“What the fuck?” Ranvir grunted, pushing to his feet. For a moment, his vision doubled, and the crussor appeared to split in two, before converging into one charging monstrosity. He reached for Amanaris, but he had to drag mana by the hair, screaming and kicking.

If it wasn’t for the crust slowing the creature down, Ranvir wouldn’t have gotten out of the way in time. He stumbled on the stone, as the crussor fell into a roll to stop from crashing over the edge and revert its transform. Ranvir, still dragging sand mana forth by the trickle and drip, heaved on Persistence as well.

Somehow, he pushed the pain away and get both feet under him. Crusts grew over the crussor’s right eye, the mucus solidifying at increasing speeds. Ranvir fed power into Sandstorm Rage, building a twister of power as his body grew tougher and stronger.

The crussor hesitated, and he sensed its primitive tether-sense taste of Ranvir’s native presence. With more confidence, the creature straightened its one remaining arm and bellowed to the skies. Enough water had run from it that blood was now running more freely than saltwater.

“I have to stall it,” Ranvir muttered between breaths. His mind was weighed down with lead, moving sluggishly, if at all. Weights with spikes in them, judging from the rapidly building headache. “Circle to the right,” he told himself, forcing his brain to function through the pain.

And he did as instructed, keeping the creature’s lost limb between himself and it. The crussor did not seem afraid of him, not any longer. It’d had sensed how half-assed his Ability was.

Ranvir wanted the creature to be dead, but it honestly wasn’t a surprise that it had survived. The creature averaged the power of a Tier 15 braced. Ranvir strike might’ve been devastating, even in relation to Tier 15, but it was still well within their means.

The creature lurched forwards, stones cracking off its body into powder as it moved. It was too slow. Ranvir rolled out of the way. Space predicted its path near-perfectly. Space collapsed as Ranvir drove a fist towards its throat. Stone cracked, throwing up powder as the crust shattered.

Bellowing, the crussor lashed out, not with its remaining limb, but with its head. Though, its face looked similar to a turtle’s for a reason. The serrated beak snapped closed around his upper arm. It jerked Ranvir off his feet, blood spurting into the air from the saw teeth.

Groaning, Ranvir reached for space, fully hardening it. Legs and arms froze on the spot. The crussor attempted to overcome his power, but lacked the immediate impact. In moments, he started getting dizzy. Chest convulsing, Ranvir let go of his chest, letting his shoulders and hips puck up the slack as he breathed deeply.

The crussor attempted to extricate its mouth, but the serrated beak was caught in the flesh of his arms and couldn’t get out so easily. Their eyes met over his caught limb. The crust had fallen away from its eye, stone still growing around the other. Tension of strained muscles, fibrillating into visibility underneath the creature’s leathery throat, was clear.

Ranvir’s eyes twitched as he focused on its beady gaze. He moved his free arm, letting it go of the hold as well. He had little space to move with, he couldn’t reach it from his current position.

Expanding his Wings fully, Ranvir locked the beast in place. Space hardened all around the crussor in an instant. His eyes glowed fiercely in the reflected light of its black eyes. A ram of force struck Ranvir’s prison, nearly shattering it entirely as the crussor resisted his technique.

Reinforcing the walls until lines of purple light encased the beast, Ranvir groaned in pain and threw himself forwards, loosening his hold on space. Instantly, the crussor beak crushed together, only Sandstorm Rage stopping it from snapping his arm off entirely.

Chalky, powdery stone smashed into his prison, but it held for the single moment Ranvir needed. He jammed his thumb down to the palm in the monster’s skull, the eye popping with a stomach turning squelch.

Screaming, the crussor dropped him. Its tail caught him in a smack that made the air rush in his ears. Ranvir landed knees first, rolling and twisting uncontrollably before falling off the platform.

Coughing and sputtering, he kicked to stay afloat as a scream build in his system. Flares of red so intense, overwhelming, and brilliant he couldn’t recognize them build until a throat-splitting, near-drowned, gurgling scream ripped free.

Someone grabbed him and pulled him out of the water before gasping at the sight of him.

“I came as quickly as I could,” Amalia said, for once looking bedraggled and wet herself. Her hair matted to her cheeks and neck emphasized her slender nature. To Ranvir she suddenly looked much younger, of an age with him if not younger still. She could’ve fit right in amongst a group of first-years at the academy. “Is that your bone?”

“Where’s the crussor?” Ranvir hissed. He used Persistence like a club, hammering down the pain and hysteria to regain control.

“It fell over the side,” Amalia replied. “But the mercenaries are getting close. We need to get away.”

“We can’t get away until it’s dead,” Ranvir said. Groaning, he sat up. For a moment, the plateau turned entirely on its side and he would’ve slid off if not for Amalia’s supporting hand. World continued tilting around Ranvir, trying to jostle the food in his stomach into his throat. Stone cracked as a heavily clawed, leathery appendage slammed into it. “If we run, it’ll track us. The mercenaries follow and kill whoever’s left over.”

Amalia gave him a pinched look. “And presumably they’ll wait with their attacks until both of you are so injured that you cannot fight?”

“Of course,” Ranvir groaned. “Now, go hide. I’ll need you to pull me out once I kill this thing.”

“Men,” Amalia said, rolling her eyes.

Ranvir just grinned and spat blood onto the ground. “I could probably use a little insight if you got it, Latresekt.”

“I’ve got insight a plenty,” Latresekt replied, a low growl buzzing in its throat. “But it doesn’t come for free.”

“Is now really the time?”

“Swear that you will make a bargain.”

“I swear we will strike a deal as soon as our lives aren’t threatened.”

“That will do,” Latresekt replied. “Send your tether-sense as deep into the fold as you can get it.”

Ranvir hesitated, but decided against arguing with the spirit. It was both their lives at stake. If he questioned Latresekt at every turn, he would just get eaten. Unspooling his tether-sense, Ranvir cast it deep into the waters of the fold. At first, he tried to keep it from absorbing or giving too much information, but in his exhausted state, it didn’t get very far.

“Let go,” Latresekt confirmed, as enough of the crussor’s crust converted to mucus to throw it onto the stone. Ranvir did. Throwing it into the depths, his senses brushed over a dozen creatures in seconds. A spasm ran through his body and spirit at every touch, but he fought on. “That’s enough. Give all of your sand mana to the Storm Locust to hold.”

“But I’ll be without defense,” Ranvir said. Despite arguing, he still followed Latresekt’s orders. “You better not get me killed.”

“If I do, then you know it will be with style!” Latresekt howled.

His left arm, currently his only arm, started buzzing as mana flowed into it. His transfer wasn’t perfect, but it was all he could manage at the current moment. Immediately, his headache vanished, allowing Persistence to gain a foothold against his arm. Ranvir’s mind cleared slightly, allowing him to notice the crust cracking off the crussor’s side.

Somehow, it had avoided falling entirely into the water, and the stone had dried entirely. Blood and a darker, thicker substance flowed down its busted eye. The crussor let out another harrowing bellow as the stone rose into the air.

“Deflect it.”

Ranvir with all of his Disciplines extended to full range. He could harden space, but that put his will directly against the creature’s. Redirection lines were unreliable. Ranvir picked a point on the outside of his Dagger and drew space together as much as he could. The crussor’s cocked its head, unable to detect what he’d done.

The fully dry part of the crussor didn’t seem large, except the creature was multiple times bigger than a human. Despite it only being the plating on one side, both stones were over an inch thick and bigger than Ranvir’s torso. They weren’t exceptionally fast, but they were both heavy.

The collapsed space was only as big as Ranvir’s palm. But the left stone grazing it was enough. It sped up suddenly, despite the crussor’s control, veering directly into the other stone.

Both shattered and broke into crumbles before reaching him. Ranvir let out a loud laugh. He could see Mercy’s Redoubt gathering on another platform, just far enough away that they wouldn’t catch the monster’s attention.

“It’s over, then!” He cried at the top of his lungs, opening his arms.

“Wrap yourself in space in five.”

Ranvir blinked, casting about, trying to figure out what Latresekt had sensed that he hadn’t.

“Four.”

Sighing, Ranvir focused on his Flesh, letting Veil and Dagger collapse into his spirit.

“Three.”

The crussor charged one last time, swaying back and forth with each crippled lunge forward.

“Two.”

Ranvir primed the space, but he couldn’t find what Latresekt had seen. The crussor lurched forwards, chunks of stone throwing it into the air, arm outstretched, beaked horror, mouth open and hungry.

“One.”

Down, Ranvir realized with a start as he disappeared within a man-sized fold. His senses extended downwards, glimpsing something rushing towards the surface. Something big.

“Now!”

Ranvir disappeared as the new monster struck the platform. He got a dozen meters before emerging to reorient. A serpent, the length and width of the potragos, had burst into the air, catching the crussor in its maw. Varumgándr? The idea struck him as hilarious a moment later.

Despite the size difference, Ranvir’s senses told him it wasn’t actually that much stronger. But it also wasn’t suffering heavy injuries.

Ranvir lay on the ground, looking around. Speaking of heavy injuries. “Did I just pass out?” he asked himself.

“You did,” Amalia answered, kneeling down next to him. “Now, please explain how we’re going to escape this deathtrap you’ve created. Did we really need another monster?”

“Sick Loce on Mercy’s Redoubt. Make them bleed.”

Ranvir raised a hand towards the company, who was hesitantly keeping a distance from the new monster, who was tearing into its meal. Despite the serpent’s meal, he sensed its attention on him. The dessert. “Storm Locust, attack.”

All the pent up energy Loce had stored away since the start of the fight released. A true locust swarm burst from Ranvir’s arm. Insects in the millions filling the air with mana, buzzing, and chirping.

Despite giving the mana to Loce, it had still lived within Ranvir and the sudden departure of so much power felt similar to throwing up. It also had a similar effect on him, the heaving sensation sending his head swimming directly into dreamland.