Casek threw himself at the mass of spindly legged arachnids swarming around Raelynn. She was frighteningly fast, moving like the wind between slicing limbs and cutting fangs, eviscerating Drau with her own precise strikes. The Bel’gor waded through it all, lashing out with wild swipes that carved through the weaker demons in its efforts to reach its real target.

  She danced away, nimbly repositioning herself for an attack at the Bel’gor, opening a gaping wound in its thorax before dashing back out of its range.

  Casek enacted his own vicious dance. He had to be careful—he was not so fast as Raelynn, and a good hit from one of the Drau would do far more harm to him than it would to her. He ran his blade through the first Drau, before whirling around to liberate another of its front legs as it prepared an attack.

  The Bel’gor chasing him arrived just as he tore his blade through the core of the fallen Drau, and Casek leaped away, darting back from flailing legs. His heart raced as yet more energy seeped into him and he used every ounce of the strength gained to avoid the flurry of clawed arms that responded.

  He sidestepped a stabbing limb, and stepped inside the shadowspawn’s guard, using both hands to slash its torso. It grunted, stumbling back and turning away as Casek’s blade bled away a touch of its strength. A back leg flashed, one second propping up the beast’s swollen torso, the next stabbing at Casek’s shoulder.

  White hot pain shot through the wound, and for a moment, Casek’s blade flickered as his concentration wavered. The Bel’gor took full advantage. It ran at him, reining down a storm of vicious attacks that had Casek scrambling away, desperate. He backtracked as quickly as he could manage, barely dodging, and ducked around the blows, until he felt his heels collide with the stone beneath his feet. He careened back, hitting the floor and knocking the breath from him.

  Had Casek been even a second slower in reactivating his blade, he would be dead. The Bel’gor tried to stamp down on his chest with its two front legs, and he managed to get the sword between them and it. This time, his weapon held. Casek propped up the flat edge of the blade with the palm of his off-hand, and the Bel’gor pressed the entirety of its weight down upon him, trying to shatter his blade.

  Casek’s arms burned and shook, the Bel’gor somehow managing to increase the pressure on him. His teeth clenched. He tried to focus all of his attention on the flow of power between him and his sword, the only thing between him and those sinuous legs plunging through his chest.

  The well of his power sat within him, a flowing stream of strength that ran neatly along the path he’d created for it. It was deeper than it had ever been, with new, untapped potential. Something caught his attention. A smaller flow, a creek bleeding away from the lake. He followed it and realised with a growing horror it led to where the blade touched the Bel’gor.

  I thought I was matching its strength and stopping it from stealing mine!

  So did I, Tauph said, anxiety radiating from him as he spoke. It’s of the Other, though. A creature of magic. No matter how powerful we become, we have to assume these things can do things with magic we don’t know about.

  How fair. Casek thought, his arms screaming and slowly giving ground to the Bel’gor, the sword creeping ever closer to his own face. Tauph, what do you suppose happens if I channel strength to somewhere that’s not our blade?

  No idea, but is now the best time to be experimenting?

  Any better ideas? This thing is stronger, Tauph!

  A fair point. Let’s find out.

  Casek tried to think past the slowly lowering blade and the eight, shining black eyes staring hungrily down at him, and concentrated on his reserve of strength. He’d gotten pretty adept at guiding power from his core and through the foci to create his weapon. It was almost an instinctual process at this point.

  But he’d never channelled two flows at once before—and that was without thinking about whether channelling magic into the rest of his body would even work.

  If we’re going to try this, Casek, you haven’t got the space in here for self-doubt. There’s barely enough room in here for a coherent thought as it is. It’s a wonder you’re able to function like a person at all…

  Casek had to hold back the snort of laughter that threatened to bubble forth from his mouth, worried the shake would send one of the Bel’gor’s claws sliding free from the blade’s edge and through his chest. Telling Tauph to go fuck himself also had to wait, even if the joke had its intended effect.

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  He reached for his well of power, delicately directing a second flow away from his core. It followed his guidance hesitantly, his grasp on it wavering significantly the longer he held onto it.

  His concentration held.

  The trickle of power spread through him, washing through his chest and arms like cool spring water. Refreshing. Revitalising. The burning in his arms receded, the crushing weight of the Bel’gor lessening considerably. He increased the flow like widening a dam, allowing a rush to follow the path he’d laid out.

  This was different to channelling through the foci. That was steady and controlled. This was a sudden burst, a great wave that flooded through him, disappearing as quickly as it had come. His gut told him this would be the only time he could manage this in this fight—a desperate, last resort to get himself free of this enemy.

  He forced his arms up, head light from the rush of new power, and twisted. The motion threw the Bel’gor off-balance, sending its legs to the side, and the creature staggering away, allowing Casek to roll free. He rose, and with the last of his boosted strength carved a savage wound in the Bel’gor’s torso.

  It writhed and screamed on the floor, but Casek could sense, even as his temporary power faded, it was far from dead. Still not strong enough to kill the bastard thing.

  He dashed back to the now greatly reduced mass of Drau still trying to get at Raelynn, sweat pouring from his face, panting heavily. He glanced at his wrist, and saw two of his gems had been extinguished entirely, leaving him with five—a significant drop in stamina.

  Shit! I’ll have to work fast.

  He threw himself headlong at the Drau, hacking and hewing the sheer black forms apart, absorbing as much of their strength and power as he could, trying desperately to recover what was lost. Between him and the still-fighting Raelynn, the number of Drau were falling away rapidly. And with them, the chaotic storm of noise and movement was subsiding.

  It wouldn’t be enough.

  He forced himself on, cutting down enemy after enemy, but whilst his magical strength grew with each slain, his body weakened. Reaction times had started to slow, and breathing was growing ever more difficult as he pushed himself to keep moving—keep killing. The Drau were landing blows, however, and for every three killed, one would siphon away some more of his won strength.

  Six gems were lit by the time he heard the Bel’gor approach once more, this time with learned caution. It simply hadn’t been enough.

  There is another option, Tauph said, gravely.

  What?

  Cycle my strength again.

  Tauph, last time you were out of it for an entire day. I’d need to take far more this time! I know it hurt you far more than you were willing to let on—we can’t do that gain.

  Don’t be such an obtuse moron, Casek. Yes, it will hurt. In case you hadn’t noticed, Raelynn has been having trouble with her enemy—this Bel’gor is considerably younger and weaker. She can’t spare the time. This’ll hurt a lot less than dying to that thing.

  Casek ground his teeth in impotent frustration. The Bel’gor approached, its multitude of eyes staring at him, watching keenly for what he was going to do next. He had already surprised it once. It clearly wasn’t keen on being surprised again by something so much weaker than it. Casek peered back, stomach twisting at the sight of it.

  Shamefully, the nauseating grip of fear made it difficult to deny that Tauph was right.

  Fine, he said. But in return, you tell me what actually happens to you when I do this. It’s hurting you, Tauph, and I want to know how much before we try this again.

  We don’t have time for this, you stupid, sentimental—You know what? I’ll tell you. But not before. I’ll tell you after, when you get us out of this place. Deal?

  The Bel’gor was nearly upon them, mandibles twitching eagerly, limbs raising to strike out at its prey. It knew it was stronger, that as long as it was careful, it would get its meal.

  Deal, Casek said. He reached out for Tauph’s power with his own, greedily drawing up as much of the serene pool’s contents as he could manage in one go, and preparing to sever it. He was forced to estimate how much he would need, but judging by how much strength he’d had to steal to fully light the sixth jewel on his foci, he had just enough.

  The spider-like shadowspawn gleefully reared back, just as Casek cut the mass of Tauph’s power free. There was a hauntingly agonised scream. The sound etched a scar into his memory that Casek knew would wake him up cold and sweating years from now, provided he lived long enough. Then, power exploded out of him. Blinding white light filled the cavern, surrounding Casek in a sphere of brilliant light.

  Magic tore through him like ground glass shards, ripping him apart from the inside, rewriting him into something new. Something strong. Casek was loosely aware of the Bel’gor striking out at the sphere around him vainly, unable to penetrate the swirling ball of power before being blown back and tumbling across the cavern floor.

  As suddenly as it had come, the light was gone, depositing Casek upright onto the cavern floor. The raging battle had frozen to watch things unfold, Raelynn staring at him slack-jawed with open eyes. He held up the leather greave created by his foci—only it wasn’t leather anymore. At least, not entirely. It was now trimmed neatly with gleaming steel. The circle upon the inside of his forearm had grown too, and now a second faintly shining line loosely wrapped its way around the circle’s edge like a rope.

  We did it, he announced gleefully inside his own head, only to be met with deafening silence. He hadn’t been expecting a reply—but he’d hoped, regardless.

  Still, they had done it. He had advanced to the Second Circle. Now, at least, they had a chance.