"Please, we can't just sit here and do nothing! You have to help us!"

Yang held her hand in front of her eyes, trying to hold a conversation with something she couldn't look at. Behind her, a number of other Huntsmen and Huntresses stood ready and willing to get back into the fight. Ahead of her, the Paladins stood with their arms crossed, but she wasn't talking to them. She was talking to the massive glowing figure above them.

"Amber, you know we can't just sit around and do nothing while Naze is fighting! The whole world depends on this fight! We can't lay around with our thumbs up our-"

She was cut off by a bright pulse of light that made her turn away. The others brought hands up to their faces, or squinted to block out some of the excess light. Inside of a nearly blinding halo, they could see Amber's silhouette. Her hands were on her head, and although no expression was visible, they could all tell she was in great distress.

"I can't," her voice echoed with a gentle otherworldliness that seemed to calm their nerves, but did nothing to ease their restlessness. "Naze didn't say anything about this. He said to stick to his plan!"

Yang growled in anger and barked back, "Forget the plan! Do you think he could have planned for this? I can tell you right now: he didn't! The only way he is going to come out of this battle is by the skin of his teeth, and I don't like those odds. Especially when the whole world is at stake!"

A hand touched her shoulder, and she turned, finding Ruby looking back at her with a confused expression. "Can't you just tell him what happened? I thought you could-"

"Not now." Yang snapped back. "He's focusing too hard on the fight. The bottom line is that he doesn't know about this-" she gestured to Amber "-and I'm sure that if he did, he would change his mind! I mean, think about it. Divine power is the best thing we've got against demons, and the second best is Holy! On our own, I doubt we could do much, but with him pulling the strings, we'd know what to do."

As she finished, she turned to look at Amber, before flinching and turning away as the searing feeling returned to her eyeballs.

"Yang, Holy power is also the most effective thing at destroying necromantic magic. If I went, it would be terrible for both sides, and you know that Cinder will exploit even the slightest weakness. You can't even look at me! Please, everyone, I know you want to help, you all do, we all do, but this isn't the way to do it. Naze knew that we wouldn't be able to do anything once they entered his swamp. If he wasn't ready, he would have told us."

Yang shouted her retort back, growing angrier by the second, but Ruby put her hands over her ears. She hated seeing Yang this mad. It wasn't her usual rage, either. This was bitter, Ruby knew it was the closest to hatred she'd ever seen her sister. But there was nothing she could do to stop it. She couldn't even get a word in edgewise. Not between Yang's shouts, Amber's pleas, and the crowd of students' cheering.

There had to be something else she could do. The situation couldn't really be limited that much.

Though she was at the front of the crowd, she could hardly see anything. All that she could see was the Paladins, Amber, and past them, the tree line. When she turned around, all she could see was the mass of Beacon students who had gathered behind Yang, and were eager to get back into the fight.

She had to admit, their courage was something she admired. If Amber hadn't become what she was, Ruby knew she would still be sitting motionless on a cot, or crying herself into a coma. Amber had managed to dull the memories, but they still brought a disgusting feeling when remembered. That only made the other students' persistence more impressive. And if they were going, she was going. There was no doubt about it.

No one would be going anywhere, though, with this bickering. Ruby knew Yang was too stubborn to give up, and that Amber was too concerned about all of their safety to let them go. Not without something else, anyways…

She started to push her way out of the crowd, back towards the camp. She heard Blake and Weiss calling out to her as she left, but another roar from the crowd drowned out anything they might've said. All Ruby could do was give a small smile and wave, trying to indicate that everything was fine, before another one of the crowd's movements separated her from the group.

She pulled her cape tight around her, and felt to make sure Crescent Rose was still at her side as she did her best to push her way through.

Most people didn't even notice she was there, so getting free was mostly easy. She was forced to dodge a few errant elbows and knees, but soon found herself outside the crowd.

Immediately, she turned back to the camp, spying two of the undead who had been assigned to help the assault speaking with each other. She ran over to them as fast as she could, hoping they could help. They watched her coming, and when she skidded to a stop in front of them, one crossed its arms and stared back.

Ruby tried not to let the discolored, rotting flesh stop her from speaking. "Can you, like, help with anything over there?"

The one who had folded its arms looked then the other and shrugged.

"Doubt it. Besides, I'm not taking one step closer to that 'Amber.' I like my soul being here, and awake. Not sleeping until Hell freezes over. I don't know how Yang is that close. Besides, the god is right. Her being there would probably cause more problems than it'd solve. If you could communicate with Naze, it'd be a different story, but like Yang said, he's too focused."

Another blast of shouting came from her sister, and Ruby didn't need to turn around to know what was happening. The two undead glanced past her, blank expressions completely unreadable. She sighed, and turned away. If they wouldn't help, she had to find someone else who would.

Unfortunately, the students who weren't behind Yang were still mostly in the infirmary tent. Their physical wounds had been healed, but not even Amber could fix everything that the demons did to some of them. As much as she hated to think it, they wouldn't be of much help.

She looked over the rest of the camp. Other than a few other undead, there was no one left to go to. Getting something new from them wasn't likely. She needed something else.

In the corner of her eye, she saw something move. Her head jerked to the side, eyes wide and body tense, arms automatically reaching towards her weapon.

Whatever it was, it was quick to take cover in the trees. Ruby's eyes narrowed, and she tried to discern where it had gone. Branches were thick outside of the clearing that the camp occupied, so her visibility was limited at best. There were a countless number of places that that thing could be hiding.

The thought occurred to her of it being one of Cinder's demons. If it were, moving quickly enough to appear as only a blur would be no challenge for it. Images invaded her head of one of those twisted freaks charging out of the forest as fast as it could, colliding with the back of the crowd gathered around Yang, and carving into the unsuspecting students like they were nothing.

She wasn't about to let that happen. If she could take it by surprise, killing it would be easy. And if she couldn't, she could just scream, and get everyone's attention.

With Crescent Rose tightly in hand she ran towards the trees, keeping her footsteps quiet enough that they wouldn't be heard. When she got close to where she'd seen the creature, she looked to the ground, remembering one of the lessons about tracking Grimm in the wild.

Much to her surprise, there were no tracks. No feet marks, no depressions at all, not even disturbed leaves or dirt.

A prickle went up her spine, and she unfolded Crescent Rose from its compact form, bringing it to bear and slowly swiveling her body, ensuring that she had no target. After a few moments of waiting, her grip on the gun loosened. Was she just a little too high-strung? It would make sense, but still, the thing she saw felt too real, even though she hadn't seen any of its details.

She spent a few more moments looking around, making sure that there was no way she was overlooking some kind of track or trail, but still found nothing. Keeping her focus sharp, she put Crescent Rose back in its place, turning to leave. She was tired, and maybe a little traumatized. What she needed was to stay close to Amber.

Just as she reached the edge of the clearing, she heard something that made her freeze. It was a garbled sound, feeling distinctly unnatural in her ears.

"Hey, kid."

More than one voice whispered to her. She could hear them from everywhere. They were coming from behind trees, the branches above, pushing their way through the dirt beneath her feet, even from inside her own head.

Her body reacted on its own as she pressed her hands against her ears and slammed her eyes shut. Something deep inside her, instinctual, told her to stay still.

The voices came again, stronger now than they had been before. They pressed down on her, and she thought she could feel herself starting to black out.

"Don't faint yet, Ruby. I've still got to talk to you. Open your eyes."

She felt her body react without pause. She opened her eyes. She wasn't in the trees anymore. She wasn't anywhere, at least not that she could see. The only thing that met her eyes was a black void. She panicked, her hands shooting up to her face to ensure her eyes were still there.

They were, and not only that, but she could see her hands as well.

She looked down at herself. Her whole body was easily visible, standing out in stark contrast with the surrounding void.

Her attention turned to the expanse of nothingness around her, and she tried standing. If there was a floor, she couldn't feel it, but somehow she stood fine.

The voices came back, echoing through the darkness and rattling through her head.

"Now, Ruby, about that-"

Her hands jumped to her ears, and she started to shout back, saying, "Who are you? What do you want from me?"

Something started to fade into view. It pushed the darkness aside, growing more solid and closer as it did so. Ruby stared at first, curious as to what the thing could be. As it grew closer, however, the feeling of dread from before returned. She was overwhelmed by the sense that she had to run and hide, where that thing would never find her. There was nowhere to hide. There was nowhere in general.

When she turned her head, the thing moved with her. When she ducked down, the direction of the world changed, and she was facing it again. No matter what she tried, nothing worked. Even closing her eyes didn't impact the thing.

It grew close enough that she could see particular details, and her mind started to bend.

It was an unnatural thing, that much she was sure of. Faces covered most of its vaguely humanoid surface, and most of them were faces she recognized. Yang, Weiss, Blake, Ozpin, her father, her mother, everyone from school, as her mind reeled in horror, it only seemed to pull more and more faces from her mind.

It took several seconds for her to realize she was screaming. She stopped once she had enough control over herself, and went for Crescent Rose. It was gone, nothing left in its place. She was left with nothing to defend herself.

The hundreds of faces all smiled in unison, and Roman Torchwick's spoke in an ethereally deafening voice.

"Ruby, quit being so difficult. I know you mortals are frail, but this is pathetic."

Ruby's eyes unfocused, but she found that she could still see each face as though she were studying them intently. She managed to bring herself to say, "What do you want?"

The faces smiled again, and Weiss's spoke this time. "Down to the point. I suppose you're right, the faster that oaf Cramus loses a champion, the better."

This was enough to snap Ruby out of her fear.

"What do you mean? You… want to kill Cinder?"

The mass of faces nodded again, making her insides churn uncomfortably. She tried to ignore it, paying more attention to the thing's shape than its grotesque collection of faces. It didn't work very well, but it was better than nothing.

Yang's face responded next, her voice being mimicked perfectly, saying, "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I made a deal with Naze that I'd help him out, and you're going to help me do it. You want that bitch dead too, right?"

She felt uneasy about accepting anything the horrible amalgamation of faces proposed, but it was offering something that she couldn't deny she wanted.

"Well, yes, but I don't think your help is needed. You're a demon, right? I really don't think I should be talking to you."

Cinder's face, like it used to be before she had been corrupted, appeared and said in a mocking tone, "What's the matter? Don't trust me? I can't possibly imagine why." The snide expression fit the face so well, she almost thought she was talking to the real Cinder. That was impossible, though, she reminded herself.

Without waiting for a response, another face started to speak. It was Ozpin's.

"I made a deal with the Lich that I would give him some assistance, if he needed it. Call it a hunch, if you will, but I can't help the feeling that on his own, he won't succeed. We demons are rarely wrong about our hunches."

Ozpin's face slid to the side, and was replaced with Jaune's.

"So I'd really appreciate the help, making sure she dies and all, y'know?"

She hesitated a moment before saying, "You want me to help you kill Cinder? How? I'm not-"

She was cut off by Nora's face, which spoke in her usual enthusiastic tone.

"You're not super strong, sure, but I can help! I mean, worst case scenario, it comes down to demon versus demon. Not like that's going to happen, though. Naze will have his undead, you could bring the other Hunters if you wanted; Cinder won't stand a chance!"

One of her eyebrows rose, and Ruby asked, "What do you mean you can 'help?' You want to make me like Cinder? No, that… that would make things worse. I can't do that."

The next face to speak was Roman's. It seemed to shove its way out from between two others before saying, "Well, ideally, you'd be my champion after that. You've got potential, but I won't force you. I'll even help you out until Cinder dies for free, no soul required. What do you say, Red? Come on, you haven't got much other choice."

Ruby hesitated again, pulling her hands up to her chest nervously.

"A-and how would you h-help, exactly?"

A face she hadn't noticed moved to the forefront of the body, and she found herself face-to-face with her mother. She was giving Ruby a warm smile, the kind you couldn't feel nervous around.

"However I need to, dear. I won't let anything happen to you. All you need to do is to get your friends, and go kill Cinder."

The last sentence was what reminded Ruby that she was taking to some kind of demon. She brought her guard back up, berating herself for being put at ease so simply.

"You won't touch my soul, right? I'm not going to grow any extra arms or heads, right? I don't want you anywhere near my soul."

Ren's voice spoke, drawing her eyes to its calm visage.

"Of course. I could inhabit an object, if you like. Your weapon, perhap-"

He was cut off by Ruby, who shouted, "No!"

A few seconds after, she seemed to realize what she'd done, and put her hands over her mouth.

Ren continued to speak, now looking slightly confused.

"Oh, alright. Well, if you don't want that, then I could use something else. Say… your cloak, for example? It would be easy. The Lich left excess magic energy within, it would make an ideal vessel, if you are really so unwilling. I assume there won't be too much issue with this, right? I can assure you that the cloak will be entirely unharmed."

Ruby pulled a fistful of the cloak around herself, looking down at it. Patterns of flowing blood ran down through the fabric. It was Yang's blood, still alive, in a strange way. And it was one of the few things that made her feel like she was closer to her mother. True, her mother was back, but did that mean she could give it away so easily? She would get it back, unaltered, hopefully. She sighed, and nodded.

"Okay, fine."

The faces all smiled again, making it look like the figure was moving again. A sharp pain started to dig into her skull, and she was forced to close her eyes.

When they opened again, she wavered unsteadily. She caught her balance, and looked around. She was on the edge of the forest again, Crescent Rose held limply in her hand.

"What? Was I…" telling whether or not all of that had been a dream was impossible. There were no tracks ahead of her to indicate she'd gone in, in spite of her memory.

She shrugged it off. It wasn't important now. She needed to get Amber to help her, assuming that the demon was actually going to help her. As she turned to exit, she noticed that her hood was now up. It was odd, she barely ever put her hood up. Getting it to stay up was problem enough. One hand went up idly to put it down as she stowed Crescent Rose with the other.

"Leave the hood up, kid."

Her eyes widened, and she spun around, bringing Crescent Rose to bear on whatever had been slinking in the shadows.

A slight breeze blowing through the leaves was the only movement Ruby could detect. The voice replayed in her mind, and she noticed a certain similarity in the voice.

"Yang? Is that you? This isn't funny!"

"Maybe not for you," the response was practically whispering into her ear, "-but I really quite like it. I wasn't kidding. Leave the hood up. It makes things easier for both of us."

She grabbed for a corner of the cloak, and pulled the fabric up to her eyes. The blood flow seemed different now. It wasn't simple, smooth waves. Now there were faces, subtle and staring, undulating and changing. Ruby dropped it back behind her, not wanting to look for too long.

It was creepy, to say the least, but she just hoped that it would work.

"Can you get Amber to let us Hunters through? There has to be a way, right?"

A small chuckle could be heard, followed by, "Not even gods are free from fear. Under normal circumstances, getting to her would be hard, especially considering that she's got the Holy Light as well, but she was just born, and your sister has already been wearing away at her." The demon laughed a little louder than before, before saying, "It's delicious. She's starting to panic. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be so close to every newborn god…"

The longing in its voice was real, and sounding exactly like Yang only made Ruby more uncomfortable.

"Please stop talking."

The demon obliged, but Ruby could still feel its presence. Her cloak was no longer comforting. Now she wanted to take it off.

She refrained, though, and made her way back to the camp. Amber's glowing light was like that of the sun, warm on her skin, but deeper inside of herself, she could only feel a cold chill down her spine.

"So how are we going to get Amber to do this?"

For a few moments, no response came. Then, in the same whisper as before, Yang's voice said, "I'm glad you asked, little sis! Now I can't get into her head like I might with one of you, but I can still see into that little lightbulb she calls a brain. Yang has almost brought her to a panic, all she needs is a little push. After that, she'll do whatever she can to help you. Tell her…" the voice trailed off, and Ruby got the inclination it was thinking.

As she pushed her way through the crowd, back to Yang and the others, it finished its thought. "Tell her you spoke with one of Naze's shades. It was weak, and dissipated before it could tell you what the Lich wanted. All it could manage was 'Naze requires…' That should be sufficient."

It was strange to hear all of this in Yang's voice, especially when she could also hear the real Yang shouting so close by.

When she managed her way to the front of the crowd, she saw that things had not calmed down in her absence. The Paladins and Yang were practically at each other's throats, shouting over the other and making a wide array of large, and in Yang's case, obscene gestures. Above and behind the Paladins, Amber still hovered, looking down at her followers and the students.

No one had noticed she was back yet. All their eyes were on Yang and the Paladin she was arguing with. Ruby didn't know his name.

In her ear, the demon whispered, "Act tired. You sprinted back as quickly as you could."

She did as it suggested, starting to breathe heavier and make herself look fatigued. In her ear, the demon whispered, "More. More. Is that the best you've got?"

Frustrated, Ruby whispered back under her breath, "God forbid you help."

Her eyes widened as her cloak took on what felt like a hundred pounds. Her legs buckled, and she fell forward onto her hands and knees. On the way down, she bumped into Yang's back, causing her sister to turn around and see her.

"Ruby?" Her cold hands wrapped around Ruby's shoulders, lifting her and putting one arm over her shoulder. Ruby was thankful, but Yang didn't seem to notice the extra weight of the cape. "Are you alright? What happened?"

She was still panting, and as she opened her mouth to answer, she could just barely make out the words in her ear, "I saw…"

"I-I saw s-something out there. In the trees." She pointed weakly. "It was a shade. It said Naze needed something, then disappeared. We have to go!"

For several short seconds, no one spoke. Yang took the opportunity to shoot a glare at Amber before putting her hand comfortingly on Ruby's back and saying, "Really? You're sure it was a shade? What did it say? Tell me exactly what the shade said!"

Again, she could hear the whisper in her ear. "Naze requires…"

"All it said was 'Naze requires' before it disappeared. He obviously needs help!"

Yang looked back at Amber, a challenge in her eyes. "See? How about now? We don't have a choice."

The cloak's weight faded slowly, and Ruby started to stand on her own legs again. Amber hesitated to answer, and the Paladins looked to her for guidance. Ruby felt a change in the crowd behind her; they became more agitated, inching their way forward eagerly, like they were about to charge the god down.

"Well? You're going to do nothing?"

"He needs help!"

"You have to do something!"

In her ear, she could hear a more sinister whisper. "Yes… see how she shakes? Pay attention, it's not every day you see a god have a panic attack."

It was right, Amber was shaking. Not only that, but her glow was starting to fluctuate. The students' demands and jeers grew louder. Amber didn't deserve it. Ruby knew she was doing the best she could. She could still remember when they had talked with each other. Even receiving her blessing before the battle seemed like so long ago; it was hard to believe only a few hours had passed.

"Amber, please, you can help us. It isn't your fault if something happens to us! This is our choice, you can't take any of the blame. If you can just help us get there, it would be fine."

Amber's light flickered a little more, and Ruby felt her grow a little closer.

"I don't… I can't…" it took several moments, but she pulled herself together. "The swamp is full of necromantic energy, much older and more powerful than me. I don't know if I could get through it at all, let alone get all of you through."

Yang started to shout again, but Ruby interrupted her. "You have to try! Please, we all believe in you! We have faith!"

From her hood, she could hear the words, "Oh, nice one," but she ignored it, keeping her eyes on Amber.

Amber looked back, and Ruby could feel it in every cell of her body. A warm, comfortable glow, like sitting by a fireplace in the dead of winter wrapped itself around her. She almost felt at peace, but not quite.

Amber stared for what felt like minutes, before finally bowing her head slightly, and saying, "Alright, I'll… try, at least."

A cheer rose up in the crowd, and Ruby felt a pair of cold hands wrap around her waist and lift her into the air. She flailed her arms wildly, twisting to try and see what was happening, when she suddenly found herself on Yang's shoulders. Almost every face from the crowd was smiling at her, and she suddenly felt very shy. A meek wave was all she could muster before Amber started to move, and they followed.

The sound of battle echoed from the rim of the crater, but Naze kept his concentration. A spell of this complexity required every effort to maintain. The distance involved only made things harder.

Cinder swiped again with her monstrous claws, but just like every other time, they missed by less than a centimeter. Every movement was carefully calculated. Even as fact as she was, Cinder couldn't touch him. She was practically frothing with anger, blind to everything else in the world.

This was something Naze was sure to capitalize on, having his Death Knights do damage to her whenever they could. Most were preoccupied battling her demons, slaying what they could and pushing the rest back, but the battle was a losing one. Even with their centuries of experience, spells, and nearly impenetrable armor, they were slowly being overcome.

Naze took care to note every injury Cinder sustained. She'd been whipped across the back, stabbed in the ribs, had a variety of slashes across her arms and legs, but she ignored all of them. They sizzled and steamed, closing up moments after she got them. He would need more than that if he were to kill her.

Unfortunately, the spell made striking against her impossible. He was satisfied to lead her on a wild chase, though, as what damage could be done to her forces continued to take its toll. The fewer demons he would have to kill himself was another ounce of death he could give to Cinder, once the time came. That time needed to hurry, though, as he could feel the demonic presence inside of her starting to stir.

"Stop moving! Just let me kill you!"

Her voice carried for miles, and her eyes burned with an intensity that wasn't her own. Naze wondered how much of her original mind was still bouncing around in that now mostly empty head. Not much, if he had to guess. He could practically feel the demon writhing just beneath her skin, trying to push its way out into the material world.

Another blade slashed through one of her wings, splitting the skin and cleaving several of the bones apart. Cinder's eyes never left Naze, but without looking, she threw a claw out in the direction the blow had come from. Her fingers gouged deep gashes in the Death Knight's armor, and her assault on Naze continued.

"What's the matter, Lich? Tongue rotted out? No clever quips now that I'm about to end you?"

Naze's response was cold, as always.

"Nothing I say could possibly humiliate you more than what you've already done. You've shown that you are so weak of will and character that all you need to forgo everything you have ever known is a little pleasure. It makes me thankful I cannot feel whatever perverse emotion twisted you around a demon's fingers so easily."

Yet, in spite of his words, he could feel the dregs of his soul still stirring. It wasn't dangerous, not yet, but a tight control had to be maintained if he were to keep full control of his faculties.

She struck at him again, and he dodged by only the smallest increments possible. Under normal circumstances, his physical reactions were not this fast, but so long as Cinder remained clueless about his ruse, he was fine with letting her futilely spending the lives of the demons she had left.

"You haven't attacked me once. Could it be that you're scared? I can't see any expression on that skull of yours, but I think you're hiding something. Are you just playing hard to get? Stalling? It won't do you any good!"

She slashed at his head again, and he floated just out of reach, almost able to feel the nails on his bone.

He stayed silent, not wanting to give her the pleasure of hearing his retort. Something broke his concentration, however. In the distance, at the edge of his territory, something holy was forcing its way through his necromantic land.

The only force capable of that was Amber. The newborn god was coming, and probably thought she was helping. While she wasn't necessarily wrong, her presence was going to throw things up into the air. Cinder wasn't the only creature who would suffer due to her presence. He would lose power as well, and when the time came that he would have to face her directly, Amber's arrival would cause a significant upset.

The loss of focus caused his spell to falter, and he failed to react fast enough to dodge the next of Cinder's blows. Her claws raked through his ribcage, enough force behind them to shatter the bones completely.

Or, at least, they would, if the bones were really there.

The illusion shimmered before dissolving as Naze let go of the magic holding it together. A great deal of energy had gone into replicating every aspect that Cinder would notice, but it'd worked for long enough.

Cinder looked around, then down at her hands. No sign of the strike had been left, she hadn't even felt any resistance against her hand. She was sure she'd made the hit. A thought crossed her mind, and her face twisted into an angry scowl. It was a cowardly, insidious trick. She could sense the Lich's energies from somewhere else now; down in the crater. She should have expected something like this. He had been playing with her. She would show him what it was to be toyed with.

Her demons were finishing with the Death Knights, either striking them down or disengaging from combat with them. They could sense her need to move on, and would do anything to accompany her.

The Death Knights surrounding Cinder herself struck in unison. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't possibly dodge every strike. She did what she could, ducking and jumping, folding her wings closely around her as she stretched her body out, watching several of the attacks whiz by harmlessly. A whip infused with a variety of magic properties and runes lashed across her back, carving a deep slash in her flesh, and another wicked-sharp dagger stabbed into her stomach.

Power flowed through the weapons, igniting them in an orange fire as they carved trough her thick hide, but it still wasn't enough. She smiled as she twisted mid-air, landing perfectly on her feet and not wasting a single second more on the Lich's underlings, dashing to the rim of the crater.

It was large. Large enough that it seemed separated from the rest of the world. A shroud of mist covered the opening, but her eyes could see through it easily. The Lich was standing there, in the middle of it all, staring back at her. It was the real him, not a copy or a trick. She could tell.

Energy surged again inside of her, and she leapt down, wings spreading out to carry her in her descent. The air, however, did not cooperate. She recalled that it was one of Naze's spells that caused the disturbance, and her eyes narrowed. It was just one more reason to kill him.

Cinder struck the ground with a mighty crash, sending dirt and tree bark flying. Her demons followed, and she started sprinting towards the Lich, starting to glow with the power she had ready.

The trees between her and her prey shook for a moment, then were obliterated in a blinding flash of white. Cinder was forced to stop, digging her hooves into the ground as she felt her flesh being burned away. As quickly as it had come, it was gone, and Cinder looked up to see Naze, his runed staff pointed directly at her, and his ancient, frayed grey robes almost blending in with the thick mist. Innumerable charms, runes, and fetishes hung off his body, and the very air around him seemed to distort, bent to his will.

Cinder's skin glowed now not only with the energy of her master, but also the light of arcane fire. The earth that had been caught between the two was scorched clean, and she smiled as she realized that Naze had just given her a much faster route to take to him. She could hardly believe he had done something so foolish, but he was getting desperate. She'd broken his illusion, and now she could break him.

She started to sprint again, on the very edge of the barrier between her master and herself. All she needed was a few minutes. By then, the Lich would be dead, and she could complete her transformation in peace.

The distance between her and the Lich was nearly cleared in half a second, but she slowed as she saw Naze preparing another spell. Dark green energy swirled around the metal spike at the end of the ancient wooden artifact, and almost immediately it burst forth, a thin, concentrated rush of death magic.

Cinder's smiled widened as she watched it approach. Had he forgotten that demons were practically free from death? Her body would heal any damage the attack could. She would humor him, and let him see just how much good his precious necromancy would do him against an opponent like her. Maybe she would even see a flicker of emotion before he was destroyed.

The beam struck her in the center of the chest, but it didn't stop there. It tore at what little remained of her soul, ripping every bit that it could into nothingness.

The demonic egg inside of her, her connection to her master, screamed in protest. What little Cinder had left to feed it was gone, and she knew that there was little to be found in the land of the dead.

"No! No! I'll kill you for that!"

If Naze still had the muscles to do so, he would have smiled. With the power he'd just destroyed, he had bought himself a few more minutes until Cinder became complete. Now all that was left was to kill her before that could happen.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay between these chapters, but school is a thing, unfortunately. Things are getting a little hotter now, I wonder what's gonna happen?

Leave a review! tell me what you think!