Spirit Fiends were a different kind of menace within the great void. They had a knack for tracing anything that had exploitable weaknesses in its circuit of fuels, be it weak Rules in a world, a leak of energy in a dying organism – anything. The fact that they never hunted on their own only made encountering them even worse.

"Oh, hideous fuckers," said Kintar, grimacing when one of the Fiends pulled its head out of the glimmering surface of the world, revealing nothing but a giant maw with sparse, glowing fangs. It spotted no eyes – nor a face for that matter. It was a simple stretch of chitinous thorax with three pairs of appendages ending with claws.

"Let's see here. An Intensity 1 Mirdall should be enough." Kintar hovered over to a different console and waved her fingers over it, activating some mechanism.

From Amanas' extremity, a bright light surged and fired as a beam that traced the great void unhindered. The beam was not dissimilar to the one that Kintar had fired against Skullius by on Aigas; indeed, it had the full capacity to destroy a world of Aigas' size comfortably.

…But Kintar intended to test it against a Fiend. With the console, it was easy to set a target for the beams beforehand and then fire with impressive precision.

Thus, the beam, Mirdall, Amanas' default offensive attack, struck true against the Spirit Fiend which had raised its head.

…Only to phase through it, as though as the Fiend were nothing but the wind.

Kintar raised a brow. "Well, isn't that interesting?"

"I didn't know for sure, but I figured that would be the case," said Uyuniya. "Conventional attacks won't work on Spirit Fiends. They are capable of making themselves impervious to attacks that only target tangible targets."

"Well, Mirdall fits that build, I guess. It's about as generic as world-busting blasts go," said Kintar, and she began tinkering with the console again while keeping an eye on the Fiends. They were raising their heads, turning malicious attention to Amanas. The world under them continued to flicker and collapse.

"Fiends, huh? I was almost convinced there weren't more than two types," Grim said. He approached the two ladies by the consoles along with Yuyui, Kenno, Baddan, and Savast. The only other person in Metgard was Ashema, who was still brooding over his circumstances. "How strong are they compared to Chronocle and Impermanence Fiends?"

Uyuniya looked at him curiously.

"How do you know about those?"

Yuyui grinned. "He's fought them before, and frankly, he might as well be related to them now."

Grim gave her a funny look.

Just as Uyuniya was about to ask how that was even possible, Kintar turned hastier than before.

"Oop! They're pissed!" she rushed to another console. A moment later, there was a loud, muffled bang.

Two of the Spirit Fiends were only about half a kilometer away from Amanas, pressing hard against the spherical, green barrier that had appeared around the Void rank Treasure. Kintar had erected it just in time.

The look of the creatures' glowing fangs as they chomped and bashed against the barrier was ghastly. The red-tinged, wrinkled space beyond those fangs was even more unsettling. It was a sign of the energy they had sapped from the world they were preying on.

"Off you go!" cried Kintar, and with a flick of her fingers, she made the barrier vibrate and unleash a green concussive force that flung the Spirit Fiends back towards the small world. "Ha! This is handy!"

The other Unlimited Stars marveled, intrigued.

"I wonder if we can kill them with a Ko Aggrante," said Kenno, narrowing his eyes. "Should I try?"

"Forget killing them," said Baddan, regarding him with a look that spelled plainly that he thought he was insane. "I bet I could tame one and add it to my Exigencies."

Grim's eyes shone when he heard that. He slapped a fist against his palm.

"Not a bad idea, is it? I was just thinking that I could extract its abilities too!"

Yuyui punched him in the gut immediately. "Don't you dare try it!" She poked his eyes with her fingers. "We're not about to risk you using those powers again, not until master finds a way for you to safely use them."

"But I won't need to use that form to—"

"I don't care!" Yuyui stuck two of her fingers up his nose next. "You're not using those powers again – not even a little!"

As Grim grumbled, trying to pull Yuyui's fingers out, Kintar kept sharp. She mumbled to herself:

"Let's go with Ba-Raedall, Intensity 3. Yeah, that should suffice."

Amanas vibrated lightly as eight flashes of light appeared in its extremities, purple and pulsating. In the next instant, they fired, winding wildly, two towards each of the Spirit Fiends plaguing the blinking world.

…

"…That might have been overkill," said Kintar, but with a huge grin.

The four Spirit Fiends erupted into nothingness upon being hit. The explosion on impact turned them into giant disks of light that spread their splendor into the void – silently. Their deaths were violent indeed, so violent, in fact, that they even affected the world they had been feeding on. It became collateral, breaking apart and losing more and more of its radiance as it collapsed further and further into the void – away from Amanas.

No one said anything as the flashes of light died down.

A somberness took hold of Metgard, seizing everything in it.

Yuyui might have been the only one who felt anything at all for the lives that had been taken so wantonly from the world she saw before her. She rationalized, however. The people there were likely going to die either way because of the Fiends, she thought, but that didn't take the guilt away. Perhaps they could have saved those people.

Grim, sensing her sullenness, held her shoulder. He didn't particularly care about the people on that world, like she did. Kenno, Savast, and Baddan were the same. They didn't even blame Kintar for being reckless just now.

What caused them to fall victim to the somberness was the irksome realization that mortals were so… helpless. They fell victim to forces of nature and the whims of the strong so much more often than was acceptable.

It was such a sad thing to behold, indeed.

…But Kintar's thoughts were even sadder, more somber.

Without turning to the others, she said in a very dry voice: 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"We're all going to die, you know?"