I didn’t care much for the sudden spectacle, not even with my Fire Gland mutating on its own like some restless organ trying to evolve out of spite. Shoving down the discomfort crawling under my scales, I dug a claw into my palm, pierced the skin, and slammed my bloodied hand into the Dragonfire. The instant my blood met the flames, they flared into a harsher, almost blinding rainbow blaze before dimming back to their usual infernal calm. An electric surge rushed through me. A connection! I’d done it.

  Now for part two.

  A ripple behind me split the air like tearing fabric. I turned, and something was dragging itself out of the rift. It was a hulking, twelve-foot-tall monstrosity with deep crimson skin, curling horns and a goat-like face twisted into an unsettling sneer. Four limbs braced its weight as it stepped fully through, and behind the rift shimmered a landscape I knew all too well.

  How could I forget? The Hell Plane— my last visit there had been… memorable, to say the least. I’d stopped a Platinum Core from descending from that damned place once. So this thing was definitely a demon.

  Our powers clashed the moment our eyes met. The pressure alone made my muscles lock. Strong… stronger than me, by a good margin. Low Gold-tier, probably.

  “Ah… ,” it crooned. “Master suspected someone as crafty as you might try some petty deception. So she left me here, a humble familiar, to keep watch. And it seems you’ve walked right into my little trap.”

  The goat-headed demon grinned wide, clearly expecting fear. Instead, I sensed the mana swelling inside him and swapped places with my waiting clone before he could unleash it. Once outside I immediately tore the enchantment seal to send Lysska the signal.

  I slipped into my clone’s senses just long enough to watch what came next. Tendrils shot from the demon’s direction, snaring my body— the clone’s body — in an instant. I tilted my head, examining them. Strong, resilient and annoyingly familiar, the same type that had dragged Barn back into the Nether Plane. Though these… felt cheaper, like a knockoff brand of that actual horror.

  Even with my current strength, breaking free didn’t look promising. The tendrils were disrupting mana flow throughout the body. It was a nasty trick, especially since my clones were perfect copies of me. If I’d been caught myself, I’d be in the same bind.

  The demon twirled two clawed fingers, and the tendrils constricted with a wet snap. I kept my expression calm. He was expecting panic. Instead, I just stared at him, quiet and amused. Breaking free was overrated anyway. The clone still had about thirty seconds before it dissipated. May as well make them entertaining.

  I grinned. The demon blinked and his own grin was gone.

  “Master was right…” he muttered, scanning the surroundings. “This mortal is indeed very cocky. To think you’d laugh while caught in a life-threatening snare.”

  “Well, what can I say? You’re so hideous I feel personally attacked by the sight. And that smell! Thalador, I’ve dissected monster corpses that had more dignity. Do us both a favor and back away... or better yet, marinate in acid for a few hours. Maybe it’ll peel off whatever died on you, goat-head.”

  He tilted his head, unimpressed. “Hmm… sharp-tongued and deliberately provoking me. Very well. Since you asked, I shall oblige and show you why one should never anger a Higher Demon.”

  He twirled his claws again. Instantly, the entire chamber warped, melting away into something else entirely. The air thickened. When the distortion settled, I stood within what could only be a fragment of the Hell Plane… though not the real one. It felt contained, boxed in like a domain. Lava-like ground pulsed beneath my claws, the heat prickling up my limbs, and above us was nothing but an endless vault of shadowed flame. The atmosphere pressed against my skin with an oppressive density, almost identical to my own Quantum Court.

  The tendrils restraining me dissolved into black smoke, yet my body remained unresponsive. My mana was scrambled and tangled beyond control.

  “I shall begin by extracting your soul,” the demon announced, reappearing behind me with a malicious grin. “Master warned that the process is quite painful for mortals. Torturous, even. It’s reserved for those who truly earn our wrath. Since you insisted on angering me, this demon shall oblige. Worry not, I will not extract it fully— your fate belongs to my Master. As her familiar, I can act only within my bounds.”

  I gave him a flat, unimpressed look. “Hurry it up then. I don’t have much time left.”

  Privately, I couldn’t help the thought, Elder Alina having a Gold-Core-ranked demon familiar under her command? Ridiculous. A Gold core summoning another Gold? That’s just unfair!

  And Lysska… she’d miscalculated this one. If she had to face both Alina and this walking infernal beast at once, that’d be two Golds versus one High-Red. The equivalent of a tsunami fighting a wheezing toddler. But knowing her, she probably had contingencies layered under contingencies. I’d stopped paying attention somewhere around backup plan number seven.

  Anyway, my time was nearly up. My Air Sense picked up nothing— no spatial ripples, no approaching presence. Just the oppressive silence of the false hell.

  The demon made an elaborate gesture, eyes narrowing mid-motion. A frown crept across his muzzle. “Impossible… where is your soul?” he hissed, glaring at my flickering, glitching form.

  By the time realization struck— by the time that hideous surge of mana registered on his senses— it was already too late. His crimson face went sheet-white.

  …

  My consciousness snapped back into my real body. Without hesitation, I sank into the shadow dimension.

  Quantum mana always had a talent for breaking space. Whatever spatial or dimensional spell he’d used to cage me, it was doomed to be destroyed once the blast hit. Still, no kill notification. Figures. A Gold core like him wouldn’t die that easily. My not-so-little quantum detonation probably just gave him a reason to finally wash up.

  After all, it’d be quite a shame if that blast had killed a Gold Core. Those bastards weren’t just powerful, they were cunning, too. You don’t crawl your way to Gold by playing around. Every shred of that strength was earned through grit, pain, and sheer willpower. I might hate those Flameclaw elders, but I respected that power.

  One day, I wouldn’t need any tricks or decoys to face them head-on. One day, I’d stand as their equal. But today… wasn’t that day.

  If nothing else, the encounter was another reminder of just how unpredictable this world could be.

  I stayed cloaked for a while, keeping my senses sharp as I swept the area. No sign of Lysska. Nothing stirred in the courtyard except faint scorch marks and shattered stone. No hint of Alina lingered either… which was either good or very bad. Hopefully, Lysska had escaped in time.

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  Lingering here was suicide. Even the Shadow Dimension wouldn’t shield me if that demon decided to warp reality again. I didn’t know his full capabilities, but I’d seen enough to know he was dangerous. Terrifyingly so.

  I pulled back immediately, checking everything as I went. The anti-divination charm was still snug under my neck scales. No foreign mana signatures detected. My throat, though, that felt like it was on fire.

  One final glance to ensure nothing followed, and I sank back into the Shadow Dimension.

  When I finally emerged beneath Vasilisa’s manor, in the dim, rune-lit basement, I exhaled a shaky breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Stressful didn’t even begin to cover it. Still… I grinned. A win’s a win.

  Belle and Alice were already there waiting. The moment I rematerialized, Belle practically launched herself at me with a squeal.

  “SQEE!!” she cried, hugging me tightly.

  I opened my mouth to reassure her— Of course! What do you take me for? Piece of cake!— but no sound came out. My throat convulsed. I coughed once, twice, and felt the Fire Gland flare again, molten heat licking up my neck.

  What the hell was happening to it?

  I pressed my claws against my throat and felt heat, not warmth, heat. Like molten metal sloshing under my skin.

  “Mistress? Are you alright?” Alice asked. “Your throat looks like it’s… glowing. Is that intentional?”

  I tried to speak again, but only a strained rasp escaped. The pain intensified— the Fire Gland was melting my own vocal cords faster than my regeneration could fix them. The moment my body healed them, the damn thing burned them out again.

  And these were the same cords that had withstood my flame jets before— concentrated bursts hot enough to pierce through trees like flaming spears.

  What kind of heat was building inside me now… that even my half-dragon form couldn’t handle it?

  Even with my absurd fire resistance, bordering on immunity, like my poison tolerance, this was something else entirely. Something new was awakening and I wasn’t sure my body was ready for it.

  Still, the melting of my vocal cords barely registered through the rest of the agony. The Fire Gland’s mutation was already burning so violently it felt as if my entire throat was being torn apart from the inside out. Only when I tried to speak did I realize what was actually wrong.

  Wait. Hold on. I could never mutate in my half-dragon form. The transformation had to be complete — full dragon — for my organs to properly restructure. Maybe that was why the mutation was dragging on for so long; my current form was interrupting the process. I needed to revert.

  I drew in mana and turned toward the Basilisk’s corpse lying nearby. The enchantments preserving it kept the flesh cold, but the blood within hadn’t yet spoiled. A faint pulse of energy coaxed the thick green fluid from its veins, letting me guide it through the air like ink on invisible parchment.

  The blood curled into glowing letters before Alice.

  “Something happened when I came into contact with Dragonfire.”

  Alice tilted her doll-like head.

  More letters followed, hanging in the air in front of her.

  “I can’t speak. The Dragonfire was absorbed into my Fire Gland. It’s been mutating ever since and it’s melting my vocal cords.”

  Her porcelain features remained unfazed. “Will you be alright, Mistress?”

  I shaped another word in response.

  “No idea yet. I need to fully transform to let the mutation stabilize. My half-dragon state is probably interfering with it.”

  I shrugged, or at least tried to. The pain had dulled to a constant, molten throb, tolerable enough that I could focus. Pain and I were old acquaintances anyway. But still, I’d have to leave the manor and head to the forest before completing the transformation.

  Hmm. But first things first.

  I climbed upstairs and spotted Kraven perched by the window… or at least a fragment of him. I doubted I’d ever seen his true form; he preferred scattering himself into these eerie flocks of crows that acted as Lysska’s eyes and ears.

  “Is Lysska alright?” I asked through a written string of blood letters.

  The crow gave an affirmative caw and dipped his head.

  I could understand him perfectly. Lysska had reached the warded hideout safely and regrouped with Vyra. She was moving through the sewers now, laying false mana trails to mislead the Gold Core chasing her. Smart move, the labyrinth down there was a nightmare to track anyone through.

  I didn’t know the full scope of her plan, but she’d made it clear that she’d handle her end alone and that I was only to return once the job was done.

  Still, I pressed Kraven for more. The link worked both ways, Lysska saw through his eyes, but Kraven could also share what he saw with me. And, well, Kraven liked me. Because obviously, I was the best, most magnificent, most epic dragon he’d ever met. Also, his first. That probably helped.

  He cawed again, feathers ruffling, and I listened carefully. Lysska was deep within the sewer system, deploying the charms and alchemical mixtures, the same ones I’d brewed for her, to form decoy mana trails. Kraven’s fragments carried and dispersed them through intersecting tunnels, weaving a network of deception across the entire maze. And since she wore the anti-divination charm Lotte had taught me to craft, divination wouldn’t help the Gold Core either.

  Honestly, I was impressed. She had not only survived but outwitted a Gold-core pursuer with pure strategy and limited resources. Still, I couldn’t figure out why she had ordered me not to assist.

  I ran through hundreds of calculations in a heartbeat, probabilities and risk analyses flashing through my mind and came up empty. She knew my mana was virtually undetectable. If I’d joined her, I could have extracted both her and Vyra without leaving a trace.

  So why refuse my help?

  There was a reason, there always was with her, but whatever it was, I hadn’t seen the pattern yet.

  I must be missing something obvious again. It could be because I was a chaos magnet… right? Lysska probably thought my presence would just toss more unpredictable variables into her already fragile plan.

  …Hah, no way. I was overthinking it.

  Whatever. Let her keep her little strategies to herself. I didn’t need to be a genius to appreciate a good victory.

  When I finally confirmed through Kraven that Lysska had emerged safely on the outskirts of the upper district, I exhaled deeply. No trace of the Gold Core’s presence either. Good.

  Now, I could finally address the dragon in the room, literally, and finish this mutation before it cooked me alive.

  “Well, tell Lysska it was an emergency,” I told Alice and Belle, forcing the blood letters to form crisp and bold this time. “I’m going to mutate and return!”

  Alice nodded obediently, and Belle gave a sharp salute. I couldn’t resist ruffling the fluffy badger’s head, which somehow devolved into a full-on belly rub assault that had her squealing in delight.

  “Huh… where’s Alder, though?” I asked, realizing I couldn’t sense him anywhere nearby.

  Alice hesitated, then chuckled awkwardly. “Alder refused to get off Viper’s head without you here, so… he went along with him.”

  “Oh.”

  Well. I really needed to get Alder his own perch before that owl decided to make a permanent nest up Viper’s head.

  With everything settled, I finally turned my focus inward again. The heat pouring from my throat had grown so intense that the scales on my fingers began to melt just from touching it. What in the hells was happening to my Fire Gland…?

  ***

  Alice silently watched as Mistress waved goodbye and disappeared into the void, her form folding out of reality.

  She had to admit… the strategy Lysska had devised had been brilliant. Everything had gone surprisingly smoothly, with minimal interference or deviation. There had been a few unforeseen variables, of course, but none seemed directly antagonistic. Mistress’s mutating Fire Gland, for example, odd, yes, but not immediately dangerous.

  Satisfied, Alice turned toward the manor’s front gate, then froze.

  Kraven’s crow fragment, perched by the window, suddenly went rigid. Its eyes glazed over, and the next instant, it toppled lifelessly to the floor.

  Alice’s porcelain face didn’t move, but she felt it immediately. The link connecting Kraven to Lysska— cut. Severed in an instant.

  “…”

  That wasn’t supposed to be possible. At least, not by that Gold Core. Her affinity leaned toward fire, not something that could slice through the mental sea that connected familiars.

  No… this kind of severance could only belong to one affinity. One that thrived in the depths where light couldn’t reach.

  Alice’s blindfold shimmered, threads of golden mana unspooling as it slipped free and fell soundlessly to the floor.

  Where eyes should’ve been were instead swirling voids, depthless and with spiraling darkness.

  “Squee?” Belle tilted her head, confusion plain in her squeaky little voice.

  Alice’s lips parted into a grin far too wide for her porcelain face, revealing a mouth brimming with nightmare teeth.

  “Just some filth,” she said, voice dripping with quiet delight. “Something that needs cleaning.”

  There was no need to trouble Mistress with this trivial matter. She had a mutation to complete.

  And Alice… had some pests to exterminate.

  Jade (the molten-throated dragon):

  Currently discovering that spontaneous organ mutation is not as fun as it sounds.

  Communicating exclusively through blood art now.

  Lysska (the chaos accountant):

  Survived pursuit by a Gold-tier. Has ten new theories and zero patience left.

  Eyebrows twitching. Instincts whisper: something is very wrong.

  Alice (the doll):

  Has decided to handle the “cleaning” personally.

  Belle (the badgermaid):

  Hug reserves depleted. Preparing emotional support cookies and tea.

  Kraven Number 237 (the suddenly deceased crow):

  Status: Currently unavailable for comment.

  Unknown Demon:

  Screeching while coughing up blood.

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