Natural laws hate being thwarted.

Each time Ossuul bent her spine and legs to contort to the shape of the tunnel, the default way of things came snapping down on her, determined to kick her unnatural form back out of existence. At first, it pushes her back into form. Kind enough to give her the benefit of doubt and not shatter her spine for opposing it. Only when Nyxil tried to hold her twisted body from natural did the pain begin.

Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that opposing the fundamental forces could hurt, but damn did Nyxil not enjoy the feeling of her spine coming so close to snapping.

For now, keeping the name active in perpetuity was infeasible. At most, she could handle a second. That was incredibly useful in a fight where an instant was all she needed to dodge a bullet or slip around a blade, but in this tunnel, it was anything but. In fact, the ability more of a detriment. Not once had she bent her body to shift around a sharp edge… only to find that corner bent longer than she'd expected.

It was not fun to have her body snap back into shape in a space it couldn't fit.

Still, it was good to know the limitations of the name. Better here than mid-fight. Nyxil had high hopes for the additive in the future when she evolved. She already fantasised how it could improve N̚oth.

Nyxil didn't realise she'd reached another main corridor until her tunnel had looped around it three times. It took another few minutes of fiddling to find a series of cracks in the rock that fit the insectoid claws to unlock the hidden door. Until the stone slab rolled out of her way and welcomed the sight of a dimly lit hall, she thought she'd misunderstood how the embalmed had opened it.

She crawled out of the hole and jumped to her feet. The door closed behind her. Without any input. She glared at the now seamless wall for a moment before giving the tunnel a proper inspection.

Clean and flat, the walls were decorated with long faded drawings. Unlike the series of carvings at the entrance, these were mostly incomprehensible. The few sketches Nyxil could make out held no apparent significance. Symbols and alien animal figures. Records that she lacked the context to understand.

From around a corner at the far end of the hall, bright yellow light bled through the tunnel.

Brushing herself off, Nyxil decided to investigate. She had her secret passages up to the higher levels if she needed them… but did she really want to bypass any challenge this Trial was supposed to give? She'd seen how the importance of the Trial improved one's chances at receiving a name. The later Trials were sure to be more effective. No way would she toss away such an opportunity.

Besides… she didn't want to get drowned in embalmed rot again.

As she turned the corner, Nyxil found herself blinded by intense light. Covering her eyes, her third found the thick crack running through the walls of the tunnel. Light from the sun spilled through the gap like a blazing stream of fire. After the cold dark of the pyramid's interior, the light burned.

Nyxil skipped over the fissure and was glad she'd kept her eyes covered. The sweet water over her face and arms dried in an instant. Scratching at it, the honey peeled off like a shed skin.

"Hot, isn't it?"

Nyxil spun at the voice. She'd completely missed him with her focus on the fissure.

"By all means, our accretion disk should be more intense by many factors… yet this single sun exhibits far greater effects on our bodies."

The boy stood before her, completely oblivious to the danger of other participants… or perhaps uncaring. He wore a simple hooded robe, with no indication of his cult. As he spoke, his gaze flickered to her rapier, then to the limbs that had only recently been missing. His tilted head at her half-missing foot put her immediately on edge.

He'd been told about her. So which cult was he with?

When he'd reached this high up before her when she had access to the hidden passages, it was more than likely he was at least considerably strong. Well… unless he'd discovered them as well. Better to be careful.

Nyxil noticed his eyes were crusty. As if he'd been staring into the light too long and the tears it had extracted dried before they could fall.

"I'd move away from the crack soon if I was you," he said, glancing into the bright slit through stone.

Nyxil wasn't inclined to believe anything he said, but by the way he backed around the corner again, she couldn't help but take a few hesitant steps away. Glancing around, it was hard to see on the dark stone, but there were scorch marks. No, there was nothing but scorch marks.

Ah. Nyxil thought. The pyramid isn't a perfect protection from the solar flares, after all.

Slipping around the corner as if the sun would strike at any moment, she was immediately welcomed with the answer to which cult this boy belonged.

A lump of metal machine filled the hall. Treads lifted the box-like body off the ground, barely fitting between the narrow walls. But Nyxil didn't pay attention to that. Her eyes widened, and she dove to the side as she found herself face to barrel with a cannon as long as she was.

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A hallowed micro-tank.

Nyxil's rapier was unsheathed in an instant. This boy was a Worshipper.

The cannon shifted towards her, and she dropped into a pounce before the weapon could obliterate her. This was a fairly common machine of the Machine God Worshipper harbingers, but the power it contained was not to be underestimated. Considering its front was mostly thick steel, she needed to dash to its back where her rapier would have an easier time striking something important.

Before she could, the boy jumped in front of her blade.

"Whoa, whoa. There's no need for that." His hands rose ahead of him, unarmed. Nothing was stopping her from driving her blade through his heart should she simply step forward. "We don't want to fight. Isn't that right, Buddy?" he glanced over his shoulder at the bear-sized tank.

The cannon rose and dipped repeatedly, turning to aim at Nyxil. She lowered again, but before she could attack, the boy hurried to intervene again.

"She's skittish, Buddy. Try not to look at her if you can, yeah?"

The barrel sunk a few centimetres, before it twisted to point down the hall behind her. Nyxil stared for a moment, before returning her gaze to the boy. She wasn't yet ready to sheathe her blade.

"Okay, well… are you interested in working with me?"

Nyxil's face must have revealed how incredulous she felt.

"Only until the final Trial. The other cults all have a lot of resources thrown into their champions, so those of us without much should group together. We help each other to take out some of the other competitors, then at the end we go our own way and may the best harbinger win, yeah?"

Behind him, the tank's cannon crawled back to face her. The moment it noticed her wary eyes, it flinched back like a scolded child.

"Really?" Nyxil still felt bewildered, but she could see sincerity in his eyes. Not that she would ever trust that sincerity long enough to take a knife in the back.

The boy nodded emphatically. "The Scriptures and Everseeing Eye champions are worrisome on their own, but it's the Bodytwisters' that I'm most concerned about. The, uh… informants I've spoken to haven't been able to get any information on her beyond her surface facade. Comparatively, keeping you around to the end is far preferable."

Nyxil stepped back and sheathed her blade. She wasn't entirely convinced, but the Worshipper hadn't attacked her — unlike so many others — so she could at least consider it. If he had someone telling him about his competition, then it was likely he knew about her, too. Did he know about her connection to the Technocult? Surely not. No cult hated another like the Worshippers and Technocult.

The boy absently stroked the side of his machine. "So Nỷx̱il? What do you think?"

Well, that pretty much confirmed why he was talking to her. He knew who she was. Likely had a good idea of what she could do… or at least what she'd shown in the previous Trials. Sending her name sense forward, she felt enough components to reveal he was a second evolution. Another one. Nyxil had to suppress an annoyed tongue click.

"Alright," she ceded. "But make sure that thing keeps its cannon away from me."

The barrel that had been sneaking back towards her twisted away again.

"No problem! Buddy can do that. Can't you, Buddy?" He pets the killing machine. "Oh, by the way; I'm Su'Baař."

"Nỷx̱il, but you knew that." She gave him an unimpressed look. "So how did you know I'd come this way?"

She disliked the idea of making any sort of agreement with a cultist. He was young, and the cooperation was simply to oppose the other cults, yet it still bothered her. Still, she couldn't deny her curiosity. Why would the Worshippers of all cults be willing to work with her?

"I didn't." He shrugged with a smile. "Buddy led us through the halls, and we just happened to cross paths."

"Uh huh." With how large this pyramid was, she didn't believe chance for a second. Though she also didn't know how he would have known where she would come out of the hidden passages. Even if he knew about them, they were a complex network on their own. "Tell me, what do you know of the other cults' champions?"

"Oh, sure! The one I've got the most info on is the Scriptures champion. Well, no… that's not right. I know more about the Fleshsmiths', but he's only at the first evolution and isn't really worth considering a threat. G͇rifv̪oi is one of the few we should worry about the most. His names combined with the Elderscript in his forehead allow rapid ritual manifestation. I know he has a summonable bone armour set with a halberd that improve his phyiscal strength, but I wouldn't put it past the Scriptures from giving him a few more equally powerful rituals."

Nyxil had intended it to be a test to see how willing he was to actually work with her, but she never expected him to share so freely. It was suspicious.

"I've already fought him," she hedged, unsure of how much she should reveal. "He bathes his bones in green fire that multiplies his speed and gives him some powerful attacks."

"Oh?" his eyebrows stretch into his forehead. "You got away?"

Nyxil tried — and failed — to suppress a snort. "He was lucky to have his army of scriptures backing him. I was one swing away from decapitating him." She made sure to give Su'Baar a pointed look, but the boy completely missed her threat.

"Really?" He was excited rather than sceptical. "How did you do it?"

She stared, and even with her silence it took him a full ten seconds to get the hint. "Ah, right. I won't pry. No problem. Well, there's also the Cult of the Everseeing Eye's champion, Val'Mͮanis. He's already sacrificed his eyelids, so he should be pretty obvious. Which is a good thing because you don't want to overlook him. His gaze gives him a very slight telekinesis. By itself it isn't strong, but you'll want to keep your eye out if he's looking anywhere near you; the poisons he uses in his darts are either deadly or crippling. Depends on how he's feeling."

"Another second evolution?" Nyxil murmured. It had taken her years. Supposedly near impossible to do within two months, and yet there was already three besides herself.

"Well, there is one more…" Su'Baar said. "The biggest threat. Maybe it's not a surprise the Bodytwisters have the strongest competition considering they're the hosts, but this girl has shown no need for the support her cult throws after her. In the last Trial, she was spotted at completely opposite ends of Coral at the same time, as if she was in two places at once."

Nyxil knew who he was talking about. Immediately she was interested. Any information he knew on the ghostly girl who'd obliterated even her own score in the last Trial, she would gladly take.

"Unfortunately there's not much I know. Not once in the last trial did she show off her combat potential. She would fade into existence, snatch a coin, then disappear. As much as it looks like teleportation, our onomasticians are adamant that is impossible."

Nyxil frowned, disappointed. She was about to encourage them to move on their way, but Su'Baar gave the micro-tank by his side an uncertain glance. One the machine somehow replicated with a slight tilt of its cannon.

"Well, that's not all," he said. "Her name is Ly͚sy͚rã."

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