Lumine wasn't sure if Angie and Fidelle had a solution, but with no other options, they had to try, no matter how slim the chances.
After Lumine explained the situation, Angie and Fidelle exchanged glances and stepped forward in unison.
"Be careful..." Lumine warned, gripping her longsword as she stood beside them, alert to any sudden danger.
Before the purplish-black wall, Angie extended her left hand while Fidelle reached out with her right, their palms pressed against the cold, unnatural surface.
As expected, disaster struck.
With a loud bang, Angie was violently thrown backward by the wall. Fortunately, Lumine's vigilance paid off; she caught Angie mid-air.
"Are you okay?!" Lumine asked anxiously.
Angie shook her head instinctively, her eyes fixed on Fidelle ahead.
Why wasn't Fidelle repelled?
Seeing Angie flung back, Fidelle tried to withdraw her hand from the wall, but to her shock, her palm seemed fused to the surface, impossible to detach.
Worse, the purplish-black surface was slowly consuming her right hand, inch by inch!
Yes, she was being swallowed, not passing through. Fidelle's hand did not appear on the other side of the wall.
Gah!
"Fidelle!"
Lumine, Mavuika, and Angie rushed forward, gripping Fidelle's left hand tightly. But Fidelle was already halfway inside the wall, her shoulder disappearing into the stone.
The suction force was irresistible. Lumine could only cling to Fidelle's hand with all her might.
In mere moments, only Fidelle's left hand remained visible. Lumine dared not pull harder, forced to watch helplessly as the wall slowly devoured it.
"Damn it! You bastard!"
Lumine slammed her fist against the wall in fury, even wishing she could be pulled in too, to be with Fidelle!
But her wish went unfulfilled.
Lumine's knuckles turned red from the force of her blow. She wondered if she hadn't asked Angie and Fidelle to help, would they still be safe?
They hadn't even awakened the Goddess yet, hadn't even reached her Slumbering Place, and already they had lost a companion...
As Lumine bit her lip in self-reproach, Angie placed a hand on her shoulder.
"She's opening the wall for us..."
Angie closed her eyes, as if seeing something, and began relaying what she was witnessing to Lumine.
-
On the players' screens, the camera slowly zoomed in on Angie's closed eyes. The frame tightened, then gradually shifted, pulling back to reveal Fidelle.
[Phew, thank goodness she's alive!]
[I thought the Abyss would absorb Fidelle. Looks like not...]
[Where is this place?]
[The Slumbering Place of the Goddess is in such a treacherous location...]
[It's not that the location is treacherous. More likely, the Abyss discovered the Slumbering Place first and then settled here specifically to prevent the Goddess's Awakening!]
-
Within a certain spatial dimension, Fidelle, who had been absorbed by the wall, was exploring the area.
The Abyss's aura here was overwhelmingly dense, so intense that she found herself struggling to breathe almost immediately.
No, it's not just a feeling—I really can't breathe!
Although Fidelle's body was a puppet, it had been crafted by Raiden Ei and further modified by Rukkhadevata. After gradually fusing and adapting over time, it had become nearly indistinguishable from a normal human body.
Outside the dimension:
Lumine: "How's Fidelle doing?"
Angie frowned. "The space is strange. She can't breathe!"
Lumine: "Can't breathe? How is that possible?!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Lumine relentlessly attacked the wall, attempting to shatter it or force it to release Fidelle.
After her efforts proved futile, Lumine turned to Angie again. "What about now? How's Fidelle?"
Angie: "She's searching for an exit."
Lumine: "And now?"
Angie: "She's spotted an exit, but it leads to a place with an even denser Abyss aura!"
Lumine: "Then..."
Three strands of pink energy materialized at Angie's fingertips and slowly flowed into the minds of Lumine, Mavuika, and Aether. A shared vision formed in their minds.
"Fidelle!" Lumine shouted, but Fidelle, trapped in the other dimension, couldn't hear her at all.
In the other space, Fidelle held her breath, found an exit, and entered another realm.
Here, the Abyss's aura was even denser, severely affecting not only her breathing but also her vision, hearing, and sense of smell.
Her steps grew slower until she could no longer move forward, collapsing to one knee.
In this critical moment, Fidelle remembered the pile of items Freminet had given her when she left Fontaine. Among them was something that seemed like... a high-efficiency filter?
Without time to think, Fidelle swiftly rummaged through her Vision Space and pulled out the object—less a filter, more a helmet—and strapped it onto her head.
Huff~
Long-awaited air...
After gasping for breath for a while, Fidelle finally stood up and carefully surveyed her surroundings.
She noticed a pure black orb at the center of the space. The purple-black Abyss aura emanated from this orb.
Fidelle immediately drew her Weapon, which swiftly transformed into a Battle-Axe. Just as she was about to charge forward, a sharp pain seared her neck, and her vision spun a full 360 degrees.
In her final moments of consciousness, Fidelle saw only her headless body.
-
Outside the Vision Space.
"Aaaaaaaah! Damn it! Who did this?!"
The eyes of Lumine and her three companions instantly turned bloodshot. The grinding of their teeth and the clacking of their bones echoed through the air.
Veins bulged on Lumine's hands as she gripped her longsword, her hand trembling slightly.
Her gaze remained fixed on the dark miasma swirling within the Black Fog, her rage burning to its peak.
-
Within the Vision Space, as the black miasma prepared to move toward Fidelle's corpse, a surge of pink energy suddenly erupted from the body, gradually expanding until it filled the entire space!
Suddenly, the images in the minds of Angie, Lumine, Mavuika, and Aether went black, and when they cleared again, the scene seemed to have reset.
Fidelle stood in the initial space, her face etched with confusion.
But she quickly regained her senses, swiftly donned her helmet, drew her weapon, took a deep breath, and charged into the adjacent space.
This time, Fidelle was exceptionally vigilant. However, when she saw the headless corpse at the center of the space and the severed head lying nearby, she froze for a moment.
Then...
Szzzt—
By the time Fidelle reacted, it was already too late. In that fraction of a second—less than 0.1 seconds—Fidelle, helmet and all, was cleaved in half...
A pink energy enveloped the scene once more, resetting the image Lumine and her companions were witnessing.
Fidelle emerged, her eyes bloodshot and her face contorted in terror, her body spasming violently for a moment.
In just a short span of time, she had died twice...
The vivid sensation of her impending death chilled her to the bone, but it also confirmed her conviction: to breach that wall, she must destroy the Black Orb within the Vision Space!
The situation was critical, and she had to act!
Fidelle donned her helmet, clenched her fists tightly, drew her weapon, and plunged back into the Space.