They quickly fell into sync, Cirrus not needing to give her any orders. Eve was a natural in combat, that much had been clear ever since the first time they'd sparred. All she lacked was experience, but her grit and tenacity made up for it in vulnerable areas. She instinctively used a snow screen to surround them as Cirrus’ ice surged forward, and he flung any monsters that came his way towards Jayce using his concept of telekinesis. His guard stood on the sidelines, taking care of the smaller enemies as they came surging into the room from god knows where Sinika had summoned them. Jayce's dominant arm was still white and shriveled, which put him at more of a disadvantage than he’d usually be, but he’d always been flexible and good at adapting, so Cirrus wasn’t worried… so long as they could get his arm to turn back to normal.

  Sinika was slippery, her beady black eyes alert and feral as she slipped through Cirrus’ ice while more monsters attacked them. She dodged when Eve brought out her twin daggers and tried to slice her neck, the white-haired girl spinning on her heels as she dodged Sinika’s reach in turn. Both of them were quick, and Cirrus slipped in between the cracks as his ice chased her.

  “Heheheh, oh my… both of you are so powerful… I guess that’s to be expected though,” she giggled out, her pale and skinny frame dodging out of the way like a puppet on strings as she hid behind her monsters whenever they got too close. As much as she called them her children, it looked like she didn’t care how many of them got killed. “Wahahah… you know, if that blond companion of yours were here... I’m sure he would’ve already been able to kill me,” Sinika laughed breathily, as if the air in her lungs was clouded by something.

  But Eve only slashed a dagger at her, blinding the other woman with snow as Cirrus shot a spire of ice at her back. “What do you know about Feather, eh?!” she sneered, cutting through open air as another monster came flying at her, only to be quickly dealt with by Jayce.

  Cirrus could usually do either close range or long range, whatever was needed of him. He could easily pull out a sword made of ice and join the frow, but he knew Eve needed someone behind her to back her up, as her offensive specialty was close range combat. But still, not once did they ever manage to hit Sinika. The woman’s body could contort itself into strange positions, she could pop her joints out of place and bend in ways that shouldn’t be possible… whenever they thought they had her cornered, she’d pull some insane movement or have one of her monsters take the attack for her. It was infuriating.

  But she just kept laughing, bending her back as she fell flat on her head, skull hitting the ground before she rolled ever further onto her stomach, one of her monsters taking the ice into its thick skin so that she could pick herself back up again as if nothing had happened. He didn’t understand how she seemed to be immune to physical injuries… even when Jayce had fully slammed her against the concrete, she’d seemed unaffected and her grip held strong. Looking at her scrawny and frail frame, she shouldn’t even be able to move the way she was. Was that because of a concept? He supposed the concept of physical enhancement could do it, but that concept could only be used by people who actively tried to enhance their bodies in the first place, which this woman was obviously not doing. And yet she just kept laughing…

  “Wahahah, you don’t even know who you’re aligning yourself with… that man who you call Feather… he isn’t who you think he is,” she laughed endlessly, Eve whipping another dagger towards the woman as she only sliced at black hair.

  “Who do you think Feather is, then?” Cirrus asked while gritting his teeth, figuring he might as well try to get information out of her while she was being talkative, no matter how many attacks he threw out.

  And Sinika really did answer, pleasantly laughing in her low, raspy voice the entire time, doing bridges and backflips away from his ice and Eve’s attacks as her monsters kept surging forward. But Jayce was looking to be getting tired, that wound on his arm that was now shriveled and white sucking the energy out of him. He wouldn’t be able to continue like this. But Cirrus silently pleaded with him to push a little further, just a little more, as Sinika answered brightly, “Feather is the man we’re trying to kill! This entire setup is a stage to kill him and only him! We don’t really care if the rest of you survive, honestly… it won’t help you,” she snickered, before her black eyes whipped around to catch onto Cirrus’ hesitation through the flurry of snow. Her words had made room for just a sliver of insecurity, just a sliver of fear for the blond man who he'd been separated from. And Sinika grinned, her expression malicious and entirely evil as she surged forward, hand outstretched as she reached for Cirrus’ face with her clammy white palm. “Wahhh, you shouldn’t wear your weaknesses so openly on your face, you know…”

  And his eyes widened as he instinctively flinched away from her sudden movements, the woman circling around his ice in the compact room as she went to grab him, her hand getting far too close… he wasn’t sure what would happen if his head was infected first, but it would probably be more devastating than just an arm… and Cirrus couldn’t help but close his eyes, wincing as he braced himself for the inevitable impact, before suddenly, a large explosion whipped itself around the room, aimed directly at Sinika herself. Her entire arm was melted off her body as the blast hit her torso, throwing her all the way across the room as Cirrus’ eyes blinked wide open.

  A heated energy blast that only lasted two seconds. His all-seeing eye would never lie to him. He quickly looked to his side to where the blast had come from, the entire pathway being blown open as it had burst through several different walls, his attention taken off Sinika for just a moment as Cirrus whispered in an awed, hushed voice, “The miracle worker.”

  “Huh?” Eve gaped, quickly turning to see where the explosion had come from, where the supposed miracle worker had just jumped in to save them. Even Jayce was looking, none of them realizing it when one of Sinika’s monsters bit her by the throat and started running off with her through the labyrinth. Because after a long moment, all Cirrus, Jayce, and Eve could see was a collapsed Feather being carried on Achitha’s back, the woman dashing through the open hallway with urgency.

  “Cirrus! Eve!” Achitha called urgently, swiftly sliding Feather off her shoulder to sit him on the ground. Bright red blood was trickling from his mouth, and Eve immediately abandoned her offensive task to kneel down, instinctively moving to press her fingers against Feather’s throat to check for a pulse. “Can… can you heal him?” Achitha huffed out, leaning forward as her mossy green eyes began to look frantic. “He… Feather is the miracle worker, I saw him create that giant blast before he collapsed. I… I really don’t get why his body gave out, but…”

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  “It’s alright, he’s breathing,” Eve interrupted her panicked rambling, Achitha staring down at the unconscious man before she let out a breath of relief. But Eve was amazed as she laid her hand on Feather’s chest right above his heart, her blue eyes wide as she remarked in awe, “He’s healing himself… while unconscious. I’ve never heard of someone being able to do that before, but his body is actively healing himself right now as we speak.”

  “Huh? What the hell?” Jayce snapped, his form returning to mostly human as bits of fur were still patched on the back of his neck with large brown wolf ears flattening on his head, his nails still looking like claws as he ignored the big fluffy tail that was popping out from under his tunic.

  Though, for once, Cirrus wasn’t surprised. So the miracle worker was Feather… somehow that just made sense. After watching everything he could do, just… they were all miracles. It made sense. Of course Feather had been able to stop him from turning into a monster, of course Feather had been able to save the mythical beast from the ancient concept of evil, and of course Feather had been able to create a blast so strong he’d saved him from the enemy right at the most crucial of moments… though, speaking of the enemy.

  Cirrus quickly turned around to where Sinika had gotten thrown, and he knew her arm must be entirely incinerated right now. And if a blast like that hadn’t knocked her unconscious, he didn’t think anything could. But when he looked to where she’d previously been laying, all he saw was a trail of splatters of white blood leading down a deeper corridor.

  “Should we chase her?” Jayce asked, immediately at his side as Cirrus looked at the trail left behind. If they followed this, they might be able to find a severely weakened Sinika, allowing them to finally finish her off for good. But… when he looked over at Feather… and Jayce’s arm was still… no, he needed to focus on getting the injured out. They’d already suffered plenty, and he didn’t want to take another unprepared risk while two of their strongest fighters were out of commission.

  “No,” Cirrus responded, quickly walking back towards Feather as he watched Eve speed up the healing process for him. “How is he?” he asked calmly, before his eyes widened a little bit when the healer leaned forward on his chest, pressing her hands on top of each other against his ribs as she began to make compressions. “I…”

  “Don’t worry, it’s nothing lethal! He’s just got blood stuck in his lungs!” Eve replied loudly, making careful repeated compressions on Feather’s chest as that man’s sleeping face started contorting, until his body jerked and he let out a violent cough, bright red blood spilling from his mouth as he took in a ragged breath, Eve immediately leaning him back down as she let out a sigh. “Phew… there we go, that should make it easier for him to breathe. But, ah, Achitha… how exactly did he get injured?” she looked up, concern etched out on her expression as she stared at the larger woman. “The blood was stuck in his throat, but he’d already healed most of his injuries, so I can’t tell how that even happened. Did he get stabbed?”

  “Um… no,” Achitha shook her head, clearly looking distressed as she recalled all of her clear memories. And she’d always had an immaculate memory, the one person who could remember anything after only seeing it once, so to see her this confused while trying to recollect was a bit disturbing to those around her. “He never got injured. The man we were chasing, Feather actually overpowered him immediately, it was barely a fight… but then me and Kya got infected somehow, and he healed us, and then… then he just collapsed,” she explained bluntly, and Cirrus could see why that was confusing for her as Achitha looked down at the man. “Well, before he fell unconscious, he had me place him by the wall where your group was, and then he sent out that explosion that destroyed everything in its path… and then it was like he lost all life. I had actually almost thought he’d died, since I couldn’t hear his heartbeat for a while, but… I’m glad that wasn’t the case.”

  “Oh… yeah, his heartbeat was pretty shallow when I checked it, so that’s not surprising,” Eve responded, before she hesitated to continue. “Though… I’m not sure about anything else.”

  “But what about Kya? Should we go back for her?” Jayce spoke up, turning back towards the large entryway Feather had created.

  “Hm. Should we split up again, Cirrus?” Achitha questioned, clearly taking notice of Jayce’s shriveled white arm, making a keen note to ask questions later when they had the time. “One of us can take Jayce, Eve, and Feather out while the other goes back to support Kya. As of now, I think it’s best Eve stays with Feather, just to be safe in case his health turns for the worse.”

  “Huh?! You tryna bench me?! I can still fight!” Jayce protested, but Cirrus wasn’t about the condone that kind of recklessness as he raised a hand.

  “No. Jayce, you will return with Feather and Eve and meet back up with Leo,” he commanded, Jayce swiftly shutting up as his three subordinates turned to their leader for his orders. Because no matter how dissatisfied one of them might be, they trusted Cirrus' orders and treated them as absolute. “As for who goes to help Kya… Achitha, what was this person’s concept?”

  “It was shapeshifting, your highness.”

  “Did he have any more?”

  “Not from what I could tell.”

  “I see,” Cirrus nodded, carefully weighing the options in his mind as he thought about which powers would work best against such a flexible opponent. When you compared ice and telekinesis to poison and illness… hm. “Achitha, I want you to go back to help Kya. Get him sick, and then bring him back as a prisoner. I believe you are more capable of capturing him without killing him than I am. Understood?”

  “Yes, your highness. Then I’ll be on my way at once,” Achitha gave a swift bow, before she quickly turned on her heel and began to run all the way back to where she’d come.

  And now it was time for Cirrus to use his all-seeing eye one last time before he got to rest it. He’d forced it far past its limit, but he’d had no other choice. Even if he went blind, this was something he needed to do so that everyone could get out alive. He needed to use it again to navigate this labyrinth to find their way out. So, as he heaved out a sigh, Cirrus carefully leaned down and wrapped his arms underneath Feather’s knees and back. He remembered that Feather didn’t like being carried that way, but it was what was easiest for maximizing both speed and his comfort. He didn’t want to treat an injured person roughly.

  “Alright, follow me,” he ordered Eve and Jayce, moving forward to get out of this godforsaken hellscape of a laboratory. But they’d figured out a lot of good information today. And best of all, he hadn’t died. And that meant he could continue digging deep into this conspiracy to truly reach the root of it, so he could perhaps finally understand… what had caused the apocalypse in the first place.