Covered in demon ichor, her hair no longer finely kept, the princess crouched behind some rubble that used to be the second story of the same building. "There," she pointed, all while whipping her hair in to a loose braid.

They were slightly above the level of the ominous feature the princess had identified.

"I see it," Kaden acknowledged. He equally bore the signs of the numerous skirmishes against Koronai that had been recently fought.

Everything between them and it was devastated.

What he was looking at was a gap in the world. The size of an entire city block and easily discernable, even at this distance. Demons crawled out of it like a parade of evil. One in particular, a Night Terror, roared a joyous scream as it shambled out of the Abyss to join another.

"You still have the bomb?" she asked.

"Right here."

Kaden produced the crude iron sphere from a pouch he wore slung over his shoulder. It was loaded with more Rage than he cared to ponder. If it broke, and he had inhaled even a fraction of what it contained, he wouldn't have lasted ten seconds before his body quite literally exploded.

The princess remained intent on their target. "Good. Without an army, that's our only hope."

"You're sure this will work?"

The eye roll to Lyla's reply was implied. "Did your slave build it like I told him to? Put it under the right amount of pressure?"

"I trust Sahl did."

"Then it will work," she poo-pooed his worries. "Essences have more uses than you might think."

"I've seen a Rage still explode when the pressure gets too high," Kaden informed the princess. "I know full well what's its capable of."

"You know an inkling of what it's capable of," she warned him. "You're about to witness the full force of it. That bomb contains enough explosive force to collapse the Old Way these demons have opened up. We just have to detonate it inside the opening." She looked at his once injured arm with a sideways glance. Her tone softened to an almost caring one. "How are you holding up?"

Kaden too took a look, the first since they'd headed out to kill Koronai. The cracked pottery look of skin was less noticeable. Although bright pink lines denoted where the skin had healed artifically fast. Based on the fact that he'd had no problem using it thus far, he assumed the muscles and sinew beneath were in good shape.

"Just like new," he said.

"Good. So that means you're not going to whine when I tell you we'll have to fight our way in?"

Kaden's eyebrow went up at the assertion. "You act as if we haven't been fighting for our very lives for the past two hours or so. I'm ready."

Lyla nodded. "Show me then. Get out there and make a distraction."

She forcibly took the Rage Bomb from Kaden a little bit less gingerly than he would have liked.

"Oh, so I'm bait now? Is that it?" Kaden squawked.

The princess shrugged. "Damn fine bait, if I do say so myself. Those demons are going to salivate upon seeing you and thinking about feasting on your blood."

"I swear, by the luck that sustains me, this deal gets worse all the time."

"Oh stop it. You know I'll make it worth your while later. Now go. Your princess, and your wife, commands you."

Kaden saluted her. "Aye, aye, wife, sir!"

She smacked him on his ass as he rose. The playfulness of the action not lost on Kaden. Although the force behind the slap would leave a welt.

"Stop stalling," she said. "The sooner this is over with, the sooner I can make it worth your while."

Kaden pondered the situation for a moment, looking beyond and mentally counting the demons that were visible, all while realizing there were so many more he couldn't see. There were two Night Terrors and the three Bone Koronai, which were the biggest concerns he had. And that didn't diminish the matter of the plethora of Greater Koronai, nor the rather numerous Lesser Koronai that were like ants at a picnic.

He just had to remind himself that he didn't need to fight them all, just keep their attention. Still, he would need to separate them. Two Night Terrors alone, let alone with the three Bones lurking about would do him in in a heartbeat if he faced them all at once and by himself.

His body, fueled by Rage and Courage was already moving him towards the looming enemies. It took the full force of his mind and the logic within to keep him from rushing headlong into a suicide mission.

He ascended to the spaced rooftops that remained intact, not daring to descend into the streets and possibly getting trapped in their confined spaces. Confined spaces made more treacherous by the plethora of collapsed rubble about. And it was not long before the enemy noticed him.

One of the Night Terrors and a Bone Koronai rushed with a horde of Greaters and Lessers leading the way. It was a battalion of evil he knew he could not stand against head to head. Kaden was just happy the other Night Terror and other two Bones appeared distracted by other things. Easier victims he assumed.

Kaden beat a hasty retreat and swung his path away from the opening in the world, drawing the beasts with him. Leapiong from rooftop to rooftop, the smaller and faster Greater and Lesser Koronai caught up with him first, while the Night Terror and Bone found it difficult to navigate between the remaining buildings. They often chose just to demolish them.

He took swipes at his foes, twisting and running in a haphazard path, avoiding new demons that would appear before him. Kaden downed those that came within range, or at least wounded them as he dodged attacks from any number of arms and claws and maws.

Sharp teeth barely missed his head more than once. But he was lost in himself, his mind and essence fueled body working in concert to keep him alive.

In the distance, Kaden heard the other Night Terror howl. Turning to take a glance, he saw it topple into the Upper Ring and figured Lyla had joined the battle.

At that very moment, Kaden decided that he was done running. He skidded to a stop and braced as the throng of demons plowed forward towards him.

Kaden lept like an eagle over the leading wall of Lesser Koronai, planting a firm foot on the top of the skull of a nearby Greater, and soared higher. The Bone that was in his direct path spit disgusting and putrid venom at him, which he avoided by twisting midair.

Instead, it landed on a group of Greater and Lesser Koronai, dissolving them and eliminating them as a threat. Although not immediately. Some of them, still half whole, stubbornly continued to try and advance. At least until they became nothing more than puddles of goo as the dissolving liquid consumed them.

As the Bone prepared to gurgle forth another attack from it's human like skull-shaped head, Kaden came down on it. Slicing it open from chin to crotch. The Karo Shar landed and rolled as acid poured out and the demon. It toppled into its own weapon of destruction and began to disintegrate violently as though it thought it could refuse to die in such an undignified manner. But die, it did.

Not even the Bone themselves were immune from the fate their bile delivered to others.

The Night Terror, however, proved more formidable. Even with relatively fresh essences flowing through him, Kaden had difficulty with the beast. As he lept from building to building, staying one step ahead of its razor claws and six fingered hands, the task of fighting the creature was made immensely more difficult by the stubborn fact that other Koronai would not leave him be.

Kaden would down one of the Lessers or Greaters and swore two more took its place. And while that was happening, the Night Terror was relentless.

Kaden was forced to fight purely defensively the entire time, picking and choosing his strikes. Only being able to exploit openings as they were presented to him by his opponents' mistakes. And it didn't take the young man long to realize the demons were corralling him back towards the opening in the world and his wife.

To say that he'd lost any advantage and control over the situation would have been an understatement. It was the first time in a long time during battle Kaden really felt in danger. The number of Koronai waiting for him would be unsurmountable.

But try as he might, he couldn't find an alternative path that led to a less dangerous situation. And he couldn't believe the beasts were acting so intelligently.

He sidestepped the claws of the Night Terror, then quickly avoided all four arms of a Greater Koronai seeking to snatch him up. Some Lesser Koronai tried to overwhelm him, but he killed a few of them and then was out of that danger, but right back to facing down the Night Terror.

Kaden rolled between the gap of the demon's legs, the monstrous beast stomping a Greater Koronai flat as it turned to follow him. And then Kaden's back was against something. Something that moved.

Reflexively, he spun. As did Princess Lyla who nearly took his head off—