"Waiting to die? What a strange line of thinking."
Jenkins scoffed. He watched as the human-faced serpent's coiled body slowly began to unfurl. He imdiately stepped in front of the tal cocoon, wary of the creature's intent to destroy it.
"I'm warning you," Jenkins declared, "As the master of this Mysterious Realm, you're not allowed to play tricks. I've seen what happens to those who try, and I doubt you want to be dragged away."
The serpent squird a few tis. As its body completely straightened out, the sound of turning gears finally echoed from within. Jenkins noticed white steam puffing from the tip of its tail. Its power source was likely a steam engine.
"Savior, since the mont we t, you've only been right about one thing."
"And what's that?"
"We are both swept along by the currents of our era. Neither you nor I can truly decide our own fate. I had thought this would be simpler, but I never expected it to co to this. I was arranged to be the first to et you, likely because my master foresaw that I could never stop you. That this Mysterious Realm could never stop you."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Savior, if you make it to the end, please tell my master... that I was always its most loyal servant."
With that, jets of white steam erupted from the seams connecting each segnt of the serpent's body. The resulting thrust launched it through the air, sending it plunging into the magma below.
This was no escape. Jenkins watched, transfixed, as the serpent dissolved in the molten rock. First, its tallic skin lted away, revealing a complex latticework of gears and cables within. Then, they too succumbed, disappearing into the bubbling, noxious lava.
The serpent's alloy was highly resistant to heat, so it didn't vanish instantly. The process was gradual, but not slow enough for Jenkins to even consider a rescue. The last part to dissolve was its miniaturized chanical core, the compact structure housing its database and power system.
The beautiful, gleaming black sphere sank into the depths of the lava. Jenkins grabbed the tal cocoons and urged the stool to fly higher into the cavern.
"This is going to be a disaster."
He thought, gazing down at the scene below.
The sea of magma, which had been bubbling and steadily rising, suddenly fell still. A profound silence spread throughout the vast space. The tal cocoons swaying overhead froze as if lifeless. The rising thermal currents, the winds whistling past the cavern walls—everything ceased.
The demonic shrieks vanished as if they had never been. Even Jenkins found himself holding his breath.
He saw it. From beneath the magma, a corrosive, black ichor began to rise. It vaporized on contact with the air, filling the cavern with a much stronger stench of sulfur.
He saw it. The mangled remains of demons floated to the surface, piece by piece. They appeared in sequence, from the edges of his vision to the space directly below him.
He saw it. A colossal black shadow glided beneath the dark red lava. The intense heat warped the air, creating an optical illusion that made the entire cavern seem to twist and writhe.
An indescribable pressure radiated up from the depths of the magma. The first pillar of fire erupted toward the ceiling, followed by another, and another, until the entire space was filled with leaping columns of fla.
The black shadow converged below, circling the area in a tight spiral. Its body was long and serpentine, but the radial shape of its head betrayed its identity.
"Twin..."
The swirling shadow converged directly beneath Jenkins. Above and below the lava, the two beings stared at each other. At the sa ti, the crimson emblem of the Savior flared to life at Jenkins's feet.
"Demon!"
A black shadow erupted from Jenkins's back. In the sa instant, the giant tal worm in the lava shot upward like a frog's striking tongue.
In this environnt, the [Twin Demons] ability unleashed its greatest power yet. An explosion of black fire erupted mid-air, slamming the lunging worm back into the magma. The resulting splash of molten rock nearly reached Jenkins.
The worm roared, circling restlessly within the lava. The air grew hotter as pillars of fire continued to erupt from below.
That single exchange was enough for Jenkins to understand that in this environnt, he was no match for the worm. Had the fight taken place anywhere else, he might have chanced it. But he had more than just this one Mysterious Realm to contend with. This was only the beginning, and he couldn't afford to waste his strength here.
"I was hoping to save this favor for the end,"
he thought as the tall stool carried him higher. Even so, the rising sea of lava was rapidly gaining on him.
The scorching air sent sweat streaming down his cheeks, plastering his shirt to his back. The oxygen was growing thin, no longer enough for him to breathe easily. Jenkins's breaths beca short and ragged.
"Nine Beasts of Calamity in total... am I really going to need nine different outside sources of help?"
Despite his internal grumbling, he closed his eyes and whispered the na.
The cavern ceiling, once pitch-black rock, now shimred with points of silver-blue light. The lights grew clearer, coalescing into a vast star chart across the stone.
As the star chart twinkled, the relentless rise of the magma seed to slow. But the pillars of fire still spewed forth; the crisis was far from over. If he didn't find so other way to change the situation, the entire cavern would beco a literal hell of molten rock in less than half a minute.
Calling for a Star Spirit within a Mysterious Realm was like trying to get a signal with a delay. He had made contact, but couldn't summon her imdiately. Left with no choice, Jenkins used [Astral Perception] to amplify his call, crying out once more in his mind:
"Rakul."
The lights in the star chart on the ceiling gathered, one by one. They drifted downward, coalescing before Jenkins to form the body of the Star Spirit.
Against the fiery backdrop of the magma, her translucent, silver-blue form seed unusually solid. For the first ti, the Star Spirit wasn't wearing her usual scholarly robes. She still wore a robe, but its style was completely different from any of their previous encounters.
The most striking difference was the runes that shimred across the fabric, like constellations in a night sky. As far as Jenkins knew, Rakul had never worn anything so ornate. And, to his utter astonishnt, she wore a pointed, wide-brimd hat—what one might call a witch's hat.
The new look completely shattered Jenkins's impression of her as a bookish, scholarly lady. Now, she looked exactly like a beautiful witch straight out of a fairytale.
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