Aleister turned his head towards his voice. The pale blue creature, just in combat, retreated and appeared directly in front of them. A guard lunged his spear straight through the creature's body. But it didn't puncture any flesh. It was in an odd, incorporeal state, similar to Syn's. Does that mean that this creature is a Contractor? And how could he fight back? Wait, this was probably why his father seemed to be on the defensive. The only way to attack back was when it attacked—

The pale-blue creature vanished into the guard after two swipes of its claws. With a scream, he put his hands up to his head. The guard let out a gasp and went silent. Two blue hands reached out from the stomach and split the body apart. It pulled itself out of the guard's body. Still in a pristine condition. No blood stains on its body. A frown exposed small red specks on its jagged teeth. The creature yanked a coiled intestine around its ankle, letting it wriggle and spurt out blood on the floor. It crushed the heart that still beat in its hand. The guard that remained dropped his sword and fell down to his knees. Paralyzed by fear.

The creature ignored the guard and stared into Aleister's eyes. The slit, vertical pupils full of malice disrupted his thoughts. Without thinking, he swiped his sword up to attack. Why did he do that? The attack wouldn't do anything and instead put himself in a much more compromised position.

Gilmore stood just a few feet behind the creature. At the same time, a shrilly screech sounded out from the still skeleton. The bones at his feet and across the floor rattled and shook with ferocity. The creature didn't seem disturbed, but looked away, only for a moment. It once again stared directly into Aleister's eyes. This time, Aleister felt the monster enter him. His eyes began to close...

Was this the end? No.

He forced his eyes open.

White.

The pressure—familiar.

He struggled to raise his head. In front of him, a rocky step. It had been a while, but he recognized this place. It was the mountain the white onyx crystal brought him to. But why was he here? He tried to stand up, but couldn't. It had been so long, yet had nothing changed? A snarl caught his attention. At the base, he saw the pale-blue creature make his way towards him. The pressure of the first five steps might as well have not existed as it climbed up. Only meeting a slight resistance at the sixth step. Even that appeared to be a slight inconvenience towards it.

He needed to get up. If he lay here, he would become easy prey for the creature. The only saving grace he had was the pressure exerted by the mountain seemed to catch up to it, as it stood still at the tenth step. But he knew from experience the next two weren't about to stall it for long.

What would he even do once he stood up? He didn't know, but it didn't matter. If he didn't stand up, he would die. If he stood up, he would probably still die. But there was a chance something could come of it. That strand of hope is what he had to hold on to. Even if he died trying, he couldn't go out without a fight. But, funnily enough, he didn't feel as if he would die. Maybe it was that blind hope, or maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, it was enough.

He pressed against the cold ground. He brought his knees towards his stomach. He bent his torso back. The creature took another step up. He pushed his left foot against the ground. Then his right. The creature took another step up.

He looked into its eyes. And grabbed it.

He forced the creature up. Snuffing its chance of respite.

Not prepared, the creature faltered. However, he wasn't done.

Aleister lifted the creature up and collapsed to his knees. He couldn't move his hands. However, the creature was worse off. It let out a hoarse snarl as blood rushed out of its pores. It stared into his eyes. He stared back.

"Get out."

Using all the remaining strength in his body, he grabbed the creature and threw it off the mountain.

As he threw the creature off, the mountain vanished.

He found himself back at the Throne Room. He stood exactly where he remembered. The guard was still on his knees. The skeleton still shrilled. And his father was still right behind the creature. Except the creature now lay on the floor—stunned.

Gilmore didn't stop. He grabbed the creature's arms and twisted them around his back. Aleister ignored the ringing in his ears. He reached into his bag and tossed Gilmore some rope.

"An Ethereal Ravager," Gilmore said. "Unfortunate turn of events. You did well."

"Barely an inconvenience," Aleister said, regretting it seconds later. That might have been a little too insensitive. He looked at the guard, still on his knees.

"Don't worry about him for now, he's already dead."

"What? But how?"

"From shock. You can think about later." Gilmore pointed at the skeleton. "We have a much larger problem on our hands." The strident noise only grew more ear-piercing by the second.

"What do we do about it?"

"I'm unable to cast a silencing spell on it, so I can't approach it. And you're going to be useless from here on out. You should consider yourself lucky to have even been able to deal with the Ethereal Ravager's unique method of attacking."

Aleister agreed. "Then, what should I do?"

"Tend to your wound and keep an on him."

"And Mitre?"

"He's the safest out of all of us." Gilmore faced the skeleton. The scattered bones lifted off the ground and flew towards it. Each one attached itself to a different area. One bone at a time, the skeleton grew ever larger and the noise flatter. A dull knock rung out as the blue barrier collapsed.