...Meanwhile, in the observation room...

Zhen Liu, Logos, and Pathos watched the displays showing the trapped aether warriors being forced to fight the kaijin in a highly personalized, one-on-one manner.

Well, most of the trapped warriors were fighting kaijin in a one-on-one manner.

Zhen Liu had marked two of these bastards, Abbot Hulna and Abbot Feroxxa, to be fighting some special guests of his while the kaijin merely watched over them to make sure nothing bad happened.

Those guests?

Serena and her proto kaijin entourage.

Despite her lack of action, Serena was still an Aether Lord backed up by the [Sacred Flame], so she was more than capable of being able to match and possibly even overpower the traitorous abbots. Especially after Zhen Liu gifted her the [Hearth Tender Trio].

Granted, she still needed time to absorb the power of said aether treasure set, but she could still use it to kick in the teeth of some traitorous fucks.

"Hmmm. Looks like Hulna is about to make first contact..."

Right now, Goldie and Silvie were about to confront Hulna in Blazejudicator’s personal courtroom, essentially acting like the "oni of punishment" found in certain folklore to help add to the whole "afterlife judgment thing."

On top of that, Zhen Liu threw in an illusion of the previous Hearth Tender to see if the bastard would confess to any other crimes.

As for Copper and Serena, though, they weren’t fighting Feroxxa quite yet.

Why?

Because the bastard managed to luck out and avoid getting grabbed by a gargoyle. (Un)Fortunately, the man had managed to tag along with two of the uncaptured Imperial princes, several of the remaining Erupting Dawn Elites, and two of the False Crusaders.

"Wait a minute..."

That last entry in the roster seemed weird, because Zhen Liu distinctly remembered there being four of these false crusaders and that only one of them had been grabbed by the gargoyles.

In other words, one of these invited intruders was running outside of the designated area. And if that was the case, that meant there was more to these False Crusaders than meets the eyes.

Well, more so than just a touch of extra sentience than what he and the others have them credited for.

"Hmmm."

<Milord? What’s the matter?>

"It appears that we have lost eyes on one of the False Crusaders," Zhen Liu informed Logos and Pathos. "Are any of the kaijin still available to search the library?"

=Nepherage, the Doll Twins, Frosttusk, and Blazejudicator are currently engaged with the enemy. Hurricroak, Springerdermain, Razorstella, and Screamira are still waiting for their respective opponents...but those opponents are currently running from the Bookwyrm.=

"Wait...two princes, one of the abbots, and there are still those False Crusaders...damn, do I not have kaijin on the field for this?"

<To be fair, some of the kaijin are better at mass combat, more so than plain dueling, and are much stronger than the Grandmasters that compose a majority of their forces. Also, you technically have Serena and Copper left as well. And if needed, you can make more kaijin...or send yourself into the fray,> Pathos pointed out.

"Fair enough," Zhen Liu capitulated. "I suppose we should get these fellows separated further then...do we still have gargoyles or nah?"

<=Actually, this next trick is from the kaijin themselves. =>

"Oooh...oh, wait...did one of them just get eaten?"

<Ah, don’t worry about that. The Bookwyrm is actually filled with portals too. Their ass should’ve been distributed the moment they got swallowed. >

"Huh...really hope that doesn’t cause someone to awaken to things."

...

"How long does this fucking abyss go on for?!"

"Who cares?! Just keep flying!"

With their original group now cut down to less than half, the remaining warriors from both the Erupting Dawn Empire and the Sacred Flame Theocracy weren’t exactly having a good time.

The Bookwyrm had already swallowed at least two of the remaining Grandmasters from the Erupting Dawn Empire, and one of the False Crusaders had disappeared with no clear indication whether or not they were killed or had just fucked off to parts unknown in this endless abyss of books and bullshit.

Then again, it was also possible that there was some invisible monster flitting about that possibly ate the missing False Crusader.

Speculations aside, Abbot Feroxxa, Prince Lauvanne, Prince Lofarro, the remaining two False Crusaders, and the remaining Erupting Dawn Elite warrior were doing their best to avoid the Bookwyrm. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.

Despite their best efforts, the Bookwyrm managed to sneak up on them at such a weird angle that the last of the Erupting Dawn Grandmasters was swallowed up like a dumpling at a buffet.

Surprisingly, Abbot Feroxxa was the one to react over the fact that the last of the rank and file had possibly died an inglorious death.

"Shouldn’t you two have more of a reaction over the loss of all of your soldiers?!" Abbot Feroxxa shouted. "They just got eaten by a fucking dragon!"

"Because I know they’re not dead, numbnuts!" Lauvanne shouted back. "Unlike you, we have a way of keeping track of whether or not our allies are dead or just missing. Right now, I can sense that they’re alive but scattered in this fucked-up library of...wait a minute...why can’t I sense that bookwyrm thing anymore?"

The group had kept flying despite the casualties because the bookwyrm was still on their asses. However, now that the last of the Grandmasters were gone, the Bookwyrm seemed to have suddenly decided to fuck off.

One would assume that the group would release collective sighs of relief over the loss of their most dogged pursuer...but that wasn’t the case.

This strange feeling of dread was looming over their heads like a guillotine, and they were waiting for it to drop at any moment.

(Un)Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait too long.

As the group hovered in the air, awaiting something to drop from above or attack from the side, they failed to realize that there was a rumbling from the abyss below.

"Wait...why am I hearing—"

SURPRISE STAIRCASE!

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

By the time they realized they should’ve scattered, it was too late.

Rising from the darkness below, attached to a book pillar no less, was a flight of oddly majestic stairs that smacked into them with enough force to discombobulate them.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Once they were battered and confused by the sudden stairs, the offending architecture suddenly split and bent in ways to cause the groups to further divide.

Half of the stairs lifted upwards like a drawbridge and forced its occupants to ascend, while the other half of the stairs transformed into a slide and forced its victims to go downwards.

Neither side was forced into a pillar, but both sides knew that something terrible was awaiting them.

Why?

Because the same weird energy that had dragged them down into this library in the first place, was now forcing them to take these weird routes.

And unlike that last time, they had no idea where they were headed this time around.

...Kaijin Comments...

[Wait...did we ever settle on who is facing off against that Aether King?] Razorstella asked.[Because I wouldn’t mind fighting him instead of those two False Crusaders.]

[I do believe the plan is to leave him for the maestro to face,] Hurricroak answered. [Which means the four of us can technically fight them all mano y kaijin if we want.]

[Wait, no,] Springerdermain interrupted. [I think I have to babysit the Hearth Tender and the proto-kaijin that’s accompanying her against that priest with the decapitation fetish.]

[Oof. Well, have fun with—]

’Actually,’ Zhen Liu interjected before Screamira could placate her spring-limbed compatriot. ’You’re actually going to be doing a little...side quest as it were. Well, one of you anyways.’

[Oh?]

’One of the False Crusaders is missing, and I would rather not have them loose in the library if I can help it. Since most of the enemy have already been divided amongst the others, and we got guest fighters anyway, I’m going to need someone to go and track this possible malefactor before they can do anything uncouth. Any takers or am I choosing at random here?’

[I’ll do it,] Hurricroak volunteered. [I think out of everyone here I am technically the most qualified to try and track people down.]

[How so?] Razorstella asked.

She wasn’t interested in tracking down an invisible threat; she was just actually curious as to why Hurricroak was so confident.

[I got the ability to innately track by scent, sight, sound, and spirit because of all the beasties that compose me, remember?] Hurricroak reminded the blade-limbed ballerina.[ And worst-case scenario, I can track electrical impulses, baby. Those False Crusaders maybe dead, but they still got some electrical nerves working for some reason.]

’That...feels like an important piece of information, but I’m not sure why...’ Zhen Liu mused. ’Regardless, thank you for volunteering, Hurricroak. As for the rest of you, have fun. I’ll go and face Lofarro in a few.’