A ring of sparks immediately erupted from the altar in tangent with a world-shattering explosion. Spikes flew in every direction, the world slowed to a crawl as Dink twisted in horror. His eyes flew wide seeing the bone flying toward his companions. Without a moment’s hesitation, he sprang into action, charging toward Estra.

The wall of energy from the altar was faster. Countless golden sparks expanded in a circle, dissolving soldier demons as it passed. The corpses littering the ground disappeared, taking the rancid blood with them, removing all traces. The cloud of sparks collided with the bone shards. They weren’t immune to the effect, banished back to the plane they came from.

Specks of light surrounded Dink as he rushed across the room in the wake of the ring. He looked around himself in disbelief. Wart desperately clung to his shoulder, legs flying backward, suspended motionless. His tiny face was contorted in a comical expression by the sheer speed Dink was travelling.

The destructive force of impact from the bone spikes tore through the staircase without slowing. They spread in all directions, reducing everything to fragments of stone. Dink slapped aside the rocks slowly floating through the air. He noticed a bone shard quickly nearing the crater containing Axion.

I can’t let it hit Axion, it’s not certain he’s dead. The banishment won’t arrive in time to save him. Akarad, what can you do? The draconic bloodline isn’t enough.

“Something is interfering. It’s taking all of my focus just for me to remain awake,” Akarad answered weakly in his mind.

The Hags. Stay alert. I have to open the second internal spirit gate, the Atonement gate. This isn’t going to be pleasant, but I’ve got no choice.

“Is that the forbidden technique you used to defeat me, do you think that wise? I don’t particularly wish to experience death a second time,” Akarad tiredly said.

It must be done.

“So be it. I’ll do my best to keep your flesh tied together under the strain. Be prepared, this will not be pleasant,” Akarad responded. Dink felt a massive presence reluctantly unfurl inside his consciousness. It spread through his extremities to overlap his senses. He could feel Akarad sharing his sight, hearing, and awareness of his body. “Begin.”

Mana surged through Dink’s body, shredding apart his flesh in its wake. He briefly lost consciousness upon opening the Atonement spirit gate. When his thoughts returned, he became aware of multi-tone otherworldly shrieking. It came from him struggling to endure the intense agony of having his body torn apart from the inside out. Only to be instantly mended by the true dragon residing inside his soul.

The wisps rising from his body had become cold flames. The black particles floating away from his flesh changed into a red aura formed of blood. His broken body was concealed by the shadows hugging his form.

Moving in a trance, Dink shot forward. He overtook the ring of sparks into a three-dimensional maze of bone shards. He didn’t slow as he entered among them. Holding the dragon sword in front of him, the continuous screeching changed in tone. Sonic pulses erupted from the blade in every direction, reducing the bone shards to dust as he passed.

The world returned to normal the moment he crashed to his knees at the crater entrance. The ring instantly expanded and then dispersed into specks of golden light. Banishing the remaining bone spikes merely inches away from Tahlea’s face at the top of the stairs. Her helpless expression of terror quickly changed as she sighed in relief.

Sister Eos pushed herself to her feet and looked around in confusion. Her incredible lithe half-Elf figure candidly on full display. The soldier demon carrying her was gone without a trace, and so was the death gate. Eos realised there was nothing covering her bruised and battered body. She hurriedly flung her arms across her small breasts, squishing them charmingly together.

Murkuk nonchalantly climbed to his feet and brushed himself off, suddenly free of the giant arm’s grasp. The emotions transmitted through Dink’s bond to him betrayed the true severity of his distress. He furtively glanced around the inner sanctum, lustfully locking onto Eos. She noticed his gaze and attempted to retreat but there was nowhere for her to hide. She blushed deep pink and coyly lowered her gaze in surrender.

Riva and Estra rushed passed the stunned Tahlea and Murkuk down the ruined staircase. After the destruction of the corpse explosion, it abruptly sheered off into a steep cliff. They were forced to stop and jump backward from the edge. A section of the stairs crumbled in front of them, falling into the crater containing Axion and filling the deep pit with rubble.

Tahlea shook herself out of her stupor, hurriedly joining Riva and Estra. She started patting down Riva, worriedly searching her sister-wife for signs of injury.

“Would you stop that? I’m fine. We need to see if Axion and Dink are okay,” Riva said in annoyance, swatting her hands away. Tahlea gave her a hurt look before nodding in acceptance.

“You’re right. We can wait. The probability of surviving that level of battle intact is extremely low,” Tahlea said with concern.

The pair lowered themselves to the ground into a crawling position. Murkuk swallowed back saliva when his gaze was involuntarily drawn to their enticing cleavage. Moving to their well-shaped asses as they pressed their bodies down. Eos shoulders relaxed after feeling Murkuk’s attention shift away. Riva and Tahlea were oblivious to his ogling. They carefully inched forward to peer over the edge.

“Dink!” the pair cried out in unison, voices filled with anguish.

Hearing their tone, Estra’s heart began to race in panic. She crouched down and recklessly rushed to join them at the edge. Murkuk’s ears drooped as he became aware of his magical connection to Dink at the same time as Estra. His expression became sorrowful. Estra arrived at their side and leaned over to desperately search for any sign of Dink.

Seeing Dink’s motionless figure with Wart lightly tapped against the side of his head. Dink flopped over sideways, his ruined appearance stripped of flesh, exposing bone and sinew. His bared skull grinned menacingly upward at his despairing companions. The bond formed by the magic contract was utterly silent.