A streak of red and black came hurtling through the forest's dusky sky. Something massive crashed through the upper canopy, tree limbs exploding outward like brittle bones. And that something was Jalkra. He slammed into the earth with a sound that shook the ground beneath us.

  Dust and shards of shattered bark mushroomed upward. His body lay sprawled across a crater, smoldering slightly. Blood streaked his horns, and something was wrong—his limbs twitched out of sync, barely responding. Yet somehow—somehow—he was grinning.

  "What the hell…?" Mina whispered beside me.

  The trees parted as a monstrous snake, larger than any creature I had ever seen, slithered into the glade. She slithered further in, her massive body coiling lazily, crushing undergrowth and carving a path through earth as easily as breath. Every monster behind me stood frozen—many had dropped into instinctive crouches, ready to flee or fight.

  Creature: Venolisk

  — Species: Venolisk

  — Primordial Name: [Violet]

  — Titles: "Violent Venus", "Sovereign Candidate"

  — Sobriquet: "Venom Basilisk"

  — Evolution Stage: [Dominant]

  — Variance: [Unique]

  — APU: [5,610,000] Particle Units

  — Attributes: [Hazard], [Evil], [Chaos]

  — Faction: [Chaos Scion], [Predator]

  Violet.

  Even her name struck like venom in my mind.

  "I mean, honestly," she went on, glancing around the stunned crowd. "Streamers? Fruit punch? Is that marshcrystals I smell roasting? Jalkra, you've gone soft."

  Her gaze finally landed on me.

  "Oh my, it's you," she said, half-lidding her eyes. "The little host of the Chimera's Mark. It's been a while."

  Her smirk grew. "How charming."

  "You couldn't be…" I asked, my voice steady—but only barely.

  The basilisk inclined her massive head. "My name is Violet. Formerly of the Venuanyorth Depths. Touched by the First Coil. And today…" She flicked her tongue, eyes dancing toward Jalkra's limp form. "Just a little annoyed by your party planner."

  Behind me, Biscuit whispered with visible delight, "She's gorgeous."

  Mina, meanwhile, had already begun charging her aura, low and simmering with fury. Diantha looked distraught as she gazed down at her husband.

  But Violet just laughed. A sound like the twisting of thorns and honey.

  "Oh, don't worry," she said smoothly. "I'm not here to eat anyone… yet. I just wanted to drop by. Offer my congratulations. Someone down here is finally waking up."

  Her eyes locked with mine again. And the smile fell.

  "But your little glow mark? That makes you mine, little flame."

  Then she turned her massive head toward Jalkra's barely twitching body.

  "Tell your warlord to be more polite next time. Snakes don't like being courted with threats."

  And with a flick of her hood, the air sizzled, literally crackling with toxins. A tree behind her hissed and melted, collapsing into pulp. She hadn't even touched it. The message was clear.

  I stepped forward, instinct warring with reason. "You marked, like me. Why?"

  She tilted her head. "Maybe you'll be clever enough to find out. Or maybe…" she coiled back, eyes glinting like gold under lightning. "You'll be clever enough to run."

  Then, with a gust of wind and an unnatural shimmer, Violet vanished back into the forest with terrifying speed—leaving behind nothing but dead grass, scorched trees.

  Her departure left the clearing in a surreal silence. The festive colors, the scattered decorations, even the laughter from moments ago—everything now felt like a hallucination crushed under the weight of what we'd just witnessed. Everyone swiveled their heads, looking as if they were still trying to piece together as to what had happened… as to why they were still in one piece.

  But Jalkra didn't move.

  He lay at the center of a shallow crater, one arm twitching spasmodically, his robe half-shredded and limbs twisted at odd angles. His eyes, still wide open, gleamed with manic delight—but his grin was lopsided.

  I took a cautious step toward him—but someone beat me to it.

  "Jalkra!"

  I heard and winced as Diantha's scream split the air. She was the first to sprint toward him, still cradling Denji in one arm. "Move! Someone take the baby—take him now!" she barked. Whirlkool, wide-eyed, rushed to her side and carefully took the infant before Diantha hit her knees beside Jalkra. Her hands hovered above his broken form, trembling.

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  I moved to stop her, but Ume was faster. She caught Diantha gently but firmly by the elbow, her many spiderlike limbs trembling just slightly.

  "Don't," Ume murmured. "The venom's still active. You could be exposed."

  She pressed a palm against his chest. His breath hitched faintly.

  "Still alive… but his nerves are shredded," she murmured, eyes darting, already analyzing. "Tier-[A] Venom. Tail-injected, probably neuro-paralytic. Non-fatal… barely." Her hands began glowing with a gentle sea-green pulse. "Hold on, Lord Jalkra. I've got you. Just keep smiling, yeah?"

  "She paralyzed him?" Biscuit's voice cracked from behind. She looked like she'd been slapped across the muzzle. "That's not fair! No one's supposed to get the drop on him like that! He's Jalkra!"

  "That thing… that wasn't natural. It spoke like it knew you KiAera," Mina muttered.

  "I know," I said, my ears pulled back, body taut with something between dread and shame. "She had a mark like mine. But shaped like a Diamond."

  Mina turned to me. "You don't think she's—?"

  "I don't know. But she's not just a monster. She's organized. And worse… she's not alone." But who had bestowed her with the mark? Abeion? DeNultra?

  GamaGen had descended to land at Ume's side.

  "I've seen venom of that caliber used once," he mused. "The kind that doesn't just disable the body. It silences the soul's resistance… and lock in awareness while suppressing all voluntary movement. Miss Violet… is truly a candidate..."

  Mina turned and stared. "You mean he feels everything and can't even blink?"

  "I'd say something saucy," Jalkra managed through clenched teeth, "but my jaw... is numb." He tried to blinked, struggling. "Still handsome, though, right?"

  "Not the time!" Diantha hissed, brushing his damp hair from his forehead. "Pzion!"

  "I'm here."

  I saw the blurred form of a beast brushing past us—the giant, golden beast shapeshifting until it eventually became Pzion. His blond-plumed hair whipped behind him as he dropped beside the Oni lord, all charm wiped from his features. The boyish glint in his eyes was gone, now replaced by something surgical.

  "No visible trauma…" Pzion said, as he pressed his hand gently to Jalkra's cheek, then neck, then the spot just under the collarbone. "Pulse is irregular. His breath shallow. His aura is flickering like a choked flame."

  "Will he die?" Diantha asked. Her voice was taut, her hand curled tightly on his shoulder.

  "No," Pzion replied quickly, but grim. "Just as Ume said. He's been venom-locked. His body's frozen. Violet laced her strike with something… tailored. It is not just a wild Venolisk toxin."

  I watched as he pulled a vial from the bandolier slung under his sash and snapped it open under Jalkra's nose. The warlord didn't react. Subsequently, Ume's eyes were focused on Jalkra's skin, noting the faint purple-gray veins snaking beneath his usually bronzed complexion. She touched his temple with ghost-like delicacy. Then she created a bundle of ingredients and syringes in a webbed basket. She knelt beside Pzion and began compounding a mixture so fast her limbs blurred.

  Mina stood behind them, arms rigid at her sides as she stared at Jalkra like she was seeing something impossible. "This doesn't make sense. Nothing should've put him down like that."

  Ume, meanwhile, had started to meticulously pierce needles surgically into Jalkra's skin, her tone was devoid of emotion. "She knew where to strike. What to inject. How long it would take to shut down his nervous system without killing him outright."

  Pzion shifted. "Let me in," he said. "I need access to his core flow. Don't suppress anything. If he's overriding the pain manually again, I swear I'll fry his brain back myself."

  "Stay with me, boss." He unslung his satchel and began pulling out vials, salves, and an eerie bone-needle filled with clear fluid. His hands were steady, but his voice trembled. "You were supposed to win, you fool…" With a flick of his wrist, Pzion conjured a delicate set of needles carved from glassy bone. He whispered something under his breath. Words old and specific, far older than his appearance betrayed. The needles simultaneously took on a hazardous hue, disintegrating one-by-one as he worked.

  Jalkra eventually convulsed. Then his chest rose, once, then slowly fell into a rugged rhythm.

  "Vitals returning," Pzion said, voice clipped. "But the neurotoxin's chewing through his spine. I can't cleanse this fast enough without antidotal keys."

  Ume's expression turned grim. "Because he went against a Venolisk alone."

  "Venolisk…." I echoed. "Why was she here?"

  Pzion sighed. "They weren't supposed to be."

  "They're in DreaGoth. Our home is falling," Diantha added as she glanced at her surroundings. "Our home is under invasion by Violet's kind."

  "We tried to keep it quiet," Pzion admitted, his voice tired now. "Jalkra thought if we brought our people somewhere else—made deals, built alliances, we could regroup. Plan a counter-strike without dragging the rest of the realms into war."

  "That's why we're here," Ume said while her shoulders shook slightly. "Their kind once kept to the cavernous depths outside of DreaGoth, beneath even the Bonewealds. But something changed. They've begun to spread faster than we could contain. Taking territories. And devouring everything in their way."

  "They've already claimed three territories," Whirlpool whispered, cradling a whimpering Denji in her arms.

  My thoughts spun.

  "And Violet?" I asked. "He tried to… ally with her?"

  "Yeah," Mina cut in, still pale. "That doesn't sound like him."

  Pzion's expression twisted. "He thought she might be… different. Thought maybe, if we could persuade one of their queen-types, we could shift the tide."

  "He underestimated her," Ume said, leaning over Jalkra with her web threading limbs in the midst of operating. "As did we all."

  "Jalkra believed," Diantha said slowly, "that the Chimera's Mark on your head was a sign. That you could match Violet. Or even sway her."

  "I tried," a low voice rasped.

  We all turned. Jalkra's eyes cracked open a sliver wider.

  "I tried to speak with her. To ally with her. To make her see the bigger picture. But she's not… she doesn't want order. She wants succession."

  "Elaborate," I leaned forward.

  "She wants to replace the monsters who ruled before. Not dethrone. Erase." He coughed weakly, and Pzion steadied his chin. The venom was clearly still paralyzing most of him. "She sees the world as a cycle... her mark… is the Uroboros Coil. An eternal shedding of evolution."

  "And you think I'm supposed to stop that?" I said, quietly. Behind us, the group stayed tense, uneasy. GamaGen drifted closer, his floating form grim with quiet recognition.

  "Then this celebration—" I looked at the banners still fluttering behind us, the Kobolbos and Sapkins still cautiously peeking out the doorway.

  "—Was cover," Pzion finished with a wry smile. "A distraction to hide intent of our arrival. To give him time to parley."

  "And he failed."

  "Worse," Ume said. "He succeeded in attracting her attention. Which means she'll keep watching."

  The words chilled me. My gaze swept the area. And that's when I noticed it. Amid the Osseods gathering near the edge of our circle, one shimmered just slightly off-color. A purple hue. It didn't flee far like the others when Nex barked an order.

  It stayed there, watching, very carefully. My blood ran cold.

  "Violet," I whispered into Ume's ear.

  Her eyes flicked toward me. "You saw?"

  "I think she's still here," I kept my voice low. "In disguise."

  Pzion's hands didn't pause in treating Jalkra, but his voice came low. "Then don't let her know you know. Let her think we're still off-balance."

  "Too late," I said.

  My gaze met that little Osseod across the field. It winked then made its approach.