"This is, almost certainly, a suicide mission, " the squad had been briefed. "One that there will be no recovery from, will end with you in a realm of eternal torture. Your mission is to keep an unkillable foe's attention for as long as possible, to give Annabelle Lee and her allies enough time to escape to a secondary location."

Even though they knew the risks, they still volunteered for this mission.

There were eight of them, each with a specific role. Overseer, the leader, had a depth of tactical training and combat precognition that would allow her to compensate for the loss of contact with command. Pathfinder, a psion specialized in the creation of wormholes, would create their entry point and maneuver the team into position. Ratchet, the team's engineer, would deploy and control several combat drones, killing the Shades with something they wouldn't be able to take out with their anti-biological magic weapons. The Four Horsemen, heavy weapon wielders, would be focused on creating as much damage as possible to draw Nyxl's attention.

But out of all of them, Impaler had the most important role. He was carrying a weapon specifically designed to hurt Nyxl, and his job was to survive as long as possible and deal as much damage as possible.

On orders from the team's scouts, they performed a stealth insertion into an unknown world, dropping from orbit to land next to their target, a seemingly nondescript cavern.

They rushed into the cavern, navigated its winding passageways, and spotted their goal, a patch of what looked like pitch-black stone. However, their briefing, and a quick analysis with Starsight would reveal that the patch of stone was actually a dimensional wall, a potential linking point between this world and the Shaderealm.

With a quick application of her specialized powers, Pathfinder forced open that link from the surface-side, opening the portal.

"You're right on time," their commander said. "Go."

"It has been an honor to serve," the team replied. Then, they rushed through the portal.

They emerged at an entry point in the middle of a manor in the middle of an underground city. Or, more precisely, a city in a pocket dimension, that just happened to be designed like an underground city. There was minimal ambient light, so the team switched their HUDs to night-vision. They heard explosions in the distance, likely from the team they were trying to create a diversion for.

Begin obliteration protocols, Overseer ordered.

The Horsemen formed up in a circle around their entry point, and opened fire with their massive plasma beam cannons, superheavy weapons that shot beams of molten-hot plasma that could melt through the Shades' metal buildings. In twenty seconds, they flattened everything within a block of their starting point, and they continued the assault afterwards.

Ratchet, the team engineer, activated the four hunter-killer drones, each little more than a flying gauss rifle with an integrated AI and maneuvering system. He designated their targets (namely, every Shade), and sent them through four wormholes opened by Delta-7, each leading into a distant portion of the city. Neither of them were sure whether it was a legitimate distraction or just an attempt to maximize the amount of dead Shade 'civilians', but either way, they would pose a serious threat. Having a curse that could instantly destroy a human mind meant nothing against a robotic intelligence.

And while the rest of the squad focused on destruction, Impaler focused on the main target, the god of evil that caused this entire mess. He used his armor's gravity-manipulating flight mode to hover above the team, and searched for his target.

Impaler quickly spotted a commotion. He looked over, and saw a Shade Matriarch fighting Nyxl. Or, to be more precise, Annabelle's Schism, possessing a Shade Matriarch, had engaged Nyxl, and ended up captured. And, Nyxl was doing some sort of… thing… to her, probably draining her soul (or would it be the Matriarch's soul?). Nyxl was two hundred meters out, but that was barely medium range for his specialized weapon.

Impaler's weapon was a distortion sniper, an incredibly powerful railgun combined with a specialized psychic amplifier assembly. With every shot, Delta-6 used the psychic focus on his gun to fire out a beam of spatial distortion just ahead of the railgun projectile, sundering armor (or in this case, whatever the heck a god's body was made out of) and greatly increasing the damage of the ensuing kinetic impact.

It didn't kill Nyxl, but he was still stunned by the impact. Delta-6 fired another shot, but he recovered and managed to dodge out of the way just in time. Then, Nyxl fled for cover, likely thinking that he couldn't be tracked through a building.

Impaler knew the briefing had called this a suicide mission. But given that Nyxl was fleeing rather than fighting, maybe this wasn't such a difficult fight after all.

Especially given that Delta-6's rifle also projected a focused Starsight field with enough range to track him through walls.

Impaler flew up to the ceiling of the Shaderealm to get a better angle of attack through the buildings, and fired. The shot pierced through two buildings to impact a very surprised Nyxl.

But Nyxl wasn't stunned this time. And then, he disappeared.

You've got his attention, Overseer told him. He's about to strike.

Nyxl teleported, reappearing directly underneath Impale. Had Overseer not warned him, he could have been wiped out by whatever attack the god performed, but with the warning, the only thing Nyxl got was a point-blank blast to the face before Impaler dodged out of the way.

As expected, Nyxl's going after me first, Impaler messaged. Split up, maximize the amount of time Nyxl wastes hunting each of us down.

Pathfinder opened several portals on the ground, allowing the heavies in the squad to relocate to new positions.

What of the Shades' weapons? one of the Horsemen asked. If we split-up, the Shade guards will bring us down.

Your shields have been augmented, remember? They should be able to withstand any counter-fire that the Shades manage to produce. Overseer sent back. Combine that with the panic among the Shade ranks, and you'll be fine.

The Horsemen went through the portals and scattered across the city to continue their path of destruction. Meanwhile, Nyxl manifested a platform underneath him, landed, and then launched back up at Delta-6.

He fired again, but Nyxl threw himself sideways with a psychokinetic push (or something to the same effect using divine abilities), evading the shot.

Impaler received another warning from Overseer, and flicked on a close-range Starsight field just in time to detect a razor-sharp tentacle appearing behind him. His armor was the only thing keeping him from being impaled, the Thermal Alloy converting the impact force into heat. The tentacle recoiled back from the heat, having had minimal effect as the armor's cooling system vented off the added heat.

However, that was just the first tentacle. At least a dozen appeared around him. Below him, Nyxl's back seemed to be covered in tentacles that trailed off into nothingness, and from what he picked up on his Starsight field, the tentacles attacking him came out of nowhere, and then disappeared the instant they were no longer necessary, replaced by another tentacle soon after.

At first the tentacles attempted to deal damage to his armor. The sustained assault started to heat up the armor, but Thermal Alloy armor was designed to take direct hits from railgun fire, and the tentacles, though razor-sharp, didn't pack that caliber of kinetic energy.

But they could grapple him. With the armor's gravity-manipulation flight system and strength augments, Impaler was able to overpower and pull free of the first few tentacles, but more kept appearing in his flight path, and soon he was overwhelmed.

Several tentacles grabbed on to each of his limbs. Then, space shifted around him. His Starsight was briefly disrupted, and the tentacles suddenly pulled back, wrapping around him and almost pulling his armor apart. Sections of the thermal alloy were melted by an incredible amount of stress before the tentacles slipped off of the melted sections. The armor's cooling rapidly attempted to recover, but HUD indicated that about 70% of his armor had been stripped away.

Then Impaler received his own premonition, of a black distortion beam ripping him apart, a death premonition triggered by his imminent death. He managed to dodge just enough to avoid being completely obliterated, but his right arm was caught in the blast and obliterated to the point of uselessness. Luckily, he was able to fire his weapon one-handed, but it was just the beginning of the end.

As Nyxl charged forwards, Impaler fired a one-handed railgun shot following a distortion blast, and scored another hit, seemingly stunning Nyxl. Then, space shifted again, and Nyxl was right in front of him again. The god's right arm morphed into a tentacle that wrapped around his body, and as Delta-6 attempted to struggle free, a half-dozen more tentacles emerged and pinned him down. He threw his weapon away,

WHAT ARE YOU? Nyxl's telepathic message shook his mind, and the shock caused him to drop his weapon, but Delta-6 managed to resist the mental intrusion.

He received another death premonition of an imminent death by distortion beam. This time, he wouldn't be able to evade.

It has been an honor. Impaler prepared to make his sacrifice.

As his gun fell below Nyxl, he grabbed it with telekinesis, reoriented it to to face straight upwards, and channeled every ounce of energy he had left into its psychic focus, unleashing a massive distortion beam.

Nyxl's own blast fired an instant later, tearing his chest apart. But he managed to remain conscious and continued to channel energy into the beam. Normally, distortion beams only lasted for a split second, but with his focus, he sustained the blast for several seconds, rending Nyxl's body.

Nyxl fired another distortion beam, straight through his head. Even though his brain was destroyed, his soul retained his consciousness for another second, and continued the barrage.

Nyxl then went after his soul, using his divine powers to pull it into himself and absorb it. But before his soul could be absorbed, Delta-6 released one final blast, and pushed himself hard enough that between his own exertion and Nyxl's soul-ripping attack, his soul shattered.

His last thought was a hope that his final attack would be enough.

**********

We have arrived. Annabelle sensed the telepathic message, and thought she could recognize the source. Especially after Omega confirmed it, and after she heard the explosions in the distance.

The Alien Combat Patrol had sent a squad to come to her rescue. Although she couldn't recognize who exactly was part of the team, it couldn't be anyone else.

I thought you wouldn't come, Annabelle replied.

We're here to draw Nyxl off, to give you a chance to escape. You need to get to extraction, as soon as possible.

I'm not leaving these people behind.

But, even as she said that, Annabelle had her doubts. Even now, she could easily use flight, partial invisibility, and a telekinetic boost to sneak through, while leaving the rest of the team behind.

That is inviting significant risk, came the reply. Are you sure?

Unless my aid is necessary to stop a threat even greater than Nyxl, I'm not leaving them behind.

We do not require your aid to such an extent. But if you fail-

I am entirely aware of what would happen if I failed. Now, do you have any other useful information?

Her contact sent over a wealth of tactical data that they somehow had on Nyxl and his capabilities.

First, Nyxl was incredibly durable, and though he did take noticeable damage from the combination of a distortion beam and a high-velocity railgun shot, he would be able to survive everything Annabelle could throw at him, and then a lot more. Although, that conflicted with the news from Omega that Nyxl was briefly terrified of her potential.

Secondly, Nyxl's most dangerous weapon would be his fourth-dimensional tentacles. At least, it was the running theory that Nyxl's tentacles could extend into the fourth spatial dimension, though they didn't know for sure. Apparently, they could even emerge inside someone, killing them instantly. Annabelle's only warning against such an attack would be a death premonition.

While she analyzed that information, Annabelle also flew forward, preparing to wipe out the Shades' army with a vortex of destruction.

But at the same time, she heard the screams from their central courtyard, and a quick glance in the direction revealed a horrifying sight.

There were hundreds of bodies in a large central pit, an apparent mass grave. But the screaming was coming from the pit, and then Annabelle saw the movement. Some of them were still alive, and desperately struggling to escape.

No. They're trying to avoid being crushed, or devoured by the acid at the bottom of the pit, Omega explained. Those that maintain the will to live, that is. There's just as many that try to end themselves at that point, hoping that it somehow ends at that point.

There were some Shades standing around and watching, even in the middle of an active battle. Maybe they didn't think the fight would come to them, or maybe they didn't care.

Can I save them? Annabelle tried to find a way. The walls of the pit were too smooth to climb, and the highest victims were several meters below the pit's edge. And, the pit's edge was lined with razor-sharp blades and spikes that would rip up any dropped ropes, and shred anyone climbing over the top.

Omega explained additional problems with any escape effort. The pit is covered in an antimagic field to nullify the powers of any mages thrown in it, which will make any form of magical escape more difficult. The people are weakened by starvation, and most have lost any will to escape even if given the opportunity. Even if you managed to get them out of the pit, there would be no ways to get more than a few dozen to extraction. And, again, any time spent on rescuing people increases the chance that no one is able to escape.

But- I can't leave them like this.

I felt the same way about this, and spent hours on attempting to find a method to free them. If I had a viable method, I would have mentioned it earlier.

Annabelle had to admit she was right. If a clone of her mind came to this conclusion after hours of analysis, she wouldn't find anything revolutionary in the next minute that would make an escape possible.

There is another option, Omega proposed. A mercy kill, utilizing a spatial vortex.

The souls would still enter Nyxl's hellscape of an afterlife.

Nyxl said that the last Shades who died to a vortex could not be restored. I suspect that means the souls were destroyed outright.

Annabelle didn't hesitate. She flew right next to the pit and analyzed it with Starsight, seeking to place the vortex exactly at the bottom.

But before she could unleash it, a shockwave shook the entire dimension.

Annabelle looked in the direction of the blast, and saw the dimension destabilizing, hyperdimensional energy pouring into the Shaderealm.

What was that? Annabelle asked everyone she was in telepathic contact with, and got a quick response from ACP's psion.

Our sniper collapsed a dimensional boundary with a well-placed distortion beam to draw Nyxl's attention. Nyxl will contain it.

As they said that, the collapsed was slowed and enveloped in multiple fields of dark energy. Annabelle could see Nyxl's body for a few seconds, before he was bracketed by heavy weapons fire from multiple angles.

We are about to engage, Silence sent. Where are you?

Tying up a loose end.

Annabelle finished her preparations, and unleashed the vortex at the bottom of the pit.

She couldn't bear to watch the results, but she knew that in just a few seconds, everyone in the pit would be dead.

Omega, is there anyone that I can still rescue, or facilities I can destroy?

Yes, but half of them have been wiped out by ACP, and I can obliterate the rest. The rest of the survivors need you.

Annabelle reluctantly flew back to the main team. She sensed the beginning of an exertion headache, but she still had plenty of energy left for these threats.

She flew back to a pitched battle, a battle that her allies were losing.

Menos's nature magic had somehow managed to pacify one of the Shades' monsters, and Silence was engaging another, but a third was in the midst of the survivors. Annabelle took aim and brought it down with a single Shadebreaker shot, but it had already ripped apart several survivors, and wounded a dozen more to the point where Lorso was forced to render aid.

The glaive warriors followed behind the monster. The Crusaders attempted to disrupt them with blinding light, but despite that, they still advanced, forcing them back and slicing through anyone who got in reach. Darius managed to take a few down with thrown knives, but they still advanced, scoring several kills in the process, and lopping off the arm of an unfortunate Crusader.

And, most concerningly, the six Matriarchs in the back launched a volley of their death bolts.

Annabelle intercepted four of the bolts with telekinetic blasts of her own, detonating them in midair, but two homed in on survivors and killed them.

The Matriarchs didn't last long afterwards, as Annabelle struck them down with the remainder of Nyxl's stored energy, overwhelming their minds and incapacitating them. It wasn't enough to cause their heads to outright explode, but they still weren’t getting up.

Then, she took down the beast Silence was fighting with a second shot from Shadebreaker. Silence immediately took advantage of the opening to smash through two of the Shade warriors. A third turned around and nearly impaled him, but he dodged the strike, grabbed the glaive, ripped it out of the Shade's hands, and retaliated himself.

One Shade warrior warped space to launch himself into the midst of the survivors, and sliced down three before Annabelle brought them down.

Annabelle then came under fire from three Shades that had stayed back to accompany the matriarchs. Her stolen wards blocked the first wave of green bolts, but they weren't using the normal shade crossbows. In fact, their weapons seemed oddly reminiscent of alien plasma rifles, except firing green blasts instead of blue blasts.

Annabelle quickly moved to dodge, but they continued to track her, and scored several more hits.

But then, Varos surged forwards. In an instant, he dashed through an opening in the warriors' line with a surge of magical speed, and knocked one of the gunners out with a high-speed staff smash. He turned to a second and knocked them out, and Annabelle was then able to finish off the third.

How did you do that?

Haste module on my armor. Temporarily speeds up time for me.

Interesting. When they got out of here, Varos could potentially revolutionize the Resistance's arsenal.

With the warriors' supporting forces disposed of, they were focused down, overwhelmed, and eliminated.

"Grab their gear," Varos ordered. "We'll need everything we can get if we're going to be the center of Nyxl's attention in the future."

While several individuals picked up the rending glaives and the rapid-fire arcane bolt cannons, Lorso and the Crusaders healed those who were injured. Unfortunately, though they could stabilize some of the casualties, there were still nine deaths in total.

Nine deaths that I could have prevented if I was here from the start, Annabelle thought. Was it truly worth it to save those others?

And then, with no further opposition, the group made their final approach to the portal.

**********

Omega had to find a way to destroy three Shade torture facilities, quickly.

Though she was in the body of a powerful mage, said mage's repertoire didn't include any destructive spells. Sure, she could fire a magic bolt of instant death, but that wouldn't help collapse a building.

Wait, I have a glaive that can cut through gods. It should be able to slice through building structure easily.

She searched Cecilian's memory of what type of structure the torture facilities were.

Warehouses. Large building with a roof held up by several central support pillars. Destroying the support pillars will likely drop the roof on the rest.

But cutting through a support pillar would take time, and would draw attention.

Evacuate the buildings first.

She walked into one of the facilities, and yelled "We are evacuating!"

As expected, her order was immediately challenged. She counted eight Shades who stepped away from their torture procedures to engage her, eight more that ignored her outright, and almost three dozen prisoners that were chained to the walls.

"What is the meaning of this, Cecilian?"

"These prisoners need to be taken to a new location, before the invading forces free them."

That seemed to convince the Shades, but at the same time, it horrified the prisoners. They had heard the potential for rescue, only to hear it dashed by the evacuation.

Wait. These prisoners- they can be saved!

"If there was such an evacuation order, it would be given by Nyxl himself." The Shade who realized that drew his weapon, and as the rest realized his statement, they drew their crossbows as well.

"You know what, you're right."

Omega fired a homing death bolt into the Shade who had challenged her, using the quickest incantation she knew. In the second it took for the others to realize what was happening, she killed another with a death bolt fired in one arm, and swung forwards with her rending glaive to decapitate two more.

The four others backed up, shouted out an alarm, and fired stunning bolts, but Omega's superior wards easily blocked them. She flew forwards and sliced another in half, then fired another death bolt, leaving only two alive to flee.

The other eight Shades realized what was going on and fired their stunning bolts. Omega's wards blocked them again, but she thought she sensed the tingling of a near-miss on the last one.

She flew forwards, impaling two Shades, and then rapid-fired death bolts to kill three more before ducking behind a pillar. Two more bolts were fired, and she still withstood the hits.

My wards must be running low.

She retaliated against the two that managed to shoot her, killing them both with death bolts, but another leaped out from behind a pillar and stabbed her in the chest with a Shade knife, a weapon designed to penetrate arcane wards.

Omega felt the pain lancing through her body, not only from the impact, but also from the pain induction enchantment of the knife.

"You've always been weak, Cecilian," the Shade taunted.

"I'm not Cecilian." Omega shoved the Shade backwards, impaled him on his glaive, and then ripped the knife out of his chest. She quickly finished off the other two Shades.

"Are you here to save us?" One of the prisoners asked. "Why?"

"I've defected." Omega said, as she used her glaive to cut down the chains binding the prisoners, a process that took a minute.

"What do we do now?"

"There's a portal to a surface world right next to this facility," Omega explained, drawing on Cecilian's knowledge. She gave them directions to that location, and told them that she would follow and open the portal after she took out this building.

After they fled, she slashed her glaive into one of the pillars. Unfortunately, it didn't slice clean through the metal pillar with a single stroke, but she was able to use her flight as leverage to apply enough force to cut through in just a few seconds. Then, she repeated the process at a higher point to slice off part of the pillar, which fell to the ground after she pushed it over.

She repeated the process on the other three support pillars, and then flew out the door as the facility collapsed behind her.

Now, how do I open a surface gateway again?

Omega dropped down next to the surface gateway, and activated it, revealing a stone cave on the other side of it.

But before the rescued prisoners could go through, a black tentacle sliced through the entire group, cutting them all in half. Omega saw Nyxl, his body damaged, but still functional.

She charged forwards, hoping to impale Nyxl on a rending glaive and deliver a bit more damage before she was forced out, but Nyxl merely crushed her chest with a distortion beam.

Then, Nyxl went for the head, and Omega only barely managed to escape before being obliterated.

*********

As they reached the portal, Varos dashed ahead and touched the portal, before initiating some sort of activation process.

You didn't tell me the portal needed to be warmed up.

It shouldn't take more than a few seconds, Varos claimed.

Annabelle received a brief shock as Omega returned to her.

I took out one of their facilities, but Nyxl stopped me before I could take out the other two.

Wait. You didn't actually have a plan when you proposed that option.

Yes, I may have manipulated myself to ensure that I took the optimal course of action.

"Portal's open!" Varos shouted. The portal led into a shallow cave, and Annabelle saw light at the end of the tunnel. They had made it.

But before anyone could go through, Nyxl materialized in front of the portal. His black body was covered in multicolored scars from fighting Omega and the ACP rescue team, but it seemed like merely cosmetic damage.

"IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE." Nyxl's voice was incredibly loud, echoing for several seconds on each word. "YOU GET TO LIVE."

Annabelle seriously doubted that, especially given that Nyxl was standing in between them and the exit.

-Incoming mass memory shift, followed by desperate suicide attempt.-

Wait, I can do that? Annabelle knew that she sometimes got a premonition of imminent death a brief instant before it happened, but never considered the possibility of intentionally killing herself in bad timelines to trigger it. Mainly because she didn't want to think about how she could obliterate her own brain with little more than a thought.

My idea, Omega clarified. Now, about that memory-wipe attack-

Annabelle countered Nyxl' wide-angle mental attack with a telepathic pulse, preventing it from reaching anyone.

"BUT FIRST, I WILL TAKE YOUR MEMORY OF THIS WORLD."

From what Annabelle could tell about the incoming attack's form, Nyxl wasn't lying about the attack altering memory. But he could very easily be lying about just how much manipulation he would be doing.

"No, you won't." Annabelle declared defiantly.

"You won't want to remember the horrors of this place, and I don't want you to reveal my existence," Nyxl said with an echoing voice that seemed to be aimed specifically at Annabelle.

Some part of Annabelle had to admit Nyxl had a point. Maybe wiping the memories of those in this horrible mess would be necessary to rid them of the lingering trauma of their experience. But, at the same time…

"One, I don't trust you not to abuse that power. If it needs to be done, I'll do it myself." As Annabelle said that, she thought she could sense some sort of reaction from Nyxl.

"And two, you can't wipe my memory. It's literally impossible. And since I'm the favored of Helios, my word alone will be enough to bring you down." Annabelle was partially lying about that last part, given that Helios was likely to eliminate her the instant she wasn't useful. But, maybe if she didn't kill Nyxl here, she'd have a new job with Helios, killing his enemies.

And, it was worth the lie to see Nyxl's reaction. Even though he said "A FOOLISH CHOICE," he also seemed to hesitate.

Nyxl launched a second mental attack, hitting Annabelle with an immense assault, likely using most of his divine might.

But Annabelle's defenses easily withstood the attack. Had Nyxl taken her by surprise, or used a more unique attack type, he might have had a small chance of victory-

-Incoming distortion beam-

With the warning from her premonition, Annabelle was able to just barely dodge the attack.

"YOU CAN'T LEAVE WITHOUT GOING THROUGH ME."

Annabelle was prepared to hit the bastard with everything she had, but before she got the chance, Silence slammed into him from the side, knocking him out of the way.

"RUN!" Annabelle shouted, an order that the rest of the survivors followed without question.

"HOW ARE YOU-"

Silence began to glow yellow as he grabbed a hold of the god with one hand.

A black distortion beam shot through him, but he was completely unaffected.

With his other hand, Silence gripped a rending glaive at the midpoint of the shaft and stabbed it into Nyxl's body.

Nyxl retaliated with several simultaneous distortion beams from multiple angles, but again, it had no effect.

Can't hold much longer! Silence warned Annabelle.

"WHAT. ARE. YOU?"

Silence didn't respond to Nyxl's question, and continued to resist the assault. Nyxl attempted to pull him away with a burst of tentacles behind Silence, but to no avail.

About a quarter of the group managed to get through before Silence's invulnerability ran out. As the yellow glow faded from his body, he kicked off of Nyxl's body and forced his way through Nyxl's tentacles. A distortion beam hit him in midair, but Silence still managed to land on his feet. He fell to one knee afterwards, but he was still alive, unlike most victims shot through with a distortion beam.

"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!" Nyxl shouted. He had a large glowing gash on his chest, but still persisted.

He's sealing the portal! Darius warned, calling attention to the fact that the portal's aperture was shrinking. Do something!

A stream of light blue energy shot out from Annabelle's head to the portal, before forming in a ring around it, holding the portal open.

It's taking… all I have… to keep it open… Omega warned. It won't… last long!

-Extradimensional tentacle emergence inside your chest-

And, there was that part of Nyxl's arsenal. Annabelle launched herself forwards with a telekinetic boost augmented by her own flight spell, and then activated Starsight to track the tentacle behind her, which faded away as quickly as it came out.

That's odd. As the tentacle receded, Annabelle noticed a lingering pressure of some sort at the point where it receded. Almost as if-

I can 'see' into Nyxl's dimension. Which means-

-Incoming distortion beam-

Annabelle dodged again, but a little too slow. She managed to avoid taking the blast to the chest, but instead it hit her in the legs, shattering them. If not for Lorso's flight spell, it would have immobilized her, but for now, it was only a minor inconvenience.

-I can fight back. Annabelle's Starsight seemed to indicate a number of potential emergence points for Nyxl's extradimensional tentacle attacks.

Annabelle fired a distortion beam a millisecond before a fully-charged shot from Shadebreaker, both aimed at the gaping wound in Nyxl's chest. The combination of spatial disruption and kinetic energy aimed at the weakpoint created an explosion of energy from the wound, blasting Nyxl backwards.

-Tentacles incoming from all sides, and attacking civilians as well.-

Annabelle then countered Nyxl's attack by focusing on the emergence points and creating hardened telekinetic fields around them, shooting off bright purple auras in multiple directions. Somehow, she managed to push back against their emergence, keeping them trapped inside the higher-dimensional space they came from. But it took an incredible amount of energy to do so.

She fired another railgun shot, but couldn't muster up enough focus to simultaneously follow up with a distortion beam. Nyxl turned the wounded part of his body away, and the high-powered railgun shot had no effect.

This… isn't… working… Omega thought.

Energy depletion… takes a minute… Based on previous experience, Annabelle should be able to burn a massive amount of energy within that minute, before the exertion caught up with her. But the headache was building at an alarming rate this time.

We… cannot… hold…

After receiving healing, Silence leaped onto Nyxl again, this time delivering a single swipe with the rending glaive before kicking off. For a brief instant, Annabelle felt the tentacles weaken, as Nyxl turned his attention onto Silence. He flashed yellow in an attempt to block the distortion beam, but his timing was off, and the distortion beam again crippled him.

Next, Darius struck, throwing the broken-off blade of a rending glaive into Nyxl's body. But Nyxl ignored his attack, and instead shot out a burst of tentacles to grab Silence, pulling his body up to him.

Annabelle fired a distortion beam followed by a railgun, a desperation move that nearly caused her to fail to hold back Nyxl's other tentacles. It was enough to get Nyxl's attention, but not enough for him to forget to finish Silence off. He decapitated Silence with one clean stroke from an arm morphed into a tentacle, before turning to face down Annabelle.

"I AM A GOD. YOU- YOU ARE A MORTAL. A FOOTNOTE IN THE WAR OF SOULS."

His extradimensional tentacles receded, giving Annabelle a brief moment of reprieve. She took advantage of it to fire another combined strike aimed as Nyxl's chest wound, but Nyxl's tentacle arm swatted the projectile down, and the distortion beam alone seemed to have no effect.

Please recover my head. That came from Silence. How?

Wait, you're still alive? Darius and Annabelle both questioned his continued existence.

Not for long. But as long as I last long enough to escape-

Nyxl coalesced all of his tentacles into one single, and then shot them forward in a singular focused barrage. Annabelle put everything she had into a desperate barrier, and somehow managed to hold off the assault. While Nyxl was busy with that attack, Darius was able to sneak underneath to recover Silence's head.

A distortion beam passed right through the barrier, and smashed through her chest. But the instant after it passed through, Annabelle felt her body regenerating, and felt the distinctive of warmth of being lit on fire. It was Lorso's inferno blessing, and it had saved her.

-Psychic reserves give out, resulting in tentacles piercing through-

But it wasn't enough. Her reserves would not last long enough.

No. I… Can't… lose. Not to this monster.

The shield began to fail, and the tentacles began to slip through. Behind her, the portal slowly began to close as Omega was overwhelmed.

And then, Annabelle found a last resort, and somehow gained a second wind, a last defiant burst of energy.

As she screamed in rage, both of her auras turned from purple to bright red, and surged with renewed strength, fending off Nyxl's tentacles and the portal's collapse.

Another distortion beam shot through her head, but despite her brain being seriously damaged (even though it was promptly regenerated), she somehow sustained her final resistance.

Nyxl then opened mental contact with Annabelle. Maybe, in this extreme situation, he could've breached her defenses, but he didn't try.

I HAVE INTERROGATED YOUR COMPATRIOTS. THEY CLAIM TO BE FROM SOME 'ALIEN COMBAT PATROL'. I HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT FOR THEM, SACRIFICING EIGHT LIVES TO SAVE YOU. Nyxl was trying to break her resolve with words rather than mental force.

It's not just them, it's every one of these people. People that will now have a second chance, free from your torture.

BUT THAT IS NOT WHO THEY TRULY ARE. THEIR TRUE GROUP CALLS THEMSELVES THE ETHERAL LEGION. THEY FOLLOW THE VERY SAME ELDERS YOU THOUGHT YOU ELIMINATED.

Don't care. Deep inside her, Annabelle could analyze whether it was truly a lie later, but she couldn't lose focus now.

A HUNDRED YEARS PASSED SINCE YOU KILLED THEM. BUT THEY DID NOT STAY DEAD.

That's not even possible, Annabelle replied. Although, time dilation- Can't. Lose. Focus.

MY AGENT, DARAKEN, HAS BEEN REBORN, AND WILL HUNT YOU DOWN.

Then I'll kill him next. If he was alive, he wouldn't be for long, not with Annabelle's new weapons.

AND WITH YOUR EFFORTS, YOU HAVE CAUSED MORE PAIN TO YOURSELF THAN I WOULD EVER CAUSE.

I'm also immune to pain. Unlike the thousands you've kidnapped.

Everyone's clear, Omega informed her. We need to go.

You are a monster, Nyxl. I swear, I will kill you, no matter the cost, no matter the consequences. But… you live. For now.

Even though she was leaving thousands more to this monster, there was nothing she could do. Not until she grew strong enough to face the gods on even footing.

She collapsed the barrier, and redirected her energy to launching herself backwards through the portal. The tentacles shot forwards, but Annabelle outran them through the portal. Then, before Nyxl could get through, Omega reversed the measures she was using to hold the portal open, causing it to slam shut before Nyxl could get through.

She had escaped one enemy. But if Nyxl wasn't lying, she was far from over.