VenomSweep’s metal bulb grates through the pulverised gravel behind me. A swollen moon lights up the half destroyed city, pools of water form out of the beaten land and licks of flame burning unheeded over unfortunate constructs.

Panting, I struggle not to fall back on my knees and drag myself across the crater formed from my crash, the pounding in my head punctuates each arduous step. Blinking blood, I lift my head and witness Fex buzz through three Crimson tiers. With a burst he darts up above her, his hammer levied behind him and warping with Essence as he manoeuvres the feint— a screen of darkness materializes in the sliver space between her head and his hammer.

Momentum carries Fex through the portal depositing his explosive attack a mere inch off on my side. Debris and water bathe me and I fall to my knee with a huff, giving in to the mounting exhaustion at the mere pelleting of rocks.

Ahead the Crimsons continue the fight in our stead— shadows of snapping, hungry maws chase an agile [Khozuik] through the destruction of past battles. The quilled demon riddles the shadows with its projectiles, piercing through and dispelling the shadows as he summersaults out of their advance in Essence boosted leaps and bounds.

A corpse ragdolls out of a shadow portal behind him, smacks him out of the air and into an elongated, shadowy hand. It snatches him, morphs into itself— a maw bristling with jagged teeth— and consumes the [Khozuik] in three crunchy bites. Trembling from within, beams of light escape the smog of shadow and in a flash of blinding light it implodes, leaving nothing to trace of shadow or demon.

Three others pressed on.

Fex strains to lift his hand. He feeds a sliver of mana into a dull ring and a vial of flowing Essence swirls into existence. He catches it but promptly lets his hand fall to me, “Take a sip.”

He pushes the vial in my hand and wriggles out of my grip, his Soul Crystal flaring with all the Essence of his existence— I know what he’s about to do, so many others have pushed themselves to the further reaches out their Soul’s capabilities in hopes of a rumoured breakthrough, but this is not Reais, the realm will not look kindly upon a vying demons last stand.

He will die.

Fex clambers back on his many feet, shaking off the Shadow Witches punishment as he palms his legendary hammer, “Only a sip, Haern. I don’t expect you to exhaust your Crystal like I am, but make sure my last stand isn’t wasted. It’s time this witch died.”

A brave [Myrmi] lurches out of the sand behind her, multitude of eyes glaring a with paralyzing effect that falls flat against her masked face. The demon bears down with the razor sharp instruments attached to its many arms, slicing, swiping and stabbing with in vain effort to touch her through the wave of shadows that erupt from her collar

The witch doesn’t move or shift her attention off of us. Her shadows expand, engulfing the [Myrmi] in the jowls of a shadow manifested beast, separate of her own darkness. In terrible crunches the shadow construct marches out to her side, domineering over ten feet tall on four of its wispy legs— some not even bothering to touch the ground— and spits out the metal affixes of the demon’s enchanted weapon.

Two Crimsons remain.

“Hurry now, take a sip and let’s end this.” Fex growls, his energy returning as he burns the last embers of Essence in his Crystal.

Terror whelms within me. The vial swirls with the distilled Essence of both Calridian and the Queen of Ticks herself— a testament to their new alliance in the Consumption and the weapon to end the drawn out invasion of Ire. In the right place and the right time, pouring the vial out will break through the thinning difference between Ire and Reais at last, ending the Heroes machinations with pure, unfiltered Maroon tier Essence willed to corrupt.

Pressing it to my lips I’m careful even as the witch pulverizes an unfortunate [Adar]. Too much down my throat would broil me from the nucleus of my Soul Crystal, even as Blood Orange. A drop sizzles my tongue and I recoil as it the conk Essence ingrains itself in my pathways, the true mass of it rushing down my back to my Crystal snug below my wing joints.

My entire body thrashes into involuntary spasms. My spine squeezed to crushing by my muscles, wings growing oversized and enflamed by the transcendent, demonic purity of two Noble Generals clenching at Lordhood.

Blood bleeds into my eyes and down my cheeks and I strain under the weight of my power bustling body. Exhaling fumes of Essence, I huff and bring the rest of the vial to be swallowed into my rings pocket space and rising into the shadow of my own colossal wings I kick VenonmSweep into a spin, dancing it at my front.

The witch summons a second nightmarish shadow and it breathes an obsidian flame over the final Crimson, a talented fellow [Leptir]. Her ashes drift by the onyx flames that obliterated her in flight, hatred rolls through my blood, through my pathways till bursting— the energy bolsters me to strengths surpassing Gerim and even the Queen’s right hand, Kraok.

Bloody tears burn to mist as excess Essence surges from my eyes, sharply trained on the witch. She spares a look away from Fex fuelling his hammer for his last stand and glances up at me—green flora patterns trace across an expressionless white mask yet all psychic impressions tell me she welcomes the challenge with a smirk.

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“Ready? I’m going big!” Fex buzzes into the air in a sharp leap, his hammer hangs over his shoulder, coursing with the last of his vital force— between the plates of his wings I catch a glimpse of his dying Crystal.

The hammer bursts into impossible proportions as he heaves it over his shoulder, blazing with a sentence of death for the smug Hero. I chase out after him as her shadows bristle a sharp reply to Fex, slamming pillars, spread out hands and fists punching out against the colossal strike.

Ravenous, savage BloodOrange Essence smashes against the witches’ significant depths of energies and she buckles under the weight. I send VenomSweep charting down at her as Fex roars, its bulbs spiked with the worst of my venom and blazing within an inferno of Essence.

Shadows snap out in response even under the bearing weight of Fex’s hammer. She dispels my attack easily as Fex shrinks his hammer to sizes once more, pivoting away to support my charge.

Funnelling an excess of Essence into my enchanted rings, bolstering the already burgeoning effects of [Bonded Thrall] and sending my chains to their next Soul Tier. My two chain darts become a hundred in a flurry and soaring over the witch I send each plummeting at her accursed mask with the fury of Calridian and the Queen of Ticks broiling within my Crystal, enforcing my strike.

She blankets herself in a dome of shadow, responding with quickly overwhelmed shadowy stabs. Her summons bear the brunt of my wrath. Each chain drips a bucket of my strongest poison and the heat from Fex pivoting for another metoric strike sends a fog of breathable poison throughout the destroyed half of the city and seeping into the rest. My bulbs pulverize and tenderize the shadows, sending them into oblivion with little resistance

A flick of my wrist and I wrap, merge and strengthen my chains around the witches’ dome of darkness. Prickly hooks and corks sprout along the chains at my command and timed with Fex’s levied strike I rip into her defences with a mighty tug.

Another blast of Essence erupts, this time Fex’s thick BloodOrange dims significantly as the last of his vital force runs out, but underneath his hammer are my chains. Their violent ripping blends with the callous spread of venom, making for a pulling effect as a swirl of Essence gnaws away at her, revolving debris and venom— my BloodOrange Essence nears a tinge of Maroon.

Then, I feel the chains slacken and tug to tighten them immediately. Her dome shrinks in size and strength, buckled under Fex’s unfettered battering that’s quickly losing its rhythm as his BloodOrange withers away into a stark Crimson.

The dome continues to shrink until her shadows form tightly around her assigned, concentrated patches anticipating the worst of Fex’s strikes. She forces a pitch band of darkness against my ripping chains but I continue to tug and feed Essence into the forming maelstrom with the witch at its centre.

I glance over at Fex, his swings have become a pathetic disturbance though still burning away Essence to coat and amplify his hammer the witch barely pays attention as her shadow blocks incoming swings with precision. I split a chain from the rest, whip its bulb out to puncture a boulder and heave.

With a rather lazy flick of my finger the new chain levies the boulder at the witch. It slips through undeterred and smashes into her head, shattering the top fraction of her mask before her shadows retaliate and skewer the unfortunate boulder.

Hanging her head away from our sights, her shadows continue to push against our offense as the gash at the side of her temple pours out first blood. Emboldened, I push even more Essence into my chains, the burgeoning tint of Maroon in my own Essence starts to wane but I only see the start of victory, “Come on! A bit more, Fex! Hang in there!”

Just then a tremendous force surges within the witch, diluting our Essence severely as she raises her head, revealing a single burning white eye. She catches Fex’s swing, this time with her hand rather than her shadows. Glancing up at me with that eye engulfed in a power even stronger than Essence and speaks for the first time, “Not even.”

With a squeeze Fex’s hammer crumbles into weightless flecks of light, consuming everything solid about it as it travels down the head to the handle and to Fex himself. His bleeding eyes meet mine and to me alone he says, “You’re my proudest student.”

“Noo!!” A renewed rage fuels me as Fex disappears into the night like he never existed, his last words resounding in my head as I whip my chains, multiplying them by the thousands to entrap the witch in a ball of grinding acidity.

It lasts mere seconds before being blasted away in a flash of terrifying light. The witch rises upon a tower of shadowed hands, propelling her to my heights where she and her eye bear down at me, “You have failed, demon, return to your pit and stay there. Tell your masters that Ire is not yours to conquer.”

Trembling, I dare approach, gliding carefully through the space between us as the jagged forces truly behind her eyes watch me a few feet away, pompous in their strength.

“Calridian told me of you…the gods behind their puppets. Now you show yourselves…when you’re about to lose everything. Which one are you?” I point at the necklace of a praying goddess dangling from her neck, “Are you her? The one venerated as Anera?”

The eyes say nothing but raise a hand ready to smite me. In this moment I recognize my own failure and tighten my grip on my venom dripping chains, “I suppose you’ll destroy all demons then, so let me ask you what are you doing about Nil?”

Her hand falters a bit and the entity within tips her head, “Who?”

“Nil, the demon behind you.” I say with a shit eating grin as she foolishly turns to have a look. Mana feeds into my ring and it produces the vial of Maroon Essence— rather than have another sip I flick my chains, pouring the might of Essence behind a singular bulb as the entity turns back with snarling irritation only to be met by the concussive force of my attack.

My bulb smashes the mask to smithereens, revealing the otherwise beautiful human underneath, flinching away as I clear the space and straddle her in my arms. Instantly I’m met with resistance, strength beyond Gerim, beyond Kroak. But I fight it, breaking my shoulder to brute force the vial down any available orifice— I pour it down her throat her eyes flare with godly power, blasting out beams and flailing wildy as pure, unfiltered demonic Essence invades her pathways with a corruption.

Tired, I let myself fall as she smashes an elbow through my chest. The vial and the rest of its contents spill out, whipping in the wind and crashing alongside me. I shut my eyes with the last thing in sight being the witch consumed by the battle of two mighty and opposing force— her dark cloak burns away, leaving her hovering naked and screaming agony into the night.