Rodrick gritted his teeth.
His network was fragmented. Badly. He’d sent many of his people away for their own safety. Most of them weren’t warriors. There was no need for them to die needlessly under the guild’s assault. But even still, some had remained in spite of his request.
Rodrick would have liked to tell them to leave anyways. But he just hadn’t been in a position to refuse their assistance.
Things were not nearly as good as he would have liked..
The Menagerie were holding the Den. At least for the time being, they hadn’t broken. The Guild’s forces could only take so much space in the street, and while their men were strong, they definitely weren’t the absolute peak of what the Guild had to offer.
Meanwhile, the Menagerie actually had something to fight for — and they had the home town advantage.
It was not a small advantage.
Between the Beast, Uriel, and the Den itself, they had quite the deadly force. Two near invincible soldiers was already difficult enough to deal with, and having a bloodthirsty tree in their basement made it incredibly difficult for the Guild to gain ground.
That wasn’t even counting the rest of the Menagerie. Vix tore through the ranks of the Guild like a rogue shadow, fading into sight for just long enough to drive a dagger under a man’s arm before fading away again well before they could ready a counterattack.
Meanwhile, Vanessa danced through their attackers with absolutely no regard for her own safety, a blur of cackling death. Madiv followed in her wake, doing his best to keep up whilst ensuring the Guild’s forces couldn’t collapse in from behind her.
Esmerelda had what seemed to be an infinite supply of potions to rain down from the second floor of the Devil’s Den. Her reinforcement had been so devastating that the Guild still hadn’t even tried pushing back into her range yet. There were a few too many of them that had found themselves as frogs for anyone to muster the courage up for another attempt.
With the addition of Lillia’s shadows and the reinforcements that Raen and Melissa had sent them, they were just barely managing to hold the street. It was taking every single scrap of strength they had, and they weren’t getting any more energy to replace what they had spent.
And Rodrick could see what the others couldn’t.
There were more Guild forces closing in.
A lot more.
He gritted his teeth as he let his eyes re-open.
Thane stood before him, a hand on the hilt of his black blade and an understandably nervous air around him.
“Well?” Thane asked.
“Bad,” Rodrick said. There was no need to lie. It would have been a disservice. “We won’t hold until morning. We won’t even hold an hour. But… right now, we’re holding.”
“We just have to buy time,” Thane said. He blew out a slow breath. Then he swallowed. “And we aren’t using everything we have at our disposal yet.”
Rodrick’s eyes narrowed. “No. You’re—”
“Going to die anyways,” Thane pointed out. “You think the Guild are going to spare anyone here? They’ll raze everything. I might as well go down fighting with you than staring at your bodies.”
Rodrick’s lips thinned. He let his senses drift back to his network once more. Then he pulled back, shaking his head as a grim smile creased his features. There was no need to look any further. He already knew what was coming. Checking again wouldn’t change things.
“I suppose you’re right,” Rodrick said. He drew his sword. “Then we had best get out there, shouldn’t we? We can buy a bit more time before we’re pushed back into the Den.”
Thane smiled.
His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. He pulled the slender weapon free from its spot at his side. And, though his smile remained exactly in the same place, his gaze changed entirely. Something cold and dark and hungry bubbled up from deep within him, swallowing his irises.
His eyes turned pitch black.
“The Devil?” Rodrick guessed.
“And a bored one at that,” Thane replied, his voice curdling with cruel hunger. “About time he let me out. The mere idea of sitting around until the fool boy got himself killed and having to wait only the Mesh knows how long for a new host… wretched.”
“You think you can turn the tides?” Rodrick asked as they started for the entrance of the tavern.
“No,” Thane replied. “But I can make them pay dearly for every step of ground they take from us.”
Rodrick grunted. His blade ignited with burning yellow energy. “That’ll have to do.”
Then they stepped out to join the fight.
***
A deafening explosion shook the cavern. It was joined by a flash of brilliant green light, so bright that it would have completely blinded Arwin if not for the ball of shadows that wrapped around him an instant after the blast went off. Arwin leapt into the air a moment before a powerful shudder ripped through the ground in the wake of a huge shockwave.
It slammed into the shadowy shield surrounding Arwin, tearing it to shreds.
But Lillia’s magic had done its job. She’d blocked the brunt of the explosion, letting Arwin sail uncontested into the air toward the Deepmind. His momentum wasn’t nearly enough to get him where he needed to go — but it didn’t need to be.
More shadows swirled to life beneath his foot as he started to fall. Arwin launched himself off the platform. The Deepmind spun toward him, sweeping its hand out in a blur.
Shadows materialized around Arwin. The strands of magma emerging from his back wrapped around his body and brought the Wyrm’s Revenge around defensively. There was no time to dodge. He was almost—
Lillia’s shadows shattered. An immense force slammed into the Wyrm’s Revenge. Even with the Gehenna armor absorbing an enormous amount of the strike, it was enough to send him rocketing out of the air. The room flashed by Arwin.
His back met the wall. A loud crack echoed out as his armored skull hit stone.
Darkness exploded at the corners of his vision. Arwin dropped, the world dancing around him as dizziness and pain battled for dominance in his mind. Tendrils of magma extended, driving into the floor before he could hit it face first.
Blood dripped from between his lips.
He swayed, desperately fighting the fog swirling around his thoughts. Flashes of sickly green magic lit the room, and another rumble shook the ground.
Damn it! Move!
Arwin clenched his teeth. Even the Gehenna armor felt spent. There was nearly no magic left in him or the Armory.
His gaze raised.
The Deepmind was pointing at him.
Shit!
Arwin stumbled.
A beam of magical energy cut out from the Deepmind’s skeletal finger.
Something slammed into Arwin.
He tumbled, hitting the ground in an uncontrolled roll.
Lillia’s scream cut through the air.
Panic exploded through Arwin.
He threw his hand out.
His roll slammed to a halt, and he shoved himself upward, drawing on energy that he hadn’t even realized he had.
Lillia laid on the ground where he’d been, writhing in agony. There was a large, smoking hole in her upper right chest. Tendrils of sickly green rot wound through her body.
The Deepmind brought its fist crashing down on top of her.
“No!” Reya yelled.
Bands of blue light slammed into being around the monster’s arm.
Its swing jerked to an abrupt halt for an instant.
Koyu darted forward, his own metal body body smoldering and warped, and grabbed Lillia, yanking her back toward Anna while the healer raced toward them, healing magic already lighting at her hands.
The Deepmind’s hand accelerated back into motion. It drove down into the ground with a loud crash, but Lillia and Koyu were already gone.
“Damnation. Enough of this farce!” the Deepmind roared. “You will kneel!”
The world slowed.
A wave of force slammed into Arwin.
Koyu froze. The saving light at Anna’s fingertips faltered, still too far to even try to save Lillia.
Shit! What is this? Move!
But Arwin’s body wouldn’t budge.
“I tire of this,” the Deepmind growled. It’s furious gaze bore down into them as it raised its hand once more, pointing a finger at Lillia’s fallen body. “Little scurrying rats. The energy I will harvest from you will more than account for using a fragment of real power.”
No!
Arwin’s skull pounded.
No, no, no! Lillia!
Green light lit at the tip of the Deepmind’s finger.
A roar tore free of Arwin’s lips.
The invisible bond holding him shattered. All the magical power he’d invested into his mind’s defenses erupted forth, casting the ancient lich’s hold of him away.
Arwin ripped every single scrap of strength he had left away from his body and shoved it into his legs as he activated [Scourge].
And then he leapt.
The world blurred past him. Surprise flashed in the Deepmind’s molten green eyes as it turned toward him, raising the finger that it had been about to use to strike Lillia.
Rancid magic sliced out.
It slammed into the center Arwin’s chest.
Pain exploded through him.
But he was already moving — and there was only one thing left on his mind. No amount of agony could have been anywhere near enough to stay the course of his thoughts.
Even as Arwin’s lips pulled apart in an involuntary scream of agony, his eyes remained completely focused on the patch of rough green crystal peeking out from a hole in the Deepmind’s robes. The patch that he was rapidly accelerating toward.
Arwin crashed into it. What little wind still remained in his tattered lungs exploded free. Darkness swallowed his vision entirely.
But he didn’t need to see.
With the last inch of strength Arwin still had, still screaming in as much fury as pain, he bit down on the crystal.