“Less than ten? May eight?” Hayato’s grated response sounded like he was straining to pull the plug on an ocean as the shadows beneath his feet darkened unnaturally and expanded.

In the minutes it had taken between beginning his weave, and now, the Gate had only spread to cover a few meters of area.

“Rear guard! Three steps back!” Mic issued, “Get as far into the Gate as you can.”

Thump.

Thump.

It took a moment for Leta to register the trembling of the ground beneath her feet as the loose pieces of concrete skittered about as something large approached.

Then she heard it.

A wet sniff somewhere between a large animal snorting and the inhale of a whale.

She heard Allister shout, “Onikuma!” as one massive paw as long as a pickup truck shot through the darkness, thick claws as long as her forearm reaching towards her.

Leta couldn’t help the “Oh, shit!” that escaped her lips as the giant bear-shaped stone head, coupled with the proportionally large arm, wedged itself into the small door.

While it jammed the space and effectively prevented the other monsters from getting in, its massive body was damaging the entire building to where Leta couldn’t help but be concerned about the room’s structural integrity.

With one arm thrashing about as it tried to get further into the room and its unnaturally large maw snapping viciously about, it heaved against the sides of the door as visors in the concrete spider-webbed from around the threshold.

One chunk the size of a manhole shifted ominously, permitting the Onikuma to nudge forward under a fall of dust.

“Fuck!” Leta cursed as she dropped her stream of lightning out of fear that she’d damage the structure further than this thing was managing.

“Your Majesty!”

Leta turned to see a young man among the three remaining Alchemists calling for her. They held noxious-looking spheres in their wrist slings.

“We’ve no Hearth Maiden to light our volley. Can you manage!?”

“Fire away!” She responded as a thin ribbon of lightning circled her fists.

‘I can’t throw a ball of lightning in this space or send out a blast with this thing trying to bring down the building. Barzal! Spear!’

“John!”

The brawler picked his head up from where he’d cut down a Loupgarou as Leta pointed to the Onikuma. “Get its attention!”

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An almost manic grin stretched across his face as he held up his pick axe and charged with a whooping shout.

The creature’s head pivoted in his direction and snarled, teeth the size of a toddler snapping at the oncoming threat.

The Blade melted off her shoulder and extended from her grip, forming itself into a silver spear as the Alchemists drew back their slings and fired.

In her mind, she saw hundreds of years of battle as the memories of the past melded with hers until her actions were an echo of theirs. With a battle cry in her throat, Leta held the spear in front of her as she ran forward. Her awareness made it feel like time had slowed so that she could witness everything around her in this single tick of the clock. She watched the Onikuma’s soulless black eye swivel from John to her as the vial spheres rotated slowly in the air a hand’s length away from its dinosaur-sized head.

Then time sped up again, and the projectiles crashed against the creature’s face and side in a wide spray of black, viscous liquid.

The monster flinched and roared as the chemicals seeped into its eyes. It swung wildly with its paw, a spontaneous move to prevent anything from attacking it in its partially blinded state.

John heaved his great pick axe and caught the creature’s arm, the bit digging into the monster’s stone skin for the Miner to keep the appendage still long enough for Leta to sprint forward.

Sparks danced across the spear shaft and blade as, with a shout, she thrust her weapon forward, the tip slicing through a divot in the creature’s skin. The beast roared in agony as her sparks set the liquid on its skin ablaze and sent wave after wave of lightning through its internal organs.

Leta pulled her spear out and stepped back just as John lost his hold of the creature’s arm. With a curse, she dropped low, its claws scraping sparks across the backs of her leg armor and shredding her pants around her ankles as the creature tried to scrap the flames from its face without success.

A moment later, she was back on her feet and rammed her spear back into its exposed side, sending another wave of energy through its body.

The blue flames of the fire burned so hot that its stone exterior had softened and melted. Thick clumps of magma dripped onto the concrete floor to reveal a black skull and clavicle. Its scream of pain was hoarse and raw because of its quickly melting voice box as the loss of mass near its chest allowed it to push even further into the room.

“Holy crap.” Leta retreated some steps back out of reach of the creature’s claws. They could hear the screech and click of other monsters behind the Onikuma blocking the door. As it shifted forward, a small gap appeared above its shoulder, no larger than a hand but enough that two lanky Aigamuxa arms managed to push through, grasping at the air as if to catch its prey.

“Leta!”

At Hayato’s call, she turned to see that the Gate had finally reached critical mass. His dark eyes had gone a violet purple and the whites of his eyes pulsed with black shadows as he shouted, “Hurry!”

Leta, along with Atreus, Allister, and the rest of the Sect that had been finishing the creatures that had gotten through, turned and sprinted for the safety of the Gate’s perimeter.

Behind them, they could hear the groan of the Onikuma as an enormous chunk of its ribs melted into slag on the floor, sending up a ‘whoosh’ of blue fire.

Leta turned once she was within the Gate to see two of the Aigamuxa push through the widened gap above the Onikuma as they charged towards them on all fours.

“Shit.” Leta cursed as she pulled the dust from the floor and punched Storm Glass into one before stabbing her spear through another.

Atreus and Allister stood on either side of her like royal guards as monsters pushed their way in single file, their crazed eyes looking in every direction, their heads snapping and rolling on their necks as if in a crazed frenzy.

The room had filled with dust and smoke, causing a thick haziness to cover the room. It was hard to decipher who was friend or foe until they were practically right next to you.