"As dumb as this is going to sound," I said, "We should really rush ahead into the next room."

Viktor cracked a huge smile and pushed off from the ground hard enough for me to feel it in my feet as he tore down the hallway. I followed, and István took the moment clarify my intentions.

"Looking to get in an open space instead of an enclosed one?"

"Yup." I said, running alongside him. "While the two of us can make it down here fine, Viktor pretty much needs the space all for himself."

We were at the end of the hall in short order, coming out of what used to have been a doorway. It was blown open from the hallway side, leaving little doubt as to what sort of monster had done the damage.

That monster was busy facing down another monster, something that at first looked like a cow but had clearly been corrupted by whatever had been responsible for the modified humans we'd fought by the office. No fewer than nine of the whips snaked from its back, a rather incredible number considering the humans had only had two.

I was about to wonder if it was age or the nature of the original animal that changed the count when one of them came hurtling at me, seeking to leave a dent. I threw myself sideways, intending to tuck and roll all fancy-like but instead wound up clumsily bouncing off of the ground. Luckily, I still kind of managed the 'roll' as more of a 'tumble' and didn't receive any significant injuries.

The crack it made as it passed over my head marked these whips as being significantly more dangerous than the previous ones, which I confirmed a few seconds later as a surprised Viktor flew over my head, having grasped two of them and then been lifted into the air. I managed to see István off to the side, having retrieved an artifact from his pocket. He was shaking his head at our flying friend.

Coming out of my grace-free tumble, I forced my aura vision. The monster lit up in a light show, which surprised me. The previous monsters I'd encountered hadn't had nearly this level of energy. I wasn't about to call it 'Nebula', as there was something foul and off about it. I could see two concentrations, approximately where the head and heart would be if this had been the cow it looked like it once was.

That likely meant two cores, which probably also meant this thing was going to be a massive pain in the ass to take down. I had many questions about whether these cores were also cracked like the previous ones were, but there was no way for me to see, and it wasn't going to be giving me a chance to lay hands on it.

Another appendage came my way, and I was able to dodge it much more cleanly this time, no more awkward making out with the ground.

Viktor had somehow landed his flight and was trying to figure out how to get close himself. I was going to figure out how to distract it when a searing hot torrent of air shot past me, heated to such a degree it felt like the hair on my arms was singed, and I was several meters away. István had packed so much Nebula into it that it roiled with a dim gray light.

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The stringy beef critter had no chance of dodging with its size and apparently slowness. I wasn't sure if it'd sacrificed agility for power, but it barely moved before the bolus hit it, blasting it off its feet and visibly stripping off the outer layer of hide, like a steamed tomato. One of the tentacles was caught in the impact and twisted in on itself, the proteins making it up curling up from the intense heat.

I had some thoughts for the closeness of that shot, but with no time to talk, I decided to leave them for later. I shot inward, propelling myself using the Stream circulating in my legs to enhance myself to a small degree.

Across from me, I saw Viktor with the same idea, closing from the other side. He caught sight of me, and sped up. It was like being around Liam, everything turned into a race or some form of competition. The thought of the giant man and the tiny kid being in the same space made me smile. I'm sure Liam would come up with something he'd be able to win at.

I pulled up short and let Viktor win the race, and he landed a massive hit on our betentacled friend just as it was struggling back to its feet. István's strike had done serious damage to the whole front quarter, it looked almost like it'd been melted, like candy left in the sun too long. Didn't smell like it though. It smelled like burnt wet rat.

I'd know, we'd had one get under the oven once, whereafter it startled Gran and she'd dropped an entire pot of boiling water on it.

"It scared me, so I scared it right back." Or so she'd said at the time.

I pulled myself out of my distractions to the sight of a flying cow. More appropriately, it was propelled by the force of every ounce of strength Viktor could muster, which was quite a bit. I was directly in the path of travel, about to become a Char'd veggie side to the smash burger.

More or less panicking at this point, I grabbed at the Stream going down my right arm and forcefully redirected it out my hand. Yeah, the whole thing.

I realized that wasn't the smartest idea when a huge malformed cloud of Nebula exploded out of my hand. With only moments until impact, I tried to push it into a ball and move it away from my hand somewhat.

I was only mostly successful. The cloud contracted into a lumpy ball, then it hit the cow. I closed my eyes and turned my head away, expecting the worst.

Instead, I heard a *pmmmfff* noise, and my whole front half got very wet, like Gran had spritzed me with the water bottle she used to do my hair when I was younger, and the same one she sometimes used on Liam when he was being a pest.

I pulled my shirt up and wiped my face off with it, unwilling to let the mystery liquid get into my eyes. Then I opened them.

When I didn't see it, I almost panicked again. I turned to look at István, who was usually my source of calm, only to find him staring at me slack jawed.

"What?" I asked, "Where did the tentacle thing go?"

István just held up his hands in front of him in response, hands balled into fists. He opened them up and made a noise. "Pmmmfff!"

I looked down at myself, realizing my entire front was coated in a dark, nasty substance that clung to me like snot. Looking around, there was an irregular circle of the stuff, with a gap where I'd been standing.

Ewww.

I walked up to István, whereupon he visibly recoiled from me. Not that I blamed him for that. The adrenaline had worn off I could smell it, and it was truly horrific.

"You have a steam or fog type mote, right?" I asked István.

As if unwilling to open any more holes than he already had open, he just nodded.

"I don't suppose you can use that do something like steam cleaning, eh? Or maybe a cloud bath?"

A look of pure revelation crossed his face, a childlike delight that even made me grin, then spit as some of the goo fell into my mouth. It was sooo awful.

István held out his hands, and a torrent of cool, dense fog rolled from them. He maneuvered it over my head, then held it in place, his tight control packing it all into a tiny space. Before long the sheer density made the liquid condense, and a torrential downpour of water rolled over my head.

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