Energy surged through Cass. It was different from a level up, which almost felt like energy washing over her from above. This surged out from her chest, rushing out over her arms and legs and coating her in something warm.

She staggered to her feet, her entire body buzzing. But strangely, she didn't feel like that was a problem anymore. It was only a touch more notable than the room being a little cold.

The dragonling was still trying—failing—to hurt Kohen. Her horns thrashed through empty air, missing him by miles. He stepped around her easily, even while parrying Alyx's sword and dodging the larger dragon's claws.

A growl rolled up his throat. Balls of lightning formed around him, each the size of Cass's fist.

Cass summoned a Tempest Blade to her dagger. The wind edge formed faster than ever, condensing tighter and sharper. It buzzed with sparks of electricity.

Focus: 19/549

And it didn't consume her Focus? Instead, the buzzing in her body faded, rushing to fill her skill.

She grinned. She could work with that.

She swung her blade, throwing it at the demon's back.

It sliced through skin and muscle, slicing a deep gash across his bare back.

He turned, throwing his hand down and releasing his lightning orbs at her. They shot through the air, burning brightly.

Cass raised her dagger to block. Her pulse quickened at the sight of them. But this wasn't fear coursing through her.

It was anticipation?

Cass, move! Salos screamed.

She didn't.

The first orb slammed into her shoulder.

It hurt. It hit her like a physical projectile, blowing the remains of her pauldron from her shoulder and digging into the flesh underneath. But the pain came with a pleasant buzzing. A promise of another skill.

She cackled, drawing another Tempest Blade to her dagger and Dodging the second. She threw the blade at him as he darted toward her.

It struck across a shoulder, drawing more blood.

A third orb grazed her cheek. The raw lightning burned at her skin, but her body absorbed the energy as it passed, funneling it into another Tempest Blade.

The dragonling chased him, her horns swinging.

"Get out of here," Cass yelled at the dragonling, throwing the Tempest Blade at Kohen.

The child flinched, her head whipping around to Cass. Her eyes were wide, flicking between Cass and the demon. "But, he has Ahryn!"

The demon's blade swept past Cass.

She dodged out of the way, suppressing a groan. "I can't rescue him and protect you."

"But. But he's dying!" the little dragon yelled.

Kohen swung again.

Alyx stepped between them, her sword intercepting his. "Get out of here, Cass, Kelstor, and I will rescue him."

The demon snarled something in Kaldish as he darted back and around Alyx, racing for Cass. Another round of lightning orbs flashed into existence around him.

"Kelstor!" Alyx shouted.

The big dragon pushed his way between Cass and the demon, his wings flaring open and glowing with a maroon aura.

Cass jumped onto the dragon's—Kelstor's?—back, throwing her Tempest Blade between his wings at the approaching Kohen. It sliced into his chest, ripping a scythe of blood through the air as they flew through flesh.

Through it all, Kohen was careful not to let any of their attacks touch Ahryn.

He was still protecting the boy.

Were demons really as crazed as everyone said?

There must be a way to fix him, Cass's thoughts echoed again.

You can't fix a demon, Cass. Kill him and save the boy if you can, kill him before he can grow any more powerful if you can't.

There must be a way, Cass insisted.

There isn't.

Should I give up on you? Cass asked in response.

Kohen swung his sword through empty air, releasing a volley of lightning orbs. They shot in every direction. Dozens struck Kelstor's glowing wings, sputtering out like they'd struck bare ground.

More peppered the glass floors, leaving scorched glass.

Alyx flickered out of sight as one nearly struck her. She reappeared behind him, her sword glowing with her amber aura.

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Kohen twisted, his sword catching hers. Their swords locked, but Alyx was pushing harder. He took a step back.

Kelstor's claws swung at him from behind, raking across Kohen's back.

Kohen's sword disappeared. Alyx stumbled forward. Kohen darted around her, his sword reappearing in his hands. He slammed it into her side as they passed one another, his lightning blade tearing through her aura armor.

Alyx screamed as his lightning coursed through her and she crumpled to the ground.

"Alyx!" Kelstor shouted, storming forward.

Cass jumped from his back, landing at Alyx's side. Cass could feel the energy rolling through Alyx. There was no way she'd be able to move for a while.

Kohen smirked down at her.

"Get Alyx and the dragonling to safety," Cass yelled at the dragon.

"You can't handle him alone," Kelstor said.

Salos materialized on Cass's shoulder. "Who said she was alone? Protect your own mistress."

The dragon grumbled and scooped Alyx from the floor. His tail curled around the dragonling, herding her away from the demon. "I will be right back."

"Of course," Cass said.

Are we going to kill him now? Salos asked.

The correct answer was 'yes'. Everything everyone had told her said saving him at this point was impossible. Stalling further in the hopes she'd find something to change that was pointless.

She knew that.

She could feel the intensity with which Salos believed it.

You don't seriously believe you can still save him?

Kohen burst toward her. She ducked under his first sword swing, skating around him, her dagger, sheathed in a crackling Tempest Blade, cut through his exposed abdomen. Blood ran down his sides.

He twisted after her, swinging again.

Her dagger blocked the strike, but she wasn't nearly strong enough to stop it. He sent her flying backward, skidding over the slick glass floors.

Be realistic. Salos sighed. You can't even fight him. How are you going to save him?

You want to fight him then? Cass asked.

Sure, let's see what this child can do.

Their perspectives switched as Shifting Mind activated.

You hold the dagger wrong, Salos muttered as he adjusted his grip and raced toward the demon. The blade wove a complicated pattern of slices and slashes, leaving an array of cuts along the demon's skin.

Cass, in cat form, leapt from Salos's shoulder, landing on Kohen's with claws covered in Tempest Blades. They ripped across his skin, adding blood to the already thick layers.

Focus: 16/549

Kohen grunted in pain, flinching for a fraction of a second. Long enough for Salos to dart in and cut under Kohen's guard. But not long enough to stop Kohen from countering with his lightning blade.

The blade sliced across the slyphid body, leaving a trail of blood. Salos flinched, lightning racing across the slyphid body he wore. He blinked as the stunning force of electricity never came.

Kohen swung in the gap.

Salos ducked left, returning the slice with a shadowed stab of his own, burying the blade behind Ahryn's limp body.

Kohen screamed, his free hand raising with a flourish. A sea of electric bolts appeared in the air above them. Kohen's hand swung down, and the bolts shot down with it, all of them arching toward Salos.

What exactly were the limits of her body's new electricity resistance? It wasn't an immunity; the impacts still hurt. And that was a lot of bolts.

Shifting Mind.

Cass swapped back without warning.

Her hands went out, throwing Elemental Manipulation out in every direction, grabbing the falling lightning with the energy stocked in her body from Kohen's last attack.

Kohen's hold on these was weaker. Unlike the sword, which he actively held in shape, these he let fly as lightning wished.

But she had plenty of practice redirecting such lightning.

She wrenched them off their path, throwing them harmlessly to her side.

Thank you, Salos said. But a little warning next time.

He said that, but he was already darting behind Kohen's ankles, his claws digging into the pulsing flesh, the damage multiplied by Hidden Edge.

Kohen snarled, twisting around for Salos, unaware he'd already slipped into a shadow and out of sight.

Cass took that opening to create distance between them again.

They were hurting him. Bleeding his Health point by point. If she wanted to kill him, this was how to do it. Alyx and her dragon would be back soon. Had Alyx called for help before diving into this mess? Probably, right?

Her reinforcements would be here soon, surely.

If she wanted Kohen dead, all she had to do was hold him down here and bleed his Health away. She just had to wait for the powers that be to finish him off.

'Isn't there something you can do?' Ahryn's voice echoed in her ears. His eyes, wide and hopeful, flickered in her mind's eye.

Her conviction burned. Her hand tightened around her dagger.

She couldn't capture him, but capturing him had always been a method of stalling for a better answer, anyway. It was time to find the better answer.

He was a demon; a real fix would change that. What did she know about demons?

They were mad. Completely lacking a sense of self or a spark of rationality, the twisted amalgamation of every soul they'd shoved into their core.

They were broken things, either over swelled with the fragments of those they devoured or crippled with jagged edges yearning for more.

The soul was the key. If that could be fixed, wouldn't that be enough?

Soul damage on its own was not uncommon. The goddess Alacrity and the dragon had both commented on the damage done to hers. Soul damage paved the path for dragon bindings.

They said her soul was covered in scars. Scars implied healing.

How?

Time? She didn't have that.

Bindings? She couldn't force the dragonlings into a bond with Kohen.

Could she create a binding with something else? How? With what?

How did she heal a soul?

The question burned in her mind as Kohen lunged at her.

Cass Dodged around him, sliding behind him.

Your turn again, Cass said, swapping herself and Salos.

Salos drove their dagger into the demon's back, his Hidden Edge multiplying the damage as it dug unseen through writhing flesh.

Kohen snarled, his hand reaching around and grabbing Salos, his claws clamping around his wrist before he could pull away.

"Let me go, you beast," Salos growled, pulling against Kohen's superior Strength anyway.

Kohen jerked him forward, Salos's dagger still planted in the demon's back.

"Fine," Salos shouted. "I give up. Let me go, I'll let you leave with Ahryn. I won't chase you."

Salos? Cass froze.

Assassin's Yield, calm down, Salos explained. As long as he agrees, I get to stab him in the back.

Kohen's lips curled into a grin. His hand clenched tighter around Salos's wrist. His lightning blade shot forward.

Abyss, Salos muttered as he twisted out of the weapon's path. But there was only so far he could move with Kohen holding his wrist. It grazed across his chest, the lightning burning through armor and into flesh. Salos winced.

Cass switched them back. The lightning in her body surged. Could she use it on any skill? She pressed it into Elemental Manipulation; the energy balked. She forced it through anyway, summoning a ball of astraum to her free hand. It was much smaller than the ball she'd created with Focus, sputtering to life much slower.

But it was plenty cold. She slammed it into Kohen's chest.

He snarled in surprise, grabbing her second hand in his and jerking it away.

Salos leapt on his face, his claws raking through eyes and skin.

Kohen shouted, and lightning sparked around his head. Salos caught the brunt of it, collapsing to the ground at their feet, twitching as the lightning rolled through him.

Cass tried to twist her arms free, but Kohen's grip was a vice.

But that was fine. As much as Cass was stuck, so was Kohen. He couldn't attack her without releasing one of her hands.

She just needed to buy time. Alyx would recover any minute, and both she and Kelstor would be back to help.

This was to her advantage—

Kohen's phantom arm materialized between them.

Cass's blood ran cold. Oh. Right.

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