CHAPTER FIVE: THE ATTACK (PART II)

The thing twitched. Its stance had changed—looser, more fluid, yet undeniably predatory. Watching. Calculating. It had survived the first exchange, and now it knew their abilities.

It was prepared.

Aegir pushed himself up, shaking off the impact, water still swirling around him. “We’re not making a dent.”

Caldera peeled himself from the rubble, his skin glowing hot from absorbed energy. “Then we hit it harder.”

Their initial plan had failed, so they needed to change their approach. He met the others’ eyes and nodded once. A shift in tactics.

Aegir clenched a fist, and the flood thickened, tendrils of water lashing toward the thing’s shifting mass. It didn’t dodge. Instead, its flesh pulsed—hardening just in time to withstand the crushing force.

Then it moved.

A blur of motion—too fast. The ground cracked beneath its sudden burst of speed. Lockstep tried to slow it, his power latching onto the thing—

And failing.

It divided.

Its torso ripped open, jagged seams peeling apart as another limb sprouted—an entirely new body forming from the mass, breaking free from the old. One form lunged for Lockstep while the second twisted mid-air, lashing out at Caldera with clawed appendages.

“Shit!” Lockstep barely had time to evade as the first form swiped at him, feeling the heat rolling from it in searing waves.

Caldera roared, swinging his arms up just in time to absorb the impact of the second form’s strike. The force rattled his bones, but he held firm, locking eyes with the grotesque imitation in front of him.

“It’s multiplying?” Spore hissed, reforming beside Hollow. “No, not multiplying—shedding.” His voice was tense. “That means it’s still growing underneath. It’s discarding forms it doesn’t need anymore.”

Hollow clenched his jaw. “Then we don’t give it time to evolve.”

Aegir didn’t need the cue. He thrust his arms forward, and the water surged—this time, all of it. The entire flood lifted in a tidal wave, crashing down with its full force.

The thing—or rather, both versions of it—reacted in unison.

The first tried to leap, but Lockstep was already there, throwing his power at it again. It didn’t stop completely, but the momentary delay kept it from escaping the wave’s impact. The second anchored itself—until Hollow slammed another seismic pulse into the ground, breaking its hold.

The water engulfed them.

For a moment, nothing moved.

Then—movement.

The second form—the one grappling with Caldera—began to break apart, its limbs dissolved into embers. It wasn’t resisting. It was discarding itself.

“Pull back!” Spore shouted.

Too late.

From within the flood, the thing burst upward, its true form emerging. The discarded husks had been distractions, buying it time. The new body was sleeker, more defined, but just as monstrous.

A single ember-like eye burned at the center of its shifting shifting head. It locked onto Aegir.

Then it vanished.

No leap. No movement. Just gone.

A split second later—

Aegir was driven into the earth, the thing’s claw slamming him down so hard that the ground cratered beneath him.

The others barely had time to react before it turned to Caldera next.

Caldera caught the blow, absorbing the heat—but this was different. This wasn’t ordinary fire. This was something heavier. Compressed. His arms buckled under the impact, pain lancing through his bones.

“Not—enough—” he gritted out.

Hollow was already moving, fists slamming into the ground to send another seismic pulse. The ground detonated beneath the thing, forcing it off-balance.

Lockstep saw his chance. He didn’t slow it—he sped himself up, closing the distance in an instant. His fist connected with its shifting face, the impact sending a shockwave through the air.

For the first time, the thing reeled.

It stumbled, regaining its footing—but it was still vulnerable.

Spore didn’t hesitate.

His body scattered into spores, sinking into every exposed cracks of its flesh. This time, he didn’t just infect it—he went deeper. He sent his consciousness through the growing threads, twisting them into its tissue.

It writhed, flames lashing out to purge him out again—

But Spore held on through the pain.

“Got you.”

It screeched, its form destabilizing—

“Now!” Hollow shouted.

Aegir, still struggling from the impact, raised his arms. The water obeyed.

Caldera ignited, every ounce of stored energy erupting in a single, explosive burst.

Lockstep struck again, sending it reeling back—

And the flood came down.

A crushing wall of force slammed into the thing, driving it deep—through shattered earth, past fractured stone. The water filled the space instantly, burying it beneath layers of rock and flood.

They didn’t stop.

Caldera kept burning. Aegir kept pushing. Hollow kept breaking the ground, forcing the debris to collapse over it.

Even when it stopped moving, they didn’t stop.

They buried it.

At last, the flood settled. The air was thick with steam, the ground a deep, collapsed basin of rock and ruins.

Silence.

Hollow exhaled, his arms lowering. His legs felt like lead.

Spore reformed beside him, panting. “Did we—?”

“No.” Lockstep’s voice was firm. His eyes never left the buried pit. “It’s not dead.”

No one argued.

They stood there, watching. Waiting.

Aegir was the first to speak. “We need to leave.”

“Door us.”

One by one, they stepped through the portal that opened behind them, disappearing back to Cauldron.

And beneath the earth, where the water had settled, something still shifted.

The embers had not gone out.