Ethan set off at a quick stride, leading them across the beach while keeping up Repulsor Shield and redirecting the blasts of magic he could while the rest of the team surged behind him. The sand was littered with scraps of metal limbs and fallen Golems that Lysandus had pulverized in passing. Cautiously, the group advanced, scanning for ambushes. Overhead, the jungle canopy bristled, and more eyes blinked at them from the shadows.

A guttural bark from behind the bunkers signaled a new wave of defenders. Dozens of Flesh Golems lurched out, many still bearing bizarre rifles fused to their arms. They locked onto Ethan's party, spectral rods glowing. The first shots ripped through the smoky air.

Ethan pivoted, Repulsor Shield flaring up in a swirl of violet force. Bullets and magical streaks pattered off it like hail on stone. Lamphrey responded with a flick of her staff, launching a crackling orb of nightmarish magic that burst among the Golems, causing them to jerk as partial illusions disoriented them. Fauna added to the chaos by hurling a series of fiery bolts.

[System Notification!] Fauna's Firebolt – Impact x3. Lamphrey's Oneiromancy – Minor illusions inflicted: 5 Golems stunned.

"Keep up the pressure!"

They moved like an armored tank – Ethan protecting them from the front while the two mage hybrids blasted the defenders in their concealed positions. Once or twice a few golem limbs broke through the ground itself and tried clawing at them. A single swipe from Greybane sliced them apart and the group pushed on, relentless.

Sparks flew where Golems collapsed in heaps. The coterie advanced, using Ethan's shield as a bulwark. Meanwhile, Tara dashed around the flank. Her daggers flashed in the half-light as she cut hamstrings, severed tubes, or jammed her blades into exposed lumps of necrotic tissue. One Golem tried to swing a metal club at her, but Klax intercepted with a savage slash.

More and more, Ethan's mind pulsed with notifications from Sys. Lysandus' rampage, coupled with their advance through the isle, was granting him more power than he'd ever felt before.

Spirit Core Increase: 800

+800

+800

+800

+800

+800…

With every Golem team that died, he felt nothing but more determination to push through them.

They gained ground steadily, pushing uphill toward the fortress perimeter. Disturbed shrieks echoed from the jungle's underbrush, but no creature emerged—whatever lurked there was content to watch the invaders for now. Occasionally, a Golem perched in a bunker window would let off a volley, forcing the party to duck behind wreckage. Then Fauna or Lamphrey would respond with a precisely aimed spell, blasting the shooter aside.

On an overlooking ledge near the wall, Lysandus raged on. Ethan glanced upward, telepathically reinforcing the compulsion. Go forward. Attack. He felt Lysandus's mind thrash at him, a single burning thought: Kill… the ones… in my way! Yet there was no friendly fire. The once-King recognized the difference between the Archon's party and the Golems. Maybe it was the skill's effect, or perhaps a twisted sense of grudging alliance. Maybe the old King really did have more hate in him for the Doctor than the hybrids he'd been trained to despise his whole life.

Lysandus roared mightily, frost swirling around him as he conjured a massive chunk of ice overhead. With a downward thrust of his free hand, he sent it crashing onto a bunker like a meteor. The structure collapsed in a plume of powdered stone and shards of monstrous flesh. Golems poured out in a last-ditch attempt to bring him down, but he met them with his greatsword, a frenzy of unstoppable cuts.

"Look at him go," Tara murmured, panting, as she, Ethan, and the others found a lull in the firefight near an outcrop of basalt. "We might not even need to fight if he keeps that pace up!"

Klax snorted. "Famous last words. Keep your eyes open. The Doctor might have more than Golems in that fortress."

Sure enough, from a higher vantage, a cluster of Golems with elongated rods discharged a volley of crackling red beams at Lysandus. For a moment, the King was engulfed. Then the beams parted, revealing the massive ice knight still standing, albeit staggering from the direct hits. He hurled an ice spear that skewered one of the shooters, then leaped across a gaping chasm in the slope to close in. The watchers from below could only imagine the slaughter that followed as Lysandus tore into them with unrestrained wrath.

A sudden quake rippled through the jungle floor. Some Golem trap or hidden mechanism had gone off, toppling scorched trunks. The underbrush parted, revealing a large open corridor of broken trees.

Ethan paused, panting. "Did Lysandus do that…?"

His question was answered when Lysandus reappeared on a ridge above, smashing aside giant palm-like fronds with a slash of ice. The path behind him was a tangle of destroyed bunkers and rubble. Indeed, the old King was forging a direct route to the fortress's main gates, toppling everything in his path.

Ethan stepped forward, letting the telepathic link pulse again. Yes—press on, old King. He felt the resentment boiling in Lysandus's mind, but the compulsion kept him aimed at the bunkers. The King gave no verbal reply, only a savage snarl that preceded him launching up the hillside, his footsteps sending shards of basalt bouncing down.

Fauna joined Ethan's side, wiping sweat from her brow. "We're close, right? The fortress can't be more than half a mile up."

Lamphrey surveyed the swirling gloom. "The Doctor's domain is deeper yet—no doubt tunnels riddle the volcano's heart. Once inside, we'll have to fight on his terms."

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"All the more reason to keep going while they're in disarray," Ethan said. "Stay behind me!"

They advanced into the corridor Lysandus had cleared. Along the edges, maimed or half-functioning Golems twitched. Some spat weak shots. The Repulsor Shield flared, deflecting these scattershot attacks. Ethan's scythe-like tail whipped behind him as he marched, scanning for new threats.

Tara whirled about, finishing off a Golem that had tried lunging with a broken bayonet-limb. She flicked her daggers to clear gore from them. "They just keep coming! The Doctor must have an entire workshop churning these abominations out."

Klax slammed his clawed fist through the chest of a Golem pinned by a fallen tree. "We knew he was like that," the wolfman growled. "The moment we step in deeper, it'll only get worse."

A distant boom rocked the island. More stone cracked as Lysandus obliterated a large bunker perched on a hill. Chunks of masonry rolled into the jungle undergrowth, flattening any lesser creatures that might lurk. A triumphal roar from Lysandus echoed across the canopy, followed by a short lull in the gunfire.

Ethan felt that savage exultation through the link. For all Lysandus's hatred, he was relishing the destruction of these unliving slaves—perhaps seeing them as an extension of the Greycloak betrayal. Whatever fueled his wrath, Ethan didn't care. As long as it was pointed at the right foe.

They crested a small ridge, the black basalt underfoot splitting at the edges from the volcano's ancient lava tubes. Ahead, the fortress's outer gate loomed near—great iron portcullis framed by jagged stone towers. From this vantage, Ethan glimpsed the fortress courtyard just beyond. More Golems milled about in disorganized clusters, uncertain whether to rush Lysandus or hold the gate.

Catching their indecision, Ethan recognized an opening. He turned to his party, adrenaline pounding in his bark-skinned veins. "There! That's our shot. The courtyard is ours if we move fast."

Fauna nodded, staff raised. "Agreed. We can't let them regroup."

"Let's end it," said Tara, a spark of excitement mixing with exhaustion in her voice.

"Agreed," Ethan growled. "For Sanctum."

Klax howled to the misty skies above: "For Jun'Ei!"

At that bellowed command, the entire group sprang to action. Ethan led at the center, Repulsor Shield blazing, intercepting stray blasts. His Spectral Snipe blazed from his left arm like some futuristic arm-cannon as he took out snipers hidden in trees and bamboo stalks.

The others were no less effective. Lamphrey advanced a step behind him, her staff swirling with intangible illusions that blinded Golems. Fauna unleashed crackling arcs of flame to discourage flankers. Tara and Klax flanked out wide, each dealing punishing close-quarters strikes to the disoriented Golems in their path.

Simultaneously, Lysandus gave a thunderous roar from the upper slope. He slammed his ice-laden fist into the largest remaining bunker, punching clean through the parapet. Golems fell back or tumbled from the rampart. With another savage heave, the King ripped out entire support pillars, sending the structure toppling. Debris rained down, flattening a cluster of abominations that tried to aim upward.

The entire hillside resonated with the chaos of battle. The watchers in the jungle parted or hid, unwilling to challenge the unstoppable mania of ice and vengeance. Smoke swirled from broken bunkers, vegetation burned where Fauna's spells had caught hold, and the endless tide of Golem defenders had already begun to wane.

Within that bedlam, Ethan and his companions pushed up the final stretch to the gates. Gunfire crackled, but haphazardly. Golem after Golem crumbled under well-placed strikes. Heartbeats pounded in the shared silence that preceded a major turning point.

At last, they gathered at the threshold to the fortress courtyard, the wrecked gate sagging inward—rendered half-useless by Lysandus's onslaught from above. A crater gaped where a Golem mortar battery once stood, courtesy of the frostbound knight's unstoppable assault.

Panting, Ethan cast his gaze around. Lysandus had just smashed through a final barricade, and with each motion, his battered ice armor flaked off more pieces. The King looked at them from the corner of his ruined visor, giving an inarticulate snarl that told them he recognized no kinship—only a shared enemy.

[System Notification!] Remote Possession: Lysandus the Frostbound King (Active) Mind Stability: 40% Warning: Extended usage may cause Host to rebel or break down.

Ethan's lips thinned. He felt the strain in the connection—Lysandus's spirit twisting under the yoke. But they were close, so close. Just a little further…

He turned to his party, letting the Frostbound King destroy the other straggling defenders on the ruined island as he pleased. Fauna's breathing was ragged, her staff's tip flickering with residual flame. Tara clutched a bleeding cut on her arm, though her eyes shone with fierce determination. Klax's fur was matted with Golem ichor, one ear torn, but he nodded stoically. Lamphrey's robe was tattered, her face set in a half-grim, half-disdainful expression for the carnage around her.

Together, they could press deeper. This entire island was a labyrinth of horrors, but they had begun to carve a path with fire and ice. The giant keep soared overhead, a black monolith that hid Doctor Haylock's unholy lair somewhere within.

And lining its battlements were the last defenders. Golems who's eyes blinked down at them as they leveled their weapons.

"The gate!" Fauna screamed over the chaos. "There it is!"

The only way is through them, huh? Ethan thought with a groan. You just can't give up, can you, Doctor?

"Final push!" Ethan roared. "Forward! For-"

Ethan paused, seeing the weapons of the final defenders suddenly fall. One by one, like a tide of flesh, they dropped down from the castle walls, and relinquished their limb-blades and guns, tossing them to the ground and bowing low in submission.

"What – what is this..?"

The words came from Tara – words that were almost swallowed by the fire and devastation that rocked the island, as well as the distant cries of Lysandus as he went about his hacking and hewing.

Ethan saw what the Minxit was seeing – he saw that these Golems were far less…inhuman than the others they had seen. As the defenders bowed, prostrating themselves before the castle gate in a gesture of apparent surrender, Ethan saw that they looked at him and the others with familiar sets of eyes.

"Hybrids."

Lamphrey stated what no one else was willing to.

"Fused together like toys."

"We can fucking see that, Tialex."

Tara's snarls were matched by the sound of her blades twitching in her hands. It was true. There were the tell-tale ears of Hopla, the curled tails of Minxit, and even the matted grey and brown fur of Lycae ass squashed together to create the horrors that now stood before the party of the Archon.

"This…is sick."

"Dead would be a blessing for abominations such as these," Lamphrey said. "We should see to it that –"

"No…" Ethan whispered, shaking his head and looking past his shield. "No he – he wants us to –"

The realization hit him before he'd even finished forming the words. He'd focused, honing his Spectral Snipe target-lock ability to see the telltale signs of soot that clung to the fur of the creatures, and the shining sheen of the satchels that they wore just under that fur.

"Ethan?"Fauna mumbled

And it was at that moment that Lysandus swept in, diving down with his blade held high, ready to cleave through the last of his enemies.

"DEMONS!"

Ethan brought his shield up to full strength just before the inevitable happened.

"LYSANDUS! NO-"

But his command went unheard by all. For in the moment the Frostbound Knight's blade met the flesh of the first Hybrid Golem, the explosive satchel charges strapped to its waist went off, and it, its companions, and the entirety of the Griffon Watch gatehouse, vanished in an inferno.

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