“Get behind me,” Ike says sharply, and I scurry to obey.
“I-I don’t understand why it is here. I… I am certain I deactivated the wards properly—it shouldn’t have known!”
“The why and the how do not matter anymore, the giant is coming whether we like it or not.”
My eyes dart frantically around the room, wondering what I can do. W-we need to hide. Should I cast a spell to make us invisible? No—it already knows we’re here; any form of concealment would be useless at this point. And creating an escape route would be pointless as well; I doubt I could burrow quickly enough to keep it from catching up to us.
I can’t run, neither can I hide. Just what am I supposed to do?
Around us, the air thickens with that monster’s aura, pressing down on me. It is so overwhelming that even my own essence starts acting out, it fluctuates wildly as if it had a mind of its own.
“Vyswe’eyaga, listen to me.” I raise my head, Ike’s back faintly outlined in the darkness. His voice surges once more, quiet and firm, “Right now, I need you as focused as ever. Ignore whatever you might be sensing—focus only on me.”
I try to do as he says and close my eyes, pulling all of my attention onto him and the tranquil flow of his essence.
“Good. Now, can you make those protective circles around us? The ones you usually make.”
“A-a shield? But… I don’t know if it can—”
“Just do it!”
I bite back all the concerns I have on my tongue and scramble to work on weaving the ward. I also retrieve all the Spirit crystals I have in store, placing some of them on precise locations on the array to power it. This is one of my strongest warding schemes, but despite that. It’s not enough. It is not nearly enough for what we will be facing, but this is the best I can yield with what I have at hand.
“As you already know, I barely got out of my last scruffle with my life. I have not had time to fully heal from my wound, nor am I in prime condition to face this one,” he says, and I momentarily stop drawing the ward. “So, please… do your best to distract him. I know this is a difficult task I’m asking of you…” Ike glances over his shoulder, his expression set in stone. “I’m counting on you, Vyswe’eyaga.”
My heart is pounding so loudly that my chest hurts. It feels like the ground is swaying under my feet. I-I think I’m getting sick.
Just as I am about done erecting the ward, the temperature in the room drops, and everything turns to a dissonant silence. From the cave’s entrance, an even deeper shadow emerges. The figure bends over slightly, as it makes its way inside, before coming to its full height. My heart stills with terror when icy, crimson eyes scan around the entire room before settling on us. It observes us with an air of aloof boredom, then slowly cocks its head to side, an eyebrow raised and its expression completely blank.
“I came looking for outsiders,” it says in my native language, “but never would I have fathomed finding a child of the People of Old. Here. Of all places. Now, how did you find your way here?”
My body quivers despite myself, and I force back a whimper.
There is a rumble. It takes me a second to recognise it as a laugh. “…Are you scared, little girl? Well, you should be.”
I hardly registered what happened next. There was a rush of wind, and the ground trembled beneath me, and when I opened my eyes, Ike was already upon it.
His spear is on a standstill with the pole Nephilim’s giant axe, in a battle of might—although… Ike’s hold is trembling in contrast to the giant’s steady one.
“Cute,” it says as it glances at Ike, the slightest interest appearing on its face. “I’m in the mood for some recreation. Let’s see how long you’ll last before breaking.” Then Ike is flung to the other side of room, dust and debris exploding everywhere.
When I turn back to the Nephilim, my body freezes when I see it staring directly at me. Its mouth widens into an unnatural, predatory smile as it saunters toward Ike, who is caught in a coughing fit, still maintaining eye contact with me. And as it happens, I feel detached, as though I am watching in a body other than my own. Like in a fever dream, or more precisely, a nightmare—I have turned into a spectator of a tragic play. Powerless to do anything. Maybe… maybe this really
is
a nightmare, and I will wake up to my old, normal life—and for a moment, I manage to convince myself that it is, that I won’t die here, that I will somehow survive this, and see my family again.
I miss them so much…
I jolt at the sound of another blast—Ike is unto another round with the giant, their movements so fast that all I see are after-images. Yet despite how fast they are, even I can see that Ike is severely disadvantaged he is. The Nephilim casual parries all of Ike’s strikes, even as he puts in all of his strength, it doesn’t even try to push back, it deflects like it was sweeping away dust.
It… it’s playing with him.
Ike has deliberately led the fight away from me, to protect me, on top of leaving me inside this warded area, but the Nephilim clearly does not care, not even paying me any attention. That is how little of a threat it considers us.
My heart is plunged into despair. But I can’t… I can’t stay like this and do nothing, even if I am of little help. I lower my head as my vision blurs, tears streaming down my face. Ah, I’m so scared.
Drawing a long, steady breath, I lift a hand to wipe them away. As mighty and fearsome the Nephilims were depicted in stories, they still met their end at humans’ hands.
I fix my gaze on the monster, clenching my fists on my staff so hard that it hurts, and straighten my posture. The Nephilim glances at me as I am chanting but does not even make an attempt to stop me, even as a complex spell matrix forms around me. A tiny, irrational part of me is outraged, but I push the feeling down… It does not matter.
I close my eyes to focus, and when I open them again—the entire chamber quakes, and as the giant blocks another Ike’s attacks, jagged metal spires erupt from the earth beneath its feet. I do not wait to see if the attack landed—it did not. Through the ground, I sensed it dodge before the spires before reached him. That is why I don’t stop. I press forward, weaving the next chant before the echoes of the last fade, attacking from all angles, be it on the walls or ceiling.
An amused chuckle erupts, the giant says something, but I keep focusing on the spell. I don’t even flinch when I see projectiles coming my way—I have my wards—but before they get any close Ike is already before me and has deflected them. In the next breath, as the giant dodges another of my spires, I hit the ground with my staff, and a massive fissure splits the floor where it stands.
But some way, somehow, it failed. I made sure to keep it distracted, the spell was subtle, and I waited until the very last moment before striking. Yet, it still circumvented the drop with maddening ease.
However, Ike did not let the opportunity slip away, and in an instant, he was upon it and delivered a kick powerful enough that it keeled over and tumbled into the chasm below. I was so stunned that it took me a beat too long to seal the ground on it.
I fall on my knees, the relief stripping me of my remaining strength, but hardly I get to let out another breath that Ike sweeps me off the ground and sprints out of the ruined chamber.
“I-Ike…”
“There’s no time,” he says in a tone that leaves no room for debate. I grit my teeth as Ike navigates through the labyrinthine tunnels at top speed. We left their bodies behind. I had not been paying attention to them during our confrontation—what if they are damaged? And just the thought of leaving them in the same room as that vile…
“We’ll quickly reunite with the others,” he says. “As for getting into that inverted shrine… we will besiege it if need be.”
“B-besiege?“ How is that supposed to work? I have never besieged anything in my life. How do you even besiege a structure that is said to be upside down?
“Oh? Aren’t you overestimating yourself a bit too much?”
The sudden voice sends chills racing across my skin. Time seems to slow to a crawl, and I find myself strangely able to witness each passing second in excruciating detail.
The shadows around us flicker, then coalesce above us like a towering wall, the only distinguishable feature being a wide, unsettling grin. In an instant, I am wrenched from Ike’s grasp as he is driven face‑first into the ground with a sickening crunch. My body fails me. I have lost the ability to gasp or react whatsoever. Numb and dazed, I watch as a massive hand slams him deeper into the earth, blood splattering like an explosion.
Then my perspective is forcibly shifted to face evil incarnate, the smile it displays is nothing short of nightmarish. “You were not half bad, little sorceress, I commend you. Now, playtime’s over.”