Levi woke up to the warm light of the morning sun. He yawned and stretched, rolling over, only for his face to land in something soft and plump. Levi stiffened. Eyes still shut, he grabbed the thing. “Could it be? The legendary lucky awakening?”

  “Er… Levi?”

  He opened his eyes. Colin blinked down at him, his leg caught in Levi’s grasp. Isa sat on the other side of him, yawning widely. She gave him a smug look and laughed. “If that was my leg, you wouldn’t be calling it lucky. You’d be calling yourself dead.”

  “So it was lucky, after all. Good morning, Colin.” Levi released his leg with a laugh. He yawned and pushed his hair back, sleepily sitting up. After a second, he squinted. “Sunlight?”

  “Yeah. I thought there wouldn’t be a sun… and there isn’t, I don’t think, but it does get bright like there’s a morning.”

  “Neat.” He looked around, peeking out around the hollow of the tree. Forest, in all directions. A few thin deer trails wandered through the trees and undergrowth. In the near distance, a deer flicked its tail. It turned. Huge fangs curled from its muzzle. It chewed a mouthful of meat, blood dripping down its chin.

  “Nasty. Hey, Isa. Are you friends with this floor’s boss, too?”

  Isa snorted. “I don’t think the people on this floor ever really had much going on upstairs. They certainly never had much to say to me. And neither did I, to them. We both viewed each other as food, so there was a lot of mutual hunting going on.”

  “You know, I was wondering how a young, healthy vampire like you managed to spend a few years down here, but I guess there was plenty of cannibal blood for you, huh? What happens when no one comes through the dungeon? Do they eat one another?”

  Isa nodded. “They respawn, and they know it. They often turn on one another for food. Neighbors today will hunt each other tomorrow. It’s a vicious cycle with no end. Kuja and his people were offered a home down here, but I think these towns were deliberately trapped for the good of the world.”

  “Well, I certainly don’t think anyone was angry that they ended up in this hellhole. How many villages are there?”

  “Three. Each one gets progressively stronger, but there’s fewer villagers each time.”

  Levi pinched his chin, thinking. He called up his stat sheet.

  Levi | 18 | Lv 35

  Class: Necromancer [SPECIAL]

  Str: 46

  Mag: 83

  Dex: 47

  Spd: 49

  Def: 17

  Res: 85

  [Swordsmanship]

  [Shadow Manipulation]

  [Shadow Step]

  [Optimized Raise Dead]

  [Drain]

  [Shape Dead]

  [Heal Undead]

  [Call Ghosts]

  [Death Resist]

  Five levels to go until he reached his permanent stat boost for undead level. He’d gotten about five levels on floor two. If he kept on, and fought his way through floor three until he reached the boss, he’d almost certainly reach level 40.

  Levi jumped to his feet, dusting off his hands. He called his undead to him. The Armalgam wrapped around his shoulders, and the Spinal Cord coiled around his waist. “Come on! Time’s a-wasting. Rise and grind, boys and girls. Let’s go kill some cannibals.”

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  “I’m still a little cooked,” Colin said, grunting as he climbed to his feet. ‘

  Levi put a hand on his shoulder and pushed his mana into him. To his surprise, he suddenly plunged into Colin’s body. He felt the parts of Colin that had cooked, and the places he was hiding wounds—the burns on his palms, the ache on his upper arm where someone had cut him the day before. Rather than simply pushing mana into Colin, he pushed his mana toward the places where Colin was hurt. The wounds closed, and he retracted his mana. He looked at his hand, flexing it. “Wow. That was way cheaper.”

  “What was that?” Colin asked. He patted his body down, startled, then looked back up.

  “I dunno. We reached a state of nirvana, or something, and became one. I could see all the places you were injured, and directly heal them.”

  “What? No way,” Colin said, startled.

  “You had a cut on your left bicep,” Levi said.

  Colin blinked. “I… how did you know?”

  “I just told you. State of perfect togetherness and oneness. We became one, in the biblical sense. We came together, and—”

  “It’s called synchronicity,” Isa interrupted him, before he could go any further with his nonsense. “When two mages become able to sense one another’s mana, and can adjust to one another’s flows. Usually, healers are the first to develop it, since they’re always in touch with others’ mana flows. If you master the skill, you’ll be able to cast joint spells with the power of both your mana pools and MAG stats combined, and of course the benefit of being able to heal and assist one another better than any other mage.”

  “Oh. Well, if you think about it, a necromancer is just a healer who showed up a little late,” Levi pointed out.

  She nodded, allowing it.

  “Ah! Is that what lets me see where Levi’s hurt? I’ve been able to do that for a while,” Colin confessed. He looked at his staff. “I don’t know if I can do it with anyone else. I’ve only healed Levi.”

  “And that’s all you need to do, pocket healer. Stay in my pocket. That’s where you belong,” Levi said firmly, patting his shoulders.

  “Of course, in your case, I don’t know if synchronicity does much for you. After all, the Life and Death Goddesses notoriously don’t get along well. Your two magics would likely cancel one another out, rather than augment one another,” Isa said.

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Levi started to walk away, then turned back. “That’s right. Isa, what other gods are there in the pantheon? I’m tracking nine, but I’ve heard there’s anywhere from ten to twelve gods total.”

  “Other? Ah, you mean gods without Champions. Nine…?”

  “Right. I talked to someone else before you. The nine I’m aware of, in no particular order, are: Blade, Harvest, Wild, Magic, Heart, Sea, Unknown, Life, and Death.”

  “Unknown…?”

  “Okay, so maybe I don’t know that one.”

  “The gods you’ve left out are: Revelry, or madness, which is likely your Unknown, War, Earth, and Stars. Though the last two are… shall we say, a bit hard to translate? Earth might be better understood as ‘day,’ and Stars as ‘night.’”

  Levi thought for a moment. “Kai’s probably War, right?”

  “He could be Day or Night,” Colin suggested.

  “I’d believe Night. No way in hell is an edgelord like him getting picked as Day. And Life is right out. That guy’s more bloodthirsty than me, which is impressive. But honestly?”

  Colin hesitated, then nodded. “I could definitely see him getting picked as war.”

  “I’m gonna tease him for deserting next time, see if he reacts,” Levi muttered to himself. He clapped. “Alright, good. We’ve settled that. Apocalypse is still a ways out. We’ve got three Champions to go. Day, Night, and Life.”

  Isa nodded. “I wouldn’t count on Life taking long to settle, though. The Church is very fond of its Life Saints. The most recent Life Champion died shortly before I was pinned in my coffin, so we’re overdue for a new Life Champion.”

  “It’s that common?” Levi asked.

  She nodded again. “For years to pass without a Life Champion being appointed is actually rarer. More often, the position is directly inherited from one Saint or Saintess to the next. It caused a great deal of consternation within the Church when it wasn’t, after their previous Saintess died. There was talk of the “Dark Saintess” and the “Stained Saint,” that the two top contestants must have done something to displease the Life Goddess. They were demoted and replaced, but even then, the Life Goddess still withheld her hand. After a time, the Church began to see it as a blessing—as the Life Goddess wishing for this world to continue on, and they began preaching about her benevolence.”

  Levi snorted. “Sounds like a coverup job to me.”

  “Be as it may, it certainly quieted the people,” Isa commented.

  “And isn’t that what politicians and churches want the most,” Levi said, nodding.

  She gave him a look, but inclined her head. “Some things never change.”

  As they’d talked, they’d also continued walking, and now, they reached the cleft where they’d squeezed through the night before. Levi and Isa fell silent without having to share a word between themselves. There weren’t masses of cannibals swarming over the cleft the way there’d been last night, but a few remained, standing guard over the entrance to the cave. As they watched, one of them yawned, lifting a hand to cover his mouth. The other one wavered where he stood, his eyes flickering on the verge of sleep.

  Isa fell back. Levi walked forward softly. On his back, the Armalgam unwrapped itself, preparing to jump free. They padded over the top of the cleft, looming over the top of the guards.

  The yawning guard frowned. He looked at his hands, registering the shadow that fell over them, then looked up.

  A monster made of arms dropped down onto him, smashing him to the floor. His fellow guard startled awake. Before he could rush to his compatriot’s aid, a blade pierced through his neck. Two boots slammed into his back, and he was borne to the ground.

  “Good to meet you gentlemen, and goodbye,” Levi greeted them. He yanked his blade free. Spinning it around, he gazed up at the sky. Blood splattered over the stone walls and the fallen bodies. Beside him, the other guard still struggled with the Armalgam, only for a sharp crack to ring out. The man dropped, limp as a ragdoll.

  Levi grinned. Sheathing his sword, he spread his hands to his quickly-fading audience. “It’s a wonderful day to massacre a village, don’t you think?”