Aaron sat beside Eleanor in the back of a horse-drawn carriage, peacefully making their way through the busy city up towards the northern tip of the populated zones.
"Can you tell me again why it's necessary to trudge through the desert for this?"
The blonde-haired priestess groaned as she looked down at her attire, the thin but all-encompassing robes that covered any exposed skin weighing heavily over her.
The boy was dressed similarly, with the only exception being the revealed blade at his hip that channeled water into his mouth.
"We can't just summon the Ghostship on a normal dock and expect to go unseen. Furthermore, when a rift to the World Between is opened, a gong erupts through a surrounding area. Lord Thorn said that when we open the rift, we have to be ready for any number of anomalies to take place due to my unique nature; however, the main reason is the noise attracting unwanted attention."
Completely responding to her question while leaving no room for more, the boy relaxed against the carriage that was constantly bumping against the rock.
Eleanor nodded and leaned back as well, gently shutting her eyes and allowing herself to fall asleep.
Her slumber only lasted a few minutes, though, as the sound of the driver knocking on the door resounded loudly.
"This is as far as I go."
The tan-skinned man opened the door and gestured for the two teenagers to exit, an action which they quickly did.
Stepping onto the burning sand and feeling their feet sink slightly, they listened to the man who had driven them once more.
"The Phi Dunes are as treacherous as the sea itself at some points. On the cute end, you'll have spiders, snakes, scorpions, and any type of vulture you can imagine."
He paused, taking a worrisome breath.
"On the not-so-cute end, you have centipedes."
Eleanor furrowed her brow, resisting a laugh.
"Centipedes are disgusting, yes, but dangerous? I was bitten once before, and it only caused a small rash. Are there large nests with thousands of them we need to avoid?"
Their carriage driver simply shook his head, a sigh escaping his lips.
"May the Eternal Death watch over you."
Leaping back onto his ride, he spiked the reins, forcing the horses into the opposite direction as fast as possible.
Aaron glanced over at the blonde-haired girl before exhaling hard.
"He's a believer of Death, eh? The Ordinance Sect would love to have you transition over, I suppose."
The priestess who believed in the God of Depths chuckled.
"Hardly. They are far more orthodox than I expect Death even wishes. I've heard rumors that the religion was even compromised by one of the three grand merchantries."
Eleanor remembered back to the articles of kidnapping and trafficking from the regions; even her own abduction likely ran through one of the corrupted organizations.
The tall boy rolled his eyes and began forward.
"Neither the Ordinance Sect nor the Knights of Crimson sounds particularly holy… Are the Church of True Earth, Church of Depths, and Church of Dreams that much better either?"
Eleanor shook her head, a darkness cloaking her face.
"Once one becomes a bishop or archbishop, the power begins to run to their head. When they advance to saints, or even then to cardinals with the power of an entire sea's clergy behind them, their attitudes tend to shift towards a more humane side."
Aaron's head tilted slightly to the side.
"And why's that?"
She responded a moment later.
"They're hoping that after death they'll be chosen as a false Angel to be reborn through the Angelic Order. Though with firsthand experience in their methods, I doubt they'd make it past the selection stage, especially if their memory is drained as well…"
Eleanor continued to explain the systems of the Great Beyond to the boy as they walked, giving the boy a new reason to find as many noise-making devils he could stuff into his head.
Closing his eyes, he felt the egg strapped to his back twitch slightly, a pleading thought crossing his mind as the intricate banking system of death was being explained.
Please come back and drown the world already, Naelith…
…
It was about an hour into their hike when the sand began to churn.
A few patches were deeper than usual to start off; however, as they passed the dead center of the Phi Dunes, they could hardly move any farther.
Aaron's eyes scanned the horizon, looking for any possible cause of the strange occurrence.
"Penelope…?"
He called out to the sword that he now clasped in his hand.
Only a short distance behind him, Eleanor controlled her Aether perfectly, shaping it into a small knife with a weak seal that boosted her speed but weakened her strength.
『There's a large mass beneath the sand, something similar to that hellish abomination that you fought on the Bay of Thorn.』
The blond-haired boy braced himself, the gentle hum of his liquid-covered blade reverberating in his ears.
Bringing his single hand to his forehead, he tapped it twice with his knuckles and felt his vision sway, and then transform into boundless colors.
Eleanor, who was watching quietly, suddenly noticed his body tense and his jaw tighten.
A moment later, she heard his voice come out in a cool, relaxed tone,
"How high can you jump?"
The question would've shocked the girl if it had been from anyone else; however, if it was from the idiot ahead of her, she could only answer honestly.
"About five meters if I use mana…"
Aaron sighed with relief after hearing her words.
"Good. Then jump."
She could only furrow her brow in confusion for a second before the ground beneath the turquoise-eyed boy's feet vanished into darkness.
Leaping upward with all her might, she took in the scene with a frightened look of terror.
A circular ring about fifteen meters in diameter spread out wide around the region where they had just been standing, a monstrous beast launching itself out at rapid speed.
Aaron's sword was plunged deep within the skull, causing it to erupt in a ghastly shriek that echoed through the desert.
Eleanor could barely think straight, her thoughts a mess of confusion and surprise.
I-Is that a centipede? No wonder the driver drove away!
Blood oozed from the wound and into its hideous eyes that resembled lumps of coal mixed with a topaz-adjacent material.
Thick black scales protected its spine, while its endless number of legs crawled against the sandy surface, as it writhed in death-defying agony.
The beast scurried to a location only meters below the girl's feet, her expression quickly turning dark.
Feeling its disgusting body beneath her, she didn't waste a second, placing her knife ahead of her and casting two spells simultaneously.
「Holy Bullet」
A flash of golden light propelled outward, striking the beast in a fraction of a second, causing it to tremble in agony.
「Crescent Cut」
Making use of the delicate agility that the Aether transformation provided, she slashed downward with her right hand across the centipede's scaly back, creating deep lacerations in its flesh and scales.
No good!
While her Holy Bullet spell had drawn a considerable amount of blood, that was mostly due to the purification aspect, and without that, she'd be helpless.
Near its head, she could hear Aaron's shouts and grunts of pain and rage as he hacked away at its face, not daring to keep its appearance presentable.
Each strike tore deeper and deeper into its body, and the brain of the massive insect was soon to be ripped apart by the bloodied boy.
Its body spasmed hard as he raised his blade one final time, his breath cold and his eyes focused like a predator.
『Piercing Droplet』
His sword fired out of his hand like a projectile, instantly shattering the creature's skull and creating a perfectly cylindrical hole through its cranium.
The centipede's form seized, then, with a last shriek of defiance and cowardice, it fell to the side, devoid of life and as rancid as the day it had been born.
As it hit the ground, both the teenagers were thrown off, landing against the same sand dune only a few meters apart.
"Ouch…"
Eleanor groaned as she rubbed her lower back, clearly displeased with the death throes of the beast.
Aaron echoed a similar sentiment as he summoned Ocean's Bane back to his grip, his eyes bloodshot and his arm bruised in many locations.
"Leggy bastard… I haven't even started training in the South, and I already look like a war veteran!"
Yelling towards the corpse, he grumbled out a few more profanities before quieting down.
The blonde-haired girl, who had been barely watching him, slowly moved closer and scanned his form.
"I'll heal it for you."
She reached her hands out, touching his pale skin and injecting miniature molecules of mana into his bloodstream.
Praying for no reaction from the deity that she knew lurked within his body, she continued onward with her nursing while striking up a conversation.
"You're definitely stronger than before, though, still I'm not certain about Commodore level...."
Chuckling at her words, Aaron muttered something in response.
"Anyone who has eyes knows I'm no stronger than a Lieutenant. I only ranked this high because of my Ghostship and 'kind' friend inside my head."
Trying to knock on his head as a gesture towards the god within, he realized sadly that his only upper limb was clasped between her hands, the other simply gone.
Stumpy over there can't regrow fast enough…
Mulling over the lack of cores, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
"Hey, Eleanor."
A devilish smile appeared on his face, causing the priestess to sigh inwardly.
Here we go again…
"Ever carved up a terror before?"