Cycle 4
hunger knows no friend but its feeder
Through a great deal of effort, each crown is slowly carried over to the second altar, with each one lighting up the door even further. Even so, the orbs did not yield; many crowns faced the white stone floor, shattering and slowly fading away of reality. In response to the energy accumulated on the second altar, crystals in the large statue heads light up; a powerful blue energy can be seen coming from the ceiling, revealing some sort of magic circle. The room looks a lot more clear now
Curved and intricate lines made up each complex arcane formula etched in the stone ceiling, and as they lighted up the unknown words within, the etched details seem to slowly make sense as you stare at it; there is a magical pentagram, and in its center is etched what appears to be a crown above undulating details, just like water. Once the entire circle was lightened up, the entire chamber shook for a moment, and the large door slowly starts to open up in response to their efforts - just a little bit more. With only a few more crowns, they were definitely getting past --
Suddenly, voices from below chanted in unison. At first, the sound was low and only heard by the most attentive; however, as time progressed, the voices were heard by many - if not all lions. Like a chorus, they repeated the same chant non-stop. The voices seemed to come from below the bridge. One of the lions took action first and approached the short baluster to see whatever could be causing all that noise.

What the hell is… This? Uh….. Ah…! AH, WHAT IS… AAAAAH!!
Whatever he saw, was something capable to force him to shook with tremendous and unnatural force. From his eyes, tears streamed down like fountains as he clawed at his own scalp for some unknown reason. His hysterical outburst and screams continued to the point the he bumped on the baluster and fell inside the…
...Water?
When the man hit the water with a loud splash the liquid flowed upwards, but did not go down. It was as if the shining liquid ignored all laws mortals lived by, refusing to bend under the power of gravity - but that, that was not the worst they experienced. Much like with gravity, sound seemed to distort as well. Bones were crushed and flesh ripped apart in harmony with screams of despair; The shining blue of the waters below danced with the red of life.

AAAAAAH, IT HURTS, AHHHELP, AGH!
NOAASHSAAAH, STOP, STOOOP, STOOOOOP! AAAAKH
KAAAAAH AAA, KAAAAS!
KAAAAAASE, KAASE, KASE WO IST DIE KASE
As if sublimated by the unknown forces, anyone that met the unfortunate fate of falling down uttered the chant. The scene repeated itself with many other lions that approached to see what was down below. In response to the chaos and panic that ensued, Caccu took action once she noticed a pattern to what was happening.

Sarla mea, aslain endiel, sarla mea, sarla mea endilea!
Large amounts of mana coalesced on her staff, generating an enormous fireball over it. Once she finished chanting, Caccu tightened her hand in a fist, causing it to generate an explosion upwards in order to focus all attention on herself.

DO NYOT LOOK DOWN IF NYA DON’T WANNA END LIKE THAT! HURRY, GIT THE CRO--
Much to her dismay, the felis mage was interrupted by two simultaneous crashes on the ceiling. At each end of the chamber, giant and deformed arms raised and clashed against the magic circle on the ceiling, desperately clawing at it and shaking the chamber - possibly, the entire fortress. The impact was enough to break several stairs and bridges around the largest, central one. Many of them somehow floated on the otherworldly liquid. The arms finally managed to grab at the blue energy, pulling it down like they were arcane chains.
In response, the entire chamber slowly starts to descend towards the infinite blue and the door slowed down. At this point, the orbs ignored the adventurers, choosing to focus fire on whatever was trying to crawl out of its watery imprisonment. The arms generated an insidious miasma that clouded the pure blue with a black fog, corroding your very being with an acidic embrace. They are desperate, hungry -- and it just so happens they found their precious, delicious Käse.
Käse, Käse, Wo Ist die Käse?