I have something special just for you pricks.

  Oskar ramped up his War Aura to the max, pushing magic into it until he felt the beginning of pressure building in his head. Willful Synergy pushed it further, gathering sand and debris from all around as he walked forward out of the hallway pulling the thick ring of War into separate rings of spinning death. Ice crystals formed and flew as Cryon became part of the maelstrom.

  // You unlocked the Isother sub-Concept: Pyron! That’s fire, in case you're stupid. //

  By the time he stepped out into the dry night heat, there were seven purple rings from the Aura. Spirit and ice spun and rotated around him now in every direction, a cascade of color, mostly white and purple, with tiny dots of orange forming and moving faster than even he could follow.

  When he pushed the rings out further, they lost none of their deadliness. Three rings moved to the outside, full of spinning, deadly shards of Cryon. Only four remained close to him, but some of the sand now looked like molten slag, Pyron infusing the debris. Only one creature lived long enough to reach the second set of rings, but there were visible holes through her misshaped body. She was mortally wounded, Shadow creature or not. Oskar pulled hard with Sora and Talau, bringing every creature within range into his fifteen-meter War Aura, and nothing survived.

  I hope they enjoyed their little ambush. C Rank feels godly. How can it get more powerful than this?

  // I hope you don’t find out how until you’re there yourself. Do not underestimate her. The time has come. Finish her. Save your brother, save the world. //

  Ignoring the PUB’s dramatics, he saw Valla was floating above a massive dune against a cliff side overlooking the compound. A compound that had completely disappeared when he’d walked through the illusion, he noticed.

  The wind he knew had to be blasting into her face had no effect on the swirling liquid that encased her. Her dark expression was unreadable as she looked down at him. The liquid darkness that surrounded the Shaman seemed to flash out like solar flares of liquid onyx. He could smell sulfur and rot in the air, even with the wind at his back.

  Oskar channeled Sora and shot up into the air in front of her, his spear in hand.

  There was a large group of enemies behind her, but his attention was jerked back to Valla as she reached a clawed hand forward, still clutching her matte black fetish. Oskar realized the paw portion held a small white gem, with something like veins running through it, in its blackened fingers.

  The surrounding darkness was so powerful that the white in the claw was all but impossible to see, even with her holding it in front of her. Oskar didn’t have time to ponder, though. When she spoke, a power that felt like fear and panic hit him, and he realized Valla’s aura made him feel the exact opposite of the way Bastet’s made him feel.

  That’s strong! Is there another power involved, another of what these people would consider a god?!

  Pulling his Aura closer to himself and switching to Ward helped him push out some of the overwhelming power emanating from Valla, and he was able to mentally play back the voice that sounded nothing at all like the voice he’d remembered and finally heard what she’d said.

  “I will eat, eat, eat you, and then… we will drink, drink….driiiink your tasty brother.”

  A quiver went through Valla that caused ripples across her liquid skin, and Oskar felt bile rise in his throat. She wasn’t trying to threaten him; she meant it.

  Or they meant it. She’s got something inside her, and it feels like the opposite of everything I am.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Weariness turned to outright fear, but he did as he always did when he was afraid. What Erik had taught him, and even his dad had taught him, to a certain degree. What the Marine Corp had reinforced. He attacked.

  Darting forward, he thrust his spear in front of him. She ducked under and spun smoothly. Her tail sailed inches from his shoulder as he went past, and he realized with a jolt of fear that she was faster than him. Not a lot faster, but he realized as fear wormed its way into his belly that he’d banked on being more mobile than her in the air. He didn’t know if it was the night giving her shadow form power or whatever thing that possessed her, but Oskar realized he needed to keep moving and hope to outmaneuver her.

  Was that her stomach?!

  There was a growling coming from Valla’s midsection as he lunged past her. It was a wet, cracking and gurgling sound of rocks breaking in thick fluids, churning and boiling inside of her. The smell of sulfur was suddenly tinged with methane.

  “Please come back. I’m so hungry.” The voice sounded layered. Terrifying.

  What. The. Hell.

  // Yeah, so I’m fully convinced she wouldn’t bother to take me off to eat you, and I just realized I’ve never considered being eaten to death before. Even the Vulture likely would have just dropped me off somewhere in the desert after a day or so. She’ll chew me up and I’ll just cease to exist. //

  What the hell is wrong with you?!

  // Can’t I have an existential crisis without you judging me? //

  I can’t with you, PUB-man. Pay attention. I need all the help I can get here.

  With a scream and an outstretched hand, something shot out of the tip of her fetish.

  A greasy black and white claw ripped from the monkey paw, the ghost hand reaching out for him independent of its trajectory as it shot past. Amid dodging in panic, Oskar watched the white stone crumble in the rod’s twisted grip.

  Valla reached straight into her own chest with a grin and pulled out a white, diamond shaped stone. To Oskar’s horror, the claw opened and accepted the stone, and she flew after him. Oskar was glad to draw Valla away from Penny, who’d been trying to sneak close enough to help if she got a chance, as well as the rest of the Dorn Collective, but for the first time since he’d met the Pangolor, the Kobolds, and especially since he saved Erik, he felt alone. And he knew he was weaker for it.

  As he flew overhead, he flung every enemy he saw into the air or into one another with bone jarring force. Valla did nothing to stop him, laughing and clapping at the display before sending another greasy white claw his direction. Unsure what the attack would do to him, but knowing it would be awful, he was forced to abandon all distraction to make sure he didn’t find out the hard way after the second time. He’d cleared out a good portion of the enemy forces, but the goal was to draw her away, not get killed trying to split his attention.

  She was fast in the air. Not as fast as him on a straight tear, but she could turn faster than he could. There was no telling how she was managing her flight, but it wasn’t Sora, that much was clear to Oskar. After a few minutes of dancing with her in the sky, they’d finally gotten out of sight of the compound are. But just as Oskar was hoping she would allow herself to be drawn away in truth, she screamed in frustration at the fruitless dogfight and turned back toward the compound and shot off in that direction.

  Taking chase, he was careful not to get too close, but did everything he could think of to get her attention. He couldn’t pull or push her in the air; Sora seemed to warp past or maybe through her instead of grabbing on. Talau was a little better, but he didn’t really have a way to damage her with it, and anything he did to slow her wasn’t quick enough to keep up.

  She was nimble enough to spin in the air and fire another ghost claw at him. This one looked more like a Kobold claw than the others; the attack changed every time Valla pulled out another stone for her fetish, and Oskar wondered what sick magic she was using to power the attacks.

  Closing the distance as they closed back in on the Kobold hideout, Oskar saw the last thing he wanted to see. Standing outside the opening to the illusion hidden facility was Erik, pulling away from Fox as she argued with him and gently tried to pull him back inside.

  Valla screamed that awful two-voiced scream and dove after his brother.

  Fox, hearing and seeing the danger, jerked Erik behind her, this time not gently at all, and stood in front of where he’d fallen, screaming defiance into the air at Valla.

  Drawing more Talau than he ever had, he pulled up a small dune in front of Fox, just high enough to block Valla’s vision just as a ghostly hand tore into the new dune. Sand disappeared, seemingly out of existence, and Valla screamed again and swerved off to the right. Fox was trying to force Erik back into the hidden opening, but he was fighting her attempts to retreat.

  Stubborn ass. He’s gonna get them killed.

  With a rush of Sora, Oskar launched Erik into the sky just as he flew over them.

  A moment later, Oskar tore off across the desert with every bit of power he could muster, holding a wide-eyed, cursing Erik in his arms.