The arietes weren’t particularly polite in waking the humans in their company a bit earlier than they perhaps would’ve liked. At the first light of dawn, Phyrn’s chosen were riding again, and by mid-morning, they could feel a sour staleness in the air; the invigorating mana that ran deep in this land turned almost nauseating, a bitterness that weighed down on everyone’s shoulders. Even Krey was becoming restless, despite feeling it the least by far. Even though the sun was climbing, and the day was only getting brighter, that light seemed almost unreal, like a spotlight illuminating the stage in an otherwise dark theatre. Invisible shadows stretched over their senses, and a bleak halation crept into the edges of their vision.

By midday, their fears were realised. They crested a small hill, and down the other side, they saw it… the goat-shaped menace from ages long past.

“I don’t believe it…” Emilie nearly whispered, her voice rising in volume in conjunction with the fire that had just started in her heart. “It… it can’t be!”

“I’m afraid it is.” Krey proclaimed: “I don’t know how, but… it’s a hirquus.”

Just as we warned, the bane of Berodyl still stands.

Now we do battle once more, for the sake of all the peoples and all the lands.

The caprine creature, with horns and eyes of burning topaz, was enveloped in a vortex of murky orange mana. It did not have the comforting effulgence that mana usually generated, but was muddied by a dimness that seemed to drink the very world around it, distorting and obscuring.

A realisation crossed Livia’s mind: That’s not mana…

The arietes let out a piercing screech, louder than any of the whistles they’d made before. The words they projected into the minds of their riders were also louder— panicked, even.

Hark! The foul monster begets seithr upon the world!

We must destroy Her now, lest the horrors of twisted evil be unfurled!

“Then let’s go!” Krey cried. “We must put the hirquus down! For Berodyl!”

The hirquus felt their presence as they closed in, and the vortex dispersed explosively, sending quakes through the ground and squalls through the air. It reared back and let out a roar that seemed to come from all around, as if Berodyl itself was screaming in pain. The arietes slowed just enough to let their riders dismount, and Livia simply dismissed Danu from under her, falling into an anticipated roll. By the time she’d stood up, her friends were at her side, and the arietes were encircling both them and the hirquus. In unison they jolted the beast with arcs of magical light, but she barely reacted, charging headlong at Phyrn’s chosen. Livia knelt down and drew Veridis, holding it upright and in line with her body, the edge of the blade facing outward. Emilie stood behind her and began praying, compelling the mana around them to embolden Livia’s body. Krey and Pippy ran out to either side, preparing to pincer. Right as the hirquus was about to ram Livia, she turned her sword so the flat of the blade now faced outward, and the sweetcrest shield appeared just in time to repel the charge. Pippy and Krey ceased the moment, Pippy performing a cartwheel and channelling the momentum into a thrust that sent a throbbing sphere of red aura from the head of her mace. When it began dispersing across the hirquus’ form in a gelatinous consistency, hampering its ability to move, Krey was within sword range, and began hacking and slashing with all his might.

However, he soon ceased his flurry of blows, seeing the wounds close almost as soon as he was making them. With a burst of rage, the hirquus shook Pippy’s spell into nothing, and fired a bolt of magic from between its horns that shattered Livia’s magic shield instantly. A dim orange glow seeped out of the hirquus’ body and then exploded in a dome of impossible dark light, sending Phyrn’s chosen flying. The arietes redoubled their efforts, now focusing sustained beams of magic at the hirquus. It was certainly hampered by this, but nowhere near enough to give the adventurers the opening they needed. They rushed it again, only to be shrugged off again. Livia, Krey, and Pippy all struck at it with their weapons in unison, bolstered by Emilie’s magic, but the hirquus thrashed, kicked, and blasted each of them.

Krey tried to stand, but fell to one knee with a grunt, his whole body heaving with haggard rasps. “We are not ready… we are not worthy…”

Emilie looked at him… then to his sword belt… then back at his face. She leaned down and seized him by the collar. “Have a little faith,” she ordered calmly… and drew Doligir from his hip. She needed both arms to lift the blade, despite being meant for one-handed use, and pointed it at the hirquus. It immediately buckled as the sword’s enchantment began burrowing into its entire being, encumbering it with deep pain. “Yes… you feel this, don’t you, foul wretch?”

It turned its attention to her, and broke into a sprint. It was already adapting to the pain, running at full speed once again. Emilie brought the sword up over her head, but her arms were shaking, filling with the burning ache of fatigue. She threw herself out of the beast’s path, the sword flying from her hands. The hirquus turned without loss of speed, barrelling at her once again. Emilie scrambled across the ground, grabbing Doligir, and swinging up just in time to put a nasty gash in the monster’s snout… a gash that did not immediately heal.

Emilie gasped and smiled, a new giddiness helping her to her feet. The hirquus, however, did not let her stand for long, butting her with its head, some of its cloudy blood spilling onto her hands. “AAAGH!” she shrieked, the skin of her hands steaming and hissing. “IT BURNS! OH, GODS, IT BURNS!”

Before the hirquus could lay a hoof on the hierophant, it was struck down for the first time by Livia, who had thrown herself at it and swung Veridis with a fury unknown to even ancient evil. It staggered back up and, for the first time ever, felt fear as it looked upon Livia Sol Sasna. The last true aubadean was pulsing with red light… and then, too, with green light, her eyes swirling with both colours as they swelled within her. Pippy approached first, with Emilie gathering herself and joining in moments later, the hierophant praying to her gods even through the burning. Clutching her rosary seemed to abate the pain and the destruction of her body; the gods would spare her the loss of her hands this day. Pippy had Doom and Gloom aligned vertically, her face twisted in a mix of focus and ecstasy, as if lost in the thrall of a deep, euphoric reverie.

Krey watched from his incapacitation. He watched as Livia sheathed Veridis and picked Doligir off the ground, watched her focus Emilie’s and Pippy’s magics into it… and then had an idea. He beckoned the arietes, and told them to channel their collective power into Livia. They did as he bid, and Livia writhed and moaned as she was saturated with such rich mana. Her skin began to crack, unable to bear the stress, and Doligir was also beginning to show signs of breakdown as she converged the flow of magic into it.

The hirquus charged again, and Livia felt its hateful words invade her mind:

I shall break thee on my unyielding horns, ignorant child of light.

Bare whatever small power at me you can, for it will never match my might.

“Want to put that to the test?” Livia howled. She ran at it too, meeting its charge. As it threw itself headfirst at her, she ripped her own throat with a roar, lunging forward with all the power being focused through her. She buried Doligir in the cut Emilie had made previously, the blood of the creature hissing as it eroded the blade… but, as Doligir unravelled, the now-useless hilt falling to the ground, the magics poured into the blade exploded in the hirquus’ head… shredding it into viscera. Its gore splattered Livia, but she was spared from its harmful touch by the aura that still layered her, burning away in mutual annihilation. Seeing the hirquus was slain, Livia let herself collapse, slipping out of consciousness.