Hmm? I sat up groggily, transmuting some coffee and having the occasional sip as I comfortably and slowly glided my way downstairs. It was that mysterious lady, the IU head of Nine Skies. She was having a chat with Scarlet and Trevor. What was her name again? I asked myself, but didn’t make the slightest effort to remember.

I went down there, greeting them with a soggy, “Mornin’,” and pulling a seat for myself. I offered coffee, but everyone refused. Whatever. So, I just sat there, a bit hunched over, recovering from my horrible wake-up call. August sat down next to me, and they all just stared at us, wordless. “What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’?” Scarlet asked. “You hung the Aubec patriarch upside-down, didn’t you?”

“Hmm?” I sipped the coffee, “Oh, yeah.”

She rolled her eyes and the IU head sighed. Trevor chuckled weakly. They knew it was me, but wanted to confirm. But, was that a reason for the IU head to visit us? I asked for her reason for her visit to First Flight and she smirked at me.

“We’ve found evidence linking two of the most influential families to three guilds. We’ve got seven more to go.” She placed her chin on the back of her hand, and cast a strange spell with the other. It encircled our table. “No one will hear us now. I’ll just come out and say it, but before I say that, I have a question. What did the commander want last night?”

I smirked. She was a sharp one. “Just to be sure that the commander I met is the commander you know. Does he have a burn on the side of his head?” I questioned and she affirmed. “Interesting, so that’s actually him.”

“Well? What’d he wanted?” August urged me to answer her question.

Looking at August, I sighed, “Looks like you and me are a nuisance. He said that the emperor wants us out of Yunaris. According to him, the emperor believes we’re giving First Flight too much power and that the guild may use their newfound strength to lash back out in revenge. This revenge, he fears, may mar the public’s reliance on Nine Skies. He’s basically saying, if we stay here, the people won’t trust in Nine Skies’ strength to protect them.”

“I see,” the IU head smiled sweetly. “What a load of crap that is!” she commented with the same smile on her face.

“So,” August jumped on her, “what was that thing you had to tell us?” He seemed to want to get to the point badly this morning, or afternoon rather.

“Ah, right. Actually,” she cocked her head proudly, “we’ve completed our investigations.” There was a document bag right next to her which she opened. “The top ten guilds – well, before First Flight became number one. Bruno Ulyen. The commander. Those are the main entities responsible for the attack on First Flight. However, there are many other singular dungeoneers and politicians who have taken part in or benefitted from what has happened. Everything’s in these reports,” she handed us each a copy of it, “and the rest of this, is the evidence. But it is just a copy of the evidence. If you wish to view the originals, I’m afraid you’ll have to come to the IU’s base of operations.”

Scarlet’s jaw dropped haplessly. She could hardly believe a word she was just told. And who would? This woman just told us that in just over a month, they solved the entire case? I cleared my throat and brought the IU head’s attention to me. “Were they that sloppy? I doubt that’s the case. And if that isn’t the case, then everyone’s perception of the IU is falsely set, isn’t it?”

A devilish grin formed on her face, “Smart boy,” she commented. “Most cases we get are purposely done slowly to create a particular perception of our abilities. In truth, no one has any idea how scary we are.”

“So,” August stood up and formed his sword, “why tell us? What’s this about?”

“Calm down,” she chuckled, “we might be ridiculously good at what we do, but we’re not some evil villain you need to be suspicious about. Even though I revealed this to you, no one will believe you anyway. It just looks like our normal work. But in truth, we solved it about a week after the incident. We have all the names and motives, all the evidence. As we speak, the big boys behind this are constantly being tailed by a rotating shift of IU detectives. We’ve replaced the original evidence that links them with fakes so that they wouldn’t get antsy and run away. We can make arrests once we tell the EU.”

“Isn’t that great?” Scarlet murmured to herself. It was quite anticlimactic, this entire thing. The IU’s good work almost made it seem like the incident didn’t even occur. But the truth remained that over half the members in First Flight suffered some loss. Her eyelids clamped down, then she let out a sigh and composed herself. “I’ll look over all the evidence and read the reports. So, please execute the arrests.” She bowed deeply, “I can’t possibly thank you enough for this. But still, on behalf of the guild, First Flight, I thank you!”

The IU head welcomed her and then she left. Later that very evening, a couple letters were delivered to Scarlet of First Flight. One was a notice that the emperor would visit our guild! Even as Scarlet told us, she kept reading it over and over as if wondering if she read it correctly. The other letter was a confirmation of the arrests of all those involved. The envelope contained a long list of names.

In a week’s time, the emperor arrived with a measly two bodyguards. There were no fancy carriages, chariots, warhorses and battlemages. No bells and whistles of any kind. The emperor was clothed in rather normal clothing you’d see every day. His bodyguards wore cloaks with cowls to cover their armour and weapons. It made sense though, to arrive under the radar.

Scarlet invited the man to her office. One bodyguard went inside and one stayed outside. I decided to not stare at the poor guy and return to relevant topics. “So, uh, remember you said you had something to tell me?” I asked August, reminding him about the night of the award ceremony.

After a good minute of pondering, he recalled, “Ah, yeah! Dude! Hydra’s ass!” He summoned the longsword. No, not his regular iridescent one. After he got the amber crystal filled with quintessential energy from Leo and the mother of Umbral, I transmuted it into a sword just like the one he had. He enchanted it with an ownership enchantment but still had to carry it around with him everywhere. “This thing has a heck ton of quint in it! But uh, that’s actually not the big news. The big news is, I can do living enchantment.”

I shot him a weird look, a really weird look. “Are you high? When you say ‘living’…”

“I can the body. The only limitation it has, is that the body can only have one enchantment at a time. So,” he put his hands on his hips and looked at me slyly, “what did you get?” He was referring to our rewards from completing Earth-Sky Tower.

I wasn’t really sure what I got, so I looked in my inventory and about a dozen Frozen Tears. It reminded me to tell August and Freya about Shem keeping her in the dark. Wait, why didn’t I try light magic? That should heal whatever’s wrong with Freya’s mom. I bonked myself on the pate. Going back to the subject of rewards, I didn’t see any items fitting the prestige of clearing the most difficult dungeon in Yunaris.

“But, the staff of Scien is full of mana,” Donna brought to light and I couldn’t help but agree.

“Yeah. In fact, it’s so much that simply looking at it, it’s hard to see where it ends,” Dawn said, coming out of me and asking to see the staff. So, I began unzipping my pants like any gentleman would, but earned a slap in return.

“So, you prefer Scien’s staff after all?” I turned away and sobbed, “I knew you never loved me!”

She rolled her eyes, “Just let me see it already!” So, I gave her what she asked for. Donna came out as well to really inspect it. “Yup, just as I thought,” Dawn nodded her head a few times, “I know nothing.”

August couldn’t help but cackle, “How in blazes did we even do that?” he asked. “That reminds me,” he clapped his hands a couple times and brought the guild members’ attention to him. “Those who have around a month of time to spare, please tell the guild master to input your names for clearing Earth-Sky Tower.” He announced clearly. Everyone paused what they were doing to look at his nonchalant expression.

“Oh yeah,” Scadia snaked to the forefront, “you guys didn’t tell us what the boss of the dungeon was like.”

“Well,” August averted his eyes in shame, “I passed out, so…” he gave me the reins to the explanation.

With a sigh, I explained that the dungeon was separated into two parts, Hell, and Heaven. “In Hell, there’s a wave system and worsening temperatures. You’ll need a mage versed in ice magic to keep everyone from being slow-roasted. The wave system wasn’t particularly difficult for us, but I can see how dungeoneers would die from them.”

Especially that devil spirit at the end. “The last boss for hell is actually a replica of yourself. Your allies are suspended from any actions so each individual would have to overcome themselves, literally. Heaven on the other hand, we’re still not totally sure about it.” I explained that it seemed to saturate one with whatever was their main source of power, so much so that it became dangerous. I’d no idea how they would overcome something like that because every dungeoneer here used mana. They had no staff to redirect the dungeon’s mana flow. I thought that it would probably be a good idea for them to do the Hell half only and recall out after, but they wouldn’t get the dungeon’s rewards for clearing. So, I figured I’d just tell them about Heaven after all; there’s no doubt someone would attempt it anyway.

“So,” Scarlet placed her arm around me, “seeing that we’ll be there for a whole month, we’ll need the basic stuff like food and water.”

“I’m talking about the most feared dungeon in Yunaris and all you’re concerned about is food,” I looked at her disappointedly. “You glutton.”

“I’m just making sure we can make it through,” she shrugged. Scarlet scheduled the attempt for a week from now. She chose the strongest ranks of people, still in fear that the weaker ones may not make it.

Within that week, August focused solely on siphoning quintessential energy from the crystal longsword. So did I, but I also juggled light manipulation. Within that entire week, I still hadn’t completely drained the first gemstone on the staff.

~

Tears rolled out Freya’s eyes. Her fists balled in fury as she beat weakly on her brother, Shem’s chest. “How could you?” she complained. Her entire world had come crashing down. We’d even gave Shem the opportunity to tell her himself, that the Frozen Tear never worked; that her mother would continue to be sick.

“I don’t know how much of a reassurance it is, but I will try to save her with my magic. But I don’t want you to totally rely on me,” I warned her. We all needed her much-improved tanking abilities for Earth-Sky Tower. There was no time to have her sulk in the dungeon. Sure, we could’ve told her after the dungeon, but there was no guarantee she would beat her replica in the dungeon. Shem, August, and I at least agreed on telling her before she reached her possible end.

Their other brother slugged Shem in the face, “You call yourself a Glacierheart?!” and swerved another one, flooring Shem. “You’re a disgrace.”

“And you’re what?” Shem snapped back, “The greatest achieving Glacierheart?” He stood up, checking to see if his lips were busted, “You’re not. None of you are. I’m the one who worked the hardest to get where I am. I’m the one who lost all my friends looking for Frozen Tear in that damned dungeon. I’m the one who had to tell their families they died because I wanted to save my own family!” he slammed his fist against the wall. “How was I supposed to come back from that hellhole and tell my family the strongest member failed to save mother?”

He was about to open his mouth again to argue his point, but stopped when he saw Freya’s expression. She was absolutely fuming, and honestly looked like she would take his life should he continue spouting those impetuous words.

A moment of silence took over, until Freya’s footsteps intervened and eventually became lost in the distance.

We let them be and excused ourselves.

On the day of departure, Freya showed up, unfettered by the recent revelation. Shem as well was present. They weren’t on good terms like they were before, but they had somehow come to an understanding of each other’s perspective on the subject. At least they didn’t become enemies. August chitchatted with her.

Scadia found me through the crowd, “So, you nervous?”

Dawn materialised right then, “Aren’t you?” she asked the petite sorceress. “After all those mixed messages you sent, you really should be nervous to talk to him. It’s really not cool to do things like sleep in his bed but not be willing to at least tell him what it is you want. And I know you want something. But if you want that something, you’d better not be afraid to take it, because he already has a wife and three women who are willing to accept you. But you gotta come clean, else we won’t allow you at all.”

I was speechless, really. I’d no idea Dawn was thinking all of that. Sure, I had a thing for Scadia because she was cute, but nothing that serious. I’d removed her as an option long ago, but Dawn just offered her an opportunity to ‘fess up. Interesting, I thought, looking at her.

She was flabbergasted. She knew who Dawn was, and couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Her eyes interchanged between us until she eventually peered downward, “Let me, think about it,” she retreated to something that wasn’t really an answer at that point.

Scarlet was busy doing headcounts and ensuring all the dungeoneers were prepared. Our main group was here, including the twins, Claire and Clarence. Trevor’s group was also present as well as others who really weren’t that important to the story. Once Scarlet gave me the go-ahead, I began casting Riftshear to the fjord.

The entire group said their goodbyes to the other members of the guild and we suddenly appeared on the banks, overlooking the water. One by one, we entered Earth-Sky Tower’s starting room. We went to Hell first once more and it teleported us to the island surrounded by lava. I immediately began building a large igloo, but only halfway. “Sorcerers, finish the job!” I yelled out to the group. The first wave of fiery boars climbed up onto the island and attacked us. They didn’t have much issue dealing with the boars. Freya’s superb tanking and protection ensured the healers didn’t have much to do.

You surprised me back there, Dawn, I said, sitting in comfort and siphoning mana from the staff.

“I surprised myself too. She seems like a good person, but just confused.”

“Unlike her,” Donna interjected, “I know what I want.”

Dawn chuckled, “I’m afraid to ask what it is.”

~

About a week in, some people found being outside the igloo uncomfortable and distracting. In a couple weeks, it was becoming an issue and half of them couldn’t stay focused for long in the heat. The enemies, especially the waves where there would be an abundance of monsters, took advantage of that. Injuries became more commonplace.

In the third week, almost all of the party needed to be present in order to defeat the monsters. The fiery rocs were quite the issue for close combatants. Only mages and archers were able to take them out, which halved the group’s power. Phil, like Freya, saved countless people with the poison on his daggers. If he hadn’t stabbed and switched targets quickly, a lot of the monsters would have the time to maul, bite, or squeeze our party members to death. The healers’ work was becoming problematic.

At the start of the fourth week, Dawn joined them, easing their burden considerably. Her leviathan as well as her competence in water magic served to be an amazing asset. The ending of the fourth week saw them stretching themselves thin again, even with Dawn’s help. The heat was near unbearable, and people fainted in the middle of fights. Donna went to help them. She was a bit too powerful, but they definitely needed the help. I just told her to let them suffer a little so they’d grow stronger; helping too much would simply retard their growth.

Finally, the precursor to the replica challenge came in the form of the devil spirit, the fire faction’s second strongest.

During all that fighting, August and I stayed inside and let everyone else handle things. He focused religiously on incorporating the quint into his body through living enchantments, killing two birds with one stone.

I, on the other hand spent half my time playing with Celosia. She’d grown much fonder of me than I realised. She refused to leave my side for anything more than a minute, but at least she took her fiery bird form more often now. Her feathers grew beautifully, and so did she. The rest of my time I took to suck mana from the crystals on the staff.

I only paid the party attention when they defeated the devil and came back inside. Vivify brought everyone back. Health, strength, and mana potions put them in tip-top condition and buffed them, as well as buffs from Dawn’s leviathan. A month’s worth of battling every thirty minutes had their senses sharp, making them more ready now for the dungeon’s little test.

“The last bit of Hell is coming. A replica of you will appear,” I announced over yonder, but not too loud. Inside the igloo was a bit echoey. “You have to defeat it on your own; no one else can help you. Good luck, everyone!”

In thirty minutes, everyone was lifted gently up into the air and made immobile, or at least unable to move past a certain space. The only person who wasn’t floating was Freya. The dungeon had chosen a tank first. “Remember, you can only win by doing something you’d never do!” August advised, “If you can’t pull the extra one percent of strength out your ass, then think of a strategy you’d never attempt!”