~"I do not own DanMachi, nor do I plan to own DanMachi in the near future."~

~The font 'Cambria' is recommended, for your viewing pleasure.~

Note: Hi. As usual, I am back. This time, hopefully, here to stay. I've got a new spreadsheet to count word tracking, and during COVID I've had time to plan and think and do a whole lot of writing. (Kinda working myself late into the night even, just to meet my new target of 2000 words a day.)

The response to the last chapter was essentially what I wanted, and I will be very interested to see what you guys think of this one. Next chapter especially will be important, as well as the one after it. I'm sure some of you will realize why quite quickly.

Moving on - considering the largest complaints about this particular story are Chapters 1 & 2, I've gone back and collected data about what people don't like, and it's all fixable. So too is it fixable in a sense that I am able to do it without disrupting the story. (Yay!)

However, I will need more beta-readers to help me make this story live up to its potential. So if you're interested in being a beta for this story, or any story of mine, or all of my stories, let me know in a review or private message so we can talk.

The Empty Thrones

Chapter 7

People often conflate falling and landing, but there are a few key differences between them.

Falling isn't what kills you.

Landing violently is what kills you.

Under the perfect conditions, someone could technically fall from space. You'd have to pray and work hard to land right, and maybe have a team on the ground coordinating things, but maybe, just maybe you could make it if you fell from space.

But, I was never an optimist, or lucky, and I was hardly falling from space.

Rather, I was falling from Floor 50 to Floor 51 with a terrified scream, and no landing plan. Nobody had ever called me graceful before, and they never would. Instead, I was a flailing mess. Cartwheeling arms made for a terrible performance, but what could I do?

Normal people don't plan to fall so far in advance, with the exception of skydivers.

Falling a distance like that was a truly emotionally taxing experience. The cylinders of my mind fired off and my body had reactions that I shouldn't have been feeling, all the while sounds that no human should willingly be making left my throat. For a moment it was as though someone had filled my head with live firecrackers, and it pounded and tore at itself with clawing hands as I careened towards the rapidly advancing greenery.

Unlike select characters from a popular American anime, my landing strategy involved praying.

Praying to whatever gods were in Orario, or Heaven, or even Hell to save me.

"Gagh!" The ugly noise escaped my throat and certainly wasn't the last as I went hurtling into a tree, smacking into the branches of one side before spiralling off like the uncoordinated piece of meat I was. My blade spun off one way, while my arm bent awkwardly. World spinning in front of my eyes, I felt a terribly painful sensation in my lower back which was that of a sharp jolt, which stopped as soon as I'd felt it.

It was like someone was playing with a light switch, and things filtered in and out of not only my vision but my consciousness. Between splotches of black and various other colours I could see trace amounts of light through branches, and the deep purple of the ceiling as I lay there, bleeding out and in pain. But after what felt like hours of sensations I shouldn't have been alive to feel, the patches began their true dissipation.

"Holy-." I barely managed. It came out more weak than mad, and I spit. Some dribbled to my chin, and the action brought with it the sense of taste, only for me to find copper gracing me with its presence. My lungs heaved for every breath, and the pulsing in my ears had become no less loud.

Shock was a killer and the fact that I had somehow avoided it was a miracle. Maybe it wasn't too late for my mind to register what I was going through, and therefore it was still possible to enter shock, but the odds were probably in my favour this once.

Dribbling spit once more, I knew for a fact it was blood that time and entered into an intense coughing fit that brought with it chest paints, and a very sore throat. I tried subconsciously to curl up for a moment, go into a position better suited for mind-numbing pain, but that itself made me hurt more and quickly went out the window in terms of a plan.

Odds were good I was bleeding internally. Either that, or I'd thankfully just bitten my tongue, cheek, or lip during the fall. If I had, I wouldn't have traded my terrible habit of biting my lip when bored for anything in the world.

Looking around, my eyes were slowly adjusting to the changing light of the floor, and the sense of sound (that I'd barely registered was gone) returned back to me, filling my ears and head with a 'hissing' noise.

'Snakes!? Fuck!'

Nearly breaking down, I curled just a bit into the bush and was prepared to just die before my eyes caught the steaming top of a tree. Quickly disintegrating, it hissed and burned, covered in a strange caustic looking purple that wasn't natural. Not on Earth anyways.

'Hunter-killer caterpillar must've impaled itself. Fuck you buddy: I hope you died slow and brutally.'

Trying to steady my breathing, I failed and came back to a stuttering irregular pattern. It felt like there was no use: like the silence was about to take me whole for a moment. Like any and all effort, no matter how great, couldn't save me from this situation, this moment, this second of weakness.

But then my fist clenched around an assortment of branches in the bush.

'Not going out today. Not by falling. Not by bleeding out. Not right now, like this.'

While one of my arms wasn't much use to me, one of them was. As I was considerably stronger than when I'd got here, I used one arm to gently raise myself up, as carefully as I could. I managed to scuttle out of the bush a bit like Gollum. Hunched over, I was a sorry sight, but I was in too much pain to straighten up. Blinking twice, I looked around, eventually spotting the glimmer of hope that was the metal of my blade.

My shield had remained solidly on my arm, and in good shape, but that had caused my arm to bend weirdly on landing. Oddly enough, that was the arm that worked. My right arm meanwhile, remained 'technically operational', but fine motor skills without intense pain was out the window.

Tightening the strap holding the scabbard to my belt, I thought about looking for my bag before registering it on my back. A surprise to be sure, but not an unpleasant one. Looking upwards, I attempted to spot where we'd fallen from before the gravity of the situation hit me fully.

'It wasn't me, it was us. Not just I fell. We fell together. Oh my god! Fuck! Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid.'

Looking around, I spent the next few minutes trying to find her. Blind panic took hold, and I regret so many things in my life - every choice, every moment, being born, to begin with. How could I have dragged someone into the uncertain, deadly Hell of the 51st Floor?

'Scum, you piece of shit. You could have thrown her clear, or cried out for help, or ran when you had the chance and let her get dissolved in peace by those fucking monsters. But no! You had to play the hero, you had to take her down with you - now she's probably mangled and it's all your fault. Her death on your conscious you stupid piece of scum shi-'

And around and around the toxic whispers went. I knew it wasn't my fault; I couldn't have left her to be dissolved or eaten, and I couldn't have known that things would end up that way. But did my intent matter if it got her killed regardless?

My heart hurt and it wasn't the fault of the fall.

However, fate clearly had different plans than to let her die falling. Sprawled in a bush much like I myself had been, from outwards appearances she seemed to be in far better shape than I. A terrible, aching, small laugh left my lips.

Giving a quick glance to my surroundings, I spotted a small break in the dense trees that would make for a temporary cover, before dragging her apparently unconscious form there. Had I not a Falna, it would've been a near-impossible task.

Setting her down against a tree, I cleared some space with my foot, before slinging my pack off my back in a way that made my arm let its protest be felt. Leaving it next to her, I also unstrapped my shield and blade. No use carrying them if I couldn't fight with them.

Leaving, I found as much small firewood as I could, as already I had noticed that the crystals above were beginning to darken. Not so much as changing colour, but rather losing the purple glow that illuminated the floor, they became darker and darker, and would soon make Floor 51 go into its night-like state.

Piling it, I pulled some bushes into the direct line of sight which allowed me to see this place myself. After another forty minutes of painfully slow collection of what tinder I could, I had a pile decent enough to make a small fire last for maybe half the night if I tried hard. Pulling my very makeshift, 'barely adequate' bush cover over the small entrance, I would have to hope that it would be enough to hide the light from the predators of the night.

Otherwise, we'd be out of the frying pan and into the fire.

I saw her where I left her. Still breathing, still out of it.

Putting together whatever makeshift shitty fire design I was able to from my few times doing so, and my time observing the cooks, I left it for a moment before opening my bag. Wrestling with it using one hand, I finally got it open before digging through for my tinder box.

Other than a towel, and rope, anything that could start a fire was always an adventurer's best friend.

Keeping things ready, I waited, silent. It was starting to wear off. That daze, that rush of chemicals to my body, my brain. Everything that had been working overtime to keep me from freaking out, from shaking at the thought of what might be hiding in the shadows.

Rapidly my somewhat calm demeanour was draining from me, and my hands shook.

Tiny sparks leapt from my steel as it clashed with the flint, landing among the kindling, time and time again. I continued, urgency filling my moves, more and more, as I continued attempting to light them to no avail. Finally, with a sigh of what must've been a very nervous release of breath, I saw the tinder catch light, turning from that single spark to a flame. It came crackling, energy seeping out with urgency, casting shadows around the now dark trees.

Despite the new source of heat, I shivered. Soon, I was trembling. Then, shaking.

Whatever courage I'd had, whatever had been happening was over, and it was like the fire took that burden for me for a moment. I sat, curled up across from the girl I'd rescued with one of my arms resting on my knees, while the other hung limply at my side. It was quiet, eerily so. The only noise I could hear was some wind through the trees, the crackling flame in front of me, and the short painful breaths I allowed myself to take.

Left with nothing but my thoughts, the next few minutes were mine alone to break down in.

'Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit.' - became my mantra, repeated over and over again in my head. I shook, and as quietly as I could, let a single sob betrayed me before shutting my mouth and wincing. My face clenched, my jaw tightening as I felt that terrible feeling. The pain in your neck when you're doing your best not to cry, to embarrass yourself.

But after a few moments of trying not to, I stopped holding it back and cried. It was quiet, unmanly, and everything I always tried so hard to avoid. Emotions were something that got repressed - stability would lead to happiness, right?

Instead, all it made me was repressed, and now here it was. The floodgates were opening, and it was spilling out, as I cried to myself. The girl was out like a light, and she sure as hell would have no right to judge me after I saved her on the Floor above.

Besides, soon we'd probably both be dead, and any memory of this lost to the void.

Had people back home known I was breaking down like this they would have claimed they had no idea I held such violent, sudden fear and doubt inside myself. They would've claimed 'he was always so happy', never remembering that the number one killer of men under fifty was suicide. Men were prone to violent, intense outbursts of emotion, not because they were weak, but because at times being strong became too much.

One of my hands came to my face and did nothing to reassure me. I was thankful for the fire, it covered the sound a bit, even as I continued. It was the first time here when I was truly breaking down. The first time I truly, more than anything, missed my home. Where I came from.

This expedition was a mistake.

'A level one going down to the Deep Floors? What was I thinking?'

My thoughts beat me up, as though my emotions weren't already. They continued at me, coming as my illogical decisions came back to me.

'They're here to break records, not babysit… Why did I come? What can I do for them? At a certain point, it doesn't matter how hard I try: I'm just useless…'

It was the truth too, and that made it hurt all the more. I was aware of my illogical decisions sometimes, and let myself make those decisions anyway. Sometimes I figured, I could afford myself the luxury of a mistake, the fun of an unintended, unusual adventure.

Clearly, sometimes, I was wrong. This… This was too much for me to handle.

So I wept, pitiful and hiding, terrified of the things that go bump in the night. I could only imagine the monsters that could smell my fear. I could almost feel the Dungeon beneath me, responding to my thoughts, changing, doing its best to kill me.

Perhaps the Dungeon was shifting, doing it's best to kill me. The hunter-killer caterpillars certainly seemed to B-line for me when they saw me. Perhaps I was the abomination the Dungeon seemed for me to be. Something that was never meant to be here never meant to exist, or interact or breathe or live.

And so I wept too for the lack of approval towards my existence by whatever entity judged.

My family came to mind, and I was in a small moment of calm. What were they up to now? Did they miss me? Was dying my way home? If it was, I wasn't afraid of death. Death then would be a sweet release, the forbidden fruit of my desire, my own personal apple within the Garden of Eden.

No, dying would be the only scary part of that reality.

Dying was painful, and slow, and terrifying, and the clarity you get moments before death could give you new insights about the afterlife you couldn't have possibly imagined while you had a chance to live. Dying was scary. Being dead was not.

Twitching, I sniffled for a second. I wasn't quite crying anymore, but still, my vision was blurry with moisture, and I was hurt. Bleeding inside and out, bruised all over, I wasn't in a good way at all. Yet, during this very brief respite from my emotions, my mind, I took solace in my body.

Breathing short, irregular breaths, I slowly became slightly -ever so slightly- more comfortable. The situation was terrible, and I felt like Atlas: like the weight of the world was thrust upon me, begging for me to just give up, and let it all come tumbling down on top of me.

Yet still, a question came to my mind, tickling that little part of my mind…

'Why am I doing this to myself? Why am I making myself feel worse about an already terrible situation? How is that helping? Why… Why is it that now of all times, I decide to get real, and finally realize just how lonely, and powerless I am here?'

It was a good question to ask and had no easily discernible answer. Was it the fear that filled me - as the adrenaline had before - which caused me to feel this way? Was it my knowing subconscious, aware that I would die, wanting to sort out its internal problems before I slip into the night?

For once, I didn't know the answer. No answers came to me and I wasn't eager for one.

'But does it even matter? Who cares why: it's happening and there's nothing I can do about it, but sit here and take it. I've been repressing stuff for so long… Though, who the fuck am I? Who the fuck am I, to let myself break down and be a bitch when I've got something more important to be doing? Who am I to be breaking down, suddenly acting like this world cared enough to make things fair in the first place?'

That was a better question, one that I did have an answer for.

'Ultimately, I am no one, and this world is broken as Hell.'

Harsh but true, perhaps that was the best possible answer I could've received at that point in time. Perhaps it was the best I would get ever. I may not even ever know who I am to suddenly have decided I matter, but it sure as hell wouldn't be today that I figured it out. Maybe…

Just maybe it's time to start treating this less like a vacation, and more of a responsibility.

Yes… That's what this world was for me: a responsibility. It wasn't some vacation, where I could sit on a beach and sip on a tropical drink, slaying monsters left and right without care. This was a world in which I didn't belong, and maybe it's time I started treating it like one… Perhaps it was time I started treating the world as the enemy to me it was.

But even then, how long could I go on remaining skeptical of every motivation without going nuts?

Likely not very long, but perhaps it's time I test that.

Eyes racing upwards, they locked into noise from the bush. A cracked branch, either caused by the earlier trouble we caused, or the new beasts prowling, it put me on edge. I was defenceless, but I wouldn't go out quietly, not like I'd been preparing to do just minutes earlier. If I was going to go out I'd let the world know.

It was almost like that one song: 'If the world is gonna burn, everyone should get a turn to light it up.'

Past the unknown girl's back, I glanced into the darkness, hoping to catch anything in the flickering light with my gaze. While I wasn't a Gorgon, like Medusa, my gaze would give me a moment to panic, and in that panic maybe do something. The only place I couldn't currently turn to look at was directly behind me, and what was immediately in the bushes… But as much as the bushes were a hindrance in that way, for all I knew they were the only thing keeping the night at bay.

Maybe… Maybe the bushes were alright. They'd cushioned my fall, in a way too.

Vigilant as could be, my mind focussed on the deceptively simple task of keeping guard. I remembered how easy it was, how useful an action it was to do. Something so simple as keeping my eyes open could help, and if so, that was perfect. All I had to be, was patient, and calm.

Every few minutes, I'd move a bit more tinder to the flame, for it to devour hungrily.

And then for the first time, I saw the person across from me. Even after all this time together now, which was reaching two hours, I hadn't bothered to truly look at them. Odds were good that deep down, I had considered them, and myself already dead. I'd probably figured that if I got to the correct set of circumstances, I would sacrifice them for my own good like the coward I was.

But maybe it was guilt because instead, I wasn't a coward.

After all, I had saved them. I'd turned back, got them out of the way, and in the end, I was responsible for taking them off the cliff with me. I took them from the frying pan and into the flame, and if they died it would then be my fault… Perhaps I was guilty about that and didn't look at them before because of it.

If I'd somehow continued not looking at them, I would've torn myself apart with curiosity.

Gods, how I regretted not looking earlier.

She was beautiful. Stunning, even. Despite the fact that she was as dirty as I was, I could easily identify her fair skin like that of a woman who didn't go outside often. Her hair was separated into two twin-tails as lustrous as gold. Her face was delicate in appearance, while at the same time having a certain quality about it that made me think of her more than just pretty.

I measured her mentally, and came to the conclusion that she was quite dainty, being no taller than my mother at around five feet two inches tall… Legs were shown in between a dark black skirt-dress-thing and her odd gold-black shoes, and by the gods what legs they were. Her thighs appeared soft and well-shaped. Breasts a person can buy, but legs you must be born with.

Her right upper arm was showing, while her left was sleeved in that same, luxurious looking black. Her right leg meanwhile was plated in what appeared to be a part of an armour set, the black metal plates crawling up her shin, to her knee before stopping.

Trimmed with gold, the piece was expensive looking. Likely more expensive than the cape she wore. Red on the inside, black on the outside, it flowed off her shoulders and only added to her quiet elegance, in ways I wasn't quite sure it should have. Such an unwieldy thing should've made movement awkward, yet I'd barely noticed it's presence before giving it specific focus.

Whoever she was, she was stunning. Truly, truly quite the sight for sore eyes.

And oh, how sore my eyes were at this point.

Her presence alone brought me something to fixate my mind upon, my watch not forgotten, simply moved to the sidelines. Where could she be from? How had she appeared from the entrance to this floor we were both currently stuck on when we had not yet arrived? No other expedition had gone this deep, and we had not yet arrived. How was someone so beautiful in a place like this with no weapons? She was bleeding slightly, and dirty, but she seemed to be sleeping well enough. How?

Questions continued flicking through my mind, one by one, and all at once, over and over again.

Then, I saw it. That brief flicker of life behind her eyelids, visible only under the firelight.

Her signs of life brought me hope. I'd known she was alive, but the fact that she was about to be awake was far more valuable. This was a world of limitless possibilities, and if a beautiful looking woman was my way out of a terrible situation then so be it. Hell, were she Satan himself I'd make a deal if it meant living.

She came to.

I waited for several brief moments as she scanned her surroundings. Eventually, her eyes were fixed on me. It was clear she wasn't very comfortable with my presence, from the way her red eyes darted around, worried. One hand moved towards me as she tried to back up, only to come into contact with the firm tree behind her.

Gods, she was skittish.

"Hello," I said before giving a cough. My voice was hoarse and I needed water. Water? The mention of water brought something to my mind, a word to the tip of my tongue, thoughts tracing around the insides of my head like someone cleaning an empty bowl.

Clearly, she hadn't been expecting a man to be waiting for her to wake up.

As my throat cleared a bit, her eyes darted from the orange tongues of flame to me, then back again. I wasn't sure if she was preparing to set me on fire, or if she was just as lost and confused as I was, but despite her skittishness, she seemed to be in less of a panic when faced with a moment to think than I had been.

That boded well.

"Sorry for dragging you here with me." Wincing just a bit in what was partially pain from my body as I attempted shifting my weight, and partially at the words themselves and their implication, I looked at her. "But I had good intentions."

Doing my very best to gauge her reactions, I came to no true conclusion. She said nothing, but her blonde hair bobbed slightly. I saw her eyes for the first time, and the colour was astounding. Orange as a sunset, they seemed to shift shades in the firelight. Making eye contact once, twice, she eventually was looking at me like I was truly there.

"I-... I'm sure you did." She said, finally speaking. Her voice under this setting was as calming as rain when snuggled beneath the covers. It had a pleasant lilt to it and reminded me of people I couldn't quite put my finger on. "But you needn't be sorry. This is my fault."

'Her fault?' It tickled my mind. It was true in a way, and it would've been so easy for me to take that way out, but at the same time, I don't feel as though either of us deserved the blame for the situation, despite my owning up to it earlier. My intentions had been good, and she should not be blamed for needing rescuing.

After all, if I of all people was to blame someone for needing rescuing, I'd be the ultimate hypocrite.

"Don't go saying that, now." Speaking should've been kept to a minimum for me, but after a lack of conversation in a bleak situation, any escape was worth the pain. "Wrong place, wrong time. That's all."

In the end, that could be used to explain all unfortunate circumstances.

"No I… I led them there, to you. I didn't know anyone would be there."

"You couldn't have."

"Why not?" She said, looking at me with something that seemed to be anger flickering behind her eyes before that disappeared and all I saw was sadness. Something had happened to her, something I couldn't understand. "Why couldn't I have known?"

The silence was what enveloped us afterwards. I had no words for her: I had no context to answer her with. I couldn't do anything but try to ensure that we made it out of this alive. The two of us were off to a start that wouldn't be exactly described as the best but under the current conditions, could've probably been considered 'decent'.

There was so much I wanted to say, to ask, to question this woman about but I knew I didn't have the strength in me. My eyelids were closing, drifting closer and closer, but I fought them awake. Sometimes the hardest battles were those with yourself.

"I-I'm sorry but I don't even know your name." She said, and her orange-ish, gold-ish eyes flickered in the light. "Names have power. Or at least, that's what they told me. So tell me: what is your name?"

Names having power was a concept I wasn't entirely unfamiliar with. Was it wise to divulge to her my name? For some reason, I felt the urge to say it, but I kept it contained for a moment as I thought. Should I give my name to them? If names have power, I would be handing up control. But, here, really, my name is whatever I wish it to be.

I had no name anymore. Only something to call me by.

"Max. My name is Max."

She hummed at that, and for a moment I felt as though I had said something wrong. I let her mull it over, as my eyelids became heavier and heavier. I felt as though I was slipping under the waves: Like this might just be it for me.

"Max is a good name." Speaking like it was a fact, she looked at me, and I sighed, deeply and with a shudder to my breath. I looked at the pretty looking blonde woman, and reached one hand, just a bit forwards, near the warmth of the flame.

"And your name?"

At that she paused, considering things likely like I just had been. I knew not what passed through her mind. She could've been logical, or emotional about the situation, or a mix of both. Decide I wasn't trustworthy, and not share. Or, she could figure I was in such a sorry state there was no helping me, and tell me anyway, so at least in my final few hours, I would know who I spent my life to save.

Her lips pursed once and then did so again. "My name is Ereshkigal."

She waited, as though afraid of what my response might've been. Her breath seemingly held in, as the crackling flames ate away, consuming the fuel it needed to burn. She sat there, slowly moving her knees towards herself, curling up in a self-comforting way.

'Ereshkigal… Ereshkigal? Ereshkigal...' It rolled around in my mind, foreign but familiar at once. Who had named her I knew not, but I felt as though they had chosen a good name. The name was hardly ugly, and while not as delicate sounding as Aphrodite at first hearing, seemed ultimately quite fitting. It felt soft, while at the same time having a hardness to it.

"It's a perfect name for you," I said. I meant it. I couldn't have come up with a better name had I tried: like 'fire' was 'fire', and 'ice' was 'ice', her name suited her and all her properties. Her soft exterior, the fire I felt in her words when wondering why she had to face the injustice of being guilty of something, not her fault. "Ereshkigal."

Orange eyes tracing upwards, meeting my face, they settled on my features before the smallest hint of a smile found its way onto her face. I thought for a moment she was going to thank me, before realizing that she wouldn't.

She didn't have to thank me for being honest. That was something I always tried to be.

"By the way, this isn't your fault. None of this…" I coughed again and thought about my next words. "You couldn't have known, because it was outside of your control… And I think, just recently - I've learned something about letting go of it… So I don't blame you. Nobody else will, either."

With that, my eyes were dragged down, further and further before they jerked open once more.

"Ereshkigal… Keep watch." She looked up at me once more, as my eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Like two lead coins, they dragged me down with them. "Awake me at any trouble… But until then… Let me rest."

~oOo~ The Empty Thrones ~oOo~

I jolted awake, and already it was like my head was trying to make up for the lost time. Racing from one thought to another, it left me little time to comprehend what I was thinking about, and instead, I was left somewhat befuddled, and confused. On top of the grogginess one usually experiences waking up, it was not a pleasant experience.

But nothing about the last few hours had been a pleasant experience.

'Good thing I didn't die in my sleep… If I had a concussion, there would've been no way for me to know I had it, and I could've died without any notice to the world outside… Talk about luck.'

Passing away into the night was something I was paranoid about. I'd been terrified that one day it could and would happen: that I'd slip into the darkness without a single struggle or yell, never to be heard from again. During those few hours of sleep, everything could've gone wrong.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I looked at my surroundings again. I was sitting upwards from my earlier jolt, facing some green foliage that somewhat reminded me of home. It wasn't the green of a jungle, but rather the darker green of a mighty, old forest.

My ears itched, and I scratched them, as a small amount of wind coming from Who-Knows-Where blew through the branches, taking me back to a simpler time, and a different place. Yet I remained in the present because besides the wind I too heard her breathing. Calm, and steady, it was that of a sleeping person.

Ereshkigal had fallen asleep while guarding my own sleeping form.

I winced. My sleeping position had been an awkward slouch against a tree, and it wreaked havoc on the back. Looking back to her again, I felt as though I should be angry, annoyed, perhaps justified in that too, but at the same time, I almost understood why she was sleeping.

She was as exhausted as I was.

While I may have protected her the day before, and dragged her into the very small clear area of which we currently resided, she had probably been running for hours, from monsters of the Dungeon, and that would've destroyed her mental and physical reserves of strength.

No matter how strong you are, you will always have a limit.

Deciding to let her sleep, I reached one of my hands up to rub my eyes, as I thought. 'W-... What had I been dreaming of? It was so lucid, yet the details aren't coming back… I can't guess at them, but I feel like it was important… So important, yet so forgettable? Is it possible for there to be something of that sort?'

Keeping my eyes roaming on the forest around us, I continued thinking. The night before had offered no solutions, but a sleeping mind was not an idle one. Just because I couldn't purposefully think, did not mean that I was not thinking of solutions, coming up with new perspectives, and solving problems.

The brain is an amazing thing, that does whatever it takes to remain alive. Evolution has trained it to solve problems, and only recently have we begun to overcome that which it has been trained to prime us for…

But here? Now? These were those same conditions it wanted, craved since we were hunters - the apex predators of the world… and it was like deep down I knew that, felt it from the core of my being. Things fell into place, one by one.

Previously stray thoughts proved to not be stray at all and turned from stray thoughts to a pack of them, then, to a mighty pride, a coalition of the best, most helpful ideas for the current situation. Things were crossed off, removed, and added to the list of things to do.

We would have to survive until we were found, and insure that Ereshkigal got out safely. After all, if she did not, then there was no point of pulling her off that cliff with me, was there? If she doesn't survive, there was no point in saving her in the first place.

Now, the best ways to survive were either always a great defence or an amazing offence. At the moment, I didn't have either of those things. No great offensive power, as I was injured, and wasn't sure of Ereshkigal's capabilities. No great defensive power, as I didn't know of any good fortifiable places on this floor, that could also have us found by the Loki Familia.

'And if I can't fit into either of these camps, perhaps it's best to think outside the box…'

Offence and defence were too strict limitations to think about when thinking about the current situation… It wasn't 'us against people' it was 'us against the unknown' and that was far scarier. We needed to change to a more flexible way of doing things: guerilla tactics.

Traps, bombs, unconventional ways of killing, hiding, removing infrastructure, dishonourable combat… I didn't have bombs or traps, and monsters didn't care about honour. Infrastructure wasn't a thing, but I did have the environment to my advantage if the monsters seen previously were any indication.

Overall, there wasn't a huge amount of information on the floors this deep in the Dungeon. I knew that there was information out there, but people were not as meticulous about recording things as I was, unless they were a Historian for the Guild.

As such, it would've been hard to come by, and I only knew what I remembered… But now, what was it I remembered about the fifty-first floor of the Dungeon? Something about water, but there was water all around the Dungeon, dripping from the ceiling, pouring down gargantuan waterfalls, bursting out of geysers, and bubbling out of spri-

My teeth clenched, and I returned to the guard duty I had somewhat neglected when deep in thought. I glanced at my bag, before gently scooching over to it. Standing would've been too much effort, and it was best to drag myself across the floor until it was necessary to run.

Pulling my bag to its side, I glanced at the outer pockets but didn't bother digging around inside. Either things had fallen out, or they hadn't. Besides, it wasn't worth looking through until I woke up Ereshkigal, and informed her of the plan.

Gently shaking her awake, I somewhat regret even trying from the little noise she gave. I shook harder, and she blinked, winced, and glared at me with a clenched jaw. Her gaze immediately relaxed, however, and I waited for her to say something, only for her not to say anything at all.

Certain terrible thoughts came to mind unrelated to her, and instead related to my Familia.

What if they hadn't made it? What if they were dead? What if they had decided that I wasn't worth saving, or that the expedition was doomed and fled? I hadn't had a good count of the numbers flooding Floor 50, so I couldn't say for certain, but things were bad, and there was no telling what the leadership would do… There was no telling who they would certainly count as 'expendable'.

Shaking my head, I cast those thoughts aside.

Hopefully, they cared for me as I cared for them. In the last few months, I'd become close to some of them - Tione, Tiona… Lefiya at least. They must care enough to try, right? They didn't seem the kind to leave their friend to die - Tiona especially was too kind, and just irrational enough to fight the Devil himself to save a friend.

Returning to the task at hand, I looked at Ereshkigal, her name iron-bound in my head.

"It's about time we get going." Moving back a bit, I scrambled across the ground for my sword and strapped it to my pack, paying only enough attention to remain in the moment, as I tried ironing out flaws, and identifying the path forward. "Ereshkigal, I've been doing some thinking, and- agh!"

She looked at me with concern, and one of my hands held onto my chest for a second. I would be fine, but damn did it hurt. "- well, the first thing to do is deal with that."

"That seems like a good start." She said quietly, seeing me continue my prep. Getting up, she dusted herself off, and for the first time in almost ten hours, I saw her standing again.

My previous comments hadn't aged poorly at all: she was still beautiful. Her twintails were pulled down by gravity and flowed down her luxurious cape. The armour on her leg made a slight noise as she moved, while her dress was surprisingly in good shape.

"We first just have to find the spring," I said, already looking around for any signs of it in the area near us. Seeing none, I began walking towards where we originally fell, albeit with a bit of a limp.

No comments were made, and I appreciated that. It would save me the awkward circumstances of explaining myself to her confusion, and instead, let me go at my own pace. Battling the awkwardness of the footing, and swatting through some bush, I cleared the path ahead as we continued onwards in what was essentially a random direction.

"Local only to this floor is the Cadmus Spring. At this spring, there's a limited supply of water available, and it resets every once and awhile. Considering we're the only people to be down on this floor, and no expeditions have come down this deep in a while, it's safe to assume it's near full."

"But why would this specific spring be worth all of our effort?" There was a moment of silence as Ereshkigal thought. "I-I think… I think I can trust you, but there has to be more to it than water… Otherwise, it wouldn't be worth the effort."

Filing away the fact that she didn't know about the rather famous spring, I added that to the list of things that didn't make sense about the girl. Limping along, I took out my dagger and began cutting my way through a few branches that were particularly immovable. I was worried the noise would alert us, but we were already talking.

Perhaps it was better to do things right than being paranoid.

"In particular, this Spring is guarded by a Cadmus. A massive dragon, which is the strongest monster on the floor, and one of the strongest monsters ever seen. Period." We continued, and I prayed more and more that my logic was correct. A gap in the bush and trees was visibly brighter than the darker area we were in now, and I smiled, just a tad.

"Now, the Dungeon would have no reason to guard a spring for no reason… Right? Why would the Dungeon attach the spawn of one of the most dangerous monsters ever to a spring? That, I don't quite know, but Cadmus Spring Water is worth ten million valis a bottle, so it's got to do something."

"You're thinking it will heal you," Ereshkigal said, mental cogs turning. She was quick on the uptake at the very least - explaining that had hurt my chest and lungs a bit, and explaining it a second time would hurt… A third time could kill me.

"A bottle of it? No. But bathing in it? Maybe. Nobody I know has drunk it before, and it's mainly kept to be sold to the immensely wealthy… People who only need healing in the form of wrinkle treatment, and only use it for treating wrinkles." I winced again, and it became briefly so much more apparent that my ribs were not right.

"One could consider it an incredibly costly experiment... Millions upon millions of valis down the metaphorical drain if it's consumed in the process." I said, wincing again. It would be worth it if it could heal me - enduring this pain much longer would have me go insane. "But, I figure we're exempt from the: 'don't wash where you drink' rule -"

"Because our survival is worth it," Ereshkigal said, continuing my thoughts exactly.

However, even with me fully healed, our success was no guarantee. I was level one no matter how I looked at it... Getting out of the floors ourselves would be hard, whereas waiting for a Familia rescue was more likely to let us escape with our lives.

Yet, for all I knew, we were the only survivors. It could've been a massacre up there.

"There will always be more money to be made, but everyone only lives once… At least, where I come from." Pushing through the final branches, I held them back as she stepped through the opening, and we were in a much larger clearing.

Dirt was packed beneath our feet, it was like the ground had been trampled over and over again, in a regular stampede. Beings that couldn't feel tired had pounded it that way, time and time again, leaving a huge gap from the trees one hundred feet wide. Yet, as much as it was packed and ravaged, looking to my right, I could see where some grass and small trees grew.

Growth was accelerated, and as we watched, grass spread from the right side, creeping, edging ever so slowly in our leftwards direction. We stood, just beside the trees, admiring the handiwork of nature, the system of growth produced by the Dungeon that led to such a repairable landscape.

"Woah."

As it left her mouth, I nodded. "Woah."

Thick, mighty trees lined the makeshift grazing trail, the ravaged road, as bush grew at a rate far too quick, and grass spread. I looked up towards the extremely high ceiling of the floor, wondering briefly how we survived the fall, as the purple crystals glimmered.

"What is this?" She said, walking forwards into the open. Internally the move hurt me, but I followed her regardless. Being in the open like this felt unsafe, regardless of what logic I was using to justify it.

"If something like the Cadmus Spring moves all the time, animals need to get to it for water, or need to get away from it to escape the Cadmus… This is a trail they use often: in large numbers too." I looked down one way and tried to discern which was more likely to have the Spring on the end.

"Those rhinos chasing you were being chased by those caterpillars, meaning the floor is probably somewhat clear of monsters… That also means that the way to the Spring is clear, and down that way."

Pointing in the direction of the growing plants and bush, she followed my finger. "If the floor regenerates behind them, and they need to run away from the Spring to get out of the floor, then the part that's the most regenerated will be closest to the Spring."

"Now, I can't say for certain if the Cadmus will be there… Monsters are very unpredictable in some ways… Would the Cadmus defend and fight alongside the rhino-like beasts to stop the giant insects? Or, would it be left alone, gravely weakened, and possibly killed? Do monsters of the Dungeon cooperate?"

"What's stopping the Cadmus itself from healing in the spring and fighting them all off." She said. Most of what I'd said was theory, and unfortunately, there was no way to verify anything I was saying until we got there.

Let's assume it's too large, and the water needs to touch the area affected and or injured... Then, the vast amount of it covered in acid, including the inside of its mouth wouldn't be able to all fit inside the spring." I said. My logic felt like it was solid enough, but at the same time, things were dicey.

The caterpillars had to come from somewhere, and what if the caterpillars chasing the rhinos were running away from something? Massive rhinos were running from hunter-killer caterpillars… And if those caterpillars were running away from something, what could it be?

It could be layered in a very dangerous way.

"That said, it might be immune to acid, or invincible, or something else like that." I didn't know much about the Cadmus, having never expected to make it this far… At least, not without people who knew what they were doing. "But we can't dwell on it. We've got to go before anything spawns again."

Striding forwards despite the pain, I continued, and Ereshkigal's shoes pressed into the dirt behind me. My shoulders ached where the bag straps rubbed them, and my leg hurt when twisted in a certain way. Stepping over a log that was already nursing other plants, I made sure she hadn't fallen behind me, or fallen behind.

"Once I'm healed, we're going to go back down this track, fast: if they took it out, that means we can take it out. Assuming the orientation of the Floor hasn't changed, we should be able to follow it out to safety… Or to our deaths, I guess." That last bit certainly wasn't reassuring, as there was a small displeased yelp behind me. Yet, I had no energy to spare for the blonde girl and continued chugging along, moving past the tiny saplings and budding bushes.

Continuing along, the two of us made headway. The trail seemingly curved to our left, in a way that made me think it would've made an oblong spheroid if we were to look at it from above… From the increasingly dense underbrush, it was clear that there was inconsistent growth between bits that have been recently ravaged: the amount of time since it was touched increases the growth rate exponentially. Around the edges too was thicker, denser. It was clear they would rather run in the middle than on the sides.

Proven wrong just minutes later, it seemed to take on a more tight curve, like a spiral going upwards to a higher elevation. There was a hill where I would assume the center was, and every step now had me heaving for breath: the heavy bag, the injury didn't help… Yet despite her seeming lack of these handicaps my companion too was slowing.

How was it she was out of shape? She must be an adventurer to be down here… Right?

Climbing higher and higher, we encountered more resistance, until I finally had enough. "At this point, the trail will be denser than the forest… We're going to go left and straight up the side: forget the trail."

The only good thing about the hill was that there couldn't possibly be an entrance and exit to Floor 51 in the middle of a hill… Meaning that the spring was at the top… Either it was at the top, or there was nothing there, and the trail was completely random.

I jumped at every noise, from the crunch of my feet against some twigs to the sound of Ereshkigal lightly scratching her arm… I was trying to be alert, but already I was so tired… So, so tired… Covering a cough, I looked to my hand to find something concerning, which was no doubt brought on by the labour of going up the steep hillside.

A red blotch on my hand, and a taste on my lips.

"Ereshkig-" Damn, it hurt. I stopped walking, and she came up next to me hurriedly as my knee bent. My other leg didn't do much better, giving out and leaving me in an odd crouch on the hillside. Below me was grass. My chest heaved, and I wondered how I could've been so okay for such a time…

How could I resist the pain at all? How was it I had managed as far as I had?

Once more, pain lanced through my arms, and I saw spots for a second. Between the spots I saw her, speaking to me, saying something I couldn't quite make out. Almost as though her eyes were mirrors, beautiful amber mirrors that soon shifted to a golden orange, I saw behind me, the hill, with the artificial sunlight streaming in from the branches.

My heart pounded in my ears, and something flickered at the edge of my vision. I felt a cold hand run across my neck, then a laugh… A terrible, haunting laugh and I tried in vain to see Ereshkigal and instead saw nothing. I tasted copper, before feeling another pain, near my heart… There was a crimson red, a burning flame, a dark underworld, a set of screams, and a clawing in my head.

'It hurts! FUCK! DAMN! This fucking-! AGH!'

These weren't my injuries… It was something else.

'-must be the Dungeon itself, doing this to me… The world itself. I'm being punished for existing here, for being in a world I shouldn't be in… So close to something that could save me, yet so far… It was almost as though I could reach out and touch-'

My back burned, tingly across it all, before with a rush everything came back. More disorienting than losing all your senses was suddenly having them all again. A gurgling sound crashed towards me, overtaking the ringing of my ears and the sound of my heart. The reflective sight of a rippling pool of water took my vision from the spots, and two warm hands holding onto me shuffled me forwards, step by step.

Gasping to the sensation of living again, it was violent and startled the girl who'd been seemingly helping move me, before she yelped and let go. I fell to a knee and lanced with pain. Giving a short shout of intense physical pain, I looked back.

"Shit! Sorry, damn it." I tried my best to get my feet back under me. The first two times were failures, but with her help, I managed. I looked down and around me: It seemed we were at the top of the hill… Ereshkigal seemingly didn't have much upper body strength, so we must've been just about there when whatever just happened had happened.

"Just a little further." She was tugging me along, but I found my footing. One foot in front of the other, I continued forward. My mind drifted to Mount Everest: as long as you were fit enough to put one foot in front of the other under the conditions up there, you could make it.

This small incline, this hill, this pool was my Everest. I stumbled forwards, tripping. Ereshkigal attempted to catch me but there was no point in doing so. I'd made it far enough. I reached out, feeling the flourishing grass around my face, tickling my neck and hands. Then I reached downwards, as far as I could make it, and my fingers became wet.

"H-help me out of the straps; please, Ereshkigal." Quickly rushing to my side, I knew she was crouched, feeling around my side to loosen my Supporter's Bag from my back. My right arm would've done the other, but it was no use. As my left arm wriggled out, I turned over and undid my right arm myself. My sword scabbard fell to the grass. She took the bag without a word, and I nodded, once more about to cry.

I'm sure it was a pitiful sight: to see a man so young crawling like a worm towards what was essentially an expensive puddle. Covered in enough mud, grass, and enough blood to look like shit, pushed me ever so close. My legs shook, and my right leg spasmed painfully. But I rolled over the edge, and into the water.

Perhaps it wasn't even the Cadmus Spring. Would it matter? I went in face first, and no less dirty, even as water filled the gaps and drenched my clothing. The water was warm, as opposed to the refreshing cold I'd been expecting. There was a moment where I felt the need to open my eyes, as my lungs started releasing oxygen. The bubbles poured past my lips, and out my nose rising to the surface.

My eyes opened, and boy did the surface look far. Light streamed in, doing things in the water, yet not illuminating the depth beneath me. I could feel my vision grow cloudy, and I realized that with my boots on I couldn't swim. There was nothing that could stop me from drowning.

I could've started thrashing, with every ounce of strength I had left, but what was the point? If I died after making it so far because I forgot I was in no shape to swim, perhaps I didn't deserve to live, because that's a rather large oversight.

And it was just as I was submerged, my lungs screaming, and my heart pounding in my ears, that I felt it. The burning sensation. It ran from the back of my head down my back, splitting down my legs going to the ankle then up again. They crisscrossed, a strange invisible, intimate pattern forming as it continued. I could feel something happening to my skin, scar tissue on my back rearranging, and flowing elsewhere. My shoulder cracked loud enough to be heard underwater, and I blinked, eyes searing against the now hot water.

Why would I think this could heal me?

My legs cracked, joints stiffening and popping over and over again, as I felt my muscles tense. Over and over, they tensed and untensed, before things felt small. I was claustrophobic for a moment: like my skin was too small for me, before that too changed. I felt something else: a heavier head, and an unpleasant tickling underneath my nose. My fingernails grew, slow then quick, then backwards, evening out.

Everything hurt, but I wasn't drowning anymore.

Strange as it was, I couldn't feel the burning of water enter my lungs as I sank slowly beneath the rippling spring. I couldn't feel the warmth enveloping me and instead, it became colder, until it was a freezing shock to whatever nerves were still functioning… No. To every nerve at once. It felt like a systems check to see if everything was a go.

Then everything rumbled, and bubbles streamed past me, then into me, pushing me upwards and out. What I couldn't see was the water swelling, rising up more from the depths carrying whatever darkness was at the bottom with it. But then it didn't matter. I swelled up and was expelled from the water with a mighty shove, moving outwards and into the air.

Quickly figuring out which way was down, I landed.

"Holy shit."

Looking around, I saw Ereshkigal just in front of me. To my back was a spring that resembled a minuscule-to-tiny sized lake, or a large-to-very-large puddle. Deep and cerulean blue, there was nothing floating within the pool that seemed to hint that a mud-covered man just emerged from it.

We were in a clearing at the top of the hill. Surrounded in trees, there seemed to be a naturally fortified perimeter. Brilliant green grass was beneath my feet instead of dirt, and colours were sharper very briefly before it faded back to the beautiful shades of reality I'd neglected in my exhausted state before.

I felt strong. It felt like the first time in a long time that I was in control.

With a heaving grunt and a small yelp, Ereshkigal left the bag at my feet. She clearly wasn't overly strong: my bag wasn't particularly heavy. Picking it up, I slung it over my back and tightened the straps.

Unslinging my shield and strapping my blade to my hip, I stood, for the first time ready to fight back against the 51st Floor. "Ereshkigal, you've been nothing but helpful while we've been down here, and for that, I thank you."

"A-ah, it's nothing, really!" She seemed taken slightly aback by the perhaps undeserved thanks. After all, she had been sleeping when I woke up. But in the end, she did deserve the thanks. She hadn't killed me in my sleep, and ultimately she helped me up that hill.

She'd helped me conquer my Everest. She'd helped me live. She hadn't left me, broken and alone.

"No, it is something," I said, looking around. I figured we had a moment of conversation before we should go on the move again. "Without your assistance, I would be dead right now. And for that, you have my sincerest apologies, and my most gracious thank you."

Ereshkigal was moving to respond when I heard it. A running through a forest preceded by a crackling of branches. Something that didn't care about breaking branches, because it could tank the damage. A moment later, it wasn't one thing running in our direction, but five things.

Then ten things, crashing through the brush without much in the way of stealth.

Quickly it was fifty things. A thunderous crashing. Previously unseen birds flew from the treetops, and trees themselves shook. Soon the floor was a symphony, echoing with noise all the way to the top. But soon it was more than a rapid crashing through the underbrush. There was a huge stomping noise, which turned into a sensation. The ground shook, the spring rippled, a tree fell. Then two more, then five.

I reached one hand back, and took the remaining rope-thorn off the side of my bag, stepping in front of the woman I'd gotten in this mess, to begin with. Perhaps it was presumptuous of me to step in to protect her, but in all honesty, she seemed to be something that wasn't quite an adventurer.

"We'll finish this later!" Gesturing forwards as I already started moving. Soon I was waiting for her to catch up before taking up the rear. We ran towards the outskirts of the spring's clearing in the opposite direction of the trampling, increasing our pace together.

She lacked some upper body strength, but Ereshkigal seemed quick enough to keep up. Basically flying in front of me, the girl picked up steam quickly across the grass but seemingly hesitated towards the forest.

Not having the same issue, I pulled ahead, crashing into the brush, shield-first to clear a path.

Hot on my heels, she flew through with me as I pushed and rammed through the forest at a breakneck pace down the hill. Twigs snapped, and flicked towards me, making small and insignificant slices on my clothes and skin. We sprinted forwards, and I shouted as I leapt over a small indent. She did the same at the very last moment and landed, continuing onwards.

Our mobility had certainly increased.

Yet still, crashing through the bush came the enemy.

Glimpses at the edge of my vision mentally coalesced, forming into an idea of what might be chasing us. But it proved pointless - the behemoth roar that came gave the game away. What sounded to be like dozens of more roars joined the pack, the pride, as the apex predator of the animal kingdom hunted us.

Lions crushed around us, uncountable and innumerable, racing forwards, one of them missing me by meters. Unhampered by their size, their seemingly non-caring skin simply tore through the woods. Unable to turn towards us due to their speed, our only advantage was quick turning and being able to hide within the brush.

Putting that theory to test, I stopped and pushed out an arm, catching Ereshkigal as the pride went flying past. I whipped the rope thorn with all my might to my right and it caught hold, pulling us both away as it went taut and a broken roar echoed through the trees. We flew, her in my arms as my shoulder was nearly ripped from its socket again, flinging forwards as I let go and the thorns ruined my right hand.

Narrowly avoiding a tree as we zipped, connected to a lion for those brief seconds, we rolled on the landing, her being shielded by my body thankfully as we spiralled and bounced. Hurting like hell, I got us scrambling up and running again, now in a different direction. I'd lost track of where we were going, but considering the roars grew frustrated and hungry, it was away enough to buy us just a few more seconds.

Already I could see a break in the trees, a return to the light that seemingly spoke of our end. Chest heaving, I was healed but exhausted. Pulling Ereshkigal yet aside again, we dodged behind a tree, pushing her back to it before pulling her away and running perpendicular to their trail.

Games of cat and mouse grew more and more dangerous, but I was buying us precious minutes. Pushing and pulling, tugging into cover and switching directions so quickly I hardly knew where I was about to turn, there was no way they could keep up without reading my mind.

Roars continued, angry and hungry as we humans went from apex predator to hunted by the true kings of the animal kingdom. We numbered few here, and this was their domain. There were no gods to answer my prayer, because they were the gods, here.

Yet, I pushed on.

What other option was there?

Ereshkigal burst out of the bush, nearly bowling me over as I slowed ever so slightly, skidding on the highly packed earth of the rhino pathway from earlier. Coming to a stop, I turned towards the oncoming lion pride as they burst out into the light.

A mixture of flaming orange, yellow and red, the extremely unnatural camouflage of the pack stood out amongst the nothing. Their blood-red eyes glowed, and tongues flitted out of snarling mouths, between long white fangs, stark in contrast to their fur.

Then came the one at the top, the leader of the pride.

He who got the first go at every kill. He ruled with an iron jaw and a luxurious mane.

Albino white, he was a pristine specimen of evolution gone correctly. Matted fur that somehow shimmered like marble churned under its movement. Rippling with muscles and power, he towered over the rest of them at fourteen feet tall. Absolutely massive, he stopped, knowing now that there was no hope for me to outrun him.

No hope existed for us to outrun him. No hope existed for me to fight him.

It roared.

Echoing into the clearing, the ear-drum shattering noise was deep, long, and instilled primal fury in the pride, and primal fear in me. I felt it, deep in my chest, suffocating me. I felt the noise reverberate through my bones, my very soul. Ereshkigal behind me seemingly went weak, her legs shuddering as she caught herself on me before righting herself.

Fur that could only be described as wrong merged together in their speed, making a yellow, orange and red flaming vortex of animals around us, closing in by the moment. Flames given fearsome form, they were the pride of the Dungeon, the world's killing instrument to strike our final blows, among them the brightest burning white star of the insane-monster repertoire.

Ready to die against them, going down with all the strength I had left, with someone who shouldn't have been there at my back, that I realized the ground had never stopped shaking. It had bever stopped shaking, even after we had stopped running.

Until suddenly, the shaking stopped, and a second group burst through the trees.

Violent splinters of wood flew everywhere, cracking sounds of vegetation meeting its destructive end repeating themselves over and over again. Soon the swirling vortex of the flaming pride was destroyed, and a new sight greeted me, as strange as the last.

Walking upright, the gargantuan rhinos presented a strange sight. Silver coloured skin shimmered under the crystal light of Floor 51, the thirty-foot beasts towered even amongst the colossal trees. Huge movements, now slower without momentum followed as they dropped once more to all fours and began running, charging horn first towards Ereshkigal and me.

This world was unfair.

Yet within me was silence, a focussed acceptance of it all. I only felt bad for having dragged Ereshkigal into it all, even if it was done with the absolute best intentions. Because of that, with my last moments approaching, I did what every Candian would do.

I apologized.

"Ereshkigal!" Her body shifted behind mine, and I burned in shame. "I'm sorry! For everything!"

Smashing into the flaming pride, the crash of rhinos decimated some of them. Crushed to pulp between their mighty legs, they were barely slowed. Their stomps were annihilation, their long sweeping horn swings were ruin, and their coming signalled oblivion.

But flaming pride didn't extinguish so easily. They began fighting back.

Rising steam hissed as I pulled Ereshkigal in a dash away and to the side, only to be stopped in my tracks as flames shot past my front, singing the trailing hairs of my head. Scrambling back we, unfortunately, remained in the thick of it. All around, the sound of smashing crystals as monsters died, from the incinerating flame or the molten, savage claws of the pack. From the silver, now glowing horns of the crash, or from the force of the falling goliaths.

Melting beasts and mangled lions became all we knew, in those brief seconds.

Looking left, beyond the war-front of the rival beasts that simply needed to ignore the other to kill us with but a desire, I saw the King. The Alpha, the King of the Crash, the rhino to end all rhinos. He was what people imagined when they thought of nightmares.

Thick, dermal plating covered him. Bumpy and clear, the black armour covered the gargantuan rhinoceros all over. Onyx scales of what I could recognize to be impossible durability and strength shimmered on his being. A huge horn, sharp as obsidian and dark as the darkest black, stood in front of the most terrifying molten red eyes I had ever seen.

Kings of their own worlds, the alabaster lion and the onyx rhino stood on opposite sides as their forces engaged, burning red eyes of hatred not existing just for us, but for one another as well. Each grew increasingly agitated, more and more mentally interlocked with the other.

Paws shifted and the lion flew, leaping a hundred feet across in a single, time-defying bound, leaving nothing but a blazing trail of glory within the air behind him. A black coating dripped away from the obsidian horn, and soon it was replaced in a blinding, all-consuming light as the rhino's armour grew more reflective and angular in design.

Blinded as I was, I still couldn't tear my eyes away if I wanted to.

Here we were. In that single moment of time as the two kings were about to engage.

Here we were, suspended within the chaos of carnage and wrath that we couldn't control.

Yet still, their conflict was not assured. Growing closer and closer, I felt time move like a slow liquid and then saw a spark. That spark turned into a flame, no larger than a candle, and then it erupted between them like a bursting star. Incinerating the top layer of their skin before launching them both backwards and away.

Like flies trapped within the amber, we stood there as the storm began.

Chill wind flew down the wide, open trail of beasts. Frost began catching itself in the fur of the pride, and moisture began dripping down the skin of the crash even as it began steaming off the flaming pride's skin. Then the wind ceased and became a storm, a typhoon, a vengeful hurricane, harrowing speeds flinging branches and rocks, dust and soil, obliterating the sides of some beasts like a shotgun tearing through them.

Flying from the treetops came two tanned figures. Fists raised, kukri out.

They crashed into the onyx one together, somehow causing the absolutely massive thing to stumble sideways before her sister hit, knocking them into a different path and out of the way. Soon a white blur trailing flames reminiscent of the alabaster one appeared and traced explosive trails of heat from his boots. Once, twice he struck, and there was a sharp crack as one plate, just a single plate of armour shattered.

And yet that was all the hope they needed.

Once more the wind kicked up and everything dissolved into chaos. Beasts on beasts - burning animals against metal durability surpassing that of the Nessian Lion. Beasts on heroes - blades, blunt instruments and magic turning everything once more into a complicated chaotic mess that was the closest thing to the chaotic state of a newly born universe anyone would ever see.

Sliding across the ground at insane speeds came a steel and gold coloured blur, leaving dirt and dust in the air as she spun, blood trailing from her thin blade before there were sprays of ruby red mist in her wake. It drenched her until she was bathed in it, the blood guts and gore of her enemies, but she cared not, and decimated them, faster and faster until enemies simply fell, corpses at her feet.

Crushed and burned, soon there was a whirlwind with a mind of its own that flew down the lane, icicles impaling everything or shattering against the skin of the armoured. Soon, even those evolved into chaotic beams of light themselves which then copied, time after time, until there were thousands of glittering stars that impaled and tore apart before seeking out the next target.

Eventually, it was me, ripping through the Dungeon's machines, a manic glee in my eyes as I felt stronger and more powerful. I didn't remember how I got there, or where it was coming from, but soon I was fighting alongside them, clearing up stragglers who ran.

All that was around us, was naught but the carnage and wrath of the Goddess Loki.

~oOo~ The Empty Thrones ~oOo~

Note: I hope it was a good chapter - personally I really liked how it came out. Now, this is of course where canon really starts to change, and I'm sure some of you have already identified why. Also got some character development in there, which is nice.

Furtheremore, as I mentioned earlier, I'll be going back to adjust Chapters 1 & 2 so I can make it more in line with my current (far healthier) mindset. I can do it without it having rippling affects throughout the story, but having a load more beta-readers would help. (Mention you wouldn't mind beta-ing for me in a PM or review and we'll get in contact and talk.

Anyways, I hope you're all doing good amidst COVID. Love you all. You'll be glad to know I'm happy, healthy, and alive. Furthermore, my future plans are set, so life will change this coming September. Hopefully those plans don't disrupt writing too much.

Review Responses:

vegaulloa17: Thanks!

skidney: Thanks!

Jom Ghost: YEET off the cliff.

Xenophos24: Perhaps not as epic as one may have imagined - but what could a Level 1 do on Floor 51?

PasiveNox: Bell is involved?

fall equinox 1: Thanks! Pace should be better now.

ZHsteven: Lovely. I always want to get the tone right, and it seems like that time I did.

Server lock: I just got the joke, now, a year later.

Touhoufanatic: I'm fairly sure they were in one of the light novels.

HALO343: Thanks for waiting :D

Guest: Never heard of him - will look at him now.

velentinon73: If everyone thought it was good it would be far easier to right :D

Notctik: Thanks. This story is very much an experiment, so it's glad to see it appeals to some people. Bete will be involved later in the story.

AnimeMyWorld: Thanks! Hope this makes your day too.

kirito emiya: Going to assume from your name that you'll like my friend WarrenDSherman's story "No Gods No Masters". It's a DanMachi/Fate cross.

PervyPanda: Thanks!~

Gomdeulgi94: Thanks, man. I try hard.

Black Swords Man32: Update complete!

DG2: Fic picked up. Ideally will be updated with some sense of regularity now.

DESCENDINGSUN: Yup.

-DragonManMax