With a bright flash, Jennifer found herself in the teleportation chamber of the guild. The world spun for a brief moment as her legs buckled from rougher than usual teleportation but she was quick to catch herself.

Mana pulsed as Nathaniel stepped out of the teleportation circle. The room lit up with flashing lights as magic began to rise. But with a wave of Nathaniel's hand and a low hiss, the spell died.

“I’ll take care of the teleportation wards. Go!” Nathaniel shouted.

Jennifer nodded, running off the platform with Irwys at her side. His mist wrapped up around her legs until it enveloped her completely and their forms blurred. Jennifer could still see Irwys's rough form, yet her eyes kept drifting off of him, as if guided away, her mind refusing to register him.

I didn’t hear him use the skill either.

“Focus, remember what I said,” Irwys said, opening the door of the teleportation chamber as he suddenly appeared in the centre of Jennifer’s field of vision. She nodded, focusing on his Mark, and using it as an anchor. It allowed her to overcome his skill and keep track of where he was. And that he was the Irwys she knew.

“Can you sense where he is?” Irwys asked, keeping his hand on his sword.

“Left, up. Nearby,” Jennifer replied, as the Blessing she’d received to her Mark activated. A vague sense guided her towards Xar, but his mind was still unclear.

Irwys nodded, as they both walked out of the chamber, keeping to a brisk walk. Jennifer’s heart pounded in her chest and her limbs felt cold. She felt her chest tighten. Memories of her last encounter began to halt her steps. Everything she’d buried and refused to face, she was being forced to confront now.

Jennifer took a deep breath, trying to keep her mind focused.

Being afraid isn't going to help. All it’ll do is make me sloppy. I have to get used to this. People don’t get second chances, they don’t get to burrow themselves in the comfort of their Marks and avoid responsibilities for their actions and deaths. I need to stop being so weak.

“Focus on the goal, Jennifer,” Irwys muttered, keeping his gaze straight. “You have people depending on you.”

Jennifer nodded, letting out a pent up breath.

That’s right. Xar is waiting for me. I need to do this.

Adventurers walked past the two of them, unaware of their presence even as they sidestepped to avoid colliding into them. The calm peace at the guild grated on Jennifer’s nerves. This was a rescue mission, yet the laid back atmosphere made her gut churn.

She'd been prepared for chaos, for a carnage of blood and flesh as demons crawled all over the guild. Not the calm and quiet. It was unnatural in the guild even on normal days.

“Left from here,” Jennifer whispered, taking the turn as the Mark guided her. The sense of dread only grew the further she walked. Yet Xar’s presence was growing stronger with each step too. She could almost feel the bond they shared, shifting and linking.

A strange premonition began to fill her as Jennifer stopped. “Something’s wrong,” Jennifer muttered as Irwys paused beside her, a frown set on his face. “There’s something-”

Xar’s voice screamed.

In that moment, it was as though Xar had broken through a haze that had lain on her mind and she saw a dark shape moving in toward them. Jennifer swiveled, her aura flaring as [Eternity] manifested, slashing through a slithering demonic form that shot towards her.

The screech of demons threatened to deafen her, as slithering shadows shifted all across the guild. Panicked screams travelled down the corridor as the vile creatures began their attack. The chaos she'd been expecting had arrived. It was almost a relief.

Irwys’s aura burst forth in a wave of mist. It billowed out to fill the hall as his sword flashed between the misty shadows, severing demons. Jennifer wove a charged glass blade spell, shooting a demon as she extended her aura. She wielded her aura as a weapon, the nicks and cuts enough to stagger and slow the demon’s attacks.

“We need to run!” Jennifer screamed to Irwys, dashing the direction she felt Xar.

Jennifer sent, but the link was gone. She needed to be faster.

Irwys raced alongside her, mist trailing each step as Jennifer channelled Agile wind.

A deafening explosion shook the guild as the ground shuddered.

“[Sword Art: Mistblade]” Irwys muttered, a torrent of misty swords manifesting. Jennifer prepared her own spell, glass spikes rising from the ground to pierce through the dark red demonic creatures.

A charged Agile Wind shot her ahead as the two began to force their way through the flood of demons surrounding them. Jennifer kept her guard up, [Eternity] flashing like a blood red blade of death as the darker blood of demon’s sizzled on its blade. Jennifer felt slow and sluggish, her link feeling weaker despite getting closer. So she pushed herself to go faster, leaping onto the head of a demon with the assistance of Agile Winds, before bouncing past the next, a glass bolt taking it even further behind her.

The sounds of combat echoed throughout the guild's chambers, halted only by the deafening explosions that hit the guild periodically, its defensive wards shining with magic thrumming alongside each great boom.

Her heart leapt as she felt Xar’s presence resurge in a chamber nearby. “That one!” Jennifer shouted in the chaos, as she ran towards her destination, Agile Wind shooting her like a speeding arrow.

A creature with glowing red eyes and a bloated chitinous body lurched at Jennifer with its teeth bare. In a fluid movement, [Eternity] manifested in Jennifer’s hand. A slash of her blade pierced the creature's neck as its skull was split in two. It spit and clawed at her even as the light faded from its eyes, dying impulses keeping it’s body animate for a few moments. Jennifer felt the sting from its dark blood on her skin, but she had no time to brush it off.

The door remained, a final obstacle. It refused to open as Jenn pulled at it, its locks heavy and the wards thick. But it wouldn't be enough to stop her. Glass mana flooded her circuits as she wove a twin glass blade. The air churned around her, her aura forming blades as the spell manifested. A blast poured forth, the blade cutting air as it shot towards the chamber with a howl.

Defensive wards flared for a brief moment, resisting her spell, but the ward soon caved as her spell tore through the door, leaving only a rain of falling wooden splinters.

Bright light on her left, caused Jenn to turn, finding the twitching corpses of two demons just behind her, Irwys standing above them. She gave a nod to Irwys as they entered the chamber.

A loud whirring noise sounded out as an odd spell flared around her. The spell matrix was garbled, unrecognisable and like nothing she’d seen before. A shimmering barrier formed around them as the walls of the room began to shift.

Hissing filled the room, vibrant red smoke flooding in as groans and screeches emanated from a shadow. Jennifer turned back, only to encounter a wall of goo blocking the exit. An exit which was slowly being consumed by the walls around them.

Sera guide us.

Jennifer gulped as mist flooded out from Irwys, keeping the red smoke at bay. The floor sunk underneath her feet, and Jennifer stumbled as the room expanded. Her [Enhanced Mana Sense] flooded her with the presence of magic.

Is this an illusion? It has to be. Otherwise, how is the room doing all this?

Yet the ground beneath her feet felt as real as it’d ever been. Jennifer grabbed [Eternity] in her hand, its magic forming, ready to be used in an instant’s notice. There were no loud proclamations. Nor the presence of .demon marks. Just the slithering shadows and their groans as they circled around them.

The chamber gave a a final lurch, nearly throwing Jenn off her feet. As she recovered, she found it had finished shifting. It was almost thrice as large, with thin veins of red stretching throughout as magic pulsed through every surface. With a start, demons lurched out of the shadows, tendrils and claws shooting at them. A silver shimmering barrier formed around her, deflecting the attacks. Yet the shield flickered under the assault, some few almost piercing through.

Jennifer shot off to the side. She let Irwys deal with a larger hulking beast that charged towards him, fire burning in its jaws while she fired bolts at the others, urging them to chase her instead of focusing on Irwys.

Blood red tendrils shot at her, a demon slinking from behind with its scythe-like arms slashing at her neck. Jennifer summoned her shards, Eternity striking against the bladed arm. Jennifer poured her mana through Eternity as her glass blade began to vibrate.

“[Resonant Mana Runes]” she called out, causing layers upon layers of mana to pour through her blade. The blade sang her master’s song, the [Song of Mithril], as it cleaved through the demon with ease. A burst of wind under her feet had her narrowly dodging the clawed arm of red smoke that struck at her.

Jennifer ran around the chamber, moving and jumping around behind pillars of stone as she searched for a way out. She kicked a table out of the way as it crashed into a demon. Making use of it’s staggered stance she stabbed it through the neck and cursed as the demon dissolved into smoke.

Jennifer clenched her teeth, [Lunestone: Guard] flaring as she had a look at the chamber-turned-arena. There were three demons surrounding Irwys now. Bulky behemoths resembling orcs, but with flaming red skin and fanged maws that dripped with liquid flame.

The entire chamber seemed to have more enemies than when they’d started.

How the hell are there so many? Something's wrong. These demons. They’re not dying. Their bodies keep dissolving into black smoke.

A cracking whip of blood and flesh stuck against her back. Jennifer nearly gagged as a gooey abomination of tendrils and limbs crawled across the ground, leaving a trail of dark blood behind it. Her gut churned as she saw a man’s face, the ears marking it as a half-elf, embedded in the monstrosity. The face's eyes were pure white, staring blankly to the side as its mouth moved, muttering a low murmur of nonsense as the beast slunk forward.

That… was a person.

Jennifer felt her mana flaring before she'd consciously realized it as she skewered the abomination with a torrent of glass spikes. A flurry of mana bolts shot at the beast, though she made sure to send a few shooting towards the demons surrounding Irwys as well. Then she was on the defensive again, she dived to the side to dodge another oncoming projectile.

Her heart dropped as the red smoke whirled over the fallen demons then slunk back, revealing a swarm of imps and a pair of gargoyles. The gargoyles stood twice as tall as her, with burning red eyes that towered over all. The rocky demons shook the arena with each step as a torrent of dark fire poured forth from the imps.

Elphion’s damned, these are dark fire imps.

“Irwys, dark fire!” Jennifer shouted, dodging the flaming inferno that flew towards her. If she caught fire even once, then the flames wouldn't go out till they consumed her entire… everything. At least she didn't have to worry about them setting the arena on fire. Dark fire only burned living beings.

Jennifer let her mana pour out, shooting mana bolts at the imps. A large blade of glass shimmered across her hand and she screamed as she flung it behind the mana bolts. The gargoyles spread their wings as the imps attempted to dash behind them in hopes of using the hefty demons as cover.

Before they escaped, Jennifer pulsed her mana, shattering her glass blade into a thousand fragments as it rushed at the imps. The shards exploded, shredding through the flying menaces. But Jennifer had no time to rejoice. While she'd been decimating the imps, the Gargoyles had charged at her, their arms slamming towards her in a mad frenzy.

Jennifer released a burst of Agile Wind, dodging to the left, when pain erupted in her abdomen as a dark tendril she hadn't seen, pierced her armor, drawing blood. [Eternity] howled as she cut the tendril off, launching a mana bolt into the smoke where the attack had come from.

Skin burning with pain, Jennifer took out the small pill of antidote she’d packed in her pouch, biting into the bitter pill as she stumbled to the side. The world spun around her as she tried to regain her balance.

A massive arm of stone swiped at her, barely noticed in her peripheral.

“[Lunestone:Guard]!!!” Jennifer screamed as her Mana reserve burned. Her shield shattered on impact, the wall behind her dented as fire erupted across her spine. Jenn cried out as she crumbled to the floor.

“[Mist Warriors of Fate]!” Irwys screamed, sending his mists to fill the arena. Figures rose from the ground, misty shadows that stood together, as his magic began to churn.

The warriors walked as one, their steps in sync as a dark form began to weave together. A sharp chill filled the room, sapping energy from the air as the warriors struck. The gargoyles roared as their stone skins cracked. The imps screaming alongside them as their own skin began to wither. Spears and bows of mist launched at the demons, an army of mist warriors cleaving through anything that stood in their way.

Jennifer felt blood drip into her eyes as she took in the state of her body. Her shoulder was dislodged, her spine burned like fire and the side of her abdomen gushed blood. Jennifer dug into her pouch, pulling out a potion. The potion.

Irwys had given her supplies for the mission, alongside protective gear. One of those suppiles had been a generous sized bottle of Potion of Restoration. A potion many would never see, nevermind get their hands on. Capable of regrowing even decades-old cut off limbs, the potion was worth more than her mother would earn in her life. Jennifer let all thoughts of its rarity fade as she tipped the vial to her lips. The liquid traveled down her throat as its magic pulsed in her body. She felt her wounds stitch themselves closed within seconds. There was no concern of a wrongly set bone, nor an injury to the head. Not with a Potion of Restoration.

Jennifer pulled herself to her feet as the potion continued its work, walking over to Irwys. By the time she reached where hestood panting, his eyes closed and dark blood staining his silver hair, the potion had finished.

“What… was that?” Jennifer asked, turning to inspect the now empty arena. A spell of that calibre, she'd expect to be at least level 40, if not higher.

Irwys stood silently for a moment, before he replied, “Prince Laiken’s skill… one I was lent.”

Pausing to take a drink from a potion of his own, he glanced about before asking, “Where is your friend?”

Jennifer returned her focus to Xar, trying to discover where her Mark guided her, but it was weak again. She strode around the arena, searching for a stronger pull. The strewn remains of desks, table and chairs that had dominated the chamber had been thoroughly destroyed in the battle, but there was no sign of Xar among it. Jennifer felt her link shift and fray as she crossed near the centre of the arena. As if something were disturbing it.

Bending down to check the floor, her [Enhanced Mana Sense] informed her of the presence of an item she'd never expected to find in the the centre of the guild.

A dungeon core. This room- it’s a dungeon!

A pulse of mana blew through the room as the red smoke began to flood once more. Jennifer saw the demon corpses vanish into the smoke, twisting and churning as they combined into one single mass that swirled in a frenzy.

“Watch out!” Jennifer shouted as a fiery claw emerged. But her warning was too late, as it struck Irwys, throwing him across the arena. An ear shattering roar erupted from the creature as a giant titan strode toward her, its horns scraping against the roof of the chamber, lava pouring down its back to pool behind it.

Panic flooded Jennifer as she poured her mana into the dungeon core. Her heart pounded, as the titan turned towards her, its aura attempting to crush her under its weight. As it pressed down, Jennifer knew she stood no chance of rebuffing it with her own.

On impulse, she summoned [Eternity], flooding her mana through the blade as she stabbed it through the ground into where she felt the dungeon core was.

The room shuddered as her blade pierced through the core. Her vision erupted in white as an explosion of mana poured forth. Jennifer felt a vortex form, dragging her away from the arena as she was sucked inside the dungeon core.

The world was a flashing sequence of colors and lights as her mind failed to grasp the ever expanding vast space that stretched in front of her. Just trying made her feel like her head had split in two.

A moment later, Jennifer found herself in a dimly lit chamber as a familiar voice spoke to her.

the voice asked as Jennifer felt her heart pound.

“Xar!” she shouted, rushing towards the little spider.

Xar sent in a rush.

But it was too late.

Jennifer felt something grab onto her body as a spell circle manifested around her. Symbols she hadn’t seen before swirled in a frenzy of magic as her body froze, unresponsive to her commands.

A shadow lurked at the corner of her vision and Jennifer felt her heart drop as she watched the demon walk towards her wearing Rumina’s face.

“I hope you like my gift, Jenn,” the demon whispered as its flesh rippled.

Gritting her teeth, Jenn tried to say something, but even her voice was taken from her. Then she felt something grip her soul. Like claws of fire, it tore at her, causing her mark to burn. She lost time, the demon seeming to lurch about, only fragments of the demon's sentences reaching her ears while the spell thrummed.

Jennifer screamed. Every inch of her skin felt as though she were being stabbed by a hundred needles, each one threading through her flesh and into her skull. The spell continued it’s work, as the pain overwhelmed the spell, only for her body to collapse. She convulsed there, pain wracking her senseless.

Then she felt it. Something no mark could reset. Her soul had cracked in two.