The time had come to send his Legion on its way.

Vale called out to their backs as they marched up the ramp and out into the dawning day.

"Good luck."

Salome, at the front, giggled.

"Remember I… we don't need luck."

Vale laughed.

"Ah! That's right. In that case, win. Win for yourselves. Win for me. Win for the Dungeon of Lust."

Salome gave Vale a wicked smile, then she turned.

"That's more like it… And in our absence, do the same should the situation arise."

Vale grinned.

"Of course."

Then he, the workers, half of Mias, and Awilix watched as the Legion filed out and began the arduous climb up their side of the wall of the Terracotta Scar.

Vale sighed when the last of them escaped from his sight.

Awilix did too, although her reason was undoubtedly different.

"Ugh. This sucks!"

Vale rolled his eyes with a strained smile.

"Yeah, yeah."

Then, he looked over at the taciturn scholar.

"Mias, you will be guarding the entrance until they return. But also follow them. Send a little of you to relay any crucial information from your body following Ophelia."

'I can't let you be near the Dungeon Core…'

Mias responded with merely a nod as his arm disappeared into smoke. That smoke cloud was drifting off and away toward where the Legion went.

'And I hope you know well enough not to give them false information, Mias.'

Awilix, Vale, and the workers then left him behind to assume their own posts.

Awilix walked with both her hands cradling the back of her head and her arms raised while her tail whipped back and forth.

"Geez, what's that guy's problem?"

Vale stared toward where he'd left Mias.

"That's what I want to know…"

Mias had openly expressed his desire to defy Vale's will… yet his Loyalty remained 50/100.

'I can't understand what he's trying to do…'

Nor could Vale understand what 'Loyalty' was being quantified. At this point, it felt fake—something he couldn't trust.

Awilix, 76/100 Loyalty of her own, gave Vale a toothy, proud grin.

"You agree with me?! I knew I wasn't the weird one! Something's wrong with the dumbass's head! He's always asking — Where did you come from? Where do you want to go? What is your Aspect's description? How did you awaken your Aspect? What was your childhood like? What did you do the day before? What are your Traits? How did you meet Vale? — As if I know or remember any of that!"

Vale laughed.

"Well, maybe you should know some of that…"

'But then again, your memories are messed up just like Toy's.'

'But she could at least answer the last three.'

Awilix hissed at Vale. Then after a few more steps, she asked:

"What are we even going to do? The dumbass said this could take multiple days. Please don't tell me I'm going to have to sit on my ass inside all day like—"

Vale palmed Awilix's head and shook her:

"I stay inside because I have to, not because I want to."

Awilix, with her head still being held, laughed and looked at Vale. Then rolled her eyes.

"Right…"

Vale and Awilix eventually found themselves at the entrance to the long corridor, where Awilix was temporarily left behind as Vale and the workers proceeded further.

They followed into the logistical hub and then down a path on the left side of the room to the new, tucked-away Dungeon Core room. The one Ximena currently inhabited.

Vale stopped when in the pathway, looking at his 30 workers.

"Alright, little guys and gals. Don't get too bored."

The imps all screamed and cheered.

"Badu!"

"Badduhh!"

"Ba-ba-duhhh!"

A few flew into hideouts in another fake ceiling where they'd had preprepared spikes at the ready to drop.

Vale gave a hearty smile as he finally entered the Dungeon Core room and saw the pink floating sphere off to one side and Ximena's Crystal Prison on the other side.

Vale reached into the Nexus of Beginnings and removed Ximena's fabric sash, now a strip, that its owner wasn't seamlessly connecting the ends. It was also wet from the water Vale hadn't figured out how to drain yet.

Vale spoke to the crystal:

"It doesn't seem I'll be able to free you after this fight, but neither will we lose. Nor does that mean I've given up…"

Vale went and wound the wet strip around his neck like a scarf.

"I'll update you as I can."

Then, Vale turned around and walked back to the chokepoint Awilix was occupying.

If he wasn't stationed with Awilix, Mias had already warned him that the cat would die.

Vale sighed as he thought of the scholar.

'Salome was right. How am I summoning the most problematic individuals possible?!'

***

Toy was easily zipping up, jumping from crevice to crevice in the rock wall with ease, her weight being closer to that of a chicken than a human.

Not that she knew what a chicken was…

In any case, it took her merely a minute to scale the steep wall, only to find more wall to go.

She stepped onto the landing, then jumped and began her climb again. A minute later, she reached the top and held onto the ridge as she peered over.

'Wow…'

Toy couldn't help but gasp at the scene before her.

Off to her right, she could see the edge of the village and the outskirts of the farm hiding behind the edges of the building.

Looking ahead, she saw lush greenery and countless knolls, upon which a mass of flowers sprawled, covering the ground…

Roses.

Countless roses merged together to form a sea of red.

Spawned by that countless sea, a sweet fragrance slipped through the air and entranced her mind.

A little to the left was the edge of an arcing forest with an odd darkness cast upon it, not even allowing her to see a few meters in.

The wind wasn't too harsh, but it still sent Toy's hair whipping around wildly as she craned her head, looking at the expanse of flowers. Then she spotted the sun peeking over one of the little knolls, illuminating the field.

'So pretty…'

Animals began to squeal. Birds chirped.

The ambiance calmed the anxious goblin, despite the promise of blood to be shed.

Toy, still hanging on to the edge, not wanting to fully expose herself, looked back down and saw none of the warriors had reached the landing yet.

Salome was still down there helping them one by one as well. She was also the one carrying Toy's halberd.

Toy was the fastest, save for Salome, so she'd been selected to scout ahead while Salome helped them climb.

Toy smiled as she saw Diana pull herself up onto the landing.

Then, Toy brought her head back up.

"Hello."

Ophelia stood right before her, with a green blade of polished stems drawn, a residue of gray smoke flickering on her shoulder.

She wore a green suit of armor, tied together with rose heads scattered about.

The tall woman was already thrusting the blade at Toy as she greeted her with a terrible grin splitting her face.

Toy barely had time to process anything before she was forced to shove off the side and sent herself into a slowish freefall.

Ophelia cast a wicked smile down at the tiny goblin as her sword quickly transformed into a bow, and a rose petal arrow grew from her right palm.

Toy let some of her weight come back to increase her velocity and gain as much distance as possible, but as a result, the ground began approaching at an alarming rate.

She tried to scream for her master, but choked on her words.

Ophelia pulled back the arrow and let it fly, sailing for Toy's head.

Using her dexterity, Toy managed to swing her forearm in the shot's path barely a moment before it reached her.

The rose arrow smashed into Toy's wrist and then some, sliding through until the red tip pointed out the other side. A splatter of green blood shot out from her wound into her eyes.

'A-am I going to die?'

Toy's eyes welded themselves closed as a searing pain shot through her whole body.

She tried to scream, knowing her body was getting closer and closer to the ground.

"It's alright, I've got you, sweetie."

Toy couldn't see, but she could feel her master's warm embrace envelop her and her descent being counteracted.

The moment Toy felt her body's movement stop, signaling she'd reached the ground safely, she squealed in pain.

"Ack!"

Toy forced opened her eyes. Through a green veiled vision, she looked all the way up to see Ophelia looking down at her.

Toy grimaced as Master Salome gripped the arrow and tore it out of her arm, and began healing her.

Toy began blinking wildly and attempting to wipe the blood out of her eyes.

'D-did…'

Did she see Mias's smoke behind her?

If so, why did he not act?

'I was probably seeing things.'

Once healed, Toy stood and locked in on her target, beginning the climb once again. This time, Master Salome was by her side.

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