Chapter 97 - Defiance

Vivi waited for death to come.

The Death Tyrant’s minions inched toward her. The scarlet claws had killed everything in her immediate surroundings, but the remaining skeletons were walking toward her. The air was filled with flying skulls. Some were flying toward her, but most floated around aimlessly, covering the ceiling.

Soon, she would be mauled alive. Aang and Lydi were nowhere to be seen. They wouldn’t save her this time. Vivi had nothing more to fight back with. Without ether, she was useless.

This was the life of an ether hunter. Fighting with one’s life didn’t come without risks. One loss in a battle was enough for it all to end.

Sounded stupid, but the risks were easy to forget.

I’m sorry, Grandpa, Vivi thought. A tear flowed from her eye. I couldn’t keep the smithy alive.

She didn’t want to die. Of course she didn’t. But lying there, utterly powerless, Vivi couldn’t do much more than accept her defeat. She’d already panicked her way into survival too many times today. The Death Tyrant’s minions would kill her.

She was shaking. No… I can’t accept this.

Vivi gritted her teeth, attempting to push herself up. She collapsed back by her own weight. Nothing worked. Without ether, her limbs were totally spent, useless.

A crash sounded from below, as if a tree had been swiped in half. The Death Tyrant’s footing wavered.

Then another crash, followed by the Death Tyrant’s pained wail.

Vivi raised her eyebrows. She peeked into the hole and saw Aang at the very bottom, taking swings at the Death Tyrant’s legs. Vivi’s vision was too blurry to see details, but Aang’s face was coated in red. He swung at the Death Tyrant’s legs with his remaining strength.

The Boss’s left foot was cut from the leg.

The upper body wavered. Its head tilted to the left, slowly falling. The boss lost balance completely and crashed against the floor some distance away from Vivi. More bricks fell from the ceiling from the impact.

Vivi watched in awe. The skeletons were still approaching, only a few paces away from lunging range. The boss was still alive. Its gaping black eye-holes stared at her, head laying sideways on the ground ahead of her.

A burst of energy reignited within Vivi. She groaned and forced herself to stand. Her body protested, but with the sight of victory pumping blood to her veins, she managed to take a few slow steps.

“Lucius!” Vivi screamed. “Power!”

“Got it…” Lucius said. Vivi felt his ether reserves permanently drop by another fifty. He was totally exhausted.

A slight bit of control returned to her. She sped up to a run through pained steps, charging toward the Death Tyrant’s fallen head. Even while sideways, the skull was many times her height. It clanked its teeth. Its remaining arm was stuck at an awkward angle, mostly useless. The boss had nothing to defend itself.

Vivi had one desperate idea. She jumped and grabbed the Death Tyrant’s eye-hole, grimacing as she pulled herself up. She entered the boss’s head through the eye.

Hostile wisps coated the inside of the dark head. Everything around Vivi said she was in the wrong place, commanding her to get out. Breathing was difficult. But nothing attacked her. Vivi stood inside the boss’s skull.

Abyss Destroyer poked out from the back of the skull. Ether still flowed within the blade's veins—the sword contained power well. The bones around the sword were thoroughly cracked, crumbling bits falling off. The sword was close to piercing through.

With the last of Vivi’s strength, she yanked the sword free. She barely had any ether to strengthen her swings. Her sword was only partly filled. But with proper technique…

She swung at the cracked spot with all her might.

New cracks formed. Vivi hit again, then again, each time further cracking the spot in the boss’s head. Her hands wanted to fall off, upper body burning. Her legs wanted to collapse. But she kept swinging, hacking away as if she was a mine worker picking at metal.

Until eventually, a hole opened up. The crack crumbled to bits.

The ether within the boss’s head escaped through the hole. Wisps rapidly dissipated, and the suffocating feeling inside calmed down.

Vivi wheezed heavy breaths. She barely remained standing. Her muscles looked for any excuse to stop; to collapse and fall asleep to start repairing the countless aches all around her body.

With a heavy step, she turned and peeked out from the Death Tyrant’s eye-hole. Across the room, skeletons were falling limp. One by one, the minions disintegrated. The flying skulls dropped from the sky, each one filled with ether. Soon, the ground was covered in collectible ether. Calm wisps rose to the air. Thousands of them, coating the air in a cloud. The sizzle sounded heavenly.

A beacon of wisps rose to the ceiling from the Death Tyrant’s skull. The boss had died.

“We did it...” Vivi said. Her words were quiet and filled with disbelief. She wanted to laugh, but her body didn't have energy for even the slightest celebration. She just stood there, utterly shocked.

Lucius, are you there?

Lucius’s presence was weak. He had spent his all and more to keep Vivi alive. If spirits could die, Vivi guessed Lucius had come close. He had fallen unconscious momentarily multiple times.

The amount of ether in the air, however, seemed to attract him back awake. Lucius’s translucent figure, barely visible at all, flew weakly from Vivi’s core.

Lucius immediately began collecting ether. His movements were sluggish, taking in only a few dozen ether every second. But as fresh ether made its way to his reserves, energy slowly came back. He flew back to her core and pumped ether into Vivi’s muscles to help her stay awake.

Something floated in the middle of the skull. A large wisp, tinted a dark purple. Flame-like tendrils spun around it, attacking smaller wisps, as if it was possessed.

Is that a skill? Vivi thought.

“Looks like so,” Lucius said. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Vivi stared at the wisp. Something felt off about it.

Lucius was too tired to fly around in excitement, but the awe was clear in his voice. “It must be a rare skill or above. Common skills wouldn’t behave like that. Pick it up.”

Vivi gulped and prepared herself. Slowly, she reached for the skill, pulling it into one of the two unoccupied slots within her core. The wisp was heavy, as if it didn’t want to be transferred.

“Keep going,” Lucius said. “Skills can’t cause harm if you don’t activate them. Pick it up, and I’ll tell you what it is.”

Vivi completed the transfer. The weird skill found one of the three slots in her core. It continued thrashing, its tendrils invading Vivi’s core. The presence was oppressive. But it didn’t seem like the skill was harmful.

Lucius examined the skill curiously. He floated around it for a long time.

“Um, Lucius?” Vivi asked. “What skill is it?”

“I… don’t know,” Lucius said, sounding confused. “The skill is listed in Ythar’s library of skills. It’s familiar to him. The name is Death Sense. But Ythar has hidden its details.”

Vivi raised her eyebrows. “What does that mean?”

“I’m blocked from accessing the skill’s details,” Lucius said. “I'm connected to his encyclopedia. Around half of the world’s skills are written down. Death Sense is listed… But the details that Ythar has written about it… It’s…”

“What does it say?”

“‘‘To all hunters, return this skill to my palace in Surchester immediately upon collection.’”

Vivi paused. Surchester was Ythar’s capital city on the surface. The city where his palace—his real palace—was located.

“What rarity is it?” Vivi asked.

“It doesn’t have a rarity,” Lucius said. “Its details are totally blank. I can’t tell you anything about this skill. It’s… I’ve never seen anything like this.”

The skill made its presence clear within Vivi’s core. Its tendrils thrashed around, as if trying to escape. “Should I activate it?” Vivi asked.

Lucius thought about it. “It could be dangerous. I really don’t know what this skill does. Ythar wants us to return it to him.”

“Does Ythar know we’ve collected the skill?” Vivi asked.

“No,” Lucius said. “He shouldn’t. If we go near him, he can examine us. But he doesn’t keep track of spirits so deep down the levels.”

“Well,” Vivi said. “That’s interesting. I believe we're not going to return it, then. Right?”

Lucius appeared concerned. Almost afraid. This surprised Vivi. Lucius was the most rebellious spirit she’d ever heard of. He'd already defied Ythar many times. Yet, this was too much?

“Ythar isn’t someone you can just mess with,” Lucius said. “If he finds out, we’re dead.”

We’ll talk about this later, Vivi thought. For now, fill your reserves back to 4500. Give me enough ether to keep me walking. Let’s go get Aang and Lydi. Hopefully they’re alive.

Lucius wasn’t enthusiastic, but he continued collecting ether. The boss itself dropped enough ether to bring Lucius back to 3547.

Vivi climbed out of the Death Tyrant’s skull. The boss’s ethereal aura was gone, but the bones hadn’t disintegrated like most lesser monsters. The giant skull, and the rib cage, hands, all remained intact.

The arena was coated in ether. Thousands more were free to be collected from the fallen smaller monsters. The lesser skeletons had all disintegrated. There was enough ether to clear a considerable chunk of Vivi’s debts.

Still, Vivi wasn’t in a hurry to collect it all. She glanced down the hole, where Aang had destroyed the boss’s leg.

The leader, with a frown on his face, was climbing up the Death Tyrant’s bones. Aang carried Lydi on his shoulders. He jumped from one rib to the next, before hopping to the platform.

“Aang!” Vivi called. His face was bloody, wounds and bruises covering his body. His shirt was barely hanging on. His left eye was shut and swollen.

“We’re alive,” Aang said. He collected ether from the surroundings, replenishing his reserves. He pushed some of that ether into Lydi’s body by force. “Lydi fell unconscious by the fall, but she didn’t splatter to bits. She might have sustained damages. Ether should bring her to senses.”

Vivi nodded. “We got a skill. A weird one.”

“Good,” Aang said. “Let’s assess it later. Did you collect all the ether you need?”

“Yes,” Vivi said.

Aang returned the nod. “The dungeon continues down below. There's another large cavern. But it doesn’t seem like that part is connected to the main dungeon. This was the main boss. Let’s get out before the Stewards and guards barge in.”

Vivi agreed. They didn’t have time to mess around.

“Ven and the others should be finishing their part,” Aang said. “Let’s head out and escape this place.”