Angel yanked Lilian to her feet. Her enhanced healing was already starting to kick in, but Reave’s blade had cut deep and the wound wasn’t repairing as fast as Angel had expected. Lilian’s skin was pale and her eyes unfocused.

He darted over to Tilly and Alison, ripping the metal bindings off them and shoving Lilian into their arms. “Go! Get to the hangar with Silver.”

They broke into a run. A flare of energy announced Reave’s return. He flew through the air, slamming into the ground in front of the group. Angel charged to meet him, raising his hand to block a bolt of red plasma with the Star Fragment.

Angel fired another bolt of lightning, but Reave had learned from his previous mistakes. He shielded himself with his wings, blocking the blow and skidding across the floor instead of launching from the platform.

His wings unfurled once more. Reave grabbed his bandages and ripped them off, tossing the bloody scraps to the floor. His arms were scarred and burnt beyond belief. Pus oozed from open wounds, intermingling with the blood that welled up as soon as the bandages were removed.

The back of Angel’s neck prickled. Reave raised his hands into the air and plasma crackled, dancing across his body and gathering into an orb between his palms.

Angel sent an empowered earth spell at the man. A beam of red light screamed out of the orb, burning a hole deep through the ground, cutting Angel’s magic off before it could reach him.

Acrid black smoke rose from the scar in the Buried God’s flesh, enveloping Reave like a cloak.

He screamed – a sound that was equal parts pain and fury. Angel hurled himself out of the way, narrowly avoiding a barrage of molten red blasts. Metal bubbled and popped, turning to liquid with the merest touch of Reave’s magic.

Reave rose into the air, suspended by crackling beams of plasma rather than his wings. His eyes shone like twin beacons. Beams scorched across the innards of the Buried God, leaving deep furrows in their wake.

Angel raised his hand to try and shoot at him, but Reave had grown so bright that he couldn’t even tell where the man was.

“He’s lost it!” Silver yelled, staggering out of the way to avoid a beam. While Reave’s power had increased significantly, his accuracy had dropped sharply. As a blast of plasma nearly obliterated Angel, he realized that accuracy didn’t matter much if Reave just destroyed everything in his surroundings.

He joined the others in running, twisting and shooting his grappling hook in the direction of the key. A bolt of plasma sailed straight at him. Angel swore, jerking himself out of the way. The bolt split his grappling hook’s line and it flopped to the ground.

“Forget the key,” Lilian said, her raspy voice barely audible over Reave. “We’ll die if we stay here. He’s only going to get stronger until he regains control of himself, and I've seen that take up to an hour.”

Angel gritted his teeth and nodded, dashing to keep up with the others. Crackling energy rained down around them as they charged down the thin path that led to the belly of the buried god and toward the hangar.

Reawakening soldiers stood on guard at the entrance, their shields up and weapons raised. Angel fired a lightning bolt, blowing the top half of one man apart. Alison drew a rune in the air and a ball of fire shot from her hands, striking another guard’s shield.

His defenses went down and Silver clotheslined the man as they ran past, ducking out of the way of another sword and letting Lilian cave the man’s mask in.

Angel felt his arm crackle. He spun, raising his arm defensively. The Star Fragment surged forth, its energy enveloping a plasma bolt that was headed straight for them. It repressed the magic, but didn’t manage to stop it completely in time.

The bolt struck Angel’s metal arm, burning a hole into his shoulder and knocking him to the ground before the Star Fragment consumed its energy entirely. He groaned, pushing himself back to his feet.

Heavy black smoke hung low in the air, filling his lungs and obscuring his vision. Another bolt howled toward him and he threw himself out of the way, skidding across the ground as a loud explosion rang out behind him.

He squinted, trying to make out his surroundings. Lilian appeared through the smoke and reached out, grasping Angel by the forearm and pulling him upright. She yelled something, but he couldn’t hear her.

A bolt screamed past Angel’s shoulder, narrowly missing him and striking Lilian in the chest. It burned through her, leaving a ragged hole just to the left of where her heart would have been. Her eyes widened and she took a step back, staring down at the sparking machinery that had been bared to the world.

Angel grabbed her before she could fall, slinging the woman over his shoulder and running as hard as he could. He burst from the smoke, his eyes tearing up in irritation, and charged into the tunnel that lead to the hangar.

Silver and the girls had cleared the path. Bodies littered the ground and the groans of the wounded filled the air. He ignored them, moving as fast as he could as Reave tore up the Buried God behind him.

The sounds of plasma striking metal slowly faded into the background. All Angel could hear was the blood pounding in his head and the dying whirr of machinery in Lilian’s chest. Gears caught and blue cooling liquid dripped onto his clothing, sizzling against his overheated arm.

Lilian seemed to grow heavier with every step. Angel dragged himself into the hangar room. Tilly waved furiously to him from one of the choppers – it was a new one, evidently an addition that the Reawakening had made since the last time they’d visited.

Angel ran to the chopper and Alison leaned out the door, helping him pull Lilian. Angel leapt in after her, slamming the door shut as Silver brought the rotors to life above them.

“What happened?” Silver yelled.

“Just get the chopper out of here,” Angel replied, not letting his gaze move from Lilian. He put a hand on her neck and glanced at the ragged hole in her chest. The intricate machinery and rune work was severely damaged.

Reave’s attack had gone through several vital systems but had mercifully missed the core. Even with that, the damage was incredibly severe. Her flesh was starting to knit itself back together, but it either couldn’t or wouldn’t seal back over the damaged parts.

The chopper lifted off the ground. Several Reawakening soldiers charged out, but Alison hurled a fireball at them, forcing them to skid to dive for cover.

“Lilian, can you hear me?” Angel asked, reaching into his bag and pulling Blue out.

Her face twitched and she gave him a miniscule nod. The wound on her throat still hadn’t fully healed either. He activated the artifact and had it scan her.

The results were much as he had expected. Her power reserves were leaking severely and much of the runework that had gone into allowing her mechanized organs to replace her real ones was ruined.

Her lips worked like she was trying to say something. Angel shushed her.

“Don’t move. Don’t think. Don’t do anything,” he said. “You’re leaking energy like there's no tomorrow. Have your body stop healing any flesh injuries – those aren’t what are killing you. I’m going to do what I can.”

The chopper shot out of the hangar, but Angel didn’t even glance up. He pulled all the scrap metal he had from his bag and laid it out beside Lilian. He crushed the panic building in his mind and forced himself to think up a repair plan before he started working. Rushing would most assuredly kill her.

“Where do we go?” Silver asked. “We can’t stay at Molten Ridges. The Buried God looks like its trying to power back on.”

“Just get us as far as possible,” Angel replied. “Molten Ridges will have reinforcements coming soon. There’s nothing more we can do for them. Don’t bother me from here on out. I can’t afford to make any mistakes.”

Silver gritted his teeth and nodded, tightening his hands around the wheel.

“Alison, come here. I’m going to need your energy,” Angel ordered. Alison nodded fearfully, scooting closer to him and extending her hand.

He grabbed it, pulling his scribe out with the other hand and hunching over Lilian. Moving as quickly as he dared without being over confident, he started removing the most damaged components. He resisted the urge to patch the easy fixes, instead isolating the worst injuries to repair them as quickly as possible.