Alwin was evolving. To be more specific, it was actually Winal who was evolving.

Somewhere along the pain, suffering, and agony, his Yin-Yang Slime form had morphed back into his Fire Soldier Ant form. Or what was left of it.

All of his legs were still missing, and like Alwin, half of his body had been obliterated. Only the right half of his body remained. What remained was a single twitchy antenna, a jagged mandible with flickers of embers, and a single glassy eye.

Bathed in that glowing white light, his body began to reconstruct itself. From the burnt edges of his thorax, new tissue bubbled forth. Raw strands of muscle squirmed and layered atop each other. Chitinous shell unfolded like armor growing from within, snapping into place as they crept and reformed his body.

From his new head, a fresh mandible sprouted forward. An antenna unfurled itself, quivering as scents bombarded it. Lastly, a dome of hexagonal lenses blossomed on his head, as a new compound eye was born. Finally, he could see the other side of the room.

Six scythe-like legs burst from the stumps along his body. Each segment sliding out and locking into place.

All of the damage Winal had sustained had been undone. He was good as new and was about to become even better.

His body surged larger. Cracks snapped through his exoskeleton. His shell burst open in places, only to immediately repair itself, stronger and thicker than before. It was a cycle of breaking and repairing. Each cycle added more mass and power.

Lenses flooded his compound eyes as everything around him grew sharper. Inside his mandibles, new ridges formed, turning them into deadly serrated blades. Beneath his thorax, new joints swelled as a brand new body part soared to life. A pair of wings glistened against the flickering flames. As they flapped, small gusts of wind swirled beneath him. Now, he had two forms that could fly.

New and stronger appendages weren't the only things about his body that were changing.

On his left side, flames raged with a furious blaze. But the fires on the newly regrown half dwindled. They sputtered and shrank as if its fuel was being sucked away and redirected to the original side. The flames breathed their final gasps as the last breath of embers vanished.

In their place were mere small sparks, barely glowing. The sparks suddenly swelled with power, igniting his right side. These sparks weren't the embers gaining a second wind. It was the birth of a brand new power.

The sparks crackled with energy. A surge of lightning erupted forth from his side, spreading outward in all directions and striking the ground beneath him.

His left side was a raging inferno, and his right side was a storm of lightning.

Even without opening up their status, he instinctively knew what he had become.

Crimson Gold King Ant.

Alwin relinquished control to Winal. As much as he wanted to play around with this new super-strong evolution, the three of them had an agreement, and he would honor it.

Winal was now back in the driver's seat. He was fuming, not because of the fire crackling along his body or the lightning dancing beneath his carapace, but from raw festering rage. Every moment of agony. Every shred of pain. All of it could be traced back to a single person, Gary Stew.

The knife-man had given up slicing through Winal's new exoskeleton partway through his evolution. He had retreated and now stood right next to the still unconscious Uchronia, Gus, and Cooper Trooper.

"I'm warning you! Back off, or these sleeping beauties will be sleeping forever!"

Gary Stew angled himself toward Uchronia. His blade inches away from one of her leaves.

Winal grew even more furious. The flames and sparks crackling and surging with unbridled power. His wings snapped open. Like the rest of his body, one was an inferno, and the other spewed out arcs of electricity.

Wings flapped and legs pounded against the ground. In a burst of speed, he appeared next to Gary Stew. The knife-man couldn't even register what had happened till it was too late.

A bead of metallic sweat dripped down his edge.

"Die!" Gary Stew shrieked.

He tipped forward. The metal blade sliced down toward Uchronia's exposed crown.

It never touched a leaf on her bulbous head.

Winal gripped Gary Stew's wooden handle, his mandibles dug into the material, nearly splitting it in two.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Stop," Gary Stew screamed.

Winal lifted him in the air. His large compound eyes glaring at Gary Stew. The knife flailed his thin, line-like limbs in the air, as if he could punch or kick his way out of this situation.

With a flick of his head, Winal launched Gary Stew into the air. The knife spun towards the sky, screaming a slew of expletives. When gravity eventually reclaimed him, he fell downward, yelling even louder.

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Flames and lightning surged out of his body as Winal opened his mandibles wide. The elements atop them erupted with even more power. Fire and lightning spiked, then concentrated, and condensed into two pointed blades of pure elemental destruction.

"Crimson Gold Cleaving Slash!"

Gary Stew's body fell into Winal's mandibles. He snapped down hard. The piece of equipment wasn't as sturdy as once thought. Most of its durability had been sapped away during the clash of Tribulations. Winal's new Species Skill finished off the job.

The knife-man screamed as splinters of wood and shavings of metal scattered everywhere. Two beady little eyes and four shattered limbs lay along the tiled floor. The life in the eyes grew dull until they disappeared entirely, literally. They had vanished, no longer decorating the ground. The same thing happened to his limbs. Dark black lines faded to a dusty gray, till they too were gone..

Finally, Gary Stew was dead.

Winal couldn't catch a breather just yet. The battle was over, but danger wasn't. Flames still roared, creeping closer to the unconscious Uchronia, Gus, and Cooper Trooper. He had to move them to safety. But there was still one last thing he had to settle.

Alwin had forgotten about them, but Winal remembered.

What happened to the two young masters?

Winal turned around, looking toward the opposite side of the kitchen. Gone were the Lightning Net and Burning Basket. In their place, the two young masters lay on the floor. They still lived, somehow.

Like Alwin, half of their bodies had been vaporized into bits.

Even though they were further away from the epicenter of the Tribulation clash, the results were the same. They had been reduced to a single side. Only a brittle crust of blackened, cauterized flesh was left. It was the only thing keeping them from bleeding out.

"Brother..." Huang Jian cracked, reaching out a trembling hand.

"Brother..." Hong Jian echoed, trying to stretch out and touch his brother.

Tears streamed down their singular eye as they struggled to embrace each other.

Death was sprinting toward them, whether Winal did something or not.

So, he chose to prioritize saving his friends.

Winal walked up to them, but he was forced to wait. Alwin was too busy celebrating the death of Gary Stew, while Niwla was deliberating about their new form and its potential. He had to wait until one of them could spare the time to create some Spirit Hands.

There was another flash of light. This time, it was not centered around him.

Winal turned toward the two young masters. They were the source of the disturbance.

Their fingertips had finally touched. And with it a sudden burst of energy.

Right, they had successfully survived the Tribulation as well. This must've been their reward.

Instead of regrowing the destroyed part of their body, like Winal, something even stranger was occurring. Muscle, skin, and bones had melted down into a slurry of disgustingness. The two puddles of organs blended with each other, creating a grotesque writhing mass.

The process must've been as painful, if not more so, than what Winal had experienced. Screams overpowered his thoughts and the crackling fire behind them.

Hong Jian and Huang Jian fused together. The pool of flesh that they had formed began to take shape. It stretched up and molded itself. First limbs, then a torso. Head, shoulders, and everything else. The liquefied pieces of flesh grew into a shape indistinguishable from a human. Even a new set of clothes had been woven onto their body.

Standing before Winal were Huang Jian and Hong Jian. To save their dying body, they had somehow merged together to form a single being. Half of their face possessed features from each donor body. One eye burned red with fury, the other gleaming golden with crackling energy. Even their robe was split down the middle into their characteristic Crimson and Gold colors.

Their merged lips curled into a sneer. And when they spoke, it was a perfect blend of both brothers' voices.

"First, we deal with you. Then we will deal with the rest of those Monster Army Troops that dared trespass into our esteemed sect."

They cracked their knuckles, and they stepped forward. The air around them was humming with energy.

There was going to be another fight, and something told Winal it wasn't going to be as easy as with Gary Stew.

As the young masters approached and he prepared for the inevitable, a low rumbling echoed out from down the hallway. It was faint, barely louder than the crackling flames. But as it grew louder, it was clear what those sounds were.

Footsteps. A lot of them

The fusion of Huang Jian and Hong Jian cackled. "Those must be our sect members arriving at last. Your death is already written in stone."

The footsteps were getting louder. Seconds later, something burst through the walls, obliterating concrete as if it were paper mache, even though there was a perfectly good door just two feet away.

"Super Duper Cooper!"

Commander Cooper came barreling in. His already massive muscles bulged larger than ever. The seams of his camo clothes threatened to come apart with even the slightest inhale.

Huang Jian and Hong Jian had their backs turned. They were caught unaware as Cooper Trooper crashed into them, knocking them to the floor.

"This is for my baby!"

Commander Cooper was on top of Huang Jian and Hong Jian. He punched them using every ounce of his unnatural bird muscles. Each strike caused their head to snap to the other side, blood spraying everywhere. Every blow reduced their fused face into a pulp, then paste, and finally into a slurry of liquid similar to when they had been melted down.

Winal was right. This wasn't going to be as easy as their fight against Gary Stew. It would be even easier.

Commander Cooper finally stopped swinging, standing tall as steaming gore dripped from his wings.

Behind him, the remaining troops of Tentative Camp filtered in. Alpha Wolves, Battle Rams, and Caesar Salads, they were all exhausted. Multiple wounds covered every inch of their body. By some miracle, they had carved through the sect and its defenses and made their way here.

Commander Cooper dashed up to his sleeping friends. Only to grab and toss them to the side. Winal stood there with his mouth agape. Two pairs of Spirit Hands came into existence, catching Uchronia and Gus before they hit the floor.

The large bird picked up Cooper Trooper and snuggled him against its chest

"Daddy's here," he murmured, voice as soft as silk. "I hope you can forgive me."

Then, he turned his attention toward Winal. The fury in his eyes matched the temperature of the scorching flames.

"You have got a lot of explaining to do."

At once, they had been surrounded again. The troops of Tentative Camp encircled them. Though exhausted, each member barred their weapons and fangs at him.

This wasn't going to go well. Especially when Winal wasn't exactly a conversationalist.

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