When Desmond hit the ground...

Nothing happened.

He was still alive, and it didn't even hurt too much, really. What had happened? Desmond opened his eyes slowly as if afraid that it was just an illusion. Afraid to open them and see his own severed head rolling across the floor, leaving a trail of blood, or something like that.

Afraid to realize that he was in the last conscious seconds of his life, and that's why he felt nothing.

But he wasn't.

He was whole. He was... perfect.

Breathless, but that was all.

He had fallen into a bed of shadows. That had absorbed the vast majority of the force of his fall, saving his skin. His whole body was shaking, but that was adrenaline and fear rattling his system, nothing more.

Even if he'd been worse off, he would have been grateful for anything.

Desmond would have been grateful for "being," plain and simple. Because he hadn't even counted on that.

"Okay... I'm not going to repeat that."

He had no one to blame but himself. Despite having his team with him, he'd gone after the spider on his own as if he were alone.

That couldn't have ended well. And, in fact, it had almost cost him his life.

Yes, he wouldn't do it again.

He'd be better off from now on. That was what Desmond thought as he rose from the bed of shadows Christina had built for him, his bones creaking, his breathing still shaky and hard.

His hands were bare.

Of course, he had dropped the sword to try to save himself with teleportation. In the end, though, he'd gotten nowhere.

Assuming he was capable of that in the first place.

It might as well be something only she could do, why not?

He didn't see the sword around him. It must have fallen far away. So the only option he had was to call it back to his hand. He hoped there was no problem with that, too.

He was going to try, but he got distracted. Because the black smoke made an appearance again.

"Here again."

Desmond saw it advancing rapidly in his direction. It was no mistake, no coincidence. Of course he had expected it to return, he never thought they would get rid of that abomination so easily.

But... it was the last thing they needed. The situation was bad enough as it was.

There was nothing they could do to stop that thing from possessing them, or at least not that they knew of. Whoever that thing was after was at its mercy.

But he didn't even suspect up to what point things were going to get complicated.

The black smoke didn't go for any of them.

Nor did it go for any person.

Instead, what it did was get inside the mechanical spider everywhere, every orifice it could find. The machine interrupted its mad charge and stood completely still. For some reason.

No.

I mean, this couldn't be happening, right?

It wasn't what he thought it was. It wasn't.

The four of them had frozen as well, staring in horror at what was happening before their very eyes.

The regeneration accelerated enormously and the crack in the creature's heart closed. His soul sank to his feet.

It didn't make sense that it could control machines in the same way as people because they weren't a living thing, but there was no doubt.

That had to have been the shadow's doing.

Without its intervention, the spider would have run out of fuel and gone limp. But the shadow had somehow concentrated its regenerative ability in the heart, saving it.

But then again, they hadn't intended to simply wait for the spider to run out of fuel anyway.

What they had intended was to finish it off as soon as possible to prevent it from doing any more damage. In any case, that was the least of it.

The worst enemy of all he'd faced so far had merged with the machine that for years Desmond had feared as the personification of death.

Fuck. Fuck.

Black smoke poured out of the spider's legs and even its mouth. The smoke was writhing as if it were alive. It's not like that thing had second thoughts and was coming out of it, nothing like that, it wasn't that stupid.

It's just some of the black smoke was seeping out of the small holes it had taken advantage of to enter the spider and take control of it in the first place.

It all made the appearance of the spider that much creepier.

A mechanical spider could bring a city of Albion to its knees on its own. Only the gods knew how menacing that thing could be with a human intelligence behind its actions.

They couldn't back down, anyway.

"That thing is back." Amy broke the silence, if only slightly. Desmond wasn't sure if he'd be able to do any better, frankly. That's why he was keeping quiet.

Well, that and why what could he really say?

"And I was hoping I'd never have to see him again in my life." Lately he was seeing Christina more open and vulnerable than she used to be.

However, now at least, she managed to keep her composure perfectly.

It sounded like it had nothing to do with her. There was only slight irritation in her voice, not fear. She was admirable. For many other things as well, but mostly he envied her composure.

She hoped she would never have to see him again in her life.

Definitely, everyone present would agree on that.

Desmond gritted his teeth, trying to think of a plan. If only he could come up with a good plan, one that would at least make him feel more confident about this chaotic and desperate situation. You know, a series of steps, all settled.

But there were no easy answers, he felt. No special plan.

If there was, he wasn't going to come up with it anyway.

But he couldn't count on the usual, his brute strength, his inhuman capabilities. He'd tried that and almost died. For real this time. For good.

Meanwhile they put distance between them and the spider. And the fire.

Because of course there was a fire, since that thing had been spitting fire all over the place for quite a while. Soon there would be a good one, just like at the palace before the shadow came in Abigail's body and put it all out.

"I thought I could get close to that thing and finish it off like the last one. But if it's controlling it, it won't be that easy."

If?

There was no if. It was what was happening, it couldn't be more obvious.

"That's for sure," Desmond answered simply, at last.

They were in a war, not a battle. They could get help from reinforcements, but the question was to what extent could they help them pull this off. This was no ordinary mechanical spider.

It was a horribly destructive war machine driven by a human consciousness.

A nightmare so horrible but at the same time so strange that he had never dreamed of it. Until now, until it had been his turn to live it.

The Empire could control the blue fire, but it wasn't wreaking havoc among their forces now, so they didn't have a reason not to let it all burn.

Not to mention they were too busy fighting the Albion forces in this area and also the remaining golden masks.

Even if they wanted to, they couldn't.

It looked like they weren't going to get any help. Bottom line.

So fucking hot.

So hot, even from afar. He ran the back of one hand over his face and forehead, wiping away the sweat.

"Whatever we do, it has to be quick. We can't let it regain strength. Then we'll be lost.

Yes. Among the many troubles they were in, that was the worst of all. That was the very reason he hadn't thought about it until now.

Abigail was right. It could recover.

It had already closed the hole in his heart, but not only that. It could restore the fuel the machine had lost over time. Regain all its strength.

And if they hadn't managed to kill it by then, afterwards....

Well, he'd already said it.

They'd be screwed.

A ticking time bomb was still in motion, really. But this time it was going against them.

The shadow wasn't moving its new body of wires and metal.

Briefly, Desmond wondered why. And whether they wouldn't be wasting valuable time standing idly by, when they could have ended this by now.

Briefly.

Then he stopped deluding himself.

He wasn't moving for whatever. But if they'd jumped on it, it would have done so by now.

"Any suggestions?" Amy said it as if in jest, as if to imply that she didn't expect anyone to have anything and didn't blame them for it. But, at the same time, she would be very happy if someone proved her wrong. Indeed.

"Actually, yes," Abigail said. Desmond breathed out. "Here's what we'll do."

Desmond listened carefully.

——

Abigail didn't take long to explain her thoughts because it was a simple plan.

Well, that was good.

The more complex the plan, the more holes and chances of failure it had. There was a certain beauty and safety in simplicity. Everyone sought simplicity, not complexity, after all.

Incidentally, while he had been listening to Abigail's plan, he had tried to summon the sword back to his hand.

He had succeeded without any problems.

At least he knew he wouldn't have a problem with it if he lost the sword in the midst of battle or it would break. Well, at least for the time being. His situation could only get worse, the power of the blood gradually draining away.

Before long, it was possible he wouldn't even be fit to wield the sword, not even that, in the first place. Well. He'd rather not even think about that.

"Not a bad plan," Christina said.

No, it wasn't. That was for sure. Simple was best, as he'd said.

As simple as it was, it was in question whether they would be able to pull it off, even among the four of them, given the current circumstances.

They had to get that thing out of the mechanical spider.

Either way.

The simplest, of course, was to simply destroy the machine with the shadow inside. Leave it with nothing to inhabit. And besides, with a little luck, the shadow would die in the process.

Surely too much good luck, more than people with as tumultuous a life as they could hope for. But it was a possibility.

Abigail had also worked out a plan b just in case they weren't capable of that. Destroy the war machine. Which wasn't very encouraging, as if even she wasn't confident they could pull it off.

But it was good to have, just in case.

"Are you ready?" Abigail asked. He wished he could say she was worrying too much.

"As ready as I'm ever going to be."

They jumped into action, the two of them.

Just the two of them. Amy and Christina stayed behind because that was where they could best work from.

They had shot straight for one of the spider's legs, the one he had already damaged with two blows before the thing lifted, pulled and nearly killed him.

The goal was, of course, to finish the job.

The spider spat fire on them as they moved forward. As fast as they were, it was very difficult to dodge a burst of fire with such a range. Almost impossible, in fact.

Good thing they didn't have to.

Amy acted, creating blocks of ice above them. The blue fire hit the ice, set it on fire, melted it. It wouldn't be long before the ice was gone.

But it had already served its purpose.

To protect them, to deflect the wave of fire. And give them enough time to get close. Amy had to create blocks of ice over them continuously as they advanced, and she couldn't do that as fast as they could run, but without her they could never have gotten that close to that spider without dying.

The heat was hard to take. And with every step he took, of course, it got worse as he approached the source. The heat was such that it made him nauseous. Good thing he had nothing to throw up.

He ran a hand over his forehead again.

At last they got under the mechanical spider.

For the moment they no longer needed Amy's protection, since it wasn't as if the creature could simply duck its head and spit fire between its legs.

Behind the mechanical spider and underneath it.

Those were its only two weak spots.

But if they got behind it, that was something the shadow could quickly fix. Plus they wouldn't have their target in range. So getting behind wouldn't do, even if 'countering' that wasn't as simple for the enemy as turning around.

Abigail and he pounced on the already previously damaged leg.

The shadow might not have known what they intended, but it didn't have to know to be a nuisance. It tried to pull away from them, leave them exposed again, twisting, turning to the side sharply.

It tried also to skewer them with its legs. Like insects.

For a thing that size, they were nothing but insects, indeed.

Despite the shadow's best efforts, they were managing to stay under the spider anyway. As they attacked. They didn't stop until they had finished cutting off that leg.

The piece, about a quarter or so, fell to the ground.

It wasn't too big. But the important thing is that it was the piece that ended in a point, a very sharp point.

"Step one," Desmond whispered to himself.

That in itself didn't make any difference. The spider didn't lose its balance and fall just because it was missing part of a leg, of course. Not when it had seven other perfectly functional legs.

Nor had they expected it to.

The lower part of the spider's body was suddenly closer. Because it had shrunk in on itself.

Desmond tensed every muscle in his body, preparing to jump, believing it would fall. That, since everything else had failed, the shadow now intended to crush them with its huge body.

As it turned out, he was wrong.

Shrinking in on itself was not a prelude to falling on top of them.

It turned out that what it was doing was gathering strength in its legs. To unload it in a backward leap. As if that wasn't enough, in midair it spat fire at them. Fire and cobwebs. A tremendous bombardment.

Anyway, Desmond and Abigail had already started running in the opposite direction. Leaving behind the piece of the leg they had just cut off.

It was relatively small, but not so small that they could carry it.

It was Christina, with her shadows, who got it out of the way. They couldn't afford to lose it, to let the flames consume it. Or even damage it.

Everything was going well, for the moment.

Too well, maybe.

Desmond regretted it the instant the thought crossed his mind. It was like tempting fate. The gods who were watching them from above.

And so it was, indeed.

So it was.

Everything went well until it stopped. In other words, Abigail was pinned to the ground by one of the spider webs. His heart leapt into his throat.

"No!"

Of course he didn't turn his back on her and kept running. He immediately ran to her side and tried to pull her out, cutting the threads with his sword. As fast as he could.

The spider was also very fast. It had already landed and was now running towards them, at any moment it would be on top of them. That wasn't even the most important thing now, but the flames. The proximity of the flames. The spider webs that creature could shoot out were practically impossible traps to escape on your own, but that wasn't even their main purpose, it was to drive the blue fire.

Would Desmond be fast enough? He couldn't afford to hesitate.

He had to be fast enough.

"Get out of here!" He didn't listen to her, as she grew more desperate "Get out of here, you idiot! I can take this, but you now...!"