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The six retreated to the air--Rayen’s group on a platform of ice, Octavia’s group on one of platinum, courtesy of the Lady Socorro.

Rather than pursue them, however, Sanko went after their support. A tidal wave of rock and dirt launched up and swallowed a building full of Rainlords some thirty meters away. One moment, the structure and all the people were there, and the next, there lay only flat land and a few sinking chunks of broken roof tiles.

There had hardly been time to react. More Rainlords were rushing up the hill to the Keep’s entrance, but if the six heads didn’t hold the Gargoyle back, then those new Rainlords were practically dead already.

Rayen went full tilt. Pan-rozum brought out the full strength of her alteration ability, transforming herself into a being of ultraviolet light. To the naked eye, her flesh was almost invisible, save only for the dimmest of purple outlines around her body, making her clothes appear to float in space. Zeff, however, could at least see the woman’s soul now--a kind of translucently blue whirlpool that completely filled the space where her body should have been.

And in a blink, she was gone, launching her assault at the speed of ultraviolet light. She carved a swath into the ground so fast that it left a second wave of exploding rock in her wake. She zigzagged faster than any human eye could follow, and then focused her efforts into a concentrated burst of nigh invisible light, creating a shock wave that left a massive crater behind and a fresh hole in the Keep’s front wall.

That seemed to grab Sanko’s attention.

The other five heads attacked as well--Octavia with another singularity that sucked up one of the Keep’s towers, Zeff with a pair of building-sized spears of ice dropped from the heavens, Socorro with a gigantic slab of platinum dropped above the Keep, Santos with a series of earth-shattering explosions, and Evangelina with a splash of fuming acid that melted half the Keep’s gate.

Parson Miles burst up above the castle and knocked Socorro’s slab away with an arching tornado. Lawrence and his men would not be far behind, Zeff knew.

But of course, they were not the real threat.

The sundered earth convulsed and bloated skyward, and from it, a gargantuan figure began to rise.