How many hammer blows would it take? Mila felt her heart racing. “Now?” She asked louder than strictly necessary.

The answer was no. “Are you mad? I can’t let her see you!” Mila weighted her sword. “What do you mean relax?” She translated. “You are emotionally more unstable than I am!”

“Right…” Mila took a breath, then another. It didn’t actually help. Not with Isabel’s hurried work audible through the chaos. “Okay, we strike!” She raised her sword despite the old ghost’s protest.

Zemny’s hands finally could not hold the gun any longer. The weapon fell out of the disfigured digits and rolled on the ground.

It didn’t land far from her, making Mila hesitate. She looked at the weapon, then at the gnarly, reforming fingers that tried to reach it. Zemny was still somewhere inside the monstrosity, still hanging to a crumb of personality.

The way the remnant of Zemny’s mind searched for the gun pushed Mila towards it. She stumbled forward and rolled closer to the weapon, snatching it away from the approximation of fingers reaching for it.

Mila weighed the weapon, trying to figure out how to correctly use it. She had seen Zemny attack with it. Mila repeated what she had learned from the short impression. “What about this?”

The answer was still a no. “Really?” Mila looked at the falling rocks. If she had to guess, Isabel could already peek inside the room.

In her mind, there was no choice. Mila raised the gun, letting her finger slide on the trigger, then gently pulled on it. She prepared herself for the loud bang, but all she received was a click.

Mila felt disappointment flood her body. She hadn’t thought a bullet would kill Zemny, but it would be something. “Why did you reach for it if it had run out of ammunition?” She asked the unresponsive shadow of a man.

Of course, there was no answer. Fighting back the urge to throw the gun away, Mila deposited it under her clothes. With it, she would have a bargaining chip when dealing with Helly.

It was a distant goal, almost impossibly far away in Mila’s mind. She gathered her strength once again. Ignoring the reprimand pushing against her mind, she took a limp step towards Zemny and raised her sword.

“If you don’t… Then I will.” Mila met her target’s blank eyes. They flickered with madness, then with deep, unsettling disregard.

It was impossible. Mila knew it was. She gambled on the old ghost being forced to move once she failed to kill Zemny.

With that in mind, Mila took another stumbling step, avoiding a lazy swipe at her head from her target’s swaying fingers. It was an instinctual defence from the enemy’s body, not a conscious resistance.

It was enough to send Mila reeling as she struggled to regain balance. She nervously glanced to the side only to see Isabel’s hands already tearing away rocks to open a way in.

Mila had been too slow. She slumped, almost dropping the sword. “I will not forgive you for this…”

The ancient apparition remained unbothered by Mila’s words. If anything, he welcomed Isabel’s arrival.

Then Isabel was through. The powerful woman tore apart the last obstacles and crawled past the debris to fall inside the room. She was on her feet the very next moment, glaring at Mila.

There was nothing to it. Mila would have to suffer the righteous indignation of her girl. Nothing she could say would make Isabel less angry. While Mila didn’t believe she had done wrong, she had been selfish in her decisions.

Isabel’s stormy expression didn’t waver as she stomped towards Mila. The girl ignored the few stray attacks aimed at her, not breaking their eye contact.

Mila winced. When she was sure Isabel would be able to hear, she tried to speak. “You are still injured.” Her attempt at pacifying her girlfriend was drowned by a loud clash. Then came sharpening sounds, which quickly died down. “You are still injured!” She repeated.

“DAMNIT, ISABEL! YOU CANNOT SEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN!” Mila roared, using the last remnants of her strength - then she was spent.

Mila wobbled, dropped her sword, and then was hugged tightly. She felt Isabel’s lips press against her ear.

“...not physical…” Came a whisper.

“IT DOESN’T MATTER!” Mila cried. “HE HURT YOU! YOU ARE NOT FINE!”

“...calm…” Isabel landed a gentle kiss on Mila’s kiss. “...down.” She then released Mila and pulled up her sleeve to reveal a makeshift bracelet of engraved pearls.

To say Mila was alarmed was an understatement. “WHAT IS THAT?” The thing reeked of restrictive magic. If she could move, Mila would have torn the thing apart. She was so shaken she barely noticed the swipes at Isabel’s back by the abomination.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Isabel poked Mila’s nose, then embraced her again. “... Emotions…” She tried to explain. “...wild… No… control…” There were pauses between her words that seemed to stretch for forever. “... to calm… speak slow.”

Mila hurried to piece together the scant few words explaining a much larger issue. Even the fog left by the exhaustion didn’t stop her mind from constructing the likely explanation.

It was all Mila needed for now. To understand the gist of it. They could deal with the rest when they got out of the desperate situation.

Mila already knew, or at least strongly suspected, that Oscar was using his endless, hostile emotions as weapons. He had struck Isabel, bypassing her girl’s defences. It had knocked Isabel out.

It appeared the Sage and his companion had woken up Isabel, discovered an abnormality within her and given her girl a bracelet that limited and contained anomaly.

“Is this dangerous?” Mila poked the suspicious thing. She looked at Isabel but expected a definite answer from her inner source.

There was an annoying feeling of maybe but probably not. Isabel shook her head as well. She moved her lips, telling Mila it helped.

“Can you go without it?”

Another shake of a head, this time a bit hesitant. It grew in surety a moment later. No - Isabel mouthed.

“You still can’t stay.” Mila pleaded, and Isabel pretended she hadn’t heard. Maybe she hadn’t. The noise came in waves. Some phrases were bound to be lost with the battles around them.

“ISABEL!” Mila grabbed her girl’s ear and pulled it down. “YOU HAVE TO GO! NOW!”

Another refusal. “YOU DON’T GET IT! IT IS ABOUT TO FINISH THE TRANSFORMATION!”

But Isabel stubbornly refused. She raised her shield, showing her willingness to fight.

“IT IS NOT A QUESTION OF WILL OR ABILITY!” Mila tried to push her girl away. “YOU CANNOT SEE IT! YOU CANNOT HEAR IT!”

Until…

“SHUT YOUR EARS! DON’T LISTEN!”

“Ah!”

The sudden third voice on the stage didn’t surprise Mila. She had felt the transformation be close to finishing for some time now. The mix of sighs and relief sent chills down Mila’s spine. This wasn’t Zemny’s voice anymore.

Isabel, however… She was frightened. Her shield raised, she stood in front of Mila, then began channelling mana into the trusty flamethrower spell.

A moment later, a stream of fire washed over Zemny’s disfigured form. And just as Mila had expected, it did almost nothing.

“Child of Destiny…” The Corruption drawled. “And you…”

The voice felt like an impact. Mila almost buckled from it alone. The unfiltered presence began growing in potency. Soon, they would not be able to withstand it.

Even now, Mila felt it was too late. “Shit…” The tainting presence was beginning to seep into their flesh and bones.

Humans were not created to be able to withstand this presence. Mila bit inside of her cheek, forcing herself to move.

Her legs refused. Mila felt her skin crawl - literally crawl as the blood in her body began to move in unnatural ways.

Then, the most powerful barrier Isabel could make covered them both. Mila’s girl swayed but withstood the corrupting presence. She raised her shield and kept the otherworldly intruder at by - if momentarily.

“You have grown, Child of Destiny.” It noted. “Before, you crawled in front of me. Now, you dare to witness my diminished avatar.”

Mila checked her condition. Under Isabel’s protection, she was able to think. Not that it mattered much. She couldn’t understand. Why had Aaers allowed this to happen?

The sword in her hand felt inadequate. It wouldn’t hurt ‘It’. All Mila could hope was that Aaers would take over and do what he did before - vanquish ‘It’ and leave only Zemny inside the body.

Meanwhile, Isabel kept washing ‘It’ in a fire. It was more destructive for them than for ‘It’. Mila looked around, seeking something - anything.

The rest of the room was now with no life. The surviving people had all died after ‘It’s’ feelers reached them.

From above, shouts of alarm and fear spread as the fighters realised the presence of the great enemy had found its way through the barriers and was now next to the control point of the operation.

Finally, Mila had no reason to avoid looking up. She raised her eyes and was met by a scant few floating fighters fending off thousands of branch-like feelers reaching for the heart of the ritual.

Only the fake sun had none around it as the concentration of magic continued to burn away the corruption.

Mila found Oscar immediately. He was standing next to Astra on a translucent tile. His own tentacle-like appendages met the corruptions, struggling for dominance. Astra herself was on her knees, praying and singing a hymn that formed a net that reinforced the world.

Then Mila’s eyes fell on the other two Inquisitors. They, too, were praying - solemn and unyielding, they brought the light of gods to this forsaken place, making it habitable for humans.

There were also the strongest, most capable fighters from the Military. Mila didn’t recognise any of them but noted a few who were all hacking away at the approaching doom in the form of dark branches.

And none of it mattered. Mila sighed. They were so dead - everyone was. Even if Aaers got rid of ‘It’, the process would reveal ‘His’ existence to these people.

There would be a purge. But what other options did they have?

Mila put her hand on Isabel’s back, supporting her girl, who poured more and more mana into the fire.

“Where… Is ‘He’?” The Corruption finally asked, deciding the rest were of no importance.

Mila winced. Even behind Isabel’s barriers, she still felt sick and waning. But it was a good question. Why the fuck had Aaers not moved yet?

In response, Mila felt something push against her mind. Instead of losing her conciseness, she raised her head in shock to look at the fake sun again.

There were changes. A hope. Mila only wished it would be enough.