one fist down at her head. Nauda raised her left arm and absorbed the blow. Her belt burned around her waist, but she blocked the attack without breaking her arm.

The Ruler stared in shock, clearly having expected a dodge instead of a static block. Nauda didn't hesitate at all, thrusting the forks of her staff into a damaged portion of his armor. It didn't strike him hard, but she managed to bind him firmly. As soon as she had a grip on him, she hurled him sideways so he collided with one of the other Rulers, sending both of them over the edge of the waterfall. Hopefully out of the Chasm instead of to their deaths, but Nauda looked aside and locked eyes with Homez instead.

After meeting her gaze for several heartbeats, he shook his head and leapt to the side. At first Nauda feared that he was attacking Fiyu, but he only lifted the fallen Archcrafter into a carrying position over his shoulders. With one final glance, he leapt over the side, leaving only a ripple of blue mist where he passed through the boundary.

Suddenly lacking opponents, Nauda took a moment to catch her breath. She stared out through the veil to the red wasteland beyond, wondering if any of the dark flecks were actually the Asplundat soulcrafters. They weren't supposed to be able to pierce their way inside again, so in theory she'd gained complete control of the island between the waterfalls.

"Well done, Nauda." Fiyu passed her with a smile and Nauda smiled back, almost forgetting about what had happened between them before. "But we must hurry to try to find the scepter, or at least take their remaining materials."

Pushing aside emotions, Nauda walked to the pile of supplies that the Asplundat forces had collected. Fiyu and Theo were better suited to analyzing the battlefield that hadn't been searched, so Nauda focused on shoving as many of the sublime materials into her soul as possible. None of them were exceptionally valuable, or as interesting as the glove Fiyu had found for her. The resources piled up outside her soulhome, but that didn't matter since she'd finished what might have been their last fight in the Chasm. The only question now was whether or not they left with the scepter in hand.

It might still be better to just destroy it, though she doubted that she could convince Theo. Now that he was a Ruler-tier soulcrafter... no, better not to think that way. If they did find the scepter, she would need to reach out to him with reason alone.

When she looked up again, her companions had traveled close to the edge of the island. They appeared to be searching methodically, while Senka was nowhere to be seen. No doubt she'd wandered off and would reemerge with a sublime material in her mouth. What mattered was that the other two didn't seem pleased by their findings... at least not until that moment.

"Is that it?" Fiyu straightened oddly and she changed course. "There, lying against the rock by the fall..."

Nauda looked in the same direction, toward a rocky cliff beside one of the larger waterfalls. A few broken pieces of armaments lay nearby, but there was a thin white rod... could that be the Scepter of Separation? It didn't look like much, not enough to inspire a near war, but it was difficult to determine the value of armaments at a glance. She hurried to join the others, gathering her arguments...

And an Authority's cantae slammed down over them, sending the group stumbling back. Nauda forced her neck up and saw Mattan land on the island not far away. He wasn't strong enough to fly here, but he still burned with more cantae than they could possibly fight.

"Touch that and you die!" he roared as he rushed between them, toward the scepter. "It belongs to the House of Burning Leaves!"

Fiyu retreated, which was sensible, but Nauda was a Ruler and couldn't let herself give in so easily. Not when it would mean standing by while another Authority acquired the means to become a tyrant. She glanced toward Theo and she saw that they had the same thought: their only chance was to get the armament first.

When Mattan lunged to grasp the scepter, it suddenly slipped away from his hands, tumbling to the side just along the edge of the fall. He immediately whirled on them, growling with rage... and then an onslaught of gray cantae struck him from the side.

Another Authority slammed to the ground nearby, covered in full Asplundat stone. Though they'd more fallen than landed, their attack knocked Mattan further from the scepter. The two Authorities turned on one another and then attacked, emptying their soulhomes as quickly as they could to try to end the battle quickly.

It grew into a maelstrom of stone and flame, a shockwave sweeping over all of them. Theo grimaced as he was pushed back, clearly trying to reach the scepter with his gravity but unable to penetrate. The storm forced Fiyu down to one knee, making her whimper and shrink inside her cloak.

Nauda took a step forward... and then something in her soul buckled. Too late, she realized that the raw cantae exploding from the Authorities had penetrated her defenses and rushed into her soulhome. If she hadn't already experienced it, she might have been overwhelmed, but she pushed through... only to realize that fragments of their attacks were entering her soulhome. This wasn't just pure cantae, it was filled with destructive intent.

She watched in dismay as a line of flame streaked across her soul, incinerating some of her vines. A gray boulder materialized in the sky and collided with her wall... and a large chunk of it fell. Each attack that entered only weakened her defenses further, and though Nauda let out a scream and tried to throw her willpower against the assault, it swept over her like an avalanche.

Her body remained mostly unharmed by the battle, yet Nauda was barely aware of it. She desperately rushed to one of her walls, trying to hold it up as her soulhome fell apart around her...