Eliza looked at Jonathan, an inscrutable expression on her face. The golden flame in her hand winked out, and then she collapsed, her eyes closing as she fell. Jonathan caught her a moment later, his form blurring as he closed the distance.

  “That was… unexpected,” Edgar said, a bemused expression on his facey. “So, do we need to kill her or not?”

  Jonathan lowered Eliza gently to the ground, and then shook his head. “It looked like she was under the influence of one of the gods. Now that that is gone, I think we’ll be alright going forwards. She didn’t really want to kill me, once she met me.”

  At this point, most of the people in the camp had been alerted to the commotion. While it hadn’t been especially loud to begin with, Jonathan had broken the sound barrier when he caught Eliza, his instincts moving faster than his mind.

  “Jonathan?” Arkanon called out, appearing by him a moment later. “What happened here?”

  “It’s complicated. I’ll explain it once Eliza wakes up.”

  “As you wish,” the Uthraki replied. “Though, this looks like something that will need a hell of an explanation.”

  Everyone gathered around the fire, watching as Eliza slowly came back to consciousness. When she opened her eyes, she immediately jumped to her feet, before her memories caught up with her instincts.

  “Did it work?” She asked. “All I can remember is a sense of heat in my core, and then darkness.”

  “You can see for yourself,” Jonathan replied, gesturing towards her hands. “You already did so before you collapsed.”

  The woman looked down at her hand, and then realized that Jonathan was getting at. She snapped her fingers, and a golden flame erupted from between them, crackling in the air. She raised it up to her face, peering into its light.

  “It worked… My Divinity feels different now. More powerful than before.”

  “Malaraxia had surrounded your core in a shell of her own Divinity, preventing you from accessing your true power,” Jonathan explained. “I was able to break through it with my own Divinity. You should be free of her influence now.”

  Eliza took a deep breath, and then looked at Jonathan, her eyes shining with gratitude. “I didn’t even know I was the thrall of another being. You saved me… How can I ever repay you for this?”

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  “You can keep doing what you already were, and help me escape the Hells, and free everyone trapped here,” Jonathan replied. “That is the only help I need.”

  “Very well,” Eliza said, smiling. “Let’s break the Hells together.”

  ***

  Slowly but surely, Jonathan got to know Eliza better. Over the next few weeks, the group left the vast cavern, and headed off into the subterranean expanse that stretched out below Cessation. The caves just kept going, on and on for thousands of miles. Legions of strange creatures dwelt in there, and there were plenty of challenges for everyone in the group to take on. Eliza reached Tier 3, with ease, and was already more than halfway through the Tier.

  Jonathan used the special ability of his gauntlet a few times, on some of the more powerful Tier 4 monsters he had encountered. This was mainly a means to shore up his weaker stats, and in that, he had succeeded greatly. Considering that larger monsters often had massive health pools, that meant that he could gain dozens, or even a hundred points into Constitution with a single kill. Over the last few weeks, his stat had soared by almost two hundred points, one hundred and eighty seven to be precise. It was a pity that his titles didn’t boost it, but it was still incredibly welcome.

  Everyone else in the group, save for Eliza, now possessed the power of a Tier 4. Most had acquired Legendary classes, except for Hansel, Andovar and the female mage, whose name Jonathan learned was Elissa. They had all gained Epic rarity classes, still quite the boon at Tier 4. It was more than they had ever expected.

  Jonathan himself had leveled a bit, but it was quite little compared to many in his group. Most of the Tier 4s encountered along the way were nearer to the bottom of the rank than the top, and as such, he had only eked out another ten levels. Though, it could simply have been that leveling speed naturally diminished as one climbed the Tiers. In addition to all of this, his martial style had finally reached Expert Rank.

  You have reached Expert Rank 1 with Flowing Maelstrom!

  Your strikes have become a Maelstrom in truth, able to raze buildings to the ground and slay beings that many would consider to be impossible foes. In the world of the martial storm, though, there is always a greater hurricane, a greater natural disaster in the form of human flesh. You have a long way to go.

  +50 to Dexterity, +25 to Strength

  As far as the rest of the group went, the most impactful advancement by far was by Edgar. He had finally reached a True Affinity with the element of Air, joining Jonathan in the small number of beings that could claim such a thing. All of his abilities had leaped upwards in strength, a simple bullet of condensed wind now capable of shattering a small hill into a thousand pieces. As well as that, he was now immune to the power of his own element, opening up the way for all sorts of unique abilities. Edgar planned to engage in some body tempering, similar to how Theodore, the Metal attuned rapier wielder in Mire, had girded his entire body with a skeleton made of pure steel. Unfortunately for the wind mage, he had no idea how the process worked, and for that matter, neither did Jonathan. At some point he wanted to try his hand at elemental tempering. If he could absorb the Void into his body, he would be even more powerful than ever before. Jonathan could imagine his foes slicing into him, and being met with a spray of the Void instead of blood.