V’s energy spiked around them, so reminiscent of Emilia’s own defensive barrier and yet so different she was momentarily stunned… not that she was doing so good on the not-stunned or doing something actually useful scales, after watching so many of her allies—including one that she may never see again—killed.

  Luckily, V and Hetexia hadn’t been so affected, and were each moving towards the stunned members of their remaining group, intent on throwing them over their shoulders and pushing them into motion. Unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately—the moment Hetexia reached for a frozen Phino, she began to scream. The northerner’s shrill cries startled Key and Emilia into movement, Gale already being thrown over V’s shoulder.

  ?Go!? Emilia said, tugging her hand away from Gale and giving Key a push back up the stairs.

  Nearby, Hetexia was looking between up and down. “Whoever it is is likely down there.”

  ?Yeah,? Emilia agreed, already racing down the stairs. Whoever had done that was a danger to them—to Gale and Key most of all—and needed to be—

  V’s defensive barrier wasn’t quite the same as her own, which focused on powerful brevity. The other visitor’s, on the other hand, was still vibrating away, much like Conrad’s defensive membrane had. It wasn’t quite the same, but similar enough, and when more water bullets crashed out of the aether towards them, they didn’t make it into his sphere of protection.

  Not that Emilia needed V’s protection.

  ?EMILIA!? he screamed as she raced away, yelling back at him to protect the others.

  Behind her, Hetexia said something similar, and then the hy’s heavy footsteps were trailing after her, another volley of bullets attempting to reach them. This time, outside of V’s barrier, Emilia’s core shuddered and exploded, wiping the magic out of existence. Most likely, her {Blood Ball} would protect them, if her core failed, but that wasn’t a given, and with every new assault, Emilia worried about how long her core could continue protecting them.

  They needed to get out of this stairwell—get somewhere where they could avoid the person’s attacks by other means. They needed to figure out where the person was—who they were.

  Emilia and Hetexia exploded out of the stairwell, Emilia cursing herself for not having given yet another set of allies access to the Risen Guard system immediately. Seriously!? What was wrong with her!? Her only consultation was the others had forgotten as well, which was actually a bit odd?

  Actually, it was more than a bit odd, and yet another moment where the actions of herself and others in this world were strange and inconsistent. A thousand dropped balls and missed moments and—

  ?Fuck!? Emilia hissed, slowing her steps so she could sort through her system access and make another fucking copy of her {Blood Ball}.

  Seriously!? How had she forgotten about the items she’d received from a few of those stupid missions, which had rewarded her the ability to create copies of a blood item!?

  ?Have you been having memory issues in here?? she asked as she handed a copy of her {Blood Ball} over to the northern woman. ?Too many moments where you realize too late that you didn’t think things through all the way??

  “Yes.” The answer was so fast that it must have been on Hetexia’s mind as well. “I have had many moments like that. You too, I assume?”

  ?Oh yeah~? she replied as they rounded a corner and came face-to-face with their attacker. ?Far too many.?

  ?And now, I might never see a child I’ve grown to love again,? she didn’t say, but it weighed on her, nonetheless—Astra’s name echoing in her head over and over and over again, the reminder of yet another fuck up that even the normal, knotted up version of herself should have realized was coming and yet hadn’t.

  Their attacker smiled at them, the message that something was wrong with them loud and clear through the quiet room—their real personality had never smiled like that. Then again, Emilia had never seen a Clarity member under the control of the hive mind smile either; not in cruelty nor amusement.

  ?Yuka,? Emilia said, tilting her head and examining her brief, forced teammate. ?Didn’t think I’d see you again. Then again, this really isn’t you, is it??

  The thing inside Yuka’s body smiled wider. ?How observant of you. I told Ajarni that he should have gotten rid of you, but I’m afraid he stopped listening to our opinions equally a long time ago. Now he’s dead. Serves him right. You cannot go against a god and not expect consequences.?

  Our, as in, perhaps the platform maintainer, raid designer—whoever the fuck had been interfering with the raid and guiding Ajarni’s decisions from the real world—hadn’t been the only thing manipulating him.

  ?You’re the hive mind??

  ?Too smart by half. How did you figure it out??

  Shrugging, analyzing the creature inside Yuka’s body, Emilia told it she was just guessing. ?Want another guess?? she asked, unwilling to entertain the creature when it came to how she had known, mostly because she was beginning to suspect the platform maintainer or raid designer was inserting information—or at least suspicions—inside her. The creature didn’t need to know that she was receiving outside help, nor did she want to think too hard about what exactly the ability to do something like that without her actively realizing it meant—not to mention wonder whether her lapses in judgment were the result of those outside forces as well, slowly forcing her towards this end, this anger and sadness welling inside her.

  The creature smiled, indulgent, and a shudder ruptured through Emilia.

  This thing was old. Old and powerful and pissed that they’d somehow messed with its plan for… something.

  ?Alright. Guess away. I’m also so curious how your mortal minds work, and the outsider minds I consumed before weren’t nearly as scrumptious as the brief bites I got of yours.? Dark red eyes snapped to Hetexia, considering. ?That one child with you tasted good. You… you are strange.?

  The hy tensed, but said nothing to that—not that there was anything much to say to a creature who apparently ate the minds of people who let too much of it inside them.

  ?My guess,? Emilia said, before the thing said any more and Hetexia’s control—which had always been on the lesser side, but had hopefully increased over the last decade—did snap, ?is that you’re the reason all the Clarity members have become so mindless. They had bits of you inside them, but you gathered them all back together into this body, and for whatever reason, they didn’t return to their original personalities.?

  ?No guess as to what the reason is?? the thing asked, their tone reminding Emilia of a teacher, prompting one of their students to finish their answer and either impress the class or make a fool of themself.

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  Emilia had almost never made a fool of herself—not unless that had been her goal, anyways.

  ?Three possibilities. One: once your hive mind leaves them, that’s it for them. Brain-dead. Walking zombies. Personality… consumed, as you say. Two: Ajarni asked you not to allow their personalities to return, and despite how upset you sound with him, you agreed. Three: You’re really pissed with Ajarni, and knew that while some of his followers would tell him to go fuck himself, once they learned what he had done, at least some wouldn’t. By leaving them brainless, you effectively fucked him over.? Emilia paused, trying to assess the ancient being, given human form, for any sign she was right. Being right didn’t matter, but she did actually want to know what the reason behind the sudden destruction of all those minds had been.

  The creature, however, gave no indication any of her suggestions were correct, and a fourth option filled Emilia’s head—not that she’d be offering this one up to the thing.

  Secret option number four: it had actually been the Risen Guard, messing around with their captive’s brains, and whatever they did had accidentally brought the hive mind back together. It might have just been a funny coincidence of timing, this thing’s sudden existence and the empty minded Clarity members completely unconnected, but some coincidences were just too much.

  If that were the case, however, then this complete hive mind hadn’t meant to come into existence. That meant… what did that even mean? That it was here by accident? That it was confused and searching for meaning? Was this the first time it had been complete? Or did it live in some world of gods, letting pieces of itself be ripped away and used for the hive mind as needed?

  ?Why’d you kill our friends?? she asked, hoping to figure out at least some of its intentions while it was calm and not randomly attacking them.

  Its head tilted, inhuman—too bendy, its eyes too wide, simultaneously empty and chaotic. ?Because you caused this. You, chosen by the gods from without to fix this world, pulling at the strings of Ajarni until he was no longer ours, only theirs.?

  ?And what was your goal? We already figured out that the other… gods from without wanted to destroy the Risen Guard and end the blood curse. What about you??

  “Emilia…” Hetexia hissed, their mouth only parting slightly as she quietly threw her voice. “Do we really have time for this?”

  Emilia wasn’t too confident in her ability to speak privately with people, but she tried, regardless. The worst that would happen was the thing inside Yuka would realize she knew it was using the Clarity member’s power to skew time. In the grand scheme of things, it knowing that they knew what it was doing was pretty minor, but they were—apparently—facing down a fucking god, and every bit of secrecy could be important.

  For instance, what reason could this thing have for freezing time while they talked? Well, the first idea that came to Emilia’s mind was it wanted to torture them, slowly—make them suffer for being chosen by whatever real-world employee was trying to fix up this raid, so it wouldn’t be shuttered. Definitely not ideal, but it did mean they had however long they wanted to chit-chat.

  The hy Gru didn’t react when Emilia privately slotted this information into her mind, simply settled in to listen to Emilia and the god discuss the situation more and more, little tendrils of this world unwinding.

  This god was one of many, each with different agendas. There had long been a war between the gods, and they had long ago chosen to fight in this world rather than their own, intent to avoid the death of their own kind at the cost of countless human lives. So, they fought in this world, offering their influence to groups and individuals who struck their fancy, letting bits of their power and influence seep into the gifts they gave.

  There were rules, however, and every god was beholden to them. They could not touch mortals who were not theirs, nor could they claim a mortal as theirs alone.

  ?There must be moments where our control wanes, snaps, vanishes. If a mortal realigns their allegiances between the groups we have claimed, we must relinquish much of our control.? The creature smiled, whispering that they knew Emilia had learned more than most about the monsters and anomalies that could be created by such crossings.

  ?Why do I feel like you’re leaving out the most important part?? Emilia asked, rather than be sidetracked, asking for details about how the gods decided when someone had switched teams. There were probably a million little rules to determine such things, and as much as they had all the time in the world—although, who knew when the Virtuosi System would clue in to an internal time skew and eject them, so they didn’t go over their time limits—she also didn’t want to stand here chatting with a god for the rest of her time within the raid. Time might not be moving, but her body and mind still were, and she’d barely slept in several days.

  ?Because I am,? the thing said, all amusement dropping away as it examined the room, its host’s nails. ?I omitted the most important thing.?

  ?Which is?? Hetexia snapped, and Emilia was actually impressed the woman had lasted as long as she had before interrupting. Her former teammate had never been particularly interested in cultural matters—not her own, let alone something like this odd, cross-cultural exchange.

  The god levelled a look at Hetexia, annoyed and—

  Hetexia’s neck twisted, some unseen force snapping it. The hy fell to her knees, her huge body crashing gracelessly—lifelessly—to the ground.

  Emilia forced a flinch down. It was fine. The {Blood Ball} was clearly of no use against at least some of this thing’s powers, but it was fine.

  She couldn’t die.

  Some of her friends could, but that just meant she had to keep this thing distracted until they could—

  Distracted until they could get away? The thing was skewing time, and while Emilia had no idea how far that skew reached, she was willing to bet that above them—possibly still climbing the stairs—her friends were all but stuck, their muscles barely moving as time passed for her, but not for them.

  Well, that fucking sucked.

  ?So,? she asked, swallowing around her nerves and worry, a part of her knowing that the moment this thing was done with her, it would be going after her friends, ?what is the most important thing, or would you like me to guess??

  ?Can you guess?? it asked, those empty eyes turning back on her. ?Do you have enough information to guess? You’ve been so good about it so far, but I do not think you have the facts to figure out this one.?

  Emilia was almost tempted to ask if she’d get a prize, if she actually managed to guess correctly. Almost. There were many times when she could be fucking stupid, but she figured asking something like that of a god—even if a god inside this raid alone—was pushing her luck.

  Instead, she tossed what she knew around, thinking of the things the god had said—hadn’t said—the way people of this world treated the heartcores, worried about those overly affected by them, of the way this was a game, these gods a creation of the raid designer, for one reason or another.

  A thousand facts blurred inside Emilia’s head as she thought—as she tried to get inside the head of whoever had designed the game and what their intentions might have been, as she tried to imagine what sorts of fail safes they might have put into place.

  That was the thing, wasn’t it? By creating gods who could only enter into this world in pieces—whether this thing in front of her, or its broken apart hive mind version; the god who could control the Risen Guard; the thing inside Carne—they had created beings that could very well be unkillable. Maybe with the right technique—the right trap—a god could be rendered powerless in this world, but surely the Risen Guard, who hated the creature who had associated itself with their organization, must have tried to remove its influence from this world for generations.

  They couldn’t get rid of it, and they needed the power of the heartcores—couldn’t simply choose to no longer engage with it. Perhaps, that meant the platform maintainer and raid designers couldn’t get rid of it either. Not unless they changed a paradigm—and they clearly didn’t want to do that—or, perhaps…

  ?It’s a one-time thing,? she guessed, heart pounding as she wondered if she was right, wrong—if she’d be killed for being one or the other. Clearly, the raid designer had messed up when they created the rules of this world, making it too difficult to alter if they needed—or wanted—to. There was nothing to say they hadn’t messed up here, as well—that they hadn’t created a world filled with gods who could never be forced back from the living world. There was nothing to say they hadn’t fucked up either, though, and in most games, once you lost, you were out. ?Gods can only choose one person or group to support. Maybe ever, maybe every set period of time.? She hesitated, trying to read the depth of anger in those emotionless eyes that hadn’t even flinched as they snapped someone’s neck, before adding, ?That’s why you’re so upset with the gods from without—and me by extension. They used Clarity, intending for it to be destroyed, and in the process, you lost your place in this world—in your war.?

  The creature blinked at her, shifted their shoulders, neck—sighed like every little thing had finally fallen into place. ?Smart little thing, aren’t you.?

  The thing didn’t snap her neck, but it did lurch for her, Emilia already sliding backwards, wondering how the fuck she was supposed to kill—or at least banish—a fucking god.