Bonded Summoner - Book 5. Chapter 39: Twisted Machinations

Noticing this terrible shift, Jake directed the four errant orb collectors, Rookard, Aisling, Tanda, and Fhesiah to be extra careful. He began more actively using his shield to collect the life orbs, sending it flying around the arena rapidly to collect them.

Jake prepared his hearth mana, compressing the energy from the mana font as it entered. As the boss fight entered the next phase, the twins began using a new ability. Their tails would glow green before striking allies powerfully, sending them flying through the air.

Somehow, this did very little damage to them, other than the fall. This normally wouldn’t be a problem, but it was clear Tartarus was somehow skewing things in its favor. Each time it sent someone flying, they would almost always land a mere instant away from having the opposing orb crash into them, and, it would often be where the others were congregating.

Morwen’s priestesses were targeted, along with Nadessa and her mothers. An explosion near either group would take out much of the raid’s healers, and leave the raid unbalanced besides.

But Jake and his family were ready to counter it. Valora was devoted to doing her best to intercept anyone successfully flung in their direction, and Jake weaved his shield through the air to catch any errant life orbs and catch allies.

Blood even shifted those thrown’s destination using her telekinesis, just enough to prevent the worst from happening.

Where the big problem came from, was a spawned melee demon striking an opposing orb. The orb sped up, and was clearly targeted where it sent the orb. Tanda was collecting a life orb near the life boss, when another rocketed and slammed into Darris from behind. The life and death energy shifted and combined for a brief moment, before an explosion of red energy echoed out from him.

The turtle paladin man’s upper torso was shredded even through his armor, and the wave hit the melee surrounding the boss.

The red energy pierced through their auril and valor defenses, harming their bodies as if they were shredded and bruised all over. The damage was significant, requiring additional healing, but was manageable.

However, Darris only had twenty stacks at the time. If he had fifty or more, Jake doubted even the sturdy turtle man would have survived.

This was definitely skirting the rules for what Tartarus could accomplish. The encounter was defined by certain rules for how it could fight, and taking advantage in this way was not one of them.

If it could do anything it wanted, it could simply have the demons march toward the opposing portals, or pick up allies and throw them at their opposing orbs. There would be nothing they could do to stop it, the size and health pool of the creatures being too large.

Drysander, Vesuvius, and Bree were far too large to be flung by the new move, and Tanda eventually began growing vines on allies to tie safety lines to their bigger allies. Each could still move, and their trajectories as they were flung often shifted significantly from what Tartarus had likely originally planned.

Roxo was almost a favorite target, the smaller raptor being flung across the room more than once before they tied him down.

But even he wasn’t quite helpless, having Berri’s cape flaps to control his aerial movement somewhat. He only barely dodged an orb as he landed by filling the flaps with auril and touching the ground first to catch himself.

Tanda’s Cyclic Resonance was still building to its maximum, Dahlia and Timone nearing their peak as well. Their blows came powerfully, their bodies empowered with the cycle of life and death. Their hearts beat the song of vengeance, feeling the terrible wickedness of the enemy.

While the Heart of the World was somewhat blocked off, their spirits were still connected. Their songs echoed across their connections, the world replenishing them with auril energy through the void.

As their resonance reached the peak, they became more in tune with it, drawing energy even faster, and merging it with their own taken from that stored in their flesh.

Seamus and Vesuvius also had an auril build up technique, that raised their light and heat as the battle continued. They collected orbs and were empowered further as the battle went on, increasing their damage and affecting their allies further.

Fhesiah was still half-building her two orbs of flames with her dance. The entire battle, she had spun and twirled, gathering the orbs along with mana from the air and combining it with her bloodline flames, using the dance of the sun and moon.

Half the flames she generated were sent to join and refresh or enhance her Sun and Moon Hex on the life boss, and the other half was being built up to be dumped all at once. She consumed some of her stored fuel to more rapidly destroy the spawned demons, minimizing the damage they could do while alive.

The Giant’s Growth buff wore off a while ago from both tanks, and Ophelia used her Valkyrie Champion ability as the boss entered its second to final phase at 40% health. A new demon spawned with the next wave, one that would target individual allies. It would cast a mark or curse on them, and their polarity would flip after ten seconds.

This could not be stopped, and it would mark a new person as soon as the first completed their polarity swap. This creature was a mixture of both life and death, and was able to be targeted by anyone. It became a difficult priority, as all the other demons still spawned.

Jake was hardly surprised when the first person targeted was Bloodberri.

“What? No fair!”

“Hmph. We’re far from the weakest link.”

Prepared for this mechanic, the girl’s tail blurred and slammed into the boss, nearly knocking it off its feet. It was her [Maul of Hestia-Echidna] that crashed into it next, the explosion sending it stumbling away.

The enlarged Vesuvius then stood in its path, keeping it from following Bloodberri as they moved toward the other boss. Bones surrounded him from Morwen’s priestesses, aiding him in taking the monster’s heavy blows. Morwen reinforced his bones further with her spell, and Longwei was filled with valorous energy as he stood firmly next to him.

Each attack of the boss was expertly deflected by him, sending the demon’s swings wide with expert technique. While the demon’s cuts were empowered and strong, they couldn’t cut deeply into Vesuvius thanks to these several efforts.

Moving like a strange slinky, Bloodberri even bounced over a few orbs with her snake body as she moved to her new position, aiding Ophelia in taking on the death demon at the life portal.

Many warriors had hit their one hundred stacks throughout the fight, the various beastkin using their Techniques and stored auril effectively when it happened.

Things seemed to continue going well despite the heaviness in the air, but Jake noticed that the number of orbs within the room was starting to get out of hand.

The way the four groups were set up, they formed a sort of trapezoid shape within the half of the circular room closest to the adjacent portals. Jake and the casters in his font were relatively close to the center, but set up a ways away from there–because Jake knew the final phase would involve the boss directly in the center.

Within the trapezoid, most of the orbs were picked up with very few failures, as the orbs headed where one might expect.

But outside those areas, the orbs bounced back and forth and almost seemed to accumulate, rather than happening to drift towards the areas to be collected. It was becoming densely mixed with the two colors, and as the demons spawned, would become quickly empowered.

Jake called an audible. He pulled Yiming and Bedwyr permanently off the Life Boss, and the Garuda and Bree permanently off the Death Boss. They would now use their enhanced mobility to roam around and pick up the orbs, in between their focus on the spawned demons.

As Bree started moving around this time, he noticed something changed with her. Her vines had grown to cover not just her upper body like a horse’s barding, but had woven down her legs, and altered the shape of them.

The vines now reinforced her joints significantly, and Jake saw that it was as if she formed claws on her front legs, her cloven hooves no longer touching the ground. They now looked more like a wolf or reptile’s, and it was the same for her back legs.

As before, she had a long tail with a bulbous shape on the end of it, but her lance-like horn on her head had switched to horns like that of a bull. The vines weaved over every part of her body now, even her face and head.

It was as if she wore a scaled helmet and armor, completely changing the configuration of her body.

Tentacle-like vines still waved around her in the air with spikes at the end, pulling auril and mana into her fiery flowers all over her body. Reds, pinks, purples, oranges, yellows, greens and blue hues cascaded all over her, making Bree covered in a strange rainbow.

If the vines and flowers covering her body weren’t so filled with such bright colors, she would almost look like a horrifying plant monster.

Instead, she was their rainbow and flame covered ally, and she whipped her vines to collect orbs as she agilely dashed around the battlefield. When the next demons spawned, she was ready. Her claws burst into auril-infused flames, and her vines were like a shower of fiery blades as she cut through each spawned demon in controlled fury.

Jake was more than a little impressed, but had to focus on a new challenge–two of the marking demons spawned. As much as he wanted to target them, the healing demons needed to be dealt with immediately. Up to now, very few stacks enhanced the twin demons, but it would quickly get out of hand if they didn’t keep up.

Ophelia and Fhesiah were both marked, once again making it feel like this was a targeted occurrence rather than something random.

Bloodberri was already able to handle the boss, so they quickly took over the demon’s threat for Ophelia as she made to move toward the life demon. But Fhesiah had an immense amount of stored flames, that were empowered by the death orbs she’d been gathering.

Fhesiah plundered much of her gathered orb of dragon flames, before sending both orbs at the life demon. She bulked up, dragon scales covering her arms and legs as her body was enlarged. The melee backed off somewhat, prepared for the two balls of flames as they exploded powerfully into its chest.

The demon was engulfed in the multicolored flames, enhancing her Sun and Moon Hex and taking off nearly five percent of the shared health pool in one go, taking it below thirty percent. When that occurred, several things happened all at once.

The life boss activated a barrier over itself, and began drawing the opposing orbs into a larger orb above its head. Death orbs from around the room were pulled in its direction, a large swarm heading toward it from nearly all angles.

Once it received enough of them, it would cast a heal and empower the death boss, much like the spawned demons.

Two of the melee demons deflected one each of a death and life orb, the death orb hitting Seamus the lion paladin beastkin in the back. The two energies congealed, and just before the explosion, Ophelia activated a Sacrificial Barrier on him. He too activated some sort of shielding on himself, a barrier of light.

Her vajrafire flames surrounded him just as the angry wave of red energy echoed out, shattering the shield, but the remaining energy only barely washed over the surrounding allies. The lion beastkin’s body was shredded, the man’s corpse falling to the ground.

The beastkin roared in anger, their hearts beating the songs of vengeance. Their beloved ally was slain, and they would push themselves further for justice. Even Longwei roared, his valor energy brightening as his Tiger’s Fury ability blazed.

The death orb nearly slammed into one of Nadessa’s mothers, when Jake slammed his staff on the ground, activating his empowered runic spell: Sanctuary. A dome of white light grew up and around the mana font, deflecting the orb away safely.

Jake then added Einherjar to Timone, sending him to gather all the death orbs flying toward the life boss. The templar raced around with immense speed, picking up all the orbs and quickly hit the maximum number of stacks.

Sending out enhanced golden ravens, he continued to race around the battlefield. His ravens filled with empowered death energy slammed into the life demon’s shield, more of them being created with each beat of his auril heart.

The numerous melee attackers worked to try to destroy the shield, but they were running out of time. While Jake thought the Battlegroup’s damage per second greatly exceeded whatever supposed balance the encounter was built from, the machinations of Tartarus had enabled there to be far more orbs on the field than normal.

They did their best to catch the stray orbs, Aisling and Rookard moving to capture them now that Sanctuary protected the casters. Yiming and Bedwyr also raced around, using their superior mobility to keep collecting them.

Ophelia had been moved to the life boss, and Jake was still holding a life orb and could not help with focusing on damage.

But Jake was, at the foremost, someone who focused on support. His buffs were greatly enhanced by his specialization, and he shifted his state to that of the Saint. Not influenced by his current stacks of life for buffing, he used Berri’s holy light mana as the cornerstone for a Tier 2 spell.

A wave of holy light encompassed the warriors surrounding the life demon, filling them with holy might. Their attacks came with increased fervor, slamming into the shield one after the other. Darris, Ophelia, Roxo, and Vesuvius all struck the boss with greatly enhanced strength, pushing their techniques and auril-infused blows to their maximum.

The barrier surrounding the life demon shattered, and Ophelia then released her hearth guardian as a powerful bolt of lightning. She pushed her mana and auril runes to their limits before she used Vajra Strike, the blow sending a powerful bolt of fiery lightning into the boss, interrupting its prepared spell.

Jake then moved his shield in front of the life portal, and called Fhesiah and Tanda to him. Fhesiah joined Jake’s shield at the life portal, and Tanda flew for the death portal, covering much of it to collect additional orbs as they came out.

The demon calling in all the death orbs had the side effect of clearing the room of any errant death orbs. Fhesiah’s role was quickly replaced by Aisling, as now the Sanctuary in the middle of the room protected the casters from the orbs.

Another spawn of demons occurred, this time with four of the cursing demons and two of the healers. Jake wasn’t surprised at all when he was marked, along with three of the warriors at the death boss. He quickly prepared his shield for the shift, but he was nearly at his maximum stacks.

Once again, this didn’t seem to be a random occurrence like it should be, targeting people that would make the next action it did more challenging. The death boss would soon form its barrier, and the reduced damage on the boss would become a challenge.

Dahlia, Longwei, and Drysander were all forced to move away from the boss, but Jake had them switch to clearing the demons first. This only left Bloodberri in the melee, taking the boss on by herself.

Unfortunately, another round of marks landed on one emberborn priestess and one dryad this time, as they were unable to kill all the marking demons fast enough. This split the two groups up and restricted them from joining the same magic circle for a group spell.

The hunters of the smaller demons eventually finished them off, Bree, Yiming, the Garuda and Bedwyr fighting valiantly while aided by all the ranged attackers in the Battlegroup. However, this was when disaster struck, and Roxo was sent flying almost horizontally with the boss demon’s tail.

Tearing through his vine lifeline, he was sent right to where the death demon was being tanked, near the life portal. While Blood tried to arrest his motion with her telekinesis, her strength wasn’t enough–because the death demon’s tail smacked into him, sending him directly at a newly spawned life orb.

Roxo had even more stacks than Seamus, so when his body exploded, Jake’s Sacrificial Barrier was not enough to keep the explosion contained. Bloodberri’s large body was knocked powerfully by the explosion of red energy, and the death demon capitalized on this. It swung its greatsword into her shoulder, cleaving powerfully through their armor and into their flesh.

But Bloodberri was hardy and made of powerful monster essence, keeping the blow from cutting too deeply. Her body then filled with black and white holy light, auril swirling around as Berri controlled it, enhancing themselves.

Her [Maul of Hestia-Echidna] slammed into the boss and exploded in a wave of holy light and dark, healing some of the damage done to her and knocking the monster back.

The twin demon’s health was near twenty percent now, and despite losing two allies, Jake felt they were close enough to their win condition. He had maintained his mana for the entire battle, and reserved their ability to call the Divine.

Two allies had died, leaving them with 28 members and his two summons. Thanks to their strategy, only two errant orbs had reached each boss, empowering them only slightly.

Valora had caught several allies in the air, preventing explosions, and the spawned demons were handled in an orderly fashion. Jake’s allies were experienced, and his preparations with the mana font couldn’t have put them in a better spot.

The boss was already dead, it just didn’t know it yet.

Timone and Dahlia rushed to collect their final death orbs, to reach the maximum stacks to match their Cyclic Resonance, which was nearly ready to go at any time.

Their hearts sang the song of vengeance with the rest of the beastkin, their loss of Roxo and Seamus to the machinations of Tartarus. Tanda’s auril heart pulled energy from the void, connected to the Heart of the World. Filled with golden light, she was nearly ready.

Blood asked, [Are you ready, Milord? We shall call upon Echidna.]

Jake nodded. “Let’s do it, everyone. It’s time to claim victory.”

Jake found resonance with Tanda, but also the rest of the beastkin, as he took on the state of the Avenger. Preparing his hearth flames, he was ready to join them with Fhesiah, who had been gathering another orb of flames.

Bloodberri grew as she was filled with the power of Echidna, her monstrous strength increasing far beyond what should even be possible at this Tier. Her monstrous axe howled, as she swung down powerfully into the death demon.

It attempted to block with its sword, but Bloodberri’s power had the weight of a mountain behind it, cleaving deeply into its shoulder and returning its previous vicious blow.

The twin’s health reached below twenty percent, and the monster was covered in a barrier. It began drawing the opposing orbs toward it like a vacuum once more, and Berri chuckled.

“I’ll just smash this thing and catch all the orbs!”

She coiled the middle of her tail in front of the portal, and used the end of it to reach high in the air, almost wrapping it around the portal held above the boss. Blood aided Berri in casting an empowered holy might spell on themselves, before they repeatedly slammed into the shield with their axe.

The Garuda reached its maximum number of stacks of life orbs, and Jake infused his mana into it, allowing it to send out an empowered Cyclonic Strike. The tornado of powerful wind energy had a holy quality to it, in addition to the life one, as it crashed into the demon’s barrier. It then cleaved into the shield with its wing blade, sending streams of the same wind energy slicing into it repeatedly.

Bree’s charge was rapid and furious. Fueled by the strength and fertility of life, she too managed to collect her final life orbs to reach the maximum stacks. Her horns pierced powerfully into the barrier surrounding the boss as she crashed into it, and followed it up with a storm of sharp auril-infused vines cutting powerfully into it. She breathed out a cone of flame, her auril heart and flaming ivy enhancing her monstrous flames.

Nadessa struck the barrier with empowered lightning, and Morwen having been switched to life from being marked, sent a life-empowered bolt of frost at the demon.

Bloodberri’s focused efforts eventually shattered the barrier, her tail blurring into the monster and knocking it into Bree’s horns. Flames burst into the boss from her many vines impaling into the demon, interrupting its healing spell.

The ability taken care of, it was time. Jake and Fhesiah both worked on calling Hestia and Bastet, while Timone, Dahlia, and Tanda all gathered around the life boss. Pillars of golden light rose into the air.

Auril drifted from the remaining auril heroes into the three Ravenwolfs, their song of life, death and rebirth complete.

At the same time, they each released their powerful attacks against the boss.

Three Spears of light pierced into the life demon, angled upward and around their many allies. The twin’s health declined a significant amount, their three blows immense. When the twin’s health dipped below 10%, the fight entered its final phase.

The two demons were covered in another barrier, but this time from the encounter itself. Becoming immune for a time, they floated into the air and combined near the center of the arena.

The demons merged into one and became larger, runes and scripts of green and gold covering it. Their stacks merged, their power increasing further as green and black energy rippled from it. Two tails now came out the demon’s back, allowing it to attack more of the Battlegroup at once.

For this phase of the fight, the demon could be damaged by people with either empowerment, but the demon’s defense against both energies was significantly increased.

They would be empowered double by any errant orbs, and if they hit a certain threshold, their attacks would cleave right through any defenses. It was imperative that they prevented any orbs from arriving to the demon, both to prevent this, but also to increase their damage to finish off the boss.

Because now this battle was a damage race, as the boss would deal enough damage to the raid each second that it was nearly impossible to keep up with.

It was a battle that Jake and his allies were ready for. Ophelia and Bloodberri both arrived at the boss, their enlarged weapons crashing into the demon from both sides just as the barrier fell.

It raised its blade, and swung it down at Ophelia with a cascade of life and death energy cutting into the surrounding area like waves of blades.

Her shield filled with a hearth guardian was ready and intercepted the attack with a block, but the attack’s strength was immense. The shield was pushed back and crashed into her armored chest, shoving her harshly away.

Ophelia blazed right back into the demon’s face once more with her Technique, her halberd piercing and stabbing into it. When the demon prepared its attack once more, she was ready for its strength, parrying and redirecting its blow. However, its tails swung and slashed deeply into Vesuvius, despite Darris blocking it with a wave of water.

Tanda’s avenging flames from her Technique enveloped her, as she fired her ballista-bolt arrows filled with her deathly flames. Fhesiah had added her Sun and Moon Hex, cursing the powerful monster with consuming and debilitating flames.

Bloodberri added their Between Heaven and Hell, debuffing the boss and spreading holy light, which damaged the boss and lightly healed and protected their allies. Enveloping the boss in holy darkness, it slowed down as it was weakened and restricted.

Drysander slammed his large tree trunk into the monster’s leg, causing it to stumble slightly, and Vesuvius focused on the other with his large glaive, sending explosive flames through it. Yiming and Longwei each attacked with powerful blades of valor, their polearm weapons extended to add stabs and slashes of their weapons in the openings.

Timone and his mates all roamed around the battlefield, collecting errant orbs and sending auril-infused arrows and ravens into the boss. Jake was happy for their wings being used like this, the Ravenwolf Clan prepared to make use of their enhanced mobility.

Four demons spawned, and that was Jake’s signal to go. His preparations were for this moment, to unleash his devastation when they appeared. The four demons spawned nearly right in front of all four portals, and they matched the color they spawned in front of.

Jake’s shield arrived with Fhesiah in front of the portal, and he rammed it into the medium-sized demon along with her, shoving it toward the center of the battlefield.

Ready for the spawn, Bree shoved a demon on the opposite side of the battlefield toward the center as well. The Garuda unleashed another Cyclonic Strike, sending another five-meter tall demon barreling toward the center.

Then, having found resonance with Tanda, Jake aided her with casting an empowered Runic Spear of Force. Her runes coalesced along with Jake’s, and the powerful wave of force slammed into the demon, sending it flying toward the center.

Jake wasn’t sure how powerful this attack was going to be, but he knew he wanted his enemies to be as close to the boss as possible. Finding resonance with Fhesiah once again, he entered the state of the Sage to control his flames.

Calling upon Hestia and Bastet, Jake was shocked when Hestia took over Jake’s channeling of Divine Energy instead of being summoned like before.

Jake and Fhesiah’s eyes took on a golden hue, as their flames were directed by the two goddesses. Jake’s spearstaff of Hestia was lifted high in the air, as his hearth flames were pushed and compressed into it, along with the empowerment from the death orbs he had collected.

The hearth grew into a massive bonfire as the flames of his family were mixed with the divine flames of Hestia, the fire taking on the quality of the goddess.

To Jake’s surprise, it felt like very little had changed. They improved in a qualitative way as they were merely enhanced, taken up several levels as they took on Hestia’s Eternal Essence. Her flames of family and sacrifice encompassed all things, even the deathly energy now contained within.

Fhesiah’s draconic flames were infused with the divine power of the sun and gathered around Hestia’s orb of flame first. Having been infused with life, they opposed the deathly tinged flames of Hestia and, like oil and water, did not mix as they swirled around one another.

Next, the holy-infused kitsune flames gathered up as they were infused further with Bastet’s divine flames of the moon. Thanks to the life empowerment from gathered orbs, the two energies were nearly completely opposing already, but mixed and joined with the large orb.

The three energies coalesced as Fhesiah and Jake were driven by the two divine, both doing everything they could to monitor and understand how the two goddesses were accomplishing what they did.

The three energies compressed, and it was as if a star were born. A loud snap and a pop was heard and felt, as the two’s divine energies merged and their will was imposed on reality. A golden flame which encompassed all things was borne, a massive orb of fire held above Jake’s staff.

It was launched at the boss like a ballista bolt, the immense golden ball of flame holding a majority of Jake’s reserved mana and Divine Energy, along with Fhesiah’s Qi and the same. Striking the boss, it exploded in what appeared to be a controlled blast.

Four streams speared out and struck the spawned demons, as the boss was engulfed in Divine Flames. Whatever defenses the life and death demon had from owning both energies were overwhelmed by the all-encompassing flames, and the health dropped several percent in one go.

The four demons nearly died immediately, and the boss had only a small sliver of health left. Bree and the Garuda, along with other warriors, worked to finish the four demons, to prevent them from having an impact on the final battle.

The flames of the two goddesses continued burning the boss, as the Battlegroup continued to focus their attacks on it. But the heaviness increased, the terrible intent from Tartarus returning.

The demon’s tails both swung out, slicing into the Battlegroup despite all their protections. Ophelia and Bloodberri countered and slashed into the demon’s greatsword and body, working in tandem to hit the boss hard.

Black energy filled the boss, even the green energy of life contained within its body and runic scripts shifting to the all-encompassing terror. A wave of malevolence washed over the Battlegroup, and the demon’s tails grew out further and multiplied, slashing out and attacking those nearby.

Additional tails grew out, filled with the black energy and growing mouths and spikes. This was definitely not an ability prescribed in the scripts for the battle, and these tentacle-like tails pierced through allies and were a challenge to block.

Vesuvius was pierced in the chest, a black energy invading him. Darris and one of Timone’s mates flying through the air were struck, the same energy invading them. The black energy billowing off the boss also shredded into the nearby melee attackers, even as they attempted to protect themselves with their various energies.

Bloodberri, Ophelia, and Tanda each activated their abilities and cast their spells, hitting the boss with everything they had. With each blow and attack, this terrible black energy was reduced along with its health, but the creature persisted through its punishment.

Jake’s Sanctuary was encroached by several of these tentacles, and his mana was too low to hold on to it much longer. Morwen gathered a large shield of bones with her priestesses, and Nadessa and her mothers built them into a wall of vines and bone. Talismans attached, improving the barrier from the warrior maidens, as the white dome of Sanctuary shattered.

It was then that Ophelia called upon Guan Yu. His golden statue appeared, the countless multijointed arms spreading out behind him holding shields and polearms. They encompassed the various members of the raid, ready to block the eldritch horror’s attack as his image faded away.

The barrier of vines and bones was pierced, but Fhesiah charged forward with her draconic empowerment, slicing into the oncoming tentacles with her claws filled with the strength of her path.

Her torch billowed flames as she cut and slashed through the oncoming attacks, deflecting the tentacles from her allies.

But each tentacle cut was replaced with another, as the monster’s onslaught continued. Some bypassed her and moved to attack the priestesses and dryads. Guan Yu’s apparition continuously appeared and blocked the attacks, combined with countering glaives that destroyed the encroaching tentacles.

The golden flames and countless attacks being enhanced by Jake’s Heavenly Aura continued raining on the demon’s main body, the malevolent energy decreasing. The terrible monster wailed, as a horrifying mouth opened on its chest.

Jake joined Fhesiah with his hearthblade in attacking the oncoming tentacles, now taking on the state of the Monarch as he built his hearth flames once more. The mana font directed mana from the environment rapidly, his mana being restored at a prodigious pace.

He could tell it was going to come down to the wire now, and he thought that control was how he would win. Gathering the dregs of his mana within his hearth, he prepared his hearth flames for another attack.

More tentacles grew out, and more allies were pierced. Despite all the healing being expended by the dryads, undead priestesses, Brotherhood maidens, and even Ophelia’s hearth guardian and Bloodberri’s melee healing, allies started to expire.

Their deaths caused the remaining auril heroes hearts to beat more powerfully, their songs seeking vengeance. Things were looking bad, but Morwen cast her lesser version of Winter’s Embrace. A powerful wave of frost washed over the boss, covering the tentacles and slowing its movement significantly.

Bedwyr’s war scythe raised high in the air, channeling his faith into the weapon. Frost billowed off his weapon, before swinging it downward and cutting into the boss powerfully. Frost spread even further from his Icy Death attack, the monster roaring in pain.

Longwei’s Tiger’s Fury reached its maximum, him burning with courage and strength. His blade cut powerfully into the frozen tentacles, cleaving them off and cutting into the main demon’s body in a flurry of blows.

Yiming raced around with his blade glowing, cutting the last of the tentacles before flowing through a series of speedy attacks that were difficult to follow.

Releasing her Consecration, Ophelia sent a wave of vajrafire flames into the boss and cut into it powerfully with her Vajra Strike. Bloodberri slammed into the boss with a final [Maul of Hestia-Echidna], bringing the demon’s health to zero.

The orbs stopped spawning from the portals, the encounter stirring as if something shifted. The golden hexagons of the Framework ran up and down the walls, but black energy railed and twisted against it, holding it back.

The life and death energy from collecting the orbs was removed, and normally, this would be the signal that they had won.

But the demon didn’t die, the terrible energy persisting. Its health almost seemed to increase, but having saved the spell for an emergency, Tanda called on Cernunnos. Green and black energy congealed in a ball next to the boss, before an explosion of vines washed over it in the center of the room.

Vines of life and death grew and wrapped around the demon, but also around the various dead beastkin, priestesses, and dryads. Having taken on the state of the Monarch, Jake used this moment to cast Hearthtree Vines, drawing mana from each of his girls.

The flaming vines had a golden hue, wrapping around and both restricting and burning the boss.

Their ally’s bodies rose from the dead as they were reanimated, even Seamus, who died at the beginning of the battle. They charged the cheating boss, with renewed vigor and fury, being enhanced by Jake’s Aura of Heavenly Flames.

From Tanda’s thoughts, they had at most thirty seconds to a minute of being reanimated, but that should hopefully be enough. The full might of the Battlegroup laid into the boss, the risen warriors using their various attacks.

The dryad mothers all enhanced and nurtured the vines of Cernunnos, which dug into the boss with thorns and deathly energies, ensnaring and weakening the boss further. Waves of frost washed over other parts of the boss, as Morwen’s priestesses and Bedwyr added their frost-empowered attacks.

The demon gripped its greatsword and the black terrifying energy sent waves of malevolent blades to cut through the restrictions, but vines just grew back to replace the ones cut. Various allies were harmed as well, them doing what they could to keep themselves alive and continue fighting.

Arrows pierced through the vines and into the boss from all angles, and Vesuvius and Bloodberri struck out together heavily with his glaive and Bloodberri with their large maul. Despite the demon’s immense size, it staggered from the heavy onslaught, nearly tipping over to be brought to the ground.

A deathly flamed wolf exploded deeply into the boss from Tanda, and then Fhesiah and Ophelia burst forward and struck out with their enlarged claws and auril-filled glaive, finally knocking the boss over. Attacks rained down on the enemy further as it stumbled and tried to get up, roaring in anger.

Bree’s bull-like charge pierced her horns and many vines like spears into the downed boss, sending flames into it. The flames surrounding the boss increased with every moment, the vines being engulfed in more golden fire as allies continued their attacks encompassed by Jake’s Aura.

The boss monster’s body bulged from underneath its vine and flame-covered prison, before something burst forth from its chest area–directly at Jake. The many attacks switched to this terrifying growth, a tentacle as wide as a semi truck, with a horrifying mouth.

The eldritch horror roared, and blurred at Jake with its open mouth. Using Jake’s stored void energy, Ira shifted Jake into the other direction, much closer to his many allies, as the various warriors continued their attempts to cut into it further.

It turned and whirled around at him, for Ophelia to activate Intervene and blast into it with her enlarged halberd in a blaze of light. She knocked it away from Jake’s path and continued to slash into it, her vajrafire blade cutting and burning into the hardened horror.

The vines having burned somewhat away, the massive demon stood up and dashed toward her, cutting into her shoulder deeply with its greatsword before kicking her, sending her flying away.

Bloodberri then wrapped her enlarged snake body around the demon, restricting and tearing into it as it stumbled from her heavy weight. Black energy pierced into her, but the restriction and piercing of her deadly armor did not relent.

The terrifying tentacle coming from the demon’s chest wouldn’t stop coming for Jake. This time, space locked around him, even as Ira furiously pushed against it. Ira found a path, but not for Jake’s escape.

The mouth approached with its malevolent aura wafting off of it. Looking at it, Jake got the feeling that if the creature got him inside its terrifying mouth with rows of teeth, even if the Framework might piece him back together, he just might never be the same.

That Tartarus would get a piece of him or his soul, and his potential would be forever less than what it could be. And Jake knew, by its fervent desire to claim him, that he could be some kind of threat to it.

Throughout this long fight, Jake had found resonance with each of his wives. While he might have shifted into another state, their connections had persisted, their hearths finding harmony with each one another as they beat in sync with each other.

Jake found resonance with all of his girls at once, their desires to both protect Jake and destroy this terrible enemy immense. He didn’t have a state for this, but he quickly drew the lines within his aperture as he drew all the mana and spare resources into him using Energy Sharing.

Within his mind, he carved out the state of the Hearth, the Family, requiring him to find harmony and resonance with all his girls. The demonic runes for hearth and family mixed with the beastkin word for auril, a triskele heart covered with glyphs and surrounded by celtic knots.

Flames encompassed everything, and before he moved on to connect the scripts to his hearth enchantment for his Hearth, Ira nudged Jake with a cry for attention. Frowning, Jake added the demonic rune for void in the center along with it, representing this part of himself he didn’t quite yet understand.

Connecting it to his hearth enchantment finally, runes on his armor and his chest orb became a golden hue, as he took on the state of the Hearth and the Family. Something within him clicked, as if changing and empowering him. Focused on his enemy, he compressed the flames within his staff.

Jake’s divine hearth flames, Fhesiah’s bloodline Qi, holy dark and holy light mana, vajrafire flames and auril compressed along with the dregs of any remaining divine energy left over from his Champion wives summoning their Divine.

His wives focused and pushed along their bonds, each of the girl’s hearth flames joining Jake’s. They all then imposed their will using Advanced Energy Control, trying to find harmony with their energies. Their immense combined Presence enforced their desires on reality and into the flames within his staff.

Drawing mana from the surrounding area and shoving his reserve from the now flaming golden orb in his chest, the flames compacted further, but the energy felt chaotic–like when Fhesiah tried to combine them.

While an explosion could serve his purpose with defeating the boss, he didn’t like to imagine what would happen to himself with it so close.

Jake could tell that something was missing. Exhaling the energy in his void lungs, he ensconced the flames in the void, compressing and combining the flames of his family together as one.

A new energy was borne, a brightness like a blazing star shining. A Heroic Scorching Ray blasted from the end of his Champion’s Spearstaff, his beam of prismatic golden flames and light crashing into the mouth of Tartarus just meters away from himself.

The flames of the Hart Clan stopped the wicked enemy cold in its tracks, the golden fires striking into the eldritch horror like the fist of an angry god. A scream like the sound of a rocket launching washed away all sound within the room, as the tentacle recoiled and was shoved harshly back by the beam’s intense power.

The golden beam of flames spread and washed over much of the demon’s body as the terrifying face was knocked askew from the beam, until the beam winked out.

Covered in golden flames, the creature wailed in pain as even more attacks rained down on it. All allies redoubled their efforts as they attacked the boss once more, decreasing the terrible energy that had entered it. The monster shriveled and shrunk as a result of everyone’s efforts, but it continued.

The mouth made one final effort to move at Jake, space still locked down around him. But Ira and Jake used the dregs of their void energy together and used Call Summon, pulling Bree and the Garuda to him, Ira managing to find a hole to bring them to his defense.

Tanda was already near, and charged in with her crescent moon halberd, swooping in with the spearhead extended and filled with her auril.

Bree’s vines formed a thick shield blocking the monstrous face, Ophelia’s Hearth Guardian arrived to block, and the Garuda’s blade swung out with a final Cyclonic Strike before dissipating into motes of light.

The tornado, Tanda’s spear and two shields shoved the face back, and even appeared to enhance the golden flames further as the wind blades shredded into the eldritch horror’s face.

Jake was ready to strike out against the incoming face with his hearthblade as well, but with a pained wail, the black energy finally receded. The demon body roared in anger, and it reverted to the life and death demon as the eldritch being’s flesh disappeared, the extra limbs crumbling and disappearing as if they were never there.

The giant demon fell to the ground as it finally died, the creature having existed well beyond its limits.

A wave of golden light washed over the room, a notification entering Jake’s mind. The many allies who died to be reanimated did not expire, and instead were recovered by the golden light as if they were recently resurrected.

[Alliance Victory! Calculating Rewards. You have fifteen minutes before the Instance will be destroyed. Participants will be transferred to Primary Alliance HQ on Highlands.]

Jake slumped to his knees, utterly exhausted. He was quickly covered in his loving wives, as the Battlegroup roared in victory. Together, they had done it. They had rescued Highlands, and won against even Tartarus’s machinations and outright cheating.

He didn’t know what this meant, but he knew that this violation would not be without cost. One that he knew his Goddess would make it pay for.

The entire world would be rewarded, along with his family. They would ascend, their victory one that would change their fates forevermore.