Vivi took a stumbling step toward the next golem. Her feet felt heavy. The whiplash from burning nearly twenty thousand wisps in her body at once hit as hard as she perhaps should have expected. Momentarily, with the ascension active Vivi had felt like a god.

Now she felt weak. Like a sick little creature struggling to stand, despite the five thousand wisps still powering her.

But she still had more wisps. She pushed another five thousand for Lucius.

"No!" Lucius shouted. He didn't burn the wisps, but transferred them straight back to Vivi. "No more. I'm about to collapse. And you're dying. I'm shaping ether for you right now, and you're barely standing. Just collect the first golem's drops."

Vivi grimaced through the pain, watching as the second golem stepped toward the battalion.

The ballistas shot at the golem. Explosive missiles and piercing javelins. The explosions blew weakly, and the javelins bounced off, leaving scratches.

The golem would crush the camp, and it would continue to the city, where it would destroy everything. The Lost Raindrop would fall again.

The battlefield was filled with dead monsters sizzling with collectible ether. Most bodies were still uncollected. The Luminary's Lights were finishing the last of the miniature golems. The last giant golem was alone now.

Coshi studied Vivi for a moment longer. "Leave it to us," she said, probably deeming that Vivi was too tired. "Stay here and watch."

Vivi gritted her teeth, but Coshi was probably right. She was too exhausted.

Lucius's attention was on the fallen corpse of the first golem. He said nothing, but he was clearly nudging Vivi's attention toward it, and all the collectible ether rising from within.

Vivi's eyes were on the group of elite demons. She counted the same number of Lights as what they'd started with, but something was off. Someone wasn't there. She furrowed her brows, looking closer.

Where's Lucas?

That was when Iszul's presence burst to life in Vivi's sixth sense. She turned her head, and saw a concentration of bright white ether, vaguely shaped like a tall demon. The figure stood in the golem's path with its sword to the side. The sword was fully ethereal like a spirit blade, but far more concentrated with ether, and a lot more dangerous. Beneath the extreme coating, Vivi saw the vague outline of outside-carved veins. His skin was unstable like a screwed-up monster's. His pristine suit was entirely covered by the sheer amount of ether coating him.

He took one running step toward the golem, then activated a skill. His figure flashed, as if teleporting, and the gap was closed in an instant. Iszul swung his sword, hitting the golem in the chest.

But nobody died! Vivi thought, gritting her teeth.

A bright white slash-mark appeared on the golem's chest. Iszul's sword slashed the stone open, wisps rising rapidly from within. The golem continued walking.

Iszul's figure appeared upset. He raised his sword, flashing in a different spot again, now closer to its neck. He slashed with force, and a more powerful slash-mark cut deep into the colossal golem. It now became aware of Iszul, and lifted its hand.

The Exalted Knight's figure was like a candle—a burning flame of anger and annoyance. He used his odd teleportation skill two more times, first atop the shoulder, then to the head, where he pointed his sword down and activated the skill again, diving straight down to the golem's neck.

That was the most damaging blow yet; his sword pierced through, and a wide crack was left behind, wisps exploding out at Iszul's face. He was unbothered, his feet glued to the shoulder, where he continued with heavy slashes at the nape.

His swings carried force. A single hit of Iszul's sword would have one-shot any boss even slightly less tanky than this golem. Vivi was surprised to see any outside-carved sword deal damage to the golem at all.

"Vivi…" Lucius said in shock. "How many hits has Iszul given now?"

Vivi had no idea. But the golem was dying. Soon, it would fall as well. The storm was defeated.

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"That's an exalted knight," Lucius said. "With all of his skills active. He's well past the fourth elevation. He's landed at least ten hits now. We killed ours in two."

And he's fighting, Vivi thought. That means someone is dead.

Vivi glanced at the battalions. She didn't remember anyone dying. She'd kept a close eye, protecting the areas that were about to get overwhelmed. Plenty of demons had been wounded, but nobody should have died.

Gritting her teeth, she ran over to Coshi and Anthony. "Where's Lucas?" she asked.

The demons looked troubled as they looked around, scanning the area for Lucas's presence.

"I saw him get surrounded," Anthony said. His words were calm, but his eyes were serious. He spotted a cluster of dead monsters sizzling with collectibles. He ran to the spot.

Everyone was silent. While Iszul was still hitting the golem, the demons ran after Anthony.

Three miniature golems and one slightly larger one had collapsed near each other alongside a mound of collapsed ether sticks. Anthony slashed the corpse of the largest golem in half. Its reanimated body was turning back into a boulder. Anthony kicked it into the distance. Then he lifted the rest off.

Lucas's body lay sprawled underneath.

Vivi froze at the sight. His right arm was cut off from the elbow, and the remaining limb was crushed. His left leg was snapped at an unnatural angle. His teeth were destroyed, pushed into his throat, with only a few in the correct positions. His right horn was cracked, totally ripped off, leaving a bloody mess on his forehead.

A light amount of ether still oozed from around his body.

Behind them, a crash resounded as the last golem fell. Iszul's aura fell to the ground graciously, though Vivi wasn't looking in the direction. The golem's ether disappeared as Iszul collected ether from his kill.

Then Iszul walked up to them. The last wisps of his exalted skills wore off, revealing his suit beneath. "As agreed, I have collected what I killed. A death permitted me to assist you."

Vivi felt sick to her stomach. The weakness from abusing ether turned to dizziness. She couldn't see straight. She began shaking, about to fall over and collapse.

Lucas's limb flinched. A cough followed. A weak one, but a cough nonetheless, coming from Lucas's body.

Then he groaned. He turned his mouth to the side. Blood spurted from his mouth as he spat out a few loose teeth. He channeled ether, aura rising. "Asshowles," he managed to utter out, voice weak and muddled by his deformed mouth. "Who saif I wafw deafft?"

Right after that, his head fell limp, eyes losing their light.

Anthony gritted his teeth, pressed his arm against Lucas's chest, and pushed a heavy surge of ether from his palm, into his body. "Wake up, you fucking idiot!"

Lucas flinched, eyes regaining light. He blinked again.

"Channel ether!" Anthony ordered. "Now! And don't you dare stop!" He glanced over his shoulder. "Where are our potions? Someone grab them!"

Lucas looked ready to pass out again. Vivi's heart raced while Anthony pushed more ether, forcing Lucas awake, shouting at him to channel ether of his own. One of the Luminary's Lights tossed him a yellow vial, and Anthony forced its contents down Lucas's throat with force.

Iszul merely frowned. "Your camp would have fallen without my help."

Coshi gave him a look, but said nothing. She placed her hand on Vivi's shoulder and said, "We aren't of any use here."

Vivi was frozen as she stared at the panicked scene. Coshi pulled her away. The Luminary collected ether from fallen monsters along the way. She spoke calmly, but her tone was stern. "Good work. You killed the golem."

"Mm," Vivi said.

Coshi looked suspicious, walking alongside Vivi. It wasn't a hostile expression, but Vivi's ascension clearly made her doubtful.

"Will Lucas be okay?" Vivi asked.

"If he lives, he's probably never fighting again," Coshi said. "We will hope for the best. Let's focus on cleanup. You can collect the golem and its skills, seeing as you killed it. I will ask you about your skills later."

Vivi nodded. "I'll tell you. I didn't hide anything on purpose."

Iszul's calm footsteps followed behind them. He walked with the step of a leader, as if he'd just saved the whole world. His arrogant stare landed on Vivi. "So you had a secret weapon, Coshi."

The Luminary breathed in, visibly annoyed. "You are free to mind your business, Exalted One."

"She is powerful indeed," Iszul said. "Although, it seems her powers exhaust her in ten seconds. Using her to defeat the storms will be difficult."

"You are free," Coshi said, pausing her step and giving him a stare, "to mind your business."

Iszul scoffed, shaking his head, but turned around. Coshi muttered curses under her breath. She led Vivi to the first golem's corpse.

Somehow, Vivi didn't want to collect the ether. She already had millions. Giving the ether to the others would be more beneficial for the next storm. Regardless, Vivi collected the golem's ether, granting her over two million ether in total.

Alongside that was a skill. The large wisp flowed into the last slot in her core. It was colored a subtle green, whirling eagerly as it settled within Vivi's body. Lucius examined it curiously. "It's a rare skill," he said. "Not quite an exalted one. Let's hope it's good."

We'll examine it later, Vivi thought, biting her lip. For now, she turned to Coshi. "When will the next storm hit?"

"Two storms are breaking three days from now," Coshi said, "according to the forecast. The next storms are larger, though they are not spawning inside a mountain."

"We need weapons," Vivi said. She glanced at the ballistas. "Those missiles are too weak. Shivenar will fall if they're not improved."

Coshi frowned, but it looked like she agreed.

The exhaustion of abusing ether hit Vivi, but she didn't feel nearly as bad as she had in Zand. If she slowly lessened the amount of ether in her body toward Zero, she wouldn't sustain lasting damages. Or she hoped at least.

"Bring the ballista makers to my smithy," Vivi said. "We need to get to work."

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