Berith’s hand shook as the blood dripped to the ground. She noticeably flinched as Svend moved. His halberd reflected the light of the midday sun as he took a step forward.

“No more tricks,” He said gruffly, “It doesn’t matter what prophecies you make. There is no escape.”

Berith looked around in a panic but there was nowhere for her to go. The Alphas in the sky were getting cut down by Sebastion as rays of light radiated in every direction. The other nearby Demonkin had been whipped into a frenzy by Marilyn. Every possible escape route was blocked by at least one Domain warrior. Even the survivors of the coalition army had rallied together. Chancellor Otto and the two Domain warriors from Bellator had gathered to deal a fatal blow to the Demonkin army and prevent any hope Berith had of escaping over the mountains.

“Useless, all of you are useless!” Berith cursed as she saw her forces getting decimated.

Svend did not give her any more time to plot an escape as he charged forward. His halberd swung down with enough force that even the air it passed through rumbled like thunder. Berith’s blood-red armor shone as her body was pushed past its limits. She crossed her arms to block Svend’s halberd. Blood splattered to the ground as the sound of metal tearing echoed out. Two wounds were left on Berith’s arms, deep enough to see bone underneath.

Berith screamed out in a mix of fury and desperation. Her eyes widened as Svend swung his halberd again. Rather than try to block again, Berith turned and ran. The halberd struck her back leaving another deep wound but the Demon merely grit her teeth and endured the pain as she continued flying at top speed.

Surprisingly though, Berith was not running from the battlefield but rather, she was flying towards its center. Svend’s halberd spun through the air as it stuck Berith once again. This time, it left a serious-looking gash on her hip but she did not slow down.

Svend chased close behind as he tried to bring Berith down but even without her blocking his attacks, the vitality of a demon was nothing short of incredible. Even if Berith took injuries that would have been fatal to a human, she could shrug it off. She left a trail of blood in her wake as she fled. It was only when she reached the center of the battlefield that she finally hesitated slightly. Ahead, Vissna and the giant whale-like Alpha were fighting. Their struggle was fierce and brutal. Cliffs that had stood since time immemorial collapsed into rubble as every move the two giant beasts made shook the earth.

Berith paused as she saw the vicious clash of titans. She looked back at Svend closing in on her with his halberd reflecting the midday sun like an executioner’s axe. She clenched her fists and turned back to the two beasts tearing at each other with teeth and claws.

“I do not care what I become so long as I survive. Even if it is only as a fractured remnant, I must survive.” Berith said with a firm determination. She did not look back again as she flew between the two titans and threw herself into the mouth of the giant Alpha.

The entire battlefield seemed to pause at the absurdity of Berith’s actions. I could not understand what she could possibly be thinking be doing such a thing. Even if she could survive inside the creature’s stomach, it would not help her escape. It was only a matter of time until we killed the Alpha and cut her out of it.

It was then that a possibility appeared in my mind. Ignoring the intense pain in my arm and ribs, I pulled myself out of the rocks and rushed to Svend’s side. “Everyone, focus on that Alpha! We have to kill it now!”

Vissna did not need any encouragement to continue her battle with the beast and immediately tore into the Alpha with her fangs. The giant Alpha wailed mournfully. Its long tail wrapped around Vissna’s neck. Its scales stood upright like millions of little thorns that tore at the dragon’s flesh. Rivers of blood flowed across the ground and stained the mountainside.

Having lost his target, Svend took a bit longer to react to Berith suddenly hiding herself within the belly of the whale. “Wren, what is wrong?”

“I think that might be an offspring of the Leviathan,” I said grimly.

“What?” Svend yelled, followed by a string of curses. He immediately threw his halberd at the beast in an attempt to kill the beast before it was too late. “What are spawn of the Leviathan doing here?”

I acted as well, creating a series of explosive glyphs that bombarded the side of the giant Alpha with bleak results. Both Svend’s halberd and my flames did no more than leave small scratches on the tough scales covering that massive creature.

Drawn by my shouts, Sebastion soon joined us as well. His light rained down on the Demonkin with only marginally better results. “What is going on?” he asked curiously, “Why did Berith throw herself into the mouth of that creature?”

“It’s too late,” I mumbled dismally as I saw a deep red begin to spread across the scales of the Demonkin, “The Leviathan and all of its offspring are terrifying creatures. Powerful Alphas from the moment they are born, every leviathan carries the same terrifying genetic ability and are able to integrate whatever they eat into their bodies. They will normally only pick and choose traits they find useful, like thick scales or talons, but under the command of a desperate Berith…” I paused as the blood-red aura finished spreading across the creature. With a renewed burst of power, the tail wrapped around Vissna was able to rip the dragon free of its frosty bite and flung her to the ground. My ears rang as it let out a joyous roar… a roar that was rapidly changing to sound like laughter. I felt despair as the eyes of the beast started to look more and more intelligent with every passing second. “Under the command of a desperate Berith, the Demonkin can ingest not just her power but also Berith’s mind.”

The thunderous laughing of the creature became more and more distinct as it took on a familiar feminine tone. From the head of the giant Demonkin, a growth started to form, almost like a rapidly growing tumor. Only, as the seconds passed this tumor started to look more and more like the upper half of a human, or more correctly… a Demon.

A fleshy amalgamation of Berith grew from the beast’s head as it laughed. “Such power! I never imagined it would feel like this! It is incredible!”

The air began to freeze as Vissna pulled herself out of the mountainside. Ice began to spread across the ground in every direction. “What defilement of nature is this?” she growled in pure disgust.

Berith laughed in blissful joy. “I admit, even I was hesitant to try this at first but now, now I simply feel incredible! Once I devour you, dragon, I bet I will feel even more amazing. Even Envy himself might not be able to stand up to me then.”

“You want to eat me?” Vissna responded with a bemused chuckle, “You really think you can?”

“Let’s find out!” Berith said as the entire body of the leviathan struck down towards Vissna. Just its weight alone was enough to cause a landslide across the mountain range.

Vissna rose to meet the descending colossal without fear. Her claws racked its side, digging into already open wounds from earlier in the fight. However, unlike before when the two were fairly similar in strength, under Berith’s control the Demonkin was much more powerful. Vissna was slammed into the mountain like a ragdoll.

I watched the clash solemnly. Vissna alone would not be enough to defeat Berith. If we wanted to survive this and take out that beast, we all had to work together. “Sebastion, you and the others attack any open wound you can find on the leviathan’s body. Svend, Dom, I need you both to get me up close to her. I think my golden flames are the only way we can win but to do that I need to get past her domain.”

Svend and Dom nodded. Ignoring my protests, Svend reached over and picked me up with his free hand. He carried me like luggage under his arm. “Get over it,” Svend said in response to my complaints, “You still fly too slow compared to me. This is the only way I am getting you onto that big beast.”

I stopped complaining with a dejected frown as Svend began to move. We shot forward like a rocket. Despite our desperate circumstances, I could not help but notice Dom’s amused grin at my predicament.

With most of the other Alphas already dealt with, everyone was free to focus on Berith alone. Sebastion’s talent filled the sky as countless thin beams of light struck her side. Sigmund, Cyra, Charly, and even Marilyn all moved to attack.

Marilyn’s charm increased tenfold as she stopped caring about the many smaller creatures throughout the battlefield and focused everything on Berith. The giant whale fell into a daze as countless attacks rained down on its thick hide. The injuries Vissna had made earlier in her fight against the leviathan became everyone’s target. Cascades of blood fell to the ground below. The intense pain woke Berith from Marilyn’s trance and she roared like a beast.

The big mouth of the whale opened to reveal rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth. She bit down on Vissna’s side, breaking through her scales and causing blood to flow down the dragon’s leg. Vissna responded with her own roar of fury as thick layers of ice formed around the giant's mouth, trapping it in place.

Stuck to the dragon and unable to move away, the long tail of the colossus flailed around like a whip towards anyone trying to interfere with her potential meal. This included Svend, Dom, and me. Dom stepped forward first, his iron gauntlets clashing with the tail of the but even with his ability, Dom was not able to withstand the might behind that strike. He was flung into the side of the mountain and disappeared beneath a shower of rock and dirt.

I did not have time to worry about Dom though as the tail almost instantly changed direction and struck towards Svend and me. Svend grit his teeth as he saw the tail striking down at him. Holding me up, he pulled back his arm. I barely even had time to register what was happening before the giant man threw me like a sports ball. I screamed a series of curses at the man as I hurled through the air.

Svend did not have any time to respond however as the massive tail came crashing down on him. He grinned as he tossed his halberd to the side and welcomed the attack with open arms. Like an immovable stone, Svend took the blow from the tail directly on his chest. Blood splattered through the air as Svend's seemingly invincible body was actually injured. However, despite his injuries, the man did not budge from that spot. Before Berith could move to attack with her tail again, he wrapped his burly arms around the sharp scales and held it in a death grip.

Berith tried to swing the man free but pinned by Svend, she could not acuratly use it to attack anyone else. She slammed her tail into the nearby mountainside, causing cracks that stretched thousands of meters. Blood flowed freely from Svend's chest but still, he did not let go.

With both her mouth and tail pinned, Berith was not able to do anything to stop me as I hurled through the air. Attacks still rained down on her giant body from every angle as Sebastion and the others gave everything they had to injure her.

I was not exactly graceful as I landed on the thick-scaled exterior of the whale. I tumbled several times from the force of Svend’s throw before finally sliding to a halt. I couched miserably as the injuries Berith had already given me screamed in agony. My right arm was especially bad. It hung loosely at my side. There was little doubt it was broken but I could not stop to mend it now. Taking a deep breath, I pushed away the pain and stood on the back of the leviathan. I felt like a small flee as I stood there. The difference in our size was just that great. Any normal attack was nothing more than a pin prick to her. If i wanted to finish this, only the golden flame would do.

I quickly found my way to one of the wounds the massive body sustained fighting Vissna and started forming a glyph into the flesh itself. Only by forming the glyph inside the wound, was I able to guarantee that Berith would not be able to prevent my attack with her domain. A surge of emptiness and exhaustion flowed over me as I poured all the energy I had remaining into this one glyph.

As I drew the symbols to create an all-consuming fire, the flesh around the wound started to morph and twist until it resembled the upper half of a person. “Aurielle, wait! We can talk about this,” the tumor spoke with panic in her voice.

“It’s over Berith. You lose.”

“No! Please! You do not understand what you are doing. You are dooming this realm! You know you cannot face Envy alone but I can help you. I have seen it. All you have to do is let me live.”

“You already know my answer,” I replied with a shake of my head.

“I…” The lump of flesh pretending to be Berith paused, at a loss for words. After a moment, she slumped over in defeat. “Of course, I know. I have always known. I tried everything in my power to change this outcome. I even gave up my body to this beast but no matter how I struggled I could not escape the web we have found ourselves in. My death has been preordained and so is yours. You might believe your choices are your own but from the very beginning, you have danced to the fiddle master’s tune perfectly.” Berith started laughing as if it was all just a big joke to her. “The best part of all this is, when my body was eaten by this creature, I received one final prophecy before its death. A single prophecy that might be able to help you escape his game but… I am not going to tell you. I will die, you will die, this realm will die, and you will blame yourself for not sparing me at this moment.”

“Maybe so,” I said calmly as I activated the glyph. Golden flames bloomed and began to spread like wildfire across the body of the giant Demonkin. “But the choice is still mine to make.”