Sasha slid to a halt, leaping over a legionnaire flying her way.

The others were quick to attack, but the trees gave her cover. Clawing and pouncing between them came as natural as the daily climb to her hideout. A tendril shot out, inches from her head. Crap. She tried to move faster, her eyes focusing as she finally spotted the cave ahead. And the portal jutting out of it.

A lake of white bodies flooded the ground near the entrance. Creatures with wings and claws. With sharpened appendages and talons. The legionnaires in front didn’t pay her much attention. They were too busy trying to get at the panda battling on the cave’s roof.

“MR. XAN!” she shouted.

The panda’s head rose.

“Panther, yo-” His words stopped dead as his hammer moved, a large hand pushing him to the edge, where Sasha could see legionnaires lying in wait. Her staff flew out like a javelin. It impacted with a clack, one of the monsters spiraling down into the pile. The others whirled in her direction.

Well, I got their attention.

She glanced back at the legionnaires that had already been tailing her. They joined the front group, both sandwiching her in the middle. Going ground-side was out of the question. Tongues and appendages shot out. So many she had to summon her staff to block.

“Tsk. GT, you’re up.”

“On it, Ms. Sasha,” it said.

Her body lightened, her gravity field engaging and speed boost returning. She deflected another tendril before weaving past the others, attention falling to Mr. Xan and the cave. I can make it. She gave her mightiest leap, pulling herself towards her liaison, who had closed the distance between himself and the three legionnaires she saw him fighting.

They were all the same bipedal giants she recognized from Argos.

One had a hole in its chest. Another had its head blown clean off. The third Mr. Xan was in the process of hammering away when its legs shot up, launching the panda backwards. Sasha landed, immediately making herself heavy so she could catch him.

“Mr. Xan,” she said. “Are you okay?”

His response was a glare.

“Why are you here? I told you to-”

“Mr. Erin’s safe,” she said. “I left him with the Captain.”

“The Captain?” He used his hammer like a cane to pull himself up. Despite how gruff he tried to make his voice, the man looked a mess. His suit was in pieces, and he had several gashes across his frame. “They did all this? To you?”

When she looked at the giants, realization finally dawned.

The handless giant twitched, white material appearing and closing its chest wound. The headless one’s face reshaped, eyes forming devoid of any trace of emotion. Even the one Xan had smashed into chunks was rising from the ground, body jerking with renewed vigor.

“Oh.”

"That’s twelve times I’ve killed them,” Mr. Xan said. “Guess I gotta hope thirteen times the charm.”

He closed the distance again, hammer coming down only to hit dead air as the giants dodged away. Sasha went to help when a tongue shot through her shoulder, pain flooding her senses. It jerked out, the panther falling to the ground.

“Ms. Sasha! Are you alright?” GT asked.

She growled. Her ears twitched at the sounds, and she rolled away to avoid another wound.

“Panther!”

“I’m fine!” she flung GT, deflecting several tongues. “Mr. Xan, the planet’s getting overrun fast.”

“I can- Gah. I can see that.” He pulled his hammer back. “BUZZ OFF!”

He was nowhere near striking range, but when he swung, the giants all recoiled as if he’d caught them all with one hit. Signals wafted through the air. Whatever it was, the force blew all three backward, but they remained upright.

“Crap. Running low on energy.”

Sasha knocked away a legionnaire trying to dive-bomb her directly. The others weren’t so stupid, the panther having to alternate between dodging and whacking, though she didn’t dare jump into the fold.

As much as she wanted to help Mr. Xan, she knew all too well how easily she’d be taken out. She could handle a few small fry, sure, but only in short bursts. When they came at her directly or when she could deflect their attacks back at them. But this. Endless waves that never gave her a moment to breathe? Really wish I had time powers right about now. She glanced behind her. The portal had expanded to the point that it was rising through the canopy. It was much thinner than the one at Argos, but the signals resonating off it were exact copies. She didn’t know how far the thing would go, but her gut told her she didn’t need to find out.

“Mr. Xan,” she said, ducking a tendril. “We need to get the Stem portal closed.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Easier said than done, Panther, if you haven’t noticed.”

“I have.” She slammed her staff forward, making herself extra heavy so the impact made the monster burst into mist. She smiled. “Hey. I might have an idea.”

She looked to the giants. The tremor in her chest was hard to ignore, but she knew she had to try something. Her reserves were small, to begin with. And if Mr. Xan ran out, they’d be dead in seconds. She’d have to risk it.

“GT,” Sasha said. “Can you trust me?”

The staff’s response was immediate.

“You already know the answer, Ms. Sasha.”

She nodded. Weaving another dive-bomber, she launched forward, her feet kicking her in the opposite direction. Straight at the giants.

“Sasha! What the-”

“Just get ready!”

The giants turned on her with such speed she had the briefest lurch of regret, though she swallowed it like bile. A hand came at her so fast, she felt digits touch her helmet even as she dodged the blow. The second was impossible to weave completely, Sasha forced to use GT like a shield. Her arms shook under the weight, tremors running through her body. But she didn’t stop. Not until she reached her target.

She stooped low, directly in front of the closest giant.

“GT!”

She jumped straight into the monster, staff first. Gravity magnified, pulling her upward and flying into the air. Wind blew across her helmet, the giant forced skyward along with her.

A transfer.

The minute she made contact, her field pressed forward, all her upward momentum getting shifted to the monster in an instant. They both crashed through the jungle canopy, the giant grabbing hold of GT.

“Hands off!”

The staff disappeared, Sasha extending an arm backward.

“Bye!”

It reappeared, her field pulling her towards the ground.

Both she and the monster flew in opposite directions. Her back to the safety of the jungle below where she found a slightly bewildered panda and two giants eyeing her. It to the upper atmosphere, where it would keep traveling until it launched into the vacuum of space. Or popped. Whichever came first.

“Alright,” Sasha said as she landed. “Now we just gotta take out the-”

“Energy Reserves at 20%.”

“What!”

Sasha looked up as a giant appeared. She braced with GT, but a hammer collided with the monster, sending it away as Mr. Xan landed in its place. She smiled.

“Nice trick, Panther,” Mr. Xan said. “Think you can do it again?”

She spun around, dodging the hand that shot out from their other side. The giant’s heavy palm collided with the spot she’d been at, the section of the roof collapsing.

“Would you be mad if I said no?” Sasha asked.

Her original plan had been simple. Send the monsters into the sky, let them burn up in space, close the portal, and save the world. A pretty straightforward strategy, all things considered. What she hadn’t accounted for was that it would take most of her energy just to send one giant airborne. The only thing she’d really done was draw the attention of the other two.

“10%, Ms. Sasha.”

She growled, blocking another hit that rocked her limbs. Was this really all she could do?

“Hey, Panther!” Mr. Xan called.

“Yeah?”

“How much you got left?”

“Uh…10%.”

“Crap. Same here. Guess, we go with plan B, then.”

Sasha jumped back only to feel a bundle of fuzz behind her. Mr. Xan was behind her, raising his hammer into the air. The giant he’d been fighting lay on the floor with its head blown off.

“I can give you 10 seconds,” he said. “Get that portal shut, Panther.”

As he spoke, Sasha felt the signals rising again. The headless giant rose. The other giant came swinging at her, but she rushed in to meet it, making herself heavy so she could manage a single hit.

“5%.”

Her staff smacked its body, the light impact enough to make it stumble, with the second knocking it down. It did do any real damage. She knew that. But when she felt the signals erupt behind her, she didn't care.

“RAAAGH!”

That’s all she heard before Mr. Xan’s hammer crashed into the ground.

A wave of signals blew the air itself apart, wind flying in all directions as Sasha saw her opponent get launched away. A torrent of white flew through the forest, legionnaires getting tossed about like ragdolls. The airborne giant landed against a tree, the other rooting itself to the ground.

“Do it, Panther!”

Sasha snapped to attention. "Right!"

She whirled on her target. The only thing that was really important in the giant sea of flying monsters. The portal that had grown so big it was probably reaching into the stratosphere. She pushed forward, running past Mr. Xan to leap directly at the purple gate. Her staff plunged inside.

“GAAAAAAAAH!”

Lightning shot through her body.

Pain erupted through her mind like a thousand needles piercing her head at once. She screamed louder, holding onto GT for dear life. The signals. So many signals! Tears ran down her cheeks.

“Panther!” Mr. Xan called.

Her fangs clenched. She felt her mind cracking like glass, her grip on the world sustained solely by the staff she held between her hands. The staff she squeezed with everything she had, her voice rising in a primal roar. The pain was unreal. She pushed forward, letting the signals tear through her.

“GET CLOSED!”

The air trembled and shook. The signals all flowed away, her screams magnifying from pain to rage. She heard GT chime.

“Reserves depleted!”

The sensations fell away.

Sasha’s field dropped, the panther plummeting to the ground, landing flat on her back on the roof of the cave. Her body felt a thousand pounds heavier. She could hardly move. But when she looked into the sky, her heart felt slightly lighter.

The purple substance was dissolving into mist. As were the other legionnaires.

The swarm of bodies turned into powder, creatures dying in droves. The giants fell to the ground, bodies shaking, though they clung to life. One turned to Sasha, the panther tensing as it came rocketing forward. The giant exploded in seconds.

Geez. She looked to Mr. Xan, who also collapsed, sitting against his hammer.

“Ugh,” he said. “Sorry about that, kid. Probably should have warned you it would hurt.”

Sasha responded with a glare, too tired to speak. Above their heads, the Stem portal continued to fizzle away until it was gone just like the other legionnaires. Sasha waited to see if the other portals on Torpha would fade as well.

They didn’t.