Matsumi found himself on a small cliff side. He wasn't dumb. The only direction he could see was down, nothing lied forward besides an abyss, an implication that he was far higher than ground level.
Matsumi walked down eagerly, hoping to see his team soon. This made him almost fall down the cliff from lack of attention. He swung his arms to rebalance himself, moving his body back away from the cliff.
"Why am I so high up?!"
An eagle flew around the sun, the heat was serious. Far hotter than any floor they had been on before. The eagle saw Matsumi and soared down before planting its feet on his head, using his hair as a place to rest.
"Oh man…good thing that hag ripped my shirt…it's hot as anything here!"
Matsumi barely got to wipe his forehead from sweat before the eagle perched on him. He swung his arms above his head in a annoyance.
"Get off you stupid bird! I'm not a branch!"
A shot rang out as the bird immediately fell to the floor. Kurai stood a few feet behind him as she sighed. Wiping her face from the heat once more.
"Matsumi!"
He turned around almost instantly.
"Kurai! There you are! Why'd you disappear again?"
"All I saw was a man…he was talking to you but you couldn't hear us..then when he left he took Barghest with him. Ive been searching here for thirty minutes since…I can sense Kibō vaguely, but Barghest is completely gone."
"What do you mean Barghest is gone?! I still have the talisman though! Can't she come back?"
"There was something off…It's like she lost all of her mana before she dissapeared. I don't know if that would be possible."
"But that weird guy only appeared like three minutes ago! How'd that happen? Do you know where they went?"
"Three minutes? It's been nearly forty…Are you sure it was that short?.."
Kurai rubbed her face, adjusting her eyes.
"I don't know where either of them went. Only that Kibō is somewhere around here…but shes surrounded by another energy. I tried looking for someone else before I headed towards her."
"It didn't take me that long to go through the door! It was three minutes I'm sure!"
"Look. Let's weigh our options here. Let's calm down."
"Okay…"
He stayed quiet only for a few seconds
"Let's go find Kibō!"
Kurai began walking tne opposite way of the cliff toward the valley. She took her already ripped shirt and tied it around her face, leaving only bandages to cover her chest and torso underneath. She used the shirt and wrapped it back, tying her hair into a pony tail.
"Hey…the backpack. We might be able to use it."
"The backpack? I don't even know how to change it back. It just stuck itself on its own."
He followed close behind, slowly moving to her side. He thought of Barghest and what could've happened, but if Kibō really was closer to them it would be better to just help her out.
"I mean you told it to heal you last time and it did. Maybe it can give us water or something…Maybe even food. Im not sure im just throwing stuff out there."
"Good idea!"
He extended his arms outward.
"Give me water!"
A small water bottle poofed into his hand, a decent sized jug that was also cold.
"Woah! Look at that! Okay okay, now give me a cool ball! Or a ramp!"
A small ball was transported into his other hand. However, no ramp appeared.
"Awesome!"
He giggled as he dropped the ball from his hand to catch it with his feet, doing kick ups with it.
Kurai continued to look around, nothing but tumbleweeds and small broken down cactuses were in their way. She sighed.
"We'll never make it to floor ten at this rate.."
"We have to make it! But…how can we go any faster?"
"Theres no way…I don't sense anything near us….No people..Not even creatures."
"So we just have to move faster then! Right?"
"How fast are you talking?"
"How fast do you want?"
"I don't know if that's a great idea..if we go too fast and find nothing we'll be stuck in the middle of nowhere."
"We're already in the middle of nowhere, what other way could we do it?"
"It's better to try and stay closer towards the cliff. It's possible we might have to dive into the valley."
"But you know where Kibō is, so let's just go there first."
" I said vaguely…it's hard because the energy of the floor is blocking her…if she's in trouble I don't know how we'll do without Barghest being there to watch.."
"Just like we did when she was! She already believed you'd be good on your own."
"…I suppose you're right, Let's keep moving then…Let's pick up the pace a little bit."
From a slow walk, Matsumi would pocket the ball as he started to jog. Following the vague area Kurai could sense.
Kurai followed him and jogged after him. Her ears perked soooner or later as she looked at Matsumi running beside him.
"Hey..let's be careful...someone is following us."
"It can be anybody, maybe another player or something."
A figure floated in the distance. The familiar one from before. Her pink hair illuminated the desert the two currently stood in. She suddenly appeared before the two, looking at them silently. She held her hands out and touched both of their faces as they stood next to one another.
"Hey!"
He quickly stepped back away from her hand.
"Ugh, it's this girl again!"
"Wait…if she's appearing it must be something important. Let's hear her out before we keep moving."
Matsumi scoffed.
"Ok, but we're in a hurry! You better not try to convince me to fuse again!"
"I'm afraid things have changed. If you do not stop them…fusing may not be a possibility any longer."
"What are you talking about now?"
"You have encountered the witch of hope…Kibō of the Yakusoku family. You may have heard that they captured her and have used the tower as a vessel to restore Lilith..the ones in question of this are the Seven Sins…A powerful group of seven individuals who were created by Lilith. They have captured Barghest, and are waiting on floor twenty for you to bring Kibō to them. You have no choice. You must sacrifice Kibō if you want to see barghest again..otherwise her life is in jeopardy."
"That's where they are? Floor twenty? Easy enough, we just have to make it there! Then we do the same thing as before and take Barghest back!"
"You must use Kibō's power to unlock the power within you…that is the only way with your current strength that you can save her.."
"What do you mean use her? You mean she can help us? Sick!"
"….You must use her to unlock your hidden potential….She can help you see more than what is in front of you.."
"See more than what is in front of me? Kurai, you understand her? She's just saying nonsense like before!"
"….I sort of understand her..Maybe a bit…I'm not entirely sure…Urieru…Can you elaborate?"
Urieru floated closer and used both of her hands. She touched both of their faces. Soon, the desert started to slowly fade. The sand beneath them disintegrating beneath them.
Kurai and Matsumi would soon find themselves in a black space, with no ground beneath them. White dots in the distance would sparkle. The location was clearly akin to space.
"What?! Are we flying?! In space?! What the heck?!"
"…We are no longer in the tower…We are in the Sahhbarealm….Here in this realm many worlds exist…Many possibilities do..and here you can access a new power..One that will help you become ten times as powerful as you are now."