The fog cleared with a revitalized and terrified version of the Hendra getting back to her feet. Red pulsing veins slithered around a set of black form-fitted armor that could’ve just been skin. The face on her torso scowled angrily with red, smoking eyes as she grew in height. Her hammer reformed from red lightning sparking all around her.

“You have awakened something visceral in my domain, Merchant.” The Hendra growled. “Something not seen in centuries.”

Alan eyed his minions, noting them both getting back to their feet.

We can do this.

“I heard the calls of your friends. They tell you to flee, yet you stand.” She clapped the hammer against her hand, taunting Alan. “A fool falls in Ojin this day.”

Alan smirked at her, because she didn’t realize he masked his Green healing Saro with Gray to hide the effects. He’d been syphoning it into his minions to revitalize them… to give them a chance against the infamous crimson fog.

Go, Strife! he commanded mentally, and the guardian turned into a blur.

Alan’s eyes widened when in a similar flash, the Hendra swung her hammer with one arm, cracking the pile of metal and knocking him into tree after tree.

Shit.

What goes against Red Saro?

Alan summoned the sands of Beige to funnel into Yogi’s armor while also whipping wind walls into existence to box the Hendra in. His arms shook to hold all of the different spells, recalling a similar tactic against Afarus.

Go, Yogi!

The Borai growled while leaping forward—Alan using his control over the walls to open them up enough for Yogi to get through. Something about the Hendra’s confidence though… she was light on her feet, dodging the swipes with ease. Sidestep after sidestep. And when she swung, Alan felt the pressure of her crashing through his barriers.

No! Alan rotated his arms, using the broken winds to repurpose into a horizontal tornado that spun around her hammer, stopping her from cracking Yogi’s skull.

Fsst! Fsst!

Yogi slashed twice, claws leaving red screeching marks that closed up in an instant. Red veins weaved together to make the armor stronger than before.

“Hra!” She shoved the butt of the hammer into Yogi’s shadowy breastplate, then whacked him down. Red fog kicked up everywhere as he smacked against the ground.

“No!” Alan abandoned his wizardly way and drew the Soul Collector, syphoning it with Red and Blue to complement the Black. He charged, the Hendra seeming more like a giant with every step closer.

With a clenched fist, he sent the third Pearl zooming past her, activating an essence version of Lucius’ army against the beast. Fiery steeds galloped through the trees from all angles, prompting Alan to summon his own.

Orange Saro arrows, curses, and spells all flew at the Hendra, hissing off her armor as Alan rounded her. “Hya!” Alan whipped his reins as the hellish battalion converged. He Title-swapped to Forbidden Merchant, bolstering his Pearl and doubling the essence of the army.

Woosh!

The Hendra spun her hammer in a wide rotation—Alan watching it unfold in instinctive slow motion. He jumped on the saddle of his steed and leapt high as his army exploded to dust by the force of her hammer.

He swirled all of the bolstered essence back to him midair. “Hraaa!” Twirling into a spinning blur of Variant Saro, he aimed for her neck. The power radiating from her was immense as if her field of gravity was different. Alan slowed as if fighting a whirlwind.

No.

He focused hard on strange endeavors of his past, activating his breastplate to counteract the force. Beige winds, White gales, everything propelled him past her invisible barrier.

Shhnk!

He sliced into her chest, refusing to shrink back when her angry eyes focused only on him. Red veins reached out like claws to stop Alan’s blade mid-cleave, forcing him to let go. As he did, he let the anger flow through him, forcing more Black into the blade to corrode her—to work against the deep Red.

It was working, spreading over her breasts, up her neck, down her abdomen.

He touched the ground hard, his joints creaking as he stared directly up at a crimson fog minion. The air around her faltered to confirm the gravity-field giving her an edge.

She reduced the hammer to a one-handed size with a flash of red lightning—fighting his corrosion—and dropped to crush Alan.

Her shadow blotted out all light as the hammer descended, giving him a mere second to make a decision. Activating his breastplate wouldn’t be enough against such size. Maybe the Bubble of Vosh.

No time!

Rrrru! Yogi tackled her sideways at the last second, only for her to regain her footing and catch Yogi’s neck in her arm before whipping him spinning to the ground. She extended her hammer with a jolt of red lightning and jammed it down on Yogi’s back, making him groan and spit blood.

“Yogi! No!” Alan tried to recall him into a coin, but her gravitational field slowed his spells too.

A thousand thoughts spun in his mind in these critical moments. Call Afarus, Gardstrife, anyone. But something clicked at the last second. The lightning she was using… she was pairing Red with Yellow, which meant Black and White could stop it.

Alan sprinted as the Hendra lifted her massive two-handed hammer—aimed right for Yogi’s head.

“No!” he yelled, anger filling him. “Yogi, to me!” He outstretched his hand swirling with White and Black. “To me!”

Yogi lifted his paw to reach for Alan, one eye closed from pain, teeth grimacing.

The hammer descended… Alan mid-scream, body tense, expending everything he had.

Boom!

Crimson dust puffed up everywhere as Alan fell to his knees with a bear-faced coin in hand. There were streaks around the coin speaking to the Borai’s wounds… but he was alright. Alan sighed with relief and shoved the coin into his bag.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

As the dust cleared, the Hendra was already mid-swing, about to crush Alan like a bug.

Fssssh!

Clang!

Gardstrife skidded in the way with his blade-arms crossed overhead. Sparks flew in all directions as the Hendra’s veiny arms pumped and flexed, pushing Strife down, cracking the ground at their feet and slowly burying him.

Alan shot streams of White Saro into his guardian, reinforcing the blades, fighting the Yellow.

“With my entire soul,” Gardstrife struggled to speak. “I will defend my noble keeper!” He broke the clash and activated his rook-like strike upward, overpowering the gravitational barrier and sending them both airborne, swallowed by the fog.

The guardian’s words warmed Alan with a sense of hope and protection. He had the best force in the universe on his side.

Metal crunching resounded from above, followed by Gardstrife crashing like a comet into the ground.

Alan’s hope fled… but not the sense of comradery his minions evoked. He leapt into a flip near the crater, stopping at the edge to see a dented hunk of metal plastered deep into the earth. With a mental snap, Gardstrife recalled to a coin between Alan’s fingers. Another one streaked and tarnished. “Time to rest, friend.”

“Now do you see, Merchant? Do you understand why you should have run?” The Hendra descended triumphantly, her black-covered feet touching down gracefully by the tip of her toes, hammer resting over her shoulder, both faces smug.

Alan took a deep breath. Between his nights of training, he’d been holding an ace in his back pocket he wasn’t sure would actually work. But in a desperate time like this, it was now or never. He concentrated hard on the Mistborn Pearl orbiting him, recalling how the beast had altered the mass of Lord Osmi using Grey Wolf’s armor.

Well, here goes nothing.

He smashed his fists together as the Hendra clapped her massive hammer in her hand again.

“Farewell, Merchant. I admire your bravery, but it’s time you join the others in Crimson death.”

Woosh!

Alan sent the Pearl flying into his Soul Collector still stuck in her chest and a blanket of white mist reduced her down to size. Her Red lightning flashed to fight the Pearl essence but failed, ultimately reducing her to Alan’s height.

The hammer didn’t look so intimidating now.

Alan drew Blood Edge and dashed with all the speed he could muster—he was on a fast timer. He ducked an angry hammer swing and slashed hard with a coat of White Saro, slowing the red veins from closing the wound.

He then flipped over her and stabbed her through the back, the second face now vomiting a blade’s edge. Pulling out the weapon made screeching sounds, and when Alan made to swing again with the south blade, she caught it, squeezing hard around the edge.

Alan yanked to no avail, and she lunged forward, contorting the staff to slice Alan across the stomach.

He grunted while being hurled to the ground and rolled when the hammer dropped like an anvil. He kicked up to his feet, pressing his Green Saro hand over the bloody wound. Her White Saro marks remained on her body, proving he was onto something.

When she lunged again to knee Alan tumbling back, he reoriented with bruises and a mouthful of dirt.

Shit. He winced, using a pulsing red tree to get to his feet. “Afarus.” He pulled the Soul Collector out of a pool of molten lava. “She’s too powerful.”

“She thinks the same of you.” Afarus formed from shadow. “A crimson minion would never speak to an ant. Only an equal.” He faded back into the blade, leaving a surge of confidence electrifying his body.

The Hendra emerged mid-swing, forcing Alan to spring back to avoid the blow. Again and again she swung, each one accompanied by a follow-up force that dragged him into her orbit. One hit would be his end.

Whack!

The Soul Collector went flying from his grasp.

Bang!

When the hammer hit the ground, Alan stepped on the head and back-kicked the Hendra in the face, twice. He envisioned her as Afarus, using his endless training not to bow to a superior. His fists wrapped in White-Red Saro, as did his feet. Every dodge followed with a connected blow. A wide, ducked swing equaled a hard kick, and a jab from the hammer’s butt meant a sidestep and an elbow to the nose. It was working… until it didn’t.

The Hendra backhanded Alan, roared, and grew to its natural size, lightning swarming around her body to dispel the Pearl’s effects.

He tried to retreat, but her second face inhaled, keeping Alan from moving while she swung her hammer to end him.

No. No!

Alan sprinted in place.

Kaw!

A majestic gold-feathered gryphon flew into her face at the last second, distracting her enough for Alan to roll.

Bang!

The ripple effect sent him flying, but he flipped to his feet, looking to the sky. The gryphon soared to him, so he did what clairvoyance told him to do and raised his hand.

Kaw! The gryphon whipped him in the air as he held onto its talon for dear life, circling the Hendra. He was surprised it didn’t try to flee, instead giving him a chance to attack again. The White Saro marks still lingered. And was he crazy or was the beast breathing heavily—out of both mouths?

“Use the anger, Alan. The same as you did to me,” Afarus’ voice whispered.

He thought of Yogi reaching for him. The pain of having to leave Neesha. Lucius’ betrayal. Durger’s death. His heartbeat thundered in his ears as he met eyes with the angered minion. A bombarding sort of power unleashed from his core. Dark mixed with serene. And he dropped. At least a part of him did.

He watched through the eyes of a black shadow of himself that fooled the Hendra.

She screeched and swung, wiping the shadow out of the air. Alan did it again. And again. Releasing versions of himself that were indiscernible to his enemy, transferring the bombardment unto her. Until… he actually let go, using his last Pearl to create a spear of White Saro—one so large he had to force his void breastplate to enhance his strength.

“Ahhh!” Alan stabbed down, impaling her diagonally through the chest until the spear stabbed through the molten earth. He then swung around the pole, balanced his feet over it, and dove headfirst with his dagger full of Variant Saro.

Shhnk!

He stabbed her in the center of the throat, suffering the screeches of her entire body screaming. Anger took over, dispelling any hesitation. Summoning a windstorm sent him dragging the dagger across her entire neck, leaving a three-sixty slash around it.

“Die!” He leapt over her shoulders and yanked her hammer out of her grip, forearms pulsing with Variant Saro as he swung with every ounce of his energy, knocking a hole from her back to her belly, sending the second face hissing onto the ground as she fell to her knees. The White Saro spear cracked from the fall and her form began dissolving.

The crimson fog sucked back toward the geyser as if in rewind.

Alan dropped the hammer with his mouth agape.

“It’s over,” he said aloud, his energy draining like a sprung leak.

Ooooohm! The geyser bellowed, then prompts flooded Alan’s vision.

“This pathway has been preserved for two thousand years,” the geyser boomed from far away. “Defeating my variant Hendra unlocks an accumulated reward not seen for millennia.”

Alan’s arms and legs went numb with atrophy as he listened to the words. He was so weak he couldn’t even replenish himself. Durger, Afarus, no one formed from his weapons sprawled around him. He was completely out of gas.

Variant-colored fog cascaded forward like a dust storm, forcing Alan to look away. And when it cleared, a giant statue of rock mixed with a tree stood before Alan. It had a barrel-shaped body with defined arms and pointed elbows. Its face was blank like a canvas.

Figro Vessel received.

A captured soul may be forced into this sculpture by using paired Black or Yellow Saro.

Beware: choose wisely. An antagonistic or defeated soul may crumble the vessel upon assimilation.

Oh shit. Maybe Durger or Afarus can have forms again in this universe. He blinked out of the prompt, staring dumbly at the massive structure. He touched his face since it was still numb, realizing the pins and needles meant maybe he was starting to come out of exhaustion.

“That is the base reward for crossing this path. The accumulated reward is yet to be bestowed.”

Another wave of variant fog washed over Alan, and when it cleared he forced himself into a defensive stance. The Hendra, in the crimson form it took last, stood before him.

Variant Hendra received.

(2000-year-old defender of the geyser)

Form and abilities shift with Saro.

Alan let his arms fall slack again. “Oh thank god.” He scratched his head, still hesitant to lock eyes with that monster of a boss again so soon. Once blood began to flow again, the first thing he did was coin the two monstrosities so he could deal with them later.

“Now be gone!”

A crimson wave of smoke shot up from far away, panicking Alan.

Kaw!

The gryphon rushed down from the sky and Alan lifted his hand once more. He shut his eyes a second before the smoke claimed him.