The last time Cal had stared down two monsters, they had the decency to ask him to leave before trying to pound his face in.

  These two were far less reserved, and Cal rapidly pushed himself backwards off the walkway. A ray of light pierced through the section he had been standing on.

  His maneuver made him lose sight of B, but he could still feel its power waxing and waning. The demon's power fell short of the spirit's peak, but was far more oppressive. A voice in his head screamed at him that it signified certain defeat, but he'd heard it all before and was well practiced in silencing it.

  Cal's head snapped up, and he saw the demon leaping into the air, its tendrils stretching out toward him.

  He was not a natural-born battle maniac, and he'd struggle to label himself as one even now. That being said, it was hard not to enjoy killing beasts and demons when they carried such juicy rewards.

  It was a pity that running was the sensible option.

  Cal landed in the northeastern courtyard. A few of the cages had been smashed open, but by and large they were intact. The beasts within were not pleased with his arrival, lunging at their bars to get at him. He didn't pay them much mind as the tendrils had arrived to skewer him. Cal moved to bat one away before he realized his left arm was still missing. He adapted quickly, reformatting his plan of defense on the fly.

  He stepped forward while moving his head to the side, allowing one to miss his ear by a centimeter. The next was gently nudged aside with his boot, and he pulled his shoulder back to evade the one after. A dance played out as he made additional motions, evading the last of the tendrils with as much margin as he could manage.

  While he had room for mistakes in fighting demons, he wasn't meant to, and he knew any wounds would be difficult to play off.

  Cal felt the earlier tendrils begin to make their way back to him, and he left a crater in his wake as he launched himself further north, racing toward the wall.

  His mind raced, mostly with a string of curses, but between them, he tried to figure out what he was actually going to do. The first decision he settled on was his arm. He needed it back. Basem had definitely seen him without it, but the others might not have? It was wishful thinking, but there's a difference between fighting with your metaphorical arms tied behind your back and fighting without literal arms. He was already doing one and was loath to add the other.

  Cal sighed in relief as he let the magic flow into the wound freely. His fleshy stump began to itch as he felt bone and flesh squirm into place. All things considered, he'd gotten lucky. Replacing a limb outright was much quicker than repairing damaged tissue. More expensive too, but that was a cost he was willing to bear.

  B appeared in front of him, left hand raised. Beams of light shot out of its finger, each zigzagging their way toward him.

  Was it copying the demon?

  "We could have been friends, B," Cal griped at it, weaving through the attack with deft steps. "How am I going to explain to A that I killed its cousin?"

  Cal could not be sure how much got through to it, but sowed misdirection just in case. He was not planning on killing it, but he was content enough to be a distraction. History and folklore both spoke of spirits being tied to locations, and he was betting the tower was that. Ferguson seemed to be of the same mind, and if he had any sense, he'd take it down while Cal kept B busy.

  If that failed, he'd need to go back to the drawing board. Cal strongly suspected the eventual solution would be to punch it until it stopped moving.

  His surroundings blurred, and he blinked upon realizing he was now in a cage. His cellmate unkindly roared in close proximity to him, covering him in spit.

  Cal wiped his face, flinging his hand to get rid of the rancid saliva. The boar-like beast's maw swiftly approached, and he let it get near before swaying to the side and lashing out with a kick. It caught it in the jaw, and the beast's charge saw it run into the bars.

  His senses felt muted, and he peered through the warded bars to visually confirm his whereabouts. They were the same as before. B hadn't moved him, but rather the pen and occupant. Which was a good thing, as there was another reason he was running north, and that's because the hole in the tower had been facing southward.

  In other words, no one but Basem should be able to see him.

  Cal let the magic inside him spill into his shell, filling it a tad more than usual. He could feel a pull from the bars as it tried to leech his magic. The sight of B caught his eye. It was hovering in the air, staring down at him with its hands cupped together. Even through his muted senses, Cal could feel the magic begin to build.

  The wards needed to go, and he placed his hand on the bars. A sliver of his magic wormed its way in. He didn't go too deep before unleashing the flood. The magic expanded, and with it came the sound of shattering glass. His cage groaned, the pen struggling to stay upright after losing a critical part of its integrity.

  He heard the beast behind him get back on its feet. It pawed at the ground, and Cal stepped out of the way as it barreled forward. Its heavy head snapped the bars clean off, and Cal was soon following behind it.

  The moment he stepped out of the cage, a small ball of light blinked into existence inside. It inflated like a balloon, covering the entire space. It vanished as quickly as it came, and the pit it left was cleanly cut, leaving no trace of the former enclosure.

  The sight pinged a memory, and Cal felt his blood pressure rise. Stupid Oracle and his stupid mines. The man couldn't teleport them, but he might as well have, because every time Cal tried to punch that smug smile, he found himself stepping into the range of one.

  A roar met his ears. Given what else was after him right now, it came off as more adorable than threatening.

  "You need to think this over," Cal advised the beast, who whipped around, charging him. "Ingrate. I just saved you."

  Speaking sense to a beast did not make sense, and he ran toward it. He dropped at the last second, sliding under it. Flipping onto his stomach, he pushed upwards. His back met its belly, and he made good use of its existing momentum.

  The beast's hooves left the ground, and it tumbled through the air briefly before being eviscerated by tendrils. The demon burst through the cloud of viscera, making landfall on another cage.

  Cal made a note that using beasts as projectiles was ineffective. Then again, maybe he just needed to use bigger beasts. He eyed the other enclosures, seeing a plethora of eager volunteers.

  Sadly, his gambit was not to be as the demon hurled itself toward him. Cal was prepared to bravely run further away when his surroundings blurred again.

  The disorientation hit them both, and the demon landed roughly. It got to its feet, and malevolent crimson eyes stared deeply at him.

  "Can we talk about this?" he asked the demon, who opened its maw and screeched in reply. "Yeah, that's about what I thought."

  Tendrils spread out, and Cal forced himself not to scratch his head as, instead of impaling him, they wrapped around the bars. The cage collapsed inwards as the demon made scrap of it.

  "You're giving me mixed signals here, buddy," Cal said, speaking out loud to work his way through his confusion. "First, you protect me from B's attack. Then you try to kill me. And now you're trying to run away. Pick a side, man."

  Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut, as a claw soon cleaved toward him. He was already moving when it arrived, and that was the only thing that saved him from taking a nasty hit as the claw obliterated the ground they were standing on.

  Cal flew out of the cage as the shockwave forced him back. His back hit another enclosure, and he watched as the demon attempted to close the distance.

  "About time you caught up," Cal said as an icy palm slammed down on the demon, flattening it. "Can't that thing move any faster?"

  The giant, now whole, had made its way to his side.

  "Young friend," Basem said from the relative safety of his construct. "That is quite the talent you have there."

  Cal followed his eyes and then flexed his new fingers, realizing the limb had finished regenerating.

  "It wasn't as bad as it looked," Cal said truthfully. "Where is—"

  A pillar of stone broke through the earth. It was larger than the titan, and its impact with the tower was deafening. Stone ground against marble as the structure trembled.

  "Fuck yes," Cal cheered, watching it begin to topple.

  His enthusiasm was short-lived as the tower was bathed in light. A scene reminiscent of his scuffle against the Academy's spirit played out, with the tower seeming to move in reverse and right itself.

  A second pillar emerged from the ground and joined its brother, echoing the first boom. The magic was intense, and Cal determined that it was definitely the work of someone closer to a Hand than Finger.

  His attention was torn away from it when the palm holding down the demon was shredded. The demon stood there for a moment, its eyes moving from Cal to the spirit. The giant punished its hesitation, squishing it with its remaining hand.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "Did you accomplish my objective?" Basem nearly yelled, the veneer of confidence thinning.

  Tendrils broke out, and the demon's comparatively compact form crashed into the titan, staggering it backwards.

  "How could we?" Cal complained, testing the arm by miming a punch. "You didn't tell us what it was we were meant to be looking for."

  The demon's tendrils drilled into the construct, anchoring it to the chest as it attempted to dig its way to the Adjunctor. Its first swipes excavated large chunks, but Cal noticed each one after was shallower. More tendrils sprouted from its back, intercepting the handless arms that tried to smash it.

  Cal examined it for a moment, trying to make sense of its actions. As far as he knew, its contract went unfulfilled, yet it wasn't on its way to kill Ferguson. It was also no longer at his throat, choosing Basem instead.

  A theory emerged, and Cal leaped onto the titan's arm. He ran to where one of the tendrils was embedded, and his fingers went to grasp it.

  Basem's colossus fell on its ass as the demon flung itself off it. It rolled on the ground, coming to a stop on all fours and eyeing him.

  Cal took a step forward, and its head twitched toward the tower before matching him with a step in reverse.

  "It doesn't want to fight without the spirit," Cal concluded.

  He left out the part that it didn't want to fight him specifically.

  The giant lumbered to its feet, ice creeping up its form and replacing what was broken.

  "Hold it here," Basem said authoritatively. "I shall retrieve what I've come for."

  Uh… no? Hells no. That would be horrible for his cover.

  "Are you asking me to die?" Cal asked in an incredulous tone.

  The giants' palms finished regrowing, and both were flat on the ground.

  "The Empire has hidden depths," he said, ignoring Cal's question. "Winter's Cradle!"

  Winter's what?

  The ground instantly shifted into ice, and thick walls sprang up. Faster than he could react, the cavern above was replaced by an icy dome. It spanned around forty meters in diameter and cut him off from the tower. He was not alone in here, and the roars of panicked beasts entered his ears as the chill invaded them.

  Steam was emitted from his skin as he prevented himself from freezing solid. Cal looked at the titan beside him, seeing it was lifeless and empty.

  "That son of a bitch," Cal said while kicking the stature. He regarded the demon next, seeing what he thought was perplexity. "Round 2?"

  Its response was to raise its head. Cal felt the magic begin to pool in front of its mouth. Black wisps swirled around to form a tight ball of compressed air, and Cal gathered its meaning.

  "Probably won't work," Cal lied after making rough estimates in his head. "He used most of his tank to set this up."

  It wasn't ordinary ice, that was for sure. The demon could definitely break through, but it would take more than what it was building up.

  Cal closed his eyes, parsing through what his senses told him. Between the elevated ambient magic, the demon's mere existence, the barrier saturated with Basem's power, and the ongoing tug-of-war with the tower, everything was muddy.

  Perfect.

  His hand went to his pouch. Remarkably, it had survived, and he gripped one of the cores, draining it swiftly. He went for the next, repeating the action.

  There was a pulse as the demon's attack was fired. Cal disappeared from where he had been standing, launching himself into its path. His fist punched into the mass, and his shell was shattered instantly. That didn't matter to him, as his magic forced its way inside the manifestation. The demon's resistance was late, and the magic fell apart. With its container gone, the trapped air began to expand. Cal grasped at the pieces of the broken manifestation, willing the air away from it.

  He was blasted away still, but not as forcibly as he should have been, and he stayed in one piece after hitting the dome.

  Cal brought his arm up, seeing that half his hand was gone. Flecks of black could be seen on the flesh remaining, and his other palm came up. Wind coated it, and he severed the limb completely, letting it fall to the frozen earth. A small burst of fire saw it reduced to ash.

  "Yeah, I know," Cal said to the motionless demon. "I should have let you break us out. Here's the thing."

  The ground burst as Cal sped toward it, and his newly regrown fist met the demon's claw. Its strength was superior, but it was a feint to begin with and Cal's other hand, still coated with wind, slashed upwards. A shallow cut was scored as the demon fell back.

  "I came up with a load of bullshit I'm confident about selling."

  The larger reason was that it might have broken free of its contract, which would mean it could abscond into the Waste. He kept that to himself, not wanting to give it any ideas.

  Cal extended his arms behind him, and a burst of wind sent him hurtling toward it. Tendrils whipped out, digging into the icy dome and pulling the beast out of his way. Cal's head tracked it, and he flipped, landing on the wall feet first. He exploded off of it, and once again, the demon did everything in its power not to be where he was, using its superior mobility to evade his reach.

  He halted his pursuit, and it settled on top of a cage, its tendrils suspending it in the air.

  It was faster, stronger, and a heck of a lot more durable than he was. By all rights, it shouldn't hesitate before trying to fight him.

  "We've met before," he spoke to the demon while pulling more magic from the void. It ran through his body once before feeding into his shell, causing it to thicken by the second. "I'm guessing in the hells? That's probably right. What were you, a four or a three back then? There were a ton of you. How many were left at the end? I tried to count after, but the field resembled a mudslide of entrails."

  Cal's right hand found the sack again, while the left raised a palm. A flame flickered to life over it, and he shaped it into a sphere. He drained the cores, channeling their power into the budding manifestation. That would not be enough for him, and he added in the magic from the void, splitting it between his body and the flame.

  "Do you remember when I went boom?" The sphere surged from the size of a pea to a beach ball, and Cal restrained the magic tightly, layering it as much as possible. His body began to gain that familiar feeling of fatigue as he overloaded it with magic. "Fun fact, I had to tamp it down because I was afraid I'd catch my useless teammates in the blast range."

  He funneled the magic as quickly as possible, and a headache built as he balanced both the manifestation's structure and his internal integrity. He kept his body still to avoid complications, but more than once the manifestation almost collapsed under its own weight.

  Through it all, he maintained a grin.

  "I've never actually tested how much power I can pack into these. It seemed like a waste, but I'm starting to see the appeal."

  The others would feel this. There was no avoiding that. That was fine, all part of the plan.

  "Do you think you can break it fast enough?" Cal asked the demon, whose eyes darted around the dome. "You're a smart one. Avoiding enclosed spaces with me is definitely the play, but you know you're screwed now, right?"

  Cal couldn't catch it, not in a reasonable amount of time. However, he could force its hand. It didn't want to fight him? Fine. He'll blow them all up.

  A screech reached him, and he tightened his focus as the wrongness went up a level. The surroundings flickered, and he thought it might have been B again before the familiar taint of the hells met his nose.

  Cal raised the palm overhead, loosening the restrictions he had on his size and having it slowly increase in size.

  "Tick tock, buddy."

  The screeching stopped, and the area stabilized. He was pretty sure it had tried and failed to open a rift there.

  It hunched down over the cage, and its maw opened, firing a hasty blast of wind. Cal's hand left the empty sack and met the blast, dissolving it before adding its power to his sphere.

  "Much appreciated."

  Tendrils snapped off metal bars and hurled them at him. He caught the first and bit back the grimace as his muscles strained. Using the weapon it had provided, he deflected the rest of them. His foot slid back as he braced himself from the force.

  Did this count as a spear? He was feeling the answer would be no, and dropped the thing.

  The sudden action caused his control to slip for a moment, and some heat escaped from the sphere. A cascade of miniature explosions went off as pockets of ice nearby exploded.

  "Call it a prelude," he said, while taking a long look at the dome above them.

  A decision was made, and it was the one he wanted as the demon shot toward him. Cal closed the palm, and the sphere fluctuated like a stress ball being squeezed. The already fragile manifestaion was threatening to burst, and he allowed it some relief by poking two holes in it. Jets of fire were unleashed, one toward the demon and the other behind him. He paid little attention to the first one, only doing enough to have it end up in the demon's general path. The other he controlled closely, carefully having it bore into the icy wall behind him.

  The demon easily bypassed his first beam, and Cal wondered if that gave it any amount of confidence. He didn't ponder long, and in the next instant, let go of the manifestation. The two beams had expelled some energy, but the buildup was too great, and without his direction, it threatened to swallow both of them whole.

  He pulled back his shell, centering it around his head and nothing else. The hair on his body ignited as the demon's claw descended on him. His arm was raised in response, and while the claw sliced through his flesh, the saturated bone proved tougher. The demon's eyes widened as its blow was held back, and its tendrils reacted, aiming for his head.

  That was the logical choice. With or without his control, the manifestation above would be a danger. However, the damage it could have wrought with his guidance was greater, and so the demon sought to mitigate the threat.

  It might have thought differently if it knew how much magic he'd stuffed in his torso.

  Cal's chin was raised high, and the spear-like limbs tore through his throat. He formed his lips into an O, and called on his stolen signature move.

  A crisp whistle rang out, smacking in the spot between the demon's eyes. It must have been confused, as the attack would not be enough to pierce its skull. What it did do was deliver the final push needed to tear his head from his ailing body.

  His vision swam as his head flew through the air, and he stubbornly held onto his consciousness as he made sure his shell was wound tightly over the vital part of his body.

  He felt an impact and then an icy embrace as his head was compressed on multiple sides. Relief hit him, knowing he'd managed to hit his target. It was like playing a carnival game where the goal was to throw a ball into a hoop. Only the ball was your head, and the hoop was the hole you carved out with a stream of fire from your 'failed' manifestation. Oh, and the arm you used to throw was an overpowered whistle.

  Easy stuff.

  Cal's fading mind began to question his decision-making process when his improvised bunker was rocked by a secondary explosion. It must have been his body, but that was as much as he got before he found himself back in the eerie emptiness of the void.

  He didn't allow himself any chance to ruminate on his gambit and tried to go back immediately. His power complied, but not in the way he wanted, and he felt it gravitate toward building a body anew. He wrestled it from that idea, forcing it to use his existing head.

  His eyes blinked open, finding himself drowning in melted ice. Without a functioning organ system, he had to wallow in the water as the rest of his body rebuilt itself. He squeezed his eyes shut again, spurring the process forward while requisitioning more magic from the void into his shell.

  As soon as he was able to, he clambered to his feet, hitting his chest and expelling the built-up water. He pulled on his blazer. It was soggy, but otherwise intact. In fact, it looked better than before, making it seem like he'd just stepped outside of a classroom.

  He wasn't sure why the void decided to always bring back what he was wearing, but he was grateful for it all the same.

  Loosening the tie he didn't remember bringing, he stepped out to see the roof of the dome had been mostly destroyed, which was more of a testament to Basem's ability.

  A figure writhed on the floor, tendrils sweeping out as it struggled to its feet. Its legs bent, and it leapt upward toward freedom.

  Cal, fresh as a daisy now, reached it before it fully left the earth. His hands found a tendril, and he gripped it tightly before slamming the beast down. It tried to reorient itself, and he yanked it closer. A maelstrom formed on his palm again, and he stabbed its chest while tendrils bashed against his reformed shell.

  The singed limbs were not nearly as effective as before, but each hit was stronger than the last, signaling that it was on the road to recovery. Other wounds were also sealing shut, and he could see why the others had difficulty with it.

  He estimated it would regain the strength to break through his shell in less than a minute. Cal didn't allow it the chance, forcing his way through the thick skin. His fingers brushed something, and he ripped out the core. The body lost its strength, and the tendrils wrapping around him went slack.

  "Better luck next time," he said to the dimming eyes.

  Disturbingly, something told him it agreed.

  He pulled his mind away from those thoughts, feeling the core in his hands. He started draining it promptly, replenishing his reserves.

  That was one down, but the day wasn't done yet.

  His sight moved to the tower, and he now considered how to kidnap a certain someone.