Michaelangelo was gone, crushed to death by Fenrir just a few seconds ago. And it had only been a minute since Maestro had been killed, chomped and gulped down with a single bite. Both deaths had been rather gruesome.

I wasn’t going to feel bad about either death since both of those men were assholes who’d kidnapped me, and they’d probably done far worse. No, I didn’t care about them. What I was concerned about was the fact that other people could die too, people who I actually cared about.

“Careful,” I called out, my heart racing.

I looked at Wolf, who I wasn’t going to count as dead quite yet, in spite of the beating he’d already taken. Between Fenrir and Michaelangelo, he was pretty fucked up, but he was still moving, if barely.

Giles ran for Wolf, clearly intending to heal his injuries. However, Fenrir immediately lunged for Wolf, trying to finish him off while he was still weak and injured.

“I don’t think so,” Grayson exclaimed as he threw himself between them, using his shield to block the massive jaws.

“No,” I cried out in horror.

A moment later, Grayson was inside Fenrir’s jaws and being lifted off the ground. I expected the crunch and spurt of blood, but instead, there was a flash of gold. Grayson was surrounded with a golden aura, a powerful boon that seemed to be working like a force field.

“His fourth ability,” I gasped in realization. It was like a smaller version of Gile’s shield ability, one that covered a single person rather than a group. “But it won’t last long…”

Giles hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting between Wolf and Grayson, probably trying to decide which needed his help more. Then he grimaced, apparently having made his decision.

“Get Wolf,” I called out to Giles as I ran towards Fenrir.

Fenrir’s mouth was currently full, so I didn’t have to worry about him biting me for the moment. Of course, there was still plenty of smoke and those weird smoke tentacles, two of which were already reaching for me.

“Come on, you smokey leg humper,” I snarled, using my staff to smack one of the tendrils before it reached me. Then I smacked another. Both hits dosed Fenrir with more banes from my ‘Cursed Object’. “Bad dog.”

“I’d appreciate it if you would hurry,” Grayson called out. “I can’t hold this much longer…”

Fenrir suddenly staggered from the additional banes, then he actually dropped Grayson. The other enchanter hit the ground with a thud, then he slowly stood up inside of his glowing golden ball and began to run. The aura faded away as he did so.

“What the hell did you do to that thing?” Stine asked. “It looks like its drunk.”

Stine was right in that Fenrir was now acting like it was drunk. It was staggering around, its sense of balance completely fucked up. I couldn’t even tell what all the random banes were doing, but the effects were really adding up.

“My banes are stacking up nicely,” I said as I fired another ‘Hex’ at the primal. “Each one makes all the others just a little stronger…”

“And you’ve got almost a dozen of them on that thing now,” Grayson said with a grimace. He shook himself and glared up at Fenrir. “That’s enough to mess with anything…”

“Even that fucker,” Lenore added as she shot an arrow right into Fenrir’s face.

Fenrir staggered to the side and bumped into a cabin, smashing in the side and causing most of it to collapse. Smoke was oozing out in all directions, though it didn’t seem concentrated into those tentacles the way it had before.

“We need to hit it with everything we have,” Giles called out.

Giles was crouched down beside Wolf, using his healing ability. He had a grim expression on his face as he glared up at the primal.

“Everyone, get away from it,” Giles added. “I’m hitting it first.”

Frank, who had been about to charge at Fenrir again, abruptly paused and backed off. Stine hesitated for a moment, then nodded and did the same.

A massive column of fire suddenly erupted right beneath Fenrir, engulfing the entire creature in flames. The primal howled in pain, though it sounded like a wind storm that was fully underway. It’s red eyes burned brighter and it radiated a sense of rage and hatred.

“That was my last one of those,” Giles said, still crouched down beside Wolf.

“You hurt it,” Frank said. “Just not enough to kill it.”

“Then we’ll just have to keep punching it until it dies,” Stine added with a grin.

“That works for me,” Lenore agreed, firing yet another arrow at the wolf.

Fenrir staggered out of the flames, even as the column faded away. The primal still had flames flickering across its body as well smoke oozing out from dozens of spots, as though it was bleeding smoke. Like Frank had just pointed out, we’d definitely hurt the creature.

The smoke wolf staggered, then snapped at Frank, who suddenly vanished. Frank reappeared on the other side of Fenrir and immediately slammed her axe into its leg.

Then I saw Wolf, standing out in the open, which confused me for a moment until I realized what was happening. Fenrir immediately took the bait and lunged at ‘Wolf’, passing right through the illusion and into the cabin on the other side.

“Why isn’t it slowing down?” Jag demanded. “I lured it right through that cursed ground shit.”

“Good idea,” I responded. “But you were too late. Cursed Ground already wore off.”

“FUCK!” Jag snarled as she began moving towards Fenrir, a large knife in each hand.

I nodded, agreeing completely with Jag. I would have loved to catch Fenrir in ‘Cursed Ground’ like I had in the Labyrinth. That would have made it a lot easier to deal with, and a lot safer.

Then I looked at my staff, which still had a faint glow. There was just enough power in my ‘Cursed Object’ for one more dose. And considering how many stacks Fenrir already had on it, this last one would be extremely effective.

“I need to get close enough for one more hit,” I announced.

“I’ll cover you,” Stine announced with a look of determination.

“And I’ll cover him,” Grayson added with a smirk.

Fenrir crawled out of the remains of the cabin that it had crashed into, then shook itselflike wet dog that was trying to dry itself off. It staggered forward, snapping it’s jaws at thin air, as though it was seeing something that nobody else was.

Stine, Grayson, and Frank all rushed the primal at once, each one attacking a different leg. Jag quickly joined them and went after the final leg.

I took advantage of the distraction to rush in as well. Just as I reached Fenrir, ‘Hex’ came off cooldown and was ready for another use. I immediately blasted Fenrir with that, then smacked his side with my staff, giving him the last bit of energy from ‘Cursed Object’.

“Yes,” I exclaimed as a new random bane appeared on Fenrir, as well as another copy of one of the existing banes. By this point, I had no idea of what all those banes were, only that they were slowly wearing down our enemy. “Take that, you leg humper.”

Fenrir staggered again, then abruptly leapt forward and smashed into the side of another wall. It snapped around and tried to bite something that wasn’t there.

“We’ve really fucked up that smokey bastard,” Jag said with a smirk.

“Yeah,” Lenore agreed. “Now we just need to finish off that fucker.”

“I agree,” Wolf said with a shaky voice.

Wolf slowly stood up, somehow looking even more reptilian than before. He still had a wound where Michaelangelo had blasted him, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been.

“I’ve done as much as I can for now, Mister Wolf,” Giles said. “But it isn’t enough.”

“It’s enough to keep me alive,” Wolf responded. “If we weren’t in the middle of a fight.”

Wolf took a step forward and staggered. He winced with a look of pain and I saw that his wound was bleeding again. Even after Giles had healed him.

“Unfortunately,” Wolf continued with a snarl, “I don’t have time to rest up and heal.”

Fenrir was glaring at Wolf, hunger and hatred practically radiating off of him. Wolf glared right back with an equal amount of determination.

“Looks like this is our last fight,” Wolf said. “And neither of us is at our best.”

Wolf staggered forward, gesturing for Giles to stay back. Then, he suddenly burst into flame. No, it was more like the air around him turned to flame and heat, which radiated outward with a shocking intensity. The ground beneath his feet immediately began to char and crack.

“I hate having to use this,” Wolf said as his burning aura spread out even further. “This is the real power I got from that damn infernal. The rest is just…side effect.”

“Keep your distance,” Giles warned us.

Fenrir abruptly lunged straight for Wolf, who leapt forward to meet him straight on. There was a sudden explosion of flames and smoke as the ground beneath them burned and crumbled away.

“Holy shit,” Lenore exclaimed.

“I’ve never seen an invoker ability that strong,” Giles said. He stood back, holding his halberd ready but not making any move to help Wolf.

Wolf and Fenrir grappled with each other, each one using smokey tentacles to grab at each other. Wolf’s burning aura surged, searing even the smokey primal.

“Wolf versus wolf,” Grayson said with a shake of his head. “I’m afraid of getting too close.”

“It would kill you,” Frank stated, gesturing to the ground around the two which continued to burn and crumble.

Stine nodded at that. “This is starting to look like that spot where we first found this smokey beast.”

“It was a crater,” Jag said for our benefit. “A big, charred, hole in the ground.”

I wasn’t sure how long this could continue when it was obvious that both of them were weakening. The smokey tentacles faded away, and then it was just Wolf, grabbing hold of Fenrir’s jaws as it struggled to bite him, even as his own aura burned at the primal, leaving its head as little more than a smokey skull.

Fenrir managed to push forward with one final snap, catching Wolf in his jaws. Wolf howled in pain but still managed to pull himself free. Blood poured from the wounds, though quickly blackened and flaked away.

There was a loud crack, right before both of them collapsed to the ground. Fenrir’s smokey aura faded away even as Wolf’s burning one did the same. Neither of them moved.

“It’s…not dead,” Giles warned, staring straight at Fenrir. “Not yet…”

“But…I…am,” Wolf whispered. He struggled to move, to get to his knees, but he couldn’t quite make it.

Giles rushed to his side, then winced. “I wish I could tell you that you’ll be fine, but…”

“But that would be a lie,” Wolf whispered. “I’m too hurt for any healing…” He coughed and spat up blood. “I’m surprised I lived this long.”

I hesitated, then carefully moved closer. My eyes were locked on Fenrir, which was starting to move again, though not much. A lot of the banes had already timed out and faded away, but half a dozen of them were still present.

“Finish it,” Wolf said. “Don’t let it get away.” Then he closed his eyes, making horrible sounds as he struggled to breath while blood continued to drip from his lips. “No more bad decisions,” he whispered. “No…more…regrets.”

And with that, Wolf went silent. The ragged breathing stopped entirely. Wolf was dead.

I didn’t know Wolf. I’d never had a real conversation with him. But we had fought together, and he’d died while fighting our common enemy.

Then I turned my attention to Fenrir, or what was left of it. It was little more than a charred skeleton made of smoke, but it was still moving. It was trying to get back up.

“For Pham,” I snarled as I blasted it with a ‘Hex’. “And for Wolf.”

Fenrir shuddered as the bane hit it and stacked with the remaining banes. Several of those were more layers of ‘Hex’, so it continued taking damage. I stood there and stared at the creature as it shuddered several more times and then went still for good.