The bottomless pit vanished, and the earth overturned. That day, the earth regained its floor, and the sky shone into the bottomless pit.

The evening sky, with the sun setting, was closer to darkness than light, but everything in the world was relative. Compared to the endless darkness of the bottomless pit, it was as good as a lamp. Those inside felt that the sky had been returned to them.

Having lifted the ceiling with Earth's Ripple alone, Shei collapsed backward in utter exhaustion. Her spent Stepping Cloud disappeared, sending her plummeting headfirst.

Tyrkanzyaka caught her with darkness. Seeing Shei's lips moving feebly, she hurriedly asked,

"Where is Hugh?"

Shei felt a little hurt. She had pushed the earth up, yet no one seemed to care. Still, she wanted to know where he was too, so she groaned and somehow managed an answer.

"... We'll have to find him. Knowing him, he won't have died..."

But she was in no condition to do anything. Shei tried to raise her upper body, only to slump down again. Even when she tried to speak, all that escaped her lips were faint, faltering groans.

Only then did Tyrkanzyaka take stock of her condition. Looking a little apologetic, she carefully laid her on Ralion's back and said,

"You must have had a hard time. Rest a while, Shei. I shall look for him..."

Just then, Rash and Callis approached. They had been holding their breath for fear that the ceiling would collapse, but it was safe now. Tyrkanzyaka hurriedly questioned them.

"You have come at just the right time. Did either of you happen to see where Hugh went?"

Rash answered.

"You mean the teacher? Didn't he go up ahead of us?"

"Up ahead of us? The earth was blocking the sky... I do not quite understand what I am saying. In any case, how could Hugh have gone up?"

"That I don't know! But when our eyes met, he gestured that he'd go up first!"

"He gestured?"

Tyrkanzyaka raised her head and looked toward the top of the bottomless pit.

With its ceiling gone, the bottomless pit—no, the hole that was no longer a bottomless pit—was still quite deep, despite having regained its sky. Even from the summit of the corpse mountain, reaching the surface would require an ascent that was practically flight.

As she continued to waver in doubt, Rash added,

"That's right! He disappeared after that, so I didn't see how he went up! But surely the teacher had some way? Perhaps he hung from the ceiling and rode it up like the beast ladies!"

Just then, Azi's howl rang out from the surface, followed by Nabi's cry. The two beasts were calling out in delight at being aboveground for the first time in so long.

Though they had been on the opposite side of the bottomless pit, the pair had remained clinging to the ceiling and reached the surface by holding on as it flew upward.

Of course, that was only possible because they were Beast Kings.

"With Hugh... nothing he does would surprise me. He might even have gone up dangling from a single thread."

"Wouldn't he? Otherwise, are you saying he's still here but won't show himself? The teacher likes his pranks, but surely not that much."

Even so, Tyrkanzyaka could not quite picture him flying through the sky, and kept tilting her head.

"No. Hugh may be behind the mountain. I shall go and look there."

"Well, while you're there, ask the Earth Sage. She might know more, mightn't she?"

Rash pointed toward the summit of the corpse mountain. There, the Earth Sage knelt before the Grand Master. Her posture was deeply reverent, as though she meant to pay the respects she had been unable to offer earlier.

With one arm missing, she looked almost pitiable, but that was of little concern to Tyrkanzyaka.

Having dared oppose the Progenitor, escaping with the loss of a single arm was practically an act of mercy.

"I shall see."

Tyrkanzyaka promptly made her way over.

The earth had just overturned and the bottomless pit had been freed from its long bondage, yet the Earth Sage seemed utterly unconcerned. Concrete fragments covered her head and shoulders as she struggled to set a cup upright with her one hand and tilted a liquor bottle.

Tyrkanzyaka approached her.

First, Tyrkanzyaka checked the far side of the corpse mountain. There was not so much as a trace of him behind it. After looking around for a moment, she turned to question the Earth Sage.

"You there. Do you know where Hugh went?"

The Earth Sage answered without even turning her head.

"Why do you ask me of his whereabouts?"

"Were you not the last to see him? Just answer my question."

"Until a moment ago, we were fighting each other."

"The outcome was clear. The defeated must obey the victor's wishes. You ought to answer more earnestly."

"... Heh heh. What a farce..."

With a brief, hollow chuckle, the Earth Sage laboriously set down the cup and pointed upward.

"... He went up."

"How?"

"There was a rope. He anchored it in Tantalus, then held on and went up when the ceiling overturned."

"That is the truth?"

"Have I any reason to lie?"

Having finished speaking, the Earth Sage calmly resumed pouring liquor into the cup. Seeing how detached she was, as though she had let go of everything, Tyrkanzyaka asked no more questions and instead murmured to herself,

"Where could he have gone without a word?"

"If he went without a word, perhaps he has left?"

"Left?"

"If he remained here, the Military State would pursue him. He would wish to avoid that."

It happened then.

A commotion erupted all around them. At the same time, familiar circles of light shone from every direction. Voices murmuring in confusion gradually drew nearer.

"The ground! The ground has risen!"

"An earthquake...!"

"There are corpses everywhere...!"

"All sorts of debris are falling from the sky! Major, we must evacuate!"

"Calm down!"

The angry voice quieted the murmurs. One voice, standing out clearly from the others, boomed out.

"When an abnormal situation arises, we hold our positions and send back the minimum number of personnel to report! Isn't that the iron rule of our reconnaissance unit?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Then hold your positions! We must keep those devils from coming out of the bottomless pit again!"

At the commander's voice, footsteps scattered in perfect order. Before long, they appeared all along the rim of the bottomless pit. The silhouettes shifting against the circular patch of sky were rather intimidating.

"Tch, I can't see inside! Bring the searchlights!"

The soldiers could not see into the gloomy pit. As they searched for their lights, a voice rang out.

"Oh! Soldiers!"

"... Tch. Rash, I'll hide for now."

"Hm? Ah, right! You did say you needed to hide!"

While Callis concealed herself, Tyrkanzyaka looked around.

Shei was exhausted and barely stirring. The Beast Kings were already outside and seemed unlikely to involve themselves in a human fight. And the undying one merely could not die; he was not much help otherwise.

'And I need to find Hugh.'

But he was nowhere to be seen inside the bottomless pit. He had probably gone outside.

Had he hidden himself first because being discovered by the Military State could mean trouble? Like Callis?

'If so, he must be hiding somewhere nearby. Then what I must do is...'

Open a path to escape.

Tyrkanzyaka let out a deep breath, formed a staircase from darkness, and walked steadily up it.

A circular searchlight beam sweeping toward her was about to illuminate her. Just before the light reached her, Tyrkanzyaka frowned, pressed down firmly with a fingertip, and flicked it.

CRASH! CRASH!

The instant the circles of light approached her, the lamps shattered all at once. The soldiers operating the searchlights toppled backward.

The commander shouted,

"Something! Something is approaching! Everyone, firing positions!"

Cloaked in darkness, Tyrkanzyaka walked up to the surface to face a force numbering a full three hundred.

They stood arrayed against her with dozens of vehicles and all manner of equipment.

A beautiful girl with long silver hair and scarlet eyes had emerged from the bottomless pit. Every Military State soldier was momentarily spellbound, but only for an instant.

Instinctive fear of the uncannily beautiful being who had risen from the endless depths seized them, and they clutched their weapons.

Tyrkanzyaka, too, was inwardly tense.

She knew nothing of their weapons or their abilities.

In the past, when she had felt no fear of death, she would simply have struck them down first. But now her heart was beating, and others remained behind her who had yet to escape. She had something to lose.

'Shall I try talking first?'

Having gained a heart, the Progenitor who had never known compromise felt a little fear of loss and took a step forward.

Of course, Tyrkanzyaka's tension was nothing compared to the soldiers'.

"Communications officer! Report the situation! Communications officer!! Damn it, ever since the ground overturned, we've lost contact...!"

The commander had been shouting while clutching a golem that had collapsed like a kite with its string cut. He threw it aside and gritted his teeth.

"Colonel! What do we do?"

"What else? We follow protocol!"

Declaring that this was precisely what protocol was for, the commander snatched up a megaphone and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"We are an army! However powerful the enemy may be, no mere individual can defeat an army!"

It was a cry meant to raise morale.

Hearing it, Tyrkanzyaka grew even more tense.

She knew two kinds of armies. One was a rabble made up of ordinary farmers handed weapons to fill out the ranks, useful only for wearing the enemy down.

The other was an army of elite soldiers, every last one of them—a keen blade forged for battle.

Naturally, Tyrkanzyaka pictured the latter. Having awakened only recently, she still held strong impressions of those who had entered Tantalus.

The Earth Sage, the lieutenant general, the colonel. All had reached a certain level of strength. Seeing only people like them, she had forgotten just how weak the weak could be.

It was the trap of averages.

"Let us talk."

In a rare turn, the Progenitor who had once steeped the world in terror adopted a conciliatory attitude. It was entirely unlike the demeanor Tyrkanzyaka the Progenitor had displayed throughout history.

Unfortunately, this gave the briefly frightened troops a needless boost of confidence.

The misfortune, of course, was theirs.

The commander cried triumphantly,

"Surrender, trainee! Return to where you came from and await your disposition!"

"What nonsense..."

"Obey orders! If you refuse, we will open fire!"

RAT-A-TAT!

Warning shots struck the ground at Tyrkanzyaka's feet. Faced with an attack carrying ample menace, her expression naturally darkened.

"... You seem confident. Even against me..."

Weapons she had never seen before. Countless gun barrels surrounding her. Military State soldiers in identical uniforms.

At the sight, she took them seriously.

"Then I shall use my full strength from the outset."

The sun had set, and it was now night. The shadow-filled earth was the vampire's domain. Her crimson eyes took in the darkness, exercising her authority.

Black Knights rose in every direction. The shadows were their base and their supply lines. Their numbers reached a full thousand.

The soldiers panicked at the sudden reversal of fortunes. The commander, too, pointed with a terror-stricken face.

"Shoot! Shoot them!"

RATATATATAT!

At his command, the guns blazed. A rain of bullets tore into the Black Knights.

But the Black Knights rising from the darkness advanced, either enduring the bullets or letting them pass through. Bullets were too small to sweep away the darkness.

Rounds that would have been reasonably effective against humans were, to the Black Knights, feebler than flails swung by peasants.

"Th-they won't go down!"

"There are more and more enemies!"

The commander shouted urgently.

"I-I see! These are illusions. They have no substance! Everyone, hold your positions! Don't waste ammunition...!"

Just then, one of the approaching Black Knights pounced on a soldier. Screaming, the soldier rolled across the ground.

The commander hastily reversed himself.

"Close ranks! Stand back-to-back and concentrate your fire! And equipment! Hurry, bring the lights and shine them on the enemy!"

Resenting their commander, the soldiers obeyed.