Eirwen leaned his head back against the stone and began from the point where their paths had separated, describing how he and the others had reached the fortress, how the Saint's Phoenix had dissolved after landing, and how quickly the defenders had put them to work.
He told them about carrying Soul Shards toward the tower with Seraphiel, the Skreels pouring through the damaged section of the fortress, and the way the swarm attacked them.
He described the retreat through the tower, the blood and bodies covering the stairs, the pressure of what was probably hundreds of wings beating inside enclosed stone, and the repeated fights.
Raijin listened without interrupting at first, his usual restless movement slowly disappearing. Eliot remained quiet, although his eyes lifted from the water when Eirwen started talking about the lower tunnel.
"Miro sent us down with this Master named Varkos after something breached an old, sealed passage beneath the fortress," Eirwen continued. "The tunnel had once led outside, I assume, but it had been closed. The Nightmare Creatures that came through had already killed almost everyone stationed there by the time we arrived. There were these annoying poisonous dogs, and also an Awakened Devil controlling the dead from the ceiling."
"Wow, what the hell? That's nasty!" Raijin said.
Eirwen nodded. "It used threads to move corpses and wounded soldiers, although killing it stopped the rest. The Gravehounds were more irritating, though. Their poison interfered with my Flaw, so removing the damaged parts was faster than waiting for the poison to leave."
Raijin lifted a brow. "Removing them how?"
"By cutting them off?" Eirwen answered simply.
Raijin stared at him. "Stupid of me to even ask."
Eirwen did not explain how much Essence it had cost or how close he had come to losing consciousness.
He continued past the Hollow Marionette's death and described the gate beyond it, the ancient metal bending inward as something on the other side forced itself through. After that came the Ashen Gatekeeper. He told them how that thing had crossed distances faster than he could follow, struck him without effort, and reduced his entire body to a stain against the wall with a movement that had not even seemed serious.
He told them enough to understand what had happened, though not everything.
He described Varkos fighting the Fallen Devil and the ash that decayed armour, flesh, and stone. He mentioned Seraphiel using the last of his Essence to redirect several attacks, and he admitted that the Ashen Gatekeeper had destroyed his body more than once.
Raijin did not let that pass unnoticed. "How did you restore enough Essence after being hit like that? You said regenerating from the wall almost emptied you."
"I suppose you already know I can eat my enemies." He highlighted the word eat. "That can also restore some Essence, and there were bodies everywhere," Eirwen shrugged.
Eliot's gaze remained fixed on Eirwen. "Nightmare Creatures?"
"One of the dogs," Eirwen answered annoyedly. "And one human too."
The water around them moved softly as someone entered another pool nearby.
Eliot looked away first. "Was he already dead?"
The blond boy's brow twitched. "Yes, and even if not, he definitely was after I ate him."
The body had been there, Eirwen had needed Essence, and refusing to use it would have achieved nothing except leaving Seraphiel and Varkos alone with the Fallen Devil.
Eirwen moved on, describing Varkos returning through the wall after the Ashen Gatekeeper had thrown him away, the Master's armour crushed and his ruined eye bleeding. He told them how the Fallen Devil's chest had been broken open, how Seraphiel's chain had caught its arm for a fraction of a second, and how Varkos had deliberately widened the opening instead of taking the final strike himself. He said that he drove [Hydra's Choice] into the core and activated the dark rune upon his body, allowing its decay to spread through the creature until flesh, bone, and the pulsing orange thing inside its chest crumbled together.
He left the reward unmentioned.
By the time Eirwen finished, Raijin had stopped leaning comfortably against the pool. He sat forward with his forearms resting on his knees beneath the water, studying the dark pentagram visible across Eirwen's torso.
"So that mark can destroy even a Fallen Devil?" he asked with a grin.
"It helped finish one that had already nearly broken apart," Eirwen answered. "I would not recommend testing whether it can do the same to something healthy."
"Wow, you didn't say it could kill an Unholy Titan simply because it's on your precious body?" Raijin laughed.
"We can test whether it can kill you." Eirwen rolled his eyes.
At this point, he was being more open about his capabilities. Obviously, he would still not mention anything about Leviathan or his Cursed and Sacred Cores. That was not anything that could help them in future battles, so there was no point in disclosing that information.
Raijin released a breath through his nose, not quite laughing, then glanced toward the far side of the chamber. A tall stone wall divided the bathing hall before disappearing into the steam, with another entrance farther along leading toward the section reserved for women.
Nothing could be seen through it, yet Raijin had looked in that direction several times since sitting down, each glance too quick to appear deliberate and too frequent to be accidental.
Eirwen followed his gaze. "Can you suddenly see through walls like Nightingale?"
"Shut up," Raijin barked back.
"Andromeda is fine. Stop staring like a creep."
Raijin turned back toward the pool. "I wanted to know whether she was all right."
"Didn't your brother tell you she was?" Eirwen answered.
Seraphiel spoke without opening his eyes. "She was not injured or anything. The women working there took more care of her than the dying."
Raijin's shoulders relaxed slightly, although his gaze still drifted toward the women's entrance a moment later. "That's good to hear…"
"She seemed really sad and confused," Seraphiel said. "And they seemed to find that cute, I suppose."
'He can talk this much?' Eirwen thought immediately.
Eirwen could imagine Andromeda getting treated that way. Her quiet manner and fragile appearance invited that kind of response.
For a while, no one spoke again. Heat continued sinking through Eirwen's body, and his eyes drifted shut. It was kind of strange. His body never required "sleep" anymore, because his Flaw constantly kept it in perfect condition, but that did not mean he could not get exhausted mentally.
For a few breaths, he allowed the noise around them to become distant, letting the steam, warmth, and slow movement of water push the memory of ash from his skin.
Raijin was watching the steam above the water now. "What happens next?"
Everyone knew exactly what he meant.
They had entered the Dream Realm as Sleepers, survived long enough to reach the fortress, and found the Gateway that could return them to the waking world and complete the trial.
Everything until now had pointed toward reaching it.
Yet they were still sitting in Cocytus while more wounded soldiers filled the pools around them and smaller groups of Nightmare Creatures continued striking the walls outside.
"We meet the baldie," Eirwen said. "He wants to speak with us about the Gateway."
"Baldie?" Eliot asked.
"Long story," Eirwen immediately dismissed him. "Either way, we are not the only Sleepers who reached the fortress. There are more groups here than I expected, and every one of them needs to use the same Gateway if they want to return and fully Awaken."
Raijin frowned, as if remembering something, but not intending to speak up.
Seraphiel opened his eyes. "Maybe there is something we need to do before that."
Eliot rubbed the wet hair away from his forehead. "And if there are more Sleepers than the Gateway can accept? Can that even happen?"
Eirwen looked across the pool at him, then toward Raijin, who was still somewhere in his own mind.
He gave a small shrug and settled farther back against the stone, "Well, maybe we'll just have to clean out some competition then."