“Don’t you want to get Alexander?” Nox asked as they set off at a half-run.

Caitlin only kept her legs, hips, and spine covered in the sleeker version of her armor. When combined with her body enhancement spells and Haste, she moved almost as fast as Nox under the effects of his basic Temporal Acceleration. Manifesting either of her full armors weighed Caitlin down. She had incredible defense but turned into a lumbering giant. It surprised Nox that she was able to keep up with Brianna while the northerner benefitted from vampiric enhancements and her tattoos’ magic.

“I’d rather have him where he’s needed,” she answered. “Druidism comes with Life Magic, and far too many people need emergency healing. Besides, there is nowhere safer outside of campus right now than next to Grandmother.”

“I’m surprised how long it took her and others to quell Warmonger’s minions. They’re all Experts, and your grandmother is an Archmage. Are you sure they can deal with more vampires?”

“Do you think your defeat of Warmonger was thanks to your new fancy spell or a fluke? Liesel Wyrd was fighting a battle on two fronts. She was dealing with you and simultaneously keeping everyone trapped inside with shadow constructs. We kept getting shadow-walked back to the center of the building where Brianna and her other minions could feed on civilians and create more thralls. The deans and professors had to fight with one arm tied behind their backs. Grandmother hopes to reverse the curse if possible, and the thralls were freed as soon as the controlling vampire falls. You only saw one side of the fight, Nox. It was the far less chaotic and perhaps the less dangerous one.”

“I apologize.” He hesitated. Temporal Reverse had wiped away all pain and damage that Liesel Wyrd inflicted, but the memory was still fresh in his mind. Nox wasn’t sure whether it was a part of Warmonger’s shadow magic, but he also remembered the cold and numbness he imagined accompanied death by blood loss. “My head is a jumble right now. “

“Don’t worry about it,” Caitlin said. “Coming back from the dead would do that to anyone.”

“I didn’t die. I was close, but not quite. Temporal Reverse activated before it could happen.”

“I understand why you wanted to keep the spell secret. When you fight in the frontlines, injuries, and pain are a regular affair. Healing and regeneration magic can take care of most of it but does little for the toll on the mind. I imagine it's worse when you tangle with death.”

Nox nodded, hand wandering to where the shadow scythe had penetrated his stomach. It felt like something was tearing him apart from the inside. He recalled only a mild stinging around the entry point along his spine. The bulk of the pain had come from deep inside.

“Currently, you, Aria, Mou, and Ingrid know about what the spell does. There were other witnesses, but I doubt they knew what they were looking at. Many probably wrote it off as a complex illusion.”

“And you’d like to keep it that way. Don’t worry, Nox. I told no one about Lillin’s true identity and only spoke about it once the information became public. This will also remain a secret. The more people find out about the spell, the less power it has.”

“Thank you.” Nox smiled, nodding. It was the secrecy and surprise that won him the fight. “You’re an excellent friend.”

“Now, let's just hope Joey is safe.”

“I hope so, too.” Nox hesitated before sharing the next piece of information. He convinced himself that Caitlin deserved to know. “Just before I took out Liesel, she revealed something worrisome. It's not just Brianna that she turned and compelled. April is also one of them.”

Caitlin remained straight-faced, eyes looking forward as they exited Nobles Quarter into the chaos that was the outer rings. Screaming and injured people pushed past the guards and through the gates, moving deeper into the city. The guards were busy elsewhere, dealing with the threat.

“I thought that might be the case as soon as Brianna revealed herself,” Caitlin said as they found a clear alleyway to sprint down. “April has been acting strange since she got back. I thought it was trauma. Who could’ve thought she got turned into a vampire, for Ygg’s sake? They’re creatures of myths and stories. Joey will be fine. Nar is watching his back. I’m more worried about what’ll happen if and when he loses April.”

Nox had similar concerns. April’s disappearance had turned Joey into a crazed, agitated mess. After losing family and friends because of Sunfarshahar and then living on the streets, he seemed to have developed a familial connection to April. It was no different from the relationship Nox shared with Lillin. Although, Nox often believed that April wanted more. Caitlin understood the relationship and accepted it for Joey’s sake.

It didn’t take the pair long to find the closest source of chaos. It was as Nox had predicted. A giant hole had opened at a junction where three roads met. Critters from Hogg’s lair spilled from it. The biggest concern was the blacker-than-night lizard throwing the city guard around like rag dolls with every movement. It was Hogg’s Avatar. Citizens ran as the beast ate a person whole, crunching bone and metal casually before seeking a new target.

After a couple of years of working together, Nox and Caitlin didn’t need to discuss a plan for such situations. She charged at Hogg’s Avatar, enveloping herself in her most bulky elemental armor as she approached. The beast roared when she threw her full weight into its snout. The lizard screamed, rearing backward and staggering. Nox took advantage of the opening and unleashed a full-drawn arrow from his weapon’s long bow form. His animation planet added extra rotation to the planet. It drilled into the beast’s lower jaw before exploding in a mass of icicle spikes, penetrating out of the giant head.

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It was evident that the specimen was a younger or weaker version of the creature the party usually fought. The weak defenses suggested as much. Nox and Caitlin paused, considering assisting the civilians, when a ferret as tall as a horse raced past them. The wizard formerly known as Pudge sat on its back, wielding a halberd enveloped in flame. He cut down dungeon critters in singular swipes. A trio of new beasts that climbed out of the hole in the ground turned on their kind, eyes glowing bright pink.

Daniel Ghosh had charmed them. “I've got this!”

It wasn’t long before arcanically enlarged and enhanced beasts charged into the battlefield. Daniel paused between attacks, casting spells that enhanced his creatures. Unlike ordinary support spells that just improved strength, speed, or toughness, Daniel’s magic appeared to imbue his creatures with elemental effects. Nox guessed they were the advanced enhancements that Amit Gupta had mentioned.

The ground continued to tremble, and another deep row sounded nearby. Buildings shook. Windows broke. Glass and chunks of stone rained from the nearby buildings. The purpose of the many rituals around the city was finally clear. Warmonger was laying the groundwork for a dungeon break and timed it for the graduation party because she expected to keep the city's most powerful busy and cull a tidy chunk of them. The flesh golems were a side effect, and the vampire’s a bonus. Nox guessed the coven used the chaos to restore or grow their numbers.

Nox and Caitlin took out several draconic asuras, some lizards, and another lesser version of Hogg’s Avatar. The volume of entities was far greater than usual, leaving Nox to wonder whether Warmonger had done something within the dungeon to increase the growth and reproduction of its residents.

“The guards and I can handle this,” Daniel told Nox, riding up to Nox. “You and Caitlin need to keep moving. There are other big pens out there.”

“Are you sure?” Nox asked, hesitantly glancing at the hole in the ground. No specimens like the first Hogg’s Avatar had emerged from it. But he worried it was just a matter of time. “We can’t just leave everything here to you and non-practitioners. It might be too much.”

“My beasts and I can hold out long enough for the professors to get here. They won’t be long. The council building is close.”

Otis got Caitlin’s attention, and Nox signaled her to move on. The woman nodded, charging at the new dungeon opening. The back of her armor peeled open, and she hopped out of it, but the elemental charged on. It threw itself into the opening before expanding. Branches created a thick mesh over the opening, leaving only small gaps.

“That should slow their ascent,” Caitlin said. “Good luck, Pudge. I’ll buy you a drink on the other side, alright?”

“I’ll hold you to that, Woodson!” He called riding off to help a fleeing civilian. “I’m in the market for a new drinking buddy.”

“By Hogg’s taint, that Charm star is some powerful stuff.” Caitlin chuckled as they set off. “Don’t tell Joey I said that.”

The pair didn’t have to go far to find the next site, but their talents proved unnecessary. A giant beast that looked like a Great Northern Bear but had the face of a barn owl and wings wrestled Hogg’s Avatar. Its hooked beak easily tore through the scales and ripped out chunks of flesh. Most curious of all was the tiny figure on its back playing a stringed instrument. It took Nox a moment to realize it was Perry. His hood and cloak, made of countless colorless patches, made him hard to recognize, but the disproportionately large hairy feet gave him away.

A scaly serpent also flew around him, slithering through the air and occasionally diving through any creatures that tried to interrupt the fight. It seemed to have no trouble ripping through bone, muscle, and hide.

Meanwhile, gold, green, and crimson motes of light formed around Perry as he continued to pluck his instrument’s strings. He played a fast and energetic tune, and any guard the motes touched seemed to fight harder. Nox guessed it was some sort of enhancement magic that he channeled through music. He and Caitlin didn’t spend long in the square. Nox dropped an essence bomb through the dungeon opening, which caused most of the tunnel below to collapse. He followed it up with Trap Foam.

Otis led them further away from the Nobles Quarter to the next breach. It was far larger than the pair they had encountered thus far. The Hogg’s Avatar they found rampaging through the square had similar dimensions to the specimens the party usually trained against. Only draconic asura accompanied it. They had put aside whatever tensions caused them to fight in the dungeon and worked together to fight the guards and any who opposed them. Several corpses littered the square. The remains included soldiers, a couple of student police, and mostly civilians.

The pair used the same tactics as before. Caitlin gathered as much speed as possible, taking off at a full, Hasted sprint and then growing her bulkiest armor in the final moments. The momentum caused the monstrous lizard to reel backward, and Nox again hit the lower jaw with a full-drawn arrow. Unfortunately, he failed to penetrate the hide. The explosion of icicles only left shallow scratches and got close to an eye but failed to do more.

While Otis kept the draconic asura busy, Nox attempted a spell he had only theorized and never put into practice. The framework was no different from Fold Step, and it was a product of observations made during its use. Nox shaped an arrow out of sonic essence, added the fastest rotation to it possible, and drew it to full length. Ratra’s Bow trembled in his hands as he took aim and focused on his spell.

Nox’s mana zone stretched to its limit, now covered close to fifteen feet. He started the fold at just past his arrow’s point and stretched space between the head and the shaft’s end to its limits. The science of it was beyond him, but Nox still tried.

“Intent matters.” Nox had found the words repeated in several Manipulation textbooks.

The arrow screamed as it exited the fold. It flew so fast Nox’s alchemically enhanced eyes struggled to follow. The arrow didn’t just reach its mark but drilled through hide before exploding inside Hogg’s Avatar. Luminous blood exploded from the wound, and minced flesh flew free. In case the internal sonic explosion didn’t do the job, Caitlin ripped the lower jaw free and crushed the upper.

Smaller lizards joined the asura pouring out of the hole. Neither Nox nor Caitlin got any respite. The pair had fought the creatures on multiple occasions before and had no trouble putting them down. Caitlin put her new water blades and whips to use. Meanwhile, Nox used standard mana arrows and occasionally added elemental essences to the mix. They kept going until Professor Stefan Lorenzo arrived with a dozen student police.

The university’s head of defensive magic what a real nova barrier was supposed to look like. He dove into the hole, and stone spikes taller than the nearby buildings rose from the point of impact, radiating outwards. It blocked the opening, and none of the approaching dungeon critters had the strength to break free.

Nox and Caitlin didn’t wait around to assist. He was confident the professor had enough power to handle the situation on his own, even if another specimen like the last appeared. Stefan Lorenzo had power and defense but lacked mobility—or so tales of his achievements suggested. So, the party rushed toward another dungeon breach site. They needed to stabilize things and secure civilians until the professors or other capable figures could take over.