"You do not have to use the device," Mortaine said calmly. "In fact, I'm rather confident you don't need it."

"But it would save us all time and effort and you'd have what you want today," Beth said leadingly.

"That is true," he sighed.

"We'll just get this over with then," Beth said with a shrug. "Turns out, we can be left to our own devices sooner that anybody thought."

"Very well then," he said. He made a flicking gesture at her and then continued, "I have sent you three the coordinates. I have also sent coordinates for this suite and several other places. That artefact will take you to your destination near-instantly; grab the box that is there, and then activate the cube again and get out. The area is dangerous, but nothing you can't handle, though I don't know the specifics of where the box is."

"Got it," Beth said. "Anything else?"

"I only have some vague information," he answered with a helpless shrug. "Just try to be careful; you're more valuable as assets than corpses, for sure."

"You two ready?" Beth asked, turning to Sera and Blood.

"Of course," Sera said, placing a hand on Beth's shoulder. Blood just grunted, but she walked up and grabbed Beth's hand, though she wasn't sure they needed to be in bodily contact for the device to take them all. Beth looked down at the silver cube hovering over her hand and thought about using it; she immediately got the sense it was asking for something. She instinctively fed it the coordinates, along with a desire to go there and take the two touching her with her and, as soon as the thought was done, they were off.

This was unlike any other teleport she had ever experienced, and she had experienced quite a few of them up to this point. It was using some principle of space she was entirely unfamiliar with, and she observed everything as carefully as she could, given that she only had a handful of seconds to watch everything. Space didn't so much twist as it seemed to both fold in on itself while at the same time invert; it was very hard to describe, almost made worse by Beth's perception of space, as it was flooding her senses and brain with tons of very complex and rather strange information. She caught as much of the process the cube used as she could before they were suddenly standing in a very large, brightly lit chamber with a white marble floor and some kind of wood paneling on the walls. Beth quickly looked through a list of notifications as they scanned their surroundings, making sure there weren't any immediate threats.

Spatial Mana Detection has reached Gold[0].

Spatial Mana Detection has reached Gold[1].

Spatial Mana Detection has reached Gold[2].

Spatial Mana Detection has reached Gold[3].

Spatial Resistance has reached Silver[0].

Spatial Resistance has reached Silver[1].

Spatial Resistance has reached Silver[2].

Spatial Resistance has reached Silver[3].

Spatial Resistance has reached Silver[4].

Spatial Step has reached Platinum[0].

The last one came as quite a shock, and as soon as she saw the notification, her brain was flooded with a slew of new information and understandings. She had a brand new, entirely intuitive understanding of how to activate the skill, which came with a totally new way to target where she would step and how. She instinctively knew how to slide through space in a way that was much harder to detect and was even faster, though she had already moved near-instantly. Now, though…she was going to be able to start a stepping motion and appear in just a nanosecond anywhere within ten miles. It was quite the upgrade, not to mention she would likely be unpacking all the information and adjusting to the new level for months yet.

She shook off her bit of a stupor and refocused, finding that Sera and Blood had thoroughly swept the area and found it empty. It appeared that, despite protesting a lack of knowledge, Mortaine had basically dropped them right on the head of the pin, putting them in the exact right place. The reason Beth knew that is there was a large, rectangular plinth or just solid block of marble in the center of the room and, sitting just in the middle of that block, was a strange box. As soon as Beth looked at it she got chills, and not because it was creepy or anything like that. Just by glancing at it she got a sense of unbelievable power and majesty, like a wave of regal authority and command that washed out across the room and tried to swamp her with its might.

Sera and Blood had similar reactions when just glancing at the box and Beth was the first to approach it, the other two girls scouting the single doorway that led into the room. The doorway was blocked off by a large stone, or what appeared to be so; it certainly wasn't something molded or carved into a very door-like shape. As they were looking at that, Beth walked up to the plinth and examined the box, noting it was made of some kind of alloy she was unfamiliar with and carved by the hands of a true master. It was set with an inlay of a silver metal, the bright lines contrasting sharply with the dark golden red of the box. Beth was almost tempted to label it as some kind of adamantine, though she would only find later that it was a somewhat close guess. She examined the box for a moment longer, feeling the pressure of the power of the thing before she examined it with her eyes, wanting to see what her eye power said about the strange work of art.

Reliquary of the Lost Light

{A mythical relic from before the Age of Dreaming. Sealed within it now are the lost spirits of the thirteen greatest Empyrean who found themselves just short of realizing the knowledge of their own souls. To acquire this box, one must face the empyreans in battle and triumph. How the test unfolds is solely at the volition of the empyreans. Touching this lost relic without agreeing to or completing the trial carries a sentence of death.}

"Just a fucking box, Mortaine. Fuck!" Beth cursed after reading the description, swearing up a storm while the other two quickly made their way over.

"What is it?" Sera asked, but Beth watched in real time as her eyes bugged out when she looked at the box, clearly seeing the same description that Beth had after using her eye power.

"He better pay us a fucking spaceship," Blood growled after having read the box's description herself.

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"Believe me, we are going to have words," Beth said caustically, frowning at the box as they spoke.

"So, what do we do?" Sera asked, looking to Beth. "You gonna touch it?"

"No, Sera, I'm not going to touch the magic emperor death-box," Beth said with a sigh.

"I meant if you're going to take the trial?" Sera said with a slight cough.

"Of course I'm going to take the trial," Beth scoffed. "You think I wasted one of my four free teleports and came to this…wherever the hell this is, just to leave with nothing? We have to get the box and take it back to Mortaine. It's a simple job."

"If you say so," Blood growled, glancing between the other two like they were nuts.

"I do say so," Beth returned firmly, stepping forward against the plinth and reaching out to touch the box.

When her hand got close, a prompt appeared in her vision, asking if she wanted to take the trial of the Reliquary. She selected yes and was surprised at first when nothing seemed to happen, but then a sudden wave of power washed out of the box, disturbing the air in the room and pushing the three of them back several steps. Beth looked around after recovering from being staggered to see thirteen new people standing in the room with them, the group an eclectic mix of men and women from several different species and what looked like several different timelines. The eerie thing was that all thirteen sets of strange, powerful eyes were now locked onto her without blinking or wavering. The other strange thing she noticed after a moment was that she knew one of these people, these ghosts from the box.

"Liveria?" she asked, surprised to see her…benefactor, perhaps? The woman reacted with slight surprise, one perfectly manicured eyebrow rising just so as she frowned just a small bit.

"You have me at a disadvantage, ma'am," the ghost of the empress said.

"Uh, sorry, right, this is a little strange," Beth replied, glancing around before continuing. "I'm Elizabeth Bell, or Beth, and, well, I guess I'm your heir? I found a crystal with your memories in it and got a title from it…"

"I see. So that old thing did come in handy," Liveria muttered darkly. "We'll have time to talk later, girl. If you survive."

"Okay, not ominous at all," Beth retorted.

"Ha, I like this one, Liv," said a massive, muscled man wearing the pelt of some beast. He looked like a bodybuilder that had gone right up to the edge of what was possible with his frame, a hulk of a brute that towered over seven feet tall and looked like he could crush adamantine with his fingers and singularities with a strong enough bearhug.

"We shouldn't waste time," came another, a short, thin woman wearing something that reminded Beth a bit of a Japanese yukata or formal dress. She was smoking something in a pipe that emitted a green haze and had her very long hair bound in an intricate set of buns clasped by long, lacquered pins.

"Yes, time for the trial," said a tall man that Beth belatedly realized was an elf, with a similar stature and appearance to Tazeen.

"What shall it be?" asked a woman from the opposite side. Tall and gangly, Beth realized she was some species similar to Val, as she had too many elbows, fingers, and finger-joints.

"Combat," bellowed the massive man with a huge grin.

"Hardly fair," Liveria said, Beth getting a faint sense that she was speaking up in her defense.

"We can limit ourselves. Easily," said the elf.

"No other way?" asked one of the others that hadn't spoken, using a calm, cold tone.

"It will be fastest and easiest. We can't have someone without the strength take the reliquary," said another.

"Then, we limit ourselves to her level," Liveria said calmly. "Child, what level are you right now?"

"Rebirth five, level two hundred sixty," Beth said calmly.

"Really? You're rather young. Your companions as well," said one of the figures, a massive woman who towered over everyone else, even the muscled man, by quite a large amount.

"We're dedicated," said Sera, speaking for the first time as she examined the figures.

"Well, easy enough. Not like we don't have the practice," said another of the figures, a woman with brilliant white feathers instead of hair.

"Should we, uh, leave?" asked Sera, looking around at the empyreans.

"Just back up, kiddo," said the musclehead. "We'll make sure not to get you involved."

"Okay," Sera said, grabbing Blood and taking the wolf with her to the edge of the room.

"Come on over here in the open space," said one of the figures, gesturing Beth to the other side of the room. Luckily, the place was rather spacious, though she still felt a little hemmed in as thirteen Ascended surrounded her.

"Rules?" asked Beth.

"Just give us everything you got, kiddo," the musclehead replied. "We'll call ourselves out when we would've taken too much damage for somebody at your level."

"Okay," Beth said, taking a deep breath and shaking her limbs out, getting ready for the fight.

"Tell us when you're ready," the gigantic woman said.

Beth closed her eyes, taking another deep breath before slowly letting it out and opening her eyes, a fierce light burning within them. She said, slowly and coldly, "Begin."

The empyreans gave her no quarter, all thirteen legendary figures charging her at the same time. She waited, just watching them approach, which didn't take long at all, noting the surprise in several of their eyes as the ones to her front closed with her and she didn't move. Just as they were about to get within striking distance, she suddenly burst out with power, summoning her Presence and firing off multiple Spatial Obliterations around herself using all her limbs, the power of the strikes not even marring the surface of the marble floor, but more than enough to drive the empyreans back. True to their word, they were only the level of power one could expect out of a fifth rebirth person on the Path, and Beth's mastery of her Presence, plus the added power her Mana Physique gave everything, had caught many of them flat-footed.

She followed up on her advantage, using Spatial Step to move around the room faster than thought, appearing by one empyrean after another, her initial furious onslaught causing four of the former emperors and empresses to raise their hands and walk or teleport over to where Sera and Blood waited. That left it down to a one-versus-nine already, but Beth thought she could even those odds further, continuing to teleport as she wove a combination of Spatial Obliteration and Celestial Annihilation, the force of the strikes amplified even further by her Mana Physique and Presence. The onslaught had once again surprised the empyreans, though they weren't caught out the same way this time as the first, only one of them taking enough damage to rule themselves out of the fight. That hadn't entirely been up to Beth's hopes, but she also hadn't really expected to take out a large number of them.

Instead, she had wanted to try to separate them and drive them into different zones, where she could engage them without having to worry about being overwhelmed by the whole group. She still had to deal with attacks from more than one, and she suspected there might have been just a bit of cheating happening. The elf and the tall woman fired sword waves at her that moved in almost miraculous ways, always avoiding the other empyreans while directly targeting Beth's vital points. That was the kind of skill even a Master shouldn't have, let alone somebody at her level, someone who likely wouldn't be very far advanced through Expert. Still, it did have one advantage, and that was that she could hone her weapon fighting skills while trying to knock more of the specters out of the fight. That, and she could often surprise one of them with a quick burst of power that they weren't expecting.

She knocked two more out that way, charging the man who had spoken rather coldly and wore something looking much like a military suit, avoiding his saber slash before suddenly teleporting right in front of the woman with white feathers for hair. That woman reacted by unleashing a massive blast of scorching, destructive fire in front of her, Beth again thinking there might be a little cheating going on. That worked to her advantage, though, as she took that fire, remolded it, then redirected it into two of the other empyreans in the span of an eyeblink. The flames were totally overwhelming, far more than somebody at rebirth five should have been able to handle without serious, serious injury or death, and the other two called themselves out with severe frowns at the feather-haired woman.

Beth didn't even wait to fully see them out, teleporting behind Liveria and unleashing a dozen attacks in a heartbeat, flexing her Presence as she did so to knock the former empress off balance. Liveria was able to respond, but the opening left by Beth's attack allowed her to get a crippling strike in that Liveria acknowledged, though she wasn't out just yet. Beth had immediately redirected, attacking the giant woman from range before appearing in front of the musclehead, who hadn't expected her arrival with her fist already impacting his abs. Beth Spatial Obliterated his torso, even though it barely made a dent, but the man called himself out with a huge laugh.

The empyreans had mostly recovered by that point, but she had knocked out more than half of them already, and their agreement to limit themselves so much had basically sealed their fate. Beth wasn't sure why they hadn't assumed she would have a Mana Physique, or had decided to challenge her without acting as if they had one, but she was very glad of it. Like she had noted before, there was still at least a bit of cheating going on, but she figured they were just so strong and skilled that it was basically impossible for them to fully lower themselves down to her level. It was another advantage, as they did dish out some serious punishment to her, all of which she either shrugged off or simply stood back up from before striking out again. They all appeared embarrassed when they couldn't hold themselves back, their hesitation giving her further openings to knock more of them out.

In the end, it all came down to Beth and a very strange woman whose body was made of a combination of black glass and…starlight? It was really weird, and the woman also gave Beth several strange sensations, not to mention made her danger sense ping off the charts. She also pressed Beth much harder than any of the others, though she technically didn't go over the line in their battle. It was one of the hardest fights Beth had ever had, especially coming off eliminating all twelve other empyreans, but she managed to pull through, even if it was just by the skin of her teeth. She was badly beaten and bloodied, with multiple broken bones and much internal bleeding, but the strange woman acknowledged herself out before things could go too far.

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