"What—?" Kaya asked with wide eyes.

"Mana disrupters," Aylin said as she held up the four other vials she had managed to refine,

"I figured the energy that's giving them a boost has to have a foundation to latch on to. Disrupt the foundation and you disrupt the protective layer around them."

"Aylin, that's— brilliant!" Kaya said. Faced with undeniable results, she just couldn't help but acknowledge the genius.

Aylin looked taken aback with surprise at the praise and her face went rosy with delight,

"Why thank you, Kaya," she said, "Try not to breathe any of it in though. It'll disrupt your Mana as well."

"What?" Kaya asked, not because she didn't hear Aylin but because she was surprised this caveat to the gas now spreading was only now being mentioned.

"Best to hold your breath," Aylin said and glanced at Eloise as well, "Or cover your nose as I'm doing."

With that, Aylin picked spots she believed would work best for circulation and tossed the four vials she still had there. And not a moment too soon because, due to their volatility, the vials all shattered in the air before they even hit the ground she had been aiming for.

Aylin cast a spell then. It conjured a chilling wind that caught the orange fumes and dispersed them all over the clearing, where every Fire-Cracking Lizard within view took enough whiffs to disrupt their Mana and break down the red layer of defense around them.

As Kaya unleashed thorns to kill the Lizards en masse, she couldn't help a bubbling question.

"Why didn't you do this sooner?" She asked and couldn't help the accusatory tone that crept in.

Aylin rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I didn't think we'd need them," she said, "Besides, I wasn't sure it would work. That red thing isn't mana after all. Not any Mana I've ever seen or felt harnessed anyway."

Plus, when her attacks had not gotten through the layer, Aylin hadn't thought anything could. The fumes needed to be breathed in to be effective and if they couldn't penetrate the red layer, then it would have been a waste of an attempt.

Sure, common sense might claim the lizards had to be breathing so surely scent could go through the red layer. But there was no way to confirm that. This was all-new territory. Nothing about any of this was as it usually was so maybe the red layer was keeping the Lizards alive without a need for a respiratory system.

It was only after Eloise's sound attack got through the layer that Aylin thought maybe, just maybe it was doable. Hence the actions she took thereafter.

Once the Lizards realized they were no longer protected by the red layer, they skittered to safety, out of the orange fume that had permeated the entire clearing. They didn't get too far away though.

Without the layer, and with their Mana disrupted, it was like shooting fish in a barrel for the trio of Kaya, Eloise, and Aylin.

In fact, it became a matter of how quickly the three could kill all of the Lizards before they passed out from lack of breathing or finally let the orange fumes into the body, rendering them just as useless as the Lizards they were killing.

The minutes passed mostly in silence. The only sounds were those of the squealing, dying Lizards and the squelching sounds of their insides spilling out whenever they were particularly violently skewered.

"Is that all of them?" Aylin asked, straining from not having really breathed properly for minutes.

Eloise closed her eyes and let herself be very receptive to the sounds all around her. She listened for any sounds of Lizard life and when there were none, she opened her eyes and nodded.

"Good," Aylin said. She took her arm away from her nose and with a smooth wave of her hand, she conjured chilly wind that blew every bit of the orange fumes away allowing both Kaya and Eloise to take in gulps of air.

Eloise doubled over. Even with her Wands to help, she seemed quite tapped out. After all, she had been burning through her Mana reserves before she remembered to make use of the Wands.

"Here," Aylin called and tossed a vial.

Eloise raised her head just in time to see the throw and snatch the vial out of the air before she asked,

"What is it?"

"A Mana Recovery Potion," Aylin answered.

Eloise uncorked it immediately and downed the entire vial, instantly revitalized. She let out a sigh of satisfaction.

"Thank you," she said to Aylin and she meant it.

"You're welcome," Aylin answered and looked at Kaya ready to throw her a vial.

"I'm good," Kaya said. She wasn't being dismissive, her Mana was hardly tapped into since she had called on the energy of the nature all around her. She did feel a bit woozy though from how mentally drained she was from keeping so many powerful spells active for so long.

"Here," Aylin said and tossed Kaya a vial.

"I told you, I'm fine," Kaya said with a tired sigh as she caught it.

"It's not a Mana recovery potion," Aylin said with a light smile.

"Oh," Kaya said and blinked once before pulling the cork of the vial and downing its contents. Instantly, it was as though a massive weight on her head was lifted. She felt light. She felt rejuvenated.

Aylin wasn't lying. It wasn't a Mana Recovery Potion. It was just what she needed.

"Thank you," Kaya said with more earnestness than she ever thought she'd have in her tone when talking to Aylin.

To her credit, Aylin didn't relish the thanks or use it as an opportunity to throw out a jab. She just shrugged.

"Alchemy can be mentally draining," she said, "so, I kinda know how it feels."

Kaya nodded. She seemed to only then remember that she still had Dean sealed in a grassy construct. She let the construct fall apart and Dean, who had been safe within blinked at the trio of ladies. Looking from one beautiful face to the next until he shook his head and remembered he hadn't come here alone.

He searched and saw his teammates with blackened fronts. They were right where he had last seen them. They hadn't moved an inch.

"Brad… Koln," Dean said and his voice seemed to catch in his throat in horror that if they hadn't moved— It might mean that they no longer could.

He crawled over to them but Kaya beat him there.

With a wave of her hand, Kaya conjured vines that lifted the duo. Dean looked up at her but she had her eyes closed like she was sensing for something.

"They're alive," she eventually said and she sounded relieved. She felt she should have gotten to them earlier. She just hadn't really noticed them as her sight and focus were on the threat of the Lizards at the time.

Dean watched with an open mouth as Nature Notes rose from the vines that held his friends. The Motes entered their bodies and they became illuminated with a healing green glow that teemed with Nature Energy— Life energy.

After a minute or so, Kaya laid the two back on the ground side by side. They were still blackened but there was a difference in their health that Dean could just feel. Plus, the two began to stir and even let out groans as they awoke from a force-induced sleep.

"They'll be fine," Kaya said, "The black is just soot now. They can just wipe it off."

"I didn't know you could heal," Aylin said to Kaya as Dean approached one of his friends and helped him sit up.

"It's easier to do here," Kaya said in a low voice. He had to

"What now?" Eloise asked.

As though to answer that question, they heard a loud *BANG!* like something heavy just hit the ground not all that far from them.

"We find out what that is," Aylin said with a sigh.

Why she felt they had a responsibility to deal with that, she had no idea.

Even more, neither Kaya nor Eloise disagreed with her.

Kaya just looked at Dean,

"You three should get somewhere safe," she said urgently, "Maybe out of the Forest entirely."

"Of course," Dean nodded, "Thank you. For everything."

Kaya acknowledged the gratitude with a nod and with that, she and the others were gone.

Off to fend off yet another possessed-Beast threat. The fate of their Cube-sealed friends still unknown.

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