https://youtu.be/4GOiJkxRXjw

At the top floor of the pagoda laid an ornately decorated room, almost like an azure palace. If one were to move up the spiralling staircase and emerge at the top, they would immediately be greeted by the walls, painted in shades of blue for the sky, with ornate green patterns like leaves blowing in the wind and stalks reaching for the heavens. The room was illuminated with a flaming lamp, and the room was immaculate - even the soldiers and priests clad in white, kneeling on either side of the long blue carpet seemed to care to keep it tidy.

The carpet in question led up to a simple wooden altar at the very end of the room, covered with a blue blanket as on top of it laid a football-sized orb, filled with a still, clear liquid, and in the centre floated a smaller orb holding a shining, ethereal light. Calypso knelt down in front of it, with the altar at her back, and watched the entrance almost obsessively, not once moving from her position.

That said, once she heard footsteps heading up in a sprint, she immediately sat up, preparing herself for combat only to simmer down when the figure made its way to the top of the stairs. It was only Van, thankfully, dressed in his green clothing, who stopped right at the top and panted as he leaned against the wall, regaining his breath as his eyes met Calypso's.

"How...do you martial types...do this all the time?" he puffed, looking directly at her with his other hand on his chest. "Never...again..."

Calypso, relaxing a little as she watched her ally recovering, offered him a wave and a smile. "Hey, Van."

"Hello, Calypso." Van breathed, giving her a smile as though he was trying - in vain - to convince her that he was perfectly fine. "I trust everything is up to snuff?"

"Mhm." she nodded, eyeing him up and down before continuing. "I see your cardio plan is going well."

"I will be an athlete by the end of the month, just you watch!" Van declared, using the wall to support himself as he stood up straight. "But I did not come here to share that with you. Ready the defences, please."

"Oh, is Viera here?"

"Indeed, and she brought the Torchbearer and that Sly man with her." Van nodded, adjusting his hat and smiling. "I've bought us some time, but we really must be prepared before they defeat the wolf and enter."

"O-Oh! Well, let's go, then!"

"Of course! For the new dawn!"

Calypso nodded quickly, rising to her feet and holding her bow up in both hands. The two shared a knowing glance - they hadn't spent all that time setting things up for nothing. They had to make sure their master reached the Light before this adventuring party did. Van beckoned her over to him, and she sprang to his side before they bolted down the stairs together. The soldiers remained ever vigilant, sitting up straight and knowing their role in all this was minor, but would make all the difference nonetheless.

.........

https://youtu.be/YvLZzUcyDWY

As such, when the heroes stepped inside the building for the first time, the Deliverance had come prepared. Once the door opened, they saw the room before them was filled with soldiers wearing the same scale mail as the ones native to Suzaku, but coloured white. They stood in formation, their hands locked together in prayer.

"In nomine initium...in caerulum caelum..."

They were lined up in a formation that was clearly very consistent, but not overly compact. As the group of them closed their eyes, they didn't respond to the appearance of the heroes just yet, though their bodies emanated motes of bright, white light. Whatever spell they were casting, it was nearly complete. Ashbel placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, but Viera placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head. "Don't be hasty. I've seen this spell before."

Sly, standing behind the two and closing the door behind him, shrugged a little, reaching into his cloak. "Why don't we just beat 'em up, then? Stop them from casting it?"

"Because they're just about done."

"Scansio! Volo custodire novus sol!"

At once, the room was filled with a blinding light obscuring the sights of all three heroes. While Sly and Viera stood strong in the face of this, Ashbel covered his eyes a little, until the radiance cleared away, and in front of them stood a maze, with walls made of translucent walls of blue water and filled with electrified rocks. There laid a gap in front of them - presumably an entrance, and on the other side of the room laid the staircase going up to the next floor.

"...water, huh?" Ashbel scowled once he opened his eyes and realised exactly what was in front of him. With clenched teeth, he eyed it in annoyance, shaking his head. "Never was a fan."

"Of water?" Sly raised an eyebrow, clearly finding this strange.

"Can you swallow your fears for now?" Viera hummed, stepping into the maze as the other two followed. "You're gonna need to get used to it."

"Hey, I'm not scared. It just sucks." Ashbel corrected her, following her into the maze with a low hum. "So, how do we clear this thing, anyway? Those acolytes are still in there, right?"

"Yep. They should be waiting at every corner. So, we should apply caution here." Viera responded, nodding slowly. Sly, pulling a dagger out of his cloak, twirled it slightly as he eyed the watery mass before him.

"I think we ought to stab them." he suggested flippantly. "If they're all dead, no one's keeping this thing up, right?"

"You know, that's actually a good idea." Ashbel hummed, stepping into the maze with his sword drawn, making sure not to touch the watery walls. "Let's split up, then. We'll get them all in no time."

Sly nodded, beginning to splinter off from the other two before Viera could object. Once he was gone, the acolyte crossed her arms, shaking her head. "Wouldn't it be safer to stick together?"

"Maybe." Ashbel nodded in concession. "I'll give a shout if I need your healing. That sound cool?"

Viera nodded at that, looking off in another direction. "Don't do anything reckless." she said, before heading off into the maze, leaving Ashbel alone to find his own route.

Despite their separation, the trio was of one mind - to expedite the process by finding and killing every last one of the cultists within. For this maze had turned into a deadly game of hide and seek. One cultist braced himself for battle, only to have his dreams cut short by a knife to the throat coming from seemingly nowhere. Sly emerged at his position, crouching down to loot the corpse.

Knowing that danger was abound, everyone else primed themselves for battle. Indeed, when Viera showed up at one of them, they got into a martial arts stance, and the two went at one another, expertly trading blows until Viera grabbed the Deliverer's arm, tossing them into the water wall and seeing the electricity flowing through it surge into their body, killing them shortly. She then administered a few shocks of her own just to be sure, before departing to continue killing them off.

Ashbel seemed to take the whole thing in stride, confident that nobody could properly stand up to him. He could kill magicians, no problem. As he spotted one waiting in the wings for an attacker, he, with his blade in hand, casually called out, "Hey, how good are your healers?"

He revealed himself immediately afterwards, much to the man's sheer shock. The mage panickedly began to cast a water spell, but Ashbel sighed, shaking his head. "They're good, eh? But are they this good?" And right away, he plunged his sword into the man's heart, lighting it ablaze. The man's screams were a disturbing symphony to all present, something Ashbel used to his advantage: he wasn't trapped in here with them, now.

The battle raged on, with the three of them making sure to cover all bases and ensure that nobody was left standing - something they knew had come to pass when the maze collapsed, washing away all the blood that had spilt. Ashbel hissed, recoiling from the flood and making a beeline for the stairs. Viera and Sly, who weren't drama queens, simply walked across, all of them making it up the stairs.

Without saying a word, they ran up to the next floor, all in a hurry to reach the fourth, but as they reached the second, they were met with a room that was mostly empty. The floor was covered with blue boards that went well with the walls, but it was otherwise mostly plain, with a few vases lined up against the walls. Something seemed off about this place - and not just because of the spaced-out nymph clad in red standing on the other side. It just seemed too quiet, they thought - and only one person? This couldn't be a good thing.

https://youtu.be/tyrdJ8Vm3Nc

"Calypso!" Sly exclaimed, waving happily and grabbing her attention as she perked up, eyeing the three nervously. "How's it been?"

"O-Oh, Sly!" she bowed her head, greeting him with a smile that grew shakier as she turned her gaze to look at the other two, who were eyeing her with various levels of confusion and displeasure. "And, uh, I see you brought Viera and, uh...Sir Torchbearer? I'm afraid I don't know your name..."

"Guess I'm pretty famous around here, huh." Ashbel commented, his hands on his hips as his eyes darted around the place. He could have sworn he'd seen something finely shining around here. Better stand back, he told himself. "You can call me 'Adon Ha'esh'."

"Oh, well...good evening, Sir Ha'esh." Calypso bowed her head. "I, uh, hope you enjoy your stay here!"

"Cut the crap, Calypso." Viera gripped her staff, giving the nymph a mean look that sent chills down her spine. "We all know why you're here."

"I take it you're familiar with her?" Ashbel hummed curiously, raising an eyebrow as the cleric nodded in response.

"She's another Deliverer."

"Well, yeah, that much was obvious." Ashbel rolled his eyes, chuckling in amusement while Calypso, who was still listening, gasped at the accusation. "So, what's her deal?"

"Deliverer? You've got that wrong!" she declared, though the pair didn't really listen to her. "I-I'm just...a tourist! And, uh, I can do all sorts of things, but I've never really done deliveries..."

"She specialises in illusions." Viera told Ashbel as Sly listened intently to everyone in the room. "If she's here, who knows what this room actually looks like?"

"Maybe I could burn everything and see what catches fire?"

"Maybe you could come up with a solution to your problems that doesn't involve setting things on fire for once?"

"So, a tourist, are you?" Sly spoke up, glancing at his teammates before looking at Calypso with a slight smile. "Funny, the cult we're fighting happens to be here. Know anything about that?"

"No, nothing of the sort!" she shook her head quickly. "I, uh, haven't seen anyone else here!"

"But we just ran into a floor filled with them." Sly hummed, twirling his hair and tutting. "You aren't lying to me, are you?"

"I would never lie to you." Calypso shook her head, pointedly averting eye contact as she backed away. Sly, in response, narrowed his eyes and just as slowly stepped forward. Watching him do so, her eyes widened as she shook her head even more quickly. "I-I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

"Why? Something here?" Sly asked, ceasing his advance and reaching his hand out, only to feel something lightly cutting into his arm. Raising an eyebrow, he moved it a little further, noticing what looked like an incredibly fine wire sticking right through it, having sunken in somewhat deep. "...aw, crap."

He moved away slowly and carefully, and as Calypso noticed his blood staining the wire, she gasped in obvious concern. "You're hurt!"

"Thank you for that." Sly hummed, looking over at Ashbel and Viera, who were still discussing among themselves the pros and cons of lighting the room on fire, and tapped the latter to get her attention, making sure to present his forearm to her. "Yo, there are wires in this room."

"...and you got cut." she said, raising an eyebrow, before glaring at Calypso. "So that's your game, huh? Hiding wires around the room so we'd be cut to pieces?"

"I-I didn't put those there..."

"You shut up." Viera snapped, glaring angrily at the nymph, who sadly hung her head low. She turned back to the other two. "Now, how do we get past these wires?"

Sly hummed, looking at the bloodied wire closely. He was fairly sure that if he could see the rest, he could make his way around them in about a couple minutes, generously speaking, but that wouldn't account for the other two. He turned his attention towards Calypso, clearing his throat and giving her a little smile. "So, you really went and hid a wire maze in plain sight?" he asked, causing her to raise her head in acknowledgement. "That's pretty impressive. My magic kinda sucks, so I'm new to all this, but this must've taken a lot of study to master."

"...it's not that impressive..." she murmured in response. "Nymphs are naturally skilled at illusions. We can all do this..."

"Well, I'm impressed either way." Sly smiled a little, leaning forward only to lean back again once he felt a wire lightly prick his forehead. "How would we go about getting past this clever little trick, I wonder?"

"Um, well..." Calypso flushed slightly, eyes darting around the place before she quickly shook her head, remembering her cause. "I can't tell you. I'm sorry."

"Aw, c'mon. It'll be our little secret."

She closed her eyes at that, sulking a little and shaking her head more slowly. "It's...already a secret, I guess." she said. "I did say Van was a closer friend than you..."

"Ah, damn. I guess it can't be helped." Sly crossed his arms, tapping his foot on the ground. "Well, maybe you could give me a hint?"

"It's a racial ability, so it likely requires some form of concentration." Ashbel mused, staring intently at what laid before him. "That said, only the invisibility is magic-based. The wires are still physical, aren't they?"

"Well, it didn't really feel like magic, so I think so." Sly looked back at his wound, placing his hand over it to try and freeze it with his ice magic. Viera, watching him, held her staff out towards him, deciding to heal him herself with whispered chants.

https://youtu.be/Sp0ODhjIq7Y

Ashbel nodded at that, snapping his fingers and forming an orange flame in his palm. "Good. 'Cause, to be honest, I'm not really seeing a reason not to burn them down."

"Uh...they're fireproof, Sir Ha'esh."

"Really? Because I've been meaning to test my flames." Ashbel continued, and Calypso watched in curiosity as his irises slowly became black, as though burning to a crisp. The fire in his hand followed suit as he felt any and all emotions within him burning away. The playful smile on his face faded, and despite the burning flames he held, he seemed to have instantaneously become the embodiment of pure calm. "Let's see if this works."

Viera and Sly looked back at him, feeling a certain aura emanating from the salamander. It was warm and soothing, as though they were standing around a campfire. Sly raised an eyebrow, a little late to the realisation, but Viera immediately recognised what was going on. "Is that...the Torch's power?"

"T-The Torch?" Calypso stammered, now quivering with fear as she backed away towards the stairs. "Don't you think that's a bit much?"

"Probably. But I only got this power lately. Might as well test it." Ashbel replied, closing his eyes and allowing the warmth to reach him. In that moment, he was one with the Torch - he was it, and it was him. Visualising the space between himself and the nymph, he interlocked his hands, with only his index and middle fingers raised, he opened his eyes in an instant, uttering one word: "Rin."

What followed was a great conflagration that started in the centre of the room and immediately expanded outwards. The flames were ash-coloured, and to Viera and Sly, their presence was like a comforting embrace. To Calypso, however, it was scorching and sweltering, and she immediately made for the stairs before it could touch her. The flames raged, consuming all that laid between them, but they did not breach beyond where Calypso had been standing beforehand.

They died down as quickly as they had arrived, and Ashbel's eyes returned to normal as he stepped forth, drawing his sword and waving it around before looking at his friends with a smile. "Well? The coast is clear!"

Sly hummed, trying to work out how to respond to this as he walked closer to the staircase. Viera, however, seemed to have a good idea already, and walked to Ashbel's side, looking up at him. "You just tapped into the Torch's power, didn't you?"

"Yeah." was the casual response. "It worked, I think."

"You know, she was probably lying about those wires being fireproof." Viera pointed out, crossing her arms. "Nearly everything she says is a lie, so be careful."

"Well, she's clearly not very good at it." Ashbel chuckled. "I needed to test these powers of mine, and give her a little scare in the meantime. Seems like that's the most I can muster right now, though."

"You'll get more as you grow closer to the Torch, so I'm told." Viera said, before giving his shoulder a tap. "Let's go. We need to make sure they don't set off anything too funky on the next floor."

At that, the trio did their best to run up the stairs as quickly as they could, focusing on the somewhat steep ascent and sparing no time to observe the surroundings. There were only two floors left to go - then, they would meet their objective once and for all.