Kuru had reservations about getting into a fight with Valkerrah. The two were both powerful. Each of them was attuned to a natural energy that was nearly unlimited in use. The only thing that made them different was how they were born and their ideal end goal for the universe. It had been a long time since Kuru had considered them anything but partners. Now that had come to an end, and she stood her with her weapon drawn and ready to fire.

  Valkerrah, the purple eyed heiress in disguise, was showing her a clear line not to cross. The plans for this planet had changed apparently, and Kuru had not been made aware. The attempt to invade Valkerrah’s mind was rebuffed and a small headache and a returning sneer was all she received for it. In the milliseconds that Kuru had to notice that next to her, SarthDarah had begun to stand and was readying an attack, she decided that fate be damned. She would kill the heiress if it was necessary.

  Kuru used her power to rip open space and pull herself, Jorn, and Lavia away from Valkerrah, and towards her remaining subjects. The party of survivors that she was protecting and trying to extricate from this world were all huddled up and protecting each other.

  “Jorn, wall! Lavia, keep the rear covered! Lyria, do your thing!” Kuru commanded the instant she was next to them.

  They didn’t hesitate and moved right away. Jorn was hammering and pulling up chunks of earth to create a barrier between them and Valkerrah. Just as the first rock was being pulled up, the wave from SathDarah’s attack washed over them. The heat was quick to dissipate, but it had been close enough that Kuru worried if SarthDarah had noticed that they were still in her blast radius or not. She had asked SarthDarah not to become someone she wasn’t, it seemed to be a fine line she walked and Kuru wasn’t sure which side her favorite subject would fall on.

  When the flash of light sparked, and Kuru saw the lightning energy bend and twist towards them, it seemed like only one path was left to her. If that attack hit any of the vessels in this group, it would fry them and kill the soul within. As much as Kuru enjoyed watching the release of souls, these were hers. Not even a demi-god would take them from her without a fight.

  Kuru ripped open space around them, she had sworn never to take such a big piece; but this was a desperate situation in which she reacted in the only way she knew how. The ground around them was swallowed by darkness, the air became cold and motionless. The heartbeat it took to sever the area they were standing on from the rest of reality drained her, and Kuru knew instantly that she was going too far.

  “If she can, I can.” Kuru panted out.

  They stood in a void, on the few meters of cliff while it floated in nothing. Too soon she felt the rebound effect. Kuru tried to brace herself for it, but the backlash of moving space from one dimension to another was immutable. The pushing of existence out of the way to make room for everything she brought over resulted in an equal pushback that was threatening to break apart their refuge.

  “Everyone, be ready to jump away and fight if necessary!” Kuru was channeling her power to hold them in place, but it wouldn’t last.

  None of the others said a word, just held weapons at the ready. Kuru could tell they all had anxiety and worry, the emotions of mortals were always riding the surface of their thoughts. There was courage in most of them as well, fear was mixed in, but that was part of what created the bravery Kuru was growing to admire more and more.

  With each improbable task they had come up against, they had all pushed on and done their best to persevere. Kuru was feeling something she had never in her entire existence felt before. She had always felt a thrill when hunting down corrupt souls, but this feeling was different. This feeling was more pride, and sorrow, somehow mixed together.

  She knew they would fight for her, they would probably die for her too. That was the part that began to hurt.

  The lightning dissipated, leaving a charred crater where her friends had been standing. In the blink of an eye, they were gone. SarthDarah felt that rage building, the same way it had when Eldrin had been gored. It was like a teakettle just about to start whistling. SarthDarah blinked, feeling wetness run down her cheeks as she did.

  Her chest was tight, it felt like it was expanding, but there wasn’t any more room for her to grow. She was suddenly too big for her body. The feelings were about to cause her to burst and bubble over. Rage, hatred, loss…

  “Hmm, you are surprisingly calm.” Valkerrah eyed SarthDarah warily. “I figured that would have driven you past reason.”

  SarthDarah wanted to shout, to rage at her, to do something. Her body felt like it was still trying to explode, and it was all she could do to hold it in. SarthDarah didn’t look away from the spot that Kuru had last been. It was blank now, just a void where there used to be a chunk of earth. Was that what her destiny led to?

  “Mistress!” A deep bellow rang out from below.

  Valkerrah didn’t move, her forces would be here soon enough, if she didn’t answer they would come sooner. This was suddenly dangerous, it wasn’t what she had predicted would happen. It was a different branch of reality than she had seen, and this one might be the cause of her losing this world.

  SarthDarah couldn’t see anything else anymore. The tunnel vision of what had just happened blinded her to the voices and movement coming from the road. They had been getting closer to it as they fought, but she still didn’t see it. Finally she blinked, none of them were coming back just because she wanted them too.

  “That was the last mistake I will allow you to make.” SarthDarah whispered to herself. “Move.”

  SarthDarah felt her feet crunch down into the soil, it broke beneath her as she charged Valkerrah. The lightning beams that had been circling her trailed, the purple glow of their light intertwining with the red roar of SarthDarah’s flame. When her fist met a solid barrier, it wasn’t flesh. Valkerrah hadn’t tried to dodge, but she had drawn a thin rapier and used the edge of the thin blade to turn SarthDarah’s attack away.

  The solid wall of steel and muscle that her fist met was roaring its own defiance. A huge Minotaur, even larger than the captain had been, had rushed to Valkerrah’s side. When SarthDarah’s fist met his half plate covered body, he was still in full charge. His momentum carried through as he punted SarthDarah backwards.

  She flew several dozen yards, landing backwards into the crater where Kuru and her friends had vanished from. Her body flipped end over end as she landed, skidding to a stop in the bottom of the crater. She only had a moment to blink and think about how she found herself against yet another impossible enemy. It didn’t matter, she would kill them all.

  SarthDarah stood, the Minotaur and Valkerrah stood at the edge of the crater looking down. It wasn’t far, and within moments of locking eyes with her, SarthDarah once again launched herself at Valkerrah.

  The rapier was still drawn, Valkerrah ready to parry another blow. She didn’t have to, Valkerrah knew Tartarus would defend her with his life until he couldn’t anymore. He moved to intercept the attack, bodying SarthDarah mid air. The two went tumbling back down into the crater, yelling and punching at each other as they went.

  Valkerrah smiled, she won and could now move on to taking the capital. Kuru could figure out if she wanted off this planet or not. Valkerrah knew it was easy for the Nightmare Walker to move herself through space and mental spaces. Kuru was just wasting time and energy trying to save a handful of souls that she had grown too attached to. Valkerrah wasn’t about to let her plans get hindered because of someone else, no matter who they were.

  She began to walk away, knowing that even if SarthDarah managed to somehow overcome Tartarus, she would never catch up to her again.

  “More bull-men?!” SarthDarah yelled as she fell back into the crater again. “I am sick of your kind!”

  They rolled over top of one another as they fell backwards. SarthDarah aimed punches at the Minotaur’s flank, while he in turn aimed blows at her head. The short tumble ended as they hit the bottom. SarthDarah spun around on her back and kicked her legs outward, firing Napalm Strikes as she twirled.

  Tartarus backed away, using all four limbs to speedily crawl under the random scatter fire. SarthDarah was the first one up on her feet again. She launched herself at the Minotaur, following a burst of flame as it flew. Tartarus threw a hand up and deflected the glob of flame before it could hit, and with a backhand, smacked SarthDarah sideways.

  The clap on her face hurt, her entire body felt the ring of the solid gauntlet as it connected. SarthDarah felt her body twist, but she planted her feet, refusing to be sent flying like a bitch. Standing her ground, SarthDarah sent an upper cut towards Tartarus. The air rushing in the wake of her strike became visible and sparked into a golden plumage. Tartarus stepped back, hoping to dodge the blow.

  “Rising Phoenix!”

  It didn’t matter that the huge Minotaur had made enough gap to dodge SarthDarah’s fist. He was struck with the wave of energy that followed in the wake. Sparking a flame with friction and fueling it with compressed air energy, SarthDarah directed it all into a blast that came up like a hooked claw.

  The metal of Tartarus’s metal armor glowed, then split where the heat grew too intense. He flipped around and sprang backwards. That heat was dangerous and he had gotten away just in time. Anymore and it might have begun to cut deep enough to pierce his skin. Tartarus felt it still burning against his softer abdomen area, he would have to take the breastplate off.

  “Maybe I should call it plasma cutter?” SarthDarah stood with one arm still raised. “That looked hot, can I try it again?”

  Tartarus wasted no time in ripping the straps that held the now ruined armor in place away. It fell to the ground with a crash, blowing dust up around him. Tartarus moved an instant later, he would not let this little girl best him again.

  “I’ll take that as a no.” SarthDarah mused as she readied for the blow to come.

  Tartarus delivered a kick to her side, SarthDarah blocked it and grabbed a hold of the large leg. It was covered in plate metal, and large enough that it took both arms to reach all the way around.

  “How about this then?” SarthDarah began to yell as she twirled the Minotaur around and over her.

  Tartarus fell over and landed hard on his side. The next move he made, SarthDarah didn’t see. She jumped up high to get above the Minotaur, hoping to put this to an end quickly. Tartarus smiled as he flipped over and stood, his hands held outward like a batter. SarthDarah noticed the glint of light on something she couldn’t see. It was right next to Tartarus, almost like he was holding something that was invisible.

  Too late did SarthDarah realize that Tartarus was smiling. She was already headed downward, and Tartarus swung long before she expected anything to happen. The sudden pain and solid wall hit her from the side. Knocking her out of the air like she was a puny fly getting swatted by a frying pan.

  As SarthDarah struggled to regain focus, she was again lying on the ground and had a large figure standing over her. This time, the large figure was swinging a Greataxe down at her instead of reaching out a hand to help. It took a moment, but when the thwack and pain of it finally registered in her mind, SarthDarah screamed.

  Kuru felt the pain, felt the cry of agony. Then she felt something else, and without another thought, she brought them back. It was so hard to wait for Valkerrah to leave, and be far enough away to not notice they came back. She waited until something from inside her cried out and demanded her to come back. Just as the axe came down, Kuru and the rest of the squad reappeared through gates of nether.

  Jorn didn’t even wait for his feet to hit the ground, his hammer flew out and clocked Tartarus in the head. Duerlin was the first to reach them, using Flame Gate to cut through the axe handle and separate Tartarus and SarthDarah. The damage that had been done was too late to save, but they made it in time to stop anymore from happening. Kuru held onto that thought as she scanned the area for any others that might be around.

  “She’s moved back to the main force at the road crossing. Their holding for now. I don’t sense any other life near us. If we can get her and get out of here, we might still make it.” Lyria reported to Kuru.

  She had been invisible and watching the whole time, but unable to help when Tartarus showed up. With Valkerrah regrouped and down the road a little ways though, Kuru agreed, they had to go.

  “Kill it, we must leave, now!” Kuru gave the command, but knew that’s what they would do anyway.

  Jorn grabbed the hammer he had thrown as he ran to catch up to the Minotaur. Duerlin was using his sword to parry the heavy punches of Tartarus, but was slowly being overwhelmed. Lavia was right behind Jorn, rushing to help fight the large beast.

  “Boost ye speed, boost ye courage. Swiftly move ye feet, bravely slay your enemy. This song sucks, but I ain’t got nothin left that won’t give us away.” Ironfiddle was mumbling and making up lyrics on the spot, but his song didn’t do much.

  “It’s fine, just be ready to run. Anunt…” Kuru spun to find that the healer was gone. “Shit, where is she?”

  Lyria looked around, not even she knew what had happened to their only healer. They stood there in the crater, looking about, watching on as the fight with Tartarus began to intensify. Kuru dropped her gaze to where SarthDarah still lay, her eyes focusing with morbid horror as she saw the arm that lay a foot away from the rest of her body.

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  They rushed over, seeing the battle between Jorn, Lavia, Duerlin, and Tartarus move away from where SarthDarah lay. Ironfiddle held up a small dagger, the only weapon he had that wasn’t big flashy magic effects. He stood guard as Kuru bent over SarthDarah, Lyria floating on the opposite side just above them.

  “What happened?” Kuru asked, noticing that her voice was shaky and blinking at her own emotion.

  “I, huh?” SarthDarah looked between them, her eyes unfocused. “You died. Ha, this afterlife sucks so far. At least you’re here.”

  Kuru had to bite her tongue before saying something harsh, she felt SarthDarah turn her body into her own. The missing arm seemed an afterthought to her already.

  “We didn’t, I pulled everyone else away long enough to get Valkerrah to leave.” Kuru pulled the severed arm up to SarthDarah’s body. “This is a one time thing, never again will I do this for you. So make sure you keep it this time.”

  SarthDarah looked over at her, noticing her arm. Then, like she hadn’t known she had lost it, SarthDarah panicked. Her eyes flew wide open and focused clearly on the severed limb. Kuru put her other hand on SarthDarah’s chest, holding her still.

  “Relax, breathe, and be patient for once.” Kuru admonished softly.

  SarthDarah blinked rapidly for a few seconds, then she took a long deep breath. She didn’t move, she waited. SarthDarah felt the sting in her shoulder, it was a throb, something that had she been of clear mind earlier she would’ve easily noticed.

  Kuru used her power in a way it was never meant to be used. Instead of peeling life away and collecting the soul essence in herself, she reversed it. Kuru took a small sliver of her own soul and broke it down into a thin thread. With that thread, she did what her father had done to create her and a few other artifacts. Kuru created life.

  This was far smaller and easier than what her grandmother or father could do, but it would return SarthDarah’s arm to her. A vessel was just a machine, but the soul would always remember that arm being gone, and the vessel took on the exact physical representation of the soul’s image of the self. SarthDarah needed her soul to remember that the arm was forever linked to her now. It had its own life, one created by combining the essence of Kuru’s Reaper soul and SarthDarah’s Mortal soul.

  SarthDarah felt this energy, the warmth bump against her, then become part of her. It was soothing, and felt like a memory of something that happened so long ago. A past life that somehow came back. It was the feeling of someone promising to be there. It was a reminder that she had promised to fight no matter what for someone special.

  With a rush of energy, SarthDarah sat up. Flexing her arms and using them to touch and feel the rest of herself. She was still whole, her body slightly fatigued, but this was no time to take a nap. SarthDarah turned to Kuru, their eyes locked and smiles matched. They didn’t need words to convey what they wanted to say to each other.

  Duerlin ducked away, sweeping his blade along the back of Tartarus’ legs. Jorn was holding back the punches of the large Minotaur with his hammer, having dropped his axe and opted for using both hands to hold the thicker weapon up for defense. The two of them ducked and fought side by side in perfect sync. Lavia stayed back, circling the Minotaur and keeping him in check from moving away from them.

  SarthDarah knew first hand what leaving some space for these Minotaurs to maneuver could lead to. Eldrin had been on the receiving end of horns, she had been lucky it was a knee that she had been hit with. Watching the three of them fight was impressive, now she needed to find a way to end the fight and get them moving again. They would be in the middle of the Minotaur horde if they didn’t leave now.

  Just as SarthDarah was getting ready to jump into the fray, Kuru grabbed her arm. Looking back, SarthDarah saw the concern on Kuru’s face. She was looking at the fight with a stare that seemed to see more than what SarthDarah could see.

  “The Captain is here. In his shadow, waiting for an opportunity.”

  “Then all the more reason I should get in there!”

  “Wait, if you rush in now he won’t come out.” Kuru gave her a look.

  SarthDarah wanted to protest, but she saw the seriousness and hurt that mixed in the blue eyes that seemed to shimmer slightly. It was the only way to draw out the threat. It would hurt, but she had to wait for the right moment.

  Jorn kept meeting Tartarus’ fists with his huge hammer. The ringing blows of the metal coming together was beginning to echo inside the crater. Duerlin was moving slower and slower, taking longer in between each time he rushed in and out to slash at Tartarus. Lavia had taken the opportunity to jab her spear out during the prolonged intervals that Duerlin was out of the way. They were doing damage, the blows leaving cuts along the muscled arms where the armor was thin. It wasn’t enough to slow down the massive beast though.

  They all seemed to be taking a little damage, but Tartarus wasn’t fighting back much either. What was he waiting for? Was it simply to draw out the fight?

  “His only goal is to keep us from moving away from here. I think he’s toying with them.” Lyria observed and commented from above them, though she was completely invisible again.

  “Then I can’t wait. He won’t need to use the Captain, he’ll make us fail to get to safety just by taking his time.” SarthDarah began moving towards the fight.

  “Just…” Kuru started, then bit her lip and looked around for a moment before continuing. “Wait. Let me start it with something more ranged. I feel like that shadow is waiting for you, and Tartarus knows that you are the only real threat to him here.”

  Kuru pulled a long rifle from a void in space. The wooden handrail housed the metal barrel snugly and with exquisite molding. There were runes and etchings of flowing lines up and down the long length of it, all began to glow as Kuru pumped energy into them.

  SarthDarah reflexively felt around her waist for the smaller firearm that she had tucked in her belt. The power hummed around Kuru and SarthDarah’s senses could track all of it. It sang to her, the sound of violins and horns crescendoing together. Black energy swam inside the amber light of the runes and etchings.

  “I hope you see how these weapons are supposed to be used now. Your effort was amazing, but uncontrolled. Used like this…” Kuru was giving a lecture as she aimed and waited for her shot. “We can deal massive damage to anything.”

  The shot was faster than SarthDarah could follow. Her eyes lost the sharp bolt that seemed to split the air itself. A crack of thunder followed the flash of light. Within a heartbeat the fight that had been stalemated stood still. Jorn stood ready for the next blow, his breathing heavy and causing his whole body to shudder. Duerlin was standing back behind him, falling to a knee when the action stopped.

  Lavia followed through with a spear thrust, piercing Tartarus straight through. It went in through his lower back and came spurting out of his softer belly. The blood shot out, causing Jorn to look away and take a step back. The battle cry that Lavia let out was the only sound to continue after the echo of the shot faded.

  “Rage…” Tartarus muttered. “Rage… Rage! RAGE!! RAAAGGGGGEEEE!!!!”

  “Life Transference.” Another voice came from the shadow under Tartarus.

  “GWAHHH!!” Lavia screamed out, her body dropping like a ragdoll.

  Jorn looked back in time to see a hand reach up from the ground and grab Lavia by the ankle. His warning never came, and he found himself unable to move. The hand was pulling the life from Lavia, and the wounds that they had managed to inflict on Tartarus began to close. The presence of that hand made Jorn’s mind go blank for a moment, and only when Duerlin rushed past him to take a swing at Tartarus, did he remember himself.

  Too late again, the words hung on the tip of his tongue, unable to make the leap to warn of the danger. Duerlin rushed forward with a yell, his attack fueled by the last spurts of energy he had left. Tartarus didn’t move, just raised his head to the sky and bellowed out a roar that shook the ground.

  Duerlin was already in the air, his sword coming up to slice the head clean from the Minotaur’s shoulders. Three green beams shot out from the ground, emanating from the shadow that Tartarus’ large body created. The first Duerlin was able to parry with his sword, deflecting it away just before the second and third beams caught him square in the chest.

  “Duerlin!” Jorn shouted as the swordsman tumbled backward and lay motionless with smoke rising gently from him.

  Tartarus was bellowing out yet, each renewed yell caused the ground to tremble a little more with each reverberation. Jorn was only standing firm because of his connection to the ground, Lavia was not as lucky. With her life being drained away, and her mind shocked by the pain, Lavia fell over backwards and writhed on the ground for a few moments before becoming still.

  SarthDarah’s flaming kick came from the heavens. Jorn covered his eyes as the flash threatened to blind him. Tartarus disappeared in the conflagration that followed. Jorn grabbed Duerlin’s limp body and leapt to get clear of the crater. He found himself next to Kuru, who looked worried at the sight of Duerlin.

  SarthDarah landed next to them a moment later with Lavia’s heavier body draped over her own. The Amazoness wasn’t unconscious, but she was barely keeping her eyes open. Kuru looked down into the crater, her rifle trained on the spot that Tartarus had been. Her shots rang out, six heavy thunder claps in a row. The echo rang off the cliff wall and around them.

  “She would’ve heard that, damn.” Kuru muttered, she was already filling her weapon with more energy. “Someone needs to stay on the lookout, we might get more visitors. Sarth, please finish this fight before he climbs out of that hole.”

  Kuru punctuated her point with six more shots. The first one was easy to see hit its mark. Tartarus had begun to leap upward towards them. Kuru’s shots pushed him down, and then dug into the earth under him to drop him farther.

  “Sure, Jorn, can you keep watch here?”

  “Yeah, of course.” Jorn was laying Duerlin down beside Lavia. “You be careful, ok?”

  SarthDarah smirked, she knew they hadn’t been together long, but she felt like they had known each other forever. If she wasn’t sure he had taken a liking to Lavia, whom he was now trying to dote on, SarthDarah might have thought he was into herself.

  “That’s not really my style, ya know?” She winked as she leapt up and towards Tartarus.

  Beams of green light flashed by her as she plummeted towards her target. Six more shots rang out, blasting the ground below her just before she reached Tartarus. She opted to forgo the fire for this strike, choosing instead to use pure wind. She wanted to slice, to pierce, to cut down this monster. Her fists glowed white, streaking down as her speed increased the farther she went.

  Compressing the energy and using it to propel herself, to split the air in front of her to reduce the drag on her body. SarthDarah dropped like a bullet, like a seventh shot being fired from above. Kuru had timed it perfectly to hit Tartarus just before SarthDarah did. The shockwave blasted from deep inside the hole in the crater. They now had a small chamber in which darkness seemed to swallow them.

  The shadows all twisted around them as SarthDarah stood over Tartarus. The giant bull had taken a huge amount of damage from the rain of fire Kuru had put down, but he barely seemed out of breath. His eyes glowed red, not amber red like the fire that SarthDarah’s produced; but a deep crimson that reminded her of pools of thick blood. In the darkness it was hard to see anything besides those eyes.

  She could see the shadows moving, playing tricks on her, trying to bait her into a trap. The Captain was here, she knew that was who had been hiding in Tartarus’s shadow. Knowing was one thing, being able to beat both of them was another. She hadn’t done so well the last time, and now she had to face Tartarus as well.

  “Not fair!” The little girl's voice rang out from behind her. “You always get stuff first!”

  SarthDarah turned to look, but there was nothing but darkness. The voice was her little sister, and it giggled as she continued to turn and search. Only the red glowing eyes were visible. No little girls, and suddenly, there was no tunnel back to the surface. The darkness was complete, and SarthDarah was locked in with the red eyes that seemed to grow and get closer. The little girl laughed, the disembodied voice echoing all around SarthDarah and causing her to lose her sense of direction.

  Crack! A bolt of energy split the darkness. The momentary burst of blue light ripped open reality. The darkness was split in front of SarthDarah, revealing Tartarus and another Minotaur she recognized standing only a few feet from her.

  Crack! Another shot split the darkness and forced it back even farther. Four more shots followed, clearing the small chamber and the widening tunnel above them. The rock was crumbling, filling into the center of the small pit they were in.

  “Jump!” Kuru yelled from above.

  SarthDarah didn’t wait. Tartarus was regaining his sight and was about to leap up after her, but the other Minotaur held him back. Six shots rang out, not aimed at Tartarus, but at the rocks of the tunnel that were now falling in front of him.

  SarthDarah was clear of the pit below, watching as it buried Tartarus and the Captain. She could sense the wave of anger and heat that began to spike from below. It was similar to what she felt when she loaded up on fire energy, but it was slightly different, and it was about to erupt. She jumped, leaping clear of the crater and up to Kuru and the others.

  “He’s gonna blow!” She yelled.

  Kuru’s eyes went wide, she felt it too. Jorn was already helping Lavia to her feet, he picked Duerlin up with one arm and started to hustle them away. SarthDarah pulled on Kuru’s hand to lead her away. Kuru still held her rifle in the other, aimed to try and take a last shot as they jumped up and away.

  “That’s what I sensed before, when he was still underground. It’s the same.” SarthDarah said it as she realized it.

  They were mid-air, Kuru holding herself steady around SarthDarah with one arm, holding her rifle ready in the other. SarthDarah activated Levitate, holding both arms around the waist of Kuru. Darkness was set in full around them. The star had long gone down, and the battle below had ended shortly after the explosion of the Pulse Cannon. No more explosions or magic to light up the beach.

  “Some monsters leave a large trail. The signature of his energy is indeed large, but it can be overcome. You have the ability, you have the power. When I see you, I see a soul that radiates the most important part of being strong. You only need to convince yourself of your own strength, and use it for the right purpose.” Kuru spoke gently, never looking away from where she aimed. “When you fire off large skills, using massive amounts of energy, you also send out a signature. I can read those very well.”

  Kuru smiled, she hadn’t expected to say all of this. It just started coming out, and once it did, she didn’t want to stop.

  “He probably read your aura and is taking you on in challenge. You have a larger energy signature than him after all. Plus you are a lot smaller and much less experienced.” Kuru giggled softly. “That is how monsters work. They attack and defeat those they see as a challenge to their own strength. Even if they can’t win, they will come up with some trick or tactic to make it a more even playing field. So we must do the same.”

  “How?”

  “Take that pistol I gave you. Let us try together to put down this beast.”

  Only then, for a brief moment, did Kuru turn to meet SarthDarah’s eyes. Both had a flush, and both smiled with a bit of manic thrill. SarthDarah drew the small weapon with her right hand, clutching Kuru closer with her left.

  The weapon glowed brightly in her grasp. The runes and etching were similar, and indeed matched in several places, to the ones on the long rifle that Kuru held. When SarthDarah aimed side by side with Kuru, the weapons glowed red and blue respectively. The runes all grew brighter in reaction to the synergy between the weapons.

  “I was always more efficient when using them together when hunting.”

  They both pumped and compressed energy into the weapons, waiting for the final moment when Tartarus would blow. His own signature had stopped growing, and was now beginning to warble, almost like he held very little control over the amount of energy he held.

  When the explosion came, Jorn had barely managed to pull up a rock wall thick enough to deflect the debris. Duerlin was still out, Lavia hunched over his prone body trying to protect him from further harm. SarthDarah and Kuru had barely been high enough to avoid being in the blast. They both unloaded their weapons' entire store of energy in one shot. The spiraling energy beam lanced out and hit the epicenter of the blast.

  Tartarus bellowed out as their shots found his unarmored belly. Holes opened up through him this time, where the last shots Kuru had hit him with only scarred and marked his body. Energy beams fired back at them from the shadows, and the smoke of the explosion blew away in the wake of the three green flashes.

  SarthDarah didn’t have enough time to warn Kuru, she just deactivated Levitate and plummeted downwards out of the energy beams trail. The sharp squeal that came from Kuru made SarthDarah start laughing loudly as they fell back to the ground. When they landed, Kuru elbowed SarthDarah’s ribs to force her to let go. Still laughing, and now coughing at the same time, SarthDarah let Kuru take a few steps away.

  “Can we finish this now?” Kuru sounded impatient, but the way her face glowed said that she was trying to cover for something else.

  “Yeah.” SarthDarah took a moment to catch her breath. “Let’s do this.”