Arson jumped from a mountain of rubble, the leap sending him in a soaring rush toward the wolf below. The demon’s downturned head amidst a meal of innocent souls. Arson would have been able to maintain his simple surveillance of the demon, as he did still fear its connection to a grander power, but now that it had honed in on the mortal populations within the Under-City, he had no choice.

“Aaaah!” Arson roared in the same moment the demon raised its head. The demonic wolf’s star filled eyes blooming with power as it looked up at Arson. An incredible howl sent in his direction was enough to literally knock Arson from the air and fling him aside. The howl itself strong enough that a concussive wave had been created by the wolf’s lung power alone.

Each blink Arson took gave him more of the battlefield, even as he flipped end over end. He knew his Closed Eye Dominion would be the only ability that would still aid him during this encounter, and submerged himself in the information being sent to his mind with each flash.

Think… The runic word filled his mind and Arson checked himself for damage from top to bottom. The only thing he noted was a slight headache and vibration in his inner ear that may have come from the howl, or the wave of force that had struck him Arson was unsure.

Analyze… Arson landed on the side of a still standing building in the area. His feet landing flush, as he bent his knees to slow his momentum. Closed Eye Dominion showing Arson the wolf equivalent to a locomotive charging in his direction as he took in his environment and positioned himself.

Move! In that moment Arson’s body was perfectly aligned with his target, Sky in his left hand, the weapon swept smoothly behind himself. His other hand pointed palm open at the wolf as he sprung forward and gravity took hold.

In the sky above figures of mana formed. Ancient users of the scythe all shown in the same position Arson now was, each doing a different diving attack as they too also fell toward the demon Arson fought.

Arson, not aware of the ancients falling from the sky, let his instincts take hold of his body, starting to spin.

With the help of his weapon's tremendous weight, gravity, and Arson’s given accuracy from his Closed Eye Dominion, he was able to time his attack perfectly.

Their two forms collided at impressive speeds. Arson was barely able to grab onto Sky as he swung the weapon toward the side of the beast's head, when it rushed up the side of the building toward him.

A sweaty grip just managing to clutch the end of the scythe in time to cleave the weapon through the air toward the demon’s open maw.

The first slice, was Arson’s own. His weapon’s blade entering the demon’s upper jaw line even as it howled, trying to snap at Arson with its canines while they fell through the air, the demon thrashing wildly the entire way down.

It was the next attacks that came before Arson even managed to get to his feet that he was confused about. A literal rain of Ancient scythe users soaked the demon in slashes from various angles, some even striking Arson himself.

Xani: follow the bloody plan Arson, what happened to not using mana?

Arson tried to shake free of his mind’s rattled state after the fall; the demon still thrashing wildly in a scramble to get upright.

Arson: I don’t know what’s happening, I’m not using mana!

Arson wiped golden blood from his bleeding brow and used Sky to stand upright, shifting into flicker stance just as the wolf righted itself.

“Phase two,” yelled Arson. Phase one was supposed to consist of Arson gaining the demon’s complete attention, which he had. As well as signaling groups hidden nearby to start attacking, in an attempt to slow the wolf down, and cause as much damage as possible in a short time, which Arson also had.

Xani: So the army of scythe users that just made me almost lay embers in my pants wasn’t you? Don’t know if that is better or worse, bud…

Arson swung his scythe and waves of concussive force sliced through the air as the wolf bent its legs to pounce. The wolf dove toward Arson, its massive body still dexterous enough to spin artfully through the first set of slashes sent its direction. Arson’s weapon flowed continuously through the air, another set of slices coming from Sky perpendicular to the last.

This may be harder than I thought? The question rattled through Arson’s mind while the wolf walked atop the second set of slashes that arced through the air toward it. The attacks further destroying the area which only angered Arson further.

“Now!”

Dozens of pops could be heard in the distance, Arson doing his best to raise a guard as the demon dove claw first toward him.

He shoved off hard with his right foot in a burst of movement to his left, maneuvering himself under the demon’s right pair of frontward paws. He positioned Sky blade upward, the instant before the massive set of paws slammed down.

The demon wailed when the larger of its two paws on that side was punctured, its rear and opposing front paws all in a frantic peddle that reassured Arson it could feel pain when it landed.

Then his blink showed him that the opposing front paws were already being swung toward his exposed right side and Arson yanked with everything he had to free his weapon to no avail. The weapon lodged into Arson’s foe barely moved, the wolf taking its opportunity to crush Arson underneath its punctured limb, while its other frontward paws were swung down, aimed toward the equally trapped Arson, the demon doing everything it could to keep him there, rather than let him dodge, and Arson’s own stubborn refusal to let go of Sky, ended in exactly that.

Two slashing set of massive demonic wolf paws batted Arson away at speeds high enough to send him through multiple ruin walls a distance away. The few blinks he managed gave him his surroundings as well as all of the Propeller Palm Drones now wrapping themselves around the demon in the distance. Arson finally stopped outside of his Closed Eye Dominion’s capability of even being able to see the demon in its perimeter, and breathed slowly as he got back to his feet.

Rubble fell free from his shoulders as he stood, refocusing on the sight in the distance.

“Think,” Arson did another mental assessment, paying attention to his crushed ribs on the right side of his body, grunting in pain as he stretched his right arm. Bones popped as he spun his weapon and smiled.

“Analyze,” Arson took in the sight of the wolf and all that separated it from himself. The mixed terrain created by crumbled buildings. The lines connected to each Propeller Palm Drone that now tied down the thrashing demon, and even the diving Micro, who was accompanied by several members of the Pocket Apartment Gang.

Move!” Arson charged toward the beast as fast as he could. Sights and sounds beginning to blur around him to the point that he decided to close his eyes entirely.

“Phase three!”

A roar came from the wolf then, loud enough to cause Arson to misstep as the ground shook. He righted himself easily, and smiled as Micro and the others there to aid her positioned themselves in a ring above the thrashing demon.

The closer Arson got, the more of the lines he could see pinning the wolf's legs together. The sound of popping earlier, hidden BHC operatives hiding in wait with old fashion grenade launchers repurposed to house Propeller Palm Drone ammo attached to braided steel cords.

Each drone, once fired through the launcher, affixed the length of cord it was attached to with a grappling hook that shot from the rear in the same moment the drone soared toward its target. In a breath, the hands spun circles around the massive limbs, before wrapping their fingers solidly around their own cords, or the cords of nearby drones.

The tangled mess created a restrictive cage strong enough that Arson could see the BHC members climbing free of their hiding holes and sprinting free of the area.

Got you…

Arson hadn’t even completed the thought when the first cord snapped, lashing outward violently as it shredded the wolf's muscle like a whip made of condensed, pressurized light.

Though any damage caused by the cords was seemingly a good thing, the lurch the wolf took to step closer toward the charging Arson was not.

Points of light bloomed in the air above the area the wolf tried to escape. Lines of light connecting to one another in the air to form a massive portal mouth formed as Micro and the other sky-suited divers all now glowed, becoming anchor points for the portal being created.

Sunlight began to stream in through the portal as it finished forming. A hexagonal opening allowed not only the light to pour into the dark area they fought in, but also allowed all there to see what was on the other side of the large portal mouth while it descended.

Xani: We are ready on this side!

“Drop it, Micro!” Arson made it a few yards away from the entrapped wolf, raising his weapon above his head in preparation for an overhead slash when both he and the demon wolf were swallowed by the dropped portal. Arson roaring as the demon howled back.

The demon was finally able to jump toward Arson in that final moment, the portal edge slicing cleaning through any of the cords left unsnapped by its tremendous strength; Arson bringing Sky down even as he dove toward the creatures open maw.

“Eat sparks!”

…

A few moments prior…

Xani and a handful of the other capable flyers within the BHC flew well above the dump after using teleportation tokens created by Jade. They needed to get into place as soon as possible, but what greeted Xani and the rest that accompanied her through the air above the dump was absolutely unexpected.

The crash sight for the ship from the Mana Monarch kingdom had been converted into something else entirely. Groups of robots now defended the giant robot that had nearly defeated the entire Mana Monarch army that had seemingly poured without end from the interior of the ship.

Even as the survivors from the Mana Monarch Kingdom still fought to defend themselves, integral pieces of technology were being scavenged from the ship’s interior and used to repair and even upgrade the giant robot below.

“Bosslady, this isn’t normal, right? You can’t expect me to believe that we will be expected to encounter things like this at the drop of a hat regularly, right?” Xani glanced over her shoulder as the group spread out to form a secondary portal mouth in the air above their target.

“No less normal than anything else our leader has us do,” said Xani, as she pulled the redesigned portal token from her spacial inventory. Where the original tokens only made single use portals, these new tokens served as points of power that once triggered, connected to one another to form massive portals that could almost be considered gateways, with the exception being that although they could be used multiple times, they weren’t powerful enough to lead to alternate realms.

Xani’s group spread out quickly enough that the portal exit was created smoothly like a rain cloud formed in an instant rather than the slow process weather systems normally took. This was unlike any time they’d done this prior to Xani asking Arson’s mom for help, as the gravitational energies she’d played with were exceptionally volatile, and after Jasmine had laughed at Xani for almost dying like she had many times in their childhood during her experiments, Xani set her pride aside.

“Wipe that look off your face, you’re fine!” One of the Bookish who had been with Xani even before the formation of the BHC trembled as the swirl of power opened up to a dark space above them, their raised hands seemingly holding up a tare in the sky. Memories of all the failed explosions that had taken place just earlier that morning enough to make the young woman want to flee outright.

“Yeah… whatever you say, Bosslady,” yelled back the young woman nervously.

Xani quickly sent a message to Arson detailing the portal was open, and before she’d even got a response a roar was heard coming through the portal itself. Xani incapable of not looking at the others helping hold up the portal. Fear in all of their eyes, with the exception of one. The young man next to Xani was not familiar to her in any way shape or form, and the oddity stuck out. She took in his features and realized the bag on his back was actually a jetpack, the sight enough to make Xani start to type another message to Arson, but as their eyes met, Xani knew it was too late.

Foreign flyer, was all Xani managed to type mentally to Arson and the young man she knew wasn’t hers by his inability to fly unassisted, jettisoned backwards, pulling the token he held aloft with him just as the wolf begun to emerge from the hole in the sky.

The young man winked playfully at Xani before he flew off, and the young woman on her opposing side screamed.

“Not this bloody mess again!”

The second link was broken in the same moment that Arson was pulled through the volatile mixture of gravitational mana that would soon explode if not controlled. A probability that Xani knew would never happen as she saw the terror in those still left bravely beside her.

“Run!” Xani yelled and dove toward Arson without a second thought The portal above them all collapsing in on itself with a sky wrenching explosion of indiscriminate destructive power.

The wolf's lower half hadn’t completely exited the portal and experienced the explosion from the center of the detonation point, losing all four limbs attached to its hips. Black blood rained down as its howl of pain echoed through the sky.

Xani felt proud of herself as she artfully dodged much of the violence still being incurred between Arson and the demon, only to be collided into by one of her own frantic flyers, now left directionally confused after the explosion.

“Aaah!” The young man bellowed as Xani righted him after untangling him from herself, and pushed him away from the combat occurring in the sky and the ground below.

“Get out of here!” Xani summoned a fleet of Propeller palm drones, groups of three joining one another in the air to form wings. The drones dismantling themselves, as they reconnected to form the equivalent to angelic wings shaped by various drones. In total, Xani had six wings, all which allowed her to increase her speed toward Arson. The young man standing on the side of the wolf's head, with his weapon still lodged in the side of the demon’s face.

“Arson let go, its about to—“ Arson looked back over his shoulder, barely dodging the claws, signs that many successful attacks had landed, golden blood soaking his tabard.

“We can’t let this thing die, Xaniss!” Xani almost shrieked at the use of her full name, but when Arson pointed below the sight of the now armored robot she knew she wouldn’t like whatever was to come.

“Arson, what in the embers are you doing!”

Xani’s wings pushed her to speeds that made her uncomfortable to experience. The shadow of the demon slowly began to stretch and loom on the gathering of robots below. All while Arson for reasons unfathomable to Xani, positioned himself between the two monstrous entities.

The Robot stood from a kneel in one solitary and smooth motion, and a chorus of roars filled the air. A sound like a discordant vibration was emitted from the Robot, that crouched slightly and cocked back a now viciously sharpened mechanical gauntlet. A death howl came from the wolf that hungered for anything that would revitalize the demon and aid its regeneration. While Arson roared in defiance of what Xani felt she knew was to come next.

“Arson, nooo!”