The last kraken fell, draining the last of Myrsvai’s mana. Suta shook a tentacle frantically until loot fell out.

  “Do you need a rest?” Myrsvai asked.

  Suta shook his head. “Boon.”

  The Vile Fiend’s boon had been incredibly beneficial. Normally, Suta would have needed to rest at least once over a few floors. When they had first entered the Ocean, after the cathkabel fortress and the ordeal with Ligala Lepis, Suta had badly needed to regenerate. Now, he was ready to keep fighting, even if Myrsvai wasn’t. Part of it was also reaching level 60 where Suta no longer required a constant stream of mana to remain summoned.

  Myrsvai crouched. “Are you still happy with the plan?”

  Suta grabbed a gauntlet from the bag and nodded. “Good plan.”

  “You thought of it.” He stood and stretched his leg. There were plenty of frustrations with a prosthetic leg, but at least it never got tired or sore. If he used some of the mana batteries he had gathered, he could work with Potirantoma to build a better leg that would never have issues again.

  “My mana should be back before we start. Considering the time Sloswen will spend answering our question, I believe we will be set.”

  Suta hurried to the stairs and wobbled on the edge. “Go?”

  “Yes.” Myrsvai gestured with the end of his staff. “Go. See you in a moment.”

  The familiar leapt into the black doorway as Myrsvai carefully took each step. It was a shame to throw away a master quality gauntlet, but at least it had been looted as part of a pair. They would still have the right hand if something in the plan went wrong.

  He stepped into the void nexus and soon found himself in the colorful, domed arena. The boss stood on the other side with a long mace resting on his shoulder. The fish nodded. Myrsvai nodded back and redirected Suta’s sight before the familiar tried to leap into action.

  “Myrsvai Ryllsion. You have done well making it this far. A true talent of the Abyss.” The water barely shifted before Sloswen appeared directly at his side.

  Suta lifted his hands, ready to fight, but a gentle tap with the staff calmed the familiar down.

  “Thank you, Lord Sloswen.” Myrsvai bowed his head. “I look forward to this next battle.”

  “Chaudius does as well. Please, ask your question. We will begin the battle soon.” The god of the Ocean stared straight at Myrsvai. His yellow pupils were like miniature suns.

  “I have spent time thinking about this moment.” Myrsvai firmly planted his staff on the ground. “How did Owin become a hero?”

  “Hm.” Sloswen crossed his arms. “A complicated question, and a complicated answer.”

  ***

  Owin watched Myrsvai and Sloswen talk, but he couldn’t hear a word they were saying. He figured if he ran over, he would be swiftly thrown out of the dungeon, back onto the sandbar outside.

  Owin poked Vondaire’s leg. “What do you think he’s asking about?”

  “You know the Maimed Magus better than I do.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Neither do I.”

  “Oh,” Shade said, waving his arms. “I have a guess.”

  “I cannot wait to hear this,” Vondaire said sarcastically.

  “Good.” Shade put his arm on Vondaire’s shoulder. “This is why we’re going to be best friends. What was your name again?”

  Owin stood up and gave Shade a look.

  The skeleton moved his arm. “I would guess that he’s asking about . . . Wow. I actually don’t have a guess. Maybe he’s asking about . . . Nope. Nothing.”

  Myrsvai and Suta both stared up at Sloswen, listening with intense focus to whatever story the god was telling. Owin desperately wished to hear that story, even if he didn’t know what it was about.

  “Your eyes are weird,” Shade said. He reached over to poke Vondaire’s cheek, but the umbra vanished, reappearing on Owin’s left side.

  “Your familiar is unique,” Vondaire said. The umbra had a new spectral kunai in his hand. “What happens when he dies?”

  “Oh, I can answer that,” Shade said. “I end up in a box, which isn’t normally comfortable, but it’s even less comfortable now that I started using it to store things. It’s like a magical closet. A really inconvenient closet that I also use as a room.”

  Owin sighed.

  “You said you would stop doing that.” Shade sat on the ground beside Owin. “We had a deal.”

  “Not really.”

  Shade shrugged. “We’re Shard Heroes now. We can sigh all we want.”

  “We?” Vondaire asked.

  “Yeah,” Owin said quickly. “We’re a team. But, what was all that? Where did you learn to do all of those things?”

  “What things? Oh, you mean the things I did that helped us win the battle? Those things? It turns out every piece of clothing I gained was a sign that I also gained an ability.” He held up his hands. “Not the glove and gauntlet, obviously. You guys gave me these. I guess the gauntlet gave me the stun, but it’s not the same thing. You know that, right?”

  “Yes, Shade.”

  “Well, I can use a Withered Shield, which is apparently like a normal shield but, uh, dusty.” He leaned his head back and opened his index. “There’s also one that just says Withered Abilities, but it just gives me some of the abilities and spells of the class I’m given.”

  “And you were a knight,” Owin said.

  “I was. Yes. Big, strong knight. Now, I’m a . . .” His eyes sockets narrowed as he focused back on his index. “Assassin, I believe. No . . . Yes.”

  Vondaire spun a kunai around his finger. He kept his eyes on Sloswen, far off in the distance. “Is there any way to control your class?”

  “No. Randomly assigned when I pop into existence. Poof, you’re a soldier. Wham, assassin. That kind of thing.”

  “Do you ever get annoyed of this?” Vondaire asked.

  “Of what?” Shade asked.

  Owin placed both hands on top of his head. “Yes.”

  “Oh, you’re asking him. I’m here too, you know.” Shade copied Owin with his hands on top of his head. “I can’t wait until we’re all best friends.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Owin rolled his eyes.

  ***

  “Thank you,” Myrsvai said.

  Sloswen bowed, just slightly. “Now, prepare yourself. Chaudius is ready.” The god vanished as quickly as he had appeared.

  “Are you ready?” Myrsvai asked quietly.

  “Mana?”

  “It’s back. Do you think you can find them again?”

  Suta nodded and smashed his fists together. “Waiting.”

  “Perfect.”

  Myrsvai strode forward as abyssal fire gathered around his staff. Resummoning was a strategy for bringing demons under one’s control. If a magus was interested in taming a powerful demon, one too powerful to fight, the only other options were to befriend it, which could be impossible with something like a frantic demon, or to resummon it and give it the chaos it wanted. Befriend it with blood.

  His goal wasn’t to tame or befriend any new demons, but the blood and frantic demons from their previous boss fights were already waiting to be resummoned, eager with the promise of combat. The boss fight on the ninth floor against the sea priest had gotten a few of Suta’s demons killed, but that was fine. Blood demons relished in the opportunity to use their comrades’ blood in combat.

  Chaudius, the massive cetanthro boss, walked to the center of the arena. He flashed with luminous energy and summoned his own fish-like familiar.

  Luminous against Abyssal. The demons were going to enjoy ripping apart anything related to Elysium.

  Myrsvai bowed to Chaudius, even as abyssal fire raged on the end of his staff. “I look forward to this battle.”

  Chaudius nodded and shifted his mace from his shoulder.

  Suta’s hands raged with abyssal fire. The violet flames danced over the master quality gauntlet still held tight in his hand.

  “Step one,” Myrsvai said.

  Suta nodded and smashed his fists together. A portal opened on the floor in front of him.

  At the same time, Myrsvai hit his staff on the tiled floor, opening his own portal. He could feel the frantic demons waiting, ready to surge through the portal. As long as he could hold out his mana for long enough to injure the boss, step two of the plan would be an easy success. No buffs, no spells. He only needed to stay out of combat and let the demons do their jobs.

  Chaudius and his familiar ignited with luminous fire. The boss’s weapon glowed with Luminous Surge. He knew what was coming. He had to.

  The frantic demons emerged first, clawing furiously as they pulled themselves from the portal. Aulopi, Chaudius’s familiar, shot a beam of luminous energy, piercing a frantic demon through the heart as soon as it emerged.

  Suta’s blood demons leapt from their portals, soaring above the arena. One cut another’s throat, spilling blood into the water. It pointed, sending a crimson streak like an arrow into the injured frantic demon. Its skin knitted immediately, bringing it back to life.

  The entire arena immediately fell into chaos. Suta retreated to Myrsvai’s side.

  Four blood demons and five frantic demons was the most they could manage. For now. After another dozen levels, he would be able to double the amount of summons. If he focused on getting his wisdom up, he could raise that number even higher.

  The nine demons rushed Chaudius and Aulopi. It was obviously a losing fight for the Abyss. Chaudius’s first attack with the mace took the head completely off a frantic demon, causing far too much damage for a blood demon to ever heal.

  Buffs and spells flashed off Aulopi as Chaudius fought all the frantic demons at once. Blood from everyone quickly clouded the center of the arena. Blood demons cut themselves and used their magic for weapons, healing, and even poisoning. It was difficult to tell how much they were helping or hurting the frantic demons. Even while they healed, they also poisoned the mad creatures from the Cackling Wasteland.

  “It is still going according to our plan,” Myrsvai said. It was, perhaps, a little messier than he had hoped.

  “Bloody,” Suta said.

  “Too much, I think. Are you certain you are ready?”

  “Ready.” The familiar bumped Myrsvai’s prosthetic leg with his fist. “Shard Hero.”

  “Soon, Suta. We will be soon.”

  ***

  Owin had never seen anything like it. Chaudius and Aulopi were constantly using spells and abilities, trying to keep the demons from fully swarming them. Even attacks that looked like they should kill didn’t stop the creatures on either side. A terrifying, long-limbed frantic demon raked its claws over Chaudius’s head, nearly spilling the boss’s brains out, but the cetanthro fully repaired itself.

  Good thing Owin had split him in half. If he had kept going for the head, he likely would have lost.

  Chaudius and Aulopi tore holes through the demons. The only two that had been killed had taken a fully charged luminous mace to the skull, which apparently was far too much damage to heal. Things like Flare Burst and other pinpoint luminous attacks that put holes through the demons or boiled their skin were still healed by the blood demons, who didn’t get as close. They continued shooting lances of blood from a safe distance and only swarmed close to interrupt a spell.

  How would Owin ever fight an abyssal magus? Was Myrsvai especially talented or was this just how they all fought?

  “He couldn’t have tamed that many,” Vondaire said.

  “He did not. They have been risking their own lives by bringing untamed demons from two different realms of the Abyss,” Sloswen said. The god had been silent through the fight. He watched with interest and never flinched when his champion was injured.

  Owin didn’t think he could do it. He knew he would react if Suta or Myrsvai were injured, but with how they were fighting now, he wasn’t sure there was a risk. Not yet, at least.

  Chaudius flashed once, then fully glowed with luminous energy. Four blood lances pierced Aulopi at the same time, immediately killing the familiar. Whatever buff Aulopi had passed on didn’t fade as the familiar vanished.

  Chaudius bashed his shield into a frantic demon, launching it backward. He let their claws scrape on his armor as he moved quickly, tearing through the last of the frantic demons with his luminous mace.

  If Owin had been a demon, or was just weak to luminous damage, he would have had a worse time in the fight. That much was obvious. The luminous mace truly tore through the demons.

  That also meant if Suta had to get close, he would be weak to the attacks as well. Owin balled his hand into a fist. Shade had his hand on Owin’s shoulder and squeezed.

  Chaudius used his shield to cut the last frantic demon in half, much like Owin had recently done to the cetanthro boss. He immediately turned to the four blood demons, who had started to spread out in a circle.

  Myrsvai crouched and talked to Suta. The familiar nodded vigorously.

  “What is Suta holding?” Owin asked.

  “A gauntlet. This will be interesting.”

  “A sound strategy,” Sloswen said, as if agreeing with Vondaire.

  Chaudius caught a fleeing blood demon with a strike to its knee. Blood swarmed the area, but luminous magic moved about Chaudius, acting like a shield from the abyssal attacks. He finished off one blood demon, and chased down another.

  “Did Chaudius hurt you at all?” Owin asked.

  “No. Not that I gave him a chance.”

  “But apparition damage was probably really useful.”

  The umbra smiled and spun the ghost kunai around a finger. “It certainly was.”

  Chaudius blocked a blood demon’s lance with his shield while simultaneously hitting another with Flare Burst. After the frantic demons’ attacks and the glancing blows of blood lances, Chaudius’s armor was starting to show signs of wear. The fish was still visibly uninjured after healing himself throughout the fight, while the demons were looking worse every second.

  Chaudius crushed the burning demon with his mace, then turned and smashed the glowing mace head into the ribs of another blood demon. He followed up his attack with a shield bash that caused the demon’s head to burst.

  Before long, demon corpses were spread around the arena, leaving only Myrsvai and Suta left standing against Chaudius. The magus and his familiar stood confidently in the same spot they had started.

  Owin understood why Myrsvai was used to standing back. Getting in the middle of that fight would be more dangerous than watching from afar. But what were they going to do now that their summons were dead? Vondaire and Sloswen seemed to know what was coming next, but based on Shade’s tight grip on Owin’s shoulder, the skeleton had as good of a guess as Owin did.

  Suta held both arms above his head with both hands wrapped around the gauntlet.

  “This is far more exciting than your fight,” Vondaire said.

  “Rude. I was there,” Shade said.

  “Nightmare Metamorphose,” Suta said. Abyssal flames appeared and immediately consumed the gauntlet.

  “Power 6,” Shade said quietly.

  Owin’s eyes widened.

  The ground rumbled as the abyssal flames leapt from the gauntlet to Suta, fully covering the familiar in less than a second. Chaudius apparently knew what was happening, or at least had a guess, as he sprinted forward at incredible speeds. Luminous light flared as he focused it into the end of his mace and brought the weapon down with his massive strength.

  Myrsvai didn’t flinch at all as the mace came to a stop, sending a shockwave through the water.

  Abyssal flames vanished, revealing Suta in a twisted new form. The familiar’s arms were twice as long and covered in spikes. The crystals on his head had grown considerably, now looking more like shining blue stalagmites. His feet had widened and splayed out.

  If Owin hadn’t seen the transformation take place, he would never have guessed the creature was Suta.

  Chaudius’s glowing mace had stopped an inch before crushing Suta’s head. The familiar had blocked the attack with his massive hands. Abyssal flames raged, pushing back against the luminous light.

  “Now, the real battle begins,” Sloswen said.