In hindsight, perhaps they should have realized the god wasn’t as gone as they’ve assumed. After all, the time skew created by Yuka’s ability—or was it the god’s ability, because Yuka’s body was definitely gone—still existed as they mourned. Mourning might have been a good excuse for missing that, but also, as Emilia and Hyr awkwardly pulled themselves to their feet—something that mostly involved the northerner manhandling her—neither felt that way.

  Rather, all they felt was regret.

  “Can you reactivate whatever was blocking its powers?” the northerner asked as they watched the universe stretch and reverse—almost as though it were rejecting what Emilia had done to it.

  Emilia shook her head, not because she couldn’t reactivate it, but because she wasn’t sure she could and was pretty sure that—had she anything in her stomach—she would have lost it.

  Out of the gaping blackness—a blackness so deep and empty that it reminded her of the {Blood Ball}’s pocket dimension—fell gore and blood. Yuka’s limbs, only identifiable by the clothing still clinging to them. An eyeball. Tongue. Mush, which could have been her meat or brain matter. Liquids of red and brown and a growing stench that made her stomach contract yet again, attempting to void itself.

  “What…”

  The hole stretched, contracted, seeming to vomit out both the pieces of Yuka and god’s existence, its energy swirling into a storm around them, angry and powerful.

  ?Run…? Emilia said, grabbing Hyr and pulling, even as she knew the chances of them being able to escape that thing, now that it was no longer contained in a mortal body, could very well be impossible.

  Silver mist suffused her map, and although there was nothing around them—no visible sign of the god’s presence, nor any focused attacks—its energy swirled, crashing and erratic. Clearly, whatever had happened to it during its brief death—or confinement in that pocket dimension?—hadn’t agreed with it.

  ?I think…? Emilia gasped out, annoyed with her brain for simulating a gasp of exertion in her fucking mind, ?the same thing that happened to Yuka’s body must have happened to its soul.?

  “Did you—?”

  ?No! Fuck, I didn’t even realize I was sending it… somewhere!? Emilia hadn’t even wanted to send it into the normal universe to be digested, let alone wherever the fuck it had ended up. Wherever that was, it hadn’t been inclined to keep either Yuka’s body—as well as potentially what had remained of her mind, Emilia supposed as they bolted down hallways, searching for a stairwell because seriously, what else were they supposed to do?—or the god within it. So different from the normal universe, which had been more than happy to keep her own body and soul within it, once upon a time.

  Unfortunately, the stairwell was just as blocked as before, and even when they mutually pushed all their abilities and concentration into it, warily watching the storm of aether and energy growing around them, it didn’t budge.

  “We can go to the one I came in through…” Hyr said, sounding completely unconvinced it would work. They had peeked through the {Blood Glass}, but whatever was happening had created some sort of environment where it didn’t work, and Hyr could no longer read anything directly from the aether either.

  ?Yeah… I guess…? Emilia said, smiling weakly at Hyr when they sent her a concerned look. ?You know how I was asking about your experience in raids, and how your seeing worked in them? Whether you could see anything different in the aether of the virtual raids and the real world??

  “Sure,” the syn replied as they dragged her along, although when they realized how far off the stairwell they and Caro had entered by was, they pulled Emilia completely into their arms, their longer legs allowing them to move more quickly. “I told you I didn’t raid often, and was unsure you would be able to find a synat who had experience with older raids.”

  ?Yeah… so, when I was killing that thing—or failing to, I guess—I began to wonder whether the universe here is the actual universe. If something happens to the aether in this world, will it affect the real world’s aethernet??

  Around her, Hyr’s arms tensed. “You carved a piece of the aether away, trying to kill that thing.”

  ?Yes.?

  “If the aethernets are the same…”

  ?Based on theory, it would likely just be a small sliver of it, compressed down for each virtual raid. The aethernet is considered to have unfathomable energy in every piece of it—that’s why some of the most powerful skills actually use the smallest amount of aether. Still?—she motioned around them, to the cracking and reforming aether—?this could be happening to the real aether, and even if it's just a small amount, if we can’t figure out how to stop this…?

  On the plus side, what was left of the god wasn’t attacking them—not with anything more than strain from being within this maelstrom of its uncontrolled power, their skin increasingly sliced up as they travelled, anyways—but it was continuing to build, seemingly without an active intention. There was anger and frustration within it, lapping over the world, but whatever had been driving its active decisions seemed offline. Where nothing had been left to hold Yuka’s body together after whatever had happened to it, nothing seemed to be guiding the god’s power anymore—nothing save raw emotion.

  At least the god had contained some logic and control. It might not have destroyed the entire world, just the people it deemed a threat or desired vengeance against. This power was liable to crash out over the entire world of the raid and crush it.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  In a horrific sort of way, it was nice to know that Emilia’s consistent record for fucking up was going strong.

  “It isn’t funny,” Hyr said darkly when she explained why she was laughing. “I do not think you fuck up consistently.”

  Once more, Emilia shot the syn a look of almost confusion and then suspicion. They really hadn’t known each other long, and while they’d definitely talked constantly while travelling together, it wasn’t like she’d spent all that time bragging about the rare moments in her life where she hadn’t been fucking up.

  ?Did you see for me?? she asked, curious as to how she could have missed such a thing—she’d always been under the impression that seeing was a time-consuming and involved process, although perhaps that was just the official way. Hyr had seen something for Caro, after all, and she was pretty sure the pair hadn’t sat down to do such a thing.

  “No. I did not. I can one day, if you desire.” The northerner’s face scrunched up as they rounded the last bit of hallway before they’d reach the stairwell that at least allowed people to enter through it. “Or… I can try. I cannot guarantee I will be able to see for you.”

  What a strange thing to say.

  ?Why? Is there something wrong with me? Or you? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you do what, I assumed, was seeing for me and the others,? she noted, thinking back to the times Hyr had told Zyrex he was about to fall or trip, the times they had wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her out of the way with a future sight she’d never truly believed the synat possessed. If they’d been able to see those moments, why did Hyr think a more standard seeing for her wouldn’t work?

  Hyr hesitated before opening their mouth and—

  A blast reverberated through the aethernet, sending the syn flying and Emilia tumbling from his arms. Luckily, both of their levels were high enough that neither of them were hurt but—

  ?Time is moving again…? Emilia said, a second before realization hit that the blast had shattered not just time skew but whatever had been keeping them contained and was now reaching beyond the floor level.

  “?Fucking stars!?” someone—V—yelled a moment before he and Key fell out of the stairwell. ?What the fuck is—?

  ?Emilia!? Key called, pushing himself up and racing for Emilia, hauling her up and looking over her general state of bloodiness. Countless gashes marred her skin, but they were barely visible under the gore that had splattered over her from her step through the universe. ?Are you—? The local boy cut off as he was all but hip checked out of the way by V.

  ?Shit. Fuck. Are you— What happened!?? V asked, shooting a scathing look behind her, his head tilted up enough that it was clear he was glaring at Hyr. ?You—? he began to say, but another burst of power sent him, Key and Emilia skidding backwards.

  Hyr wobbled, but a burst of energy from them seemed to counter the aether, if only barely. “If this continues, it will destroy the world.”

  Key’s face blanched. ?What even is this? And where is Caro??

  V—whom Emilia had landed on top of—tensed, his eyes shooting between Emilia and Hyr and reading the grief written over each of their faces. In the end, he had spent the most time interacting directly with the child, having been trapped with them for days. Emilia might have spent more time together with them altogether, but that had been broken up with all the events during and after the Livery Labyrinth, the Risen Guard compound and their escape. For V…

  Emilia could see it—could feel his body collapsed and fists tighten into her—before he muttered, ?This is my fault,? and for once, she was sure it was his internal dialogue escaping. A small slip in his control of his aethervoice under his grief.

  One day, she would ask him about that—about why he thought it was his fault when he hadn’t even been there—but now wasn’t the time. Now, they had a god’s mangled consciousness to deal with.

  Quickly, she and Hyr explained to V and Key what had happened, and what they thought the power around them was. Honestly, it could have just been the god losing control—stars knew Emilia had all but lost control and only come back to herself with Hyr’s help. The god’s mind could still be in there, but the chances of anyone being able to reach them the way Hyr had her… yeah, that was pretty unlikely.

  ?So… what do we do?? Key asked as the aether’s assault on them continued, growing fiercer despite Hyr and V’s attempts to shield them from it with their cores. ?If this keeps growing…?

  “It will destroy the building, and likely continue to spread,” Hyr agreed. “It is possible the god will run out of power, but I doubt anyone knows such a thing.”

  ?I do.?

  Their group collectively swivelled to meet Carne’s gaze, his slight smirk. Probably Carne then, not Ash. The thing that lived inside him, and—

  ?You’re a god as well,? Emilia said, thinking back to her first discussion with the Clarity god. They had told her other gods wandered this world as well, offering their power to groups they deemed worthy. The being that took over Risen Guard was probably a god as well—one whose interests ironically didn’t align with the organization’s current goals, although perhaps that was because according to what she’d heard, the Risen Guard had been around for a long time, long enough for its mission and beliefs to change many times over.

  ?That I am.? Carne’s eyes flicked to the raging storm of power and rage. ?I do not know what you did, but you released their power into their world. We exist in vessels because our power cannot exist uncontrolled in this world. It will grow. It will destroy.?

  ?Like I said,? Emilia bitterly laughed, smiling tightly back at Hyr, ?I consistently fuck things up.?

  ?Emilia…? V began to say, his eyes flicking over her, searching—searching for whatever it was that was making the person who had ended the war say such things, she assumed.

  Emilia wouldn’t be telling him. As much as she knew some of her cycling thoughts weren’t accurate—that the words and thoughts that had started her self-hatred weren’t her own or even based in anything more than a single person’s angry, bitter reality—she didn’t want to be told that. Not now, maybe not ever, but especially not now—not when her best attempts to help this world had ended so terribly, had doomed it not to be taken over by a cult but completely consumed by an out of control power that they couldn’t stop.

  “Can we stop it?” Hyr asked, and it was nice to know at least one of them wasn’t panicking. Leave it to a syn to be the voice of reason, even though they were one of the youngest people in their group.

  Carne’s lips twitched as he assessed the northerner. ?I knew I liked you.?

  Hyr glared, seemingly unimpressed to have earned the approval of Carne—of a god of this world.

  Emilia couldn’t blame them: something told her being disliked by someone—something—like Carne was preferable to being liked by it.