“Jano!” Robin screamed. “What in the alliance is going on here? Are you alive buddy?” She spoke tentatively. A roar of wind belted through the small opening in the walls he had set up around him. He could feel it through his shield and he heard the small sounds of dying squeaks. Relief washed over him as backup arrived in some form. He put the runes for Chaos Crush to the back of his mind for the time being.

“Yeah I’m here. Just a little stuck at the moment.” He watched the stone crumble more as the weight of Robin’s attack washed up against them. More empty squeaks. He could feel her spirit now as she was closer and he was able to relax. Then the attacks stopped and he felt her drop next to him gently, as though placed by the very wind itself.

“Ah good to see you’re alive! I don’t think I could have dealt with Dariea if you weren’t.” She looked at the piles of creatures around him and let out a faint whistle. There were tens of them scattered around them. “Well, you’ve done quite the job on these little buggers haven’t you?”

Jano was too tired to respond immediately. He was too busy getting his breath back. Though he did feel some level of pride underneath all the fear of dying. Somewhere. Pride that he’d managed to survive. “It seems that you’ve managed to get rid of quite a few.” He managed in the end.

“It will however pain you to know that there are still quite a few out there. Including one quite large beast.” She dusted down her hands. “I decided we’d be better off tackling that one together.”

“Well I suppose we best get to work.” Jano’s words surprised him. He readied his hands on his weapons, feeling the strength of the handle and the weight of it. His words surprised him so much that he couldn’t believe he found himself adding, “that is of course if you are ready.” He didn’t feel ready himself. He barely felt like he’d gotten his breath back.

Robin smiled. “I sure am.”

On cue, the stone crumbled and fell, revealing a horde of creatures on the other side. All of whom were now heading straight for them. They squeaked and screamed as they ran toward them. Robin’s demeanour had changed entirely. She was focussed and she cut a fighting stance.

“Create more of these walls if you can. Make it difficult for them to use their numbers and I’ll deal with the outside.” A whirlwind of shadow began to fly around her, illuminating her with a dark green aura with flashes of whispering grey. She lifted some of the creatures with her as she rose into the opening and sent them flying out of the opening. Others were pushed back by her aura.

Jano seized on the space. He created more walls and forced them into place. He set them at severe angles to create a more difficult path. He pieced together the broken rock and shaped them into boulders in the middle, though his spirit was tiring and they wouldn’t hold for long.

He gripped his scythes tight. Some of the boulders already chipped as the creatures forced their way past. A coupled managed to slither through a gap. He had known it was coming, but the adrenaline kicked in and sent him lurching forward. It was too late now he reasoned and he ran at them swinging wildly and hoping to strike their most exposed points. Through gritted his teeth he pushed through the exhaustion. All the training in the world hadn’t prepared him for the intense effort of survival. Though when he struck with Eradin’s Bane, as he had come to call the Emperor’s old scythe in his mind, he felt his spirit gaining a little bit more strength. At this point it was a fading lifeline.

Those runes which Dariea had given him floated in the back of his mind. The Chaos Collapse, it had to do something. He hacked and slashed as he tried to build himself up to use it. Though he wasn’t convinced he could do so even at full strength. He had to try. Vicious winds pounded outside and he could hear Robin’s grunts of exhaustion.

A small opening in the stone appeared next to his head. An orange creature grabbed onto his head and started gnawing at his ear. It shrieked as he pushed a scythe into it, hoping to get rid of it. He was very conscious of trying not to cut his own head off. He shook violently and it released its grip and he managed to finish it off. He looked outside and watched Robin fighting her own small horde of the creatures.

They were overrunning the opening. They were everywhere. Jano’s heart slumped. How could they get out of here alive? Waves of dark emerald air swept the beasts away and smashed them against the walls on the outskirts of the opening. Even with her destroying so many creatures at once, rows more took their place. A dark red creature the size of almost a handful of the others was stalking her on the outskirts, evading her attacks and waiting for its moment.

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The rest of the walls cracked and then split apart. Suddenly leaving Jano in the open. He looked around to see Robin once more surrounded and being pushed back to the tunnel. The larger beast waited at the mouth of the tunnel, as if it was orchestrated. Now he could see it was almost his size in height but much thicker. It was a wonder it fit in some of the tunnels. If it even did.

He realised that she had drawn many of the creatures to her. He had defeated what felt like a small army, but there were still so many more. He moved to run in and assist. It was impossible. He couldn’t dismiss this many fully rested. Instead, the Chaos Collapse runes came to the forefront of his mind. He gathered any chaos essence he could and began to process it in his spirit. Come on, He muttered to himself.

It was coming together but much slower than it would have done in Molinia. Robin fired out yet more dark green projectiles and they attacked with the force of a hurricane, but the large creature evaded them and the numbers were starting to pin her down. It dawned on Jano that the larger beast was using powers of its own. The thing could use some form of essence. The creature moved faster than he had seen anything move before. Then it bit into Robin’s arm. She screamed with dire urgency. She was in trouble.

Jano decided to try it. They were losing and before long, they could be dead. It was his fault Robin was here in the first place. He had to try something. He pictured the runes and let out the chaos essence in his spirit. He shut his eyes to focus his will, but his perception could pick up a small deep purple ball gathering near his stomach. The ball began to grow larger and started to suck surrounding debris toward him. The air began to hum. The creatures looked towards him and even the large one seemed curious.

It felt strong. Stronger than he should have been. He dismissed doubts, they would not help. It grew larger and started to suck the creatures into its orbit. Soon it had engulfed much of the opening they had been fighting in. The large creature resisted, though it was now undeniably being pulled into the violet orb alongside its companions. It screamed and disappeared in a flash. Next it appeared by Jano’s ear. In the split second it needed to slow down and open its vulgar jaws, with several rows of teeth inside and blood between them. It was grabbed by the orb and immobilised as it was sucked in.

Jano opened his eyes and saw the enemy contained. He felt as though he needed to do something. Like there was more he should know. He tried to halt its expansion as it headed toward Robin. She was propped up on one knee, looking at it with increasing unease. The air around him began to shimmer and the ground began to shake. The orb was unstable and growing.

“Errr Jano, I don’t suppose you can stop that thing now?” She couldn’t keep the worry from her voice.

“I’m trying.” He grumbled. “I’m really trying.”

“Could you try harder please?” She said, now backing away toward the tunnels. The creatures inside were immobilised but seemed to be still alive. He wasn’t sure what to do. Could he stop? He doubted it anyway, but then that would release the attackers. Something filled his spirit. It was as though he was growing stronger.

His mind raced for an answer as the orb blocked out the open roof and he could no longer see Robin. The walls began to shake. Then the floor began to do the same. He looked at his hands and he was vibrating ceaselessly as he desperately struggled to hold it. He had no idea what he was doing.

It stopped expanding. Jano’s eyes met the man sized creature’s and he could have sworn he saw a smile. Then several beams of darkness shot through the orb. They seemed wild and unnatural as they skewered the creatures inside. An explosion of utter black went off in the centre. Like lightning made of pure dark. Something crashed into the top of the now vastly emptied sphere with utter ferocity that the dust around Jano spat into the air and a boom rang through the caverns.

Then, without warning the orb imploded. It folded in on itself and crushed anything left inside before dissipating. Jano stared blankly ahead, his mouth agape. Everything seemed so still now. It was all silent. Robin looked at him with a questioning look, then she fell to one knee; she seemed exhausted more than hurt.

“I should have warned you about the Chaos Collapse. It takes great skill to control, there is more to the runes than I explained and never, and I can’t stress this enough: Never, use it in a confined space.” Dariea emerged, she now held up Robin and walked towards him. “I… I…” he stuttered.

“You started it, yes. That much deserves credit. But I took over your technique and made it my own. It would have ripped apart this cave probably if I hadn’t. I had also been feeding your spirit power since I realised you were in trouble. What you did was very dangerous.” Jano felt like he was getting told off and he started to grow angry. He started to shake a little. “But it was necessary.”

She lay Robin down on some freshly exposed grass and in some shade. Then she walked and put a hand on his shoulder. She looked around at the remarkable amount of corpses left even after the implosion. “You did good. But let me have a look at that arm.”