There she appeared, that new fighter, right at Rykaedi's shoulder. Tirolith Stabilis. That same black planet sat embedded into her icy back, between the shards of ice growing all over her.

She locked her eyes onto the blazing, hulking red figure approaching her, dragged the leylines to slow time—

BANG!

The shards around her face exploded at the impact of his fist. Blood drooled into her eyes, she wailed as the whiplash completely dazed her.

Then came the twelve more strikes which followed, each as devastating as the last.

The icicles of her armor had fractured and shattered, let a blood of water pour out from her.

Then Serkukan grabbed her by the throat. The Demon King Serkukan. The God of Fire, Serkukan.

He screamed a battlecry like a barbarian, shook the Deadworld with his voice.

Then he spun, launched her upward with unmeasurable force.

Rykaedi laughed sinisterly. “Put it to the Great Red One to end a fight so efficiently, so quickly! We’ll have to delay before the final show—and boy will it be a treat!”

Serkukan took a pugilist’s stance, his legs wide and his hands both up before himself, like a martial artist preparing for an intense spar.

“Turning on me, Serkukan? How could you?” she joked. She craned her hideous head down to look at him, positioned him right between her giant eyes. Serkukan could have taken the space of a pupil, he was so small. But size hardly mattered in such a fight. Nothing mattered, save for how quickly he could dismantle her.

Cedric opened his eyes.

That’s it. Evra is unlocked. But as far as waking her…

He thought of his final conflict with Kogar, just off into the distant future.

I have one last obstacle to that end.

The souls still reached for him as he flew forward toward Rykaedi’s giant stature, toward the diminutive figures floating all around her. He took inventory of his allies, of his enemies…

Then he saw her.

“Faunia!”

His pace ramped up exceedingly, took him almost immediately to her side. He caught her in his arms.

“Faunia, are you alright?”

Her eyes cracked open a sliver. “Ah…”

But she could no longer speak coherently. She babbled something at him, gestured some loose hand movements.

Cedric restrained his anger.

“Who did this? Faunia, who…?”

Faunia rolled her head sideways, stopped talking.

His focus had turned, anyway, onto the giant figure throwing himself desperately against Rykaedi.

“I should have known…” he growled.

Cedric’s body had become lighter with his rage. He looked down to his hands; there was that thin, glossy coating of Dyosius. His human will—not to protect himself, this time, but to protect his friends—had been made manifest.

“I won’t let you get away with this… Rykaedi!”

And he was off.

Akvum darted between Rykaedi’s ribs, climbed up her torso like a maze until he was where Nihil Maxim should have been. He glanced precariously back and forth with every violent quake from every one of Serkukan’s devastating blows.

“Now, what are you doing in there, love?”

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A shadow crossed over him. There was her hand—

THOOM!

The ribcage exploded as she forced her own hand inside of it. Fragments of bone shrapnel went every which way.

Avkum fell downward to evade her hand as it ran the rest of the way through.

Then came the series of small black imps, two feet each in height. They held long glaives in their hands, each made of bone and sharpened teeth.

They lunged for him.

Akvum drew his scimitars and swiped precise glances at each of them.

Just like that, the five imps had all been cleaved in two, all killed with the smallest effort.

“I’ve just got to…!”

The azar raced upward again with his scimitars poised. Her head was right there, just up the chute that was her throat…

BANG!

An impact, a bright flame spouted through the ribcage like a solar flare.

He looked up to where Marisol had thrown herself against Serkukan. She pushed with all of her strength, howled out as she so desperately tried to get him away.

Serkukan only lifted his arm up, slammed his elbow down into the back of her skull. That was it for Marisol.

“You child… I thought you knew. I thought you knew how to fight!”

The sea of souls had begun to rise from beneath her. Serkukan turned back to the enemy at hand.

Akvum’s maw quivered. He hissed out a cry as he raced for Marisol’s side.

Then something came out of the souls—a familiar visage, a woman he knew well.

“...Miriam!” he gasped.

Miriam was just as pale as the rest of the souls, climbed out to her waist and spread her arms in a wide embrace for Marisol. The sisters were reunited…

Miriam choked her words, “My sister, come here. How I’ve missed you…!”

Akvum let his arms fall limp, dangled his scimitars. A soft smile began over his face. Marisol’s body hovered unknowingly into the sea of spirits, into that warm hug.

The reverberations of Serkukan’s onslaught hadn’t decayed. Rykaedi’s wide swings were still visible through the gaps in her bones. But somehow, Akvum felt at peace.

Then he looked down. There were the same souls, clinging at his legs, at his feet.

He smiled, though he couldn’t be sure he saw anything outside of his own imagination in the mass. “Cass…!”

DWI!

There was a strange sound, like a flare of energy, a spark, an illumination. The souls around his legs dissipated. His anxiety flared. “I’m… I’m back!”

Then he looked to Marisol. The visage of Miriam had burst apart, and the dissolution chased the sea downward until it was completely dissolved.

“You poor girl. Soon. You’ll meet your sister soon—”

CRCK!

The other side of the ribcage exploded open and Rykaedi’s hand caught him like a fly. It squeezed until all of his breath was gone, then some more.

Swish!

A fast blade cut across her knuckles. A shadow dropped down before him.

Then her fingers separated.

There was Cedric. His body was coated in glistening Dyosius.

“Cedric!”

“Akvum—I think Serkukan just tried to save us. We need to go—I’m worried about the surface.”

“As if I’d let you go!”

Rykaedi’s bones were fractured, broken, decaying. But that didn’t seem to affect her in the slightest. Her big eyes flared violet. Energy began to pulsate out of her.

Akvum shouted, “Cedric, if we leave…!”

“We won’t have the same power over Dyosius. But we’re at a disadvantage here. Serkukan has Grivonym—if he’s on our side…”

The azar understood. He nodded in solidarity. “Upward, then. But there’s no way for me—”

“There is. Follow close, bring Faunia. I think there’s a way.” He swept away. “Mari!”

Cedric caught Marisol in his arms. He kicked from the liquid all around and forced himself upward through it.

“Don’t worry. When we get Tirolith back, we’ll take care of you.”

Rykaedi’s big hand swung down for Cedric.

His face hardened. He readied for the impact.

Serkukan, if you're really on our side… prove it!

BANG!

Serkukan was there, in her palm, wrestling her fingers apart.

Cedric grinned. “Now!”

And Akvum followed him as he raced to the surface…