The trash-can lid slammed into the abomination with all the force Arthur could muster. It’d tried to rush past him to the tasty-looking harpoon wielder behind him, but its open maw had crashed into a shield out of nowhere. Jagged malformed teeth and thick, viscous blood flew as Arthur pushed it back, a familiar phenomenon overtaking him. His insides felt hot, and the fire spread throughout his body once again.

  

  Title

  [Heart of Devotion]

  Activated

  The Heart of Devotion title gave Arthur a large boost in stats when his allies were in danger, which gave Arthur the strength to hold the abomination at bay as it thrashed against the trash-can lid. Its struggles were about as effective as smooth sandpaper, however, as Arthur slammed it back again and again. He did more than hold it at bay, as he repeatedly overpowered it over and again. In between the intermittent pushes, he activated his most used skill to date.

  

  [You and Me]: Inflicts [Enraged] when an enemy strikes your shield. Expend a stack of [Audacity] to inflict damage in retaliation.

  The abomination, in its feral rage, swung at Arthur and the subject of its fury in his hands. It wasn’t long before the skills effects took hold of it, causing its eyes to glow red with even greater fury. Before it could so much as roar a challenge at Arthur, a harpoon thrust directly into its head and main body. The abomination’s anatomy was such that its head was the same as its main body, with bone appendages sprouting from what used to be marine life. A quite unproductive quality, as any strike to its main body also resulted in a critical strike to its head. A weakness that Mira flawlessly demonstrated, performing a near perfect thrust of her harpoon that resulted in the abomination practically blowing up. The Enrage combo was still in full effect, meaning so much as a soft touch from Mira would cause the enemy to explode. Though, any man, woman or otherwise on the receiving end of a soft touch from her would be likely to suffer the same fate, regardless of if they were “enraged” or not.

  Upon finishing off the last abomination in the room, Arthur’s thoughts returned to the friends he’d failed to save. He wondered if any of them outside were left alive, and whether the situation there was any better than what was happening inside the aquarium. He had a horrible feeling that was not the case, however, which set a cold rod through his heart anew. He mourned his second family that he lost so abruptly and unceremoniously once again, then looked to Mira.

  “Alright, I think we can… move…” He trailed off as he noticed Mira staring at him with moderately widened eyes. For her, that was practically screaming that there was an elephant in the room. “What??” Arthur asked, turning to look behind him. There was nothing there. “Have you seen yourself?” she asked incredulously, her eyes never leaving Arthur as she spoke. He blinked in confusion. Mira’s eyes locked onto his. “Arthur… you’re glowing.”

  Arthur was enveloped in a green light, almost looking as though to encase his entire figure in viridian. The light was solid, yet shimmering, and motes of green gently expelled from it occasionally like bubbles floating up from a mountain spring. The glow was joined with a dazzling sparkle, as if the light itself was covered in glitter. The same glitter was present in his eyes, though less prominent. His eyes glowed a dangerous and deeply striking emerald, as though looking into the eyes of a deity.

  For the first time, Mira noticed the look in his eyes. They were glowing like neon signs, the spring green shining past his dirt and mud brown hair. The shine held the promise of imminent danger, and the glitter whispered a glamorous threat of power. Yet… the eyes behind them were the kindest she’d ever seen. They were compassionate and gentle. They were misted over from his thoughts of his friends and they held the most genuine decency she’d ever seen, causing Mira’s breath to catch with the sight.

  

  Title

  [Heart of Devotion]

  Deactivated

  Just like that, the glow disappeared from Arthur, trickling away like it’d been a trick of the eyes. It left Mira awkwardly staring at Arthur, who gulped under the attention. “Must’ve been a side effect of one of my skills I suppose. We should uh… keep moving though.” He forced the conversation along.

  “Before that,” Mira stopped him, finally coming back to herself after marveling at the viridian beauty. “I got another skill choice after leveling up, and I want to choose my skills. It can only help us now that we don’t have a deadline.” Arthur nodded, and with that, Mira chose her 2 new skills.

  

  [Lifeguard]: Grant yourself or an ally a shield that absorbs physical damage. Shield hp is determined by the magical damage of the user, not the recipient. Shield lasts for 5 seconds, with moderate cooldown.

  [Lightblade Song]: Make 3 consecutive attacks with your lance. Attacks burn the enemy with light, which lingers for a short amount of time after the skill is used. Light burning damage over time scales with current INT. Enemies afflicted with [Fear] have their [Fear] refreshed. Low cooldown.

  Mira chose a support skill and a damage skill with her two skill choices. She confided that she would have rather chosen 2 damage skills, but the first skill choice didn’t give her any good options. The second, however, was so-so, but was the best damage option she was given. She had nothing to inflict Fear with yet, but the light burning D.O.T. would work well with her high intelligence stat. This said nothing about the fact that the same intelligence stat was swelled even further by Arthur’s True Heart of Devotion, making it even more effective.

  Mira seemed satisfied with her choices, which made Arthur happy to see. She seemed sure that she would eventually recieve a skill that inflicted Fear, and she was content with being patient in waiting for it. With that being done, Arthur and Mira continued down the path the mysterious messages sent them down. Mira’s eyes found Arthur while he wasn’t looking repeatedly as they unknowingly waltzed into a trap, completely unaware.

  As Arthur and Mira entered the next room, they looked about. It was bigger than the rooms they’ve been in yet, with its ceiling reaching higher than the previous structure of the aquarium should’ve allowed. The room’s floor was, as with the rest of the dungeon, covered in jagged shards of glass. The walls were grey and dull, with pools of water all around the room. There were several hallways leading out of the room, and the duo waited for the messages to tell them where to go next.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  No messages came.

  Arthur and Mira looked at each other in confusion. Usually, the messages came shortly after entering a room at all, but this time it was silent for almost 2 minutes. Shortly after the confusion thoroughly set in, they began to hear noises coming from the other hallways. Loud stomping, almost galloping, coming from every direction, even above them. Arthur looked at Mira as she looked around with an unreadable, cold expression. “We need to get out of-” Just then, the messages returned.

  

  RUN

  It was all they saw before seeing the horde. It was at least dozens, possibly over a hundred, of the spindle legged abominations coming from every direction. They even thundered down from above as they crawled down the walls, closing in on the duo. The only direction they didn’t come from was the corridor to the right, which Mira immediately broke into a run towards. Arthur followed her after realizing where she was going, his barely better-than-an-amble run thoroughly unimpressive compared to her athletic sprint. As they ran, they got another message.

  

  right, then left

  Arthur assumed that Mira shared his confusion with what the messages were up to. It’d led them directly into an ambush, and was now telling them where to run? Arthur was confused but had no time or energy to give to thought as he and Mira ran for their lives. After turning the left corner that the messages told them about, they found themselves facing a narrow hanging walkway. On either side of the walkway was open air, as the glass ceiling that had been there was shattered during the quakes. On the other side of the walkway was an even more narrow hallway that would just barely accommodate human sized occupants. It would be a nearly perfect chokepoint.

  

  use this

  Arthur and Mira barely gave the message any attention as it was instantly ripped away from the gurgling roars directly behind them. After giving the cables a snap inspection with a look, Mira hopped onto the hanging walkway tentatively. It held strong, not so much as swinging with her weight. She took up a dashing pace, only slightly slower than her sprint earlier. Arthur watched this take place all in the space of a couple of moments. He would have preferred to go first and test if it was safe, but Mira was too swift with her actions. He followed behind, catching up to her as she entered the narrow hallway on the other side. There was a small platform at the mouth of the corridor to recieve the hanging walkway, which was barely large enough for the abominations. The sides of the hallway were such a tight fit because the walls were partly caved in on either side, a bit like the first Secure Sector Arthur took refuge in. The floor was covered in debris of all kinds, leading up to what was left of the walls of the corridor. The end of the hallway lead to a ramp upwards, to the next floor of the dungeon.

  Mira turned around to face Arthur as the gurgling screeches grew closer. “We aren’t going to find a better chance to clear this horde out.” She said matter-of-factly, finagling her harpoon out into the tight space. “Do you think you can hold these monsters off one at a time for that long?” Arthur looked at the monsters, then looked back at Mira.

  “Sod it, get behind me!”, he shouted over the cacophony of howls. He set up his trash-can lid with as best a defensive stance as he could manage. The abominations were more than halfway across the hanging walkway, with it finally swinging as they aggressively pursued the two humans. Only so many could cross at a time, however, with the platform at the mouth of the hallway only able to hold one. As they rapidly closed in, teeth gnashing and blood-like spittle flying, Arthur finally let something he’d been building up go. Something that was a long time coming, and something he’d been holding in to be polite to his new partner. With its release, however, he felt an almost instant relief.

  “OOH FFFFUU-”

  The horde was upon him before he could finish the rather rude word.

  Sasaki Ema made her way back from checking the barricade again. She was always paranoid that the monsters from the fissure would break through and find them, but they never did. She knew that, for now, they didn’t know where they were. She also knew that wouldn’t last forever, and for that, she credited her paranoia as vigilance. She was always smaller than the people surrounding her, which led to her growing up with an eye on her back. She’d grown up being bullied often because she looked different from the other kids, and her petite stature only made her an easier target. As a result, she focused inward and came to love books and video games. People wouldn’t have been wrong to assume that her jesters personality was a coping mechanism that she developed at a young age.

  She entered a room with the already sitting Aurora Diné, one of her few friends, and Gideon Omari, someone she’d only recently met. They’d all attended the same college, but after the “System conquer”, thousands on campus had died. The few who had survived were forced together, and yet she still didn’t know how many people there actually survived. Fairly soon after the quakes, it was known that there was a safe place for anyone on campus to come to for refuge. Allegedly, Gideon had found and stocked it up with food and water during the first day, and had brought people there immediately. For all any of them knew, however, there could be more groups of survivors and they were not all that was left. Ema had her doubts about that one.

  “So?” Aurora’s voice was calm and reserved as ever, her face neutral. She had long brown hair, with Native American features. She wore jeans and a loose tucked in blouse. It was a strong contrast to Ema’s jet black hair that almost seemed to shine. Ema’s own fashion style differed from Aurora’s as well, as she sported an oversized tee with leggings. While both of their clothes were dirty, Gideon’s were the most ragged. His torn up grey shirt barely covered his midnight dark skin, which he attempted to at least partly cover up with his also grey hoodie. He wore sport sweatpants, and his hair was now a small afro. He normally preferred to shave his hair down, but it’d already been a couple of weeks. His grey shirt had a barely legible “Send Noods” with a bowl of ramen behind it.

  “The barricade is fine. What were you guys talking about?” Ema plopped down into a chair, her feet swinging up with the action. Aurora and Gideon looked at each other before Gideon spoke up.

  “We were talking about trying to leave soon. I just got word that there’s a shelter being set up… a real shelter.” Gideon, who was normally laid back, spoke in a serious tone. Aurora’s normal gentle smile was also nowhere to be seen.

  “What? Are you serious??” Ema asked excitedly, shooting up in her chair. “What are we waiting for then? Let’s do it!” Aurora frowned. “Em, it’s not that simple. We need to find a way past the monsters. They’re between us and our way out, you know that.” Ema groaned and flopped back into her chair, sinking into it.

  “Whatever we do,” Gideon said, “we need to do it as soon as we can. We’re running low on food.” Ema looked down in somber contemplation. Food was always a problem, but lately it had been worse than ever. The trio sat in somber silence before Ema let out a loud bleat of annoyance. “Fiiiiine then, let’s just beat the hell out of them and be on our merry way. That’s all we have to do, isn’t it?” Aurora looked at her in confusion, and Gideon chuckled. “Very simple way to put it. I like it.” He stood up, brushing himself off. “Sitting around being sad won’t get anything done. I’m going to talk to the professors about the food situation and the news about a shelter. And if we have to, lets… ‘beat the hell out of them’.” Gideon made air quotations around Ema’s words of wisdom as she stuck her tongue out at him. After Gideon left the room, only Aurora and Ema were left.

  “You always had that effect on people, you know.” Aurora’s gentle smile was back as she graced Ema with it, who cringed back from it like it was an explosion in her face. “What effect…?”, she asked warily. Aurora didn’t speak more on it, standing up and putting her hands in her pockets. “Come on, I’ll go with you to the med bay for your shift today.” Ema let out a groan that was even mightier than the last. “I can’t believe they let him name it that!” The two women left the room chatting with lifted spirits, unaware that it would be the last time they’d be in it ever again.