Alex took a step back. He stared up at the Forsaken Revenant through the hole in the ceiling. Never before had he been this close to it — close enough to see strands of frosty power that coiled hungrily within its eyes like the tendrils of some ancient eldritch creature.

His insides wrung. They turned over once, then shot back into place like a rubber band had snapped inside him.

Sovereign Cataclysm activated.

The world jerked back into motion. Alex jerked back, his mind torn free from the grasp of the Forsaken Revenant’s aura. He summoned his monsters, clapping his hands together and twisting them so that his fingers could hook against each other before his heart could get two beats off.

“Partial Soul Manifestation,” Alex snarled, and the gate within his soul slammed open with a roar of power. “Edict of the Shattered King.”

The Mirrorlands warped. Curiously enough, what snapped into being all around Alex were fragments of the Ancestry based back on 274-50. He supposed it might have been a little odd to summon parts of the Mirrorlands within the Mirrorlands themselves, but now really wasn’t the time for him to worry too much about the semantics of his magic.

Glint tore his way into reality while Princess and Spark rose up from the ground before Alex, all surging forward before they’d even finished fully forming.

Spark’s shadow tore away from him as the Knight Wraith split off in two directions. Princess charged straight toward the Revenant, while Glint ran right behind her, using the other monster’s massive form for cover.

The Forsaken Revenant’s shadowy face split open, a line slicing vertically down it as if slashed by a sword. Coiling blue tendrils of magic flickered deep within the monster’s body in tongues of frosty fire as a bone-chilling scream tore through the room.

Even with Sovereign Cataclysm reinforcing him, Alex’s heart nearly ground to a halt on the spot. His throat clenched and goosebumps raced across his skin. Every single one of his senses was screaming at him to run.

But nobody else could move. They were all frozen in place, locked there by the Revenant’s mere presence. And if Alex ran… they would all die. He was the only one that could still fight back.

The massive shadow monster dropped through the hole in the ceiling, landing on the ground without so much as a sound. Its eyes never once left Alex. Even as Princess threw herself forward, swinging a massive fist at the Revenant, the creature never even glanced in her direction.

A tendril of shadow exploded up from the ground at the Revenant’s feet. It pierced straight through one of Princess’ three heads, shattering the mask instantly.

Princess didn’t even flinch. Her fist continued on its path, slamming into the Revenant with a resounding crash. The shadowy plates covering the primordial monster’s body cracked. It staggered backward with a surprised hiss.

For the first time, the Revenant’s gaze pulled away from Alex to snap over to Princess — but the Riftwarped Mirematron was far from done with her assault. Princess slashed at the other monster with the razor-sharp white claws of her other hand. Her blow connected with a loud crunch. The Revenant staggered again, sent off balance.

Spark took that moment to strike in conjunction with Glint. The two monsters leapt at the Revenant in a synchronized attack. Glint’s cloak sliced out in a silvered blur while the Knight Wraith leapt at the Revenant’s back.

A spark of hope lit in Alex’s chest. He’d gotten a lot stronger since the last time they’d fought. Maybe he’d been overreacting. There was a chance that the Revenant had some other method it used to hide its level, and its strongest ability was actually the primordial fear that had no effect on him.

Maybe there was a chance—

A loud crack split the air. The Revenant’s body jerked, its head falling back and limbs going limp as if a string had attached itself to the monster’s chest and yanked it upward. Dull blue light shimmered through the cracks lining the plates of shadowed armor fused with its body.

And then, with an ear-rending shriek, ice blue hair-like appendages exploded through the cracks covering the Revenant’s body. There must have been easily a hundred of them spooling through the air like the feelers of a plant. They lurched forward as one to pierce into Princess in what must have been a hundred different spots all at once.

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Alex’s other monsters weren’t spared either. The pale blue strands slammed into all of them, driving through Glint, Spark, and even Spark’s shadow. Nothing near the Revenant was spared.

Alex activated his domain instantly, trying to teleport his monsters back to safety.

Nothing happened. It was like they weren’t even there. Even though all three of them were well within the bounds where teleportation should have been possible, something about the Revenant’s magic had frozen them in place.

Shit.

Another crack rang out through the Mirrorlands. The Revenant’s body split open down the center. Parts of its flesh pulled apart as its entire body transformed into a massive, hungry maw.

Within the Revenant was a howling vortex of ghastly blue. The temperature in the room halved, then halved again. Frost built on Alex’s clothes and froze his breath in the air before him — and all three of his monsters were yanked off their feet.

All of them were dragged into the Revenant, into the pale blue vortex within the horrid monster. And then, with a resounding crash like the door to the underworld itself slamming shut, the Revenant’s body drove back into place.

Alex’s mind prickled as three rivers of energy poured into him.

His summons had all been killed instantly. There hadn’t been a chance for any of them to fight back.

The Revenant shuddered, the cracks covering its body sealing over with shimmers of blue before returning to their normal shadowy appearance, and the monster’s head snapped back to look straight in his direction.

Alex’s teeth clenched.

Nobody else had even moved yet. They were all still frozen by the Revenant’s power. Alex could see Claire’s fingers trembling as she tried to break free of the bindings imprisoning her mind, but it wasn’t going to be enough.

Even if she could move, there wouldn’t be time for her to save any of the others. Running wasn’t an option. Not unless he wanted to leave everyone to the Revenant’s mercy… and though the monster seemed to have it out for Alex specifically, he didn’t get the feeling it would leave everyone else unharmed.

There was only one option before him.

A hiss slithered from the Revenant’s mouth, almost as if it knew exactly what Alex was thinking. The monster’s head jerked to the side, its entire body twitching like an insect in its death throes.

It was taunting him.

Alex gritted his teeth. He drank deeply from the Riftwarped Qi within himself. Then he activated Armament Elegy.

A silvered cloak washed across his back as pieces of spiked black armor rose up from the ground at his side, floating up to move at his command. Black liquid bubbled down his right arm and twisted into the form of a white-tipped chainsword, its links roaring to life.

The Revenant lurched forward. One of its slender hands flashed toward him like a black blade — but Alex was already gone.

He teleported, activating his domain, and reformed directly at the massive monster’s side, his chainsword already crashing down into its side. The weapon roared as it dug into the black plates protecting the Revenant, sending shadowy fragments spraying through the air.

Blue light ignited within the cracks. Alex teleported an instant before hairlike tendrils exploded free from within the monster. They sliced through the air where he’d been and he reformed at the Revenant’s other side.

Before he could even try to swing, one of the Revenant’s hands blurred toward him.

Glint’s cloak shot to block the blow.

With a rending shriek, it shattered. The Revenant’s hand carved right through the silver material, slowed by only an instant. That instant was just enough for Alex to teleport once more, this time forming directly above the huge monster’s head.

He brought his chainsword down right for the back of its neck —

The Revenant’s body split itself apart before his blade could even connect with it, revealing the churning blue void within its core. Tendrils exploded out from the monster, driving into Alex so fast that he didn’t even have a chance to react.

Pain exploded through his body as he was impaled — and something heavy slammed into him. Alex found himself tumbling through the air. The tendrils running through his body were torn free and he hit the ground with a thud. Princess magic snapped awake, quickly working to repair the wounds covering him.

Alex staggered up to find Claire standing before him, her wings extended behind her and breath coming in the ragged, desperate gasps of a cornered animal. She’d managed to force herself into motion.

“This thing again,” Claire ground out. “We can’t fight it.”

“I know,” Alex said. “But we don’t have much of a choice. Our best bet is buying time until the fear wears off and the others can help us.”

Claire’s veins went jet black as power sliced through her body. Her fingers lengthened into claws and she lowered her chances. “I was worried you’d say that.”

The Forsaken Revenant’s body jerked again. Four pitch black legs like those of a spider burst out from its back with a crunch. They drove down into the ground, each one driving deep enough to pierce through the stone and lifted the Revenant into the air. The monster’s face split open. Blue light shone through its mouth as it split into a hungry smile.

Alex flicked his hand, banishing the Chainsword. It couldn’t do enough damage to the Revenant. He needed more destructive power — and he only had one tool capable of that.

A heavy white manacle slammed down around his wrist. Chains rattled as they slammed together, ending with a heavy thud as an ivory anchor slammed down on the ground at Alex’s side.

“Come on, then,” Alex snarled, pulling the chains taut and baring his teeth at the Revenant. “Come and kill me, you bastard!”