The Malignant Miscreants were running as fast as they could towards the center of town when Femera teleported onto Arika’s shoulder in a puff of smoke.

Arika wrapped the small fox in a hug, laughing with glee as her companion squirmed, licked at every inch of exposed skin within range, and whined with sheer, uncontrollable joy at being reunited with her master. It had been a few days since they separated, and Orion watched as some of the tension in Arika’s body melted away with each rapid-fire lick.

“Who is this licky, oversized fox pup, Arika?” Honeypot asked. “Have you been cheating on Femera?”

“You’ve grown! Look at you!” Arika said, blatantly ignoring Honeypot.

She ruffled the fur on either side of Femera’s head, holding the licks at bay as she took in the changes of her now regular-sized fox familiar. Besides the obvious change in size, she now had little tufts of fire protruding from her ears that danced slowly in the wind, the movement reminding everyone of a candle flame in a drafty room.

Orion knelt down beside them.

“She looks so different… do you think she evolved like Gizmo? Can you tell?”

Arika shook her head.

“She hasn’t… but she has definitely changed. She might be on the way to an evolution… yes you might, you adorable little thing!” Arika devolved into baby talk, kneeling in a fetal position as Femera darted under and around her, rubbing as much of her body on Arika as physically possible.

“Sorry to interrupt your reunion, Arika,” Orion said, “but does that mean Azeria is coming to help us?”

“She’s already reached Captain Blanc. There was another serpent, but it’s already half dead, and the foxes should have no issue taking out the rest of the attacking creatures.”

“Any sign of Felsteg and the rest of God’s Hand?”

“She’s unsure, but they saw a couple different parties heading north, following the plumes of smoke.”

“So they could be going towards the snail boss, then. If they attacked the townsfolk and noncombatants, would Azeria be able to defend against them?”

“I don’t think that’ll be an issue. From what Femera says, Azeria and the rest of her family were all powered up by the transformation of the event. It wasn’t just the attackers that were empowered. Along with the defenders and soldiers there…”

“They’re safe,” he concluded, relief flooding his mind.

“There’s one more thing, Orion.” Arika had a broad grin plastered across her face.

“Yeah?”

“The foxes were being ridden by small monkeys. They’re acting as artillery, attacking with the foxes, but from afar. One for each fox.”

Orion laughed while Shadow and Honeypot smiled and fist-bumped each other.

“That’s fantastic. We have even more backup than we planned.” He paused for a moment as he thought, before returning his attention to his friends. “We head to the north, then. To kill the magma snail, and put down Felsteg and his goons if they’re there. Any objections?”

“You’ll hear none from me.” Arika brushed off her knees as Femera took her place on Arika’s shoulder.

“Nope, ready when you guys are,” Shadow said.

“I, too, desire violence,” Gizmo chimed in happily.

“No objections, per se, but I have a question.” Honeypot stared at them with suspicious seriousness.

“Yeah, and what’s that?” Orion asked, already regretting his capitulation.

“Can anyone sing? We could really use some epic final-boss music.”

***

It was an effortless task to follow a path to the molten snail that would be the final-boss of the defense; the great plumes of smoke billowing off the structures burned in its wake were a beacon for anyone with eyes to see.

It appeared to have made it half-way into Valbrand so far. The skies behind the point that Orion assumed was the boss monster were filled with thin smoke.

As they got closer, the day seemed to darken, and half the sky became a sea of black from their vantage point. Soft music drifted out through the streets they traversed, so quiet that at first Orion thought he was hearing things. As they got closer, however, there was indeed singing and a musical instrument coming from the direction they traveled in.

Orion looked at Honeypot to see a look of such joy and anticipation that he couldn’t help but smile, too.

It looked like Honeypot might get his ‘epic final boss music’ after all.

They rounded a street corner, and there was a crossroads ahead. The body of the gigantic snail was before them, the heat radiating from it making Orion’s skin prickle. Beneath the slowly advancing monster was a party of adventurers fighting tooth-and-nail to deal damage to the creature.

It was the party of adventurers consisting of members killed at Felsteg and Arika’s hands—the same party he and Arika had met over dinner a couple of nights ago—Monte Cristo’s Hand.

Globs of hail-sized molten rock flew from the top of the boss’ shell before them, raining down everywhere, but particularly focused where the adventurers congregated.

Angus was swinging a glowing two-handed axe that actually appeared to be damaging the creature. As the weapon swung down and into the body of it, the magma would part, revealing vicious wounds left in flesh concealed beneath a hand’s width of molten rock.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Archer was acting as his namesake, sitting at range and dodging lava slung his way as he unleashed volleys of arrows from a glowing bow. His arrows seemed to replenish themselves in the quiver at his back, likely the function of a magic item or his own inventory.

Cain appeared periodically, two wicked-looking daggers lashing out and slashing into the body of the snail. As quick as he’d arrive, he’d be gone again—clearly possessing an ability similar to Honeypot’s Stealth.

Frida appeared to be mostly dodging lava, but would periodically cast what Orion assumed was a weak healing spell. A spot of lava landed on Angus, which to his credit, the large man ignored even as his skin smoked and burned. Frida cast her ability, and a green glow suffused Angus’ form, leaving behind fresh, healed skin in its wake of its light.

Finally, there was Truth. The small girl had one leg up on a stool and was strumming away at a lute as she sung beautifully. She took no note of the raining lava, completely enthralled by her playing.

Unsurprisingly, one such drop of lava eventually found her. It struck her arm and part of her lute, causing her to stop both singing and playing. As she stopped, the glowing on the rest of her party’s weapons started to diminish, and Angus stopped mid-swing to take a step back.

“Protection down!” he bellowed.

The glow remained, but was weak and barely visible compared to the brightly glowing body of the boss.

Truth glared daggers down at the burning spot on her arm, then belted out a string of expletives and charging at the snail, instrument held overhead. She smacked her lute down on the offending creature again-and-again, the wood catching fire and the strings snapping one-by-one with comical twangs.

The light of Frida’s healing spell engulfed her, and she threw the burning instrument at the snail one last time before calmly walking back to her chair, putting her leg up, and removing something from her inventory—a lute identical to the one she had just destroyed.

“Ahem.” She cleared her throat roughly. “Where was I?” Her singing and playing started back up, the glow returning to the rest of her party’s weapons.

Seeing their weapons once more aglow, Angus and the others renewed their attack, appearing to make up for lost time with the speed and strength of their hits.

“I think I’m in love…” Honeypot had a look of rapture on his face as he gazed at Truth.

Arika snorted. “A bard and a priest. Sounds like a match made in heaven, or a breakup song waiting to happen.”

“A match made in heaven,” Shadow said confidently.

They raised a collective eyebrow at Shadow, more surprised by his assertion than Honeypot’s confession. Even Honeypot looked at him with discerning eyes.

“Wh-what?” Shadow stammered. “What’s wrong with believing in romance?”

“You keep surprising me,” Arika said. “Not judging,” she quickly reassured the blushing Shadow, “just surprised.”

“Whatever, let’s just go kill this thing.”

Shadow strode towards the party, movement rigid and cheeks glowing pink. As he got closer, his weapon started glowing.

The rest of the party followed suit, their weapons glowing with the green light of Truth’s song as they entered the proximity of its effect.

“Ooooooh.” Gizmo hummed in satisfaction. “I am radiant.”

He really was, Orion realized, his familiar’s entire body radiating the same light as their weapons. Glancing at Femera, her body was also glowing the same color. He set aside the implications to ponder later, choosing to focus on the fact that Gizmo had improved protection because of the glowing light, along with the improvements of his upgraded body.

Gizmo had evidently arrived at the same conclusion, turning spherical and rolling towards the boss at increased speed. All the while, an anticipatory hum sung out from the happy robot.

The other party had continued their attack as soon as the music had returned, briefly checking what the approaching sound was. At seeing a pitch-black ball of metal, they were undoubtedly concerned, but relaxed at the sight of Orion and the rest of the Malignant Miscreants.

Without a word, they renewed the attack, and Frida ran to meet Orion and Arika as Shadow and Honeypot joined the assault.

“You’re a welcome sight,” she panted, sweat pouring down her face. “We’ve been at it for a good half-hour with no end in sight.”

“Have you seen anyone else?” Orion asked, watching the battle and surrounding streets as he spoke, prepared to Swap anyone to safety if required.

“No, just us. Why do you look so concerned?”

Orion told her briefly of their findings at the southern gate, and that Arika’s familiar had sensed more than one party traveling in this direction.

Frida blanched, vigor seeming to come back to her alongside righteous indignation.

“That piece of human garbage. He would really attack and kill people at a time like this?” She laughed and shook her head, then stared morosely into space. “What am I saying? Why am I surprised? Those poor people…”

“Frida, are you… feeling okay?” Arika asked, looking at the clearly exhausted Frida.

“I’m fine.” She waved Arika’s concern away. “It’s honestly just the heat getting to me.” She turned and cast a healing spell, somehow able to sense the glob of lava that had landed on Angus’ thigh. “It’s like being in a too-hot sauna just being near this thing.” She turned to look at Arika. “I’m guessing you’ve already used your firepower for the day?”

“Yes, and no. My instant-cast variant is on cooldown, but my regular explosion is ready to go.” She turned to Orion. “I figured I should wait for a suitable moment?”

“Definitely,” he agreed, still observing the fight with keen eyes.

Gizmo had rolled up on the left of Angus, head tilted towards the creature, and his arms inside of the lava layer protecting the boss. He held on to something—presumably the flesh beneath the layer of lava—as his buzz-saw attachment moved in random lines, leaving jagged furrows in the flesh below.

Shadow had arrived on the other side of Angus, slashing out repeatedly with his two-handed blade. His blows left devastating rents in their wake, causing Angus to take notice and double down on his attacks as he tried to keep up with Shadow’s damage output.

Honeypot arrived near where Cain had been and was—similarly to shadow—slashing about with his wicked-looking scythe. Cain was nowhere to be seen now, but who knew what sort of abilities and modifiers he got for going back into stealth and moving about.

“Why are you feeling the heat so much?” Arika cocked her head. “It honestly doesn’t feel that bad to me…”

“Because I don’t have a damn offensive weapon!” She turned, showing a one-handed scepter strapped to her belt that was very clearly not aglow. “Truth’s song only works on offensive weapons wielded by friendly entities. That’s why you’re all under its effect; the system sees you as friendly to her. Although I can hit things with this damn scepter, it only really reduces the cooldown of abilities and enhances my healing spells. You guys are protected, so you don’t feel the heat as much as me right now.”

She wiped the sweat off her brow in frustration.

“Even if someone friendly comes along within an hour of Truth singing her song and gets close enough to her, they get the reduced benefits and a soft glow, but not me, oh no, we wouldn’t want to give a buff to the damn healer, would we?”

“It’s a tough life being a healer, huh?” Arika joked.

“You have no idea. Especially for this band of idiots!” She flicked her hand aggressively towards the general vicinity of the boss and the adventurers attacking it.

“Hey! I heard that!” Angus yelled back.

“Good!” she spat back at him. “Don’t forget it!”

As the attacks continued to fall against their foe, the fall of lava-like rain began to slow until it stopped completely. Orion turned his attention to the shell it had been shooting from.

“Oh, not good,” Arika said.

“I think we found your suitable moment, Arika,” he said. “Use you explosion on the shell. Aim it at this side if you can, so the force blows any lava away.”

“Already done,” she replied, going through the somatic movements required to cast the ability.

The shell appeared to be expanding, storing up more-and-more of the molten rock that was previously spewing forth from it.

“Move back in fifteen seconds! Explosion incoming!” Orion yelled.

They continued attacking, and the shell continued to swell.

“Ten seconds!”

Still, they attacked, attempting to get as much damage in as possible before retreating.

“Five seconds!”

The shell exploded.