We were unstoppable. Things had snowballed since we stepped foot in the Mids. Destiny was tipping the table so we’d slide away, eager to meet the eventual end point of… something. My life? The Org? The mortal plane? I was desperate to find out as well.

My ability bloomed into full focus, and I became pure radiance. The energy around me burned away at the sticky spiderweb so that my wings could spread out in golden splendor.

“Nice trick,” the demon hissed, “but you’re still my snack.”

Revolver spun around in my hand and fired off some shots. Nowhere near her - I had another target in mind. Confusion spread on her face as she descended, glowing streaks of radiant light going off at seemingly random angles - but they weren’t random.

I dropped from the place I had been stuck. Turned my body and dove below into the darkness. Arm outstretched, I readied shots off toward the next set of webs fast approaching.

“Escape is impossible, your attempt… is… futile!” Her voice petered out as I gained speed.

I’d seen a Domain or two that seemed to stretch out to infinity before. It was just a visual thing, however. Fueled by demonic power, but everything had a limit. If anything, I was more disappointed that Wight hadn’t joined me. His detachment from the need to be around my pact vessel meant that he wasn’t forced into being by my side whenever I got into trouble.

But I wasn’t in trouble. I was the trouble.

“Come back!”

Foolish of the demon to not have a way to teleport or change their Domain. The downside of it being so simple meant that it was difficult to manipulate - which meant my actions were a strain.

I was now a radiant meteor, crashing through large strands of webbing that burned and made way for my screaming descent. Scouring through the demonic power, I could almost feel it thin out.

“Stop… stop!”

Too late. Couldn’t if I wanted to. My wings were tucked in behind me - my entire being a bullet I had fired to burst through the heart of my captor. It was enough.

A radiant tear bloomed behind me, and with a sudden change of pressure, I bounced from a stone surface. Amber light pooled across the alleyway, and I dropped my Lantern form. Rolled to my feet with the revolver up… panting and sweating something fierce.

Wight kicked the head of the demon across the street while Pearl removed her sword from the severed neck. “Almost worried about you.”

I shrugged. “What, you think I could easily-”

The building to my left exploded as a large talon slammed into my chest and pushed me through the wall of the next building. I clattered and rolled across someone’s living room, striking the other side but somehow ending back up on my feet. Blood soaked through my shirt as my power tried to heal it back over.

Some kind of poison.

I watched the prong retract back into the alleyway, and heard the sounds of Pearl fighting.

Wight sunk through the wall to my right, his arms crossed as the shotgun couldn’t follow whatever path he had taken through the solid walls.

[The Org is getting close to us.]

“Oh?” I pulled a face and wiped my brow on the back of my sleeve. “Are they so eager to erase me specifically?”

[We just killed two of the Higher demons. I expect them to go all out now so that we don’t win out through attrition. Against all odds they are putting their pride aside.]

“Motherfuckers.” I winced as the building groaned, and another burst of wall brought Pearl over to us amongst a cloud of debris.

“Close to me, now!” she hissed.

Didn’t need to be asked twice. We slid across the stone, almost bumping into her as she slammed the blade of her glowing sword through the floor. As she whispered a phrase, I started to feel what was happening.

A powerful energy blooming somewhere outdoors. I raised an eyebrow to Wight, and he returned a shrug.

Then everything turned white. Way too bright, but it faded away to amber, before distilling into mist. A bubble of radiant light surrounded us, Pearl’s outstretched hands holding the barrier up.

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The buildings around us had been… vaporized. Several hundred feet surrounding us was now clear space and minor debris in a rough circle. Our eyes went up to the culprit, one of two demons now staring us down.

Amber. The Director was floating in the air, one hand raised. Flame circled her fingers.

On the ground was the other Higher demon pitched against us - the one that had poisoned me with the long barb. He was an odd mix of tentacles that looked more like scorpion tails. Four in total, with two wide feet to keep him steady. Deep purple with flecks of green across his skin.

“Resilient,” the Director said. “But you must know this is futile.”

“I’m glad you don’t talk like that,” I murmured to Pearl.

“If I were evil, I probably would.” She shot me a brief glance before lowering the barrier. “Not that I’m not evil.”

“You are a powerful demon. Soon to be the strongest in the Mids, I don’t doubt.” I looked up at Amber. Probably the one that I’d face since I could fly.

[Save your flirting for when you are more than destined corpses.]

We looked back at Wight. He was… taller now - almost the same height as me. The feathers at the back of his head were spikier and better defined. Eyes were practically aflame with hatred.

[The time before we are all undone is nearing. I am ready to give it my all. To do the necessary, whatever the cost.]

I nodded. “Then together we shall ride into the jaws of death, and not leave them wanting.”

“Our destinies bound until we are dust.” Pearl smiled.

“If you’re quite done saying your goodbyes.” Amber shook her head, the flame in her hand extending to form a long spear. “The show is now over.”

Far from it.

Even now, as minor demons tentatively entered the circle of flattened apartment buildings to get a taste of the action…

Even now, as the other demon drew his long tentacle arms back, ready to thrust them impossible distances to skewer and poison us…

Even now… as the pitch black building of the org floated gradually toward us, bringing with it a large shadow… I was ready.

The culmination of every painful experienced since becoming a Demon Hunter. Every drip of insanity, spray of blood, and crack of broken bone. The weight of looming death. Struggling against insurmountable odds and those waiting in the shadows to trip me at every step.

Well now, their laughing at my stumbling had ceased. For I had become the panacea - the very light to scour away at their shadows.

My feet cracked the ground as I burst up with my wings. Pearl went forward in a blaze of energy to deal with the tentacled demon. Wight started spinning up orbs of entropic power to level at the approaching hordes.

Revolver spat white hot hatred toward the Director, and she brought up a shield to deflect them with one arm, while the other prepared an attack - using her spear as more of a ranged attack than something to stab me with.

//Other than the two Highers, there are over a hundred Mids closing in on you.

//Got the Chuch here and they’re doing…

//Some kind of ritual? David says it’ll take a while to kick in.

I swirled in the air to avoid a beam of demonic power, almost diving straight into the jabbing of a spiked tentacle. A last-minute boost to my divine power might come in handy… if that was what they were offering. Wasn’t likely to be any better time for it. Just as soon as we got through these two, we could destroy the Org and Makkari for good.

Amber appeared next to me in a blur of inconceivable speed. Something weighty struck me and I spun to the ground, a plume of dust bursting from the impact. I filled the cloud with ten shots of radiant energy, spinning up toward the demon. Shield up again, but then she vanished.

My skill warned me that she had appeared beside me, and I was able to move just in time to avoid being impaled by a beam of dark energy.

“To think,” she hissed, twisting to bring out another blade of energy. “You were under our noses all this time.”

I grinned. “Shouldn’t have played with your food.”

We were a blur of violence. Movement taking us into the air, back to the ground, and then up again. I threw a couple of candles that missed her but burst into the gathering crowds below. Mid demons became collateral as our attacks missed to pierce or explode amongst the hordes that Wight had been erasing. A brief glance and Pearl had removed two of the other demon’s tentacles, but was a little roughed up.

I hit the ground and rolled as blood soaked through my slacks. A beam that had cut through part of my leg like it was soft butter. The Director had a couple of smoldering patches burned through her suit where my shots had landed.

“Enough playing,” she growled, as the Org building loomed ever closer. “Your rebellion ends now.”

Her form burst apart, her Mask finally falling like shredded paper from her true form underneath. She was tall - easily fifteen feet or more - and incredibly lithe. Both her arms and legs ended in thin blades, probably as long as I was tall. Giant wings that were similar to those of a butterfly… but different - painful to look at as if they were made of pure demonic energy. Through eyes of deep red, she scowled down at me.

[Enough to make a mantid queen jealous.]

“Eh, I’ve squished bigger bugs,” I replied. Wight had energy crackling around his clawed hands, and deep gouges through both the ground and the gathered demons in front of him. “Fond memories, though, huh?”

[Our first possession, how could I forget?]

I smiled, despite the circumstance. That was truly the tipping point that led us here. The first time we had pushed ourselves to the very limit of what we were capable of. Even now, it was hard to soak in what we were doing on a mental level. None of the words made sense, even if the actions spoke loudest of all.

Amber wasn’t keen on me sitting back and having a moment of introspection - neither did she start giving a monologue.

That could only mean this was serious.

She flashed down toward me, her legs digging into the thick ground with ease. I managed to block the first swing of her bladed arm, but the second struck me through the shoulder. Even with my empowered dodge… she was just on another level.

I lobbed a mortar shot not at her, but to where she would move to in an attempt to capitalize on the damage done to me. Expecting her to move aside, she instead went straight into it - the blast erupting and knocking us both away.

Pain radiating up my torso, I rolled back up to my feet.

Just in time to see both arms lashing toward my face already.