Awilix understood… but also didn't.

All the beings that had died in the Eclipse… their Aether had not dispersed into the atmosphere as it should have. Or maybe it was better to say it dispersed, but only as far as the confines of the Eclipse.

All the rogue Aether from the dead warriors floated around, bouncing off the dark walls — contained in the prison of shadow.

When Eclipse had been recalled, it hadn't so much ended as it had just moved to the final stage. Now, all the remaining Chameleon Warriors and the last Champion were made to bear witness to that stage…

A warped light surrounded Awilix's body like she were wearing an aura shell.

It was weird…

Something the cat didn't wholly understand.

At the same time, she didn't care all too much to understand. Instead, she focused on one fact of her situation…

'Power…'

Yes, she'd been bestowed a transient supreme power. If only her body were in a better state, she'd maybe even be able to kill the asshole who put that stone belt on her!

The Aether wasn't absorbed by her as much as it was made to bend to her will. The golden aura was more of a shell of rogue Aether, surrounding her — the condensed rogue Aether of all the dumbasses she'd slaughtered while fighting.

Awilix stood up and tore the splatters of guts from her body and faced the Wind Slicer head-on, who sent another attack. Awilix snickered as the invisible attack bounced off her chest and was dismissed as if it were a playful joke.

Awilix's smile grew wicked as she took in the visages of her enemies and Salome, who'd appeared sometime during her peril. It quickly became apparent to her…

She was the current strongest force in the room, who possessed the power and will to drive the hand of fate.

Though the pain shooting through her body made focusing quite a difficult task.

Awilix tenderly put down her broken leg and stood on it. She winced in advance, nearly expecting a shot of pain, but was pleasantly surprised when the golden shell held her a little aloft and protected her ankle from hurting and getting messed up worse than it already was.

Seeing that she didn't have to worry about her ankle, at least for as long as the shell lasted, Awilix threw her reserves by the wayside and shot herself toward the Wind Slicer at a speed greater than the current Salome's capabilities.

The chameleon tried to dodge, but Awilix was too fast. With a deft swipe, Awilix tore through the scaly armor and rended its throat.

"Hahaha!"

Awilix couldn't help but laugh as she stared into the large chameleon's eyes, as it stumbled around and choked on its own blood, before falling over and promptly dying.

"That's what you deserve, dumbass!"

Salome put a hand on Awilix's shoulder, only for the shell to flare and attack the succubus.

Salome began to say something…

"Your ankle—"

But Awilix didn't deign to listen.

Instead, she charged into the 30 remaining Chameleon Warriors with an excited look on her face, ready to continue the carnage. She was going to pay back all the pain she suffered tenfold.

Awilix sliced wildly as she danced through the horde, decapitating and disemboweling as she pleased. She was such a terrible force of nature that the remaining Chameleon Warriors just stopped trying altogether and just awaited their death at the hands of Awilix.

"You dumbasses are all no fun!"

All while Awilix danced around and laughed as if her ankle wasn't crooked and the bone wasn't popping out.

"Bahaha!"

It wasn't long until the last challenger was slain and all foreign entities had been forcefully ousted from the Dungeon of Lust.

***

The second the last Chameleon Warrior fell, Salome rushed to Awilix's side.

The cat was all smiles and cheers… until the shell dissipated.

The cat fell over and immediately shrieked in pain.

"Arrggh!"

Salome looked over toward the onlooker and screamed at her.

"Little Owl! Tie her down!"

Ximena, quickly assessing the situation, leaned against the stone wall a little ways away for support while sending the fabric swirling around her and using it to tie down Awilix. Though she obviously had a dissatisfied look on her face at having to help her nemesis.

The air instantly grew cold, but Ximena was so weakened that it wasn't even below freezing, at least at their current distance.

The moment Awilix was restrained, Salome straddled the thrashing cat.

Through bouts of pain, Awilix yelled at Salome:

"W-what are you doing?!"

Instead of responding with words, Salome tore off one of her stockings and shoved it in the cat's mouth. The cat tried to spit it out, but Salome's strength was too great. Finally, Ximena sent a strand of fabric that did a good job of holding the stocking in place.

Salome looked down at her unwilling patient.

"Be a good girl… and sit still!"

Then, she brought her hand down the cat's ankle… and shoved the exposed bone back inside with her bare hand.

Thankfully, she didn't need to set it perfectly, as Aether Constructs were a little special in that regard, but if it were too off when it healed, then her constitution wouldn't even matter.

Tears immediately filled Awilix's eyes as she looked at Salome with all of the scorn and hate in the world. The cat thrashed around, trying to free herself from the fabric bondage, but Ximena had her thoroughly locked in place.

Salome dug her hand into Awilix's wound and connected the bone as best she could before beginning to heal the cat.

When the tissues and muscles were restored to a serviceable point, Salome removed her hand and dashed away, leaving the owl and crying kitten behind. But not before screaming one more order to the owl.

"Do not let her go! And put her leg in a splint!"

Salome quickly flew through the maze, passing by Stacy's half-decimated squad. When she exited the maze, she finally found her target.

Vale sat on the stone throne, eyes closed, one hand resting on each arm.

He was bleeding profusely with a nasty cut that went through one side of his stomach to his back; however, whatever had inflicted such an attack upon him had missed the vitals, so he should be okay once he was healed a little.

Salome wasted no time in supplying half of her Aether reserves to Vale, which quickly brought life back into his dreary eyes.

Vale weakly blinked open and looked around. Instead of dwelling on the emotional aspects of the situation, Vale immediately said:

"It seems we won… since you know the situation better than I. What is your call?"

Salome stared at her master, who seemed to never lose his cool, no matter the situation.

As for what he was asking…

He was asking whether they were in a position to launch a counterattack.

By all means, they weren't — not the forces of the dungeon of Lust, at least. However… Salome was…

"I can."

Vale narrowed his gaze.

"You can? Do you mean to say alone?"

Salome smiled from ear to ear.

"Yes. I'll take Toy with me, she has to earn her keep after all, but there's no need for others."

Salome would have never suggested such a thing before…

But now she trusted in maybe not Vale's strength, but his resolve. She was prepared to set out on a journey and leave the dungeon in its most vulnerable state since its inception. If Vale died in her absence, she was willing to accept such a fate, as this man was valiant enough and, in her eyes, had earned the right to take hold of his own destiny.

As for why she wanted to bring the goblin along…

Toy was a weak Aberrant. And now that the dungeon was at, or more so, marching toward a stable point, it was clear using her precious Charm on such a weakling was a liability.

Yet… Salome's biggest weakness was her fondness for her subjects. It was ironic, but she didn't have the heart to abandon or kill her own mercilessly.

She could eat the hearts of her foes, but couldn't bear to see a friend cry. A weakness the Crystal Owl loved to exploit back on Kaldora…

So instead, she was going to give Toy a chance… another trial to prove her worth.

Vale, with an odd grin on his face, eventually replied:

"Set out at once."

"Of course."

The blood-drenched Salome leaned down and planted a bloody kiss on her master's cheek before heading off and retrieving Toy. As she did, she gave an order to Alpha's squad and workers by the core, then headed off toward the exit.

As she passed the weary Ximena, she made one more request before leaving her and the cat behind.

After doing one last inspection of the dungeon for any hidden enemies and taking care of deactivating all Dawn's Eyes, Salome made her way up the ramp with Toy. She exited into the radiant light of day.

Nearly the same light of day it had been when the fight started… not much time had passed at all.

Salome stepped over the three corpses of her victims, which kicked off the fiasco, and scanned the immediate surroundings, only to find stragglers here and there who ran when they spotted her — nothing to worry about.

Then, she and Toy began their journey to the enemy's home.

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