“What’s done is done,” Sayhas snapped, partly to Oldum and Mizu, partly to himself. “Survival first.”

Oldum muttered something under his breath. Sayhas was glad he didn’t hear it. “I’ll be the rear guard,” Oldum growled.

“I’ll do it, it's my fault,” Sayhas said pushing Oldum out of the way and facing the ice wolf. He shifted into a combat stance.

“No, it’s not,” Mizu hissed, frowning at Sayhas, “I’m last.”

“Shut up. Both of you,” Oldum roared softly, his voice like the low rumble of an earthquake. Quiet, slow, but solid too. “I have a shield, I’m last.”

Before Sayhas had a chance to argue, he was yanked away from the wolves. Oldum strapped a shield to his back and summoned a large invisible forcefield behind him, then, he turned his back on the wolves and ushered Mizu and Sayhas into the narrow passage. The shield morphed to fit the passage.

Sayhas expected the wolves to launch a salvo of elemental attacks. He listened closely for a hint of elemental Discord. Since he knew what he was looking for, Sayhas could tailor his hearing to the wolves. Even though the ice wolf gave off an unbelievable presence, nothing could stop Sayhas if he knew what he was looking for.

A howl sounded at the mouth of the path. That wasn’t good. Wolves piled into the entrance, blocking off there escape. Sayhas couldn’t detect any magical creature amongst their ranks. He didn’t know what, precisely, to listen for; a broad scan being the only available option. By the dead gods, Sayhas hoped he was right.

“I don’t want to kill them,” Sayhas muttered. He slaughtered people, did it for a living. But it was always justified. Albeit on thin ice, but justified nevertheless. However, butchering animals? Sayhas would never. “Can you make the throw?”

“Don’t have to,” Mizu said, pulling out a blood-red dagger with a golden sheen and pointing it at the pack. It radiated a noxious noise, like all the worst sounding things put into one room for someone to hear. Mizu’s fear dagger. Sayhas remembered what it was like to be on the opposing side of her dagger. Chills crawled down his spine; not a pleasant memory.

The wolves closest to them froze in place, starting a chain reaction in the ranks. After mere moments, they were all motionless, whimpering. And as if by mutual agreement, they turned tail and ran. The slow ones trampled in their mad rush.

A deafening roar sounded at the mouth of the path. Stronger, viler, more commanding than the previous. Again, the wolves stopped. They shifted uneasily, eyeing both sides of the passage. Caught between a rock and a hard place, much like Sayhas’ current predicament.

“It’s a Prime,” Mizu said, voice dangerously close to being fearful.

She was right. There was no mistaking that roar. Sayhas’ scythe hummed as he raised it high. He couldn’t let this drag on. He gently wrapped Mizu and Oldum with an ethereal scythe and sent another towards the mouth of the passage.

From the tangle of fur, a bright blue beam impacted his hook, destroying it.

Guess he was wrong about there being no magical beast.

“Cinders.” he loosened the scythes around Oldum and Mizu, preparing for his next attack. It was time to cut off the head. He lashed out with his scythe. His hearing might not be in tip-top shape with the narrow passage echoing sounds every which way. But he’d have to be deaf to not pinpoint the primes location, especially since it let out a loud roar. An invisible projectile formed at the tip of the scythe.

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Three wolves jumped on him. He dropped Maaier Speal; it vanished. He stumbled into Mizu. There wasn’t enough room for them to fight side by side. Ethereal daggers hung by Mizu, they streaked towards the foremost wolf. She groaned, preparing another set.

A familiar weight fell into Sayhas’ hands. His blue-green scythe that could create ripples. Excellent for slicing through crowds. He took apart the two remaining wolves with relative ease a slice down the abdomen and another across the neck was all that was needed. Two strokes, two wolves. An infinite more to go.

A salvo of daggers rained on the next few, courtesy of Mizu. He spun his scythe, drawing blood with every rotation. The difference in numbers meant nothing to him. He made a wide slice, accidentally scratching the natural walls. Still, he managed to give himself some breathing room. Using this chance, a ripple burst from his blade. He silently hoped that his attack would somehow make its way to the shiner that was somewhere in the ranks. A vain hope, but couldn’t hurt to believe.

Ugh, he was starting to sound like Clive.

The ripple dispersed, vanishing into nothing before it could do anything significant.

“A horn wolf,” Sayhas complained, “lovely.”

Horn wolves were annoying. They were like normal wolves except bigger and stronger. Also, it had an antler sticking out one side of its head, like a lopsided deer. Discord erupted outwards, forming a wall of blades—much like Mizu’s techniques. At this range, most wouldn’t have a chance of surviving. Most also didn’t know Mizu. And if they did know Mizu, they were probably dead.

Sayhas deflected the blades, stifling to urge to yawn; it was much slower than Mizu’s. He’d have no problems with—

His scythe got stuck in the wall. The raucous grating stung Sayhas’ ears.

His hand slipped off the scythe as a blade tore into him, slicing deeply into his sides. Just one. He blocked all but one. Unlucky. His vision swam, growing dark.

A light. Blinding. Someone caught him. Probably Mizu. Yes, Mizu. he could smell her hair. Sayhas blinked his eyes open. Mizu was above him, her red hair tickling his nose. Burn that wolf. A faint yellow light mended his wounds and a blue liquid washed it. Mizu had set him down and was healing him. “Thanks,” he grunted. She peered down, wide-eyed. Curious. Was he forming coherent words?

A wolf growling at his feet, ruining the moment. Sayhas dipped his chin to get a better look at the horn wolf. His bracelet hummed and grew hot. Mizu put her hand on his arm. “I got this,” she whispered. Sayhas stopped casting.

Red embers swirled in the air in front of Mizu. They swirled rapidly⁠—dancing with each other. A pleasant heat bathed over Sayhas as the fireball grew and grew, filling up the passage. The conjured fireball began to move down the corridor. It travelled slowly taking it’s time to burn everything.

Lulling the wolves into thinking they could dodge it.

Without warning, it sped up and exploded in a fiery conflagration.

“Up,” Mizu called at Sayhas.

He grunted, propping himself up with his elbows.

She didn’t wait for him, running into the aftermath of her fireball. She slashed at the horn wolfs neck. An ice lotus formed when her dagger left its flesh. Somehow it was still alive. Well, not anymore, the lotus exploded embedding icicles deep into its chest. Mizu weaved into their ranks, weaselling her dagger into every furball she could. The walls that confined Sayhas meant nothing to her.

They couldn’t corner her. Aside from her inhuman mobility, she had a separate dagger connected to a chain. Her realm dagger. Every time she was seemingly surrounded, she’d whip the chain and teleport away.

A lightning bolt struck her ice dagger, sending it flying. Before she could conjure another, a wolf scratched her arm her forearm. A small fireball burned the offending wolf, but two bigger wolves took its place. They sniffed at her blood, at the minuscule wound. The two wolves snarled, baring their teeth. Their fur seemed to rise up Bloodhounds. Mizu teleported back, behind Sayhas.

“You're just gonna sit there?” she squeezed out between heavy, laboured breaths. “Go.” she coughed. “Do your job.”

“Didn’t want to ruin your fun.” Sayhas apologized and summoned Maaier Speal. He swung it in a wide arc, releasing a jagged spinning disk. His scythe and the disk got stuck in the wall. The disc span obnoxiously in place before fading away. Cinders. Sayhas wedged his scythe out, grumbling under his breath. He hated tight spaces.

His bracelet began to hum as he poured Discord into in. Small crackles of electricity poured into each other and multiplied. He only had this bracelet and another gemstone. Everything else was tucked away at camp. A mistake he shouldn’t have made.

“You can’t cut through stone yet? Thought you were better than that,” called a voice from above in a sardonic tone