Damien slashed forward, blocking another massive beam of purple light that smashed into the castle. The impact sent cracks racing across the ice walls.
"Damn it! She is relentless!" he shouted.
Tiona gripped her blades, her eyes scanning the chaos outside. "Our escape route has been blocked at this point. What the hell are we supposed to do?"
The reason for her words was clear.
After spending hours trying to send monsters into the Garden, the Corrupted Spirit had changed her approach. She recollected all her tentacles from Floor Fifty-Nine and everywhere around Floor Sixty, pointing them all at the Garden. From the tip of every tentacle, she bombarded it with energy beams.
Hundreds of beams rained down every few seconds.
The Garden was strong enough to withstand the assault. The frozen beasts the team had passed through were all unfrozen now, defending the Garden against the barrage. The ice barrier itself froze most beams before they could strike. But even still, the relentless and constant energy the Corrupted Spirit drew from Floor Sixty allowed her to continue her attacks without pause.
Damien watched the barrage outside. His jaw tightened.
"I have a plan."
Riveria turned to him. "What?"
"You use a camouflage spell to sneak Ais out of here. Meanwhile, I will try to buy us some time."
Riveria's eyes widened. "What? No! Join us. The camouflage can hide you too."
"We will not leave you here," Ais said, her voice firm despite her exhaustion.
Tiona stepped forward, her fists clenched. "You always try to leave us! If we fight, we fight with you!"
Damien shook his head. "No. The camouflage will be exposed if she is still focused on this place. That is why I go and distract her." He looked at Ais. "Ais, we do not know what that curse has done to you. It is better if you do not fight." He turned to Tiona and Tione. "Tiona, Tione, I apologize, girls, but I cannot promise protecting you. I am only doing this because I know for a fact that I can escape with my Shadow Exchange." His voice softened. "You cannot. So trust me. And go. Let me handle the Corrupted Spirit for now."
Tiona opened her mouth to argue.
Damien cut her off. "See you girls on Floor Fifty-Eight."
Before any of them could respond, he was gone, moving out of the castle, heading toward the Corrupted Spirit.
...
Damien moved through the chaos, his body low, his steps silent. The Corrupted Spirit loomed before him, her massive form eclipsing everything else on Floor Sixty. Her tentacles stretched across the floor like a forest of death, hundreds of them pulsing with purple light as they continued their relentless bombardment of the Ice Garden.
'My mana is almost gone' he thought, feeling the drain from maintaining his shadows. 'Finn and the others should have retreated by now. They are safe.'
He made his decision.
One by one, he released his shadows. Igris. Diana. Adonis. All of them. Their presence faded from his awareness, their forms dissolving back into the darkness from which they came. The mana drain stopped. His reserves were still low, but now he had something left. Enough for one attack.
His strongest attack.
He moved closer. The Corrupted Spirit's size was her weakness here. She was massive, her grotesque lower half spreading across Floor Sixty like a plague, her tentacles focused entirely on the Garden. Her beautiful upper half..the face, the three eyes, the seductive form..was merely an extension of something much larger. And she was fixated. She did not see him.
He reached her core. The purple blob that pulsed like a heart, connected to everything she was. It hovered before him, exposed, vulnerable.
Damien gathered every ounce of power he had left. The shadows that had served him, that had fought beside him, that had died for him—he called upon them all. A hundred souls. A hundred strikes. Compressed into one moment.
"Shadow Slash."
His daggers moved. Once. A hundred times. A hundred slashes, each stronger than the last, struck the core at the same instant. It was the attack that had killed the Ant King, that had carved him into pieces smaller than his fingers.
The Corrupted Spirit screamed.
But she did not fall.
Damien stared. The wound he had carved into her core was there—deep, raw, leaking purple light—but it was not fatal. To the Ant King, a hundred slashes had been death. To this thing, it was a flesh wound.
She turned to face him. Her three eyes found his.
"YOU!" Her voice shook the floor. "WHERE IS MY ARIA!"
A tentacle lunged. Damien dodged, his daggers slicing through it as it passed. The severed end crashed to the ground, twitching.
"WHERE IS ARIA!"
Another tentacle. He dodged again, cutting it down. Another. Another. He moved like water, jumping from one to the next, carving through each as he climbed higher, closer to her head.
"Damn you!" he shouted, deflecting another strike. "What the fuck are you made of!"
He was close now. Close enough to see the rage in her crimson eyes, the madness in her golden third eye. Close enough to reach her throat. He leaped, daggers raised, aiming to separate her head from whatever passed for her body.
He never reached her.
Something was wrong. His body would not move. His mind screamed warnings, but his special skills did not trigger. He tried to use Shadow Exchange—
He looked down.
A tentacle protruded from his stomach. It had pierced him from behind, driven through flesh and muscle and bone, emerging from his front in a spray of blood. He had not seen it coming. Had not sensed it. Had not been fast enough.
Pain flooded his brain. Confusion. Shock. He coughed, blood spilling from his lips.
She caught him as he fell. Her beautiful face, framed by the horror of her body, looked down at him with cold fury.
"Where is My Aria!"
Damien looked at her. He coughed again, blood dripping down his chin. A grin spread across his face.
"Fuck you."
His dagger drove into her eye.
She screamed. He was already gone, his body dissolving into shadow, escaping through the one exchange he had left.
The Corrupted Spirit pulled the dagger from her eye. The wound pulsed, flesh knitting back together, the eye slowly regenerating. But her rage did not heal.
"MY ARIA! MY ARIA! MY ARIA!"
She turned back to the Garden, her tentacles resuming their bombardment with renewed fury. Beams of purple light rained down upon the ice, cracking its defenses, wearing it down.
For a time, nothing changed.
Then the Garden began to move.
Slowly at first, then faster. The ice that had claimed half of Floor Sixty receded, pulling back, retreating into itself. The castle, the frozen beasts, the barrier—all of it withdrew. The Ice Garden that had appeared so suddenly now vanished just as quickly, disappearing into whatever realm it had come from.
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