As they bounced along in the SUV heading toward the forest, Leo glanced at the others, each absorbed in their own preparations. Gasmask was adjusting the straps on his mask, while Rory was idly inspecting her claws. Pendragon was driving as he muttered strategies under his breath. Bill was already far ahead, keeping tabs on the fiend they were hunting.

Leo broke the silence. “So, what’s the plan for taking down this … tree fiend?”

Pendragon turned slightly in his seat, a gleam of excitement in his eyes. “Ah, yes, our target. People once thought it was a redwood, if you can believe it. A tourist attraction. And then, the tourists started to vanish. Didn’t take long for the Cleaners to realize what had happened.”

“Hold up, so it’s basically a giant tree?” Leo asked, frowning.

“Not just a tree,” Pendragon corrected, his voice grave. “It’s gotten more defensive recently. It sprouted some… defensive measures. Created ‘children,’ smaller fiends that protect it—some Gamma level, some Beta. One wrong step, and they’ll tear us to pieces. The Hod squad already learned that the hard way.” He smirked. “Not as tough as they thought they were.”

“So, what are we supposed to do that they couldn’t?” Leo asked.

Pendragon glanced over, eyes gleaming with confidence. “Simple. We’re going in from below. We dig under the tree’s root system, enter its base, and Gasmask here will work his magic. Release the gas from inside, poison the horrid thing.”

Rory grinned, baring her shark-like teeth. “That’s my kinda plan. Big tree won’t see us coming, and we get to tear it up from the inside.”

Leo raised an eyebrow. “And how exactly are we supposed to dig through all that dirt and root without being noticed?”

Pendragon’s smirk widened as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, shriveled piece of meat. “Glad you asked, Winfield.” He tossed the meat to Leo, who barely managed to catch it.

“What’s this?” Leo looked down at the chunk, skeptical. It smelled foul, with an earthy, bitter scent.

“Came from a fiend with quite the knack for digging. You said you could gain the abilities of fiends you eat, right? Well, eat up,” Pendragon urged.

Leo grimaced, hesitating. The others watched him with varying degrees of amusement and expectation.

“Seriously?” Leo asked, his nose wrinkling as he brought the piece closer.

Rory leaned over with a grin. “What, too fancy to get your hands dirty? Just eat it.” She began to chant, “Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!” Pendragon soon joined in as well.

With a sigh, Leo popped the meat into his mouth, forcing himself to chew despite the overpowering, bitter taste. It was like swallowing soil mixed with rotting wood. As he swallowed, he coughed, trying to shake off the taste.

“There we go,” Pendragon said with satisfaction. “Do you feel anything yet?”

As the foul taste settled in his stomach, Leo felt an odd sensation spreading through his limbs. His hands began to twitch, and he had a strange, almost instinctual urge to burrow. He flexed his fingers, feeling the newfound strength flowing into them. “Yeah … eugh.”

Pendragon smirked. “Excellent. Now, everyone knows their roles. Bill will keep us updated on the fiend’s movements from above. Rory and Leo, you two will dig our way in. Gasmask, once we’re inside, you know what to do.”

Gasmask gave a slow, silent nod, his masked face unreadable.

“And remember,” Pendragon continued, his voice taking on a serious tone, “This tree is Alpha level, so we can’t afford to mess up. Stay sharp. Stick to the plan. Any slip-ups and this thing will turn us into mulch.”

Leo flexed his fingers, still feeling that strange digging urge. “So we’re just going underground, hoping it doesn’t notice?”

“It won’t expect us from below,” Pendragon said confidently. “That’s our advantage. The second we’re inside, Gasmask will let his toxins loose and poison it from within. Simple, effective.”

The SUV pulled up to the forest’s edge, and they all got out, gathering their gear.

Bill’s voice emanated from their heads. “Got an eye on the tree. It’s… bigger than I thought. Looks almost like it’s breathing.”

Pendragon nodded. “Good. Keep a close watch and let us know if anything changes. Let’s move.”

They moved in silence, pushing through the dense foliage, and as they approached, Leo began to see it—the massive tree fiend in the distance. Its bark pulsed as if it had a heartbeat, thick roots coiling around it like serpents. Smaller fiends, twisted creatures that looked hairy, their figures much larger than he anticipated. They looked familiar to him, and then he realized they were the same fiends he fought in the forest when he met Richard and Kelly.

Leo and Rory began digging, creating a large hole and a mound of dirt behind them. As they dug, the monotony of clawing through dirt and roots grew heavy, and he found himself trying to break the silence.

“So… Rory, where you from?” he asked, scraping away at a clump of stubborn earth.

Rory kept digging, her claws tearing through the dirt with ease. “Flow-Rita,” she replied, throwing him a casual glance.

Leo raised an eyebrow. “Flow-Rita? Never heard of it.”

She laughed, her rough voice echoing through the narrow tunnel. “It’s this place with endless beaches and sunny weather. You’d like it. Great place to relax and do nothing but bask in the sun.”

“Sounds like California,” Leo mused. “I only went to the beach once, though. Family trip when I was a kid. Feels like a lifetime ago.”

She nodded, a distant look passing over her face, but the light in her eyes dimmed. “Flow-Rita was nice and all, but... it’s filled with bad people. That’s why I left.”

Leo sensed a hint of reluctance. “What was it like for you there?”

Rory paused, her claws hovering mid-air, then she shrugged it off. “I… don’t really want to think about it. Past is past. I’d rather just keep digging, you know?”

He nodded, sensing he’d hit a sensitive spot. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

She shook her head, managing a faint grin. “It’s fine. Hey, what’s your favorite food?”

Leo snorted, not expecting the sudden shift. “Pepperoni pizza, I guess.”

“Pizza, huh? I tried pepperoni once, just that part. It’s … okay.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “For me, it’s humans. Nothing else quite hits the spot.”

Leo chuckled, only mildly surprised. “Figures.”

They continued digging, their makeshift tunnel plunging deeper, the air growing dense and cool. The silence stretched until they suddenly broke through a hollow, landing in an open, dark passage that seemed to extend into the unknown.

Rory’s sharp gaze scanned the darkness. Her voice lowered, almost a whisper. “I see something… there. Looks like … a child’s face.”

Leo squinted, but he saw nothing in the shadows. Rory’s night vision was far superior. “A child?”

But Rory was already sprinting toward it, her hunger sparking. “I could use a snack—”

Her words cut off abruptly as a writhing shape shot out from the darkness, wrapping around her with terrifying speed. A massive, centipede-like creature with a grotesque human face shot out of the darkness, latching onto Rory and wrapping its many legs around her until she was trapped. It reared its head and bit into her side, injecting venom into her veins.

Rory gasped, her body convulsing as the poison spread through her veins. “What the hell?!” she choked, her voice trembling. “I… I can’t move!” Her muscles stiffened, locking her in place as her breaths came in shallow, panicked bursts.

Another centipede emerged, this one bearing the face of a woman with a disturbingly serene smile. It darted toward Leo, coiling around him in an instant. Its fangs found his shoulder, and a cold, numbing sensation began to spread rapidly through his body. His strength faded as if his blood had turned to lead.

Leo struggled, clawing at the creature wrapped around him, but his muscles betrayed him, growing weaker with each passing moment. He managed to slice at its carapace, but his claws barely scratched the hardened surface. His vision blurred as the venom surged through his system.

Across the chamber, Rory was still struggling. Her trembling hand reached for the centipede’s head, and with sheer force, she twisted her wrist, her forearm muscles straining until the creature’s face tore clean off. The fiend uncoiled, writhing and screeching as it fell away. She stumbled forward, her body convulsing, but the venom held her back. Her legs collapsed beneath her, and she clawed at the ground, dragging herself toward Leo.

“Rory! Stay back!” Leo called weakly, but his voice was barely a whisper.

The centipede restraining Rory regenerated its torn face, hissing as it lunged at her again. She tried to force her body to move, gritting her teeth against the pain, but her limbs refused to obey. The fiend pounced, its legs clicking ominously as it prepared to strike again.

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He could see movement in the shadows—dozens, no, hundreds of glowing, monstrous eyes staring back at him. A whole colony of them. He could feel their presence emanating from the depths below him. He was in their domain.

His desperation mounted. He sent a frantic message through his telepathic link. “Bill, we’re surrounded. We need help now! There are hundreds of fiends down here!”

Bill’s voice spoke through his mind. “Copy that. Relaying your position to Pendragon. Hold tight.”

Leo heard Pendragon’s voice through Bill’s telepathy. “Dammit … didn’t account for this shit. We’ll need to rethink — Gasmask, wait a damn second!” Leo could hear Gasmask’s thoughts of rescuing Leo and Rory.

Leo’s heart leaped with a flicker of hope, but he knew Gasmask would take time to reach them. And he could already feel the venom working its way through his body—his blood felt like it was turning to ice, his organs burning as the poison invaded.

Rory let out a scream so loud it startled the centipedes momentarily. Her body began to ripple unnaturally, the venom coursing through her veins seeming to amplify the transformation. Her skin split and peeled away like shedding layers, and for a brief moment, she stood tall, her form renewed and stronger than before. With a guttural growl, she grabbed the nearest centipede and ripped it in half with raw, brutal force.

But they kept coming. Two more fiends lunged at her from the ceiling, their movements too fast to track. Rory managed to dodge and counter, smashing one into the wall with a sickening crunch and crushing the other under her foot. She fought like a whirlwind, her strikes precise and feral.

Despite her strength, there were too many. Fiends crawled from above, below, and all sides, their sheer numbers overwhelming her. One sank its fangs into her leg, another coiled around her arm. She tried to fight them off, her claws slashing wildly, but the venom took hold again. Her body faltered.

“Leo!” she cried out, her voice filled with raw terror. “I can’t… I can’t keep them off!”

Leo, trapped and constricted, could feel his own strength fading, his vision darkening. He could see Rory struggling, fear mirrored in her eyes. His chest tightened—not from the venom, but from the bitter realization that they might both die here.

The venom burned through his veins like ice, his body trembling with the effort to stay conscious. His mind screamed for a solution, for a way out, but the shadows closed in, suffocating his thoughts.

Rory looked at him, her breaths shallow, her face twisted in pain. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. “Leo. I can’t … I can’t do it anymore… I don’t want to die like this.”

A helpless rage filled him, but he was powerless, his body unable to respond. Think, Leo, think! He told himself, but his mind was blank, his strength ebbing away as the venom did its work.

Then, from the darkest corner of his mind, he heard something—a low, mocking laughter, cold and unfeeling.

Leo’s vision swam in and out of focus as the cold venom coursed through his veins. His breaths were shallow, his muscles locked tight. Every pulse of his heart felt like an icy shard driving deeper into his chest. Then he saw him—a man in a crimson suit standing confidently in the dim light of the tunnel.

The figure’s presence was undeniable, almost tangible, yet impossible. He hadn’t been there before, and the air seemed to bend around him. His slicked-back hair, a crimson tie, thick-framed glasses, and an unsettling smirk made him stand out against the damp, earthen walls.

“Well, isn’t this a sad sight?” the man said, his voice smooth but sharp, like a blade hidden in velvet. “Leo Winfield. What was once the mighty Devourer is now a weak, pathetic little boy. You can’t even save her, can you? Can’t even save yourself.”

“Who the hell are you?” Leo spat, his voice strained, though his anger flared. “How do you know my name?”

The man tilted his head, his smirk growing wider. “You know me, Leo. Somewhere deep down, you do. Familiar, aren’t I? Like a song you’ve forgotten but can hum the tune of.”

Leo’s fists clenched. His body felt frozen, yet the heat of anger bubbled within him. “Just tell me what the fuck do you want?”

The man’s expression darkened, his voice dropping to a chilling calm. “What I want doesn’t matter, boy. What matters is what you want. Do you want to live? Or do you want to die here, buried in the dirt, just another corpse no one remembers?”

“I’m not dying here,” Leo growled. “I’ll get out of this.”

The man in red chuckled, shaking his head. “No, you won’t. Not like this. You’re too weak, too afraid of the pain. If you want to survive, Leo, you need to accept it. No—embrace it. Love it. Pain is the fire that burns away your weakness. It’s the one thing that will keep you alive.”

“Embrace the pain?” Leo barked a bitter laugh. “You sound insane.”

The man leaned closer, his crimson suit somehow untouched by the grime of the tunnel, as if he wasn’t truly there. “Imagine the ice in your veins, the poison suffocating your body. Now imagine it turning to fire, roaring through you. Burn it from within, let it consume you, and then rise from it. If you can do that... maybe, just maybe, you’ll be worthy of seeing me again.”

Leo blinked, and the man was gone, leaving only the echo of his voice in the cavern. The venom in his blood surged again, his muscles locking up painfully.

“Damn it!” Leo snarled through clenched teeth. He focused inward, picturing the fire the man had described. It felt ridiculous at first—impossible—but the alternative was death. He gritted his teeth, visualizing flames igniting deep within, spreading through his veins, burning away the ice and venom.

The pain was excruciating. It wasn’t just a metaphor—it felt real. His nerves screamed, his muscles twitched violently, and his heart raced as though it would burst. He wanted to stop, to let the darkness pull him under, but the man’s words echoed in his mind: Burn it from within.

With a guttural roar, Leo forced his body to move, his skin becoming burning hot. His claws twitched, his arms surged with strength he didn’t know he had, and he grabbed the centipede constricting him. The creature hissed in shock as Leo drove his claws into its body, ripping through its chitinous armor. It coiled back, its face—grotesque and human-like—contorting with pain.

“Not so tough now, are you?” Leo growled, his voice raw.

With newfound strength, he grasped the centipede and tore into its lower half, ripping it apart with sheer force. Its screeches echoed through the tunnels as black ichor sprayed across the walls. The pile of other centipedes wrapped Rory all paused as they looked upon Leo, the sheer heat he radiated intimidated them. Their human faces, once twisted in sadistic glee, now showed something resembling fear. They remembered him, the one they feared long ago, the Devourer. They released Rory, unraveling themselves in a panic, and skittered deeper into the tunnels.

Rory crumpled to the ground, coughing and convulsing, her muscles weak from the venom. “Leo...” she wheezed, her voice barely audible. “How the hell did you do that?”

Leo knelt beside her, still trembling from the pain that lingered in his body. “I don’t know... Some guy in a red suit. He told me to do it.”

Rory blinked, her lips curling into a weak smile. Then, despite the situation, she let out a laugh—hoarse but genuine. “A man... in a red suit? You’re either losing it, or you’re the luckiest idiot I’ve ever met.”

Leo managed a half-smile, though his eyes darted toward the darkness where the remaining centipede had fled. “Whatever he was... I think he saved us. Or maybe he just wanted to see if I’d break.”

Rory groaned as she tried to sit up, her body still sluggish. “You didn’t break. You’re still standing... and that’s good enough for me.” She winced, gripping her side. “But let’s not stick around. There are more down there, more things I don’t want to see.”

Leo nodded, his resolve hardening. He helped Rory to her feet, his skin accidentally burning her. He swiftly apologized and tried to cool himself down, keeping an ear out for any sounds of movement.

“Come on, let’s head back,” he said, his voice steadier now.

Leo struggled under Rory’s weight, her limp body slung over his shoulder as he climbed out of the tunnel. The air above the ground was stale and tense, but it felt like a relief compared to the suffocating confines below. His muscles burned, but he kept moving, spurred on by sheer determination and adrenaline.

Gasmask was already approaching, his heavy, deliberate footsteps crunching against the dirt. His breathing, amplified through his mask, filled the hollow tunnel. Leo set Rory down carefully, her breaths shallow but steady.

Bill’s telepathic voice cut through the silence: “What happened?”

Leo wiped the sweat from his brow and looked up. “We were ambushed,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Centipede fiends. They got Rory. She’s... messed up.”

Before Bill could respond, Pendragon’s voice roared into Leo’s mind through Bill’s telepathic relay. “You idiots! New plan, now! Get over here!”

Gasmask nodded and motioned for Leo to follow. With Rory leaning on him, Leo trudged back, emerging from the hole in the ground. Pendragon was waiting, and he looked... different. His skin had taken on a grayish hue, almost blending into the surrounding shadows, and his body seemed more streamlined, his features sharper, deadlier.

Leo stared at Pendragon, noticing the eerie way his skin had taken on a faint gray tone, blending into the surrounding environment. “What the hell happened to you?” he asked, his voice edged with both curiosity and unease.

Pendragon sneered, his sharp teeth glinting in the dim light. “Adaptation, Winfield. That’s what sets me apart. You learn to change on the fly, or you die.” He flexed his claws, his voice dripping with confidence. “That’s why I’m still standing after all these years.”

Leo frowned, his mind racing. “And what exactly does that mean for us now? What’s the plan?”

Pendragon crossed his arms, his gaze scanning the horizon. “The underground tunnels are a no-go. Too many damn centipedes and God knows what else crawling around down there. Risking another ambush would be stupid.” He gestured toward the forest. “We’re going in with stealth.”

“Stealth?” Leo said, arching an eyebrow. “I can do stealth.”

Pendragon smirked but ignored the comment, continuing with his explanation. “Rory and Gasmask will create a diversion outside, draw the fiends’ attention. That should buy us enough time to get in. There’s a hole in the tree—the Hod squad found it before they got wiped out. Looks like it’s where the fiends exit from. We’ll use it to infiltrate the tree. It’s probably a tunnel leading inside, but beyond that, I have no idea what we’ll find.”

“And once we’re in?” Leo asked cautiously. “How do we destroy it if Gasmask is outside?”

Pendragon’s eyes gleamed as he gave a low chuckle. “That’s where my ace comes in.” He pointed a clawed hand at the large bag slung over his shoulder. The weight of it made his posture slightly uneven, and the bag emitted a faint metallic clink as he shifted. “When the time comes, I’ll unveil it. It packs enough punch to level this entire operation.”

Leo’s curiosity spiked, but an icy dread settled in his stomach. “What’s in the bag?” he asked, his voice wary.

Pendragon’s smirk widened. “I’ll tell you when the time calls for it.”

Before Leo could press further, Pendragon’s tail suddenly whipped forward, stabbing Rory in the chest. Leo’s heart leaped as he shouted, “What the hell are you doing?!”

Rory gasped, her body convulsing as a faint glow spread from the point of impact. She staggered but didn’t fall. Instead, her pale skin regained a healthy flush, and her breathing steadied. She flexed her fingers, then her arms, and stood taller, stronger.

“Relax, Winfield,” Rory muttered, offering a weak grin. “I’m fine. Guess the boss has a few tricks up his sleeve.”

Pendragon withdrew his tail, shaking his head in annoyance. “If you’d stop panicking, you’d see I just gave her a boost. We need her at full strength if she’s going to play bait.”

Rory wiped some dirt off her face and nodded resolutely. “I’m ready. Let’s give these bastards something to chase.”

Pendragon turned back to Leo, his tone sharpening. “You and I are going in quiet. Stick close, don’t speak unless absolutely necessary, and do exactly what I say. If we get caught, don’t expect me to babysit you. I’ve got a mission to complete, and if you slow me down...” He didn’t finish the sentence, but the implication hung heavy in the air.

Leo clenched his fists, but nodded reluctantly. “Fine. Let’s just get this over with.”

Pendragon’s smirk returned as he turned toward the darkened forest. “Good. Stay sharp, kid. This tree’s got more secrets than we’ve seen so far, and I don’t plan on dying here. Not today.”