The tunnel stank of rot.
Varik and Eros had struck so many pulse points, but the Abomination refused to die. It had stopped regenerating, at least—that was something. Now, it just stood there, twitching, unmoving. Undead. Unnatural.
Eros crouched low, his breathing shallow, eyes locked on the pulsing mass in the distance. The Abomination's chest was a massive gaping wound, layers of torn flesh sagging open. That was where Nira had found the last pulse point. It beat faintly, buried deep within meat.
Varik bent down and picked up his bulbous shield. The edge was cracked. He adjusted the strap over his forearm and flexed his fingers. They were all tired—worn down. And the rotting thing they fought was too. Its body sagged, chunks falling off, flesh losing cohesion.
It was time to end it.
Varik charged, shield in hand. He slammed into the creature with a grunt. The impact made it stagger, but not by much. The Abomination was far smaller than it had been before. Once the size of a minivan, it was now no larger than an average man. Limbs gone. Eyes gone. Mouth sliced away. What remained was a mass of twitching muscles, twitching limbs, and glistening meat, wrapped in sinew and rot.
Each movement made a wet, bone-crunching sound that churned the stomach.
The force of Varik's charge tore away more of its already-mutilated face—though there wasn't much left. It had no proper head anymore. Just jagged muscle and twitching tendons. It retaliated with what claws it had left, but Varik made a gamble. He shifted from defense to offense, putting his full weight behind the blow. It paid off.
He sliced clean through the creature's limbs, severing its claws. They twitched on the floor, unable to regenerate. Maggots writhed where the flesh split. The creature was hollowing from the inside out.
Eros rose from his crouch. In the blink of an eye, he became a blur, disappearing from where he was and appearing right in front of the staggered beast. He drove his dagger into the last remaining pulse point. Rotten meat splintered apart. The decaying body couldn't hold together anymore.
A dark core was exposed.
It sat in the center of the chest cavity, under layers of meat. A solid, obsidian-like shard that swallowed the light around it. It pulsed with a dull, eerie glow—familiar.
Just like the shards the Firstborns used.
"I found a core!" Eros shouted, staggering back.
He paused, eyes flicking to the others. "What next?"
Varik didn't hesitate. "We burn it."
"How?" Nira asked, sword dripping with gore.
He glanced at his shield. "The pulse charge. If we can jam it into the core and overload it—"
"You'll lose the shield," Eros said.
Varik gave a faint smile. "Then I lose the shield."
Nira narrowed her eyes. "You sure it'll work? It's not out of it yet. It might not detonate."
Eros snorted. "At this point, I don't care. I just want to stop fighting this thing. It stinks. There are maggots crawling all over my body. And let's not forget—it killed two of our own."
"Cover me!" Varik barked.
Nira surged forward, her blade carving an arc through the air. Eros ducked under a flailing limb and drove his dagger into the creature's knee, locking its left side in place. The beast twitched violently, but it couldn't free itself.
Varik plunged the shield into the opening in its chest, elbow-deep in gore. His fingers fumbled until the edge of the shield touched something hard—something glowing.
The core.
The creature reacted instantly. It didn't scream—how could it, without a mouth? But its entire body spasmed violently, as if trying to cry out through its very bones.
"Run!" Nira shouted.
Varik tore his hand free and leapt back, sprinting toward the tunnel wall. Eros followed, pulling Nira by the arm as the creature convulsed.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Eros glanced sideways. "It's not working. Did you do it wrong?"
As if in answer, light exploded through the tunnel.
Blinding. White.
A pulse followed. Then heat. Then sound.
A shockwave slammed into them, knocking them against the walls. Rotting flesh rained down like diseased confetti. Chunks of bone and meat smacked against stone. Smoke filled the air.
And then, silence.
Only the sound of dripping meat and labored breathing remained.
Eros spoke first, voice hoarse. "We killed it."
Varik let out a short, bitter laugh. "At least… I think we did."
"Nahhh," Eros said, staring into the smoldering heap. "That bastard's dead."
Varik was on the ground, panting, shoulders rising and falling. He had made it to the tunnel wall, but barely.
Nira helped him to his feet, her face pale. "You alright?"
Eros grinned. "Yeah. But from the looks of it…"
He looked down at the shield, or what remained of it.
"…my shield wouldn't be."