Inside the underground colosseum of the Cradle of Molten Veins.
The tension was high as demons poured out of every corner of the colosseum as if there was a black friday sale going on.
The first demon lunged with a screech.
The last thing it saw was Siris flipping mid-air and stabbing it through the eye socket, her dagger humming with antimagic energy that ate through the skull like acid through paper.
"Ah~ first blood~" She purred, landing with a flourish and wiping the blood off her cheek like frosting. "Who’s next? Line up! I’ve got stabbing coupons today!"
BOOM.
A second demon exploded as Jessy slamd her palms down, unleashing a concussive magnetic burst that crushed its armored chest inward like a tin can.
Sparks danced around her fingertips as she cracked her neck, turning toward Raven.
"I swear, I am not dying in so molten hellhole because of your girlfriend’s murder coupons," she muttered.
"No one’s dying, period," Clara said calmly, stepping forward.
A demon roared and charged her.
It passed straight through.
"Wait—"
Four more Claras stepped from different angles, blades already mid-swing.
A blink later, the demon’s head spun in place before dropping off with a wet plop.
The illusions vanished.
The real Clara sighed. "People always fall for that."
Another wave poured in from the broken archways—wings, fangs, and limbs that didn’t belong to anything natural.
They ca from every direction, howling and shrieking with bloodlust.
"Don’t let them swarm us!" Raven shouted, raising Omni.
"Yo! Ten o’clock—spiky guy with way too many elbows!" Omni barked in his mind.
Raven spun, cutting in a single, brutal arc. The demon never even scread—it just fell in two.
He was using divinity, but since he couldn’t use Omni for long before his arm was corroded, he was only using his ability when the demon was strong enough to make him use it.
Omni whistled. "Clean cut. I could eat off that surface. Not that I would. Demon guts give indigestion."
Another demon tried sneaking in behind him.
Bad call.
A black blur zipped past Raven’s shadow.
SHUNK.
Jake erged behind the creature, silent as ever, his scythe dripping with shadow as the monster collapsed.
Raven gave him a nod. "You okay?"
Jake said nothing.
But then again, Jake never said anything mid-fight. Just another shadow, moving where Raven couldn’t.
For now, he was sacrificing his blood to keep the power activated, but if he kept using it for long, then he would have to sacrifice one of his limbs or an internal organ.
A screech rang out overhead as flying demons joined the fray.
Jessy raised her hand and clenched her fist.
A magnetic field slamd into them like a brick wall midair. Wings crumpled. Screams turned to splats.
"The air’s clear," she called.
BZZZZZ.
Rufus’s suit activated mid-jump, nanoparticles locking around his fra like an evolving second skin. His black-and-red armored body twisted in midair.
"Form 3: Guillotine Arch!"
His suit’s sword extended, curved, and slashed in an impossible arc, cleaving three demons with a single, dancing swing.
He landed with a three-point skid, looking far too pleased with himself. "I call that move ’Razor Baconator.’"
Jessy facepald mid-pulse burst. "Rufus. That is not a na."
"Agreed," Alex added, crawling up from behind a pile of twitching demon limbs. "You forgot the ’Turbo’ part."
SKLORCH.
Blargh, the symbiote covering Alex’s body morphed into claws and fangs, snarling and flinging a demon head like a football.
"Your naming sense is trash," Blargh’s rough and hoarse voice echoed through Blargh-Alex’s mouth.
Nibbles rode on Alex’s shoulder, holding a bent spoon with telekinetic nace.
"Squeak." Nibbles squinted, then lifted a nearby jagged rock with his mind and yeeted it at a flying demon’s face.
It hit.
The demon spiraled and smashed into lava.
Raven blinked. "That was kinda beautiful."
"Squeak."
"Yeah, you’re still a nace, little dude."
"Focus!" Clara snapped. "These things are endless! We need to find Selena now."
Raven narrowed his eyes, trying to scan the chamber.
The only openings he could see were the vent-like things from which the demons were coming.
Entering them wouldn’t be a good idea. After all, who knows what was waiting for them inside there?
Worse, Raven didn’t want to use his soul power yet because even his soul power could get exhausted.
If he were to use it on these small fries, then he wouldn’t have it when he needed it the most.
The sa could be said for his Voidborn transformation.
But then he stopped—his eyes locked onto a wall that didn’t quite match the others. Subtle runes shimred when the lava flared.
"...There," he pointed. "Back wall. It’s a door."
Jake moved instantly, diving into the shadows.
In seconds, a dozen demons between them and the wall dropped, carved open silently.
"That’s our exit," Raven said, then turned to Clara. "I want you to make your illusions rush toward the demons, distracting them even for a second."
She nodded, already forming copies. "What are you planning to do?"
"Rufus. Alex," Raven said, not answering Clara’s question, his eyes still locked on the shimring runes of the back wall. "Get ready. I want your nuclear options."
Rufus grinned inside his helt. "You an—"
"Yes. The Hyper Laser Baconator or whatever the hell you call it."
"YEEESSS!!" Rufus pumped a fist.
Alex cracked his neck, Blargh bubbling excitedly across his body. "Fire breath, huh?"
Raven nodded. "On my signal. When I stun them."
Clara’s illusions were already dashing forward—dozens of fake Claras laughing, taunting, and dancing around the swarm of demons like an ani opening sequence on steroids.
"Distraction’s live!" Clara called.
"NOW!"
Raven slamd his palm on the ground.
Soul Strike: Echo Pulse.
A wave of transparent, ghostly energy exploded from him in a 360-degree arc, a low-output blast that didn’t kill but staggered every single demon in the room.
They froze mid-lunge, twitching, eyes unfocused, as if soone had hit the pause button on Hell.
"FIRE!!!" Raven roared.
Rufus leapt up, armor flaring. "HYPER! LASER!! BAAAAAA—"
Alex and Blargh inhaled simultaneously.
"Nuclear Grill Mode: Blarghton’s Breath!!"
The two attacks roared forth in unison—Rufus’s laser beam blazed like a golden sun lance, Alex’s fire breath twisting around it like a dragon-shaped flathrower.
They hit the stunned demon swarm—
FWHOOM—
BOOOOOOOOOOM.
The explosion wasn’t just visual—it was emotional. Every demon in the vicinity was instantly converted into particles.
Not dust but ash with emotional trauma.
"WHAT UP NOW?!" Rufus shouted midair.
"I’M GONNA COOK EVERYTHING THAT BREATHES WRONG," Blargh-Alex howled, his grin widening.
anwhile—
"Hit the wall with everything you have!" Raven shouted, making Jessy, Clara, Siris, and Jake move.
Jessy slamd both palms forward. Magnetism surged like a magnetic sledgehamr, warping the wall with a tallic groan.
Clara followed, her blade shimring with vibration as she carved runes apart. "On three—"
"THREE!" Jessy yelled—no one waited for one or two.
CRACK—KSHHHHHH!
The wall shattered, collapsing inward. Jake imdiately scouted ahead while Siris gleefully stabbed one last twitching demon in the spleen "for the road."
"MOVE!" Raven ordered.
Everyone bolted through the newly made exit.
"Jessy, seal it!"
She turned, raised both hands, and yanked all nearby scraps of tal, reassembling them like puzzle pieces in front of the breach.
"Rufus, slt it!"
"Firing up the Grillmaster!" He fired precise laser streams like a welding machine on caffeine, sealing the scrap shut with molten perfection.
The wall glowed red-hot, then hissed into silence.
They were safe... for about three seconds.
Suddenly—
"RAVEN!"
A blur tackled him.
Selena.
She hit him like a missile, arms wrapping tight, face buried in his shoulder. Her voice cracked. "I—I knew you’d co. I knew it."
Mistress, who had taken over her body, seed to have gone back.
"S-Selena?!" Raven blinked. "Wha—how—"
Behind her, a red-cloaked man turned toward them with a lazy smirk.
Lirus’s clone.
It gave a small wave, then dissipated into red vapor, its mission fulfilled like so emotionally supportive NPC.
Before Raven could even start processing the tearful reunion—
"BOY!!!"
.
"RAVEN!!!"
Two very different voices bood from the opposite hallway.
Crisaius ca skidding in first, his long coat flapping like a windstorm, holding two swords and a demon’s head.
"MY DISCIPLE, MY REDEMPTION ARC, I SLLED DEMON BLOOD AND UNFINISHED CHARACTER DEVELOPNT!"
Right behind him—Argon.
Grim-faced. Calm. Wearing armor polished enough to see your reflection in. His massive sword rested casually across his back like it belonged there.
"Son." Argon nodded. "I ca as fast as I could."
"Did you... run here with that thing on your back?" Raven asked, blinking.
Argon looked away. "...I needed the cardio."
The group stood together for the first ti in what felt like years—bloodied, burnt, bruised, but alive.
Rufus raised a hand. "Okay. Now we need a team na."
Clara groaned.
Jessy muttered, "If you say ’Laser Baconators’ again, I will punch you into the next room."
Siris clapped gleefully. "How about Ravis, like Raven Siris = Ravis?"
Raven blinked.
Others did the sa.
Nibbles just stared at the sealed wall behind them, spoon glowing with barely concealed bloodlust.
They survived yet another obstacle, but their problems hadn’t ended.
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