The two demons stood across from me. Abigor and Aym struggled to delay their encroaching death. Abigor’s body had long since stopped healing his wounds as black sludge consumed his flesh. Hordes of undead hounded his every move, attacking him without mercy or hesitation. Aym was not fairing any better. The Demonkin worms that had once been his greatest weapon had wholly turned on him. He tried shoveling them out of his chest cavity. He grabbed handful after handful of squirming worms, but Aym wasn’t fast enough. They had already begun to burrow through his skin. It was only a matter of time until the two Demons died, and they both knew it.

Aym was still panicking and screaming, but Abigor had turned despondent as his last moments drew close. He spoke with a somber voice, seemingly speaking to himself more than anyone specifically. “I was supposed to be immortal. Berith told me I would die, but I didn’t listen. The details are different… The end is the same.” Abigor’s arms drooped down to his side, falling still. He stopped trying to fight the undead and turned to me as the blows rained down on his deteriorating body. The shadow coving his body had reached his head, eating away half his face. He was a gruesome sight, but if he felt any pain, he didn’t show it. “You were right, Aurielle. To Andras and the others, I am nothing more than a disposable pawn, a brute that only knows how to fight, but I will still have the last laugh.”

I narrowed my eyes at the remark. “Tear him apart,” I mumbled. The undead around Abigor responded with animalistic roars. If the Demon wasn’t going to fight back, he would only die faster. Flames ignited in my hand as I prepared to destroy the five glyphs Irene created under his skin before he breathed his last.

Abigor chuckled at my response. He ignored the undead completely as his arm moved. He didn’t attack or defend against my undead but did something completely unexpected. He stabbed his hand into his own chest. Blood splattered to the ground as his fingers easily pierced through his decaying body and pierced his heart.

My blood turned cold as I realized what Abigor had done. Not all the glyphs on his body had been destroyed! If he died now, the connection between this realm and Envy would strengthen. With how close he was to the stable rift in Ater-Albus, it might even be enough to let Envy himself step through.

I couldn’t let that happen! We weren’t ready yet.

I moved quickly, charging towards the dying Demon. Flames roared around me. I had to incinerate him now! Even just the top layer of skin would be enough to stop the glyphs from activating.

Abigor laughed weakly as the life began to drain from his body. “You lose Aurielle.”

With those last words, the light in Abigor’s eyes faded away. Green fire engulfed him less than a second later. I burned away what little skin he had not corrupted by the black void eating him alive, but it was too late.

On Abigor’s right leg, a single glyph shone through his skin. Through the consumption of his body, attacks of the undead, and my flames, four of the five glyphs had been destroyed, but it wasn’t enough. Just one was all it took to activate the trap Berith left behind.

Abigor’s blood began to boil as the light of the glyph shone brighter and brighter. I pushed my power to its limit as I tried to incinerate his body before the glyph consumed it.

“No! No! No!” I shouted in a panic as Abigor’s body began to dissolve.

The other Demon, Aym, saw my distress and laughed. “What’s wrong, Aurielle? Things not going your way?” He asked with a mocking grin, “I guess that brute was smarter than we gave him credit for. Berith told us we would all die. It might as well be worth something. I hope Envy makes you suffer.”

“You think I’ll let you!” I shouted, swiveling to Aym with eyes wide from shock and dread. The worms under my control would have reached his brain in less than a minute, but now it looked like Aym might not give me that minute. I reached out with my hand, trying to redirect the flames under my control before he could act.

Aym just smiled at the incoming fire. His hand reached for his skull. In a moment of desperation, I commanded all the undead worms within his body. The fire bringing them back to life ignited, leaving their bodies. The flames burned bright within his body, bypassing his skin and sinking into his flesh.

The Demon froze as the fire rampaged through his body and attacked his soul directly. Pain that could not be blocked or ignored burned through his mind. The damage from the small worms giving their life was not enough to kill Aym, but it was enough to stop him for the fraction of a second I needed to close the distance between us.

The torrent of fire reached Aym before he could end his own life. Every inch of his skin burned with the sound of sizzling meat. The Demon screamed as both his body and soul suffered under the attack.

Rage fueled my actions. With all the force I could muster, I slammed my fist down atop Aym’s skull. The full strength of my enhanced body was brought to bear as the Demon was sent careening towards the ground in a shower of blood.

I was unsure if my blow killed the Demon or just injured him, but it didn’t matter. The moment Aym fell too low, a giant maw opened up. A mouth like a black void reaching into the center of the earth swallowed him whole, and he was gone. The giant serpent’s tongue flickered in satisfaction at the meal as its eyes roamed to find its next target.

I felt satisfaction at seeing the inglorious end of the Demon, but I had no time to gloat. The glyph powered by Abigor’s sacrifice grew brighter and brighter with each passing second. The entirety of the Demon’s body had dissolved now, leaving behind only the inky black sludge that had previously been devouring him. The Demon was dead, but the void was not satisfied. It could never be satisfied. Abigor was gone, but the shadow continued to expand. The temperature of the air fell dangerously cold, and even light seemed unable to escape the fate of being devoured.

The sight of the brightly glowing glyph next to the expanding mass of darkness sent a spike of electricity through my spine. “That’s… not good.”

As I spoke, the glyph activated. A sound like cracking glass echoed across the battlefield. The air around the glyph began to warp and distort. Bits of images from the demonic hellscape Envy controlled flashed in and out of sight.

I grit my teeth as I tried to think of some way to stop the imminent disaster. Even if Envy himself could not pass through this rift, several more leviathans and alphas would for sure. If they joined this battle, exhausted as we already were from fighting, our guaranteed victory would morph into a crushing defeat.

Last time, we managed when Dad entered an enlightened state and siphoned off the energy from the rift. I couldn’t rely on that type of miracle happening a second time. Even if Dad wasn’t currently supporting the army, providing them with his glyph armor, he nearly lost himself in the sea of energy and was only able to make it back through sheer chance. I knew exactly how dangerous it was to try and recreate those circumstances. No, I needed another way to siphon off the energy of the rift and I needed to do it fast.

My eyes roamed across the battlefield as I considered my options. Finally, I thought of an option. It was a fairly terrible option, but it would give us a chance. “Dom, I need your help.”

“A bit busy right now.” He shouted as an Alpha clamped its jaws around his gauntlets.

A foot came down on the Alpha’s head as Mare landed on the creature, sending it flying with a strong kick. “I’ll handle your section of the battlefield. Go,” she commanded with a huff.

Dom nodded and hurried to my side. He glanced at the forming rift between realms and the growing mass of black shadows with trepidation. “I’m assuming you have a plan?”

“Plan might be a bit of an exaggeration,” I replied hesitantly, “More like a bad idea. If I give you all the power I can muster, we should be able to dampen the spatial ripples near the rift, right? Think you can get me close enough to redirect the black void into it?”

Dom frowned as he glanced at the wriggling dark mass and then at the rift. “That’s Azreal’s talent, right? Are you sure that’s wise?”

“No, but it’s the best I can think of under these circumstances. I just need you to get me within arms reach of the rift, and I’ll handle the rest.”

Dom nodded with a grimace. “It won’t be easy, but I should be able to manage it.”

I patted Dom’s shoulder with a reassuring smile. “Good. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, but under no circumstances can you let the void touch your skin. Even with your talent, you will die.”