In the end, the teams were decided as follows:

Group 1 — Finn, Iris, Qi Ling, Hurricane, Shadow, Toth, Obo, Iyesha, Acaya, and Chisis as the Healer.

Group 2 — Reaper, Tian Long, Ripple, Duke, Jester, Ashika, Abdol, Shoki, Diana (the Stormbringer Theocracy of Light Hunter), and Lauren as the Healer.

Naturally, Ashika and Iris were split into different groups as well, since they both held the Oculus Angelica, which would be incredibly helpful utility-wise. Should the need for splitting up occur, this would be the formation they took.

“Alright… now that that’s settled… about this room,” Acaya began, stepping forward to inspect the wall directly across from the stairs. “This wall here… it’s split into two by this line.”

“Then it must be a door of some sort,” Ashika said. “Montu, can you try prying it open?”

Abdol, the Earthshaker, nodded and stepped forward. His frame was the largest of all, and the muscles on his arms weren’t just for show. He set his hands on either half of the wall by the crack, and used all his strength to pry the two apart.

… But they didn’t budge. Not even by an inch.

“That’s not gonna work, big guy,” Duke chuckled, folding his arms. “Trust me, we’ve spent the past ten minutes trying to get this thing to open, before you guys arrived.”

“Wait,” Iris cut in, eyes blazing gold. “It’s faint, covered by the dust, but… there seems to be some kind of symbol on the door. Ace, bend down a little.”

Finn did as told, getting Iris, who was on his shoulders to the height she wanted. She then swept the dust off from the stone door, revealing a mysterious symbol carved into it. Part of the insignia was on the left side of the door, part of it was on the other.

“This… it looks like… a crescent moon?” Ashika murmured, inspecting it closer.

“Ho… interesting,” Hurricane remarked, rubbing his chin. “But what could this mean…”

“The symbol is split onto the two halves of the door,” Qi Ling pointed out. “That can’t be a coincidence. My interpretation of this would be… we have to kill two things before being able to open this door, and accessing the next room.”

“I agree,” Iris said. “In the Dungeon we cleared a few days ago, we had to first kill two bosses, then face the final Baron. It would be safe to assume the mechanism here is the same, given how they are related.”

“I can testify to that,” Acaya added. “The Dungeon we faced also involved first taking down two bosses, then facing the final one.”

“Then… following that same theory…” Tian Long glanced at the door with an uncomfortable look on that face.

“… The Emperor should be there,” Finn concluded.

“Heh. Then what are we waiting for?” Obo grinned. “We split up into two teams, each taking on one of the bosses, then regroup here to face the final Emperor.”

“But… where are the bosses?” Ashika asked.

“Remember the two corridors in the front entrance of the cathedral that we never explored?” Qi Ling said. “They should be there.”

“Then it’s decided,” Hurricane said. “Let’s retrace our footsteps, and go back to the main entrance.”

The group nodded. It was a solid plan.

Well… seemed like one, anyway. Would things go as flawlessly as expected, however…?

The group made their way back to the main entrance of the cathedral by retracing their footsteps. It wasn’t too hard, thanks to the two Oculus Angelica users who were present. Well… that, and also the fact that this place’s layout was fairly straightforward — there was only one path from where they came from, with no alternative hallways or anything of the sort.

Passing through the garden wasn’t as difficult the second time, since the group already knew what to expect. As soon as they left the doors, they raced across to the other entrance, arriving before the Ghosts could even spawn and crawl out of the soil.

Once there, they descended the stairs into the familiar room they had first gotten sucked into. The red carpet on the floor, the only evident source of color, rolled down the marble floor and split left and right before the front doors of the cathedral.

“Group 1 will take the left side,” Qi Ling said. “Group 2, take the right.”

Ashika, leading Group 2, answered. “Understood. We will rendezvous back in that stone room, correct?”

“Yes,” Qi Ling replied. “Good luck.”

Ashika nodded. “You too. Stay safe.”

With that, the batch of 20 people split into two teams of 10, each one heading opposite directions from one another. On either side, at the end of the corridor, there was a door. These ones, however, was normal, and opened with a gentle push. Behind it, a long, spiral ascending staircase stood. The problem was, it didn’t look very sturdy. Several steps were missing, and the darkness didn’t make things any more reassuring.

“Hey, Ace,” Hurricane called out all of a sudden, and Finn immediately raised his guard.

“… What?”

“You had that glowing star thing earlier, when we first got sucked into this place, right? Why don’t you use that… to provide us all some light?”

“… It’s recharging,” Finn said coldly. “I can’t use it.”

“Ho…? I see.”

Hurricane smiled wryly — there couldn’t have been any good intention behind it. And yet… no one could place a finger on just what it was.

“It’s fine,” Acaya cut in. “It’s not too dark. We can still see — just slightly uncomfortable, that’s all.”

Saying this, he stepped onto the flight of stairs first. The wood creaked loudly as proof of how old it was, but Acaya didn’t waver and continued forward. Following in his footsteps, the others began climbing the stairs as well one by one. Before long, they came to the first gap.

“… Stand aside,” Qi Ling said briskly. Acaya, noticing the frosty air in her hands, realized what she was going to do and stepped away obediently. Qi Ling, on the other hand, took his spot and gently placed her chilly hand on the staircase, forming a few steps of stairs made of ice to fill in the gap.

“Er… is that sturdy?” Obo asked hesitantly.

“… Why don’t you try it for yourself?” Qi Ling snorted, stepping onto it and confidently continuing her climb. The ice didn’t crack at all, and appeared to be much more sturdy than the wood despite expectations.

With that, the others followed, slowly making their way up this enormously tall spiral staircase with seemingly no end.