Engine revving to a stop as they reached their destination, the group clambered out of the truck. Livian was scuffing the ground with her boots, thumb hooked in the belt of her trousers while Evarius surveyed the area. Synthia was left to gawp at their surroundings.

They had arrived at a dirt strewn field, the only green to be found some weeds. Massive iron structures stood, rust crawling up their exteriors. They seemed to have not been used in years. Furthermore, there were taped off areas that ranged from anywhere to a few feet in diameter to a dozen. Within each, Synthia could see the same whirling, light-sucking force trapped in the garbage disposal container she'd seen.

"You're at least not dumb enough to know not to walk into those things, right?" Livian pointed at the cordoned off areas. "Those are temporal distortions. They appear when Dexogon and whoever else come and suck out too much time from a certain area."

"Dexogon?"

"You must live under a rock," Evarius said. "They're one of the leading aeternus companies on the planet. They mine the time right out of the most mana-heavy spots. Problem is, once you mess with said mana, it spreads outward and begins twisting everything around it. A few people have found out where these distortions are the hard way."

Gulping, Synthia's hand instinctively palmed the handle of the Mioja. "They've managed to find out where all the distortions are here, right?"

"Yes."

A sadistic expression crossed Livian's face. "But that doesn't mean more haven't popped up. You could end up half a girl, amateur."

Evarius sighed. "Ignore her. She's rarely friendly at the best of times."

Synthia gave him a quick nod as she began speaking to Livian. "Look, I'm not exactly sure why you detest newbies so much, but I promise you I've got what it takes. So why don't we start over, be friends?"

Looking down at her, Livian cocked an eyebrow. "Us? Friends?"

"Yeah!"

Livian stared, expression blank. "I'd rather pry my nails off with the back of a hammer. Let's just get this done."

Synthia was a little taken aback by the graphic response. Livian paid her no heed as she pulled out a small packet from her bag. Muttering a few words, she splashed some water over it using magic and squeezed it. A pungent smell wafted Synthia['s way, almost making her gag.

"Is that bait?"

Evarius chuckled. "The fouler, the better. C'mon little girl, we're about to be in a real fight here. Ever see a shreddermole before?"

Pinching her nose as they followed Livian, Synthia shook her head. Evarius looked at her with pityingly.

"Rough for a first break, then. They're nasty things."

"This ain't exactly my first break," Synthia said. "What makes them worse than regular moles? They burrow through car tires instead of the ground."

"Well, they..."

Tossing the pack on the ground, Livian wiped her hand against her trousers. "They'll shear, skin and eat you in the span of a few seconds. You'd better pull out that sword of yours before you find yourself legless in the next few minutes."

As she reached up for the sword hilt, Synthia's hand stopped. She knew she'd have to show the Mioja to these people given what the job would likely entail, but the question remained whether they'd find out precisely what it was. It was clearly no ordinary weapon. She was in no rush to be accosted by anybody else looking to take it for themselves, but she was also very eager to keep her body in one piece.

The ground up ahead cracked open, obscenely long claws tearing through it. An unholy shriek sounded out, sending shivers up Synthia's spine. Teeth chattering with dread and adrenaline, Synthia pulled out the Mioja, blade pulsating with energy.

Evarius stared at it as he pulled out a short sword, a lasso of electricity materializing in his left hand. There was no time for him to inquire as to what the weapon was, however, as the shreddermoles began surfacing in earnest.

They were more akin to jungle cats than moles, Synthia concluded. Jungle cats with a bit of wolves mixed in who happened to burrow underground. The smallest of the creatures was still a meter tall on all four legs, it's claws scraping across the ground. Their black faces contorted with hunger, eyeless unlike regular moles, drooling as their pointed teeth gnashed together.

Whipping out a pair of revolvers, Livian flipped them around her fingers and pointed at the creatures. The grips began glowing red hot, although Livian didn't bat an eye. She was clearly using magic to heat them up.

"Time to party," Livian said, and with that she began firing away. She pulled down the hammers and squeezed the triggers, bullets tearing through the head of the nearest shreddermole. This alerted its companions to the danger now facing them. They screamed in a panic before locating their attacker.

Livian bared her teeth, eyes alight with manic glee as she ran forward, arms pumping. She pushed off the ground with a burst of Wind magic before sailing through the air, twirling around and firing more shots. Some hit their targets dead-on while others missed. Only a few managed to kill the shreddermoles, however, forcing Livian to dive away the instant she hit the ground. She narrowly missed the claws stabbing for her.

"That idiot never stops for anyone," Evarius muttered before running after her, electric lasso crackling along the ground behind him. He had torn his eyes away from the Mioja, but he would undoubtedly have questions about it later.

Yet as it stood, Synthia could only stare in dumbfounded shock as the two did their work. Livian kept soaring through the air with measured bursts of Wind, shooting the shreddermoles and tearing them down. As more and more kept bursting through the ground, Evarius was waiting for them, lasso searing their bodies as he pulled them towards him before taking them out with merciless stabs of his sword.

This was the world beyond the walls of Asphodel. With each attack they made, Synthia felt more and more of the vast distance there was between her and people who were actually experienced. If she was being honest, these two likely didn't even need her help with the progress they were making. Whether they were adventurers or weapons for hire, she had already come across several people that would surely beat her in a one-to-one confrontation.

The only reason she had been able to escape Drea was the sheer power the Mioja had afforded her. If she couldn't make full use of this advantage she'd gained, she could never strive to rise to the top and be a proper villain like she loved to claim.

And there have to be even more powerful people out there, Synthia thought. And more powerful than even those still, and on and on it goes. I'm not sure about stopping the Dawn or anything like that, but at the very least I need to keep my friends safe. If I can't do that, I might as well have given this sword to Drea and crawled back to Asphodel.

Taking a deep breath, Synthia finally began approaching the fight. She shook her arms out. The closest shreddermole turned to her, drool dripping from it's gnarled lips. She held the sword in both hands, dropping into the typical knightly stance she'd envisioned from reading her books.

The shreddermole had no patience for her posturing and burrowed itself into the ground. Growing panicked, Synthia rolled out of the way as it tore through where she'd been standing. It rose up like a fish leaping out of water before diving back toward the ground, shearing through the dirt effortlessly.

I can't use another of those long range attacks, Synthia thought. Not until I can handle them better. For now, I need to get in close and find a way to kill these eyeless bastards.

Yet that was the problem, when she really thought about it. As she kept diving out of the way of the shreddermole, she realized that never before in her life had she killed. Even if it was a monstrous creature trying to tear her limb from limb, to end a life was something she hadn't been able to face before. The mine had been a complete accident, and she felt no guilt over what had transpired there.

As another claw sheared toward her, Synthia was brought out of her reverie. Gripping the sword tight, Synthia realized that they were near one of the cordoned off areas indicating a distortion. She might be able to use it!

Just like a bull, she thought, envisioning the shreddermole vaporizing into dust upon flinging itself at her, at which point she'd roll away.

She had separated from her two partners a good distance away. They were too busy with the main crowd of shreddermoles, and Synthia cursed herself for not being strong enough to help them properly. But she couldn't keep worrying about her weakness. She had to kill this ferocious creature after her.

As the shreddermole rounded in for another attack, Synthia held the sword over her shoulder, beckoning the monster forward with her other hand. "Right here, tiny! Why don't you bite on this?"

The creature rose from the ground once more, jaws opened wide for a killing bite, long claws outstretched. Synthia waited until the last possible second to dive sideways, letting the creature soar past her.

Or it should have.

The animal, instinctively realizing Synthia made to throw off its balance, had lowered the strength of its jump so it landed with a thud right before the tape. Snarling, it slashed at Synthia who yelped as she rolled back.

The shreddermole swung its claws several more times, each drawing closer and closer. Synthia's legs were screaming at her, being put to such strenuous use after everything that had occurred that morning on top of the long ride to Doras. She faltered, and with this, the claws snuck in close enough to cleave her in two.

With no recourse, Synthia brought the Mioja up in the path of the claws. It bounced off with another voom, throwing back the vicious animal while Synthia stumbled toward the distortion.

The image of the paper vanishing into dust flashing through her mind, Synthia instinctively brought the sword out to protect herself, hoping to fire off another long-range attack to push her back. Before she could however, the blade made contact with the distortion, making her hair stand on end and her blood turn to ice.

Time appeared to stop, Synthia suspended mid-fall. Her heart had stopped, Evarius and Livian appeared to float, static, where they were, and the shreddermole attacking Synthia was still in the process of landing on its back.

Then, as if the very fabric of the world was being torn, the still blue sky turned dark in the blink of an eye. Synthia was knocked back by the distortion reacting to the Mioja and rolled along the ground, lying on her stomach in a daze. Trying to get up, she heard the shreddermole snarl as it thrashed around, claws in the air as it tried to right itself.

Synthia could make out confused yells from Evarius and Livian, still contending with the horde of shreddermoles while wondering what had caused the day to become night so quickly. Synthia was curious as well, yet the problem of her own target still remained.

Gritting her teeth, she roared with a fury she didn't know she had and grasped the Mioja in front of her, charging toward her eyeless opponent before it could recover. Perhaps it sensed that the end of its miserable life was near, because it made a greater effort to roll itself over, limbs bending back with more momentum to right itself, yet it was too late. The Mioja plunged through its stomach like butter.

Briefly registering that she had stabbed her target, Synthia howled as she tore the sword up its chest. The sickening tear of flesh and spurting blood didn't deter her as she brought the sword all the way up to the creature's jaw, pulling it in an upwards arc. Blood splattered forward in a straight line while remaining chunks of flesh seemed to suck itself into the blade, disappearing. The shreddermole now lay dead, torn asunder.

Panting, Synthia eyed the creature with trepidation. She kicked it. The only response she got were a few twitches from its leg, rigor mortis in effect. She sighed in relief but found herself grunting at the iron hand that grabbed at her robes. She found Livian's face so close to her own their foreheads were almost touching. She could smell the chicken she'd eaten for lunch.

"What the hell was that," Livian spat. "We take our eyes off you for a few seconds and you go make it night all of a sudden? How? Was it with this?"

She snatched Synthia's wrist, bringing the Mioja up to eye level. She scrutinized the unusual spectral blade. Synthia shoved her away, rubbing at her wrist.

"Back off for a second, okay? I don't know what happened anymore than you do."

"Uh, ladies...!"

Livian ignored Evarius as she continued grilling Synthia, who was looking at the older man with worry as he was still fighting off shreddermoles, now all by his lonesome.

"You roll in with a half dead guy, Blanc dumps you on us like a wet log and now the sky gets dark a few hours before it's supposed to. I don't much care who you are or what you want, just make sure it doesn't affect us."

Synthia sighed, exasperated. "I wish I had an answer for you. And that I could be tall enough to give you a strong punch in the face, but we can't all have what we want."

Livian was about to spit a retort when she caught sight of Synthia's eyes. Realizing they had turned gold, Synthia tried to look away. Unfortunately, the damage had been done.

"Hang on... I've seen those types of eyes before."

Synthia said nothing. She then noticed that the sounds of fighting from where Evarius was had ceased. Looking over at him, she caught sight of a shreddermole as it burrowed beneath the Earth once more. It seemed to be fleeing. Evarius stood confused.

Trudging past Livian, who kept her suspicious gaze locked on her as she followed, Synthia approached the elf. Realizing the jig was up, she didn't hesitate to look him straight in the eyes. He was taken aback by their gold colour, staring into them just like Livian had. However, he wasn't wary. His seemed benignly inquisitive.

"Gold eyes? Well, that's something people only have when..." Evarius held a hand to his chin, looking down at Synthia.

"Putting the brat aside, what do we do now?" Livian twirled a revolver around her index finger, looking around at the fields which had become lifeless once again. "I mean, why would they just up and vanish?"

Evarius remained pensive, continuing to look down at Synthia. She stared right back, neither friendly nor reproachful. She maintained a rare neutral expression, waiting for the man's verdict.

"I think..." Evarius began, but he then grew tense. Looking at the Mioja as if reaching an epiphany, he drew out his lightning lasso and sword once again. The women instinctively followed his lead, weapons at the ready.

"Only reason creatures as vicious as shreddermoles will run," Evarius began, "is because there's something even worse nearby."

A few seconds later his assessment proved correct, as the ground began to rumble. This time was far louder than the noise any concentrated number of shreddermoles could make. The group stood tense.

In an explosion of dirt and sediment, a massive creature burst from the ground. It rose higher and higher, towering at a grand 20 feet. Hot breath billowed from its snout, nastier and more bloodthirsty than a shreddermole ever could be. Synthia's throat ran dry as the hulking monster ascended.

Wispy tendrils of shadow clung to it as if it weren't really there, yet the gravity of its terrific presence could not be ignored. This creature was here, and it was here to kill. Grunting and groaning, the monstrosity faced the three with impatient gold eyes. Synthia realized with a jolt they were the same exact colour as hers in the dark.

"That," Livian said, "is why I'm scared of you now, brat."

The creature seemed to have the body of a shreddermole but the head of a bull. It shook its head, slobber falling down to the ground and gigantic horns extending horizontally from its brow. It's limbs ended in titanic paws, claws scraping against the ground as it prepared to charge.

"A revenant," Evarius whispered. "There should only be shades and ghouls out here."

Pulling Synthia behind him, Evarius cracked his whip against the ground. "I have a feeling there's a lot you're keeping secret, little girl. Stay back. Let me and Liv handle this thing."

Livian scoffed. "We're helping her?"

"I am. You damn well better if you expect me to keep travelling with you."

"Tch." Livian flipped her guns around her fingers before pointing them at the beast. "Don't make me regret this, brat."

The two of them charged forward, prepared to deal with the evil creature like the professionals they were.