Down With The Gods

Yu is surrounded by three creatures, including the one he had earlier launched with his weak water fountain attack. He spins his blade to fend them off, but the constant whirl, while effective, starts to make him dizzy, draining his strength with every passing second. The creature in front clamps down on his blade with a bite, giving the other two an open opportunity to strike. Yu attempts to evade with a water jump, but a sudden cyclone emerges, ensnaring everything, including him.

“I’m sorry!” Wyn yells.

Yu propels himself through the air using water, dashing forward in a straight line. Unlike Wyn's cyclone dash, the water dash remains controlled, and Yu times each move carefully to avoid losing control. He dashes horizontally, descends slightly, then repeats the horizontal dash pattern until he reaches the ground safely.

Mira, instead of screaming, keeps her mouth shut. Her wrist is broken but still intact; however, she’s unable to muster another whip attack with it. As a creature hops closer, ready to chomp down on her, she extends her other arm and resummons the whip. The metal part appears in her hand while the remainder dangles. The creature’s bite pierces through her middle three fingers, but as it sinks further, it comes into contact with the metal egg in her grasp, which is glowing red, smoke rising from her hand. After a metallic “clink,” an explosion erupts.

Wyn and Yu rush to Mira. She collapses as Wyn catches her, both men trembling.

“Are you alright?” Wyn asks.

Mira doesn’t respond; she only groans in pain, her arm blown off halfway.

“You take her to safety! I’ll fight them off!” Yu says.

“No need. Look around,” Wyn replies, gently laying Mira on the grass.

Yu scans the battlefield. Relief washes over him as he sees all the remaining creatures stuck in the ground by their ears, struggling to free themselves. He proceeds to finish them off, leaving the essence untouched for now.

“Why were they all stuck like that?” Yu asks.

“Remember the first two I sent flying? They landed ears first. Seems the ears are heavier than their bodies. No wonder they were always hopping, keeping themselves close to the ground. I initially thought they avoided high jumps because of weak hind legs.”

“Fast hoppers, they were. Oh, that reminds me. That first cyclone attack – weren’t you on a rock pillar when you summoned it?”

“Technically, it counts as ground, I guess.”

“Did you experiment while I was in danger?” Yu asks, squinting at Wyn.

“No! I would never! I just forgot I was standing on it until I saw the rabbits flying.”

“Speaking of attacks, I need to strengthen my water fountains.”

“You and her both. If her fire pillars were stronger, we would've had an easier time.”

The two lie down on the grass to rest, keeping watch over Mira as she recovers and guarding the essence.

“How’s this different from the fourth level, I wonder? If there was no punishment, would we be enjoying ourselves there?” Wyn muses aloud.

“Well, are you enjoying what you’re doing here? I have to admit I kind of am,” Yu responds.

“It feels great, to be honest. It’s so liberating to have such power.”

“No wonder they wouldn’t let us revisit the other levels. Man, imagine if we were allowed to hurt each other without consequences. I’m scared of what we might become.”

“We already did in the arena, remember? I kicked your butt good!”

“You know what I mean! And, uh, can I ask how you’re holding up so far?”

“Fine, I guess. I want to see how much stronger I can become. There’s so much to learn and comprehend. It’s not going to be an easy road ahead, but it feels doable with the help of the essence and all. How about you?”

“Same. It’s not just about the guitar anymore,” Yu pauses. “Survival on this level is totally different from the others.”

“Yeah. Here, we have more control over our own survival – or fate, if you want to call it that. Up there, we lived under someone else’s rules.”

“Indeed...Is she sleeping? I hope she’s sleeping. Oh, thong, she’s…”

“Chill! She’s just passed out.”

Both Wyn and Yu marvel at the sight of Mira’s arm healing. A soothing, sparkly blue light surrounds it, and as the light gradually travels upward from the wound, it reveals the reformation of the missing part. However, her broken wrist, much like Wyn’s chest gash and Yu’s face scratches, doesn’t emit any light. By now, Wyn’s wound has completely healed, although he’s a bit upset about his favorite shirt being torn at the chest.

It takes days, in relative human time, for Mira to wake up, finally feeling ready to move on.

“You’re still missing your fingers!” Yu remarks.

“I’m good to go already! At least my wrist’s fine now. Look!” Mira says, cracking her wrist to show the two men it’s in good condition.

“Well, next time, please just call for help,” Wyn advises.

Despite Wyn’s protests, Yu and Mira let him have half of the essence, hoping he would catch up. The non-elemental earies yield fourteen essence each, putting Wyn in the lead. Yu suggests revisiting the cave to gather more essence but is promptly met with a hard no from the others. With that settled, they agree to continue toward the barricade.

“I overheard your conversation. You wanna hear how I feel?” Mira asks.

“Sure,” Yu replies, at the same time as Wyn says, “Not really.”

“Oh, be nice!” Mira frowns, while Wyn chuckles.

“My main goal is still the same. I want to find my sister. That said, I’m glad to be down here with you two, especially you, Oppa!”

“Thanks, and likewise!” Yu says.

“Him! Not you, Yu! You, Yu, can never be an oppa.”

“Why us, anyway?” Wyn asks.

“You two give off a different vibe than I’m used to. I always went for the hot guys and girls, and it never worked out. So, I was looking for someone I would never go for in real life.”

“Ouch!” Yu exclaims.

“I second the ouch! You would’ve gone with someone else anyway if we didn’t return,” Wyn adds.

“Totes! I didn’t know how long you were gonna take! But deep down, I had a hunch we’d see each other again.”

“A hunch? Like we had a choice…Wait! Or did we? Hmm…can’t be. Was it a hunch?” Wyn starts rambling, and the other two let him be.

“By the way, this level’s different from the fourth level. These powers make me feel very special, especially when they’re meant for destruction, mwahahaha,” Mira adds with a smirk.

As they proceed, the team slaughters more creatures. Mira’s fingers are halfway grown back, and surprisingly, she’s been fighting well with just one hand. Through relentless slaying, she’s now able to control the whip better at full length – and that’s with her non-dominant hand. Her new favorite combination is immobilizing a small enemy with the whip, then blowing it up with an explosion as the whip completes its wraparound. So far, they’ve yet to encounter a more threatening creature than the earies – that is, until they hear screams.

Following the sound, they come across at least fifty small, single-footed, white chicken-like creatures pecking at two female souls. As their numbers dwindle, more come flocking in, attacking from all sides, even from above. The two souls struggle to fend them off, firing gusts of flames in all directions. The pecks seem ineffective, given how small the creatures are, so Wyn’s team takes a moment to plan their rescue. While Yu and Mira discuss, Wyn’s attention remains on the female souls. There’s something odd about their attacks. The fiery gusts come from one soul, while the other merely places her hand on the attacker’s shoulder.

“You’d better not get involved,” a flamboyant voice warns from behind the struggling souls.

“These are the shyckens. Attack one, and it’ll summon a flock. If you don’t kill them fast enough, it’s endless!” the voice explains.

“Who are you?” Yu shouts.

A male soul emerges from the chaos, seemingly ignored by the shyckens as he approaches the trio.

“I’m with those two – well, I was. One of them attacked a shycken, thinking it’d be easy prey. A flock arrived, and the other joined in. Now, it’s what you see here.”

“Wait! You’re not helping your friends?” Yu asks, raising his voice.

“What would you have me do? I froze after seeing the first flock.”

“Then how do you know the name of these creatures?” Yu presses.

“Let me guess,” Mira interjects. “You’ve been collecting the essence dropped by the flock while your friends fight for their lives, haven’t you?”

“Of course. Why let the essence go to waste? Anyway, I’m outta here. With you guys around, you’ll only complicate things. Oh beep, girl! Your fingers!” he exclaims, noticing Mira’s regenerating hand.

“You piece of…,” Yu mutters.

“Wait. At least tell me how they’re fusing fire with wind like that?” Wyn asks.

To fuse, have another soul touch any part of the attacker’s body. Instead of focusing on their own hand, they should focus on the attacker’s. Both the attacker and the assistant can charge the attack as they normally would. The male soul explains before taking off, leaving before Wyn can ask more questions.

“Let’s try something. Fuse your fire element with my cyclone.”

The three move closer to the flock, Wyn and Yu charging up for an attack, while Mira, with her hand on Wyn’s shoulder, focuses on the fusion.

“Can you come to us? Just book it, NOW! Yu, cover the girls, please,” Wyn commands.

Yu hurls a large water orb at the creatures ahead, then thrusts his blade forward, launching himself into a vertical flight. He transitions into a horizontal path, slicing through multiple airborne shyckens. Remaining aloft, he spins with his weapon, sending water slashes through more of the creatures. Despite their efforts, the girls struggle to reach Wyn as a new flock summons, turning their attention toward Yu.

“This isn’t working!” Mira exclaims.

“Yu, get back to us,” Wyn orders.

Yu water dashes in midair, his blade held defensively in front of him. But the relentless onslaught of shyckens overwhelms him, and he crashes to the ground in front of Wyn and Mira. Wyn quickly kicks several creatures off Yu, drawing their attention toward himself.

“Damn it! Let’s go to them instead!” Wyn suggests. “Yu, get up already!”

Mira, still keeping her hand on Wyn’s shoulder, hurls a fireball with her injured hand at the shyckens swarming above Yu.

“You can attack with both hands?” Wyn asks, his tone frantic.

“Apparently so!”

Yu regains his footing and begins delivering watery punches to the creatures ahead, while Wyn shoots rocks upward to fend off those above. Mira defends their rear, launching fireballs as fast as her injured hand allows. Despite enduring occasional pecks from the shyckens, the trio pushes through, finally reaching the two souls.

“You two, aim fiery gusts upward! Cover us!” Wyn commands. “Mira, now!”

With Mira's guidance, Wyn unleashes a flaming cyclone wide enough to avoid hitting any allies. The attack incinerates over half the shyckens, and many in the cyclone’s center are sucked into the flames, where they’re burned to ashes. As the cyclone dies out, another small flock of ten or so shyckens appears. Wyn notices, however, that the two female souls never launched a single gust as instructed.

“Where are you going?” Mira yells after the two souls, who are now fleeing the scene.

“Thanks for the help! Good luck!” the blue-haired girl shouts back.

“Unbelievable!”

None of the shyckens follow them, suggesting that the original flocks have all been defeated. Frustrated but seizing the opportunity, Wyn combines his elemental abilities, pushing the orbs into each other to create a cyclone fused with flying rocks that smash any enemy caught inside.

“Hey, touch me, Daddy!” Yu calls out, eager to fuse their powers.

Yu, now empowered, executes a grounded blade slash that summons a fountain of water filled with swirling rocks. The stones fly further into the air than the fountain's peak. Yu seems to have improved, lodging his blade more firmly into the ground while adapting to the force needed for such an attack. Meanwhile, Mira expertly uses her exploding whip, inflicting area damage on the shyckens. It’s a slaughterhouse for the birds, and before they can try more fusion combinations, all the shyckens lie dead.

“See? Water is not so useless after all!” Yu boasts, referencing their earlier fusion attempts in the dojo.

“Can we really combine our powers effectively, Yu?” Mira asks.

“We could create a hot stream. Like, boiling water?”

“Yes, but why bother when fire already does that on its own?”

“Well, to push or hold off an enemy with hot water! Fire can’t do that!” Wyn chimes in excitedly. “Let’s try more combinations! We need to find a larger enemy!”

They gather a good amount of essence and learn more about the one-essence wind shycken: “Peace-loving creature. But peace is not an option if you attack one! Only natural to the dojo garden.”

The three continue onward, searching for a more formidable opponent.

When they encounter a bee-like creature that launches icicle attacks, Wyn summons a fiery rock pillar to block them. Mira dashes to the side and unleashes multiple fireballs with both her fully-healed hands, while Yu jets himself forward using water streams, damaging the creature’s lower right wing. As it loses balance, Mira takes the chance to strike with her whip, the metal tip exploding on the creature’s back. It tumbles downward, where Wyn summons a pillar, slamming the enemy into it and damaging its remaining wings. Yu lands a final blow, stepping on the creature's body and piercing it in the thorax with his crescent blade. To ensure its defeat, Mira ignites fire pillars to incinerate it completely.

“We should avoid getting that close next time,” Wyn warns Yu.

“Whoa! Thirty for each of us? This bzzted is worth a hundred essence total!” Mira exclaims.

“Ninety, Mira. It’s ninety…”

The bzzted is the toughest enemy they’ve encountered so far, but it serves as perfect practice. These four-winged, dark yellow, and ice-blue bee-like creatures are large and solitary. By now, they’ve gathered nearly three hundred essence each. They feel stronger, faster, and more in sync as a team.

“Is that the barricade?” Yu asks.

“Looks more like a wall. Why so many walls in Hell?” Wyn wonders aloud.

The stone “barricade” resembles a city wall, evenly spaced with levers. Above each lever is a signal light – either green or red.

“Do we pull the lever to start the test?” Wyn asks.

“Bet you can get to the top of the wall with your cyclone jump,” Yu suggests.

“And why would I do that? It’s clearly meant to keep us out.”

The trio stands before a lever with a green light above it. As Yu pulls it, the light turns red, and the ground beneath them rumbles, sinking slowly. They find themselves descending on an elevator into a spacious, empty cement room. Two orange tabby demons, stripped of costumes and weapons, stand in the center. Beyond them lies utter darkness.

“Welcome to your first test! Here, you will face an enemy in a one-on-one battle to the death!” announces one of the tabbies, speaking in an adult voice.