Chrysalis

Hunkered down in my little bunker, I can’t see much, or even sense much, with the surroundings filled with ash, so it’s no surprise that Torrifex’s fireball takes me by surprise.

A brief flash of powerful fire mana, followed by my stone barrier glowing cherry red then melting away is all the warning I get. Even my antennae don’t give me enough of a heads up to do anything about it. All I can do is curl over like a pill-bug and hope for the best as the devastating fire erupts all around me.

Quite naturally, I’m sent flying by the force of the explosion.

My legs waggle in the air beneath me as I try to get my bearings and assess the damage. Firstly, HOT! That was a spicy meata-ball! I’m literally smoking, there is smoke coming off my carapace.

Stupid demons! How dare they sully my shininess with their pitiful magic? I’ll make them pay! Or, I’d like to make them pay, but perhaps not right at this moment. Looking down, I can see the vast ocean of dense ash clouds waiting for me to land in them, and I’m not too keen on the experience.

Shield mana! Don’t fail me now!

With so many mind-constructs churning constantly, I manage to create the shield beneath my legs just as I reach the peak of my arc, before I begin to descend.

Holy moly, I really got shot high up. I might be able to see my house from up here!

Of course, this means I’m stuck in plain sight, about fifty metres off the ground.

Beneath me, three tier eight demons glare upward with hungry gazes. Torrifex is so mad he’s practically boiling, I swear if he gets any more red he’s going to explode. Or maybe he’s just preparing another massive fireball to detonate me in mid-air.

Yep, that's definitely what he’s doing.

Please, Invidia, I hope to goodness you’ve finished your work. I also hope that idiot can do what she said she can do. Otherwise I’m going to thwack her right into the next century!

Torrifex launches his fireball, and at the last possible moment, I dive from my platform and freefall downward. Behind me, the fireball detonates like a miniature sun. A very angry, rage-filled sun.

filled with red, but I don’t allow it to distract me. Sunk deep into meditation, I let my fears and worries slide

have one shot at this and I need to make it

push them as hard as I can, sucking in mana, pumping it into the contructs I’m maintaining, and weaving the resulting mana into the spells I need. It’s mind-meltingly difficult, but I

about one second. Everything happens

to meet me, followed closely by a thousand blades slashing upward, seeking to pierce me through. A great

them, packed so tightly together. I can do this! All I need to do is survive, which…

from every side simultaneously. A moment later, the ash cloud envelops me and I can’t see

on that strike, at least. After that, the destruction properties in the ash take over and I feel like

It’s very unpleasant.

When I finally manage to hit the ground, I’m down to half, which is worrying, but it’s greater than

Take this, you fools!

colossal burst of mud explodes outward from me just as I contact the ground. As if launched from a geyser, the brown, mucky

in a thick layer of mud, including the

FLASH HARDEN!

goopy mud, the next, it has frozen solid, hardening like concrete in the

to keep tier eight demons still for long.

INVIDIA!

thought, I summon my pets before I reach out to the nebulous connection I maintain with

your pretentious butt in

flash, followed by a strange

isn’t pretentious if you’re