Knowing they had no time to spare, Silas shouted out, “We leave now! Open the portal, and get him in.”

Ajit nodded and immediately got to forming the portal, however his eyes widened in alarm a moment later. “My mana won’t stabilise to form a pathway.”

“What?” Silas said, his voice high and tense. Glancing down at Alair, he saw Aengus was doing a good job of restraining him, alongside the prophet who had summoned roots to constrict the shaerd. “Can you fix it?”

The Warlock shut his eyes tight and focused on the problem. Zafeera and Kuraim had almost made it into combat range when he spoke again, “I see. There are several mages around our location who are releasing continuous waves which interfere with my portal formation when I try to set the bearings of the opening and destination.”

“And?” Silas asked, slipping another Transcendence gummy out of his sleeve. He had already taken half of one, as had Ajit and Aengus, so it was dangerous to take any more, but so was fighting Zafeera and Kuraim. Hesitating no longer, he chucked it into his mouth.

“We can try to escape the mage encirclement, but it seems they’ve cast their net quite wide so it might be a struggle. Alternatively, I can analyse the continuous waves and alter the portal to take into account the interference, but it could take anywhere from a second to a month for me to succeed.”

“Try this,” the prophet interrupted. While they had been speaking, the prophet had made another hand from his palm. He twisted it off, then yanked the hand it had grew on after it. It came off with a pop, and he passed both hands over to Ajit with his last remaining one. “This one should give definitive bearings for this location, and the other hand is a copy of my clone’s at Riverside so it should give the right bearings for there.”

However, time was up. Zafeera’s motorbike dove like a raptor, plummeting so steeply that it blasted towards them like a meteor. Kuraim jumped from it and hovered in the air, meanwhile Zafeera leapt off and dove after it with a demented countenance.

Ajit cast a giant dome-shaped mana barrier around them, and the motorbike crashed into it with an explosion of blood. Zafeera followed with her crooked sword, slashing deep but bouncing off when she failed to break through the barrier. But while they were protected from the outside, this turned out to not be enough as wiry imps with skeletal wings and frozen rictuses rose from the ground inside, looking to launch towards the humans and explode.

Once again, Ajit acted quickly to counteract this, changing the mana barrier shape from an encompassing dome to a floor which blocked the imps from emerging. Still, they were causing considerable damage to it with every second that passed with their suicidal attacks. “I’m running out of mana to make the portal,” he yelled out. “I can maintain the barrier, but don’t let Zafeera or Kuraim do anything more, or I won’t be able to take us home.”

Although Aengus wanted to help, he was occupied with Alair, who still refused to die despite the devastating injuries he already endured. Even now, the Fiend tried to scramble up, seething and gurgling blood like a zombie which dismissed death in exchange for fresh meat. This left only Silas and the prophet to deal with the Necromancer and Blood Ripper.

“I can hold off Kuraim for a dozen breaths,” the prophet said, flying up in a show of telekinesis. “After that, it is all up to you.”

“That’s good enough,” Ajit said, both of the fungal hands melting in his grasp.

The Transcendence was coming on Silas now, his senses rejoicing as they leapt to the higher level. Kuraim’s horde in the distance, which had been grey and indistinct, was now as clear as day and detailed enough to use a fine-toothed comb through. If they arrived, there was no chance Silas and the others would survive. The bleating of mountain goats and hushing of the winds in the distance were suddenly audible, and Zafeera’s bloodthirsty aura could be physically felt trying to swallow Silas’s own. Even as he stood still, she was coming for him with murder in her eyes.

His body crackled and spat bolts which diffused into the sizzling air, a bloodthirst deep enough to match hers emerging from his stomach. It pushed up through his throat and into his brain, soaking him with power and insanity. He disappeared from the spot, sprinting forwards with such force that the rocks shattered under his thundering steps. He swung diagonally upwards at Zafeera, and she parried in time, deflecting it to the side. However, the attack still sent her stumbling backwards, a wave of electricity flushing from his blade into her body.

Giving her no time to recover, he followed up with wolfish ferocity, snapping his fangs with swings and sweeps, easily pushing her back. With Weakness Vision and Luminous Land active, she had no chance of hitting him, and he had no chance of missing. However, he still struggled to damage her as the blood from her crashed motorbike had taken life and wrapped around her like a mystic shawl, smothering any blows which came close to harming her.

Finally, she leapt back and commanded her blood to form a protective barrier. “I know what you’re using, you fucker. Don’t think I don’t have some as well.” Her hand shot into her pocket and came out with a Transcendence gummy. Silas shot an arc of electricity to stop her, but her blood screen took it in her stead, her mad grin visible past it as she swallowed the gummy. “Now let’s hear you scream.”

Meanwhile, Ajit’s portal finally ripped open. He turned and gazed out with a vicious smile. “Get in, boys!”

Aengus grabbed the ducking Alair by his slender wrist and spun, lobbing him into the portal. The Master of War rushed in after him, followed by Ajit. Seeing this, Zafeera tried to stop Silas with her blood, but the Duellist was leaps and bounds quicker than her, zipping around her attack and bolting into the portal. It collapsed after him, just as the prophet plummeted from the sky, smashing into the rocky floor with a wet squelch. There was no doubt he was dead.

Kuraim slowly descended from the sky, raising a palm to calm the raging Zafeera. “What a curious motley crew. It seems they were here just to prevent us from getting that shaerd.”

“I could have fucking killed them,” Zafeera swore to herself, stamping her feet. “If we—”

“Go kill some zombies and calm yourself,” Kuraim told her. “That pill is affecting your judgement now.”

Despite the Blood Ripper’s character and her rioting emotions, she still listened to Kuraim without even the least attempt at drowning her anger out on him. She formed her motorbike again and headed for the coming zombie horde, dribbling at the thought of letting her hands run through flesh.

Kuraim only glanced at her departure, before turning his attention back to where Ajit’s portal had formed. He walked over and knelt, peering at the footprints they had left behind, before rising and gazing dreamily into the horizon. “I had thought only Lucian would be a real competitor, but it appears these moderates are interesting too. How fun!”

****

The second Silas stepped through, murder on his mind, he was immediately besieged by Dom and Josh, who had rushed here after hearing the prophet’s real-time reports. When the Duellist tried to tear them off with a burst of electricity, Josh reversed it with his Nemesis class to shock Silas instead. In this moment of surprise, Emmanuel appeared in his vision and poured a concoction down his throat.

“This Ambrosia will calm you down,” the Alchemist informed him.

While this happened, the others in the room were dealing with Alair, who still refused to die. But this was no longer an issue as not only did he have no opportunity of escaping here, but Katerina had also arrived some seconds before. Being the Hidden Blade, the Sovereign best suited for assassinations, he stood no chance against her as his body was torn apart from every direction at once.

Katerina Ivanov (human), the Hidden Blade, has killed Alair (shaerd), the Fiend.

34 Sovereigns remaining.

****

Miurl thrust her wing down, whacking a slumbering Svobald on the head. The Scourge groaned and tried to swerve his head away from her, his eyes still closed, but she followed up with another whack which sufficiently irritated him enough to rouse. He glared up at her craned neck, then roared, filling the cavern with its echoes.

A human has suddenly appeared in the area, she told him telepathically. It is a troublesome one.

Svobald snorted but checked his Sovereign detecting sense anyway, noting that a Lucian Grimes was indeed in close proximity. Doesn’t matter. Humans are all bugs. Squash.

We might as well see it.

Do you remember the last one? he replied. Pointless to give them attention.

All the same, Miurl had a bad feeling. Wriggling out from beside him, she treaded through the cavern, heading for the exit. When she reached it, she heard a growl from behind, before Svobald too got up and came after her. She jumped from the ground and flapped her wings, slowly gaining height while her eyes adapted to the light. She could hear thousands of human screams around her, all of them combining into an encompassing roar. Indeed, although her vision was still somewhat blurry, she could see thousands of humans had somehow encircled the cavern without her detecting, their bodies ridiculously small from this height. As such, she shouldn’t have felt the sense of danger which currently brooded over the rest of her thoughts.

Suddenly, a dark human walked out from this army, its presence easily distinguished by its considerable aura. “You know, you should have just voted for me.”

Without warning, all hell broke loose as the surrounding human army suddenly came alive with activity. Bullets and magical missiles shot towards Miurl and Svobald, their power nothing noteworthy but their number alarming. Svobald, who had just left the cavern and who was therefore lower down, was targeted by far more than her, and to his clear surprise, the attacks pierced through his scales. This was not the way things were supposed to be, but it was the way things were happening.

Svobald swirled and roared, trying to rise to Miurl’s height when a boulder as large as his head launched from the ground, crashing against his chin and grounding him again. Before he had even landed, his body exploded from every corner, enveloping it in a thick cloud of smoke. Miurl saw he was in severe danger and turned to swoop down, noticing too late the hungry gaze which bore into her. The dark human who had spoken was soaring up from the ground, shooting for her as fast as a star.

She tried to swerve to the side when he swung his glaive. Its blade was cute, as large as a tooth, and yet she felt its sting in a line across her neck. As she tried to make sense of the feeling, her thoughts slowed and dulled. Fortunately, her last thought was one of enlightenment, finally realising what had happened. Oh, I’m dead.

And so she was, her long neck separating from her body, curling through the air like a demonic snake spraying red venom everywhere as it fell to the earth.

Lucian Grimes (human), the Warlord, has killed Miurl the Mountain (dragon).

Sophie Chandler (human), the Demolitionist, has killed Svobald the Scourge (dragon).

32 Sovereigns remaining.