The hairs along my chimera's mane bristled.

  WHOOSH.

  The blue-robed Guardian's flail split the stone steps like paper, cleaving through the temple's center. Debris rained down in chunks. Sparks flew from shattered stone. And across the room, through the dust, Raine was changing.

  What infusion does she have? Fern wondered.

  Now's not the time! Focus!

  The Guardian didn't hesitate either. It locked onto me with precision, and every instinct I had screamed one thing: run.

  I moved.

  My wings snapped downward with a sharp crack of air, and my feet slammed against the cracked floor, launching me sideways just as the flail came for my ribs. It whistled past, close enough that I felt the dark liquid dripping from it splatter across my mane.

  CLANG.

  Stone shattered. The floor cracked in spreading spiderwebs where I'd just stood. But the Guardian did not slow. It advanced, silent, fluid, and relentless. Swing after swing, the flail hunted me, arcing and twisting through pillars and stone and rubble. The damn thing moved like destruction incarnate. With every move I made, the flail followed.

  There were no openings for me to strike. No options for us to escape. My chimera strength meant nothing if I couldn't get close or get away.

  Shit, shit, shit! My thoughts blurred into raw survival. I was tracking the Guardian’s movements, barely, but even that was slipping.

  Then my back hit the wall. Cold stone pressed against my wings.

  The Guardian stopped.

  It lifted the flail high above its hood, and dark liquid dripped onto the floor. My heart felt frozen, stuck between heartbeats.

  Fern!

  Got it!

  The black sword in Fern's snake mouth surged forward as he wrapped over my left shoulder defensively. I raised Lightcutter in my right hand and pressed the blade against the cursed blade Fern held. Together we braced for the flail.

  It came down on us like a falling star.

  I angled the cross of our blades to meet the Guardian’s weapon.

  CLANK.

  The force cracked down through my arms like lightning, my chest like thunder, down my bones like hot liquid, and into the already-broken floor beneath us. My teeth rattled so hard I tasted blood. Every muscle screamed, trying to keep myself from being crushed.

  The Guardian pressed down, its empty hood inches from my face. I could smell rot and ancient death pouring from within.

  Fuck! I can't hold this much longer! I growled my thoughts.

  Look! he shouted.

  A streak of gray mist, dense and fast, slammed into the side of the Guardian's skull sending the creature stumbling sideways. The flail dropped to the floor with a crash that shook dust from the ceiling.

  I gasped for breath, legs shaking, sweat pouring down my transformed face.

  And then I saw her.

  The gray mist hovered in front of me, curling, moving, and alive. It shifted and condensed, taking shape. The shape of a woman.

  Raine’s body shimmered gray with blue and purple streaks of lightning pulsing like veins of a storm. She was like a thundercloud trying to wear a human shape. Mist clung around her skin like a thin shawl. She hovered, supported by a cloud that formed under her legs. Raine’s hair floated around her face, flickering between ash-brown and silver-violet like heat lightning. Then, I glimpsed her eyes. They glowed brightly, storm-colored. They watched with discernment at everything and nothing at once.

  The Guardian rose, and grabbed its weapon, scraping the flail up into its hand.

  "Raine," I breathed.

  She didn't answer. She just lifted one hand, with fingers that crackled with threads of electricity—and pointed straight at the Guardian.

  What... What infusion is that? Fern said softly.

  I think... that's the Ala infusion, I replied. I read about it after the mage assault. She bonded with a wind demon. A lady of storms.

  Impressive, Fern said with more admiration.

  The Guardian roared and the two charged at each other.

  Thunder echoed in the temple. The whole room shook so violently that bits of the glowing star-crystals from the ceiling cracked and fell like luminescent rain.

  Raine flowed around the Guardian's attacks, dodging with grace. She struck with fists of condensed stormcloud, followed by a bolt of lightning that crackled from knuckles.

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  The Guardian absorbed it though, its robe billowing with each impact, but never tearing.

  They were locked in a violent stalemate—her dodging every crushing blow, him tanking every strike from her storm fists.

  I saw my opening as Raine parried another massive swing, the flail going wide.

  I flew in, Lightcutter gripped in my right hand, Fern coiled over my shoulder with the cursed sword ready. I aimed for the Guardian's ankles—if I could cripple its movement, we could turn this fight.

  My dagger struck first, biting deep into what felt like stone wrapped in cloth. It wasn’t until Fern cut with the cursed sword that hot black blood erupted from the wound, spraying across my face and into my eyes, blinding me instantly.

  Fuck!

  I lost all balance and momentum. My shoulder slammed into one of the temple's pillars with a crack. Stones fell from above narrowly crushing my skull. I heard my dagger slide across the floor with a metallic scrape. But through the burning blood in my eyes, I heard the Guardian screech—our attack had wounded it.

  I wiped desperately at my face, just in time to see Raine unleashing a barrage of strikes on the Guardian's faceless hood, each hit accompanied by thunder and lightning.

  She's so cool! Fern shouted in my head.

  Stay focused! I thought, pushing myself up and holding my dislocated shoulder.

  "Ah!" Raine's scream cut through the rolling thunder.

  I spun to see a third arm, skeletal, long and thin, had emerged from beneath the Guardian's robe. Its bony fingers wrapped around Raine’s throat, lifting her off the ground. Her body flickered, struggling to stay in Third Form.

  “Raine!” Fern yelped through his snake mouth, sword still gripped between his teeth.

  "Shit," I cursed.

  I spread my wings and flew towards them. Fern’s snake body shot forward past my shoulder, and swung cleanly as we grabbed Raine. The blade severed the Guardian’s third arm.

  As I held Raine, agonizing electricity shot through my entire body. Every muscle locked up. My wings seized, and we both crashed into the ground. The impact sent dust and stone everywhere. When I rolled over I looked for Raine.

  “Are you okay?" I called out to the dust cloud that separated us, coughing as I stood back up.

  "Hah... pay... attention..." she gasped between labored breaths.

  Behind me, the Guardian roared.

  More arms emerged from beneath the robe. Four, five, six arms, all skeletal, swayed with an unsettling way like a puppeteer’s hands, ready to grab me.

  "Fern, we need to go all out," I said. I closed my eyes for a moment and remembered how to call upon the deepest rage the Chimera held.

  I drew quick breaths through my nose, visualizing energy flowing through every vein back to my heart. I focused on an emotion. Rage. Primal fury, animal instinct, and pack protection. The Chimera's ancient rage merged with mine until I felt the bloodlust in every cell.

  Kill. Survive. Protect.

  My muscles tightened, Fern hissed, ready to strike, and I lunged.

  The impact was catastrophic. I slashed with my claws while Fern deflected the flail with the cursed sword. The extra arms struck from every angle—I took hits to my ribs, claws at my wings, and shots to my legs. My fangs found what I thought was flesh beneath the robe, bit down with all the preassure my jaw could manage, and tore mercilessly. The Guardian's body felt wrong, like biting into stone wrapped in meat. I could feel my fangs break against its flesh.

  Fern continued to parry desperately, getting a few hits in, himself during small openings. Sparks flew as weapons met and bounced apart, and the Guardian continued to flail about with me hanging on. We crashed through pillars, sending shockwaves and cracks through my bones.

  Finally, we separated. The Guardian fell back against a broken pillar, and I had collapsed to my knees against another one. My Third Form then fell from me. My body shrank, fur receded, and my wings folded into nothing. I was human again. Weak again.

  That's when I saw what the Guardian had done. Both my legs were twisted wrong. My ankles were cut and every joint, every ligament from my torso down had been either cut, broken, or twisted. Everything I needed for movement it had targeted. We'd been thinking of the same strategy—immobilize each other.

  But the Guardian had won.

  Get up, Erik! It's regenerating! Fern screamed in panic.

  I looked up. The Guardian was already twisting its broken legs and dangeling arms back into position. Its bones cracked and set themselves back into place as it was preparing to finish us. Across the room, Raine had passed out, also losing her Third Form.

  This can't be it. I thought.

  But my body wouldn't move. Nothing would.

  I heard the rumbling of the battle above and wondered if I would die here without anyone knowing. I shook my head, and channeled the last bit of energy I had into one desperate call.

  “HELP!!!!!” I yelled. As loud as I could, forcing every drop left from the Chimera into my vocal chords. My voice echoed across the temple room.

  The Guardian tilted its hood, waiting. Then, the echoes stopped, and for a moment, there was perfect silence.

  Then the ceiling cracked. I looked up and—

  CRASH.

  Stone, debris, and hundreds of white sparkling star-crystals exploded downward. A massive chunk of ceiling fell between me and the Guardian, and dust filled the air.

  Through the haze, six figures landed in front of me.

  Mel, Silas, Tevin, Sora, Galina, and Waelid.

  Mel stood imposing in her Third Form, her face split into a grotesque grin, showing far too many teeth. The Pangobadger had a lot of teeth, notoriously.

  "Need a hand, mosshead?” She said.

  I let out a broken laugh that turned into a cough, then a laugh again. Relief flooded through me so hard I almost cried.

  "You guys got this?" I managed weakly.

  Silas knelt beside me, his mechanical arm and brain already working. He was picking up the fallen star-crystals with care. His eyes gleamed with a manic inventor's joy. "Star-clear quartz," he whispered. "With these? The fight is already won.”

  He called out to Mel, Waelid, and Galina, all in their Third Forms. "Hey, freaks! Keep it busy for two minutes. I'll vaporize it."

  Mel cracked her neck, Waelid's flames danced along his wings, and Galina's black insect armor chimed as she moved. They charged without hesitation.

  The regenerating Guardian met them with its multiple arms swinging, but it was different now. My friends moved in perfect harmony—when Mel attacked high, Waelid swept low. When the Guardian focused on Galina, Mel's claws found its back. It was like I had said, when we fight as one, we always win.

  Tevin and Sora ran to Raine, carefully lifting her body, and using the Model 2 grapple gauntlets to carry her out to safety. Meanwhile, Silas ran around like a madman, gathering every crystal he could find and slotting them into ports on his mechanical arm.

  “There!” He said he was satisfied. He slammed a few of the ports down, and his arm began glowing. A brilliant orb of pure energy formed in his palm. “Ah…it’s such a shame to waste these on the Guardian… oh well!”

  "NOW! CLEAR!" he shouted.

  The three fighters scattered instantly. We’d learned to trust Silas's weapons.

  The Guardian turned toward Silas and the growing bright orb now raised at it.

  “Boom!” Silas yelled.

  The blast sucked every sound from the room. White light painted the world over, and when my vision returned, the Guardian stood perfectly still, a massive hole through its center, and its body blew away in small grains, like sand in the wind.

  And just like the First Floor Guardian, I saw for a brief moment what was beneath the robe and the stone, like flesh.

  A human, shirtless and ancient. With hollow eyes, and their mouth agape. The being looked at me as it turned to ash, and mouthed something before it crumbled away.

  The temple fell silent except for our ragged breathing.

  "Silas," I whispered as darkness crept in from the edges of my vision, "you genius Gearhead.”

  I didn’t hear his reply, as unconsciousness covered me like a warm blanket.