Chrome Skull Viper itself took form, its skull gleaming gold and fire exploding from its mouth as it lashed out at the flowing souls in perfect concert with Carnifex. Zel began multiplying Carnifex, forming countless False Fangs only to merge them together. The ground beneath her feet turned to iron as she strained the reactor of her heart to create Fangs as close to True as possible.

Before she could put her solution into action, however, Third struck back at her, directly manipulating the maelstrom to focus its wrath specifically on her. Hundreds of mangled human shapes within the aura merged into one, crashing against Chrome Skull Viper's golden form. The sacrificial monstrosity pried open the aura-beast's jaw, only for the viper to vanish altogether and strike from the side. The monstrosity dissolved, reforming in the viper's blind spot. In this manner, the two constructs became locked in battle. Meanwhile, Third cut himself again and unleashed another deluge of flesh and boiling blood. His right arm inflated, then burst into a deluge of tentacular, clawed appendages, swimming entirely unimpeded through the maelstrom. Even the sonic booms of their acceleration somehow didn't disturb the flow. They moved as to encircle Zelsys, those on the outside purposely going faster.

The Uncoiling Scolopendra was far from ideal here. A more focused technique was necessary; an intermediate between it and the Beheading Scolopendra. Already having expanded to dozens of segments in length, Carnifex coiled up into a hemisphere in front of Zelsys. Lightning and aura both surged through it. Without a single stray thought, she conceived the variant technique and put it into motion, swinging her entire body on one foot, setting Carnifex into a purposely chaotic flight path that resembled a centipede thrashing about after it has grasped its prey. The spiritual exertion made her feel as though her head might split at any moment, but she pushed on. She still had aura to spare, this pain would pass. The new technique variant solidified in her mind just as a shower of high-velocity gore came raining down on her, only to be devoured by her aura. It was densely packed with Third's aura, after all, and she had just torn it away from him. So long as she took care to weigh the aura gain from destroying others' techniques, she could stretch what she had very far.

BUTCHERING ART: THRASHING SCOLOPENDRA

“Very impressive! I can see why you were the one to claim that inheritance in the far north. I cannot imagine using such a weapon. However, your struggle is at an end now!” Third gloated, striking the bell for a final time. The maelstrom intensified such that Zelsys felt that she couldn't withstand it even using Carnifex as a defense, and Chrome Skull Viper expended far more aura than it gave back, forcing her to dissipate it.

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Regretfully, she leapt backwards, dragging herself out of the maelstrom before it could consume her. From where she stood, she could clearly see that the vortex of sacrificial energy would fill the ritual circle's boundaries very soon. She suddenly received an aetherwave message:

"Am I coming through? Please respond."

Zel responded with an affirmative ping. She managed to pick out Zefaris, and closed the distance in moments, leaving broken rooves in her wake.

"Good, finally. The disruption array is ready, but I don't think it will have much effect unless his grip on the ritual is broken, even momentarily. Any ideas?"

Before she responded, she reformed the Crown Fang to add a handle and whipped it down towards Zefaris. The blonde grabbed on the moment she realized what it was, and soon stood beside Zelsys. The upper-right quarter of her face was covered in bulged-out veins, but she didn't seem in any hurry to close her eye.

"You've seen the first dragonfire shell firing. Do you think one of your coins can reflect something even stronger?"

"...I think so, since they're dragonsteel. I will take special measures with the enchantment to be sure."

"Good, then do that, but first-" Zel started, pulling the dragonfire shell out of Thundercannon, tilting it bullet-first at Zefaris. "You know what it needs."

With a nod, Zef's eye expanded out and she began carving. Only four symbols; one on the front of the bullet, and three around the neck of the shell. While she worked, Zelsys did much the same, also preparing. She knelt down, gathering all of Carnifex into Fang Rippers. The Root Fang was the first, and she willed it to temporarily distort into a tubular shape, an extension for Thundercannon, melding it near-seamlessly with the firearm. A Two False Fang Ripper came next, then three, four, and five, ending with a Six True Fang Ripper at the very end. Rather than set them as anchors, Zel wrapped her six Thundergods around her left arm, all the way down Thundercannon's length.

"Where's Victor, by the way?" Zel asked as they prepared.

"On the other side. The array needs someone to set off each of the resonators, and besides you, he is the most mobile. I've set mirrors in case he can't get to them."

Third, of course, didn't just leave them be. Though the vast majority of his focus was on the ritual, in the process of pushing it toward its next stage, his grasp on the maelstrom grew such that he could send a construct of sacrificial energy out of its boundaries. It took the form of a distorted human upper body, wrought from hundreds of skeletons and draped in tattered flesh. Four monstrous arms extended from its torso, and an umbilicus of bone and flesh extended from its spine deeper into the maelstrom, seething with dense aura. The Sacrificial Revenant moved faster than it had any right to, flagrantly defying gravity by darting back and forth in a zigzagging pattern as it closed in on the duo.

Before it could reach them, however, a ghostly bullet smashed into its head from the side, tearing out a piece. Zelsys didn't wait a moment and usurped the piece, momentarily freeing one of her Thundergods to drag it in for Chrome Skull Viper to devour. A very physical followup shot followed from below, and another, and another - Zero.