“Nergal, you’re going to have to take point for the time being.”

Without another second to spare Satori leapt from the APC with enough force to bounce the steel carriage against the muddy earth and fling it upwards for a few seconds of glorious seconds of air time. When the deed was done she was sailing through the night in hot pursuit of Magna Pater.

After Nergal’s initial report she was aware of how slippery the Pater could be. And so Satori’s plan had been to turn those tiny shadows that stitched together to create the larger shadow into barbs that would hold the Primeval in place. Instead the tail struck the palm and a ripple flowed through the construct before a decently sized hole exploded to life in the back of the hand and scattered a few dozen shadows with it. Barbs still appeared along the palm and the fingers, attempting to snag the beast’s leathery hide, but with how determined and how powerful the cornered Pater the best they would manage would be a few superficial wounds. Visually impressive but not nearly enough to capture the beast.

Satori came but a second later, diving through the newly created hole of a hand that was not tearing itself in two along the center line. Two and a half awkward fingers affixed themselves to her back and formed the framework for a pair of skeletal wings that beat against the air to achieve absolutely no lift. It was instead better to say that her shadows were able to fly without a problem and that they were merely towing Satori along for the ride but that wasn’t terribly impressive so wings they were. A secondary set of smaller wings formed at the base of her spine from those shadows that had been blown away and soon the framework was filled with a thin leathery film, ostensibly to let her glide.

A thud later and she landed in the mud a solid fifteen feet away from the downed Primeval who would no doubt be looking to snack on one of the many burning ghouls, and he had so many to choose from. When she landed she would already be in the process of sweeping the fake Solar Hammer from her back. Though it wasn’t a Verdissian Royal Artifact in truth the alien technology was still beautiful to watch in action, the leather wrapped grip extending and the steel head unfolding until it went from being a child’s toy into a legitimate warhammer at about three feet long, all seams created in the transformation immediately resealing themselves in a flash of heat. If the beast refused to acknowledge her then Satori would be thumping the hammer into the ground, igniting the kinetic energy generated upon landing and sending twin trails of fire not towards the Pater but its latest meal, which would then detonate right in the Pater’s face. The sticky mucus he constantly produced may have made him immune to fire but the explosion would likely deal severe damage if it hit the inside of his mouth and would at least throw him back. It wasn’t a bolt of power fired at the speed of light but it would do.

Success, failure, or something in-between the two Satori would march with her eyes crusty with blood and her four wings curled beside her. “We settle this now monster!”