The silver veil shimmered in the air like the shifting boundary of a dream.

Percy's head flicked from the woman coming through the veil and Thalos, but he wasn't the only one seeing her.

The woman had ghostly white hair and glowing blue eyes under her thin veil. She raised her hand.

The dark cavern suddenly contracted, all the colors of the world and the fabric of reality stretching and pulling towards her.

Without even a single chant, Thalos was drawn towards her and landed right beside Percy. He blinked twice, utterly confused before attacking. His katana drew a crimson line through the air where the woman had been standing.

But she was gone, Lethel with her, reappearing behind them. Percy felt her position shift through the tower and sensed a dissonance.

"Light spiritmancer," he murmured, turning to her.

The woman nodded behind the veil, an elegant gesture he couldn't help but appreciate.

"I am Phoebe, retainer to Lord Sion. I have come to retrieve Lethel."

Percy glared at her; they had already missed out on killing Sebas and Griffon. Lethel had to die here and now. They would never get another chance at this. He glanced at Thalos, who read the intention in his eyes.

"We can't allow that. How invested are you in Sion's cause anyway?" Percy asked. "Is there anything that we could offer to change your mind?"

He just needed to stall for time while he analysed the circles in the temple. There was one that allowed it to separate itself from space. This was why they needed to pour their blood over the flowers to see the temple.

But to his dismay, the spell didn't interact with space in a serious way. Rather it was just very powerful at deceiving human senses and making them ignore and even walk around the temple.

There was no way for him to seal space in this area right now.

"I am Sion's oldest follower, but I hold no loyalty to his cause," Phoebe answered, sighing in a voice as soft as moonlight. "I would prefer if he abandoned his grudge against you."

"That's good to hear, then maybe we can come to a mutual decision."

Phoebe shook her head.

"I will not weaken Sion for you. Lethel is one of our strongest fighters. I simply remained behind to ask how the mission went. Have they failed to retrieve any of the things Sion asked them to?"

Percy didn't answer, which was a sign to Thalos that it was time to attack.

The swordsman shot forward in a blinding flash and nearly decapitated the woman, but the space in front of Phoebe bent and blocked the sword.

It wasn't even exactly a block. Rather space had folded around Thalos' katana, holding the blade in place.

Percy had also been moving forward, circling the woman as fast as he could while his golden scorpion spirit approached from behind.

As expected she used her space control to stop the giant scorpion, turning it into a flat, one dimensional line.

Then she attacked Percy with a bolt of white light. At the last moment, he switched place with the scorpion that easily absorbed her attack.

It was a gamble switching because he wasn't sure how she controlled space, but he managed to appear outside the dimensional fold.

He rushed forward to attack her, only two steps away.

But he was stopped in place. Frozen in a flat one-dimensional strip of space. She was too powerful and her magic too hard to pin down.

He didn't even understand what was happening. Iin his mind, he was still three-dimensional, but he couldn't move for some reason.

"You can't cast any spells like that either," Phoebe added like she could read his thoughts; her pale face was slightly visible when she turned to him. She wore a black open-back dress that hugged her body nicely.

But he also realised she didn't know he could still cast spells.

This wasn't his real body, just a focal point that he could cast spells through. Down at the center of the temple, he began chanting the gravity spell.

Meanwhile Phoebe glanced at the scorpion charging at her and sent a barrage of silver light flying towards it.

"It appears you have gotten all the treasures of the temple. This failure will not bode well with Sion. If I may ask, can I trade Lethel's life for one of the elixirs?"

Thalos finally sawed through the folded space with a burst of crimson light, while Phoebe made Percy's head three-dimensional so he could speak.

"You're insane, lady. We're not giving you anything and we're still going to kill Lethel."

"I do not enjoy fruitless conversations, I will take my leave," she said. "But do be warned, this will cause Sion to take drastic measures that both of us won't like."

Phoebe didn't notice the spell he was casting in his one dimensional state, because the rest of his body was a flat line.

He was condensing powerful gravity and rotating the mass and pull they created to distort space.

It was a cataclysmic amount of energy that took him a while to draw, an attack he wouldn't dare use around his real body.

Phoebe turned to open the curtain in reality that she used to travel here, and that was when his spell exploded.

The sound of reality bending was one he would never forget.

The effect of the gravitational bomb rippled through reality towards Phoebe and disrupted her spell and body. Her eyes widened as she realised her mistake and switched to another faster spell.

But Thalos was already moving, slowed by ripples travelling through space, but he extended his sword using the fourth technique of the Blood Demon School.

"Demon seeker."

The tip of his blade extended with a red glassy energy that retained all the power of his slash despite the longer sword, and reached for Phoebe's neck.

A silver tail appeared midair over Phoebe's head, blocking the sword with a burst of sparks.

Percy, whose golem was now a piece of rubble, used his last trick and switched places with the scorpion. His golem was just rubble now, but he could still use it as an anchor.

The scorpion appeared immediately, towering over Phoebe and casting a long shadow. Its stinger shot forward in a golden haze and stabbed into Lethel's shoulder just before they disappeared.

Thalos slid to a stop and cursed under his breath.

"We couldn't get him."

A Percy golem rose from the floor with a smile, and gave Thalos a cheerful thumbs up.

"I got him with my spirit's stinger, so it should kill him soon. Let's hope so at least."

"Speaking of the spirit," Thalos murmured glancing at the giant scorpion, "when did you reach Rank 4? I'm not surprised honestly, just wish you hadn't surpassed me so quickly."

"Don't worry, I'm still Rank 1," Percy said, an excited glint in his eyes. "Let's go below the temple, I'll explain everything there."

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