The nineteenth floor is empty. Barren. A void. Pure silvery-white in every direction, with only the four of us and our belongings providing any sort of color or other reprieve from the harrowing nature of pure infinity. Each of our footsteps echoes, a reverberation that dampens slightly as it continues out into the void, but never quite goes silent.

There is somehow a floor, though determining where the floor ends and the air or dirt or wherever else begins is a step of faith each time. [Archangel’s Gaze] provides no assistance in this regard— I don’t know if this is some sort of stupidly powerful illusion that I can’t pierce, or if we’re actually sprawled out over a void of this magnitude.

This time around, I have no idea where to go. No direction sticks out like a sore thumb, I don’t hear the echoes migrating in a certain direction. And despite flying up… Wait, can I even fly up? I sprout my wings, the flight ability of my [Angelic Form] activates, and it feels like I’m not moving at all. Just more white, more endless horizon. Chloe and the others seem to be beneath me, so I must be flying, but this is way too disorienting to consider longer term. With this in mind, I float back to the surface, hoping to conserve and start replenishing my [Ether] for the battle I know awaits us… eventually.

“Nothing,” I say. Before I can say anything else, my stomach growls with a roarous fury that causes everyone to briefly wince. “Sorry about that,” I say. “Never had breakfast this morning.”

Alana rolls her eyes at me. “Yeah, I get it, I get it. I suppose we probably should try to eat something.” She reaches into her pouch and pulls out a few cereal bars, two for each of us. “Not much, but it’s better than nothing. And we probably shouldn’t eat anything too heavy; we don’t know when something is going to show up.”

I eagerly scarf my two down. One blueberry flavored, the other apple-cinnamon. Not bad, but it does remind me of my time living back home before everything with the System happened. I’m beset by complex thoughts about those memories, but I set them aside for now; the middle of a dungeon isn’t the right time or place to delve deeper into lingering grief and regret.

Once we’ve had enough to at least blunt the edge of our hunger, we decide to start walking in a random direction. Honestly, it’s just as likely that we are going the exact opposite direction of where we need to go, but sticking around here isn’t going to do us any good. And if the Tower really wanted to trap us inside, it has less roundabout ways of doing so.

It doesn’t take too long before we find someone. Two someones, as it turns out. A short woman with short, flaming red locks, and a tall woman with long hair blacker than night. They both carry swords on their person, the shorter woman a thin shortsword that might vaguely pass for a rapier, while the taller one has a thick broadsword. And I sense that both of them have been heavily enchanted as well. Not by the same type of glyphs I’m used to, but a similar sort of magic. One not native to our world.

The shorter woman, barely older than I am, looks up to the taller one. “Zethi, I thought you said there was only supposed to be one Watcher. So why are there four people here?”

“There always has been one Watcher every other time I’ve been here, Elsie. And none of them are her. I’m not sure why it’s different this time around.”

Elsie… Elsie… Wait, she does look familiar. “Elissa? Is that you?” I ask.

She looks at me with a bemused expression. “Yes, I am Elissa, but who are you, and how do you know my name?”

“We’re… we’re in the same physics class with Mr. Morris. Don’t you recognize Chloe and me?”

Elissa tilts her head slightly. “I don’t know who any of those people are.” She turns to the woman called Zethi. “Do you know who those are?”

“Never heard of them. I think they might have had their heads bashed in a few too many times.”

“So what do you want to do about them?” Elissa takes Zethi’s hand… claw? Zethi’s hands are more claws than hands, now that I look more carefully. Her fingers are coated in thick scales, as are much of her outer arms and the sides of her neck. Only her face, palms, and maybe a few other areas I can’t see are actually covered in what I would consider human skin. And her ears are long, ending in a knife edge. I’d say they’re elven, but she’s broad and muscular, not at all in line with the usual depiction of elves as tall, lithe, and graceful.

“Well, if they’re here, then maybe we’re supposed to fight them to get out? I've never encountered anything like this before. And I don't think The Watcher would have summoned people to her domain just for a conference call. Always tests with her.”

"I suppose so." Elissa furrows her brows. "Try not to hate me too much for this, whoever you are."

She raises her right hand. And then gravity quintuples in an instant. It’s a struggle to even remain standing, let alone to try to dodge Zethi’s ferocious two-handed downward chop. My wings are useless— even at full power, it doesn’t seem I’m able to overcome the force of gravity being placed upon us, and I can barely roll out of the way before I’m split in half vertically.

And Elissa doesn’t look the least bit strained by such a display of force. I guess this is the power that exists in other worlds. And proof of just how far we still have to go.

Alana rushes in, her steps staggered and her muscles twisted as she forces herself to continue fighting despite the immense literal pressure we’re fighting under. Even acts as simple as breathing are painful, and it takes constant tension of the muscles in my legs and back to not faint from having blood congeal in my legs and feet, my [Vitality] be damned.

Despite it all, Zethi seems completely unaffected. Is she really just that strong, or does Elissa have such control over her magic that she can selectively choose who it affects? Oh, and apparently, they both can fly as well, negating the only real advantage we had in the previous fight.

Shit. I suppose I have no choice but to try to bring forth [Gravity] after all. That, or [Seraphina Overlimit], but I still refuse to dip into that as long as there’s a chance of success otherwise. But it’s going to be tricky. Alana, Chloe, and Jasmine will only last so long against Zethi even with the gravity normalized. It’s still the best chance we have.

Every bit of mental energy I can retain is crucial. I close my eyes, trusting the others to keep me defended from Zethi’s assaults and whatever Elissa might throw at us. They do, but I hear groans and more than a few screams. I have to be quick.

[Gravity] takes several seconds to fully manifest in my mind, which might as well be an eternity in such a fast fight. I haven’t the mental strength to build a more complex array, but based on my experiences with the complex structure, it should

be enough. I wince from the pain. It better be enough.

I take one final breath to center myself, and then I unleash [Gravity]. Immediately, I feel like a thousand pounds have been lifted off my shoulders. Alana and Jasmine, whose movements had previously been stilted and rigid, are now completely unleashed, turning their two-on-one fight against Zethi on its head.

Elissa, on the other hand, looks squarely at me. I wince from the pressure as she narrows her gaze. The bubble of high gravity narrows, but intensifies— she’s trying to crush me with my own body weight. No, worse, she’s turning gravity inward as well as downward, the same tactic of trying to crush us to a pulp that the green knight did on the previous floor.

It takes everything I have just to keep myself from succumbing. I drop to one knee for extra support and tense all my muscles. My breathing is shallowed by the air pressure Elissa is inducing, and I feel my organs starting to be crushed under their own weight. My [Health] is being sapped fast, and my [Ether] nearly as rapidly.

And then my [Health] abruptly stops dropping. My [Ether] continues to fall, but at a greatly diminished rate. Chloe screams out across the endless void, her pained shriek accompanying the largest [Scouring Light] I’ve ever seen. Elissa turns to bend it, and manages to partially do so by warping spacetime around her. But the attack deals a fair chunk of damage. Damage which she immediately starts regenerating.

Damn… This must be what fighting Chloe and I are like for everyone else. It’s… wonderful when it’s Chloe’s healing keeping us alive, but it’s infuriating seeing our hard-earned progress ruined so effortlessly!

But it’s not instantaneous, either. Elissa’s healing is slow, at least by comparison to Chloe’s. And she doesn’t seem to be able to keep her gravity powers active while she’s healing. This is giving Alana and Jasmine more time to push their advantage. Their attacks aren’t fully coordinated, but their imprecision is throwing Zethi ever so slightly off balance.

Chloe and I team up against Elissa— something that is painful for both of us. Elissa was never exactly a friend back in school; her rich, snobbish attitude and the chip on her shoulder kept most people at bay. But she was an acquaintance with whom we’d had at least a few amiable conversations, and not someone whom I would have expected we’d have to fight against to the death… Or at least, to whatever dissolution awaits these constructs or summons or whatever they are when they are beaten.

“Can we stop this already?” I say. “We don’t need to fight any longer! Even if you don’t remember us or even ever knew us, I still know the version of you that exists in our world. And I don’t want to hurt you!”

Elissa scowls. “It’s not a good trial if we aren’t putting ourselves to the limit. And besides, why should we surrender when we’re going to be the ones triumphant here?”

I see the resolve in her eyes. The conviction and the force of will. Despite having pushed the fight fully in our favor at this point, Elissa still has unwavering confidence that she and Zethi are going to emerge triumphant. Such… overwhelming mental fortitude. It is admirable.

With numbers on our side this time around, we’re pushing our advantage to the fullest we’re able. My [Ether Bullet Barrages] are hitting home; Elissa is strong in terms of magical prowess, and she can regenerate her wounds, but she’s physically fairly frail, and her speed and agility are both only average.

We strike relentlessly, unleashing a relentless magical barrage toward her, but before we can strike a final, debilitating blow, we’re stopped by a fierce roar that shakes me to my very soul, followed by a massive plume of flame that would have incinerated my bones and armor just as easily as my flesh and blood.

I tilt my head to the side. Alana and Jasmine have taken to the air, and joining them is a ferocious dragon stretching some forty feet in length, with a wingspan at least thirty feet wide. And now I see why Elissa was so confident up to this point. I really should have seen it coming, with the claws and scales on her humanoid form. This Zethi isn’t an elf at all. She’s a black dragon shifter, and I can sense incredible power radiating off her.

My heart races and my body shakes. Shit. This… This is going to be problematic.