Damien got up and looked around him.
He was completely dazed at first, his head still ringing from the impact with the pillar. But slowly, painfully, his thoughts began to clear. He forced himself to focus, to understand what had just happened.
Somehow. Some reason.
A goddamn ice castle with its own ice domain had been summoned all around Floor Sixty.
Not only that, it had frozen close to half of the floor. The ice was so potent, so strong, that even the Corrupted Spirit was unable to get inside it at all. He could see her on the outskirts, her beautiful face twisted with rage as wave after wave of monsters crossed the boundary only to freeze solid in seconds.
Damien moved.
He kept to the shadows, staying low, staying quiet. The edge between the ice domain and the Corrupted Spirit's domain was a clear line purple flesh on one side, white ice on the other. Like two worlds colliding.
He reached the boundary and slowly, carefully, extended his hand toward the ice.
His fingers touched the cold
And instantly began to freeze.
He snatched his hand back, stumbling away from the line. Frost clung to his skin, burning with cold. He shook it off, breathing hard.
"Fuck."
He looked at the ice castle in the distance, at the figure he'd seen at its base. Ais. She had to be there. But he couldn't reach her.
"I lost the shadow on Ais." The realization hit him like a blow. "So I don't know where she is." He stared at the impassable ice. "And I can't seem to be able to enter this place." He then kicked a rock in anger "Fuck...I have no way in...No idea if Ais is safe...And no clue what this fucking place is...."
Movement to his right.
He turned.
The Corrupted Spirit's eyes were locked on him.
All three of them.
"YOU!"
Her scream echoed across the boundary, raw with fury.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY ARIA!"
Damien finally got a good look at her.
Really looked.
And he understood why she disgusted him so deeply.
Last time, he'd seen her lamia-like lower half and thought little of it. Now, here in her domain.... he could see the truth.
Her legs if they could be called that were not simply a serpent's body. They were a combination of tendrils and tentacles, connected all over Floor Sixty. They spread outward like roots, like veins, like the limbs of some massive creature buried beneath the surface. They stretched up to Floor Fifty-Nine, disappearing into the darkness above.
And they all connected to a single spot.
At the roof of Floor Sixty, high above, a massive blob of purple meat pulsed like a heart. It was connected to hundreds of these tendrils, each one feeding into it, each one part of it. It throbbed with sickening life, pumping something dark through the network of flesh below.
Damien's mind connected the dots.
'That might be the Corrupted Spirit's real body.'
Everything else the beautiful woman, the seductive form, the three eyes was just an extension. A puppet. This thing, this heart of corruption, was the true enemy.
Before he could gather more information, her third eye...the sluggish golden one...glowed with anger.
Magic beams erupted behind her.
Dozens of them.
Powerful. Destructive. Aimed directly at him.
Damien didn't hesitate.
He knew those beams were too strong to block, too fast to dodge. In the split second before they struck, he vanished, his body dissolving into shadow, retreating through the darkness, back to Floor Fifty-Eight.
The beams passed through empty air.
The Corrupted Spirit screamed in frustration.
And Damien was gone.
...
Damien emerged back in the meeting room and collapsed into his chair, his body trembling with exhaustion and pain.
"DAMIEN!" Tiona rushed to his side, her hands hovering over him as if unsure where to help first. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He waved her off weakly, then reconsidered and let her help him sit up straighter. "Mostly fine."
Riveria leaned forward, her jade eyes sharp with concern. "What happened? Where's Ais? What did you see?"
Damien took a breath, gathering his thoughts.
"I don't know exactly what happened. Something happened to Ais. She attacked me. She was angry, sad, and everything at the same time. I tried to knock her out so I could grab her and run, but then..." He paused, the memory still confusing. "Then something happened. A wave of ice force sent me flying. When I woke up, half the floor was covered in ice and there was this massive castle that just... emerged."
He looked at each of them in turn.
"Even the Corrupted Spirit couldn't walk toward it. I tried to approach, but the ice almost froze me solid. And then she attacked me...the Corrupted Spirit. I had to retreat."
He slammed his hand on the table.
"FUCK! I lost the shadow on Ais. We have a new problem with that castle. And I learned about the power of the Corrupted Spirit." His voice dropped. "We can't beat her. Not like this. It will be almost impossible. She controls too much of that floor, and her body is connected to two floors already."
Silence settled over the room.
Then Finn spoke, his voice thoughtful. "Okay... Hold on. You said an ice castle appeared on Floor Sixty?"
"Yes. I don't understand it either, but it's there."
Finn exchanged glances with Riveria and Gareth. Something passed between them...recognition, understanding, concern.
Damien noticed. "What?"
Riveria spoke slowly. "Thalia's Ice Garden. It could be it."
"I've never heard of that."
"Of course you haven't." Riveria's voice was quiet. "It's a secret. Even we know almost nothing about it. All we know is that the Guild knows of the Garden, its entrance, and where it's located. But the Guild refuses to hand over that information to Loki or Freya Familia until they unite."
"So it's dangerous?"
"Dangerous, but filled with treasure." Gareth's voice was gruff. "It's said even Hera and Zeus Familias tried to locate it and failed. That place is said to contain the greatest artifacts in all of the Dungeon."
Damien shook his head. "Okay, but that doesn't explain anything. Why the fuck did it emerge there? Right now? In the middle of all this chaos?"
Riveria hesitated. "I have no idea either. But it might be related to Ais."
"How so?"
Finn and Riveria exchanged another look. Riveria nodded.
Finn spoke. "Ais... well, she's special. We don't really know much about her. Other than..."
He stopped.
Riveria placed a hand on his arm. "I think it's okay, Finn. Damien is her lover and has been our greatest ally these days. Even if he's not from the Loki Familia, I don't think Loki will mind. Especially since Ais is in danger now."
Finn took a breath. "Listen, Damien. Nine years ago, we found Ais. Me, Gareth, and Riveria. On Floor Thirty-Five."
Damien's eyes widened. "Floor Thirty-Five? She was just a kid."
"She was seven years old. And to this day, I have no understanding of how that was possible." Finn's voice was heavy with memory. "She was encased in an ice cocoon. We broke it, and she emerged. A little seven-year-old girl. In the Dungeon. Alone."
Damien sat in silence, processing this.
An ice cocoon. On Floor Thirty-Five. A seven-year-old Ais.
"Thalia's Ice Garden," he said slowly. "And it's return now, after Ais suffered from Revis's curse." He looked up. "Doesn't that mean Ais has some sort of connection to this Garden? That it emerged to protect her?"
"We have no proof," Riveria admitted. "But that's what we're assuming."
"Still though, assumptions are nice and all." Damien leaned back, rubbing his temples. "But how the fuck are we supposed to save Ais now? The Corrupted Spirit is a pain in the ass. I'm not even sure we can beat her at all. But then we have to deal with this Garden, which by the way can freeze you instantly, and then deal with whatever is inside it to save Ais." He shook his head. "Honestly, this is a total mess."
Finn straightened. "We have to call for support from the Guild. The Corrupted Monster is clearly on the level of the Three Great Quests. And we've gathered that she wants to leave the Dungeon. We have to make an alliance with many Familias to take down the Corrupted Spirit and save Ais."
He continued, his voice taking on the tone of a commander. "Freya, Dian Cecht, and the School District. All must participate in this subjugation."
Tione frowned. "And how do we do that? It would take them two weeks to get here. A week if only an elite team is sent. And even then, what guarantees Ais's safety?"
Finn turned to Damien. "Can't you do that?"
Damien considered it. "Honestly? Yes. I can. But..." He shook his head. "I can't risk it knowing Ais is inside that dangerous Ice Castle and surrounded by the Corrupted Spirit. I'm sorry, but I will only send a shadow with a message from you. Other than that, I'm going back to Floor Sixty. I will fight my way to that Ice Garden."
Riveria stepped forward. "I can help. You send the message. You, me, Tiona, and Tione will infiltrate the Ice Garden. With the staff you've gifted me, I can cast a very powerful ice protection spell." She turned to Finn and Gareth. "Finn and Gareth, Ryuu, Samira and Bete along with Damien's shadows, and some of the strongest in the expedition will try to distract the Spirit until we save Ais. Then we retreat."
Damien nodded slowly. "Sounds like a plan to me."
"It is risky," Finn admitted. "But optimal. Our priority is to save Ais. We can defeat the Corrupted Spirit when support arrives."
Damien stood, his exhaustion momentarily forgotten. "All right. That's the plan, then."
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