Nightmare Realm Summoner

"Hey!" Alex yelled, skidding to a stop in a newly created clearing in the forest. Trees littered the ground all around him from where the Gorgonaga had landed. The huge Region Boss was only a short ways away from him, its eight heads all turned toward the forest where it had just launched Claire.

The moment Alex spoke, the monster's gaze snapped in his direction. A head turned toward him as surprise passed through its reptilian features in an almost human manner.

"What are you?" the monster demanded. "A cockroach?"

"You know what cockroaches are?" Alex asked, tilting his head to the side. More heads turned in his direction. The back of his neck prickled at the attention and it took everything he had to remain standing still. "Or is that a translation? For that matter, where are you even from?"

There was a big difference between attacking a powerful monster and just standing perfectly still right in front of it, perfectly positioned to be in blasting range. It was practically asking to get sent to the next life.

"Do I look like a System Guide to you?" the Gorgonaga let out a hissing laugh. A massive leg drove down into the ground as it turned toward him. The monster's wings crunched through trees like they were made out of paper, ripping them free from their roots and sending them toppling down to the dirt with thunderous crashes. "You should have fled when you have the chance. This is getting personal."

"I'm honored. A Region Boss has taken notice of me. I just wish it was one that could actually do anything cool," Alex said. "I mean, seriously. I would have been a lot happier about this if we hadn't fought already. A Region Boss that can't even kill a measly Initiate is pretty pathetic, don't you think? And you haven't hit me with a single one of your fire attacks yet. Are you scared you'll miss?"

A low hum filled the air as magic ignited within one of the Gorgonaga's heads. The others all stared at Alex, trying to force him to his knees with their sheer gaze alone. It took everything Alex had to keep from running.

There was a certain thrill that came with flipping death off. Standing directly in the Region Boss' line of sight and doing absolutely nothing about the attack charging up right in front of his face was insane…

But Alex would be damned if it didn't make him feel alive.

At least, it would right up until it made him feel dead.

"I have never seen a creature so determined to die in all my life," the hydra said. There might have even been a note of confusion in its voice. Alex took some pride in that. He'd managed to completely baffle a Region Boss. There had to be some kind of achievement for that.

"Your life must have been pretty short, then," Alex said. "You ever hear of a hamster? Because I swear I've never met one that died normally. Little badasses, really. Just keep them away from microwaves."

The hum of magic from the Region Boss' mouth reached its peak. Alex's hand shot up to his mouth.

Then a scream split the air.

A beam of concentrated molten fire carved through the sky and slammed right into Alex's chest. It carved a dinner-plate sized hole straight through his body and melted into the ground behind him.

The attack was so fast that his body barely even had time to register the pain. There was a flash of fire, the smell of burnt hair and meat, and then a stunned ringing in his ears.

Alex swayed.

A huffing laugh slipped from the Region Boss' head as it swung back to join the others in searching for Claire. It clearly planned to deal with her properly before getting back to the previously scheduled destruction of Mirrorwane.

Darkness pulled at the edges of Alex's vision.

And warmth met it. A wave of heat enveloped his body. It was followed by a wall of exhaustion that drove into his now-reforming lungs like a hammer blow. He staggered as flesh bubbled and twisted back into its proper place.

Alex drew in a ragged breath, bracing his hands against his knees as air rushed into his new lungs. The healing pill had worked — but the exhaustion that came with it was no light weariness. It felt like he hadn't gotten a blink of sleep in days. The only thing that kept him standing was the adrenaline thrumming in his veins like an electric song.

"Really?" Alex called out, palming another healing pill. "You're making me start to feel bad for you. Are you sure you're the Region Boss? Maybe the System gave you a pity hire?"

All eight of the Gorgonaga's heads spun back to Alex.

"What are you?" the monster demanded. "An Anomaly? An Incarnation? Or have you managed to get some odd class reserved entirely for masochists? How are you still alive?"

"You just hit like a pansy," Alex said. He certainly had the Region Boss' attention.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Claire creeping out of the woods. Her wounds were all completely healed — it seemed that Mite had managed to find her and deliver the healing pill. Alex didn't even try to keep the grin from his lips. The Region Boss wasn't going to understand its real purpose anyway.

"Is that so?" the Region boss let out hissing laughter from each of its heads. All of them were entirely focused on Alex, now. "Then I will face you like a true opponent. We shall see just how much damage you can take. Perhaps this will be a good way for me to test just how much power the System allowed me to retain from the Mirrorlands."

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Wait. The Mirrorlands?

The Gorgonaga's heads reared back. Waves of pressure exploded out from the monster with enough force to nearly send Alex crashing to the ground. Bands of pressure tightened around Alex's lungs and threatened to choke him on the spot.

Alex had no more time to wonder about the revelation that had just been dropped on his shoulders. He was about to get fried.

Shit. I was worried it would do this… but I need to keep its attention on me. This is a challenge to its pride. If I try to dodge, the Region Boss very well might just send this attack toward Mirrorwane.

And if it does… we're done for. I don't need to know what its Soul Manifestation does to know it'll blow us to kingdom come.

But I can't let myself get hit either. Somehow, I don't think my healing pills are going to rebuild me if my entire body gets obliterated, though. I have to dodge at the last second.

Claire was still moving into position. She was right next to the Region Boss now, her wings primed to launch herself into the air. Her fingers twitched at her sides in wait.

Alex had no clue what it was she was waiting for, but all he could do was trust that she had something prepared. And, even if she didn't, there wasn't exactly time for him to change his own plans.

"Soul Manifestation," the Gorgonaga intoned. All eight pairs of its eyes focused solely on Alex, bringing the weight of the world crashing down along with them. "Primal Hydra's Thunder."

The air around the Region Boss shuddered. Coils of golden-red lightning slithered into being to twist up its legs and arc off its wings as if the entire thing had transformed into a giant tesla coil. The furious energy carved across the ground all around the monster, turning everything it touched to glassy stone.

Alex's hair rose to stand on its end. Despite everything, he felt his face pale slightly. It was like the full might of a storm had been concentrated entirely on the Gorgonaga. This was a full Soul Manifestation.

While he could tell it was nowhere near as powerful as the Soul Manifestation of Zeal, the old man from the Empty Court he'd met in the Mirrorlands some time ago, the sheer power pouring off the monster was breathtaking — figuratively and literally.

"Holy shit," Alex breathed.

He brought a healing pill to his mouth in preparation, but he instinctively knew that it would do nothing. The pills weren't going to bring him back from the grave. He sent his senses inward to see if he could wrestle any magic up, but he was still functionally empty.

The hydra's lips twisted into sneers.

And, in that moment, Claire exploded into motion. Her wings snapped down as she launched herself from the ground to streak toward the still-weeping wound that Alex had made on the Region Boss' neck.

She slammed into it, her veins going pitch black as she wrapped herself around the monster's neck and bit down on the exposed flesh. The magic crackling through the air around the Region Boss scored into her body like molten blades.

A crackle of lightning sliced one of her wings clean in half. Another one drove into her shoulder, carving a huge chunk out of her body and blackening the skin around it in a flash. Deadly electricity ripped across Claire in waves as the Gorgonaga's Soul Manifestation ate her alive.

But, even as the damage appeared in Claire's body, it worked to knit itself shut. Flesh bubbled back from scorched wounds, only to be struck and destroyed once more. It was a battle unfolding across Claire's body — and she was losing.

Mite must have given her the second healing pill. It couldn't hold the might of a Soul Manifestation back, but it could buy her a few moments within its domain. And Claire used those moments to the fullest.

She drank greedily, gulping down mouthful after mouthful of the monster's blood.

The hydra let out a furious snarl. One of its heads shot down to bite down on her midsection, but Claire's wing snapped out into its path. Instead of biting her clean in half, the hydra's mouth closed on her wing. It snapped its head to the side, ripping Claire's wing clean off her shoulder and tearing the Dhampir away from its neck.

She tumbled through the air and hit the ground with a grunt. Claire rolled before skidding to a stop against a tree not too far away from Alex. Smoke coiled from her scorched body as she laid still.

Then she slowly pushed herself up. Her limbs trembled with exhaustion from every movement. The wounds covering her had stopped healing — the pill had clearly reached the limits of its ability.

Claire lifted her hands before her. And, despite the weakness forcing itself to be acknowledged in her form, her eyes held only defiance within them. Then they closed. Claire let out a slow breath.

Her form stilled.

"For Initiates, you put up a good fight," the Gorgonaga said through its hissing laughter. "I will remember you. If you had fought me when you were stronger, then perhaps you would have had a chance. Your magic is far too weak to inflict any true injuries on me."

Its mouths yawned open and the furious lightning crackling around the monster poured into them. Power gathered within its heads like miniature storms, filling the air with a thunderous roar as more and more power gathered within its body.

This magic made the Gorgonaga's previous attacks feel like candles in the face of a forest fire. Fire swirled to mix with the lightning, forming into twisting balls of destructive magic within each of the Region Boss's mouths.

Might be a bit hard to dodge this one.

Alex grinned. That certainly wasn't going to stop him from trying. He'd be damned if he gave up now. Until the fight was well and truly done, he would never give in. That took all the fun out of it.

"Come on!" Alex yelled, pounding a fist against his chest as he pulled a handful of healing pills out from his carton. He was probably going to need more than one for this. There was no guarantee they would even work together, but he couldn't exactly ask Finley right now. "Let's see if you can actually manage to put me down. A bigger stick doesn't mean you know how to swing it!"

Sixteen eyes bored into Alex. He certainly had the Gorgonaga's attention.

The thunderous roar of mixing magic finally reached a crescendo. Pressure from the magic battered Alex's eyes and blew his hair back like he was staring down the end of the world itself.

Then Claire's eyes snapped back open, and they were as black as the darkest night.

Her hand clenched into a fist.

"You have no voice," Claire said.

The hydra paid her no mind. It released the magic gathered within its heads, letting it pour free in a wave of sheer destructive force —

Black threads snapped into existence around the hydra's lips. It wove through them like stitching to bind all eight of the Region Boss' mouths shut in a split second.

For a flicker of a second, surprise passed through the monster's eyes, but the magic was already unleashed. The magic didn't care for its caster. Only that it had been cast. Trapped within the Gorgonaga's heads or not, it still had to go somewhere.

And somewhere it went.

A brilliant explosion tore through the air. Ruddy red light swallowed Alex's vision. A wave of heat buffeted his hair back and sent him falling to his backside.

Roaring fire and lightning swallowed the spot where the region boss had been moments before, leaving behind nothing but the smell of cooking flesh.