I chased down the last demon, a hunted look its eyes as I cornered it against a wall. Heat haze rolled off its skin, and it reared back. A torrent of silver fire ripped free of its maw and washed over my armor. My Frozen Armor melted in an instant, but the ash plates beneath it held firm as I dived clear of the flames.
“What the hell kind of demon can use Augmentation?” I asked.
“The kind that is infused with knowledge,” Yono whispered.
The scythe dripped green fluid as I brought it to bear, and I flicked the fluid toward the minotaur’s eyes. It recoiled and clawed at its face to tear away the Ichor-infused water. I slammed the blunt side of the blade into its gut, forced the minotaur back into the wall, and tore open its throat with a flick of the Depthless Dream. Black blood coursed down into its fur.
A weakened punch shot toward my shoulder, but I pushed water through my Physical channels and flowed around it with a quick step. I slashed off the minotaur’s hand and ripped the scythe across its stomach. Glistening intestines erupted from the demon’s torso, and I finished the hulking monster with a final hooking strike. Its skull gave way under the blow, and my makeshift scythe-blade shattered as it came into contact with the monster’s blistering heat.
“You will not win, Swordslinger,” the Broodmother snarled.
Black fire erupted from the portals in a wall of magic. The attack snuffed out Vesma and Hamon’s flames, but for all of its advantages, the demonic entity couldn’t focus on more than one thing at a time. I reached within myself, found the Crashing Wave technique again, and unleashed another high-pressure jet of water.
“Must you, Swordslinger?” Hamon asked as the jet slammed into his back.
He turned and vaporized the tide of water with a gout of flame. The dungeon flooded with steam, and this time, I pushed a blanket of Acid Cloud up into the ceiling. The temperature of the room rose until sweat poured out of my face, and I pushed the trident up into the air.
“With me, Yono!” I instructed.
Sunlight Ichor fired from the Depthless Dream and mixed with the heavy steam in the air. The healing sap blended with the acid above us, and the Broodmother shrieked as my combination of elements ate into the blackened growths above us.
Mahrai pumped a fist into the air, but I wasn’t done yet. I fed my techniques with Environmental Vigor, and the Acid Cloud bloomed into a tide of healing, biting gas. Viscera dripped vile fluids on the ground beside me as I guided the potent tide of energy over the Broodmother’s growths.
“Mahrai, get the prisoners loose!” I shouted.
The golem thundered past me and caught hold of the weakened iron bars of Cinder’s cell. It wrenched sideways, and yellow bone gave way under its mighty strength. The golem planted its feet and tore the rusted steel bars clean out of the wall. Cinder pulled a wizened man up beside her and slung his arm over her shoulder. Her face tightened into an expression of sheer determination, and she snapped something to the other prisoners.
I refocused my attention on my technique. The cankers of physical corruption spat streams of clear fluid as they continued to shrink. I shifted the Depthless Dream into one hand, drew the Sundered Heart with the other, and fired off a Burning Wheel into the ceiling. Blue fire roared over the blackened flesh, and a piercing scream erupted from the Broodmother as it countered instinctively with its own countermeasures. But it wasn’t enough.
Vesma and Hamon opened their palms, and pillars of flame arced across the demonic portals. Steam hissed through the air as I poured my own Vigor into the attacks with everything I had. My ears rang from the high-pitched wail of the demonic mass of flesh, but I held on and didn’t slow my attack.
“More, Master!” Nydarth said. “Burn this abomination!”
“It fades like a tide on a moonless night,” Yono encouraged. “A little more!”
A translucent sack of flesh burst from the ceiling. It heaved in rhythmic pulses, just like a heart, and I focused my power around the sac. A figure writhed in the midst of the organ-like prison, and silver fire burst through the membrane in short, sharp flares of fierce power.
Mahrai’s golem leapt into the air at a wave from its master, and it smashed its fists into the monstrous growth. Silver fire mixed with black, and the Broodmother’s cacophony of voices cut off abruptly as the sac finally burst. The smell of brimstone, rotting corpses, and ash filled the air of the dungeon, and a single figure collapsed from ceiling to the stone floor.
I turned my attention to the portals and added a fresh burst of Sunlight Ichor to a blanket of Smothering Mist. The dimensional gates shrank at the touch of the sap combination, and seconds later, gave way to ashes. The glow of otherworldly energy faded.
Vesma swayed as she cut off her flow of power. Mahrai darted across the floor and caught her just before she fell to the ground. I released the flow of Vigor, and the green mist filtered out into the air. A wave of fatigue washed through me, but my reserves were only half-spent. I’d endured worse before. A throbbing headache pulsed through my skull, but I pushed it to the side.
The single figure in the center of the room stirred.
His bald head glistened with viscera and sweat, and the Dying Sun robes hung off his lean frame in shredded tatters. Black ooze dripped from his eyes as he turned to look at me, and I sheathed the Sundered Heart. I kicked the monk over onto his back and pressed the Depthless Dream to his throat.
The monk’s hand darted out and wrapped around the shaft of the trident. Sunlight Ichor bled from the tips of the trident, and I fed the technique with the environment’s
