Illyana's cleaver buried itself partway into the skull of a man who looked like a cross between a lion and a cave troll, and it dropped to the ground with a dull thud as Colony strode deeper inside. The elf was huffing, her gambeson marked by a myriad of cuts and gashes.

"Finally," Illyana spat.

Colony turned to a few of the incoming misshapen things and swept a hand toward them, a wave of heat and flame shooting out from her palm. It swept across them, blasting them to ash in an instant.

Askyr was focused on her, sensing inwardly that she too was a mimic. Be bared his bloodied fangs at her, hissing as the toxin seeped from his flesh in a greater volume. She focused on him in turn, a small shiver racing through her and her companion of excess flesh.

"I knew I smelled you well in advance. You have been bleeding all over the place." She exhaled slowly. "Even now, the mere sight of you revolts me. Basilisks.. I've always hated them!"

Askyr snarled and leapt toward her, as fast as a rifle shot.

The next instant he was hurled clean across the room, chunks of his body blackened and burned, arms twisted and violently broken from the shoulder down. Colony lowered her hand, smoke trailing from her fingers in long coils.

"Still alive after all that," Colony said, her eyes widening slightly.

"I'm aware," said Coin. But with how Askyr was struggling to so much as stand, it seemed the prolonged battle had at last taken its toll on him.

Cricket's fist cocked back, striking the rounded and scale-encrusted head of a slobbering snake-man, shattering his skull like an eggshell. Scylla, meanwhile, skewered an oversized ogre-like beast through the gut, who moaned mournfully as his guts slid from the gaping wound like a red tide. He thudded to the ground, and a tense silence filled the air.

The last of the abominations, dead among a small flock of his equally malformed kin.

Illyana rushed to, lifting his chest to her lap. Scylla made her way over, examining him from where she stood. The grim look on their faces did not fill Coin with confidence.

"Oh you damned fool..." Illyana set her mouth in a tight frown. "What were you thinking?"

"Forgot I'm... the one person here without... crazy abilities. Guess I forgot." His breathing was shallow, agonised, blowing bubbles of blood on each exhale. "Gods... think I got kicked by... fifty horses."

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"Jokes? Even now?" asked the elf, a pained look crossing her face.

"Aha... sorry."

Scylla moved in closer, raised his shirt, and grimaced at whatever she saw beneath. "I'm afraid... there is nothing I can do, but give you a peaceful passing."

"There's no magic that can heal that?" Coin asked, staggering over. But by bit he was morphing back into his human guise, broken metal clanging from his body.

"Even a seasoned healer can only do so much. There's a threshold where the body is so damaged that even magic cannot pull it back."

"Hah... don't give me all the... good news in one go."

Illyana grimaced. "You were... a good friend to me, Varis. As infuriating as you could be."

"Don't you worry. I'll..." he wheezed, whole body briefly tensing in agony. "Be... sure to... haunt you." He smiled, weakly, and Coin could see the colour gradually draining from his face. "Stay gold, kid." He breathed a final breath and died then and there.

Illyana held him close but did not weep. Even so Coin could s her eyes had grown wet with tears, rage leaving her silently trembling for several moments.

All eyes turned to Askyr, slowly rising to his feet. Injured, the creature remained defiant regardless. He hissed and snarled, impressive for a creature with a jaw hanging on by strands of frayed tendon.

A green flash came from the doorway behind it, bathing half the chamber in a sickly glow. Askyr barely bad time to shriek as the light overcame him. Then his body twisted, shrivelled, blackened like burned firewood. Skin sloughed off as blackened smoke, leaving behind crumbling bones and calcified matter.

What remained of the misbegotten thing collapsed to the floor and shattered apart into a pile of ash.

Essine stood behind him, the green smoke on her fingertips gradually fading away. "Horrible man," she huffed, a small tremble racing through her body.

Coin rushed to her side, setting his hands on her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him on a reflex and clung tight. "Are you alright?" he asked, seeming fearful to release his hold on her.

"They did not hurt this one too much," she assured. "But... this one must still apologise. This, all of it, happened because this one could not defend herself."

"Don't blame yourself. Please," he assured her. Slowly, reluctantly, Coin unwound his arms from her. She was fine. This wasn't a repeat of Elijah, he told himself.

The group gathered by the far door, Illyana carrying Varis' corpse. Her face was set in a mask of grim determination. "We oughta get moving," Cricket said, lazily kicking one monstrous corpse. "It's silent for now, but we don't know if it's gonna stay that way." She glanced to Scylla. "What do you figure this lot were looking for down here?"

"Whatever secrets and lost magic they could get their hands on. And doubtless they've found something even more dangerous than just the void cubes. This, all of it, is just a prelude to something worse."

"I..." Colony gave her a flat stare, "did not expect Elbrinth to be quite like this. And in all my searching, I did not find the method your people used to create Animus."

"May well be lost to time entirely. Or already stolen by Lord Bleak. I can't sense much of anything here now, just... echoes," Scylla said. She sighed, tugging the brim of her hat down a notch.

"I'm... really sorry about what happened to your home, Scylla," said Coin.

"It's not my home, Coin. It hasn't been for... a long time now. Elbrinth is... in the past," she said. "But, thank you. I appreciate your concern."

The group turned and, one by one, marched from the chamber and started the long and silent ascent back to the surface. They left Askyr and his fellow monsters entombed among the silence, and Elbrinth once again became a lifeless haunt.

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