Things had taken a good turn pretty soon, in the end. After a few desperate attempts where the owl managed to push through the inherent disgust of the filth and attack the walls - and one final, violent burst of such strength that the being had feared the gorge's walls would collapse - the owl had become weaker.

  By a tiny, tiny bit at first, so small that it might have been its imagination. And when it became more obvious, it blamed the difference on the owl finally calming down.

  But soon, the creature's strength started to fade faster and faster, until it really took a nosedive. Pretty soon, the being felt that it could take it in a straight fight. Then, it got so weak that it could have won even as the frog.

  But better not to take any chances.

  Right now, the owl felt no stronger than its mini versions had been. It hadn't got back on its feet since it had collapsed, and was barely moving at all. Its strength had stabilized a while ago, and the being was considering going down there to check for itself.

  Because now it knew what to do.

  Realizing the owl's motivations in protecting its territory, and then seeing it kill one of its own critters, had thrown the being's stance on the matter into disarray. But observing the creature's agony down there had been enough to make up its mind: the owl was in no less pain than its victims.

  Maybe that was what it really did. Share the misery around.

  It would end now.

  But caution was still winning out. This was an opponent that couldn't be underestimated. The being would rather fight three knights at the same time than one full powered owl. Only the dark one scared it more, if differently.

  Even if its enraged state was out, it might still have some last trick in reserve. It could be lying down, trying to bait its enemy out. That was what the being would do in its place.

  Fortunately, there was an easy solution to this. The being's foresight truly knew no bounds.

  It would rather not end things in such a far removed way, but if it came to that, it was an acceptable outcome too.

  The being reached for its last bag, the only one of its things that had survived the fight. And, at the very least, it could recover these precious treasures after it was done.

  It started throwing spikes at the owl.

  Once the being was satisfied that the owl couldn't put up any resistance, and fearing any more spikes could kill it in such a... detached way, it jumped down into the gorge. The fact that it had run out of spikes had nothing to do with the decision.

  The little light followed along and for once, thankfully, it kept silent and a good distance away, as the being approached its formidable enemy.

  It had filled the creature with so many spikes that it looked like a porcupine. But even in this state, it was clinging onto life, staring straight at the being, as it came close. And what it saw in those eyes...

  Despite itself, the being faltered. This creature still managed to project danger, even in such a state.

  But the being was indomitable. It had faced the owl when it was at full strength. Even back when it was just a frog, it had stood up to it, even if not directly. It wouldn't be intimidated now.

  It pushed down its trepidation, walked up to stand right next to its face, and stared back. At the creature that had haunted its existence for so long.

  It was in such terrible conditions that the barest effort would bring its demise.

  The frog would've considered this a triumphant moment. And it certainly was a huge proof of how much it had grown from back then. But it meant little else.

  The owl didn't feel so bad anymore. The being had thought that it was taking pleasure in torturing other creatures, and maybe it really was. But the pain it received in return wasn't any less. This creature was itself a victim of its own power.

  Looking straight in its eyes in this moment of vulnerability, the being knew that to be the truth. And, surprising even itself, it wished things could end differently.

  But this creature couldn't be left alive.

  Its life would mean suffering for countless others. The being itself might be one of the first.

  If it ever recovered, the owl would seek revenge until the end of the world. This was extremely clear in its gaze. And the being didn't fancy a rematch on the opponent's own terms.

  It pulled out a spike from under a wing... and pushed it against the owl's throat. The owl didn't screech, or fight back at all. The whole time, it kept staring at the being, and the being stared back in those eyes, as life went out of them.

  In the last moment, just before it died, the being thought it saw... something other than rage. But it was probably imagining things, and didn't want to fool itself with baseless interpretations.

  Of course, the silence couldn't have lasted.

  The being looked angrily at the little light, but the orb didn't seem to catch its intent at all, and kept approaching. Though it took a while for it to annoy again.

  Alas, communication went only one way between them. And the being supposed it had made the little light wait long enough.

  There was just one last thing it needed to do. Despite its many changes, despite that it didn't really feel the need, the being hadn't forgotten how.

  The being pulled out a spike from the owl's chest area, and reached inside the cavity left. It shouldn't have to dig around too much, as the thing felt close to... here!

  Feeling its hand close against the gem, the being centered itself and reached out to the filaments.

  It was harder than it remembered, because it hadn't needed to used this skill since the last transformation, but it knew it should be possible with some effort.

  And once the process started, the being was proven right very quickly. It felt the filaments unravel from the body and obediently curl around the gem, rather than trying to dig in its flesh. Pretty soon its hand was back outside, clutching a simple-looking gem.

  It looked surprisingly... normal. Given the pattern, the being had expected something unbelievably disgusting. Possibly, the worst yet. But it was just a sphere, almost perfectly uniform.

  What was even stranger was how comparatively weak it felt. With how strong the creature had been, the being had expected it would feel immensely powerful. But it was about the same as the bison. Probably the same as the being's own gem would feel.

  It might be because of its ability? Maybe the owl's baseline, without its rage messing things up, was normal for creatures of their level.

  That would drastically reduce its value, since the being hadn't ever been able to reproduce the bison's dash. Not that it would want to go crazy like the owl, but still.

  Truly, its decision to focus on versatility and strategy back during its transformation had been vindicated.

  Transforming with this one would mean wasting a good deal of its current progress, for very little gain. But even though it felt more than good enough to feed upon, that also would be an enormous waste.

  The owl had been a significant influence, for bad and for worse, and treating its gem the same way as it had done with the crab's or those of countless other forgotten little predators it had bested, would be absurd.

  It would keep this gem. As a keepsake and reminder of such an important part of its journey.

  And also because it liked to collect things. One could never know when something might be useful. In fact, it would definitely find a way to build some more bags in the future. Bigger and sturdier!

  Also, it'd better recover all these spikes. There was no way to know when their equivalent would come up again.

  Finally, every spike that hadn't broken on impact was safely back in its bag. The owl's gem was fixed with a makeshift little bag of its own at the hip, and no more filth could be scraped up for later use.

  It was time to go.

  There was nothing more that kept the being here, and the little light was starting to get really annoying with its swarm of annoyances.

  Maybe if it walked away really fast, it might lose it?

  The being started to walk away, in some random direction, and the little light really did stay behind! Of course, the being didn't really want to lose it, as it still had no idea how to get over the chasm or where it should be going, but if it could get some time to relax or just maintain a healthier distance, that would be welcome.

  Unfortunately, the little light could be incredibly fast when it needed to, and soon it was back at the being's side, spouting its endless tide of annoyances.

  The being was trying its hardest not to pay attention... however, they had this terrible quality that made them easy to push to the side of its mind if it really needed to, but impossible to truly ignore. And persistent, until it dismissed them.

  The being was already starting to regret this arrangement. It wasn't worth it to find a way over the chasm or control over the principle…

  if its mind exploded before that time.

  Hopefully it wouldn't take long to find whatever the little orb wanted.

  It was time to leave.

  She had done everything in her powers to refine the formation, the only tool at her disposal that had proven able to affect the barrier subtly, without disrupting it too much. She had checked it over, and over, and over again. It was perfect now. At least as much as she could make it so. And since forcing her way in directly would be like trying to crush a lockbox to recover some delicate jewelry inside...

  Their auras were pressing closer now, like shadows lurking outside at night, peeping from behind the curtains. But maybe 'cracks in the walls' would be a more apt metaphor for the rifts.

  Her former team was here. They must have confirmed her location long ago, and were done hesitating in fear of a trap that didn't exist.

  She should be buying as much time as possible. Leading them in a goose chase as far away from here as she could, while her grand working tightened the concealment around the nucleus and dug deeper inside, struggling to establish a connection for her. If she could make a breakthrough...

  Reluctantly, she let go of her tools after the 23rd time checking over this section - and finding it spotless - and floated away. Before launching away, opposite to the main rift. Unless things went very wrong, the next time she'd be back here, she would be alone and triumphant.

  Finally with the power to fight for her vision.

  are close to a reasonable increase of sapient interaction (especially from chapter 57 and onwards), but it will only be the next arc that really solves the problem.

  a little bit out of hand. I can't fathom how we got more than 400 pages in, and we're still in what I almost consider to be a prologue!