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Hector staggered back before regaining his footing and saw Stoker gunning for him again. He created another wall for the creature to leap over, but this time added a platform beneath himself and rose up to meet the man with his fist.

It saw him at the last moment, however, and jetted to the side. Hector’s punch missed completely, and Stoker zigzagged through the air, coming back around toward him. But before it could even reach Hector again, a hydrogen jet from its shoulder misfired, exploding and sending the creature spiraling into the dirt.

Hector watched from atop his platform. ‘What the hell?’

‘Transfiguration is difficult to control,’ said Garovel. ‘It’s running purely on reflexive memories now, so it won’t be able to make adjustments like a conscious mind can.’

‘Ugh... this is just... horrible...’

‘I know.’

It was back on its feet. It looked up at Hector, the expression on its face still half-asleep.

‘Don’t underestimate its reflexes. They’re much faster now that it doesn’t have any normal thought processes slowing it down.’

Then came the fog. White clouds erupted from Stoker’s back, expanding quickly across the battlefield.

‘Uh-oh,’ said Garovel.

‘Keep your distance,’ said Hector, deciding to finish his breastplate instead of remaking his gauntlet.

The reaper flew up even higher. ‘I can’t sense it at all. It shouldn’t be able to sense you either, but just. Uh. Be careful, Hector.’

‘You don’t have to keep telling me...’ Hector let the fog envelop him as well. He looked around, barely able to see arm’s length in front of him, so he tried listening for the sound of footsteps, but the churning fog muffled everything.

‘Still don’t see it,’ said Garovel. ‘Can you flush it out?’

Hector clasped his hands together--one gauntleted, one bare--and created a metal slab above the fog. Two meters thick, fifteen meters both wide and long. It fell, pressing into the fog like bread on a sandwich, and Hector made just enough of a gap for himself--a cylindrical hole where he could stand safely. The metal slammed down and made the ground shake.