It started like pressure in Viv’s ears, the same feeling as sitting in a plane taking off. She yawned by reflex but it didn’t do anything. Air was not the issue there, mana was. She didn’t need Solfis’ measurement to tell the black mana concentration was increasing.

It occurred to her that keeping a way out would have been preferable, at least so there was a direction black mana could escape to. Now they were trapped in the equivalent of an oven.

Viv poured every last bit of what she had into the shield, priming them. Sidjin backed her up with his might but all of this felt so futile, so small compared to the wave coming to them, like building a sand castle to stop the tide.

The passage turned darker, then black, and still the necrarch had not come. It was merely the manifestation of its hatred, forfeiting his games to throw everything it had at them. The screams were close now and they were disturbingly human. Viv stopped herself from listening to the insane warbles through sheer willpower, though her mind would catch on syllables, trying to make sense of them. That way led to madness. She only had a couple of seconds left.

The necrarch came, heralded by a cloud of sheer destruction. Only its horns could be seen from the cloud of noxious black mana rushing at them. One instant it was at the edge of the tunnel. The next, it was on them.

Viv could maybe stop the cloud. She could not stop the necrarch. To step outside the shield was to die, she thought.

Solfis did it anyway. The golem stepped through the shield with a calm Viv could not conjure.

//OVERDRIVE MODE ENGAGED.

Solfis disappeared but Viv could hear it. Solar and Irao stayed. They would be eaten alive in the miasma, Viv knew. Sidjin was maintaining the shield. It was up to her.

When Solfis fell, so would the shield, and then they would die without a chance to fight back. She had to remove some of that black mana. Siphon it away, somehow. Viv placed her hands against the shields. Her reserves were immediately full. There was so much energy in there, hers for the taking, but she didn’t have an outlet.

That was fine.

Could make one instead. She placed her right hand through the shield and bit her lips from the pain. Even through the gloves, even with her natural resistance, the annihilation cloud gnawed at her skin, setting her nerves on fire. The acid of the nercrarch’s wrath was eating her alive.

“Excalibur.”

Viv intentionally botched the spell. A normal excalibur kept the mana on a close, tight loop to prevent loss. She cut that loop open to let the expanded energy out. This created a very narrow and very powerful version of her werfer spell. Immediately, she aimed it at the monster’s shape she could perceive through the noxious veil.

At first, nothing happened, then she was looking into a pair of crimson orbs filled with so much rage that any trace of cunning had been lost. The animalistic focus landed on her, squeezing her mind under its tremendous weight. Its arm had regrown.

Viv’s fist was on fire. Blood was pooling at the bottom of the lacerated glove.

Solfis used the creature’s distraction to jump on its back, landing two claws at the base of its neck. The necrarch jumped back to squash Solfis against the wall. She heard a dreadful crack, but soon the sounds of battle resumed.

She grit her teeth and increased the power of the spell to its maximum, keeping her tired mind on this task and just this task. Nothing mattered except draining the necrarch’s cloud.

Slowly, it weakened. Viv realized three things.

First, some of the cloud escaped back into the corridor, which meant Sidjin had not sealed it yet. It was a good call.

Second, more of the cloud drifted up from the holes Solar had pierced with his aura. The sword master had pierced all through the entire damn mountain flank.

Third, the cloud was helping Solfis.

To Viv’s surprise, Solfis’ glyphs were drinking the magic with gluttonous greed, soaking up all that energy to sustain the golem’s maximum power mode. The alien magic empowered him. They were almost there, almost —

A shock, no air in her lungs. A broad, white face close to hers. her heart skipped a bit before she realized it was Irao. He had pushed her out of the way.

The assassin disappeared while she scrambled to her feet. She didn’t know what had happened. The shield was broken. Sidjin was against the wall, bleeding from his nose and eyes yet casting spells anyway. The necrarch was in the room. The battle was on. Sidjin activated the tunnel spell and collapsed.

Viv made sure she had her helmet and shield on, then she moved to her lover in the brief moment the fight had moved to the other side of the room. She placed a wall over him, a thick one, then it was on. Just like last time, the battle was a whirlwind of death and deadly grace while she and Arthur next to her did their best to provide support. Arthur seemed to be working on making the ground more even around Solar who moved the least of all, while Viv drained the cloud around the necrarch to ensure her side would not have to fight against the very air around them. Once again, Solfis jumped on the creature’s back before jumping out when it attempted to smash it against the wall. Viv heard another telltale crack of something breaking, then the necrarch howled. She understood.

Because of its simian form, the necrarch could not reach its own spine so Irao had stabbed it several times, leaving his deathly instruments biting deep into its flesh. By forcing it to crash against a wall, Solfis made the monster use its own strength to make the blades bite even deeper. Its spine was getting crushed progressively. It was still far from over, however.

The creature grabbed Solfis, accepting to lose the hand on its recently regrown arm to do so. Viv heard a crack, saw two of Solfis’ claws fly off in pieces, but the golem was trapped until Irao landed on the wrist, almost severing it. The golem used this briefest of windows to twist on itself and impossibly escape the necrarch’s grasp. The sight of a wounded Solfis almost made her want to intervene more, to attach spells to that monstrosity and drain it of its resources, but it would be a foolish move. Right now, she was a speck in a battle of giants. The last thing she wanted was to be promoted from annoyance to diversion.

Slowly, Viv continued to drain while Arthur kept the arena mostly stable. Their foe’s reckless abandon landed a few glancing blows on Solfis and Irao, but the golem always managed to block-mid air while Irao was simply… not there anymore when the attack landed. As for Solar, he matched every blow with one of their own, something the necrarch seemed to have difficulties understanding. Viv was constantly at full capacity yet dared not use her power. She crept along the walls, sweat dripping down her neck despite the chill in the air. It was the most deadly game of ‘the floor is lava’, with the lava occupying three quarters of the room in the form of a blender of steel and bone.

Viv didn’t know how long that lasted, but slowly, the necrarch became more ripped flesh and exposed bone than pallid skin. It slowed down, then slowed down more with every crippled articulation. She was starting to believe.

Something changed in the air.

Viv felt it. She didn’t know if it was battle experience, finally, or some soul fuckery at play. The necrarch stood to its full height with its horns scraping the ceiling. It knew. Sanity, such as it was, had returned. It was losing badly.

Two deeply evil eyes searched the room and found Viv. Her danger sense screamed. She did not even hesitate.

“Excalibur!”

The mangled spell vomited a cone of destruction in front of her, licking the beast as it was jumping forward. It screamed in agony. Viv saw more bones than ever before. She had hurt it. It was weakened. Irao and Solfis hounded it and a ball of fire from Arthur caught it in the leg. It made to the exit, the very same exit Sidjin hadn’t had the time to close before he collapsed. It was going to escape, except when Viv watched, Solar was there.

With two feet firmly planted on the ground, the tired warrior felt solid as a mountain and just as irremovable. The mess of cuts and shattered bones the monster had become rushed him and for the first time, Irao and Sidjin ran away. Viv felt it too, that strange feeling of pressure. The only similar experience she could compare it to would be to stand in front of a starting turbine a few seconds before startup. She crouched and made herself very, very small.

The necrarch spat acid but Solar stepped aside and lifted his blade. Then, he cut.

Even though Viv wasn’t in the trajectory, she could not breathe. The world became a tunnel with some random fragment at the end, pieces of the opposite wall. Nothing mattered except that. If she looked away, she would die. If she closed her eyes, she would die. A gasp brought some much needed air to her tired lungs. Another. It was so hard to just breathe.

And then it was done.

Viv looked up to see the necrarch frozen in its tracks. Nobody moved. With exquisite detail, she saw a gash open from shoulder to groin and widen. She had the time to feel the blood dripping from a cut on her lips. It wasn’t from biting them, merely from being on the wrong side of the room.

Elation filled Viv’s heart. It didn’t last long.

The necrarch hissed with its last breath. It swung the arm with the missing hand, which detached itself cleanly.

The improvised projectile flew to Solar as he winded down and pierced his chest. It stayed there, planted like a defiant flag before falling, as its owner fell as well, defeated for good. Blood gushed from Solar’s wound. It dripped down the pitted armor, crimson on black.

“Fuck,” Viv cried.

Acuity +1