Page 66 of Daemon Master

Adrian chuckled.Nope. This is all Kali’s badge. It’s aetherforged all right, same as those containment cylinders.

The watcher’s expression shifted from astonishment to doubt before finally settling on awe. “This goes way beyond a typical aetherforging. A daemon’s technique at your fingertips, no bonds required…it’s even better than your reverse Surge!”

Personally, Adrian wasn’t so sure he agreed. The only reason people didn’t slaughter every daemon they encountered wastheir potential utility. He could imagine all too well what would happen if Serenity Corp deemed daemons obsolete.

“Your voice in my head—it sounds like when you called for help,” Seymour continued.

“I suspected as much,” Adrian said, deactivating the badge. “My best guess is that, when I collapsed on Kali, I fell directly onto the badge and my aether accidentally activated it while trying to heal me.”

Seymour smirked. “So,I’mthe one you thought of on your deathbed? I’m flattered.”

Heat prickled the back of Adrian’s neck. “Don’t let it go to your head. You also happened to be the only person in the entire forest I knew, so…”

They finished gathering Kali’s relics, Seymour electing to carry them since Adrian held Ghosttear. The daemon had barely shifted during all the commotion. If it weren’t for the occasional glimpse of dull eyes, he’d have suspected it had fallen asleep.

Heartrender’s curiosity and concern pulsed through their bond, and he reassured her he’d do everything he could to help her broodmate. Lockrod’s thoughts on the matter were less clear, their bond too new. What he did get was protectiveness, along with a slight hint of jealousy.

Adrian grinned and offered a palm slick with aether. “Don’t worry, Lockrod. I’m not going to replace you.”

The daemon chittered, sending admonishment through their bond. Nevertheless, he hopped forward and drank the offered aether before resuming his play with Heartrender.

“If that’s all, we should get moving.” Seymour leaned companionably against Tremorfist’s heavily muscled side. “Where to now?”

“The Enclave,” Adrian replied, setting his jaw. “We have some new allies to make.”

Seymour nodded, and they started back the way they’d come. Hopefully, the watcher had a good enough sense of direction to retrace their steps. Neither of them had thought to leave a trail.

They’d almost reached the clearing’s edge when Adrian’s aethersense pinged. The source was faint enough that he almost ignored it, dismissing it as a random fluctuation in the ambient aether. But there was something strangely familiar about the aura that tickled his memory. Could it be another of Kali’s mysterious devices, discarded nearby?

The aether appeared to be emanating from a thicket of bushes a couple dozen paces to their right. He stepped closer to investigate, then staggered, almost losing his footing when the faint trace of aether abruptly blossomed into a powerful aura that swept over them.

Shadowlash emerged from the bushes amid a rustling of leaves and branches. Dark energy roiled across the daemon’s back, shrouding its features, while black tendrils lashed the air. As if that weren’t an ominous enough sign of its current mood, it let out a low, rumbling growl.

Adrian’s heart hammered in his chest. He and his daemons had proved ineffectual against the creature once before. Even without Kali, this was a fight they couldn’t win.

A hand gripped his shoulder, and he fixed frantic eyes on Seymour. The watcher gave him a grim smile. “No reason to look so dour. It’s just us and it. Tremorfist and I have your back.”

Gratitude blunted the edge of his fear, and he took a deep breath. Facing the approaching daemon, he adopted a defensive stance Seymour had taught him, holding his hands up to shield his face and angling his feet apart for balance.

Shadowlash lunged, and Tremorfist loosed a terrible roar. It didn’t slow the enemy daemon for long, though the paralysis at least made it hesitate. Adrian took advantage of the opening to carefully deposit Ghosttear to the side and channel afull Fusion on Heartrender, sinking his entire being into her flesh. Seymour followed his lead and melded with Tremorfist. Including Lockrod, that left three against one—still not great odds, considering their foe.

Shadowlash recovered enough to strike. Tremorfist batted away a handful of shadowy tentacles while Lockrod and Heartrender dashed to either side. Heartrender conjured aMirror Imagearound herself for added protection. Lockrod, meanwhile, manifested anUnbendable Rodto use as a weapon. In tandem, the three daemons assaulted Shadowlash in a pincer maneuver.

The counterattack proved exactly as ineffective as Adrian had feared. Lockrod’s club and Tremorfist’s raw strength counted for little when Shadowlash’s cloak of darkness rendered its flesh incorporeal. And although Heartrender’s illusions provided a minor distraction, they mostly just encouraged Shadowlash to ignore her in favor of juicier prey.

Lockrod tried again to strike Shadowlash with an overhead swing of his staff, and again, the blow passed harmlessly through the shifting daemon. Tentacles lashed at Lockrod in reprisal, and Heartrender created a screen of duplicate Lockrods. The illusion confounded Shadowlash long enough for the real Lockrod to scamper to safety.

Tremorfist rushed forward while Shadowlash was distracted and caught another tentacle to his broad chest. He loosed aStunning Howlas he strained against the dark tendril, finally wrenching it aside, but more followed the first, forcing Seymour’s daemon to retreat.

Spirits below!Shadowlash’s display of martial prowess would’ve been impressive had it not been so terrifying. Adrian considered unmelding from Heartrender to attempt talking Shadowlash down, then thought better of it. Seymour would never let him hear the end of it if he got himself woundedreasoning with an enraged daemon. He’d save that as a last resort.

Shadowlash unleashed a fresh barrage of tentacles at Tremorfist. The larger daemon held his ground, shoving back against the assault. He didn’t seem to notice as a thin tendril of darkness snaked by his feet. Adrian tried to have Heartrender yowl a warning, but the sneaky tentacle wrapped around Tremorfist’s legs before he could, yanking Tremorfist off balance. The rest of the tentacles broke past the daemon’s guard, coiling around his arms and chest.

Lockrod and Heartrender moved to rip them free, but a whip-like tentacle tossed Lockrod back. Heartrender narrowly escaped the same fate thanks to her defensive illusions. She drove her fangs and claws into Shadowlash’s flank, but the daemon ignored her entirely.

Frustration boiled Adrian’s blood. No matter what they threw at it, Shadowlash remained an impervious avatar of pure destruction.

Tremorfist roared. Seymour must’ve bolstered theStunning Howlwith a Surge because even Heartrender and Lockrod recoiled at the thunderous sound. Astonishment gripped Adrian as, through Heartrender’s blue-tinged vision, he saw Shadowlash’s tentacles briefly flicker, losing their grip on Tremorfist. The daemon wrenched himself free and lumbered to his feet while Heartrender’s attack rended into Shadowlash’s flesh.