I quickly observed the battle. My Armedsharks were aimlessly fighting with the demons, and I realized how poorly I'd used them. Was this because of where I was or due to Rathica's absence? Or something else? As the only thing that had just changed was Rathica's reappearance, I had to go with that, but this wasn't the time to reason it out.

With a few quick commands, the Armedsharks on the outside pulled back and grouped in pairs. I hesitated for only a moment, then sent out new commands. The pairs rushed in together, grabbing a demon and dragging it out of the melee before mauling it. The center of battle was uneven now, and I quickly commanded those to move closer together and focus fire.

As I took close control over the battle, the number of dead demons rapidly increased, but I also quickly realized it wouldn't be enough. I was too heavily outnumbered, and even if my Vengeful Spirits were stronger, they were being swarmed.

Above me, Lark was swimming circles around Kineater, blasting thin green beams from his eyes while effortlessly dodging triangular demons chasing him. His snakelike body swirled through the water, seeming intent on taking down Kineater.

Those beams are the same as Yox'plir had, I thought with a frown. Had he gained it from the Dracoserp essence? It seemed likely, but it was another question for later.

Casiron was further away, in the middle of a cloud of dozens of Demons. His body was heavily damaged, and although he was mauling through the much smaller demons, for each one he ripped apart, another seemed to appear in its place, nibbling at his massive body, ripping woodchips free.

He wouldn't survive the onslaught much longer, and if those demons joined in, my Armedsharks would be whittled down.

It's time to get out of here, I told Casiron while sending five heavily damaged Armedsharks towards him to help. They could draw attention so he could flee.

Go, I'll keep them busy until you are clear, Casiron said. A thick desire for battle came together with the message.

No. Let those Armedsharks distract them, I said. If you lose that one, I might not have the time to create another body!

Casiron bit down into another demon while smacking two away with his tail. I sensed his annoyance.

Alright, he finally replied reluctantly.

"Vile Snake, it's time to leave," I shouted.

Six demons rushed me, triggered by my shout, their triangular bodies rigid but fast. My mount sped forward, circling the clusterfuck of a battle as I ordered it to stay out of range of everything.

"No, we need to kill Kineater," Lark howled as he dodged away from those assaulting him and struck the purple blob with another eye-beam attack.

"And how do we do that?" I shouted back.

As I glared at Lark, something odd about the battle between the two drew my attention. Why wasn't Kineater retaliating?

I had barely finished the thought when a slit opened at the bottom of the purple blob of demonic flesh. Three triangular demons burst out, blurring through the water like torpedoes. Lark roared, swirled around, dodged two, then howled as the third bit down on his tail. Another cloud of white blood appeared in the water while Lark began angrily flicking his tail. It took him only a few swipes to rip the demon free, but it left another gaping hole behind.

"There are too many!' I roared.

"Children, don't let them leave," Kineater rumbled before bursting out with laughter. Another slit opened, and two more triangular demons burst forward, straight for me.

Not fast enough, I thought as my mount shot forward, out of their path.

An idea flashed through my mind, and I rapidly cast Controlled Conflagration. Two swirling green fireballs appeared. Although I still couldn't actually throw the fire, they were moving so fast and had such rigid bodies I wondered if they could dodge.

I waited for the right moment, then released the fireballs in the direct path of the demons, expanding them outward as fast as I could. The demons shrieked, struggling to move out of the way and failing, before swimming straight into the rapidly expanding curtain of fire.

The demons froze in place, writhing and howling as their flesh rapidly turned black.

As I gazed at the demon barbeque, I suddenly realized something I should have before. I'd been thinking about the fire in the wrong way! I might not be able to throw it far in the water nor keep it near me for fear of cooking myself, but that didn't make it useless.

Far from it!

As a plan formed in my mind, I had my mount pull away from the wall into the darkness before commanding it to keep away from any demons. I was going to have to take a risk. I pulled up my status and messages, blocking my vision of what was happening. There were a few messages from Eliandra, but my inability to see what was going on was causing my anxiety to rise, and I ignored everything. Instead, I quickly sent a message to Par.

> Upgrade Controlled Conflagration to use Karma!

The response was almost immediate.

> You sure? It will cost the remainder of your Karma, and you aren't gaining that much anymore.

> Do it!

My message was barely finished when a tiny popup appeared.

> Do you grant your keeper, Raparion, access to your spell 'Controlled Conflagration'?

I selected the yes option, and high beeping noises quickly appeared.

> Raparion has used forty-two Karma to upgrade 'Controlled Conflagration'

> 'Controlled Conflagration' has been changed to Enhanced Controlled Conflagration

> Enhanced Controlled Conflagration can use Karma instead of life-force to power its effect

I took one look before closing the screens, looking around for anything that might kill me. To my surprise, my mount had carried us far into the darkness, leaving me with a much better overview of the battle. A cloud of white and purple blood rapidly spread outward, mingling into a bright pink in the center. Kineater had created more demons, and many of my Armedsharks were drifting around, broken into pieces. Those that remained were mostly just distractions now. Casiron was still battling, seemingly fine with staying until the end.

For a moment, I wondered if I should just leave, then I shook my head. At a minimum, I was going to burn as many demons as possible.

It took a few seconds for my mount to return to the edge of the

Let's hope this works, I thought as I began casting the improved version of Controlled Conflagration. I wasn't a hundred percent sure the change would do what I needed or hoped, but there was only one way to find out.

As my fingers flashed, I commanded the remaining Armedsharks to head towards me. They instantly obeyed, one moving sideways mid-attack. As they pulled back, most of the demons chased them, and soon a mass of movement swirled away from the growth-covered wall. Darkgreen, almost black Armedsharks, pursued by the distinctly brighter purple arrowhead-shaped demons.

Controlled Conflagration completed, and I waved the fire forward, spreading it out with my will. As another curtain of fire appeared, I willed my mount back quickly. I expected the fire to be much bigger and hotter, and being boiled alive wasn't my idea of a good time.

The fire spread outward into a thin film of fire, creating bubbly swirls of green flame. Within a moment, it became as large as the previous, just in time. The mass of movement reached it, and I waited for my Armedsharks to pass through. Then I pushed Karma into the spell and counted to two. I stopped just as the first demon touched the fire.

A dull boom came, and it felt like someone simultaneously punched me in the head, chest, and stomach. All sense of where I was, position, or location disappeared as I felt myself swirl through the water.

When I finally stopped moving, the world had turned into ruddy darkness. My ears were ringing, and my skin was taut. Slowly a rumbling reseeded in the distance, and then I hung in the middle of the water, feeling nothing.

The first thing I noticed was the dull pain coming from my gills. It took me a full minute to understand that it was the water, so hot it scalded the insides of my gills. Although I knew that was bad, I just hung there, confused and with a rapidly increasing headache throbbing through my skull. Another minute spun by as I realized the blackness came because I was looking out into the darkness of the sea.

What had just happened? my thought was slow and dull.

With the thought, more pain showed itself. My skin turned into a screeching mess, my insides feeling like I'd swallowed glass. I coughed and sucked in another waft of scalding water. Fear began growing when familiar hotness flared up from inside me. Where had I felt this before?

As my mind tried to make sense of the mess, my headache faded, and the answer came to me. This was what it felt like when my body used demon blood to heal. So I was injured?

Of course you are, I thought as my mind cleared up rapidly. What the hell just happened?

My memory didn't want to cooperate, seemingly as shaken as my body. The last thing I remembered was casting Controlled Conflagration with Karma and then….

Wait… did something explode?

I vaguely remembered something hitting me in the face before everything changed into a chaotic jumbled mess.

Casiron? I called out, getting no response. Should I call for Lark? Probably not a good idea.

The burning regeneration seemed to work from the inside out, and as my mind cleared up, my memories returned.

I assessed my body, trying to figure out how bad the damage was. My insides were still hurting, but I felt things knit together painfully. Something happened in my throated, and I coughed, spitting out bits of gunk. The skin around my chest seemed to burst open, and a similar sensation came from my arms. I raised them and almost gagged.

Bright red, bleeding lesions covered my charred black skin. Chunks and bits were breaking off, drifting away and leaving trails of black soot behind. I quickly lowered my arms and swallowed back the desire to vomit. What the hell did my face look like if this was my arms? Trying to shove the fear of permanent disfigurement away, I spun around in the water.

A ravaged mess of debris, purple flesh, blood, and wood splinters hung around a large cleared area of water. I'd been blasted far away, and I stared in disbelief at the large areas of stone that had broken and snapped from the wall. The purple lesions and demonic plants had been blasted away even further, creating a pit with a large cleared area. Two Armedsharks were slowly moving far to the left, heavily damaged but somehow not entirely disintegrated like the rest.

Lark hung limply in the water above the cleared area, scorching marks across his body. He hovered in a cloud of muddled white liquid, more of which was pouring from his nostrils and mouth. The purple, meaty heart he'd had with him was gone, and the side of his mouth was blown away. A dozen feet above him hung Kineater, purple blood oozing from numerous wounds.

Shit, he's still alive, I thought as I saw the purple mass contract and shudder. Each time it did, a massive cloud of purple blood gushed out of the wounds. One drifted my way, and I headed towards it. More blood meant more healing. As soon as I reached it, my healing kicked into overdrive, and an itching came from my ears.

A high peep came, then sounds returned. The first I recognized was a dull moan.

Casiron? I tried again, louder this time. There was no response.

What the hell kind of explosion just happened? No, why had the fire exploded? I'd expected to create a curtain or wave of fire to swallow the demons, killing them that way. Instead, I'd somehow created an underwater detonation? I looked around, trying to figure out how I was even still alive.

I had been close, closer than Lark had been, and for all intents and purposes, I should have been blasted to smithereens.

A large chunk of wood hung not too far away, and it took me a few moments to recognize it as part of my mount. It had been blasted apart, and only the chest and half of its head remained. The side and the back were vaporized, and I realized it must have guarded me at the last minute, taking the full brunt. Oddly, I couldn't recall if I'd ordered it or if it was some automatic action.

Another moan came, and I looked around until I found what remained of Casiron's body ripped apart. He seemed reasonably intact, at least more than I'd expected. Seeing none of the purple triangular demons, I began swimming towards him while commanded the remaining two Vengeful Spirits towards me. One was missing a fin, his movement crooked and slow, but the other seemed fine, safe for a hole in the side of its head.

Casiron's front was fine, but when I swam around, I cursed. The entire back of his body was gone.

Dammit, now I need to make you another body, I thought, turning to Lark.

Kineater hadn't moved yet, but he was way too close to Lark for me to go there.

"Vile Snake?" I whispered, constantly looking around for any potential enemies.

The sheer size and scope of the explosion astounded me.

"Massster?" a soft, painful, and confused voice came.

I knew that Lark had to be heavily concussed if he used that term. I was about to tell him to come over when a soft laugh came. A familiar, guttural, and evil laugh that made my skin crawl.

"Master, is it? Well, well. The high and mighty Vile Snake is bound to a Dirtborn? After I catch you, I will torture that story out of you!"

I looked up to see that Kineater was moving. It was hovering sideways, towards some of the purple chunks of flesh, and a slit opened in its formless body. A long serrated tongue lashed out, latched onto the nearby flesh, and pulled it in. The slit closed, and disturbingly crunchy chewing followed. Wounds began closing all over the thing's body.

"I don't know how you did that just now. But you don't look too good! Want to try again?" Kineater said, bursting out in mocking laughter.

My mind went into overdrive, and I instantly sent the wounded Armedshark towards him to distract it. It was too slow to keep up with any fleeing anyway. Besides, Kineater was right. If he could survive this, attacking was out of the question. I'd have to get super close, but then I'd not survive the blast myself. No, we needed to get out of here.

I grabbed the back of the sole Vengeful Spirit I had left, and it carried me to Lark. His body was even more damaged than I had thought, with one of his small front limbs torn off. Bones, tendons, and arteries showed inside the jagged hole where it had been ripped clean off.

I heard a hollowed crunch and looked up. The Armedshark I had sent was drifting away, ripped in two.

"Vile Snake, we need to leave," I said as I gazed at what remained of Lark. Could he even move?

One dull red eye opened, the orange swirling patterns the only thing still seeming energetic.

"If- If we leave now, he will follow usss and kill usss," Lark mumbled as his tail propelled him aside in a crooked motion. "We need to finisssh him now that he isss wounded."

The Kineater laughed, and the low insanity of it made my rapidly healing skin crawl. A slit opened, and a single triangular demon plopped out. It was smaller and slower than those from before, but the fact it was there showed the shit we were in.

"You won't escape me. I'll slay you and that master of yours!"

I grabbed the back of the Armedshark with my legs, ready to cast Controlled Conflagration again if there was no other choice. My mind quickly went through the options, dismissing fighting and coming up with running. But where? As damaged as Lark was, we couldn't go far.

An image of the other path, the one with the Xandi leeches, popped into my mind. The large, gloomy entrance had hundreds if not thousands of hiding spots across its jagged walls. As long as we didn't go too deep, we should be able to hide somewhere.

"Can you still move?" I asked Lark.

Lark's tail swiped again, and he nodded.

"Alright, follow me," I said as I had the Vengeful Spirit turn and swim back where we had come.

"We ssshould fight," Lark hissed, his voice regaining a little power again.

"Unless you have something left, we can't!" I snapped while looking across my shoulder to keep an eye on Kineater.

Lark seemed to hesitate, then followed, his body moving crookedly while he appeared to favor his right side. Close behind him was the anamorphic blob of purple flesh that was Kineater. Its long serrated tongue drew in any chunk of flesh, or purple growth ripped free from the wall it passed. It was staying at a set distance from Lark while its triangular demon offspring flanked it like some pet dog.

It's waiting to create more of those Demons, I thought as I saw it keep pace with us.

"Hurry," I hissed, commanding the Armedshark to speed up.

Lark followed without comment, but his serpentine face was drawn out as he struggled to keep up.

A third demon burst forward from Kineater, staying near it like a loyal dog.

Bloody hell, I hope we make it, I thought as I aimed for the area back and below us.

--

'What was that?" Grem hissed, looking at the darkness ahead.

Libidi did not answer, just gazed at him coldly.

"No idea either?" Grem muttered, ignoring the voice in his head. "Well, great."

"It came from where we are going," Libidi said coldly.

"How can you even tell?" Grem asked, surprised. He turned his lizard-like green body around in an inhuman show of flexibility.

Libidi just stared at him coldly.

Grem sighed and continued ahead. "Well, whatever it was, Est has begun moving again. Back the way he came. Perhaps he found what he was looking for?"

There was no response from Libidi, and he ignored Thiwick's constant barrage of complaints and whining.

Grem sped up, an angry gleam in his eyes.

--

"It's like an underwater jet," I hissed, gazing across my shoulder.

Lark was fifty feet behind, still struggling to keep up, while Kineater hovered behind us. He had a group of five demons, and his body was still slowly healing. Slits in its back ejected masses of white bubbling air, causing it to shoot forward like a torpedo.

The lack of flesh was the only reason I could think of why Kineater hadn't just attacked and destroyed us. As soon as we left the area with the chunks of flesh, he had stopped creating more triangular demons.

"We ssshould have fought," Lark hissed as he managed a burst of speed that closed some of the distance.

A hole appeared in the long, seemingly unending wall of stone ahead of us, purple demon vegetations.

Well, at least we made it, I thought, as I commanded the Vengeful Spirit forward.

A worried hiss came from Lark. "Don't you remember what it told you about that place?"

I didn't answer but made a beeline for the entrance. Dark, rocky outcrops lined its entire circumference, giving the feel of something demon-made instead of natural. There were barely any demonic plants beyond a hundred-foot inside, just shadowy gray rock. Holes and cracks littered the stone, creating a sponge-like surface, and I hoped there weren't any of those leeches hiding inside. Perhaps that's why there were no plants?

"You prefer suicide over fighting me?" Kineater howled from behind, followed by a nasty laugh.

"He isss right," Lark hissed, still following me as the gaping entrance grew in size until we were but mere specs before its looming darkness." Don't you remember? The Xandi leeches will dessstroy usss!”

I ignored Lark, turned around on my mount, and kept my full attention on Kineater.

Shit, I thought when the anamorphic blob followed us into the shadowy entrance. My hope plummeted as it continued, showing no signs of slowing down.

As darkness enveloped us, I worried Kineater didn't fear the leaches. Finally, when I could barely see the exit behind us, he stopped, hovering in the middle of the dark water. The ceiling and walls were a dim outline around him. His five demons spread out.

"If you think to pass me, think again," he howled loudly. "Either you continue and become a feast for the Xandi leeches, or you find me and my offspring here, waiting!"

I ignored the threat and angled towards the nearest sponge-like structure. The stone seemed even more porous as I neared it, and I slowed down as I entered one of the caverns. I was on the highest alert, ready for anything. Innumerable smaller and larger holes led deeper into the spongy rock, but there was no movement.

As Lark came inside, I hopped off my mount and commanded it to guard me and attack anything moving. I swam back to the entrance, then hung outside until I could see Kineater hovering like a tiny spec in the water. Behind it, the entrance glowed like a small bright red gem.

I waited for a minute before going back down, and hovering next to my final Armedshark.

"We are trapped," Lark hissed, staring at me angrily.

"Maybe," I said as I looked around, annoyed.

"Heal up and keep an eye out. As soon as Kineater moves, let me know," I said.

"What? What are you going to do?" Lark responded, sounding confused.

I made a quick guesstimate on how long the Vengeful Spirit would remain in the wooden body. Roughly twenty minutes, which should be enough.

"I need to chat with someone," I said.

Lark grimaced, then moved towards the entrance, popping his head out. I opened my status and gazed at my messages, nodding as I read the first.

> Est, Rathica is back!

Yeah, I thought. Now let's see if she can come and save us.