It almost wasn't enough. The king's mana was less than a thread, barely existent. But it held, and extended into the enchanted bracelet. Within a blink, he was gone. Not physically, as I could make out the form of the king struggling to steady his breathing.

It was his mana signature.

With the bracelet active, it was as if he didn't exist. Along with the spiced perfume the king wore, all we needed now was to hide him under an illusion—one that Teddy helped conjure, making the man disappear before our eyes.

"Smart thinking on using the bracelet. I told you it would come in handy," Teddy said.

"Yeah, well, if there had to be an excuse to spend thousands of gold, it might as well be this. We ready?" I asked.

Tyrrion wore his scowl openly and tore his gaze away from the king's position. "Can you place me under the illusion as well?"

Celanae shook her head. "That wouldn't be smart. We can hide your physical form, but not your mana. If you're sensed, that would put the king in danger. Once they know there are invisible targets, they'll start looking for invisible targets."

Tyrrion looked extremely frustrated, but he backed down. While we finished the last of our gear checks, a loud hammering echo resounded through the box, originating outside. Blood attempted to smash against our legs, but Zagreus pushed it away, leaving us dry.

A beat passed, and the ground shook, along with a colossal roar that carried the sense of deep, hissing blood.

"That came from the direction of the fighting. We have to move." Teddy mounted Arturous and pulled the king up. "Isaac, can you scout?"

Isaac attempted to sink into the floor, but the shadows pushed him back, acting like rubber. "Not with the spatial lock. I could maybe brute force it, but I wouldn't make it very far."

Teddy turned to me and Eodyne. "Eodyne, you take point. Cyrus, can you still summon another?"

"On it," Eodyne answered.

"I had to sacrifice Roar of the Spirit Lord, but I can summon another. Unless you wanted me to send one back?" I asked.

"No. Summon Sturmrorex. He can help Eodyne," Teddy said after a moment of thought.

I channeled mana into Storm King's Tempest. The dragon appeared and bumped his head into mine before shooting toward Eodyne and wrapping around her chest and neck. With the last of the preparations set, we got into position.

Igas, Zagreus, and Tyrrion took the front while Sereza and I guarded both sides. Isaac held the flank while Celanae and Khrem walked behind Arturous. Separated from the rest, Eodyne was the first to leave. She exited the box and jumped in a flurry of wind, prepared to be our eyes.

I was a fool for thinking things would return to normal after all this.

"Ready?" Teddy called out.

We pushed past the confines of the box and into the open, with Celanae creating barriers under our feet. As I ducked under the hole in the wall, I finally got a look into the start of the catastrophe.

The once gilded room was now a wasteland of debris and blood. Holes littered the ceiling, letting moonlight shine through but even then it was through a mesh of blood strands thicker than my legs.

All the other boxes that crashed laid submerged, with the pool growing deeper the closer you were to the stage. Without all the enchantments the ceiling was hard to see, but I caught movement of some kind in the recesses moving along the same blood tendrils covering the building.

Only the center stage stayed aloft in the sky. Massive bridges of flesh anchored the platform to the walls, holding it up even with the runes no longer shining in my senses.

"Do we check for survivors?" Igas asked.

"On our way back. First priority is delivering the package," Teddy said.

I scanned the boxes, and found the one the king pointed out earlier. The roof had been breached by something heavy and massive, likely whatever it was Anastasia was currently fighting.

"Sturmrorex. Have Eodyne do a quick sweep toward that box over there," I conveyed.

With a thought, I shared the memory of the king's son along with the clones. Eodyne shot across the space, well above the water. Flipping midair, I saw Sturmrorex flash his horns just bright enough to lighten the interior on the flyby. She landed on a nook and merged with the shadows, waiting for a reaction from below.

"Blood is inside. No mortals, only deep gouges in the stone," Sturmrorex informed me.

I relayed the info to Teddy.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Tyrrion. The first prince might have escaped or been taken by now. "We'll proceed with our eyes and ears open."

"That's… Fine. Let us make haste," Tyrrion said, only briefly glancing toward the King's general direction.

From platform to platform, Teddy led us toward the entrance. Scorch marks lined the uncovered stone along with other remnants of elemental mana. Different colored blood that smelled strongly of copper coated the walls in blues and greens. However, there was something odd.

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"Signs of battle but there's no corpses or missing limbs," Celanae remarked.

"Look what we're dealing with," Isaac pointed out. "If they fell, they'd be drained and repurposed."

That didn't help the tension and we proceeded more cautiously. Thankfully, Teddy was a living lantern, as he made himself glow bright enough to illuminate the dark doors and beyond. The doors themselves were gone, with deep gouging claw marks shearing through the surrounding walls.

When we neared the corridor and the building shook. An ear-ringing bellow drowned Teddy's commands and an explosion of mana grabbed my attention. Eodyne landed beside me, bow in hand as she knocked a bolt and held it against her ear.

Along the ceiling, hidden in the strands, a warping mass of blood and viscera crawled from one corner to another. Where it passed, a trail of glowing eyeballs grew like bubbles and popped.

"Hold fire," Teddy ordered.

The creature paused and I started pushing mana into my claws. When it reached a shadowed tendril downward, it grabbed one of the fallen boxes and lifted it into the air with ease. Whatever it saw wasn't to its liking, the monster screeched and chucked the stone into the floor.

Zagreus stepped forward and funneled it while Celanae conjured enough barriers to seal us off. When it touched her mana it solidified, clotting together before another wave washed it away.

"Move," Teddy ordered.

We retreated down the corridor and picked up the pace. Broken decorations, overturned chairs. I saw scraps of clothes but still no bodies.

As we reached the end of the hallway, we finally had our answer. Igas braced his sword while Tyrrion conjured a simple rope. The stone chain looped around the attacker's leg and yanked him down. With a flick, ice flash froze over the woman's limbs and he held his sword at her neck.

Ravaged.

Clothes were torn, the once bright dress was stained crimson as strands of blood weaved in and out of the woman's body. A large bulbous mass clung to the back of her head, pulsating like a heartbeat. Even with the ice locking her in place, she attempted to pull free, actively tearing gashes into her limbs.

Blood oozed onto the floor but the mass on her head shot a stinger into the growing puddle and sucked it up. After sucking the floor dry, the mass had grown in size, nearly doubling.

I crouched and used the butt of my spear to lift the woman's chin. The mass didn't respond but I kept a safe distance just in case.

"Hey, she's familiar. I'm pretty sure she was one of the ones who started a fight. Tossed a glass of wine on another woman's dress."

The woman's matted hair swept out of her face. Red, glowing eyes stared back. She bit the air, and I lowered my spear.

"Procedure?" Igas grunted.

"Master," Zagreus whined, his voice filling my head.

"Yes? What's wrong?" I asked.

"I can sense them. Many. Hungry. Danger!"

"Non-lethal if we can, this might be curable," Teddy said.

"Wait!"

It was too late. He raised his mace and shed light throughout the room. A wall of crimson eyes snapped in our direction.

Sereza gasped. "By the gods, they're-"

The first wave of attackers abandoned their meals on the floor. Needle-like suckers detached and snapped back into place as they engorged masses on their head shuddered. Bodies of party goers and what remained coated the room. Dried up husks and torn flesh ravaged by teeth and nails, littered the walls.

Igas used the backside of his sword to slam four of them back. Celanae waved her staff and intercepted three who leapt through the air for Teddy while Tyrrion used his whip to hammer two into each other.

Teddy jumped off and joined the others but there were too many. More than two dozen of the blood-controlled filtered through one hallway, resembling a zombie horde.

"There's too," Igas stomped and sent a pair flying with a pillar of ice. "Many of them. We'll get overrunned."

Zagreus held back, protecting the others with Arturous while the three fought. On any given day, I would have placed my bet on Broken Tower. Teddy and Igas alone were good enough to handle a horde, but I could see the effects of the curse hampering their movements.

Igas and Teddy moved slower than they should have been. When the large oni threw back another wave of people, he grunted with heavy breaths and used both hands.

I stepped closer to the others and raised my voice to be heard over the warbled screeching of the possessed. "Celanae, could you retrace our steps to the garden?"

She winced but nodded. "Yes. I can guide us there."

"Okay. Hey, Eodyne, throw me."

She lowered her hands and I crouched. Teddy and the others heard my voice, so they knew something was coming. They started backing up, giving themselves room. I jumped, and Sturmrorex funneled a burst of wind at the soles of my boots.

I flipped, and landed on the ceiling. I attempted to stab into the stone but the material proved harder than my spear.

One second then.

The nearly bursting receptacles responded with sluggish indifference. Each type of mana had its own flavor, a feel specific to it. The blood mana inside me was lethargic, hard to rouse. I didn't care, I forced it down my arms and willed it through.

At the tips of my claws, red globs formed and I crossed my arms, going with what felt right. It wasn't blood, not fully. Now that it was forced out of its comfy little sleep, the mana responded with ferocity.

A hunger, and a need to do what it was originally intended for.

Teddy jumped back, and slammed his shield down sending out a wave of force that knocked the next wave away.

"Now!"

The blood mana wanted to bind and curse. To feed on blood and grow, and so I'd let it!

I slashed my claws forward and let out a string of red droplets. They hovered in the air, in twin chains that expanded halfway into the room. There was a collective breath, one held by all as gravity took hold.

The possessed turned their eyes to the ceiling, and I felt it. The screech of fear as the masses convulsed.

I hit the floor and each bead became an arrow. The threads impaled the jiggly blobs. Each one another chain in the link as it exited the pseudo-flesh and aimed for another.

More than forty bodies collapsed in a screaming flail of limbs. The masses were sucked dry into the twin chains and a mental connection formed in my mind. One that spiraled into my chest and came with the sense of a gun on a trigger.

Like puppets with their strings cut, they stilled and the room went silent.

I stood up and brushed myself off. Tyrrion regarded me warily, his hand shifting in my direction.

"You have an odd skillset," he spat.

"It's effective. Did you kill them?" Celanae asked, her staff reaching forward to prod one of the stilled bodies.

I frowned and probed for the connection to the blood. What returned back was the snapping of a dog on a leash barking at the wind and awaiting orders.

"No… But I can," I answered.

"What stops your mana from merging with the curse? You saw what they were doing with the other corpses. What are the chances you made them more powerful?" Tyrrion said.

I shook my head. "I don't think so. I can feel it, it's under my control. For now at least."

One of Zagreus' heads latched onto my arm and tugged at me. I tried to push him off, but three more grabbed my robe and jerked me backward.

"Master!"

"What is it?"

"Incoming!"

The walls shook and the earth cracked. A wave of blood spilled through and before Celanae could establish barriers, a surge of the thick liquid crawled up the walls.

A monstrous screech vibrated my bones, and a fleshy limb larger than Arturous emerged from the nearest wall.

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