Page 104 of Daemon Master

It hit him all at once.Seymour.

Adrian stared at his friend, his eyes wide beneath his false helmet. “A reverse Surge?”

“Did you think all those hours practicing at the Enclave wasted effort?” Seymour replied. Pride filled his voice. “While you’ve been honing your aetherforging, I’ve been working on a few tricks of my own. It’s only in the last couple days I managed a reverse Surge, though.”

Even beneath herMirror Image, Adrian saw Freya’s shoulders tense at the mention of the Enclave. “We can catch each other up later,” she said tersely. She snagged a sword off the closest stunned guard and brandished it with an unpracticed hand. “Afterwe’ve dealt with these.”

Already, the four watchers were shrugging off their brief paralysis. Adrian gauged them about equal to him in strength. That was bad enough, but their active daemons made thingseven worse. If Adrian and his friends didn’t seize control quickly, they’d soon be overwhelmed.

Seymour wasted no time charging the watcher nearest him—the one who’d checked on Adrian. Adrian winced in sympathy as precise blows to the man’s head, neck, and chest sent him sprawling to the ground unconscious before he could react.

Freya tried to stab the other nearby guard with her commandeered sword, but the man dodged her clumsy swing with his limbs still half-asleep. His daemon, bird-like with a beak and stunted wings, rushed forward in a sudden burst of speed.

Freya yelped and tried to evade, but she wasn’t fast enough. The daemon’s beak gouged her leg like a drill, spraying blood down the corridor. Adrian prayed the wound wasn’t too severe, but he didn’t have time to check. The other two watchers—Garrick and his companion—had come to their senses. They were only seconds away from entering the fray with their own daemons. Adrian considered going for them before skirting around them toward the cages they’d been guarding instead. Seymour and Freya would stand a much better chance if he could free their daemons.

Behind him, Seymour unleashed another of Tremorfist’s roars. This one felt far less potent than the first, and Adrian knew from personal experience it would have a weakened effect on those already exposed to it. Still, every second might matter.

He reached the cages and fumbled in his pockets for the last of his prepared relics. The instant his fingers clutched the ceramic shard, he activated it with a thread of aether, praying he’d gotten the aetherforging right.

To his relief, anUnbendable Rodmaterialized in his hands. The weapon wouldn’t last long—he’d struggled to hold a reverse Surge with Lockrod long enough to enchant it—but hopefully, it’d be enough.

Drawing on his limited connection with Heartrender, he willed her aether to flow into him as a reverse Enhancement to bolster his flesh. Rather than the usual deluge, the best she could manage was a faint trickle. He drank it in, then lifted the rod and brought it down on her cage’s lock.

TheUnbendable Rodbounced off the metal with a loudclang, and he cursed. No doubt the lock had been reinforced with aether, just like his cell. Maybe Seymour would have more luck breaking it with anotherStunning Howl?

He glanced back to find Seymour fending off two watchers with a stolen sword while desperately dodging around the flailing avian daemon. A second, lizard-like daemon periodically reshaped the floor beneath Seymour’s feet, stone spikes piercing upward trying to impale him. Freya hung back, rubbing something onto her sword. From this distance, he couldn’t tell what.

Meanwhile, the third remaining watcher—

Adrian’s eyes widened when he spotted Garrick striding toward him, his sword drawn and his face contorted with rage. His eyes flicked over Adrian’s shoulder, and instinct made Adrian duck right as a beam of sickly green light lanced the air above him. He spied its source a moment later—an arachnid daemon with a bulging abdomen and spiky legs that clung to the ceiling.

“Nothing to hide, huh?” Garrick said. “This’ll go much easier for you if you surrender.” He bared his teeth in a savage grin. “Not that I mind watching Pulsespike eviscerate you first.”

Adrian could tell at once this wasn’t a fight he could win—not without a daemon of his own. He had to stay focused on his original goal. If reverse Enhancements were too weak to function through the bondstone’s interference, he’d have to try something else.

Forcing his mind to calm despite the chaos around him, he intertwined his aether with Heartrender’s. Their constricted bond made aligning their aether more difficult than usual, but knowing Seymour had already accomplished the feat lent him confidence.

At last, his reserve briefly joined with Heartrender’s in a tenuous reverse Surge. Rather than harness her aether toward a technique, he called on the entirety of their shared magic to reinforce his swing. TheUnbendable Rodstruck the lock, and this time, he heard the satisfying snap of metal as it clattered to the ground in pieces.

Reveling in a flash of triumph, he yanked open the bent cage door, gasping softly when his reverse Surge snapped. He shook his head to clear it. Heartrender sat there before him. All he had to do now was remove her bondstone and—

Pain seared along his back. Blackness tinged his vision as he screamed.

As if from a great distance, he heard Garrick’s amused chuckle. “What’s the matter? Not a fan of Pulsespike’s venom? Don’t worry—the pain will fade as it pervades your body and numbs your flesh.”

Adrian shuddered, a dull numbness already creeping over him. He stretched a hand toward Heartrender, desperate to reach her. If he could only deactivate her bondstone…

Fresh agony bloomed in his back, and he howled, collapsing half into the cage. Another daemon might’ve been able to fight past Pulsespike’s technique, but unlike daemons with their bodies of aether, Adrian felt every agonizing drop of venom coursing through him.

So…close…

Barely able to see let alone think, he stretched until his fingertips brushed Heartrender’s slick fur. He managed a pulseof aether through his haze of pain and dimly heard the deactivated bondstone clatter to the cage’s bottom.

Heartrender rushed past him in a flash, growling as she positioned herself between him and Garrick. Aether poured into him through their bond—a proper reverse Enhancement this time. He gasped in relief as the pain retreated before the restorative energy.

Garrick let out a wordless snarl as Pulsespike unleashed another poisonous green beam. Adrian was ready this time, dodging to the side even as Heartrender darted at Garrick, conjuring several illusory copies of herself to disguise her approach. Yelping, Garrick stumbled back while Pulsespike leaped from the ceiling into the throng of Heartrenders.

Adrian glanced toward the remaining cages before clenching his jaw and charging after Heartrender. He couldn’t leave her to fight alone. Freeing the other daemons would have to wait.