Hannah hurried to set up the ritual altar. Placing the glowing marble and the vial of blood, her voice intoned in a strange language that she didn’t understand. A sound of rushing water met her ears, and she felt the distinct sensation of an oily substance approaching her destination like a tidal wave. It was difficult to push through with the magic in the Shift, causing her to take a longer than usual time to manifest in the Realm.

  …

  Adam glanced at Juhend and Sequence. The two demigods were engaged in a melee brawl, Juhend with his cane, Sequence with martial arts. No clear victor was emerging, not a single blow had fully landed yet.

  “Alright you two, I don’t know how long that stalemate will last, and I don’t know how long it will take the two of you to harmonize with the Instrument, but it’s now or never.”

  Adam turned around, sending a wry smile towards Hellig and Hrime. One of them, decorated in his shining golden armor made with the magic of his Realm, looked resolute. The other, her jet-black hair messier than usual and her icy eyes less certain, seemed like she was still grappling with her own failings.

  Hrime sighed and thrust her halberd into the ground in an olive-branch gesture. “We can harmonize within a couple of minutes since we are both here, if we have Juhend’s help, at least. But the fact remains that Sequence can still steal our harmonization at the moment of ascension, there’s only so much that Juhend can do as one demigod.”

  Adam glanced towards the pair fighting in the distance. Shockwave after shockwave rippled through the air.

  “I think I’ve seen enough. I can hold Him off. Not for long, but for enough. Is that alright?”

  Hellig moved to speak, but Adam had already blipped away. An oily substance lightly covered the space he had just been in.

  Invoking the sensation of a Shift, Adam felt the rush of water in his ears. He felt the oily sensation envelope his body, and he felt himself floating, spiritually above his form. Concentrating, he willed himself to teleport as close to Juhend and Sequence as he could. After a few moments, he had managed to cover the distance between them.

  In a surprise to both demigods, Adam blipped into existence next to Juhend. With a wave of his hand, he pictured the force of the shockwaves Juhend had been sending out. In a split second, an oily substance dripped from his palm and mingled with the air, sending a rippling wave of energy towards Sequence, who was forced to retreat.

  “Mr. Juhend, if you can get Hellig and Hrime to ascend, I can buy time.”

  Juhend stole a quick glance at his son, who was already approaching once again. With a nod towards Adam, he blipped to Hellig and Hrime. Muttering a few words under his breath, he encased them in a barrier of spiritual energy.

  Adam faintly saw the outline of a figure to his right. Sidestepping, he tensed his muscles like Bruenor Flos and sent a powerful punch towards it. At the same instant, Sequence blipped next to Adam but was forced to block the punch of the Passenger who had seemingly saw the future.

  SHUNK!

  Gusto had seen Adam sidestep and wind up his punch and was determined to help. A shockwave of sonic energy slammed into Sequence’s chest just as he blocked Adam’s punch. Between the two forces, Sequence was pushed backwards.

  Inside the spiritual barrier, Hrime and Hellig were meditating under Juhend’s guidance.

  …

  The prayers of a hundred Chosen rang out into the unanswering air. The Angels, either silent, uncaring, or perhaps unable to intervene, had not sent so much as a single blessing on any of the one hundred royal guards. As if this was an expected development, Vendos Aurelius gripped his staff firmly. The glittering golden scales shone brightly, radiating warmth. He stole a glance towards Bruenor and Streng, who both nodded. The three of them stepped forwards at the same time, positioning themselves between the undead horde led by the Corpse Composer and the innocents behind them.

  “Do what you can, use the divine charm only if you fail to incapacitate Him. I’ll do what I can to handle the Maiden.”

  Vendos’s voice was rough. He and the others had prepared, bringing in dozens of charms and layering magical protections on themselves, but their calculations always involved having Juhend make it back to them before the worst of the fighting began. Still, the trio was resolute. With a hundred Chosen at their backs, they were determined to fight.

  The Composer smiled, rows and rows of teeth stretching back behind his ears. The barrier set up by Ezel was already cracked after only a single glancing blow, and he had his own army. Though he had expended a large amount of spiritual energy to summon so many undead creatures, his energy was capable of being replenished by the deaths of nearby living creatures. And there happened to be many nearby living creatures.

  With a smile, he shot out like a freight train, a trio of tendrils slamming into the barrier Ezel had set up, cracking it open. The horde was not far behind.

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  …

  Hannah had been Shifting for over a full minute straight. She felt herself floating and drifting on an overwhelming tide of oily water. It was as if she was drowning. She couldn’t find her way back to her Anchor, she couldn’t find her way to her destination. The pain of drowning filled her lungs at the same time as an ice coldness and hellish burning sensation encapsulated her. An array of sensations, each too much to contend with, threatened to overwhelm her entirely. Then, as if a sink was draining, the oily substance funneled itself, and her, towards a destination.

  …

  Adam was panting. It had been less than a single minute, but he had already given it his all. Not a single attack he had thrown had fully connected. Gusto was intermittently coughing up blood behind him, and Sequence seemed unperturbed.

  “This is all a very logical sequence of events, don’t you think, Adam?”

  Evading a punch that would have knocked his head off, Adam channeled yet another ruby beam of light in his hands. Expelling it out towards Sequence, the beam cascaded off as if it were passing through a crystalline lens.

  “Huff huff- You’ll run out of energy before you can beat us-”

  Sequence’s sidekick landed squarely in Adam’s chest. Tensing his muscles akin to Bruenor, Adam was sent flying backwards. Coughing blood, he struggled upright.

  Sequence shook his head.

  “I’m not the one that’s going to kill them. Mother is.”

  He made a gesture with his arms, spreading them out in the shape of a cross.

  “Praise the Hanging Mother of Crows! Hahahaha!”

  A shadow covered Sequence’s form, attempting to envelope him in feathery black arms. Deftly evading, he laughed again.

  “She can’t stop the Maiden now, nor can my father. Nor can you.”

  Blipped next to Adam, Sequence gripped him by the collar.

  “You really are an interesting one. It’s a shame I have to kill you here; I would have loved to experiment.”

  Adam tensed, throwing a slew of punches and kicks towards the demigod. Not a single blow properly connected, and he felt his bones slowly crack and break under the strain.

  Sequence was using his abilities to change the order of events, forcing Adam’s attacks back into his body!

  Inside the spiritual barrier, warm air and icy cold frost condensed. Light, yellow and blue, slowly intertwined. Juhend’s face was contorted and sweating- he was using the very limits of his power to not only keep the barrier active but also to ensure neither Hellig nor Hrime misharmonized whilst providing the sensory stimulation to both of them necessary to ascend to divinity.

  It was quite a strain on an old man.

  …

  Bruenor tensed, throwing a powerful punch forward. Connecting with the Composer, who was forced to block, the resounding shockwave was enough to ripple the nearby snow. The demigod launched a barrage of bone needles straight towards Bruenor’s chest. At point black range, they impacted another one of Ezel’s barriers, failing to pierce through.

  At the same time, Ezel slammed down his blue staff on the Composer’s head. Lightning arced through the demigod’s body, sizzling flesh and forcing a brief retreat. Bruenor capitalized on the moment, launching himself into a barrage of fast paced attacks. The Composer had no breathing room to perform a chant, and the pair intended to keep it that way.

  In the background, the hundred Chosen clashed with the undead horde like two opposing waves. For each Chosen, there were a dozen undead creatures.

  Vendos Aurelius was meditating…

  Another shockwave from Bruenor, another lightning arc from Ezel, and the Composer’s smile was starting to fade. These two were mere Chosen, not even bestowed with Divinity, yet they were giving a demigod trouble.

  Encasing his arm in a shell of bone to block another onslaught from Bruenor, the Composer shot out his arm towards Ezel, slamming into yet another barrier. Ezel’s countenance, usually composed, was pale and slick with sweat.

  “You can’t keep up these barriers forever, Chosen. And when they fall, so will both of you!”

  Lunging towards Ezel again, he sidestepped Bruenor’s attempt at interference and slammed his full body into Ezel’s barrier. Ezel rocked backwards, taking as much momentum as possible from the blow and turning it into distance for himself.

  Bones shot up out of the ground between Bruenor and the Composer. A mere moment was all it took to shatter them, but in that moment, the Composer managed another chant.

  “Ever-Decaying Lord, bless this next strike!”

  The left arm of the demigod shifted like clay, turning into a large lance that shot out towards Ezel, who did his best to reinforce his barrier by blocking with his staff. A huge storm of lightning cascaded through the area, incinerating nearby undead and charring the Composer’s arm. But the barrier was pierced.

  As Bruenor broke through the wall of bones, he saw Ezel slump to the ground. Small arcs of lightning surrounded him, and the demigod’s entire left side was blackened and burnt.

  Not hesitating in the slightest, Bruenor shot towards the demigod, gripping a thick and heavy charm in his hand. Made out of silver, it had the etching of a face with horns etched overtop a backdrop of an imperial palace. He muttered under his breath, condensing his remaining spiritual essence into a barrier around himself.

  Caught by surprise at the lack of attack, the Composer momentarily defended himself on instinct and was not able to kill Bruenor instantly. He smiled and shot his right arm forwards like a spear.

  Spurt.

  The sound of blood plopping to the ground rang in Bruenor’s ears. But it wasn’t his blood.

  Before him, the Composer’s arm lay severed, and Ezel’s figure, now with red leathery skin, held a katana. The voice of the Red Oni reverberated through the nearby air.

  “Servant of Devils, my Master will see you slain now.”