Standing several feet away and below the demon known as Lucretia, Vincent prepared himself. He closed his eyes and took slow, deep breaths. What seemed like a minute to him, was really only a second or two. Lowering his body into a colder state, he allowed himself to feel the meaning of the word nothing.

As he opened his eyes, he saw his friends in various states of panic and stress. Eliot was the most visibly distraught—his eyes were darting back and forth, his body was shaking, and his teeth were clattering. Zander, on the other hand, seemed more subtle with his fear. His eyes were wide and sweat was constantly pouring from his head. In fact, Vincent had never seen him sweat that much, not even on the hottest days when the sun was roasting his ghoulishly white body.

Finally, when Vincent looked at Fang, he was surprised to find that Fang’s composure was just as calm as his. Fang then looked back at him, gave him an affirming nod, and then brought out their Electronic Eyes.

Vincent smiled and focused his attention back at the enemy at hand. Gathered around Lucretia were her golden spires of death that jutted out of the wall. They were long and skinny, only about half a foot wide and several feet long.

With a raise of her chin and quick crack of a smile, she raised her hand in the air. The moment she snapped her fingers, those golden lances launched out of the walls on a collision course with Vincent and his friends.

Vincent moved in front of his friends and created a void that was just big enough to cover them all from a straight forward attack. However, as he did that, he heard Eliot scream out. While still keeping his void up, he looked over in that direction to see what was going on.

Flanking them, starting to stick out of the walls to his left and right, were more spikes. Unlike the ones that were being hurled at them from the front, these ones were as wide as a column and they came to a razor thin point at the end.

Oh shit, Vincent thought. His mind rushed to find a way for him to get to both sides, but he couldn't find a solution.

Just as the panic began to set in, Fang stepped in the middle of the group and banged their Electronic Eyes together and they started to reverberate. Lucretia then brought her outstretched arms together, and in response, the spikes coming out of the flanking walls extended out towards the group at a rapid speed. Unlike the lances, these spires did not fire out of the walls, but rather they stretched out and lunged towards the group.

Just as they were about to impact the friends, Fang’s Electronic Eyes sent out a bust of vibration to their left and right. Those bursts collided against the incoming attacks and smashed them apart, reducing them to rubble.

In the moments of calm after both assaults were over, Vincent and Fang came together, back to back. “We’re really being stretched thin, huh?” Fang said to Vincent.

Tilting his head back, Vincent replied, “I know, it kinda sucks how she can hit us from every angle.”

“We just have to keep our head on straight and we’ll figure out a way.”

The flanking walls then began to quiver again and the gold on the walls started to consolidate. Immediately, Vincent and Fang split up and took defensive stances on opposite sides of the Eliot and Zander. Vincent prepared to create a void and Fang banged their Electronic Eyes together.

Booming out from above, Lucretia declared, “Come on, dance some more for me.” As she said that, gold tendrils began to detach from the walls and wrap around and encircle her, never directly touching her.

She then used one hand to brush her hair, and as she did, she made sure that the back of the hand was put out towards the rest, showing off the immense amount of rings on them. Carrying off that momentum, she flicked her wrist forward, and those glittering tentacles whipped out towards the four of them.

“Fuck!” Vincent and Fang shouted.

Vincent instantly moved from his position and stationed himself between the incoming attacks and his friends. He reached both of his hands out and created voids at the end of them to block two of the attacks. Unfortunately, the third tendril maneuvered around his voids. His body couldn't react fast enough, none of his senses saw it coming, and he realized it was too late to do anything.

The gold whip impacted him and he felt every ounce of the gold slam against his body. As he began to fly through the air, he looked back and saw that he was heading right for a spike-laced wall. Luckily, before he moved much further, he felt something yank on his arm, keeping him in place, which caused his momentum to cease and for him to fall to the ground.

Quickly propping himself up to one knee, he saw Fang standing next to him with a hand outstretched. He took their hand and got himself to his feet. As he managed to right himself, a familiar feeling of fuck blazed through his head when he saw three more golden tendrils snaking their way towards them.

“Fang!” he began to call out.

But right before the words left his mouth, he saw Fang’s expression drop from their usual easygoing and light one to a more serious and concentrated one. Their eyes narrowed and their mouth rested in a neutral state. Efficiently, with no movements wasted, they turned completely around to face the incoming threat. Using their centrifugal force from turning around, they swing one of their Electronic Eyes to collide with the other the moment they faced directly at the enemies.

The moment those Electronic Eyes collided with each other, a massive wave of vibrating energy launched its way towards the golden tendrils. Like a tornado through a wooden house, the tendrils were blown apart. That gust continued even to where Lucretia stood, causing debris to be thrown in her face and for her hair to be pushed backwards for a few seconds.

As the dust began to settle, Vincent saw Fang still standing tall. He rushed up to them, saying, “Dude, that was the best—” But his words began to fade away as he placed a shoulder on them.

Fang’s body was shaking in radically different ways, as if each muscle was spasming in a different manner. It wasn’t to an extreme degree, but one that was unnatural and alarming. Their body rocked back and forth and their feet constantly had to catch their footing, like it was impossible for them to stay put.

Vincent then walked in front of Fang as saw their vein-swollen arms, their crimson eyes, and the blood dripping from their nose. “Fang, ya good?” he caringly asked.

Coughing up a small amount of blood, Fang replied, “I-I-I my-m-my good.” Their words seemed just as jumbled as their body. “Th-T-That r-r-rattled me g-good.”

“No shit.”

Wiping the blood from their face, they looked at Vincent and said, “I d-don’t think I can d-do one of th-those again.”

Patting them on the back, Vincent replied, “That’s all good.” He then glanced back at Eliot, who was on his ass, and Zander, whose jaw was hung wide open. “Why don’t you go back with them That mega blast of yours prolly bought us a few seconds, so just wait with them while I go quickly kick that bitch’s—”

CLAP CLAP CLAP

With a chill slithering its way down his spine, Vincent slowly turned around to see the Lady of the House clapping at the top of her throne, looking even more sinister. Her hair was frizzled and demented, obscuring one eye, and her teeth were unnatrually white compared to the debris-covered suit she was wearing.

“Incredible,” she announced, still clapping. “I don’t think I could get that kind of fight in the Collider no matter how much I pay.”

Vincent threw his arm back in a protective manner and stood in front of Fang.

“Yes, I think that was quite worth it,” she continued. “You’ve given me so many headaches in such a short span of time, but I think the entertainment you just provided me paid off that debt.”

Gritting his teeth, Vincent replied, “Oh don’t worry, I’ll pay back that debt and then some.”

“I would say that I can’t wait to see what kind of interest you’ll provide me, but I’m already satisfied.” She then licked her lips. “I think it’s about time we end this,” she said, raising her hand in the air.

“I agree,” Vincent responded, lowering himself even further into the abyss—so much so that his breath began to become visible. “I’m about to put an end to you.”

“Don’t say that with such determination,” Lucretia laughed. “With no due respect, don’t think for a second you actually had control of this fight.”

“I’m always in control of what I do.”

Lucretia moved her tongue around the inside of her mouth before responding, “Oh I cannot wait to watch you break while staring at the corpses of your friends.” She then reached her arm straight ahead and said, “Now you’ll dance one final dance for me, just like every puppet at the end of my gold strings.”

“Fuck!” Fang yelled as their eyes darted to the ground. The look that shot across their face was one that Vincent had thought he had seen before, but upon seeing it now, he knew that it was the first time he had genuinely seen it in their face. Fang’s expression spelled fear.

“Vincent, jump” they said as they slammed their Electronic Eyes together. Without a second of delay Vincent and the rest of the group jumped in the air as Fang brought their arms down to the ground with a fierce slam.

The vibrations from their Resonator ability were sent as shockwaves through the gold-marbled floor, which was just beginning to come up as little tiny spikes. That very same floor was then cracked and obliterated by Fang’s attack, reducing the thin layer of gold on top of the now-apparent cement ground to scattered rubble.

The shockwaves reverated through the entire room, causing the ceiling, the walls, and even Lucretia’s stair-led throne to crack and displace. Chandeliers fell, walls crumbled, and the floor was upturned in more ways than one.

Even though he and the rest of his friends jumped, Vincent still felt the impact of Fang’s unbridled assault on the room—both the vibrations and the destruction from those vibrations. He was thrown forwards and slightly to his left until he crashed against a wall.

His head was slammed against the wall, nearly knocking him out in the process. As he struggled his way to look up and what just happened, he saw a picture of ruin being drawn out before him. Chunks of the ceiling and walls continued to fall to the ground, burying half of the room under them. However, that view didn’t last long, as his vision began to fade.