“It’s starting.” Lily paused. “Claud, you alright?”

Claud let out a groan, and then held up a hand to indicate silence. Reaching into his clothes a moment later, he pulled out a small pyramid, checked that the markers were misaligned, and then said, “Sorry to trouble you this badly. This is rather unfitting of me.”

Being carried by Lily made him feel bad, but being spoiled did feel rather good, though. Everything had gone wrong the moment he broke out of the Celestia Ruins. Was the great Dark already aware of him? And the oddity he represented? Whatever the case, the incredible reaction the great Dark showed as he broke out was unbelievable.

Did it mean something?

“Lay me down a bit,” Claud muttered. “Stop moving.”

“But—”

“I’m only physically exhausted,” Claud replied, interrupting Lily’s words. “That’s all.”

Fortunately, the great Dark’s bombardment of him had lasted less than ten seconds, and more importantly, its retaliation had completely phased through the two of them. It would seem that a trace of his Absolute skill had leaked out somehow, despite the use of Presence Nullification. After that, Presence Nullification apparently kicked in or something, but…

Why would that make the great Dark’s attack miss entirely? Was it bolstered by his Absolute One’s Order bonuses? Whatever the case, Claud wasn’t going to ask too much. It wasn’t like he was going to get any answers anyway. However, the initial wave of attacks had actually struck home, and—

He coughed once, and blood flew. Before it could land, however, Claud intercepted it with a strand of mana, before binding it up and stuffing it into his clothes.

“Lower me,” Claud muttered. “On that rock there. Sorry, but I think we’ll need to spend the night here…and the Moons are changing too. I’m not sure what to think of the whole thing, but maybe I’m the cause again.”

He coughed once more, and Lily hurriedly settled him down. “What exactly happened?”

Claud shook his head, reluctant to answer. Instead, he took out another skillstrip, held Lily’s hand, and then ripped it into two. Appearing here, in the middle of nowhere when the great Dark was directly overhead, was probably a death sentence.

“That skill…I’m not sure what happened either, but the Dark nearly injured me. I withstood Greater Half’s attack directly and survived thanks to that, but when that period of invincibility wore off, the aftershocks of that attack’s aftershock injured me.” Claud paused. “Good. I’m recovering quickly. Water, please.”

“Here.” Lily rubbed his head. “But you actually managed to block that direct attack…”

“Sorry for subjecting you to that too.” Claud hugged her once. Greater Half clearly was capable of designating targets or something, despite unleashing area of effect attacks. The outburst of pure energy and the myriad of other phenomena hadn’t even left a dent in the ground or a burn mark on Lily — it was fixated on him, but even that had missed save for the very first attack.

“It passed through me, so no harm done,” Lily replied. “Anyway, you don’t look too good.”

“It’s just the aftershock of a nullified attack, and I’m almost unconscious. Urgh.” Claud sat up. “This sucks. I’m going to hide in the inn for a very long time after this, until the Trial of Aeons open.”

“Sounds good.” Lily looked up at the new sky. “But something’s always changing…”

“Yeah.” Claud fixed his eyes on the singular Moon that hung above the world. It was radiating a blurry white warmth that seemed to melt any and all shadows that had appeared, but more importantly, it was in its gibbous phase.

Thunder roared once more, and the trembling world began to still. The singular moon in the sky came into full focus, and a single thought flitted into Claud’s mind.

The three Moons had truly descended.

As stillness and tranquillity returned to the world, multiple screens appeared in front of him, dyed in the purest white, a white that Claud could not associate with the God of Karma.

“The Last Godsfall?” Claud muttered. “Not the Fourth? What’s going on?”

“That’s a very good question,” Lily replied, her eyes fixed on the white moon. “Look! What’s that?”

Purple-green light shot to the skies a moment later, and the darkness fled from an overwhelming outburst of purest lifeforce. Even from an incredible distance, Claud could tell that the pillar of purple-green light contained the purest of lifeforce, and three little shapes popped out of his clothes, meeping around on his shoulder.

“What’s going on?” Claud muttered. “What now?”

He followed the pillar of purple-green light, which turned more and more green as it continued to rise. Like a jet of water that had slammed into the ceiling, the pure green light splattered across the skies, spreading across the sky. Drops of green light began to fall, irrigating the vast lands and inundating Claud with an incredible sensation of vitality.

“A rainstorm of lifeforce, is it?” Claud produced a small cup with his mana, and green light began to pool. “Want some?”

“You—can you be a bit more serious?” Lily eyed him, and then took a sip. “Thanks, dear. It’s sweet….”

“I’ll try to gather more, than.” Claud worked his will, and two circuits worth of mana poured out of him, rising into the sky as a conical container and capturing a great deal of the green rain. Within moments, the newly-created container had been filled up, which was the cue for Claud to make a second, smaller one.

“Let’s start drinking from this or something,” Claud hurriedly said. “It’s free lifeforce!”

Making two little pipes at the base of the cone, the two of them began to suck on the small, flexible straw of mana. Lifeforce flooded their mouth a moment later, and it was all Claud could do to just keep swallowing over and over…even if there really wasn’t a need to.

The rain, however, saw no signs of stopping as he and Lily continued to drink on, and he checked on his status. His lifespan was shooting up — presumably along with everyone else right now too — and in a stroke of inspiration, Claud thinned out the walls of the current cone and used the excess mana to extend the overall coverage.

“Mm!”

Claud turned his eyes to Lily, who couldn’t stop drinking either, before fighting back the urge to laugh. The entire process looked very wrong, and Lily must have realised that too, because her face began to twitch.

The shower of lifeforce eventually ended after an hour, but the two conical containers of lifeforce were still full, so the two of them stayed in their current positions. It felt odd to be gulping down lifeforce, especially when nothing actually entered his stomach, and eventually, Claud glanced at Crown.

Jamming up his own straw-slash pipe, he said, “Crown, can you do something about this and transfer all this lifeforce to me?”

“Meep!”

The two masses of green immediately began to gather around the two of them, and green mist began to rise from the ground all around them. With another energised meep, the huge swath of lifeforce began to condense and wrap around Claud and Lily, before sinking into their skin directly.

In that instant, Claud’s lifespan shot up by two hundred years, and by the looks on Lily’s face, something similar had happened too. A moment later, Crown let out a tired meep, before rolling to its side tiredly.

“You alright, little guy?” Claud asked.

“Meep…”

“Thanks, Crown.” Claud dismissed the two mana constructs and tore another skillstrip. “What are you anyway? How can you manipulate lifeforce on such a scale?”

Lily nodded. “It seems like you manipulated the lifeforce in local surroundings to come here.”

“Meep…”

“Alright, alright. I don’t think this is going to happen again anytime soon, so don’t be worried. I won’t get you to do this all day, okay?” Claud patted its velvety top, and the tiny little box nuzzled his fingers. The sight made Claud a bit sad — he had involuntarily recalled the Frozen Emperor’s throne — and he didn’t like it.

“Claud?” Lily looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Claud shook his head. “Anyway, how much lifespan do you have? I think you’ll be able to push for your fifth mana-fold with this much lifespan. We drank a lot, and then Crown added one Moon of a finishing touch.”

“If I’m lucky, but…lifestones should be really cheap now, right?” Lily made a face. “With this much lifeforce pouring all over the world, lifestone mines will surface, but…”

“The Fourth…the Last Godsfall just started.” Claud shook his head. “The usual mining crews aren’t going to be heading out now.”

“…You should rest first.” Lily took out some artefacts.

“I’m fine now. That rain of lifeforce seems to have healed my injuries.” Claud stretched slowly. “Come on, let’s go back first. I’m just really tired now. A bed sounds really nice, and the great Dark is still nearby. Let’s go back first.”

He took out a Flight skillstrip and handed it to Lily. “I’m counting on you.”