Amber was worried about John. She knew he was mad at her. She didn’t know why. She couldn’t remember doing anything to make him mad. Not since she spent that long stretch as a demon. She sparred with him every time he asked. She cultivated often. She took training seriously.

He did look at me like I was kinda crazy when I had him watch me do housewife stuff. Man, my magal form loved that. So awesome. Or it slapped. Whatever. It’s hard keeping up with modern talk. No cap, thought Amber.

Being a demon was easier for Amber. The demon mind had no interest in guilt or romance. The demon mind was made for war, and seeing John behave as he was during combat, when he was usually so controlled and business-like, annoyed her. Even if he was mad at her, it wasn’t the time to act out.

When Amber was a demon, she knew how Amber was supposed to act and what Amber should say and do. She had spent a very long time cultivating her personality, dreaming of different scenarios and how they’d play out. She spent most of her time before the Tree of Life doing just that. As a demon, she questioned why she pretended so much.

When John finally used the power of her true name and gave her a command, as a demon, Amber wasn’t as mad as she made it seem. Those with power should use their power, as was right, even if just ordering her to bathe. She had to feign being much angrier because she knew her magal form would’ve been furious and cried and thought it was a huge deal. She had to transform into her magal form to feel what she knew she should have felt, though a lot of it was still pretend, just an act to ensure John knew to never do it again.

It was the same with violence. Amber’s demon form was a little more like her bear form – violence didn’t seem so awful when she was in it. But she knew she should hate violence, so she pretended she did.

Following behind John as he rushed towards the portal, Amber hoped he would get his head in the game. The g’athu couldn’t be taken lightly. This was all or nothing.

John leapt at a group of g’athu rounding a bend and lashed into them with brutish blows, more rageful than skillful. Amber then lost sight of him until she made the bend too and saw John fight a little more like he usually did. He laid into the g’athu near the portal, all of which turned to face him in a coordinated defense.

Amber was relieved to see none of the g’athu were wearing their awful tech. Amber appreciated watching John fight in a much different way when she was a demon than she did as a magal. He fought more like a rowdy brawler than the war machine he usually was, while the g’athu were as emotionless and business-like as ever.

There were only thirty or so g’athu to start, and most of the Woods and Coppers were the ones to turn and fight while the Bronzes, arms loaded with items, escaped through the portal. Amber had no idea where the other Silver was. They both disappeared from her senses at the same time.

Soon, John was standing over corpses without his essence-shield making him glow, and Amber sensed nothing alive within the walls of the base. Breathing heavily, more like seething, John looked at the last corpse he killed. After a moment he started to stomp on it.

“Hey! Buddy! That’s not helping. Get your head in the game. Let me check the portal.”

Amber approached the portal and tried to assess it. If it seemed like it only went to one place, they were supposed to go through it. If there was a chance it could split them up, they had a different plan. She had no idea what she was supposed to feel for. She could feel and sense something, and that something was the portal. She had no idea if it went to only one place or was connected to the two other g’athu bases. She might be able to figure it out if she touched it, but that was too risky.

Amber said, “I can’t tell anything about the portal. Okay, psycho, go smash. Try and keep your senses up.”

The backup plan was to destroy as much of the strange machinery as they could. That’s how the g’athu made their awful tech. They assumed the g’athu would want to protect their means of producing it. Or producing some of it.

John cast some buff on himself and then something that caused him to disappear from sight and sense for a split second before he reappeared near the door of the closest manufacturing building and rushed through it. Amber guessed he used his manifestation that allowed him to quickly travel through shadows and followed, glad her blink manifestation didn’t have the restrictions his did. She only wished she could use the blink while hiding.

Since she ascended to Bronze, Amber could almost feel her glyphs in her animal forms. The minds of her animal forms were probably far from being able to use the glyphs, but it at least hinted that one day they’d be able to. And she was able to think better in her animal forms too. Not close enough to how she thought in her demon and magal forms, but better and a little easier than it was at Copper - even as a lizard, and that was the form her mind was most restricted in, and her bear was the least.

Even Party-pooper was surprised by Amber’s aspects and concepts. Amber received three in total. Two minors and a major. The low-concept of ‘trick’ was minor yellow. The low-concept of ‘wild’ was minor orange. The high-concept of ‘acid’ was a major aspect, and looked magenta. Party-pooper’s best guess was that two red concepts merged into a mid-concept, and that concept then merged with a blue concept, making ‘acid.’

Party-pooper knew what animal opened what new manifestation, and Amber could feel which manifestation went with which animal form, but which form opened which aspect could only be guessed at in three cases. The fox opened ‘trick,’ and the bear opened ‘wild.’ Those essences fueled the copy illusion of the fox and the fear-roar of the bear.

The deer, lizard, and frog all had to use the ‘acid’ essence, and it didn’t fit two of their manifestations well. The deer got a body enhancement that worked a lot differently than the one her fox form opened at Copper, especially since it used ‘acid’ as a concept. The frog got an essence-shield. ‘Acid’ was not an ideal concept for an essence-shield or body enhancement, but not terrible for them either. The lizard got a damaging spit-manifestation, and ‘acid’ went perfectly with that.

‘Acid,’ being a major aspect, was also great as fuel for [Eyes of the Bượzệrukỹằ]. ‘Trick’ was great for many of her old tricks, like hiding from all senses, as well as [And Now You Don't]. For [Turtle], ‘wild’ wasn’t great, but wasn’t awful.

‘Acid’ also fueled her dash attack, blink, and regen manifestations of the deer, frog, and lizard she got at Copper. ‘Acid’ was a horrible fuel for a regen spell, making it near useless. Thankfully, it didn’t hurt dash or blink, and the major aspect allowed her to travel much farther for both. It didn’t add any sort of acid component to the dash attack that she had noticed.

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The bear’s echo-attack did more damage when fueled by ‘wild,’ and the body enhancement of the fox was stronger with ‘trick.’ And Amber could use both body enhancements concurrently, which she loved, and her old way of healing was much stronger when used with ‘wild.’

Amber reached the door to the building and saw John had destroyed everything, including chairs, tables, and non-machinery. When everything he could destroy was destroyed, he started to smash the walls. She said, “John, buddy, next building. Focus on the machinery.”

John stopped and looked at where Amber’s voice came from. He said, “I have no fear of these g’athu filth.”

“Good to know, buddy. Next building. Remember, focus on the machinery and keep your senses up.”

John made quick work of the next building and Amber felt new presences as he was destroying the third. She was glad she didn’t feel fear the same way while as a demon. The new arrivals were veiling themselves well enough their tiers were indeterminable. She only knew there were fifteen of them. She thought it was safest to assume one was the Gold and the rest were Silvers, and all would be geared-up in the g’athu tech.

Amber whispered in the way she could while hiding and only the person she spoke to could hear her. “John, they’re here. I’ll follow, but approach carefully.” Since she knew John couldn’t feel their tiers either and was having some sort of a mental breakdown and not thinking clearly, she added, “It’s the Gold and Silvers. I’m certain. They’ll be wearing the tech gear so be super careful.”

John surprised Amber by disappearing. She assumed he infused essence into his belt of hiding. She couldn’t know where he was now. She exited the building and rushed towards the portal, cursing John. They never discussed him stealthing. Dang it! He better know to stay away from the Gold and out of the way of my [Eyes of the Bượzệrukỹằ], she thought.

As Amber turned a corner, she saw all the g’athu in a formation on the platform leading toward the portal. All of them wore the tech gear. The one in the center she assumed was a Gold had on a large helmet. Behind him, and unattached, floated a large and dark cloak. Two curved blades that tapered into a sharp point on both ends floated in front of him, and some sort of energy spread between the two blades.

On either side of the g’athu Amber assumed was the Gold were two more helmeted g’athu. To both sides of them were two more g’athu, and six more were formed up behind them. Two stood alone in the last row and Amber was now close enough to tell those two were Bronze. That meant there were twelve Silvers. All the g’athu created a small essence-shield in front of their chest and heads as they stood still and silent.

After expelling a deep breath, Amber aimed at the Gold’s head. As she started the cast of [Eyes of the Bượzệrukỹằ], tons of little balls flew out from behind the backs of all the g’athu without helmets, enough to cover the whole open area in front of the portal. The balls exploded on landing and left some burning gas behind.

Amber was knocked out of her invisibility and started to panic. The explosions didn’t hurt her much, but the gas was burning her. She hoped the burning gas wouldn’t keep her from hiding again and tried casting [And Now You Don’t] as she started running away. The glyph was unbound. That glyph cast super-fast so no one should’ve been able to unbind it. She tried [Turtle] with the same result. Her vision started to shake, and she couldn’t run. Then she couldn’t see. But only for a moment.

Amber was in a world of complete and utter darkness. There was nothing but pitch blackness and the helmeted g’athu with the floating cloak that stood in front of her. He wasn’t veiling his tier any longer. He was the Gold. She was fearful and panicked, but also thankful she was in her demon form and those feelings were dulled. Her head began to throb with a massive headache. It felt like something was boring into her brain. Her vision started to warble. It felt like her mind was warbling too.

Suddenly, Amber’s head stopped hurting and the tentacles that poked out from under the helmet of the g’athu began to dance around as it laughed uproariously. She hated the voice the NCS gave to people without the ability to speak in a way she could understand. She thought the g’athu’s laugh was super extra creepy.

The g’athu laughed for too long, and when he finished laughing, he said, “You both took Level Capsules at Copper. That is very comical. And they say I’m incapable of understanding humor.”

The g’athu laughed again. “I also find it comical that you have no idea what you are for. I should leave you alive to see you find out, but my desire to hear your screams far outweighs the amusement that would bring me. Yes, you will be used to strengthen me. But there will be a far worse fate for you than just death. Since your ally failed to tell you of your fate as I told him to, I’ll show you.”

Visions of Amber being tortured in horrible and the grossest ways imaginable filled her head. She was again thankful she was in demon form. If she were in her magal form, she would’ve been a quivering ball of fear, crying on the ground. She was still frightened though, just not nearly as much as she knew magals would be from seeing those visions. This guy makes Jason and Freddy seem like little sweet Girl Scouts selling cookies, she thought.

“Your mind isn’t strong, Jepbuart'ruat'raow.”

Amber froze in fear. He knows my true name! Oh, Jesus, I really hope John knowing it first protects me, she thought.

Pain racked Amber’s mind. The g’athu snapped out, “You can’t truly believe that I need your true name to control you. I am inevitable.”

After the pain relented, the g’athu said, “Maybe your fate won’t be torture. Not of the kind I showed you. Two star-crossed lovers fighting to the death. Ah, I can almost taste the sorrow of the victor. I’m willing to risk your death and the weaker form of strengthening I can take from your corpse. The audacity to think you could stand against me. The best the magals can field struggle to contain me, knowing it’s a losing battle, knowing I am inevitable, and you thought you stood a chance?

“When we exit to real time, you will kill your ally. You will not hold back. Understood?”

Amber tried to fight the compulsion. She struggled against it with everything she had. But she had no choice but to reply, “Yes, Gold.” Her vision began to shake. She lost her sight for a moment. When she got it back, she turned and saw John in the air jumping towards the formation of g’athu, twisting out of the way of some of the lasers and essence-balls, blocking some with his glowing shield and flaming blade as a line of plasma extended out from his ring into the energy stretched between the floating double-bladed thing in front of the Gold. He’s so amazing, she thought.

After quickly casting her buffs, Amber transformed into a bear and blinked to get closer. She then used her dash attack. Her heart broke as her horns plunged into John’s back on either side of his spine, but one got caught on a rib preventing the other from entering too deeply. She withdrew her horns and her paw bashed into John’s side. The echo attack batted the man she loved with all her heart away from her.

During practice, Amber was always careful. She had to be when she was a Copper, as there was a real chance her horns would break on John. With all the bodies she got at Bronze, her horns breaking wasn’t an issue, and she had to be careful to prevent herself from puncturing John with her horns like she just did. All her forms gave her [Stats] when she leveled up, and she hit the soft cap a long time ago. The efficiency of her [Strength] [Stat] was more than doubled in her bear form, so when she hit John with a full-strength blow, the echo attack batted him pretty far away.

Amber continuously tried to resist the compulsion that controlled her. She couldn’t. She spit acid, but John rolled away from it. She blinked and dashed again, and as she saw the look of hurt and pain in John’s eye, her heart broke all over again.

Amber’s horns met John’s shield and he slammed his pommel down into the back of her head. She knew he didn’t hit her as hard as he could, but it still sent her smashing into the ground. She dropped an illusion of herself and blinked behind him, hitting him with an echo attack as hard as she could.

John landed on the ground in front of the g’athu, and Amber, with a heavy heart, dashed at him again.