Connor’s flesh warped and flowed like clay in a master sculptor’s hands. Long, curved horns grew out of his head, his arms and legs elongated, but his body remained the same, making him look completely out of proportion. His mouth doubled in size and filled with needle-sharp fangs. The warlock’s look hadn’t been especially appealing before, now he was a real horror.

A deep, inhuman laugh welled up from Connor, if Connor he still was. “Long has it been since I tasted the air of this reality.”

The voice matched the laugh: inhuman. It appeared Connor was long gone.

He traded his life to allow more of the demon’s soul force into his body. This isn’t the Horned One’s true self, but an avatar.

“What does that mean for us?”

“It means,” the demon lord said. “You are about to die.”

Damien leapt aside as a massive burst of hellfire streaked out and splashed against the crystal behind him. The hard blue stone melted like snow in the summer. The flames were more intense than anything he’d dealt with before.

A weak counterattack struck the unseen barrier and dissipated.

Don’t bother trying to attack. There’s no way Connor’s body will be able to host that much demonic power for long. You don’t need to win, just survive.

Damien’s lip curled. If there was one thing he hated it was being told he couldn’t win. Another blast sent him sprawling. It looked like he didn’t have many options in this case.

Flesh dripped like wax from Connor’s hands and arms, exposing the bone underneath. It looked like he was starting to disintegrate already. Damien rolled and lunged out the chamber door. An explosion was followed by a boulder striking him in the middle of his back and sending his sailing halfway across the cavern.

The rock didn’t penetrate his shield, but damn, that was some blow. A feeling of approaching corruption prompted him to dive under another blast of black flames. He twisted and stared. The crystal chamber was gone, blown to smithereens. All that remained was the pedestal and the swirling portal above it.

Curious, Damien sent a little bit stronger blast streaking in at the demon lord. The attack hit him in the chest without effect. The shield was gone.

It doesn’t matter. He’s still too strong.

“He is, but what about that pedestal? Unless I’m mistaken that’s the source of the portal. If I smash that it’ll sever the connection between them and close the gate.”

I doubt he’ll give you a clear shot at it.

Damien doubted that too, but if he could just force the monster to move a few feet one way or the other he might be able to sneak a shot through. That was all he needed, a little gap.

The Horned One raised Connor’s skeletal hands and hellfire gathered around them. The flames shot up and formed into giant bats. The constructs rushed toward him. There wasn’t room enough for a drawn-out chase in the cavern.

Damien slashed Lizzy at them and released a potent burst of soul force. It sliced through the bats, opening a foot-thick gash which closed an instant later. His attack hadn’t bothered them in the least. They were like Mikhail’s flame serpents only stronger.

He flew in an endless circle, around and around what was left of the crystal chamber, thinking furiously. If he couldn’t smash them maybe he could remove them from the battlefield. Damien wrapped both bats in soul force bubbles and hurled them back at the Horned One.

Connor’s face had melted off in places, exposing the skull. Gah, how much longer could he hold that body together? The bats flexed their wings and destroyed the bubbles. Too long for Damien’s liking.

The bats rushed him, gnashing their fangs.

Time to get aggressive.

Damien turned toward the demon and flew full speed in his direction, the bats in close pursuit. He’d take a certain perverse delight in crashing his opponent’s constructs into his head.

Alas it wasn’t to be. A wall of hellfire sprang up and Damien barely turned in time to avoid getting burned to a crisp.

He flew all the way around the pedestal. The hellfire surrounded the whole thing.

“Can he see us through that?”

He can see through the bats’ eyes, the same way you use your spy bugs, plus he can sense your soul force.

“But he can’t actually see through the fire.”

I don’t think so.

“Perfect.”

This is a bad idea, Damien. You have no idea how strong those flames are.

“True, but if we don’t do something while we’re still near full strength we’re going to lose this fight. I don’t need to tell you what happens then.”

No.

“So are you with me?”

Always.

He grinned. As long as he had Lizzy’s support Damien could do anything.

He drew power and wrapped the bats in opaque golden bubbles then dove for the wall of fire. As he accelerated he sent most of his power to his shield layering it and pushing it out from his body. Lizzy sent her power to the edge of her blade.

They hit the flames.

Even with his multilayer shield the corruption burned and sickened Damien. An instant later they burst through.

He skidded across the platform and slashed. Lizzy sliced the base of the crystal pedestal like it was pudding.

The hell gate winked out, prompting the Horned One to howl in rage. His wall vanished. Connor’s body seemed to melt as Damien watched, going from reasonably intact to meat soup in seconds.

When nothing tried to kill him for a few seconds Damien started feeling pretty good about the situation.

A tremor ran through the chamber and corruption gathered under the stub of the pedestal.

Damien!

“I know.” He leapt aside an instant before a torrent of corrupt energy erupted from the ground. The geyser of darkness struck the roof of the cavern, burned its way through and shot into the gray sky.

Damien raced for the exit, pausing long enough to collect the still-unconscious sorcerers as he went. Outside the hill looked like the volcano he’d set off only it spewed darkness. It was a shame to waste all that power.

He conjured a bubble over the geyser, expanding it as the darkness filled it. It grew and grew, forcing Lizzy to reinforce his bubble with her power. When the flow stopped the bubble was almost as big as the royal castle. Damien flew up, shaping the bubble into a dragon as he went. He landed between its wings and settled the sorcerers behind him

It took every bit of strength he could muster to maintain the construct.

What now?

“Now we go see if Jen needs a hand. She’s not that far away.”