Unable to move, Eli could only watch as Boruta hunched forward with both Wolf and Tanca’s blades in his meaty paws. The two Gifted warriors could not resist as the demon stood up to his full height, pulling the weapons from their frozen hands. Boruta leaned forward, extracting one and then the other long spear from his neck, leaving two grotesque holes that leaked dark fluids. The two weapons were thrown away with a clatter against the nearby crumbled wall. He expected the monster to rage or throw a tantrum but instead continued hunching at the waist with one hand over each weeping wound while dark liquid oozed out between his long claws to sizzle upon the packed dirt ground below.

On a hunch, Eli toggled Manasight again. The light of a miniature sun within the monster’s chest was much diminished, and he didn’t have to evert his eyes this time. Wolf’s yellow and Tanca’s more iron-grey core were barely noticeable behind the backdrop of the demon’s power, but the red glow continued to wane. Eli could finally see a rough spherical outline just below Boruta’s chest, guessing that he was using the power in his core to speed his healing.

Feeling desperate while Boruta healed himself, Eli concentrated on his enhanced vision while trying to ignore the sudden stabbing pain in his eyes. The creature’s red core seemed to expand as more details came into focus. It was unlike anything Eli had seen, with dark patches of shifting red and black shades crossed around a red glowing sphere. A thick, somewhat jagged band of crimson passed almost horizontally around the center like a visible equator separating the shape into two halves. It looked like a scar but could also serve some hidden meaning, and he was unsure if it might be worth targeting with Bash.

“Hehehe,” Boruta’s sudden chuckle sent a spike of adrenaline through Eli as the massive red creature straightened to over three meters tall. The large claws released from around its neck, revealing two puckered dark marks where the wounds were previously. The damage had almost disappeared and was still continuing to heal. Even as the broad tooth-filled mouth smiled again, the last dark patches vanished.

“Enough of these games. Boruta is hungry!” The demon’s large head swung slowly between the three trapped men. “But who should go first? Well, my primordial treat would taste the best, but Boruta will save the finest delicacy for dessert.”

In the red haze, more a thick fluid than air, Boruta shifted and blurred, leaving afterimages that slowly caught up moments later. The visual mirages only vanished when the beast stopped next to Tanca, who remained stuck in the same pose, leaning over to one side with clenched hands left without a weapon to grip. “Such passion for little Danu, my shiny morsel.” Boruta stood close to Tanca with one hand resting almost casually on the man’s broad metallic chest. His head was only centimeters from Tanca’s still face, yet Boruta’s voice blared while strange echoes repeated his words. “You’re far too young and feeble to have known her centuries ago. Perhaps you’re one of her wayward adherents, left without a head to lead them? All that passion with little to show for it other than a tiny cut that’s already gone.”

The monster chuckled again as his head turned around impossibly like an owl to stare at Wolf. His red form blurred again a moment later, and he was standing next to Wolf, whose face was frozen in a snarl. “A volk? How delectable,” Boruta said with another chuckle. “It’s been ages since Boruta tasted one of your kind. But what was it you said? Your Nazani? Now, that is a name that makes a part of Boruta cry out in recognition. Did a loved one serve as fertilizer on Boruta’s path to greatness? But who? There is a connection, but it’s weak.” The demon’s smile changed into a caricature of confusion and paused for a few moments. His face moved close to the trapped man, and he sniffed loudly. “Wybert?” He asked, but his smile bloomed as if he’d somehow read something from Wolf’s frozen features. “Haha, you are Wybert!”

The massive red form blurred for barely an eyeblink, and a young woman stood in his place. Eli couldn’t get a good look at her features with her turned away, but her hair was the same shade as Dara’s, though she was not quite as tall. Instead of being naked, like Boruta had been a moment ago, she was wearing beautiful leather and silver armor covering all but her head.

“You weren’t there to save me, Wybert,” the woman said, eerily like Dara’s voice.

A moment later and Boruta’s massive red body was back. He placed one paw on Wolf’s dark-furred chest, almost gently like he’d done with Tanca. The other claw went behind Wolf’s back to pull him close as he leaned in next to Wolf’s ear, his grinning mouth close like a lover whispering sweet nothings in the moment. “She gasped your name when I consumed her, Wybert. How does it feel to know that you failed to protect her?” The giant red claw almost caressed Wolf’s fur for a moment. “At least you won’t have much longer to live with such regret.”

Desperate to escape, to help his companions, Eli wracked his brains for a solution. There had to be some way to turn the situation around. If only he could find a way to get his time ability back, he might be able to help. It had worked for a split second, but almost as soon as he’d felt the reassuring hug of stiff air around him, the feeling had vanished as he’d jumped away from the charging monster.

It must be related to my aura since I only felt it once I poured energy to strengthen against this asshat’s aura. Why only a split second? Is Boruta too strong?

Eli knew what had to happen next, and he poured what energy he had left into creating a shield. Before he could feel the sweet freedom of the stiff air around his body, a flash of light almost blinded him.

The red haze pulsed through the air as Boruta’s form blurred again, flinging Wolf far away to tumble and slide against the crumbled wall near the broken gatehouse. The monster stopped only meters from Eli but turned back towards Tanca, whose strike had slowed like he was trapped underwater until finally freezing again. He had a small blade outstretched in one hand where Boruta’s head had been a moment ago, and Tanca’s clenched teeth and furrowed brows were a testament to the effort he’d spent in his desperate attack.

“Much stronger than Boruta first expected, my shiny morsel. But what did you think would happen? Hehehe, so eager to go first, hmmm?” Boruta blurred forward to stand in front of Tanca. “Now, let’s see if you have any connection with our dear, sweet Danu.”

With his Manasight still active, Eli saw a pulse of black and red from Boruta’s core. The demon’s entire form was glowing to match, and his long dark claws reached out toward Tanca. There was no resistance as the claw and sinister energy passed into the metal body, the greyish core the apparent target. The same dark energy passed around the small iron-grey sphere, forming into something resembling a fishing net of energy. It somehow cradled the grey marble in black and red bands while little light flashes sparkled. There was a moment of disconnect when Tanca’s mana system, full of glowing energy, went almost entirely dark, like turning off a light. What remained were only a few random flashes of color like faint afterimages that quickly dissipated. Even as the current of sinister energy remained connected to Tanca’s core, his metal form changed shape and collapsed, shrinking to reveal a much smaller man in oversized heavy armor. His heavy helmet rolled off his head while he convulsed, shaking and twitching before collapsing to the ground.

Eli desperately focused, noting how the haze had lightened in the last few minutes. He felt hope surge as the comforting stiffness hugged his body all at once, only for the feeling to vanish again when the world flashed red a moment later.

Boruta stood tall with a small grey orb in his right hand. A cord of darkness and pulsing mana connected to the warrior as his life was sucked away. Every moment seemed to age him as wrinkles sprouted across his face and his body convulsed on the packed earth. The grey ball shrank further to finally disappear from sight in only a few seconds while bright iron-grey colored light disappeared within the smiling demon’s chest.

“Hehehe,” Boruta laughed. A long tongue swiped the air as if tasting it. “No connection to Danu after all. Well, or so distant as to not matter. How sad to give up your life for such a foolish idea, but take solace in helping mighty Boruta ascend!”

A cough that shifted into a weak chuckle pulled Eli’s attention back to Tanca. The smaller man’s chest did not show any visible wounds to regular sight, but Manasight revealed a gaping hole within the dying light of the man’s internal system. His skin had changed to the same olive color as most Lurran’s at first but continued to pale further into a sickly and pasty white, the deep wrinkles spreading. In contrast to his broken and torn body, Tanca’s smile was like a rising dawn pushing back the darkest night. The now elderly man whispered something, but too quietly for Eli to hear the words. The stricken man lay back to stare up at the sky, and his eyes fixed on something only he could see until his smiling face settled into utter stillness.

“Hehe, not quite as much power in that shiny metal shell, but he was just the beginning.” Boruta’s core had noticeably brightened but was nowhere near the blinding glare from the beginning of the battle. The greyish light he’d absorbed from Tanca swirled within the monster’s core like a storm, and tiny filaments of similar colors started shooting out from the deep red sphere. At first, each pulse was small, but the roiling grey chaos wasn’t settling. Like a cascade of ball lightning rapidly expanding, the red and black colors flashed with grey flecks that flowed in a wave within the monster’s mana system.

“What?” Boruta’s triumphant expression changed as a slight cough escaped. An explosion of air erupted again, followed by even more as the giant creature settled into a coughing fit. The beast hunched forward with both claws over his core, and the bright light dimmed even more as the red haze lightened in the air until almost disappearing. All the while, he continued coughing, his ugly red face choking on something.

Realizing that Tanca had somehow done something, Eli figured it was now or never. The monster was only a few feet away, and he’d probably only have time for a single strike, but Bash was unlikely to do more than knock the demon back a step or two. His flames were an option, but the damned creature had survived two gruesome stab wounds in the neck – he couldn’t imagine fire would accomplish much.

The image of Boruta’s attack nagged at him, and Eli wondered if he could copy the way the energy cut away Tanca’s core. Like the other mana systems he’d observed, the ability seemed to exist in another dimension, allowing the monster to rip away the core without disturbing the physical flesh left behind. Assuming his theory was correct, the system was somehow anchored within the physical realm with connections he couldn’t see. Otherwise, the core would simply float untethered, uncaring about the rest of the world, like the tiny mana lights in the air. So, what would happen if he pushed his own energy through and around someone else’s core, trying to sever those connections? He couldn’t be sure, but he was all out of ideas – his decision was clear when faced with a choice between death and a slim chance at life.

With Boruta and the red haze weakened, Eli didn’t waste any more time and started by focusing on creating the strongest auric shield possible. Feeling for where his skin ended and the rest of the universe began, he visualized a thin film of energy around his body. There was a solid thump in his chest, and a moment later, the world started to slow down while the air thickened around him.

Boruta, only a couple of meters away, must have sensed something but was too late and was only slowly moving while turning to face the threat. No longer hesitating, Eli stepped forward through the stiff air, his flesh and joints protesting with icicles of sharp pain. Forcing his way through the agony, he focused his entire being on the red monster, almost frozen before him. Boruta’s head came around while his eyes widened, his tooth-filled maw opening into the beginnings of a roar. Eli ignored it, his mind ablaze in the little time-dilated bubble within his consciousness, already concentrating on the next step of his crazy plan. Another thump in his chest and a fresh pulse of energy flooded his arm and hand with roiling and swirling power, igniting a sudden flash of burning cold within the limb. Swinging his hand forward directly towards the greyish-red sphere under the demon’s ribs, he targeted the horizontal dark line bisecting it.

A red bubble emerged within Boruta’s flickering crimson sphere, rapidly expanding into the air, but Eli’s attention remained locked on his target, barely noticing when his fist impacted and was shattered from the force of his blow slamming into the red bubble. His hand stopped dead only a couple of centimeters short of Boruta’s core, the physical attack blocked, but it did almost nothing to hinder the white energy that poured through and around the sinister red and black sphere. Like a sandcastle washing away in a high tide, small chips and cracks first grew along the surface as tiny pieces dissolved within the white luminescence. The jagged horizontal line widened and cracked to expose a bright, hungry red glow beneath. Energy gushed out and up, no longer constrained as the containment was broken, and the world let out a thunderous clap while everything went black.

***

Eli’s mind snapped back to a hazy awareness. The world was tilted onto its side while a rush of wind or perhaps static droned in his ears. He couldn’t feel anything, as if he was somehow disembodied, but he was strangely uncaring. An expanding pool of red crept across the hard earth in front of him while all the colors seeped away into a grey world. His vision lost focus and strange shapes danced along the edge of his sight. A string of notifications in his chat window snagged his attention.

ERROR!!!

Primary sensors – failure imminent

Secondary sensors – offline

Tertiary sensors – offline

LETHAL ERROR DETECTED

EMERGENCY - Contacting medical authorities…

ERROR – No Connection Available

LETHAL ERROR DETECTED

EMERGENCY - Contacting medical authorities…

Eli pulled his thoughts away from the constantly repeating messages with no help found there. He fought against the encroaching darkness, not ready to give up, but a new movement snatched at his mind. Even with his blurry darkening sight, he felt a need to focus. With far more strain than expected, his vision finally returned to show Dara struggling to support a limping Wolf as they approached. Their images blurred again while the last grey colors grew dark.

They made it.

Eli tried to smile as the darkness closed in around him.