This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

"This is a good thing! A great thing, actually! Without it, I was only about 10-20% sure of getting the core. Now I can be about 80% sure." Benji exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Man! I really wasn't expecting you to be able to buy this, Kain. These are ridiculously expensive, and I never thought as a newcomer you'd have enough mission credits to buy one."

'I know it's expensive!' Kain internally yelled at the words from this unreliable senior, 'So it better be damn impressive otherwise, as the person who suggested I buy it…'

Kain began to internally debate with himself which areas of the body would be most painful for this nail to be shoved into.

Kain narrowed his eyes. "So? What exactly does this Space Severing Nail do?"

Benji grinned and lifted the small dark metal spike, his fingers tracing the glowing silver runes. "This thing is loaded with an insane amount of space energy. It can force open a temporary spatial crack between two locations—so long as they share a strong enough connection."

Kain's brow furrowed. "A connection?"

Benji nodded. "Think of it this way—space can't just be ripped apart at random. There has to be a bridge, a resonance of sorts. Fortunately, every single Pathfinder badge is designed with internal sigils that connect us to one another. It's a standard safety measure in case teams get separated in a relic. The sigils naturally sync whenever we enter the same relic, creating a spatial tether between all of us."

Claudia narrowed her eyes. "I've never heard of that function for the badges before."

"Because it's not commonly used," Benji replied. "The channel isn't stable enough for a person to pass through. If we tried, we'd be sliced apart by the spatial turbulence before we even got halfway through."

"However…" Benji continued with a widening grin. "Objects small enough—things around the size of a shoebox—can pass through. Small spiritual creatures that fully suppress their power, messages, rare materials… and most importantly, relic cores."

A hush fell over the group as the implications sank in.

"This means," Nadia began, "that we don't have to physically carry the core out and risk Aura's split being attacked and failing the mission. We can release it from the tendrils and send it straight to one of us outside the Abyssal stronghold."

Benji grinned. "Bingo. Once the core is in our hands, the Abyssal creatures won't have a chance to react before it's gone."

Kain nodded slowly. "Alright. But considering Aura's split doesn't have a badge, how exactly can we open a space channel to her? What's your plan?"

The other members also looked disappointed when Kain pointed this out. They weren't as familiar with the usage of this item as Benji was, and couldn't think of any solutions.

"No worries. I only said there needs to be an anchor between two locations. As my spiritual contract who is tied to my Star Space, naturally, Aura and her split are both connected to me through space. Therefore, my contract with Aura can serve as an anchor. It may not be as stable as the typical connection between badges due to the lack of stabilizing sigils, but it will do."

"And once the space channel is opened…," Benji took a deep breath, glancing at the vial of purifying energy, and then continued. "Originally, I was planning to just feed the energy from the Vessel of Purification to Aura through our connection—which would greatly weaken its effect and was why I was only 10% sure of success."

"But now, we can use the Space Severing Nail to open a channel and send the entire vial to Aura. As long as we work fast enough, she should be able to take out the core and send it through the channel before it collapses."

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With the plan in place, the team swiftly took action. Benji held the Space Severing Nail in one hand and focused on opening the channel using his connection with Aura's split, while Kain held the Vessel of Purification.

The others positioned themselves at the perimeter, watching for potential disturbances. They had no way of knowing how the Abyssal creatures might react once the tendrils lost control of the core.

Benji took a steadying breath. "Alright, I'm going to activate the nail. Kain, be ready to throw the vial through the channel the moment it stabilizes."

Kain gave a firm nod, clutching the Vessel of Purification tightly. "Got it."

Benji pressed the Space Severing Nail into his forehead, however instead of the expected gruesome scene, the nail seemed to gradually melt away as it was inserted into his forehead.

'Well, I guess I managed to fulfill my wish in a sense…' Although, Kain had to admit that anticlimactic scene wasn't exactly what he was imagining as he was making mental threats to Benji's well-being.

Benji didn't show too much discomfort, showing that the nail truly wasn't entering him physically and focused on channelling his spiritual power into the runes. Immediately, the air around them warped, the space distorting as faint silver cracks appeared in the air.

The runes on the nail pulsed, sending ripples into the air that increased in strength as the nail dissolved and resembled heat waves. A faint shimmering portal began forming between them and Aura's split inside the stronghold.

Through the link, they could all sense Aura tensing on the other side. The connection wasn't perfect—fluctuations in space energy caused the portal to shimmer unstably, but it was enough.

"Now!" Benji barked through his clenched teeth as he focused on maintaining the portal.

Kain hurled the vial of purifying energy into the rift. The moment it passed through, the portal flickered dangerously before stabilizing once more.
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On the other side, Aura's tiny form hesitated for only a fraction of a second before snatching the vial in her paws.

'Go, go, go!' Benji urged through their mental link.

Aura wasted no time. She scurried toward the corrupted Relic Core, uncorking the vial with her teeth. A brilliant, golden-blue light spilled out, washing over the dark tendrils constricting the core.

The reaction was immediate.

The tendrils writhed violently, recoiling as the purifying energy seeped into them. The abyssal corruption fought back, but the purification forced them to redirect their focus, struggling to suppress the invading force.

Aura darted forward, her tiny paws gripping the core as tightly as she could. The tendrils spasmed, sensing her movement, but they were weakened—too occupied resisting the purifying force.

Through the flickering portal, the team could see it happening in real-time.

"Hurry!" Nadia barked. "The core is breaking free!"

Aura pulled with all her might, her claws digging into the crystalline surface. The tendrils coiled around it to the best of their ability, desperate to reclaim their prize.

Finally, when it appeared as though Aura was finally going to get it free—

"It looks as though we've got ourselves a little rat infestation." A cold deep voice called out behind her with amusement.