“There is no passage beyond!” The first voice they heard was whiny and petulant, with an edge of complete disdain that meant it could be only one person.

“Then. Make. One.” The second voice was ragged and forced, an attempt at speech made unnatural. The words whistled through the air as though through metal pipes. Dan recognised the telltale wrongness that accompanied Steel Fever’s words but there was also no doubting the difference in voice. Guan Po Kahn was not the one speaking and Dan sprayed his mana forward to get a better view of the situation.

The two angry voices flowed from the opening which had just appeared. Dan’s suspicions were confirmed when his mana sense covered three figures. While Dan knew each of these people, he could not help but be stunned to see them all together. The yellow skinned brother to Shade, Mania, was currently forehead to forehead with Oblax Claré. What was left of him, at least. With the third person remaining silent, it took Dan an extra moment or two to recognise her.

For an insane moment, Dan wondered if she had betrayed them but that was not the case. Paranoid questions jumped into Dan’s mind and were quickly ignored as he saw the heavy cloak of mana which covered Calliope.

As well as the destruction wrecked upon her form.

Mania and Oblax, the new host of Steel Fever, were apparently arguing over how to proceed deeper. Dan now realised why half of the tower seemed to have been off-limits to them whenever he tried to work out the geometry. While their group had been travelling down one half, another group had been battling their way through the other.

“Shade. Wait.” Tense as they all were, Dan’s words stopped his allies in their tracks quickly. For a split second, Dan felt a warmth at the trust each of them had for him but now was not the time for that. Although he had stopped them, Dan realised that he didn’t know what to actually say. He just didn’t want Shade to be blindsided. “Calliope is there. Being controlled.”

If he was tense before, Shade was now as rigid as steel. “You are certain it is her?” There was no questioning the voices they had heard and Dan’s mana sense had never been deceived in such a way as to be incorrect here. Dan nodded and Shade’s lip turned into a snarl. “You freed me from my mother, you can do the same here?”

“I expect so, though I have a feeling Calliope will make it as easy as you did.” Shade did not smirk at Dan’s pale attempt at humour. He simply set his jaw, relaxed his grimace and continued walking forward. The world whined a little as Shade flexed his fingers and summoned his blade. Raze made a whistling sound, as though slicing through space itself, as it appeared.

Dan exchanged a look with Fa Lian. He could not say what she would see on his face - likely fear and worry - but in her features he saw determination, resolve which hardened his own. She held the look for a few moments, burning her eyes into his before giving him just a slight nod. A nod which told Dan that she was ready and made him feel prepared in turn.

“The monster from the vault is mine.” Dan had expected nothing less of Fa Lian. It was more than just a little personal for her. Steel Fever had corrupted two of her family members and been a metal thorn in their side for a while now. Dan had no arguments there and knew he would have his hands full regardless. Winning a fight without hurting your opponent is harder than not.

Dan could feel it before he even entered the room. A finality hung heavy in the air of this place. This would be the site of the final test, Dan was sure of it. It actually made sense, Dan thought. These two monsters needed to be dealt with and a half measure would no longer be enough. Enough was enough.

Shade, it seemed, felt very much the same way as Dan. He stepped forward, arm raised, sword pointed to the heavens. As soon as he locked eyes on Mania, Shade brought his raised arm down and the slash occurred in a long, violent line from Shade’ position. Mania and Steel Fever managed to dodge but the attack sent them both in different directions.

Letting them regroup was never going to happen and Shade was going to make sure of it. He dropped through the floor and appeared next to his yellow skinned sibling, sword already slashing. Mania, to his credit, dodged dexterously while swiping through the air with his own dagger, a vicious serrated blade that he slipped from a sleeve. Shade likely would have still connected with his sword if it had not been for Calliope.

Calliope kicked at Shade’s side and caused both blades to skim past each other. He hissed in pain and prepared to defend but Calliope did not press the assault. Watching the mana that covered her move around made Dan feel sick. It was as though a shadow of filth and nauseating hate had been given shape and thrown over his friend. Even as Shade got sent soaring away from her kick, he was slipping through space as he fell and reappeared next to Mania.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Steel Fever made their move, seeing the new threats. Mana began to collect, visibly distorting the air around its hands. Dan knew that the power would not be a devastating explosion as it had been before, but luckily for Shade, Fa Lian reached the priest’s possessed body first and connected hard with a flying knee. The two of them crashed through the huge bottom room of the tower and nearly disappeared from sight, tumbling and roaring like a dragon caught in a grinder.

Dan was not as quick as either Fa Lian or Shade. It took him a few seconds more to enter the fray and separate Calliope from the others. It wasn’t a long time but it was long enough. Shade had seen the damage that Calliope’s body had taken. If possible, Dan would have preferred to keep Shade from seeing her but it was too late. Dan felt the air around Shade shift. It reminded him of Po Daiyu or even her father, the very fabric of space had become a keening blade.

Calliope lunged forward again. Before she could smash into the wall of force Shade was projecting, Dan reached them and collided with Calliope. Collision was the right word because to Dan, it seemed as though he had tackled the tower itself. Dan had fought Calliope before when sparring but this was completely different. He dodged an incoming swipe that could have taken his head off and tried to draw her away.

There was a very real chance that Calliope would die from her injuries before Dan could figure out a way to end Mania’s control. He couldn’t let that happen, so before he could focus on the mind control, Dan had to heal Calliope.

This was much easier planned than done.

She moved robotically and the moment Dan was not an immediate threat to Mania, Calliope returned to attack Shade. Dan intercepted her once more. When he was between her and the yellow majaal, Calliope returned to an attacking stance. Dan’s heart stung with every movement she made, watching her break herself. This was not the woman who had spent nearly all of her long life in training.

Dan jabbed forward, hands laden in healing energy. With the damage that Calliope had taken, Dan would normally spend careful minutes putting the mana where it needed to go, kneading it into Calliope’s damaged body, as he had done for Xiaomei and Yurie. He didn’t have that kind of time.

Even as he peppered Calliope with small bursts of healing mana, the other battles were raging. Shade did not seem to be in much trouble against Mania, though neither were landing decisive blows. Fa Lian and Steel Fever careened around the room and Dan wasn’t entirely sure who was in control of the battle, though he trusted that it was Fa Lian.

After a few more exchanges, Dan could see a noticeable difference in Calliope’s colour. Her arm was not repaired by any stretch, still a rough and bloody mess that flailed uselessly, but it was no longer gushing blood. Progress, Dan thought to himself, slow but sure. Dan could see the progress all over the battlefield.

If he remembered rightly, the first time Shade had fought Mania had not gone well. Just the fact that it was one on one right now was a sign of the progress they had made as a group in dealing with these instigators.

Fa Lian seemed to swing around the room, her dragon scales shifting constantly into the most appropriate form. If she wanted to punch, a gauntlet appeared, if she wanted to stab, a knife. Right now she was using the tried and true form of a staff to keep the now monstrous from swinging his arms. Each time the priest managed to, a swathe of the room darkened as space itself was ripped apart. She was doing a good job of keeping the battle away and Dan had a feeling that the only reason they were still engaged in combat was something akin to Fa Lian ripping the legs off of a particularly nasty insect.

Dan’s own combat was much more sombre than the other two. He did not begrudge them their catharsis, he knew that both Shade and Fa Lian would feel better in intangible ways after beating the pulp out of their enemies. Dan hoped that he would feel better after helping Calliope… if he could help her.

Dan watched the shadow that loomed over her in his mana sense. It was invisible to the naked eye but in Dan’s sight it was as dense as lead and heavier too. It weighed down Calliope’s every movement. Movements which had, of course, improved as Dan had healed her. Once she caught him in the mouth with a punch two times in a row, Dan decided that he had helped her recover enough and it was time to blast away the control that Mania had left on her.

Dan shifted the energy he was attacking Calliope with. Now that she was healed, she could take a little beating and there was no other option available. “Sorry about this, Cali.” Dan’s words were a whisper as he felt the withering mana start moving around his hands. Dan enjoyed the small thrill he felt whenever a technique came naturally to him and this was no different.

Smiling with sad eyes, Dan started to attack. There was a palpable relief in his soul as the first blow caused the thick hateful shadow covering Calliope to quiver. It also distracted Dan enough for him to take a vicious rake of claws down his left arm. That was definitely going to scar, but Dan gritted his teeth and ignored it.

Screaming in pain, desperation and hope, Dan punched forward the disruptive energy he had learned from Fa Lian and threw caution to the wind. Calliope tore at his arms, legs, torso and neck but still he persisted. There was no reason to think that if Mania died, this curse would lift. Dan couldn’t hope for that.

He roared a final, throat-tearing scream as he threw the last of his energy at Calliope. He had healed too much, spent far, far, far more mana than he had access to. His mana channels were raw, as though he had exchanged his blood for sand. He was worried that something within him was going to break, he could feel an unnamed pressure throughout his whole body, like the mana was pushing its way out.

He contained it. He gritted his teeth. Guan Ah Dan was a fighter. He had fought everything from chimaeras to dreams. He was sure that he would go on to fight even more horrible things. For some reason, the thought made him happy. With a smile on his face, Dan released a blast of energy and watched as the shadow was blown to pieces.

A ways off, Dan heard Mania wail and wondered if it was Shade’s doing or his own.

That was the last thought he had before Dan fell and the world went black.