AND NOW I HAVE YOU!!!

Lex was casting before the Night Terror had gotten halfway through her sentence.

His horn lit up, blazing brightly as he called upon almost every form of magic that he had to fight the avatar.

In an instant, he wove a powerful binding around her, one strong enough on its own that a lesser titan would have been instantly ensnared, and then poured as much power as he could into it.

At the same time, he unleashed a massive beam of pure cryonic magic, strengthened to the point where it was comparable to anything that Kryonex had thrown at him.

Even as both activated, he drew forth the Autumnal Insignia, overloading the spell he sacrificed to it in order to maximize its power. Shimmering, the red runes on its surface gleamed as it unleashed a wave of killing energy that would have slain Burly Brawl a dozen times over.

He didn’t stop there, using Nenet’s metamagic to speed up the activation of one of the divine spells that the Night Mare – the real Night Mare – had given him, even as he again dipped into his personal reserves, causing the hemisphere of blades that formed around himself and Nisha to all glow with a fluorescent radiance of their own, each of them enchanted more heavily than Belligerence had been when he’d first consecrated it back in the Shrine of the Starless Sky.

Finally, he reached out with the feng shui that Mei Li had given him, pushing it past its limits as he seized not just the flow of energy around them, but the fabric of space itself. Bending and distorting the area that the Night Terror occupied, he looped it back on itself, making it so that she occupied a recursive field that was almost a pocket dimension unto itself. While the contortions he’d built into it would eventually come undone, until they did the area couldn’t be physically traversed.

The five powers assaulted the Night Terror one after another, the avatar howling as she found her sudden leap forward suspended by shackles of pure magic, only for her cry to be cut off a cold far below absolute zero slammed into her, followed by a tidal wave of undiluted killing energy. Then, on the other side of the glow shed by the spinning blades, she vanished entirely as the distortion field engulfed her.

A moment later, Lex staggered, barely managing to catch himself.

“My master!” wailed Nisha, rushing over to him. “ “ “What’s wrong?!/Are you injured?!/How can I help?!” ” ”

“I’m alright,” murmured Lex, not bothering to rebuke her for abandoning telepathy in favor of speech; after what he’d just done, stealth was pointless. “Get ready, I’m going to join your soul to mine right now.”

Nisha straightened up. “Of course!”

Despite his words, however, Lex didn’t rise immediately, grimacing as he struggled with the backlash from using so much power at once. His physical self didn’t feel strain or fatigue anymore, but that didn’t change the fact that reaching so deep into his reserves while simultaneously splitting his concentration five different ways had taxed him badly. Particularly in the case of Mei Li’s magic; driving it so far in excess of its natural function had been hard, even for him.

Even so, he could already feel the debilitation gripping him beginning to lapse, enough that he was able to raise his left forward toward Nisha, silently calling upon the divine power within. “Now,” he intoned as he raised his eyes to hers, “you are m-”

THIS WILL NOT STOP ME!!!

The telepathic shriek came with a wrench in space that was nauseating to feel, as though the entire universe had suddenly turned inside out. No sooner had the sensation passed than the Night Terror reappeared, the remnants of the shackles falling away from her as she dove through the air, the membranes between her front and back legs outstretched as she effortlessly latched on to an overhanging stalactite.

The avatar looked little worse for wear from Lex’s assault. Frost clung to her scales, and several patches had come off entirely, revealing patches of skin that had necrotized. But none of them looked to be more than an inconvenience, the avatar barely seeming to notice the damage as she scuttled downward toward the dome of blades.

And as she did, the wires that made up Lex’s forelegs suddenly went haywire, unraveling as they began to thrash, lashing out to strike at his limbs, torso, and face.

I WILL NOT BE DEFIED!!! ESPECIALLY NOT IN MY OWN LAIR, WHERE I’M STRONGEST!!!

Nisha screamed, backing up in fright, her purple eyes darting back and forth between what was happening to Lex and the descending avatar.

Lex paid her no mind, instead gritting his teeth as he tried to regain control of himself. This was the same thing that had happened when he’d used his communion spell before, and he’d overcome it by expending all of his remaining uses of the Charismata, but that wasn’t an option now. Which meant that he’d need to reactivate his full-body wire transformation and hope that it would let him resist the Night Terror’s influence the same way it had Kryonex and Vystalaran.

He'd gained the ability to do that after he’d managed to absorb a sliver of the latter’s divinity, except...

Except, with the level of exertion that he’d just subjected himself to, utilizing that ability was currently beyond him.

A few seconds! Struggling with everything he had, Lex fought against the rebellious tangle of wires that enveloped him, his foresight telling him that changing into shadow would do nothing to keep them from lashing out at him. I just need to hold out for a few more seconds!

But that was time that the Night Terror didn’t seem intent on giving him.

You don’t seem to understand what’s happening, Lex Legis!

Abandoning her overhead perch in favor of a controlled fall, and even though the barrier of weapons that Lex had conjured left almost no space between each blade, and the Night Terror was as large as the dragon he’d fought so long ago in Tall Tale, she effortlessly slipped through the gaps they left, landing soundlessly in front of Lex.

This isn’t a fight, and you’re not my foe!

As if in response to the avatar’s anger, the tangle of wires wrapped around Lex tighter, and he found himself unable to move as they not only wound around his limbs, but also anchored him in place.

It’s a hunt, and you’re my prey!

One thin, serrated hoof swung out then, and with his mystic senses blinded the motion was fast enough that he couldn’t follow it-

And the first step to bringing down prey...

-until his right foreleg went flying in a spray of blood.

...is to hobble them!

Lex’s horn lit up then, knowing that he couldn’t wait to recover fully-

The next is to drive them into a corner!

The Night Terror’s next strike knocked him to the ground hard enough to leave a crater several feet deep. But the pain of the impact concerned Lex far less than how the glow of his horn immediately winked out, realizing that his situation had just become far worse.

The zone of null magic which had surrounded Mare Occultum had stopped mere inches before the roof of the cavern...and apparently it began again a matching distance below the floor of it as well.

And with how deep into the ground the Night Terror had driven him, he was now once again in that area of no magic.

Which meant that his ability to fight back against the Night Mare’s avatar had just been severely curtailed.

Then remove any possible path of retreat!

Another too-fast-to-follow motion severed a small stalagmite – four feet tall and barely within the boundary of the blade barrier – from its base. The blow sent it spinning into the air, only for the Night Terror’s tail to hit it with a single, expertly-placed strike-

And sent it rocketing into Lex’s chest point-first.

Even with his magical defenses nullified, Lex knew that mere stone shouldn’t have been able to harm him. But under the influence of a goddess, the stone stake punched right through him, pulverizing bones and piercing organs before bursting out his back, pinning him to the ground.

After that, all that’s left...

Despite the incredible damage he’d taken, Lex could feel the last of his exertion fading away. Even with his magic inoperable, he was still capable of healing himself, feeling his right foreleg about to grow back. All he needed to do was concentrate, and he’d be able to phase through the stalagmite the same way he had the layers of stone surrounding this place. And then he’d be able to transform-

...is to move in for the kill!

The wire that made up his left foreleg suddenly released him then, the barbed strands uncoiling from around his body to whip around wildly as they curled around each other, forming a single long strand...which looped around the Night Terror’s outstretched foreleg.

The left one, matching his own.

Then she began to pull.

The pain that enveloped Lex then was an absolute, worse than when he’d lost Solvei. It transcended physical agony, and despite his being a titan it threatened to blot out everything, his senses, thoughts, and instincts almost completely buried beneath the sensation of having a fundamental part of himself being torn away.

Almost completely.

Belligerence!

Desperation drove Lex then, knowing that he had no alternative but to use the weapon again. A thought was all it took to open his pocket dimension, reaching into it with will alone despite his telekinesis being suppressed, and slowly withdrew the ebony quill.

But just as he drew the weapon clear, the Night Terror shifted suddenly to the side, dragging the metal strands over so that they brushed against the void weapon...and then wrapped around it, the lengths of jagged wire entangling the void weapon.

And no matter how hard he concentrated, barely able to maintain his focus past the successive waves of pain, Lex couldn’t pull it free.

I knew you would do that! shrieked the Night Terror triumphantly. I knew that if you were faced with the prospect of death, you would bring out the god-slaying weapon that my other self gave you!

She pulled tighter then, and Lex couldn’t hold back a scream as the agony grew worse, his concentration shattering.

This is the end for you, Lex Legis. Leaning forward, the Night Terror placed her other foreleg on top of the stalagmite pinning him to the ground, bringing her face closer to his. I’m going to take all of the power that my other self gave you. Once it’s part of me, that weapon will be as well, and then I won’t need you – or her Umbral Regalia – to slay the Moon Princess. Her death will mark the New Noctem, where I do what my weaker, civilized incarnation could not, and rule over this pantheon! And it all starts-

She pulled harder, and it was only because he was incapable of passing out that Lex remained conscious.

-with your death!

“ “ “STOP IT!!!/GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!/LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!” ” ”

Dimly, through a haze of unrelenting agony, Lex just barely made out Nisha’s form as she leaped at the Night Terror, paws extended...

And with his severed foreleg in her mouth.

Barely able to comprehend what he was seeing, Lex could only watch as Nisha swung his claw at the Night Terror’s hoof that was pressing down on the stalagmite, keeping him pinned. Still imbued with the power of a titan, the talons sank into the scales above the serrated end of her leg.

Leaving the shallowest of scratch marks to show for it.

Foolish creature, sneered the Night Terror. Straightening up, she gave Nisha a contemptuous glance as her tail whipped around, striking the black wolf and sending her flying out of Lex’s line of sight. Prey who throw themselves at hunters serve only to die that much sooner.

“She...isn’t...prey!”

By the time the Night Terror looked back at him, it was already too late.

His flesh was already falling away as Lex transformed.

Nisha’s attack had accomplished nothing, except to distract the Night Terror for a single, critical moment, her pulling on the wire that made up his foreleg slackening.

It had caused the pain assailing Lex to abate for just a moment. But that moment had been all he needed, calling on the reserve of power – sufficient to resist even a god’s might – that the Night Mare had given him. Called upon voluntarily for the first time, it swept over him, undaunted by the area of dead magic that he was in.

The rock that had punctured his torso was destroyed in an instant, the stone reduced to rubble by the tangle of wires. The hole in his body closed up immediately thereafter. Even his severed limb – which had fallen from Nisha’s jaws to land next to him in the crater – was restored, the limb transforming into more metal strands which connected back to the whole.

And the Night Terror’s eyes widened at the sight.

What?!

“Her name is Nisha!” roared Lex, springing upward, the length of wire that connected to his shoulder losing its tension, leaving Belligerence hanging in the air.

Until Lex snatched it in mid-leap.

“And she’s the one...”

In the same motion, he pulled back on the wire connecting the two of them, ignoring the resurgent pain as he yanked the Night Terror closer, drawing back with Belligerence as he prepared to bury the weapon in her face.

“WHO’S MADE YOU MY PREY!!!”

Author's Note

Immediately putting Lex on the ropes, the Night Terror tries to take the Night Mare’s power – and with it, Belligerence – from him, only for Nisha to give him the chance he needs to turn the tables on her!

Is Lex about to slay the Night Mare's avatar? Or will the Night Terror not be defeated so easily?