Fenn backed away from the platform’s edge as the the monster’s roots began to unwind, making the ground under them shudder. Their support was replaced by a pulse of green light, that left the previously entangled stones suspended in mid-air. There was little doubt that it was the Eye’s influence that was keeping them afloat.

Even casting aside these legends, the hound had suddenly little doubt about why the armor’s people would be in awe of such a creature.

His ears twitched in response to the yellowish mist that began to filter out of the Eye’s shell, the thrumming of countless tiny wings reaching him across the expanse, under their guide’s alarmed voice.

“A purpose for us, it says?” He grunted as he watched the mist approach. “This is the third being with aspirations of godhood that seeks my cooperation in as many days.”

“Third?” The Demoness at his side inquired, looking at him sideways. “Aside from the Council, who’s the third?” 

“You, Imp.”

She snorted, cat ears flicking. “Aspiring to godhood? Come on, Pup. I’m not [i]that[/i] arrogant.”

Fenn rolled his shoulders and dug his claws on the ground, the spaces between the scales of his chest swelling with an inner light a moment before a tongue of fire erupted from his maw. The flames crashed against the swarm, blackened motes fluttering down towards the expanse below wherever the flames fell, but the wave of insects barely faltered in its approach. 

A sharp glint slipping through the flames caused Fenn to duck his head. He felt a sudden warmth and a ripping sensation on one of his ears, and his scorching breath sputtered as he let out an irate snarl. A second projectile aimed at his head was deflected by a violent swing of his scaled arm, the spear losing consistency from the force of the impact. 

As the motes climbed out of the broken weapon and fluttered away from the predator, the manner in which the Eye wished to test them became clear. No sooner had the thought formed in his mind, groups of insects seemed to coalesce into larger shapes, golems fashioned from the Eye’s will staggering towards them while the yellow mist surrounded their platform, seemingly content with encircling them. Some of them took on a humanoid shape, their appearance somehow reminiscent of their guide.

At his side, Lily’s form became engulfed in flame—only for the flames to sputter and die, the look on the demoness’ face betraying surprise and annoyance. “For fuck sake. Old fashioned way, then.” Mist coalesced around her hands, glowing motes of white-ish energy quickly coming together to form a large, brutal war hammer. She swung the weapon around as if a toy, readying herself for the approaching golems.

She jumped forwards, sidestepping the first golem’s initial strike, using the momentum to deliver her own. The blow hit deep, striking its side hard enough to blow out part of its torso, scattering the insects making it up, and causing it to scramble to the side to regain its balance. She spun, facing the other only to have it strike her almost head-on, sending her tumbling back towards where they’d stood before.

A different creature had appeared before Fenn, the horns atop its head reminding him of the monsters that had greeted them when they had first stepped into this realm. The thing charged at him, but rather than force it into a contest of strength as he had done before, the hound rose and slammed a fist on the monster’s head. The insects forming the horned head were blasted away by the force, leaving the headless golem to stagger back. A second blow scattered the golem’s torso, and the monster lost its consistency.

He had little time to consider the beast’s frailness compared to the original before the clumps that remained shuddered and gained the shape of smaller creatures and projectiles. Fenn growled as he shifted his stance, presenting the harder parts of his hide and feeling the dull impact of the lances against his scales, before he belched forth another inferno. The smaller golems crumpled as the insects forming them melted under the heat. 

Pillars of fire blossomed under other nearby monsters as Fenn saw them appear, killing the insects before they took proper shape, but for all that, the tide of enemies seemed unlikely to turn away regardless of their efforts.  

“I tire of swatting pests away,” he growled.

“You’re not the only one!” Lily growled from further away, her axe gone in exchange for a round shield and a short, double edged sword. The golem she had initially attacked was no more, instead she was surrounded by two humanoid shapes the same size as her, and a set of flying weapons. 

She twisted, blocking a hit from one small golem, severing the other’s arm from its body. A spear came flying towards her, shattering to dust as it met her shield. One moved to flank her, Lily jumping back to keep them in front of her, only for a her side to burn where the severed arm-now-dagger sliced her. 

She roared, anger boiling; scales spreading across her body, tail thickening and wings sprouting from her back. She grabbed one puppet by its head, weapon’s forgotten, crashing it into the ground, the other pulverized from her tail splitting it in half like a massive bullwhip. 

Even then, the insects that had not been crushed were already beginning to take on other shapes to assail them. There was not much fighting would accomplish unless they burned the entire swarm to a crisp. Or they stopped its source. Fenn’s thoughts turned to the dark sphere suspended in the distance, and found his lips parting around his fangs.

Fine, then. If he was to be tested, it would be on his terms.

The dog began to back away, eyes fixing on one of the planetoids their assailant had left hovering around them.

The imp must have sensed something was amiss, for her voice suddenly reached him. “What the fuck are you doing?!” Lily all but screamed from where she was now wrestling with a golem, her previous multiple enemies having merged back into one. She was bleeding from several small cuts.

“Exceeding expectations.”

With a running start, he leapt off their platform, roaring fire at the mist surrounding them. It parted at his intrusion, letting him soar in the air before he crashed heavily against another suspended rock.

Only slightly larger than him, the stone swayed, slowly rotating in a way that forced him to scramble upwards, sharp claws scoring the surface. His chains whipped out as more projectiles formed from within the swarm, snapping them before they could reach exposed parts of his body.

Locating another platform, the hound jumped off, leaving a score of projectiles to crash against the rock he had been hanging on to.

No sooner had he landed that more golems appeared, barring his path, but he only paid enough attention to them to bowl them out of his way. His focus was on reaching the Eye.