Autumn has never been so right in her fucking life. I worry the level of correctness may be terminal. Makes us twins in a way, I guess. There are six victims trapped in . . . whatever this is. All of them in pain. All of them blind with fear and anger. All of them trying to kill me and each other. I have no idea how this barrier blocking our view of the audience works. This is a pretty clear cut attempt on my life, so I can guess it’s meant to block any intervention from Markus. The sage who is specifically invested in me being alive and, quite literally, kicking. But revealing that I can use mana even while cuffed, all while publicly declaring myself the demon queen Lillith . . . well this would be a pretty effective way to get myself killed. If the Collector, or whoever this asshole is, wants me dead, then this could very well be sort of a tic-tac-toe style trap. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. In other words, I can’t be certain mana is a safe defense. Which means I have to try to fight these people using only mundane means.

  And they remain innocent. Which means I have to do it nonlethally, while protecting them from each other. I am bloody, bruised, and have multiple broken ribs. I didn’t sleep last night, and what I did do has already left my body weary and sore. I am in no shape to fight supernaturally mutated victims while avoiding any damage the infirmary can’t heal. If only someone had warned me that taking all those hits as some kind of sad penance was a shitty idea. If only I had resolved, before entering this arena, to stop indulging in such self-destructive behavior. Alas, I suppose I will never know what would have happened if such things had taken place. Fuck. I always like to think I’m so smart. Shame I’m such a moron.

  My body throbs as the bloodied gorilla closes in on me. I duck below his first blind swing, bobbing to the left of his second. Each time I can feel the wind displacement as his attack passes through the space I’ve just left. He is strong. Probably not as strong as my left arm, but maybe stronger than my right. I can’t take many hits like that on a good day, and it is not a good day. His left fist collides with his right palm, making a hammer he raises over his head to descend back on mine. This time I dodge right, but he follows through with the swing, losing no momentum at all as his fists move toward me. In a rush, I throw myself backward, landing on my hands and awkwardly flipping back to my feet.

  I stumble back several steps, nearly falling on my ass. That was a move pulled off with sheer force and zero technique. Just as I am steadying myself, preparing for a new attack from the gorilla, one of the vultures dives at me. Six sets of talons wrestle each other for a chance at my throat. I hold my right arm up and hear the sickening snapping of claws failing to dig into the steel they find. I catch one of the free legs by his narrow ankle and swing the bird creature into the ground. I don’t want to hurt him, but I can’t let him kill me or any of the others. A quick scan of the area reveals the gorilla is fighting the second vulture, which explains why he hasn’t chased me down yet. It doesn’t look like either is in severe danger of immediate death. All of them seem to be in a blind rage. None are used to their new bodies yet and all seem to be attacking aimlessly and with no particular goal. Just, violence.

  I spot the strange boar man attempting to fight off both panther creatures. One of his hind legs is being torn apart by the tabby while the calico goes for his throat. Fuck. I can’t hesitate. I sprint toward the three with everything I have, throwing myself into the calico with my right shoulder, knocking her away. I take a tusk to my side for the trouble, the boar failing to appreciate my efforts, apparently. I grunt in pain as I roll away. As soon as I am on my back the tabby pounces on me. I catch it with my feet and roll backward, extending my legs as I do to throw him off of me. I use the momentum to then jump up and forward, landing back on my feet. Again I am unstable, the move I’ve stolen from kung fu movies failing to translate gracefully when forced by strength alone.

  I barely get to enjoy my time on my feet, as the calico has recovered and is on me again, claws tearing into my back and teeth nearly sinking into my neck. I twist uncomfortably as we both fall back to the ground, forcing my steel arm into her mouth and punching her in the gut with my left. I have to pull my punches or do more damage than I am willing to live with. I won’t repeat the mistakes of my first visit to the Radiant Woods. I won’t kill someone for being the Collector’s victim. While I’m still trying to shake off the panther, one of the vultures finds us both. It’s on my right and I don’t have a free arm to fight it off. I put all my strength into rolling the cat off of me, but she has my arm in a vise grip. The armor I absolutely can’t take off is giving her something to hang onto. As a result, I roll with her. Now with the panther on her back, my arm stuck between bleeding teeth, and the vulture’s talons finding only dirt, I look up to find the gorilla.

  His fist is swinging down at me like a sledgehammer, and I can’t dodge. I’m forced to use my left arm to block. The impact forces a scream from my lips and blood splatters from my mouth into the fur of my feline opponent. Rather than going for another swing, the gorilla simply pushes hard. I may be stronger with that arm, but I am exhausted and he has far better leverage from his position. Sweat drips from me in waves as I try to push back. Below me I am wrestling to keep the cat in place. Above me I am struggling to hold up a force that wants to crush us both. Talons tear into my back, most hitting chainmail while a few cut shallow streaks into my back. Teeth sink into my left leg and my shattered ribs protest the strength I am exerting. I hear the screeching of the second vulture approaching and the boar is charging its tusks into the calico’s side.

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  I can’t do it. I tried, but I can’t save both myself and these people. Not with strength alone. I have to take the risk. I have to use magic. It’s that, or all of us die here. So I do it. I explode with force mana, trying to send every victim around me flying and force them to the ground. But even as I give up, even as I take the risk, shrieking through half a dozen sources of pain, my mana evaporates before it manages to touch any of them. Shit. He gave them back their grief. I’d thought his magic just overwrote the power taking it away, as stronger Nexus energy always does. But there was an intent behind it. I can’t use people’s grief as a weapon against them. I can only use it for them.

  I close my teeth, redirecting my mana to reinforce my muscles and skin. I start cycling mana between steel and tumor as I did last night, increasing my strength as much as I can. It is agonizing, but it is working. Tearing and healing my muscles again and again, I manage to move my left hand, grabbing the gorilla's fist with my hand and redirecting it. All his force collides with the ground. As soon as I am free from that threat I twist to my left so my back hits the floor beside the calico. I force her head to the ground with my still trapped arm while I kick the tabby in the head with my right foot, dazing him and loosening his jaw enough to free my other leg. I catch the boar by the tusk with my now free left hand and force his head to the ground. Without a moment’s hesitation, I wrap my leg around the tabby’s throat and squeeze. He struggles as I cut off his air supply.

  Meanwhile, the gorilla has recovered. Despite both vultures focusing on him and cutting deep gashes into his face and shoulder, he is swinging both fists down again, trying to crush the calico. My lower back is lifted from the ground by the struggling tabby. Only my shoulder blades still make contact, and both my hands are controlling one of the other victims. I have to let go of the boar, digging my half finished claws into the bloody ground beside me. I use this as leverage to yank myself to the side, pulling the calico with me and narrowly avoiding her head being crushed beneath the gorilla’s fists. I grip the dirt harder, pulling up this time and extracting a chunk of the stone ground. I throw it at the gorilla’s face, dazing and blinding him for a moment. My claws are split and broken, not yet formed enough for what I just forced them to do.

  Nonetheless, I wrap my bleeding fingertips around the boar’s tusk again, just as he is recovering himself enough to attack. I try to force his head down again but the increasing desperation of the air deprived tabby yanks me back and forth too unpredictably. Instead, I simply try to vault him as far as I can away from the group. With my increased strength I swing too hard, and his poorly designed tusk rips free from its face. He flies through the air too early, colliding with one of the vultures and freeing the gorilla’s attention a bit. I take a sharp, painful breath to my ribcage’s chagrin, as I worry I’ve just killed him. But both victims land and begin fighting each other, allowing me to refocus on the struggle at hand. The gorilla grabs the other vulture, furiously throwing him down at my face. I drop the tusk and manage to block any severe damage but a talon stabs straight through my hand. I wrap my fingers around his leg anyway, grimacing through the damage his other talons do to my arm.

  Finally, the tabby goes limp and I release his unconscious body, my own falling painfully to the ground. It nearly knocks the breath out of me, but I don’t lose focus. With my legs back, I plant my feet and, using every muscle in my body, do a sit up and pull the calico away from a stomp by the gorilla. I swing my left fist, vulture and all into the calico’s head, punching her twice as talons tear into her skin. Finally, her jaw loosens and I pull my arm free. I use it to grab the vulture, pulling him out of my left hand with a stinging pain and throwing him in the opposite direction of the boar. I grab the dazed panther by the scruff of his neck, using both arms to swing her into the air and a few feet away from the fight.

  Just as I do, a massive fleshy hand collides with my chest, forcing me to the ground. The gorilla, while slow, has finally landed a hit. I feel my sternum cracking and cough more blood onto his steaming hand. He leans into me, pressing me into the dirt as his nostrils flare in fury. Darkness edges into my vision. I reach my right arm out and search the ground with my right hand. The gorilla releases the pressure on me for a brief moment, only to collapse onto me with even more force. The crack widens and hot tears mix with blood on my face. Again I search until I find it. The overly long tusk of the boar. I wrap steel fingers around it, lifting it with a shaking arm and driving it deep into the gorilla’s hand, causing an animalistic screech to ring out through the arena. His arm recoils from me, allowing me to regain my feet. All the victims but the tabby are recovering now, and I have to start all over. I spit blood into the dirt and prepare to go back into the hectic fight.

  Before I get the chance, however, the ceiling of darkness evaporates, and four men hover over the arena, looking down on me. The moment this happens, the five remaining victims collapse. I desperately want to join them, but if I lose consciousness here, they’ll find my steel limbs. So, instead, I turn in place, examining the stunned crowd. As I see my illusion still in the sky, I realize that the entire fight must have been broadcast. I can only think of one thing to do. I hold a tired fist up in a sign of victory while the rest of my body sags.