Rowan laughed, “I thought you first offered partnership, Lamia, but now I see you for what you truly are. You wish to replace the chains I took off with yours? What makes you think I would let you?”

“Forgive me, Rowan Kuranes. Some conclusions are set in stone. I cannot give up this present opportunity before me.”

“Keep your words inside your heart, Lamia. I can never forgive you for wishing to enslave me. I will fight you until the last.”

Lamia sighed, and she blinked her eyes, and the rumbling of the collapsing Nexus stilled, as the Light behind Rowan went out. He did not need to turn to know the Portal behind him had been deactivated.

Lamia smiled, “I can control Aether… you, however, cannot. Not yet, at least. Now, would you come willingly, or do I have to break you to keep you?”

Rowan’s face changed, many expressions passing through his countenance, as he was assailed by pure panic, he raised his Axe and charged at Lamia’s champion with a cry of despair.

He attacked like a storm, using every single bit of Attributes allowed to him. Envy let out shrill metallic cries as Rowan swung the weapon like a whirlwind.

Lamia’s Champion was faster and stronger, he elegantly dodged every single blow directed at him, his long white hair flowing around him like mist, creating enchanting lines in the air, and Lamia eyes were opened with glee as she watched Rowans struggles.

“Give up Rowan Kuranes.” Lamia crooned, “Your path to salvation is gone, every moment you waste is assuredly the closer the hands of death comes to you.”

“Fu”k you Lamia, I shall kill you and all of your sisters!” Rowan growled and increased the motions of his Axe.

Lamia countenance changed, and the air turned frosty, “Fine. I shall tear you apart slowly, until you beg me for the leash. I would flay every single inch of your flesh with a thousand small cuts, I shall breed your descendants and make them consume your liver for all eternity, and you would beg me for salvation.”

“Bring it, Abomination!” Rowan gestures with his hand.

The Champion suddenly made a deep growl like a beast and forcefully dragged his hands apart, the hands that were holding his chest open. The motion nearly tore every single piece of flesh from his torso, and he dumped the steaming pile of flesh on the floor.

Lamia eyes lit up, as a thoroughly demented look came over her features, Rowan suddenly had a thought that this creature was insane. She may have crafted a careful persona for herself to communicate to the outside world, but as she became excited, the cracks began to show in her masks, “My champion. Make him scream for me.”

A long seven feet black bone sword emerged from the palm of his hand, the sword resembled a katana, and it was clearly longer than its wielder, Rowan did not bother to reflect on where he took out such a weapon.

Rowan roared and charged, leading with his Axe, the Champion smoothly dodged his charge and Rowan nearly stumbled, he looked down at his chest and saw it was riddled with dozens of stab wounds, although they did not bleed, they brought an intense stinging pain.

He could not even follow the movements of the Champion, his Spatial Sight felt like it was glitching, for when the Champion moved he appeared in multiple places at once; Rowan knew it was not a doppelgänger skill, he was just moving so damn fast that Rowan could not follow his actions.

The wounds on his torso struggled to close up, as Lamia looked on and laughed aloud, “Yes… yes… more… more… tear him apart slowly, I want to taste his blood… make him bleed!!!”

The next series of encounters were tragic, as the Champion dodged and weaved around Rowan, dancing around his attacks, and within half a minute, Rowan’s body was riddled with hundreds of stab wounds. He had a wicked gash that had sliced off his ears and part of his nose, he was missing an eye and basically had his neck hanging by strands of gristle.

Rowan struggled to pick his head and placed it back on his neck, as Lamia looked on in amusement.

His breathing became labored, but his mouth was set in a stubborn line, he kept his gaze fixed on the Abomination, his expression was one of intense anger and sorrow.

Lamia laughter echoes around the chamber as it began to crash around them, the Dais for the teleportation controls began to tilt, and with the materials it was made of, once it crashed it would shatter like glass.

Rowan’s eyes were not even on that precarious development as it was fixed on Lamia’s Champion, and the guarded look inside the eyes of Lamia began to slowly ease up.

She was still waiting for Rowans last move, as she knew his only path to salvation was the Teleportation Dais. She could have easily destroyed it, but she loved playing with his hopes, as she watched those flickering flames die.

Suddenly, Rowan went faster than he had been moving before, it was clear he had been holding back on his strength and speed and although the Champion dodged his charge, Rowan was able to seize the long white hair trailing behind him.

Rowan grinned, “Got you… slippery bastard.” Then he gasped and stepped back as the hand he was holding the hair with fell from his shoulders, although the grip on the white hair never relaxed for a single moment.

Lamia wanted to laugh, when she noticed two red and green mables roll towards the feet of the champion, her eyes scrutinized them in apparent surprise, and they widened before a deafening explosion like a volcano eruption covered her.

Rowan ran towards the falling dais, his mind calculating that he had two seconds before it touched the ground, shattering to pieces. He hurriedly called on his Spatial Sight and zipped it towards the teleportation circle, and the weird occurrence in his mental space happened once more.

A flickering yellow portal appeared in front of him, it was vibrating, clearly not stable, but Rowan ignored the risk, he was willing to take his chances, and with a yell, he jumped into the flickering portal and disappeared, the next moment the teleportation dais hit the ground and shattered to a thousand pieces.

Just as soon as, an angered shriek came from the flames erupting inside the Warding Room. The flames were pressed down to nothingness in the next second, and Lamia’s Champion walked towards the shattered Remnants of the Teleportation Dais.

Lamia cried in anger, even as she was laughing, “Do you think for an instant, that you could flee from my hands, Rowan Kuranes?”

The champion pushed his hands inside the mouth of Lamia, which appeared as if he was fishing inside his guts, and brought out a yellow crystal.

If Rowan were here, he would notice that the crystal was similar to the massive yellow crystal he had seen inside the mansion that led him to the Red Moon world.

She muttered an incantation and the yellow crystal lit up, and as if time were reversing, the broken dais began to rise and reassemble itself.

The price paid for this astonishing feat was that the yellow crystal began to crumble, when the dais was repaired and another yellow portal appeared in front of her, the crystal collapsed to dust.

Lamia grinned, “Your spatial markers are still fresh Rowan Kuranes, you are not going to escape your leash!”

The Abomination Champion began walking towards the portal before it stopped as a massive shadow began appearing behind it, turning, it stepped back in shock and Lamia jaws nearly fell from her mouth.

An unearthly howl came from a growing monstrosity, and the shockwave that erupted from that scream destroyed the entire room, shattering the teleportation dais and sending the Abomination Champion flying.

A massive golden centipede that was more than a thousand feet long and was still growing erupted from Rowans discarded limb.