Iron Bull was panting for breath as he and his men kept the Alistair-demon from making them all roast chickens. It didn't help that the cave was stifling and felt like one big closed-in sauna. The heat dampened their attacks.

  Some of the underground cave, including the entrance, had been transformed into solid molten rock. Even if they defeated the rage demon, they would have to dig their way out somehow.

  Rocky had been staving off the demon's flames with vials of his Ice Mist Poison, but he was running out of vials.

  Their other elven rogue, Skinner, compensated by releasing as many iced arrows on the demon with fast precision, but her quiver was also becoming light.

  Every time the demon recoiled, Krem dashed in with his longsword to cut away some of the demon's skin while making sure he didn't accidently damage Alistair's body. But this delicate dance of damage and avoidance was a huge struggle and cost to his stamina, making his strikes clumsy.

  When he saw one of his strikes press into Alistair's side, he instantly withdrew and changed tactics toward defense with Iron Bull.

  Grim kept guard over Dalish, who was pouring her last bits of magic into Hawke and Fenris to keep them alive.

  They had collapsed next to the artifact and were unconscious. Fenris showed the most signs of death with his infused lyrium power the only thing keeping him in their world, but this power was waning fast.

  The Charger's scarred face and staunch healer, Stitchers, was feeding healing liquid into the men's mouths to keep their vitals as steady as possible. But most liquid kept flowing out. Their health wasn't showing signs of recovery. And the potions were becoming few. He had to start thinking about keeping potions for those who could be healed.

  "I can't keep them... they're dying," Dalish cried.

  Her body was trembling so much with frayed nerves that it was a struggle to keep her magic flowing. But she didn't want to give up. They were important people to her, so she kept pushing herself.

  "Maybe we cut our losses." Krem groaned blunt words through his tiredness.

  "And face Boss's wrath? Anri may be a one-armed man, but that just makes him more dangerous." Iron Bull thought to himself and shook his head. Besides he wasn't about to ditch the situation and go away empty-handed. It wasn't just one hero to save but three now.

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  "We've come this far, Krem. We have to believe that Hawke will come through."

  No sooner had Iron Bull said these words, the rage demon bellowed with outrage and pain. Hope appeared before the tired mercenary band's eyes when they saw the demon being forcefully separated from Alistair with fade energy, like a slice of bread being pulled apart to form two halves.

  The demon shrunk and reshaped itself to be its true form. It tried to rebind itself to Alistair's unconscious body, which was crumpled to the ground, but its touch kept rebounding off it.

  "Maker, they did it." Krem gasped with pleasant shock and felt his energy renewed for the fight.

  "Now, men. Give it all we've got!" Iron Bull roared to rally his men with fight.

  Dalish kept her focus on recovering Hawke's and Fenris's lifeforce, while the rage demon was being whittled down to size by a bombardment of attacks.

  It let out a mighty bellow before it was destroyed, its essence returning into a void of the Fade.

  A sense of peace overwhelmed the atmosphere to make everyone slump to the ground for breath.

  "Well, that's been the shittiest demon fight since Coryphetits." Iron Bull huffed.

  "This Alistair owes us a round of drinks." Krem soberly commented.

  "Just one? He owes us fucking ten rounds of Chasind Sack Mead at least."

  When he felt his strength return, Iron Bull went to check on Dalish who was being supplemented with healing drafts Stickers was handing her. She was still pouring her magic into the men.

  "Are they coming around?" Iron Bull didn't hide his concern.

  Tears streamed from Dalish's eyes as she shook her head. Her body had been pushed beyond her limits. Iron Bull gently touched her arm with a gesture to stop.

  "You've done enough. You'll drop dead next to them if you keep going."

  "They're heros, Chief. They can't die like this."

  Before more words could be said, both chests heaved with signs of breath. Hawke's eye lids moved rapidly until they fluttered open.

  Dalish looked hopeful to Fenris who was showing signs of breathing, but his lyrium markings were faint and his body unresponsive to touch. Stitchers sighed with relief when the healing liquid he poured into his mouth was going down this time. There was hope.

  A short while later, Hawke was able to sit up where he saw Fenris's head unresponsive against Stitcher's lap and the man feeding healing draughts into him.

  "Fenris." He scrambled to the man's side and stroked his hands to feed his spirit energy into him.

  A loud cheer shook the cave when everyone saw Fenris's eyes flutter and gradually open.

  "Hawke, are we... alive?"

  "Fuck yeah," Iron Bull answered for him. "Welcome back."

  "What about Alistair?" Fenris weakly asked.

  Grim checked on the man's unconscious condition and gave a thumbs-up.

  "Good." Fenris closed his eyes again, which stirred panic through Hawke. He weakly grabbed Hawke's hand. "I'm just resting, relax."

  Stitches turned his focus to Dalish and helping her recover her strength.

  Seeing that everyone was alive and accounted for, the men focused on restoring strength and finding a way out.