It seemed unlikely that the Thunderstrike Maul would shatter the statue in one hit.

  Athtar sent an Arcane Barrage flying across the roof. The cockatrices scurried like rats, getting out of the way. The spell hit and dissipated against Revenant’s shins. The massive statue tilted its head, regarding the prince.

  Owin hopped back and forth on his feet as he swung the hammer. Before long, its head glowed with the brilliance of the sun.

  It was unlikely to kill it in one hit, but he could hit really hard. He had to try. There was a whole set of extra abilities for him to utilize.

  “Remember the fight against the spider?”

  Shade let his arms drop and stood perfectly still. “Like this?”

  “No, you idiot. I meant what I did.”

  “Get inside of it? Ew.” A warper hit Shade in the face. Before any of them could react, the skeleton vanished.

  “Oh no,” Athtar said.

  Cockatrices charged.

  “Can you still handle them?”

  The elf prince took a step back. Arcane purple moved over his body. “Not all of them.”

  “I’ll help clear them before I get the statue.” He couldn’t jump for the ceiling yet. Athtar was just a mob, but he was a mob on their side.

  Just like Kidibose in the Great Forest, Owin would do whatever he could to help keep him safe.

  He took a few deep breaths as he crouched. Moving quickly was easy enough now. But there was a stance he had seen Suta take that helped propel him while staying closer to the ground.

  Owin gently set the Thunderstrike Maul down, ensuring it didn’t release its charge. He took Suta’s crouched stance and placed his hands on the ground. Metal fingers cracked the roof tiles as Owin shifted his feet.

  “I’ll make an opening.”

  Athtar stopped backing away. “Okay.”

  Revenant took a step forward causing the entire roof to shake like it was near collapse.

  There wasn’t time to wait. Owin pushed off his back foot, shattering the tiles he had been standing on. His metal fist collided with a cockatrice’s beak. Specter blood misted into the air as Owin planted a foot, hopped, and kicked. Chitin struck a cockatrice in the face and crushed the specter’s skull.

  A few quick dodges helped Owin maneuver out of the mass of cawing mobs just as the Arcane Barrages started smashing into the encroaching horde. Their attention was torn between Athtar and Owin, which let him easily kill two more.

  The cockatrices were fast, but predictable. Their next move was always obvious. He could have kept fighting them, if Revenant hadn’t started his march. The statue’s steps were like lightning strikes of impending destruction.

  Owin fled the cockatrices and grabbed the Thunderstrike Maul. Specter blood dripped from his hand and ran over the metal shaft of the hammer.

  Purple spells continued to batter the specters, slowing their advance. Athtar took another step back as he worked on his next spell. Owin shook his attention away. The elf prince would be fine.

  And if he wasn’t . . . well, he would continue to exist in other versions of the floor.

  “Stay alive,” Owin said.

  “Where’s the skeleton?”

  “He’ll be around.” Owin took four steps and leapt, passing right overhead the cockatrices. They chirped and trilled as they snapped at the passing goblin.

  He landed on the other side of them, skidding over roof tiles. Revenant’s step crushed a section of the roof just a dozen feet away. The cathkabel statue’s eyes were still on Athtar, even as the elf prince continued attacking the cockatrices.

  “Surprise!” Shade appeared from behind Revenant’s foot, running with his arms flailing. Instead of igniting the Incandescent Blade, Shade formed his left hand into a fist. “Ready?”

  “Can you do it?”

  Shade nodded quickly. “I think I figured it out.”

  “Wait until he actually notices me. He still thinks Athtar is the bigger threat.” Owin let the statue take another step and pass right over him.

  A feathered tail made of stone swished behind. Owin frowned, watching it.

  “I forgot cathkabel have tails.”

  “Ew.” Shade ran alongside the statue’s moving foot. “I would love to discuss how disgusting they are, but we are somewhat limited on time, you know.”

  “Goblin!” Athtar shouted as he struck down the last cockatrice.

  Revenant reached his arm back, preparing the scythe for a swing that looked as though it would cut the entire floor in half.

  Owin pushed off with all his strength, sending him flying directly past Revenant. Like he had done before, he flipped and landed directly on his feet against the boundary wall. The shimmering wall didn’t budge at all. Owin gritted his teeth against the shock through his body and pushed off again. The chitin boots exploded off his feet, but before he had time to think about it, he flipped and bashed Revenant in the head with the glowing Thunderstrike Maul.

  Energy exploded from the hammer, sending Owin tumbling through the air. He bounced off the roof tiles a few times before sliding right into a shapeless specter. Mana burned away rapidly.

  Discharge filled the green slime with electricity until it popped, shooting slime into the air. Owin stood, dripping and looked at the statue.

  About half of Revenant’s head was gone, but it hadn’t stopped the statue from swinging the scythe. Luckily, Shade’s stun had stopped it halfway into the attack.

  Athtar had fallen in fear. The elf prince was looking back at Owin. “You’re alive?”

  “I’m fine.” He shook his head, tossing more slime onto the tiles.

  Revenant let his scythe arm drop and took another step. One more and he would be able to simply crush Athtar.

  “Hit him where it’s weak.” Owin bounded past the elf and smashed the hammer into Revenant’s foot. Arcane spells battered into the stone immediately after, but it wasn’t strong enough.

  “What else can we do?” Owin shouted.

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  “Block!” Shade shouted back as he attempted, and failed, at breaking stone with the Incandescent Blade. “We’re soldiers!”

  Owin flinched at the whooshing noise as Revenant lifted the scythe once again. It was like a strong wind blew through the floor. He opened his index and stared at the list of soldier abilities. There wasn’t time to learn all of them.

  “Tell me what to do!” Owin sprinted away form Revenant, over the cockatrice corpses, and skidded to a stop in front of Athtar, who whimpered a little even as he continued shooting arcane spells.

  “Reinforce!” Shade shouted.

  Owin felt the ability activate through his own arms. It flashed around him as he braced the Thunderstrike Maul shaft with both hands.

  The air exploded as Revenant swung the monstrous stone weapon.

  “Almighty Block!” Shade’s voice barely reached Owin’s ears.

  His entire vision was only the stone blade of Revenant’s scythe. It was the single biggest weapon Owin had ever seen. What was a small hammer going to do?

  Was he willing to die for a mob that couldn’t even leave the floor?

  Before he had time to contemplate further, everything exploded. Roof tiles shattered and energy thrummed through Owin. All of his remaining chitin armor turned to dust and fissures ran through his skin, leaking blood.

  Despite it all, Owin didn’t move an inch. He dropped the hammer and took a deep breath.

  Revenant held up a broken stone shaft. Remnants of the blade were scattered all over the floor, primarily stuck within bits of the numerous shapeless specters that continued their slow approach.

  Revenant crouched slowly. “Prince of elves is not the danger.” He regarded Owin. “Who are you?”

  Blood dripped from the fissures running up Owin’s left arm, dripping over his fingers and onto the shattered tiles. His right hand was in better condition. He would have to thank Althowin for that.

  “Owin,” he said quietly. He took a deep breath, reached into his bag, grabbed a health potion, and dumped it directly on his arm. He couldn’t be bothered to drink. The fissures healed, but left white scars running up his entire arm like lightning bolts.

  “Owin.” The statue stood once again. “A simple name.”

  “Shade,” Owin said with a grunt as his open wounds finished healing. “What’s your next idea?” He grabbed the Thunderstrike Maul, flipped it, and let it rest on his shoulder.

  The skeleton, who had been running away out of range of any attacks, stopped near Athtar. “I have two ideas. First, Endure should help.”

  A wave of relief washed over Owin. Any lingering pains fully faded until he felt perfect.

  “And, well, I think this other idea might have some flaws, but what is a plan without flaws? We wouldn’t know.” Shade clapped his armored hand on Athtar’s shoulder. “I believe you can do something to the statue. He does keep talking about you like you’re special. So . . .” Shade yanked Athtar to the side and shoved him.

  A warper smacked into the elf, and both vanished.

  “Shade!”

  The skeleton held up a finger. “Distraction!”

  Nothing happened. Shade opened his index. “Oh, you need to do damage to use that ability. Hurry and go hit the statue!”

  Owin didn’t wait. Shade activating the ability passed it from Owin’s body into the hammer. As long as he hit Revenant, it should activate. He crossed the gap quickly and smashed the hammer into the statue’s foot.

  Revenant was already watching Owin anyway, so his attention didn’t shift. “What do you hope to accomplish?” He formed a fist and reached back.

  Before he attacked, arcane purple illuminated the top of the statue’s head.

  The statue twitched and froze. A moment later, a purple beam erupted out of Revenant’s jaw.

  Revenant staggered and fell to one knee. Stone continued crumbling from its head as both arms went limp. As more stone crumbled, a pulsing, deep red brain appeared inside the statue’s skull. Light flashed in the flesh as a haze lifted from the broken stone.

  Owin was already running. He let the Thunderstrike Maul fall at Shade’s feet as he snatched the Incandescent Blade. His mana was lowered, but he had enough to keep the sword burning. Flames climbed up the blade as he jumped with all the speed he could muster.

  Revenant’s true form, the possessing specter, thundered around Athtar. The elf prince was on his hands and knees on top of the statue’s broken head. Blood ran from Athtar’s face. Even his eyes as he looked at Owin were red like they were filled with blood.

  Owin slashed through the haze, and when that only cut away a portion of it, he swung faster, over and over, until an experience notification finally appeared.

  0 Experience

  Owin grabbed the elf prince and jumped off the broken statue. It wasn’t his best landing, but he did his best to shield the injured elf. He set Athtar on the ground just as the elf started to vomit blood.

  “Sorry, that was a long fall,” Owin said.

  “My mana,” Athtar said breathlessly as blood dripped from his lips.

  “Burned away by the specter,” Shade said. The skeleton stared at Owin.

  “Should we?”

  Shade shrugged. “I think we’d both feel better if we did.”

  Owin handed Shade a health potion. While Athtar recovered, Owin spent a while killing warpers and shapeless specters. He lost another chunk of his mana, and was teleported a few times, before he managed to kill them all.

  By the time he was back, Athtar looked alive. Not good, but alive. His eyes were still red and his face was already showing signs of intense bruising.

  “We did it,” Athtar said. “Now we’ll need to close the portal before more can come through. Maybe I can rebuild part of what was destroyed. Restore the kingdom.” He took a deep breath. “Maybe all is not lost.”

  “Things will work out.” Owin grabbed Shade’s arm. “We’ll be right back.” He dragged the skeleton over, grabbed him, and jumped on top of what was left of Revenant. Owin pushed aside some broken stone and gestured to where the brain had been. At first, he thought it disappeared, then he noticed a shriveled, smaller brain sitting within a pocket in the stone.

  Shade crouched, pushed some stone aside, and picked up the brain. “A specter monarch brain?” His eye sockets widened. “Do you think I could fit this into my head?”

  “No, Shade. I bet Althowin can use it for something.”

  He nodded quickly. “Let me go put it in my box. I’ll keep it safe.”

  “You won’t put it in your head?”

  Shade narrowed his eye sockets. “I don’t want to promise that.”

  Owin rolled his eyes.

  Summon the Withered Shade

  Owin jumped back down and ignored Athtar’s quizzical looks. “How will you restore the kingdom?”

  “Once I can ensure no more specters will attack, I will find allies to assist. For now, I can’t say. I have a lot to figure out.”

  “How can you ensure specters won’t attack again?”

  Athtar gestured to the portal. “It needs to be closed. Possibly from the inside.”

  “Oh. We’ll close the portal,” Owin said. He had to enter it anyway to get to the next floor, so why not make it sound heroic?

  “You’ve done so much.”

  “It’s fine. We can do it.”

  Athtar looked around. “You said we, but I only see you. Where is your servant?”

  “Uh. I’ll be right back.” He walked around the roof once, just checking if there was any loot he missed. There was still a secret somewhere on the floor, so he pushed on every shingle and the boundary, hoping to find something.

  Summon the Withered Shade

  “We’re going to go close the portal,” Owin said as they approached Athtar.

  “I can’t ask you to risk your lives for me once again,” the elf prince said like their conversation hadn’t been interrupted for a few minutes.

  “Closing the portal will be easy,” Shade said. He lifted the Thunderstrike Maul, stumbled sideways, then righted himself and let the hammer rest on his shoulder. “You return to your people.”

  Athtar nodded slowly. “Thank you. I don’t understand who you are, but thank you.”

  “Be safe.” Owin started down the roof. It was a difficult walk over all the corpses, both elves and cockatrices, and over all the broken tiles. Huge footprints were left everywhere Revenant had stepped.

  Before long, they reached the base of the tower. The last of the setting sun’s light illuminated the backside, making the tower look like an ominous pillar. At the base of the tower was a doorway that led inside to the exit from the Fortress. On the outside, wrapping around, was a stone staircase in disrepair. It wasn’t so dangerous that Owin was worried, but it was missing whole sections, and other parts looked like they would crumble if touched. He simply jumped to the top of the tower, while Shade sighed and hiked his way to the top.

  “You can jump too.” Owin furrowed his brow. “I think.”

  “And look barbaric? As if.”

  They stood just before the portal. It had shifted colors after Revenant’s death, now as black as any other void nexus.

  “Are you ready?” Owin asked.

  “Ready? No, I’m Shade.” The skeleton put his hand on top of Owin’s head. “Nice job.”

  “It was good teamwork.”

  “You can just say that I’m the best.” Shade took a big step toward the portal. “Just don’t make me do all the work next time, okay?”

  “What?”

  Shade stepped through the portal and disappeared.

  “All the work?” Owin sighed and followed.