"Damn it, I know we should save our power boosts, but this is taking too long. Maybe we should take a shortcut, Kai!" Suggested Aria, as we raced through the Dungeon.

About half an hour had passed since we killed the Dungeon Boss and I sent Acedia to go on ahead of us. Aria and I were sprinting through the floors, after a brief pause to let the others know.

We were down to the fiftieth floor now, it'll take at least another half hour before we get out at this rate. Acedia's likely already gotten out, or at the very least, he should be close to the bottom.

His flight speed is more than twice as fast as Aria and I are on foot in our base forms, and while we've covered a lot of ground, it feels like time is ticking at an alarming rate.

"That'd be nice, but I don't exactly see any shortcuts we can take! Eating through the floors with Devour or Void could destabilize the structure of the Dungeon and put the others at risk!" I pointed out with a grimace.

"Hm...wait, I got it! Carve out a hole through one of the walls, we can fly out that way!" She suggested with a gleam in her eyes.

Huh. Why didn't I think of that?

"<Devour>!" I chanted as I came to an abrupt halt and shot towards the wall to the left, chomping through it as fast as I could with the shadowy jaws of Devour.

Rays of sunlight streamed in as I swallowed up large chunks of the wall, before I squeezed out as I widened the opening enough to fit through, Aria following my lead.

We unleashed jets of Negative Energy to slow our descent and hover down towards the ground, landing in front of the transport vehicle that we'd come here in.

Hm, there are charred streaks across the dirt, must be Acedia's lightning...I don't see him anywhere in sight, so he must be well-ahead of us.

Good, here's hoping he gets back to the Sanctuary soon.

"What the-...?! What's going on, I saw one of your summons rushing out the entrance a few minutes ago, and-...!" Began the driver with a startled look on his face.

"No time to explain! Stay here and wait for the others, we'll just grab our I-Watches and head back to the Sanctuary on foot!" I responded, as Aria opened the back door and leaned inside, before emerging back out and tossing me my I-Watch.

"Let's check for updates on the way back, we should hurry," She remarked, as she strapped it onto her wrist and began racing ahead in the direction of the Sanctuary.

I was quick to follow her lead, trying to keep my composure as I wracked my brain-...oh, that could work...

"<Arouse>," I chanted, a swell of heat rising up inside me as my physical stats got boosted by twenty percent, pulling ahead of Aria as I rushed forward.

"[Blaze Ignition]!"

"You sure you've got enough Mana to spare?" I asked her as I glanced back.

"Yeah, I'll be fine! I got a good bit of my Mana restored when we stopped to inform the others, so I should have plenty left by the time we get back!" She nodded in response.

"Alright, then...let's hurry!"

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Point-of-View: Charlotte Bryns

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"How pitiful! All that effort, and for what?!" Sneered the Archdemon, evading with ease as unfurled a barrage of rapid thrusts with my spear, but she easily evaded all of them, before suddenly lunging forward and swinging her right arm up and across.

Her claws pierced into my left bicep before slicing through, severing my arm as I shuddered in pain, blood spraying out violently as my arm plummeted and thudded against the ground.

I gritted my teeth and shakily raised my spear as I tightened my grip on it with my right hand, as she drove her fist towards me.

A sharp clang echoed out as her fist slammed against the handle of my spear and bent it in half upon impact, a sharp twinge of pain erupting across my hand, wrist and forearm.

I barely maintained my grasp over the spear as my feet skidded back several meters across the ground, before I shakily stumbled back with a pained grimace.

I was covered in cuts and gashes all over, my left eye had been slashed by her claws, and I've definitely got several broken ribs.

If she wasn't toying with me, I'd have died several times over already, and I haven't landed so much as a single hit on her yet, despite her not taking this the least bit seriously.

"Damn it...," I uttered, the vision in my right eye starting to blur and darken as I struggled to maintain my consciousness, my entire body throbbing with pain.

I'm bleeding out alarmingly fast from the stump left of my left arm, I'm not sure how much longer I can stay standing, let alone keep fighting.

But I...I still have...one more trick...up my sleeve...

"It seems you cannot entertain me any further, what a shame. Time to die," She uttered, before she shot towards me with a powerful flap of her wings.

I widened my stance and planted my feet as she came zipping through the air with immense speed and closing in on me in the blink of an eye, tightening my grasp over the handle of my spear, above the bent spot in the middle.

I braced myself as she drove her claws towards the left side of my chest with a powerful thrust of her arm, before letting out a sharp, agonized gasp of pain as I twisted my body across at the last second, her claws piercing through the right side of my chest and bursting out my back.

As an excruciating wave of pain erupted across my right side, I gritted my teeth before sliding my left foot forward, mustering up every last bit of strength I had lefr...

"[Super Accel Wind Strike]!" I roared, as I drove my spear towards her solar plexus...

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