"Retreat!" Teddy shouted.

He conjured a phantasm of his mace and smashed the limb away, shattering the fleshy appendage.

Except he didn't. The limb was crushed, and his mana had burned away the bonds of the blood mana but like a scaly, blood puppy, it simply reformed. It was nearly instantaneous, less than a quick gasp for blood from the connected limb to surge into new flesh.

Eodyne unleashed her arrow, the ear-ringing ziiiiip of electricity followed an explosion of blinding blue. What I managed to glimpse through the brightly colored spots in my vision showed that her attack had outperformed Teddy's.

Where his crushed the hand, Eodyne's mana had travelled in arcs up the limb and into the roaring darkness outside of the light. The entire arm exploded and the lightning continued to travel, racing through pockets of blood and viscera up a colossal in the shadows.

The others weren't inactive, they took the monster's instantaneous regeneration better than I. Without the room to worry about the possesseds safety, Igas and Arturous barreled through the unconscious bodies, and created a way forward.

Unlike the others, Eodyne's strength remained and she casually grabbed Teddy and heaved him onto Arturous. Celanae activated a barrier underneath her, Khrem and Sereza's feet, sending them on top of the bear.

Tyrrion joined them, swinging himself toward the back behind the king. Another meat shield to protect that hidden asset.

That left me and my spirit. Eodyne reached for me and I tugged her onto Zagreus. He wasn't giant bear size, but he could support the two of us. In a mad scramble, Zagreus chased the others as we tried to distance ourselves from the wailing monstrosity.

"It's reformed!" Eodyne shouted.

I secured my tail around one of Zagreus' necks and turned. The monster had moved past the hallway, a series of eyes locked on our direction. In the belly of the meat amalgamation, a wide mouth tore open and the monster screeched.

Sturmrorex deflected as much of the soundwave as he could, generating a wall of wind followed by another. When it hit, it overtook us with a physical force, cracking the walls. Zagreus whined as his form blurred, the edges of his scales softening.

We cleared another section of the building, shoving past another horde drawn away from their meals by the ruckus. It didn't matter, we weren't fast enough.

The monster's body surged forth, and tendrils devoured the possessed bodies. A man, young but hard to tell with the caking of red over his front, was outright crushed as a pseudo-foot slammed down.

Zagreus picked up his pace, and pushed forward but it wouldn't be enough. Eodyne recognized it too, the monster despite its size moved at incredible speed unimpeded due to the building's excessive largeness.

Sturmrorex unspooled and helped anchor her to Zagreus's neck while she pulled her fingers back and conjured a bolt between her hands.

She released the cracking electricity once more creating sunspots in my vision.

The monster charged, unconcerned and released another roar in defiance. Then, it dodged.

Oh what the fuck!

Its body split in two, single, sinuous strands holding it together as the bolt passed cleanly through and down the hallway behind it. With a wet squelch the two halves rejoined and the monster continued the hunt.

Eodyne was pulling another arrow, but Zagreus had to leap over a wall of people, jostling her position. She stumbled, and barely managed to catch herself, her foot slipping except for her tight grip on Zagreus's neck.

That was what had been locked down for Eodyne. Her balance was well honed, trained to an edge that made acrobats jealous. It didn't change the fact that senses built from a decade of training were now flipped on its head as an integral passive was now offline.

My arms were free.

I had a second, maybe two before it caught up.

In the reservoirs of Magnus's transformation, blood and curse stewed silent and subdued. I awakened its fangs once, less than half had been drained. There had to be something I could do, but I knew a wall of angry blobs wouldn't secure our escape.

So I forced the mana into a different route. The valves opened and the mana was shoved through, up my throat and into the back of my mouth. Copper flooded my tongue as did soil and carrion.

Then something strange happened. Where the mana fought to be unleashed, a tether snapped into place. One connected, but in the panic I hadn't felt it solidify.

My eyes narrowed and my gaze honed at the top right of the central mass.

There, a head of the woman I had recognized. Barely half of her face stuck out of the bulging flesh, but the mass atop her head warped with each movement of the monster.

I felt it then, the previous activation of my skill still paralyzing the woman's body. But not just hers, no. There was more, dozens more buried deeper within even if I couldn't see it.

By now, if I blinked, the beast's squirming claw would be upon us, so I opened my mouth and channeled the curse more than the blood. It rode through the liquid medium, using it as an anchor for a different kind of effect to take hold.

"Rebel!" I declared.

The monster's giant claws neared my arms and Zagreus bristled, ready to protect his master. In that same breath, the woman embedded into the pseudo-flesh screamed. The monster's form rippled as more of those trapped awakened, the curse unshackling as my mana urged it to action.

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A part of the monster's claw hit my arm, and I collapsed onto Zagreus' back. The force destroyed his back leg, but he kept running. Only my tail kept me tied as Zagreus jumped away.

The monster had stilled, its limbs and tendrils frozen in time. All of the slitted eyes rolled inward and the woman's head exploded in a grotesque flower of blood. A garbled roar rocked the building but even that was cut short as multiple strands of the monster's body turned against it and gagged the wide jaw shut. The needle-like tips started to sow it shut but the monster viciously ripped its own claws against itself.

Flesh tore, and blood stained the walls. I lost sight of the hulking monster when Zagreus turned down a series of hallways, pulling us even deeper into the building.

***

We rolled to a stop and Zagreus collapsed. His body turned to jelly, but he reached toward the wall and all four heads extended toward a bloody spot on the wall. I wanted to warn him off, the blood could have been tainted but I sensed nothing. They opened their mouths and the blood slowed off like water on glass. When he finished his scales sharpened and he solidified once more.

"Are you sure we should stop?" Isaac asked.

He had his blades out, and while he still couldn't sink into the floor, he was on high alert for danger. Isaac glanced behind us, down the long passageways where groans could be heard.

It had been nearly a half hour since we escaped the behemoth. Whatever I had done kept it busy long enough for it to either lose our trail, or interest. We hadn't heard its rumblings four minutes after getting away.

"Checks," Teddy called out.

"Good here," Igas said.

"Same," Isaac added.

Sereza and Khrem were unbothered, as was Celanae. Tyrrion kept silent but he looked unharmed, leaving only me, Eodyne and the king.

"Small scratch on my right cheek. Flying debris, small rock as we escaped," she said.

Áine hovered out of my hoodie and patched her up. Issac was the first too reach my side, and he poked me in the ribs.

"You, I saw the hit, are you okay?"

I pushed him away and sat up, spitting out more of the gross phlegm. "I'm fine. Fractured my arm when it touched me, but Áine patched me over."

The little fairy shook her fist my way and I giggled.

"Sorry, she healed me fine," I relented.

"Your throat?" Eodyne said, after bowing to the nature spirit. "I saw how bruised it became."

I winced, and grabbed Isaac's pointed finger before it stabbed into my ribs. The raw power of the tier three mana being forced into a strange pathway had taken its toll. Nothing that Áine couldn't heal, as I was now bruise free and only a little tired.

"I'm fine. I probably shouldn't do that more than necessary but I can take a beating if need be."

Tyrrion cleared his throat, and he moved toward Arturous back.

"You're majesty. How are you holding up?"

No response at first. Tyrrion looked at Teddy. He waved his hand, and the illusion faded, revealing the king's disheveled form underneath.

"Sire!"

The curse had spread. Allaron's entire left arm was underneath a shimmering skein of maroon. Around his neck, the strands reached into the air before snapping back into place.

"It's gotten so much worse, why?" Celanae asked.

"Boy! Can you help him?" Tyrrion asked, barging through Celanae and rushing toward me.

He nearly grabbed my collar but Zagreus's scales shifted and turned to sharpened points as his heads barred his path.

"I can try, but I don't think I can replicate what I did with Teddy's parents," I said, shaking my head.

"Do it. I don't care what it takes!"

"Back off, Uncle Tyrrion," Teddy warned.

"Your king is being consumed in front of you. If he can help, then he needs to now before it gets even worse!"

"We aren't even safe here. Let us get to the garden before we attempt anything. We don't know when the monster will come chasing us again, and I want more room to combat it if it does."

Tyrrion grabbed onto Teddy's shield and forced it down. "Are you not listening to me? I said that your king is-"

"I respect you old man," Isaac warned. His voice was cold, and he made no attempt to hide the dagger aimed at Tyrrion's ribs. "But you're not even the real Tyrrion Solcrust. If you attack any of us, I'll cut you down."

"You…"

Allaron made a garbled noise, too quiet to translate. Tyrrion abandoned his tirade and rushed to the king's side.

The king pushed him back and he swept damp hair out of his eyes. Battered he may have been, but a fire still raged inside.

"There's no… Point. We continue… Out."

"Sire, let him help you. If we can weaken the curse that'll be enough," Tyrrion argued.

"Not that I'm against relaxing some more. Why is it pointless?" I asked.

Allaron opened his mouth to answer but one of the threads dug into his collarbone. The tinkling of hard glass filled the space as the tentacle bounced off his bone and tore through his neck. Tyrrion shot a desperate glare my way and I sighed.

"Áine heal him without touching the curse, just close the wounds and see if you can give him back some blood."

She complied and landed on his back, pushing mana through him while Tyrrion held him steady.

Zagreus padded over to Arturous and pushed himself higher so I was within a comfortable position to touch the king.

I placed my hands below Áine's, not wanting to directly interfere with the curse just yet. First I wanted to check to see how his body was holding up. Potentially disrupting the king's concentration could worsen the curse, letting it run wild.

When I placed the tips of claws onto his back, I closed my eyes and sent a gentle probe. I wasn't even actively pulling with Magnus' skill, but the king's mana brushed against the crystal coverings of my hands and entered.

I felt the thickened liquid run through the tips of my fingers like electricity I pulled back. The king rolled his head in my direction and our eyes met.

"Told you… Pointless," he smirked.

I shook my head. The tingling sensation hadn't stopped. There was only one time I had experienced something similar, and that was through filtered nerves of a body reforged by a dungeon fairy.

Raising my hand I pointed at the wall and released. A thumbnail-sized gem shot outward and dug into the wall. It neither cracked nor exploded, merely embedding itself a foot into the stone before stopping.

"What's the point of hiding secrets right now?" I said with a scowl.

"Learned habit… Procedures in case of mind reapers," Allaron croaked.

"What? What did you learn this time?" Isaac butted in.

I shared a look with the king. While I wouldn't hold out on my friends, I didn't see how exposing the king's secret would help anything. Whatever reason he wanted to hide his true tier didn't matter.

"We need to move," I said. "The garden is close. If I can't help the king, then we need to hurry."

"Oh don't fucking ignoring me now," Isaac protested.

He would have said more, but Teddy wrangled everyone up. Áine stayed with the king, sending small spurts of carefully controlled healing through his body. While it didn't remove the growing curse, some of the king's pallor returned to a healthy tan.

We moved through the last series of rooms, finding bodies and smears but none of the possessed. Evidence of attacks and other skills were present, but we moved on too quickly to explore further.

As we approached the grand door leading to the outside, Eodyne called for a halt. She closed her eyes and put a hand to her ear.

"There's noise. A Lot of it. Several voices, male and female."

"Do we proceed?" Igas grunted.

"We have no choice, but be prepared. Shift into Last Treat."

Last Treat was the name for a plan. Like the last treat in the house of hungry siblings, you had to squirrel it away through a defensive charge. Celanae would be lead, her barriers ready to snap into place at a moment's notice with Igas providing support.

I didn't have any more of the blood mana ready, but Sereza was kind enough to toss a charged acid globe my way. With the skill at the ready, Teddy gave the order and Arturous raised his paw.

In a golden swipe that left an afterimage, he smashed into the stone door and smashed through. An amethyst barrier appeared before him, just in time to block a sword tip that snapped through the opening.

"Halt! It's survivors!" someone yelled.

The sword retreated and the dust settled.

Isaac was the first to react, a mocking laughter sounding out.

"Oh look, Sereza. Your knight in shining armor is here!"

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