Sunk deep into meditation, by mind is cool and composed, the pain ringing on the outside of my awareness. I can take this, I can handle it. Get that healing spell going ASAP and worry about everything else later. I push my legs to drag my damaged body to some sort of cover as my two most powerful minds cooperate to throw together some healing magic. It only takes a few seconds but it feels like an eternity before the spell is complete and my flesh begins to knit back together. It isn't enough though, the damage this time is severe. Whatever that damn eyebeam was, it was strong enough to cut through my carapace like it was paper. I think a piece of stomach is hanging outside of my body. Yuck. I can only hope that the demon was hurt bad enough to keep it from coming over here and finishing me off. I know that my spell managed to slice it, hopefully my acid will help cause a distraction as well.

I hunker down for a few tense moments as I spin together another healing spell to lay onto myself. The second it starts ticking I flex my legs and dash out from behind the rock I'd used for shelter.

BOOM!

Just before the thing explodes. Nice timing, Anthony! Shards of stone clatter off my carapace and fall like rain across the whole combat area in the wake of that explosion. The sand kicks up into a wave of precious vision blocking dust that allows me to jink once more as I reach out with my mana sense to grasp the location of the creature.

Every second brings me closer to full health! Hold on, ant! You can do it! Even as my health increases, there's another problem that is becoming more and more urgent. My stamina is falling. I've been dashing about like a mad thing ever since this fight started and I'm getting pretty darn tired! Although I can keep healing myself and drag the fight out, I'm pitting my own physical stamina against the little demon's mental stamina, and I'm not confident that's a battle I can win.

Before my situation becomes too desperate and I can no longer run, I need to heal up and then bet everything on the next strike! Luckily that last exchange gave me a hint! This is going to get crazy.

I keep dodging about to buy more time as the dust clears and I get a clear view of my opponent once more. The acid does appear to have done some work along with my ice pillar. Dark blood is dripping down the monster’s arm and one of its leathery bat wings has a gaping hole. Oddly enough the hole doesn't seem to have any effect on the creature’s ability to stay airborne. There must be some sort of trickery there. It still isn't nimbly flying about however, rather just hovering in one place. There must be a reason for that. At least, I hope to heck there's a reason for that.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Seemingly enraged, the creature throws out blast after blast, forcing me to dodge and dash with all of my strength as my healing spells stitch me back together. That eerie mouth that appears to be suspended in mid-air, attached to nothing, keeps grinning at me, as if it were the Cheshire cat but the mouth was large enough to swallow a sheep whole.

It's creepy!

Still, I think I'm just about as ready as I'm going to get. Dragging this out is only going to make things more disadvantageous to me. The eye appears to be drained of energy, the green no longer as bright and glaring as it was before, but over time it's been recovering. This could mean that the eye can't use its mega-beam laser continuously, having to wait for a recharge. Or it could be a trick. Either way I still have to go for it. Reluctantly, I let go of both the mana constructs I've held onto so far. For the plan I have in mind, I'm not going to need them and if it doesn't work out, I'm still not going to need them!

With all four of my brains free and focused and I hone my senses in on the floating beast with razor sharpness. I can see it all. The heat, the movement, the mana, even that little whisper of the future. I'm going to need all of it for this. If things go well, this scene is going to detonate under the watching shapers like a quake.

Breathe, Anthony. Just breathe. Focus and bring it home.

FOR THE COLONY!

[I WANT YOUR PAAAAIN. I WANT YOUR FLESSSSSH! I WANT YOUR SOUUULLL! GIVE THEM TO MEEE!]

[I hope you taste nearly as good as you fight!]

Once again the high speed dance begins as I try to close in on the monster, dashing and dodging ever closer as he fires exploding missiles of death my way. With all of my brains on deck, the three sub-brains cooperating with the aid of the coordination cortex, I can follow the flow of the fight much better than before. I sense the spells faster, my body reacts quicker and those echoes of the future are more helpful when I have the available brain power to take them in.

POW! POW! POW!

I weave in acid blasts to keep the monster distracted as I move, trying to throw the monster off its game. Every little bit of attention I can distract from myself will help in the long run! My enhanced reactions are firing on all cylinders and even the eyeball seems to be getting frustrated as his eye glows brighter and brighter and his little gestures get angrier every time he waves his hand. Feeling pressure yet, little demon? I'm coming for you!

CLACK!

I snap my mandibles hard and the sound echoes around the combat area.

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

As I race from place to place, narrowly dodging and skirting around the explosions I continue to clack my mandibles to taunt the demon. The eye bulges with rage, the worm-like capillaries swell with fluid as the once smiling mouth now snarls.

GWEHEHEHEH! Yesssss. Get mad, get distracted. I'm coming for you!

As I close to within thirty metres I can sense the time is coming and my mind sharpens to a point like a razor. It's coming, any second now! I'm dashing across the creature, moving from the creature’s left to its right at high speed. This manoeuvre is going to be tough as heck. Elders of the past, give me your strength!

The eye starts to flare bright once more as the creature raises its hand. I'm so focused that the limb almost appears to move in slow motion. It raises up and with a flick of that little bony wrist I feel six flares of mana from the monster. Six huh? You were still holding back on me! No matter, I have you now!

Before the small spheres of destruction appear, I can already see them. Little echoes of the future, almost transparent, fly outward in a broad arc, trying to entrap me in a wall of explosions. Every nerve in my body fires at once as I leap into action. My legs kick and dig at the dirt as I try to arrest my momentum and change direction. My body turns to face the monster as I slide. Those ghostly future images of the deadly spells are quickly followed by the real thing as the six spheres materialise and blast outward. My minds are wound so tight I can feel them screaming in pain. I can't breathe, I can't think. All of my focus is on those spells and the feel of my body.

The time is coming! Don't miss it. Miss and I'm dead. Don't die. Don't die! DON'T DIE!

JUMP!

The moment I stop sliding through the sand and feel my claws dig into the ground, I calculate the angle and jump. The future echo of the spells is already right in front of my face, the real thing only a heartbeat behind. As I leap, my legs spread wide to allow one of the spells to pass through them before it impacts the ground beneath me.

The detonation sears the underside of my body and pain sears my minds, but more important than that, the force of the explosion combined with the lift from my own jump propels me straight toward the monster with impossible speed.

[IT'S A ROCKET JUMP FOOL! DOOM GUY LIVES IN MEEEEEEEEE!]