Amukelo didn't hesitate. The second he heard the clone's voice call out—"Now!"—his body moved before his mind caught up. He didn't know what the plan was, but Pao's plan worked until now. That was enough. He sprinted forward. The Abomination had stopped scraping its face.
Its massive frame stilled, eyes twitching up to meet him with that same horrible focus. Then its chest bulged.
Amukelo's steps faltered. His heart lurched. He remembered the last time it had fired that beam—how his body nearly folded from the pressure, how only Pao's magic shield saved him. That beam was death.
But he didn't stop. His breath caught in his throat, his fingers tightened on his hilt, and he forced his legs forward, one step at a time.
The beast's chest began to glow, mist swirling inward, sucked into the dense point forming just behind its ribcage.
And then, just as it leaned forward to fire—the ground beneath it glowed.
A wide red circle snapped open. Amukelo recognized it. Pao's spell. The Binding Chains. Normally it erupted in wide spirals, catching smaller enemies from all directions. But this time, it was different. It attacked only one enemy.
Dozens of thick, burning chains exploded from the ground around the abomination. They wrapped around its legs, its arms, its torso, its bloated chest. The beast roared as the beam discharged—too late, too wild—and the chains jerked its entire body downward. The beam slammed into the ground, carving a deep gash in the stone but completely missing its mark.
The abomination screamed, flailing against the burning bindings. It twisted its neck, craning back to see where the magic had come from. It found her. The real Pao. Standing behind the creature.
Its eyes lit up with a hateful glow. Its chest began to bulge again.
Amukelo saw it too late. "Pao!!" he roared, boots scraping against the stone as he tried to push forward faster, but he was still too far. His heart dropped.
Pao didn't move.
She raised her staff and cast a magic shield before her, and the shimmering blue wall solidified in front of her body just as the beam fired.
The black beam struck her shield with full force. It roared like a storm, crackling with dark energy as it slammed against the barrier. The shield shook violently, hairline cracks forming almost immediately across its surface. Pao's teeth clenched as she dug her heels into the ground, holding the spell as long as she could.
"Just how much mana does this thing have!?" she gasped, sweat rolling down her brow.
The shield cracked wider.
Her breath grew ragged.
Her legs trembled. She poured everything into the shield—every last thread of mana she could afford. She had no time to redirect, no time for portals or clones. All she could do was endure.
And then the shield shattered. Her eyes went wide.
The moment stretched like a thread pulled taut. Pao's mind raced. There was no time for another spell. No shield. No dodge.
She blinked—and the beam moved.
It jerked sideways, grazing past her like a wall of dark fire. She stumbled back, blinking in shock. The air was scorched around her, the heat burning her cheek.
She turned sharply, heart pounding, and saw Amukelo standing behind the abomination, his blade halfway through its neck. It wasn't a clean cut, not deep enough to kill—but it was enough. Enough to make the creature recoil, to stumble forward, to lose focus. The beam twisted and exploded into the wall beside them, missing Pao entirely.
She dropped to her knees, shaking. She couldn't breathe. Her hands trembled, and her heart thundered in her ears. But she wasn't dead.
"You—" the abomination growled through clenched teeth, snapping its head one hundred and eighty degrees towards Amukelo.
It opened its mouth, and from inside its mouth came out a tentacle-like tongue that ended with a spike.
Amukelo's eyes widened as he raised his sword, shifting his head in the last moment.
The spike missed his neck by an inch, but the momentum of the attack pushed him slightly off balance, forcing him to slide back across the rough stone floor. The abomination's mouth hung open, the tentacle recoiling with unnatural speed, slithering back into its throat like a serpent retreating into a pit. The creature's head then snapped back around to its front with a bone-crunching twist, completely unfazed.
Pao's spells followed. She cast streams of pressurized water sharpened like blades, freezing into spikes mid-air, bursts of scalding mist that hissed as they struck the creature's skin. But the abomination's magic shield appeared instantly. A dull shimmer of protective energy surrounded it, absorbing the strikes and scattering the weaker ones like pebbles tossed at glass.
Amukelo landed in a crouch, his feet skidding slightly. He exhaled, pushed back up, and rushed again. His blade came down in a fast arc, striking the magic shield once more. A visible crack spidered across it from the impact. He gritted his teeth. He backed off just as Pao shouted, "Good! Continue striking, it's weakening!"
He nodded and came around from the side, dodging a swipe of the abomination's long arm. Another spike shot from its mouth again, this time snapping to the side mid-flight to try and catch him as he turned. But Amukelo twisted his body, ducking low, and the spike cracked against the stone behind him.
More spells rained down from Pao—some striking true, some deflecting—but she wasn't holding back. Yet every time the abomination staggered or flinched, it seemed… calm. It wasn't like before, when its mask of composure cracked and it lashed out with anger. Now its movements were measured, its glowing red eyes tracking everything in silence.
Amukelo kept moving. Every time he struck, more cracks formed. Pao's spells followed like clockwork. Every time the abomination went for her, she cast a shield.
Amukelo's breath was getting heavier. His sword arm ached. But the thing just watched him. Not like a predator desperate to kill, but like something waiting.
He narrowed his eyes. "Pao!" he called, still watching the creature's center. "Something's not right!"
Pao, panting, still casting, looked at him through her sweat-covered brow. "What do you mean?"
"It's—too calm. It's letting us hit it now. It's like—like it doesn't care."
And that's when he saw it—just for a flicker of a second.
The shadow beneath the creature shifted.
Not from movement, but displacement.
"PAO!" Amukelo's scream echoed through the chamber. "BELOW YOU!"
She twisted at the last possible second, eyes wide. The ground beneath her ruptured, and with a wet, sickening sound, a tentacle-spike—long, black, barbed and burning with dark mist—erupted from beneath. It came at an angle, perfectly aimed.
It should have gone through her heart.
Instead, it skewered through the space between her chest and shoulder. Pao let out a painful scream.
Her voice broke through the clamor of battle. Her legs buckled as the spike punched through her body. Her staff slipped from her fingers.
Amukelo's scream followed next. "PAO!!"