"Don't count me out of this?"

  I had been wondering what Marth had been doing all this time. However, I could see a yellow light concentrating at the tip of his axe, extending to the the whole weapon.

  "First time I ever need to do that but I hope it'll work."

  The axe turned golden.

  We needed to survive 32 minutes left.

  In a single minute, Sally and the thing had a back and forth trying to one up each other's dominion.

  The area constantly switching between space filled with stars and complete darkness.

  It's quite incredible that she's able to even struggle against this thing.

  "Don't just stand there, the only reason this is working is because Ctü is a manifested deity as well. Still, contrary to that thing, Ctü can't actually interfere right now. Some weird rules from the one who made us apostles."

  Wouldn't that mean she's only borrowing part of it's power, that's incredible.

  30 minutes...

  I tried my hand at using Jessica's powers again, this time targeting one of the tentacle spawned by Sally.

  In the same moment, Alma, still unable to repair her body floated high in the sky.

  What is doing?

  29 minutes...

  I don't have the time to ask myself that! I just have to trust in her!

  "Aria, do it!"

  I recognized what happened right after she said this all too well. It was working through the same principle as her ability to make light as a lightbulb.

  As, this time, instead of flickering the light, she let it shine completely.

  I couldn't believe my eyes but it made the creature move back a little.

  27 minutes...

  Using this distraction, I transformed the tentacle into a fshbang.

  Seeing what the object in front of that creature was, everyone closed their eyes. Marth, moving by instinct, struck it with his axe at full force.

  With our eyes closed, we couldn't really see if this attack managed to affect it.

  "Don't rex just yet! This thing is a serious threat, we should just locate it through it's karmic energy signature while we still can't see!"

  I couldn't agree more with the little Sally girl.

  Moving as fast as I could, I located the massive amount of karmic energy in the vicinity. Immediately striking right where I felt it with a punch filled with holy light.

  "Can't I do anything?"

  Jessica asked, powerless. Without those eyes of her, I'm afraid it's impossible.

  That was when an idea struck Aria.

  "Miss Jessica, doesn't that "Id state" of yours or whatever you call it unlimit how this power of yours work?"

  "I mean, that's true but it'd be difficult to make perfect modification without my golden eyes."

  "It doesn't need to be perfect. You just have to trust me. I'll be your eyes just this time."

  "...I suppose I can work with that. The needle is important though, can you tell me where it is? Otherwise I won't be able to do anything."

  "I'm afraid because of the fshbang Miss Audrey created, we have to work in the same condition as you for the time being."

  We could finally open our eyes again, to our surprise, this time our attacks worked. Part of this creature scattered on the ground.

  I couldn't really make out if it was it's limbs or not, it's like that thing is outright a silhouette of a shadow. Even those pieces of it on the ground while there's blood coming out of it are completely dark and almost inconsistent in form.

  "Alma?"

  "What's wrong, Aria? What happened to Alma?"

  "I'm not seeing her anywhere here right now, Miss Jessica..."

  "..."

  Sally talked, a really serious expression on her face. From what Jessica told us, this seemed pretty unusual for that kid.

  "That entity... You called it Alma, right? She was made of pure karmic energy. That move she just did, I doubt she didn't know."

  No, don't tell me.

  So that's why she had that pained expression before...

  "She expanded all of her energy into that move, of course, she seemed to be connected to that girl over here so she needed her as a trigger. She used the very thing that permitted her to exist to give you a chance..."

  Aria clinged dearly to Jessica, tears flowing down her face.

  "Aria... Why... If I knew you'd do that, I wouldn't have helped you do it in the first pce!"

  She couldn't see right now but Jessica chose to pat her head all the same, moving her closer to her chest.

  "I'm sorry, Aria. If only I wasn't so useless."

  "At least we seem to have dealt with that thing. It's bleeding to death right now."

  "Yes, her sacrifice wasn't for nothing."

  21 minutes left.

  "Li! You can stop that spell now, we did it!"

  I was met with a cold response.

  "You idiot, if I stop, we're all dead meat. Don't tell me you're stupid enough to believe it's that simple to kill a god."

  I looked at Allison's face, she was terrified.

  "You idiots, don't let your guard down! You'll have time to mourn that ghost girl ter. If you focused, you would have noticed it's energy is increasing at a rapid pace right now."

  She was right...

  What is this intense energy I'm feeling right now? It's quite literally forcing us to bow down through sheer force.

  Li and Sally had resisted the intensity of the energy, still standing on their feet.

  Under our very eyes, the creature twisted from center, left, right, middle.

  Morphing right in front of us into a giant dark snake composed of darkness.

  "You've got to be kidding me!"

  "Allison is immune to the effect imposed on us by the effect of it's karmic energy. I told her not to move away from me. If our contact is stopped, I will end up being affected by this karmic energy."

  "Huh?"

  "She's the apostle of disasters, most of the abilities of that thing don't work on her. The issue is she can't change to her alter ego right now. She doesn't know how to fight unless she switch pces."

  "Can't she use Id state?"

  Sally asked, trying as best as she could to pull back the giant snake using gravity.

  17 minutes left.

  "What the hell is an "Id state" ?"

  "Well, that answers my question. It's a state where the Id and the Ego mix together to create perfect harmony within an apostle. You saw that that dumbass over here can use it, me and María can as well."

  "Well... She..."

  "I know, the only reason someone wouldn't be able to use it if they hate themselves. Even if you hate just an aspect of yourself, it wouldn't be impossible to use. You'd have to completely despise your very being to not be able to use it."

  ...

  "This pains me to hear but we have more important matters to take care of right now!"

  "You're right, Greenie. I can't hold back that thing for eternity. How much time you need left, Hat?"

  "Hat?"

  "Focus, Li! Don't break the spell!"

  "Sorry. I need 5 minutes."

  "But... Didn't you say it would take you one hour?"

  "It seems I evolved after traveling with Allison, Melissi, Marth and Caithy."

  "Thank god!"

  "Yeah, we barely managed to survived so far, I'll take those 6 minutes!"

  Well, I said that...

  But 5 minutes against that thing is bound to be a nightmare...