The iron rebar measured nearly a yard in length.
The tip was bent, forming a blunt hook where the old concrete slab had been hammered away. To keep her hands from slipping against the rusted metal, Maria had wrapped long strips of dishcloth around the base, securing the ends with tight knots and two loops of thin wire.
She stepped into the pump house at exactly 11:55 p.m., dragging the iron tip across the packed earth.
Dante stood near the platform. He wore his worn denim jacket, the kitchen pocketknife tucked into his waistband, and his backpack slung over one shoulder.
"Where did you find that?" Dante pointed at the iron bar.
"In the scrap pile behind Mr. Agenor's auto shop," she replied, tapping the tip of the rebar against the concrete floor. The impact produced a sharp clink. "Weighs about six pounds. Heavy enough to cave in a dog's skull without bending."
"It's not an ordinary dog," he reminded her, adjusting the backpack on his shoulders. "Their hide is pure muscle. The skull is thick, and the leg bones are denser than Earth animals."
"Iron breaks any bone," she countered, adjusting her grip on the cloth wrapping. "Open that rift already before the night patrol rolls down the avenue."
Dante extended his left hand toward her. "Hold my arm. Planar transit only pulls whoever is in direct contact with my soul matrix."
Maria gripped his forearm. Her fingers clamped onto the denim jacket with the customary firmness of her twelve Strength points. Dante drew air through his nose, closed his eyes, and focused his entire mental intent on the interface's fourth tab.
Planar Transit: Initiate.
The vacuum crack ripped the air from their lungs simultaneously.
The sensation of falling lasted three heartbeats, ending with a dull thud as their shoes slammed into volcanic gravel.
The stench of sulfur and scorched rubber hit Maria's face like a hot slap. She gagged on her first breath, her throat seizing from the acidic air, but her fourteen Constitution held off the shock. Her knees bent on impact, absorbing the landing without faltering.
Dante dropped to his knees on the black dirt beside her.
[Warning: Hostile atmosphere.]
[Congenital Physical Frailty active: Accelerated stamina drain.]
[Health Points: 12/12.]
"Get up," Maria said, hauling Dante up by his jacket collar with a single hand, pulling him to his feet. "Look ahead."
The landscape of the Ash Wastes stretched under a purple sky split by silent crimson flashes of lightning. The wind whipped up gray grit that peppered their clothes. A hundred feet away, between two jagged basalt spires, something moved slowly.
It was another Ash Crawler.
The four-legged creature had a skinless, reddish back glistening with viscous slime coating exposed muscle tissue. Its blind head probed the air with sharp twitches, the three-part jaw parted slightly as strings of grayish drool dripped over the rocks.
[Entity detected: Ash Crawler (Tier 1).]
[Level: 2.]
[Estimated Health Points: 35/35.]
"It's alone," Dante whispered, his voice raspy from the parched air. "Plan stays the same. I draw aggro, you flank left."
"Hurry up then." Maria took three wide strides to the side, vanishing into the shadow of the first basalt spire. Her worn sneakers made no sound on the loose gravel.
Dante stepped forward into the center of the stone clearing and opened the floodgates of his Mana.
Lesser Creation Bond.
The siphon drained forty points from his reserve in a fraction of a second, causing the edges of his vision to dim before steadying.
[Mana Points: 05/45.]
Blue lines intersected across the ground, rearing up into the semitransparent shape of the four-legged construct. At Dante's mental command, the ether beast slammed its forepaws onto the rock with a shrill ring that echoed through the desolate wastes.
The Ash Crawler whipped its head around instantly.
Its three-part maw stretched wide in a piercing hiss that rattled loose pebbles. The beast bunched its hind legs and charged headlong, claws gouging deep furrows into the volcanic earth.
The collision took place thirty feet from Dante.
The Crawler leapt with gaping jaws, slamming violently into the chest of the blue construct. The crack of the impact rang out like two boulders smashing together. Dante's construct weathered the opening blow, sinking blunt energy fangs into the beast's neck, but the monster's sheer mass drove the summon backward.
[Construct Integrity: 65%.]
"Now, Maria!" Dante yelled, clutching his aching side.
Maria burst from behind the basalt rock like a bullet.
Her passive skill [Unshakable Stance] planted every stride firmly into the loose gravel, preventing her feet from skidding on the crumbly soil. She gripped the rebar with both hands, torqued her torso with her full body weight, and brought down the first strike.
The bent iron tip slammed diagonally into the right hind leg joint of the Crawler.
CRACK.
The sound of snapping bone rang crisp and loud.
The monster let out a deafening screech. The shattered limb buckled the wrong way, collapsing under the creature's own weight.
[-11 HP to target.]
The Crawler thrashed with savage violence to shake free of the construct, whipping its short, muscular tail toward Maria. The tail whip grazed the girl's left thigh, tearing the denim shorts and opening a red welt across her skin.
Maria staggered half a step back, her sneaker dragging on rock, but she did not go down. Her stance locked into the ground immediately.
[Maria's Health Points: 23/26.]
"Ugly bastard!" She spat out the dust in her mouth and raised the iron bar once more.
Dante's construct collapsed. The beast's foreclaws tore through the flank of ether, exploding the blue form into showers of fading sparks.
[Construct destroyed.]
[Current Mana Reserve: 05/45.]
Freed from the construct and dragging its broken leg through the gravel, the Crawler turned its three-part maw straight toward Dante, catching the scent of the frail boy frozen a few yards away. The beast scrambled forward on three limbs, dragging its useless leg behind it.
Dante did not retreat. His mind operated at peak clarity under pressure. He raised his right hand, leveling his fingers toward the maw drooling straight at him.
Aether Dart.
[Mana Points: 00/45.]
The blue bolt hissed point-blank through the air.
It missed the skull, but detonated squarely against the hinge of the lower left jaw. Raw flesh disintegrated into black smoke and serrated teeth went flying, ruining the alignment of its bite.
[-6 HP to target.]
The impact knocked the beast's pounce off course, but its muscular shoulder still slammed straight into Dante's chest.
The boy flew six feet backward, slamming his back against a basalt rock. The air was violently driven from his lungs, and the hot taste of blood filled his mouth.
[Dante's Health Points: 06/12.]
[Status: Severe Windedness, Chest Contusion.]
The Crawler wheeled around to finish the job, opening the remaining two sections of its maw to crush the throat of the fallen boy.
It never got the chance.
[Rapid Intervention activated by Maria.]
A shockwave of displaced air washed over Dante's body.
Maria crossed the twelve-foot gap in a fraction of a second. The doubled speed from her skill turned her small frame into a solid battering ram. She slammed her shoulder into the monster's injured side, throwing the full weight of her thirteen Dexterity and twelve Strength into the collision.
The Crawler tumbled sideways with a heavy crash.
Before the creature could scramble up on its three working limbs, Maria was already straddling its skinless back.
She did not scream. She did not hesitate. Her hands, wrapped in stained dishcloths, hoisted the iron bar high above her head and drove the hooked end downward with all the force her arms could muster.
THUD.
The iron crashed into the side of the blind head. A thick slab of cartilage gave way under the blow.
[-8 HP to target.]
The creature thrashed its paws violently, trying to pitch her off. One of its foreclaws raked across Maria's forearm, ripping two long tracks that bled immediately.
Maria gritted her teeth until her jaw ached, ignoring the claw mark on her arm, and brought the rebar down again.
THUD.
The iron tip sank deeper, shattering the cranial bone where the beast's ears would have been.
[-7 HP to target.]
"Die... you... filthy... thing!"
With every word, she smashed the exact same spot. The crunch of fracturing bone mingled with her ragged breathing. On the fourth consecutive strike, the skull of the Ash Crawler caved inward entirely, spattering black, viscous slime that coated Maria's gray tank top and the surrounding rocks.
[-9 HP to target.]
[Ash Crawler Health Points: 0/35.]
The infernal aberration's body gave one long, final shudder, its talons digging into the earth before relaxing completely.
Silence pressed down once more upon the Ash Wastes.
Maria stayed astride the still carcass for five full seconds, arms raised, the iron bar dripping dark fluid. Her chest heaved unevenly, and sweat mingled with soot trickled down her temples, dripping onto cheeks flushed crimson from exertion.
She dropped the iron. The bar struck the stone with a hollow clatter.
The girl slid off the monster's carcass, collapsing onto the gravel with her legs spread and hands braced on trembling knees.
Dante, still slumped against the basalt rock, wiped the trickle of blood from his chin with the sleeve of his jacket. He stared at the monster's crushed remains, then at the girl drenched in black blood just steps away.
She crushed that thing's skull with bare leverage.
Two silver windows unfolded in the air, casting their glow across the dead world's gloom.
[Combat Concluded.]
[Target Eliminated: Ash Crawler (Tier 1 - Level 2).]
[Experience Distribution by Contribution:]
[Maria (82% damage dealt, finishing blow): +85 EXP.]
[Dante (18% damage dealt, crowd control): +25 EXP.]
[Loot detected:]
[1x Concentrated Ash Gland.]
[2x Serrated Lesser Beast Fangs.]
Maria looked at the floating letters, then down at her bleeding arms, stinging against the acidic wind.
"That piece of trash... took too long to die," she muttered, her voice unsteady as the adrenaline began to ebb.
"It was level two," Dante answered, bracing his hands on the ground to push himself upright. His chest ached with every breath, but his ribs felt intact. "We killed an infernal beast. The two of us."
"I killed it," she countered immediately, snapping her black-slime-streaked face toward him with a sharp glare. "You acted like a punching bag and shot off a spark that broke one of its teeth."
Dante glanced at the battered carcass, then down at his measly twenty-five experience points on the screen. He gave a dry scoff, spitting another fleck of bloody saliva onto the ground.
"Yeah. You killed it," he admitted, picking the bloodied rebar up from the dirt and extending his free hand to her. "Now grab the loot and take my arm. If another one of these shows up before my Mana recharges, we won't have enough iron to crush two skulls."
Maria took his hand, hauling herself up with a wince from the sting in her forearm.
Dante brought up the return interface before the dust of the battle could settle.