Ashier had never lost sight of the true mission. Zolyra had her plans and objectives, but the truth was even one as powerful as her had shortcomings. Never once had anyone discussed simply destroying the region by their own hands to stop Soraso from attaining power. It was simple, really. He couldn't rule if there was no throne to sit upon. It was politically messy, costly in lives, and would remove another pillar supporting the Octyrrum, but Ashier was more than willing to bring Aurus crashing down if there was no other option.

Fortunately, there was one. Just as costly, but the sacrifice would be on their part instead of the people. When Zolyra froze Aurus' river and the earth gestalt rose in support of the world, they opened themself up to the Empathic Link of their kind and discovered what they'd assumed from the beginning. Soraso was nestled within the cloud titan and not the shrouded area on the mountaintop.

While their true form remained hidden in the Divine Quarter, Ashier had invested part of their soul in every Proxy they'd brought. While the rest of the city warred, they'd prepared a surgical strike. Zolyra was brave, but unless the other agent of the gods delivered on his end it would be up to them to win victory. "Commander, I am claiming the Regent's head. Provide whatever support you can."

"What?" Ashier could hear the Commander's response without needing the sending stone, as well as the snarl of surprise when they made their move. Rorshawd appeared out of thin air, diving toward Zozar from above while breathing a constant stream of fire. On his back were a dozen Proxies, Famar included. All of them wore armor enchanted by Arpan meant for one purpose. Not to ensure their survival, but all of mortal kind's.

Zozar's attention was captured by Ashier's presence, but the attempt to crush their will faltered as it met the Tyrant's own. Ashier's faith was such that not even the level disparity between them could overcome it. Then Zolyra, cursing, burned more of her magic to distract the larger traitor as their forces sought the smaller one. Vines began to entangle the legs of the cloud titan as well, though that collective was far more fragile. Individual gestalt were already beginning to die as the remnants of Apex Flight engaged an enemy they could handle.

It would all be worth it. Every doubt, every criticism cast against them would be seen as unjustified once Ashier stopped this madness. Soraso's presence flared through the link as he registered the danger, but he was now in a trap of his own design. His control of the region's Spoke would allow him to teleport away, at the cost of his greatest protector. Zozar was strong, but they weren't the most mobile of individuals. If he decided to avoid them, Zolyra could teleport just as easily and end him no matter where he went. Even the mountaintop shielded by the cloud titan was dangerous given it was now consumed by the earth gestalt.

Rorshawd hit the outer layer of Zozar and continued through, the dragonfire they was forcing out of him enough to carve a hole through. Soraso cut a ripple into reality in an attempt to bisect the dragon, but his stolen mortal powers were more than up to the task of avoiding the blow. As soon as Famar was in range, she reinforced his intelligence with Rorshawd's and the Proxy triggered Telekinetic Reach, forcing the Sword of Threst from the Regent's hands at the expense of a truly extravagant amount of mana in the Tyrant's network.

It was worth it. It would be worth it. Ashier got as close as they ever had to questioning their own plan, but the alternatives were far, far worse. Go, they thought to every one of their Proxies, save their favorite. May righteous winds carry your souls to the heart of the Octyrrum.

Left no option by the bond chaining their souls, the Proxies dropped off of Rorshawd over where Soraso was chasing a fleeing sword. Lightning chained between them as each pressed a sparking wand to their chest, charge building as they fell. The attack had been swift, Rorshawd would barely have enough time to get to safety and Ashier expected Famar would be injured at least, but he should survive. At least one of their servants should live to see the reward they'd promised.

Below, the rest exploded as their lightning link armor overcharged. Out of everything Arpan could have made, it produced the greatest disturbance to the air when activated. No sword would slay the Regent, or Zozar for that matter. You'd either need something capable of producing a tremendous amount of destructive energy and a mechanism to distribute it across his body, or enough air turbulence to sunder his form. The atmosphere was already primed from the building mana storm fed by the cast off mana from high level abilities, and the armor's detonation was enough to finish the job.

With grim resolve Ashier waited for Soraso's last moments to be sent across their racial link while counting the costs of his death. Instead, Zozar spoke to them, intimating a message that could be summarized in one word. Arrogance. A particularly powerful mana burst fired, and just as Soraso's soul was about to be severed from his body, a fraction of Zozar's own navigated the space cleared by the explosions and replenished him.

Ashier was taken aback, mourning the loss of their followers, but they were still resolute. At the very least they'd taken a significant resource off the board from their enemies. Even the portions of Zolyra's runic armor lost from her overextending would be worth it once Soraso finally fell. It was but one lost battle in the war, and… and…

Rorshawd appeared back out of the cloud titan without Famar riding on his back. Ashier searched and found that instead of pressing Zolyra, Zozar had directed their intent on the last Proxy. You do this to spite me? Ashier asked, enraged. It matters not. You sold your soul to the Crest. You will still be but ash when the day is done. What could be worth the price you paid?

Something similar to the look Zozar had given the earth gestalt flashed across the link. Belonging.

Pain wracked the Tyrant's form. Zozar had begun killing Famar with necrotic energies, but Ashier felt this pain not only in him but their body as well. Why? How? The part of themself in Famar was separate. Dozens of fragments had died with Proxies without adverse effect, so why now?

Magical resonance, as Lograve would have explained if he weren't fighting for his life. A connection remained between Ashier and their severed parts, or else there would have been no point possessing their Proxies that way. Perhaps Mavar could have exploited that if he'd realized it in time, but Zozar had both the knowledge and ability to do what needed to be done. Using Ashier's last Proxy as a vector, they infected the Tyrant with a Necrotic Touch.

Ashier's cloud form darkened, growing close to smog as it rotted in the only way it could. They summoned every tool at their disposal, reaching for every mortal still bound for them, but it wasn't enough. There was nowhere to hide, for Zozar held the key to their destruction where no other could reach him. Their life faded as they gazed up to witness a horde of monsters descending from high altitudes. Triggering the cloud titan's emergency power must have been the last straw before they called in reinforcements.

Failure. They had failed again, only this time there would not be another day. Don't fear, Zozar thought to Ashier, and it took them a moment to realize they were doing it in the way of mortals instead of gestalt. We will do what you were trying to, in your misguided way. We will make this world a better place.

Ashier died, monsters descended on Aurus, and a dragon roared, for he had been freed.

…

Things were going great. No, really. Alex had freaked out when her brother and his friends had squared off against a literal army, and even more when some of them started to get the purplish overgrowth forming on their bodies, but they were winning. They were going to get that canon powered and fix everything. She even contributed some with her magic, though she did have to take breaks and come back to her real body to drink mana potions. They had a questionably acidic taste that made her not want to think about what went into them.

She also felt she was on the verge of… something. But Alex was too new to the magic business and after figuring out the ghost power it was like wading through a brain fog to get to the next one. Besides, she had to concentrate to play her special song over and over again at just the right time. Despite the bursts of mana that came through some people, Daniel especially, were going through it like their mana bag was full of holes.

Alex would be the first to admit she was having a bit of fun with the 'say game terms badly' thing but she really did think half-bird was a better way to refer to avianoids no matter if some found it offensive. It also made Daniel uncomfortable which was a bonus. She really hoped they would be able to get a portal going soon after this was done. Aside from letting her family know she was ok, Alex was really looking forward to the reaction they'd have when they heard who Daniel was dating.

Then, as the third shield wall dropped, all of her relief vanished as the fight took a turn for the worst.

…

Daniel was back on the ground, taking shots down the rows of cages and trying to regroup with the rest of the team. Flying had given him an advantage before the second mana pulse, but once the impalers hit grade 3 they started returning their spears back to them and made that too dangerous. The entire area was littered with crystalline javelins that every impaler could call back.

At the very least they'd dropped the shield quickly this time. There'd only been three wardens powering the third shield wall, and with everyone getting a full mana restore it was easy to burst them down. That did mean they had unleashed the projections behind that layer, but it appeared most of the smaller ones, the stalkers, impalers, maulers, and casters, had been positioned at the outer edges of the room.

In the center, meanwhile, was something Shuni had caught a glimpse of that none of them wanted to deal with until everything else was dead. It was some sort of floating mass with a large eye on one side with crystalline growths jutting from it. That reminded Daniel of a certain boss monster from his world's lore and the decision had been made to seal the fourth shield wall with the black coating as soon as possible.

Another fifty projections had appeared around the room in cages, three of which were now locked to hold corrupted avianoids, but they were going at a good pace. So good he was starting to run low on ammo variants and had to switch which element his blast bow triggered with Invest Affix as he swapped to another magazine of exploding rounds. Those had become his preferred option when there wasn't a shield in the way as even if they lacked in penetration, the splash damage had revealed a handful of crawlers that had gotten too close. Hunter was the only one who could sense them now, and that was only when they were extremely close. The retaliation spikes they were now covered with would get charged with corruption once they upgraded again, making them the strongest threat aside from whatever lurked within the shields.

Or at least, that's what he had thought. "Guys, something's coming behind you."

"We know, Alex, they're-"

"From outside the room!" His sister shouted over Evalyn, drowning her out of the sending stone's transmission.

Swearing, Daniel risked a short burst of flight to get a better look. With the third shield down you could see most of the main power core aside from what was directly opposite of you. He caught a deep cut on the way as the impalers targeted him from all sides, but the corruption still failed to take hold. When he was above the largest of the outer cages, he got enough of a look for Identify Creature.

Razor Stomper - (4, Cleric - 3, ~Converted~, Forced Transmutation)

The figure had the basic outline of a shank stomper one might see in Aughal, but that was where the similarities ended. It was larger than even the hulk stomper, rising above the bastions even as it ducked its head to avoid the catwalks. Four primary arms branched off from the torso, one pair forward facing while another came more out to the side and appeared able to cut across the entire front of its body. A wickedly curved metal blade grew out from the end of the tail flicking behind the monster.

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"Level 4!" Daniel shouted into his sending stone as he banked toward that part of the room, preemptively injecting a healing potion as more attacks were sent his way. "Thomas, do you know if any level 3 Clerics were lost in the horde raids?"

Thomas' reply was quick, but not as initially helpful as he'd hoped. "Cleric? Hand, they got a… Hang on Guy, need to think." A corruption bolt flew toward the new arrival, establishing that at least the monster wasn't allied to the corrupted enemies. Daniel watched with a sinking feeling as one of the arms moved to create a red after-image that blocked the incoming spell. The razor stomper had moved so quickly there it should have been on Khiat and Sigron, the two at the back of the formation, seconds after it had revealed itself.

It would have taken this place alone if it could. Damn it, did the corruption spawn this many enemies because this was nearby, or are things about to get a lot worse? Either way this was a huge problem. With most of the team corrupted they had to keep fighting for the rift, only now this monster was waiting in the wings for an opportunity to take them out. They could turn their attention to it, which would have worked if an entire reinforcement wave hadn't just spawned.

The rumor mill didn't take long to grind out an answer. "Oh fuck, Guy. Pinion's Point and Aurus didn't lose anyone so the churches didn't lose too many, but a Scythe Cleric did go down in the outer villages."

"What are we looking at power-wise?" Evalyn asked faster than he could. Daniel landed a few 'blocks' away from Hunter, who had temporarily shifted back to his normal ringcat form to better shelter from attacks. The transformation did leave him temporarily exposed meaning it couldn't be spammed, but as long as he had a brief window of safety it could be done mid-fight.

"Damage enhancements, nasty afflictions, even spells like Lograve's fire circle. No idea who this was so no specifics, but at least it wasn't a reaper. I'd know." The razor stomper knelt on the ground in the distance, lower arms crossing over its abdomen while the upper two continued to deflect projectiles.

"Is it praying?" Khiat asked, before she was forced to move as corruption circles surrounded her position courtesy of nearby arcadian casters.

"Stop it, now!" Thomas yelled, but Daniel was already firing a Flash Crafted phasing round at the monster's head. He'd hoped that would bypass the red slashes, but it seemed to have the same super shield-like effect the blackened shield walls had. Splitting ammunition might do the job, or…

Hunter, we need to take that out. Together.

Dangerous, Hunter thought back warily. Good thing I am too.

The two nodded at each other and began to run. Daniel sheathed his blast bow and pulled out two differently-colored bone claws, but held off on shifting. "Evalyn, Hunter and I are going to take it down. We can't just ignore it or the projections."

The Bard sighed. "Fine, agreed, but this gets a whole lot worse if another mana burst hits before you're done. Everyone, we're on thin ice now and there's no Lograve to bail us out. Be ready to trigger your smoke clouds the instant I tell you to and run back the way we came. I'd just as rather let that thing kill the rest of the projections and come back to finish it off later."

"Gotcha, and hey, babe, be careful," Shuni's said almost blithely. "I don't think I can come to your rescue this time."

Daniel tried not to let that get into his head too much, it would impair the Empathic Link he was trying to strengthen. You shouldn't use alpha mode for this, he thought while sprinting as hard as he could, far faster than he would have on Earth. Hunter kept up with far less effort. If we can weaken it, sure, but I don't think either of us is surviving a hit. We stack Evasiveness on the one it targets while the other damages them. The projections we'll just have to react to.

What about its powers?

React to those too. Can't plan for everything. The angular head of the razor stomper tracked them on approach, but it didn't move from its kneeling position. Daniel's first move was to take an Encyclopedia scan, ignoring everything but the formulae gained.

Formulae: Skyfisher Spear, Weapon

Affix: Sharpened

Mentally marking those for later review, he then activated Elemental Onslaught an accepted the hybrid form back from Hunter while bringing the Empathic Link to moderate intensity. It was easier than the last couple of times, but the two retained a greater sense of separation as well. The trend suggested they may be able to both remain fully self-aware at high intensity once a tolerance had been built.

Waiting for precisely the right moment, Daniel stepped in front of a javelin aimed for the razor stomper as Hunter fed Lion Charge into Might and Magic. He could feel the distant confusion from those on his team watching him through Pack Insight, but there was a benefit to being constantly surrounded by attacks. The tip of the corrupted spear came within centimeters before he angled away and let it pass him.

Something Daniel had discovered during the now occasional spars with Janice was that Opportune Moment didn't care who an attack was intended for. So long as it threatened him, and he dodged it, he could then trigger the bullet time ability. Its high mana cost normally made it too expensive to trigger freely by having someone on his team throw a dagger at him, but with the rift and his sister handing out free mana he could cut loose a little.

The two uncrossed metallic scythe arms of the razor stomper slashed out toward him as he ran up, but with the active time distortion he could-

A warning from Hunter saved his life. While he'd ducked under the initial swipe, spectral echoes of both arms had followed. These were not just repeats of the same attack but redirected to where he was moving, and they came faster than the initial blows. They would've been near instant in realtime, and all his slowdown allowed was for him to throw himself to the ground. One of them still caught his back, moving through armor and skin like it wasn't there.

Daniel scrambled up and sunk one claw after the other into the monster as Opportune Moment ended, before following it up with a Ravaging Cross mixed with Lion Charge. He was wielding an ice claw in one hand, a fire claw in another, allowing for each individual strike to build the trance carried over from his Artificer class. As expected, the tail of the monster appeared over the monster's shoulder and came stabbing down. Rather than dodge, he moved the Focus Shield still on his arm to block the blow. Like before the wood offered no protection, but the Focus within was unbreakable.

He kicked off the chest of the monster, one of his legs getting perforated by the follow-up strikes, though the simple attacks faced a problem he'd encountered with stronger bullet types. It couldn't hit him with its full damage potential, and while the blow almost cut his leg off, Ferocious Healing was augmenting Regeneration to undo most of what had been done.

Still, they both saw that this straight forward approach wasn't going to work. Hunter had been trying to angle for a back stab but the razor stomper was too dangerous to approach, even under time dilation. And it was still kneeling! If they didn't take care of it now it'd tear through the team whenever it finished whatever it was doing.

No red slashes, Hunter pointed out.

Yeah. That repeat effect must be a different ability.

Go deeper into the link?

No. Can't afford to tunnel vision. Let's switch it up, I have an idea. Need you to draw aggro, think you can do better than me?

We're linked, Hunter replied cheekily. Don't need to ask to know I can.

Daniel passed off both stacks of Evasiveness and the healing combo to Hunter, taking a moment to stab a healing syringe into his back for good measure. The potion deposited itself under the skin and would work proactively for a short amount of time, but the magic within would fade after a few seconds. The razor stomper let them prepare for the most part, seemingly unable to strike from range and unwilling to stop what it was doing.

As Hunter approached more warily, staying on the edge of the razor stomper's range to draw attacks, Daniel once more moved toward an impaler's flying spear. Instead of dodging it to trigger Opportune Moment he caught it, immediately feeling the itch of the corruption within. This might be stupid, but I've been immune to everything else.

Daniel activated Imbue Astral while both hands dug into the spear, resisting the attempt by one of the impalers to recall it. As he'd hoped, the purple glow within it diminished and transferred to him. The discomfort grew immense, but his body remained untainted. He grabbed another, then stood in a corruption circle and absorbed what the caster had been trying to use offensively, continuing to store corruption in his hands.

He wanted to build up more, but Elemental Onslaught was close to falling off and Hunter had already had a few close calls that had left half of his tail cut off. Another thrown spear was dodged almost effortlessly thanks to the work he'd put in with Shuni, allowing Opportune Moment to kneecap his remaining mana pool. Daniel slipped past the monster's guard as he had before. It shifted its focus, but their transferable buffs were already back to him thanks to the increased coordination from the link.

Daniel slid past the monster this time instead of going for the chest, raking its lower side. It could have quickly responded with its side limbs but that would break whatever buff it was giving itself. He hadn't dealt that much damage with his first strikes given the monster's size and higher attributes and had hoped it wouldn't catch what he was doing.

Reaching the other side, Daniel took satisfaction in the primal growl from his enemy. The area he'd hit had been cut, but more significantly part of it had turned to purple crystal. There was a tink as the tip of one of the metallic arms tapped it, and then the monster fully howled. He could feel some kind of fear effect trying to overwhelm him, but Fearless protected both him and Hunter thanks to the active link.

"Evalyn, got a plan. We're going to corrupt the razor stomper to cancel its class powers. If that disables its protection from ranged then we can take it down for good. I need as much mana as Alex can give me."

"Clever, but hurry up. We still have to go full speed and I give you about two minutes before we hit another threshold."

"Right." Daniel kept running to reach the nearby wall, intent on siphoning the various spears embedded into it for the corruption within. He almost stopped when Hunter's observations made it through the link, but he ran harder instead. Their plan had already met with an initial success, though it was a mixed blessing. The razor stomper had canceled what it was channeling and stood. It wasn't going to make it easy on them now that it too had a reason to end things quickly.

Hunter immediately backed off while Daniel quickly charged more corruption. The razor stomper made to quickly follow and cut him in half, but it jerked in surprise as music flared right by its side. Its tail still rocketed toward the ringcat who had to dodge both that and the projectiles continuing to cloud the sky and ground. All of its arms swept toward the source of the noise as its head turned, anticipating a need to cover multiple angles in case whoever this was was as nimble as its other two assailants.

But they passed through empty air. Alex gasped loudly enough for it to come through on the sending stone, her music also stuttering before it picked back up. "I, I'll distract it if I can!" she shouted, still midway through channeling her spell. The razor stomper experimentally slashed again through the area, and then appeared to disregard the effect as if it were just an illusion.

Felt your heart almost explode, Hunter grunted distractedly. She can't be hurt. Stay focused.

Yeah. This'll have to be enough, but it's fighting for real now. You don't have a ranged attack ability do you?

No.

Damn. He could've combined Imbue Astral with that through Might and Magic to try and sneak in more corruption that way, but even with a broken focus enhancement Hunter needed to awaken more powers before that bond benefit would truly shine. Elemental Onslaught's almost up again. We'll need that if this doesn't work out. Gotta get in close. Keep all the buffs, and maybe switch to the level 0 form? It won't affect your attributes.

I'll lose my roar, Hunter pointed out, sidestepping the bladed tail again as the razor stomper pushed him to the point where the cages started.

Don't think that can be feared. Hunter grumbled at that but understood what Daniel was suggesting. The ringcat rounded a cage to buy some time, and came out the other side shrunk down into the form he'd first met Daniel with. It was oddly nostalgic, and more importantly, more nimble than either of the other forms Hunter could take. He managed to dodge the razor stomper's direct attention for several seconds, though this was only due to his experience and buffs aiding him. It still would've been impossible without the cages, which limited the monster's avenues of attack. It actually stood on top of the shorter ones rather than leave its legs vulnerable, spearing down with its tail and top limbs while the ones on the side generated red slashes to protect itself from projectiles.

Daniel mixed it up by Jumping upward and flaring out his wings to cancel the momentum and the ability, catching a corruption bolt midair to siphon its corruption. 'Catching' was perhaps too generous a term, but he could still use Imbue Astral on something that hit him. He dove for the nape of its neck while its attention was on Hunter, expecting to have another window to strike. Opportune Moment would've been nice, but his mana was too low and Alex had yet to finish her ability.

The good news was that the tips of his claws delivered more corruption to the razor stomper, creating a patch of purple crystal near its head. Unfortunately the monster hadn't forgotten about him. Its head turned, and a black bolt of energy materialized around its head before arcing toward him. Seeing another coming he activated the smoke effect of his boots, flying away in a random direction as he tried to recover. The attack hadn't done too much beyond burn through his armor and scour a few centimeters into his chest, but he stopped himself as he reached for a healing potion.

He should've known the monster would have something like this. The destruction domain was opposite of restoration, and the bolt had carried the ultimate counter to healing. Necrotic energy was pulsing across his chest, weakening his body against further attacks. More importantly, until it was cleansed, he couldn't heal.

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