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The fight was still quite far away, though. It was definitely happening in the sky above the thin forest ahead, but with the naked eye, all Roman could make out was some specks zipping around and explosions going off.

And again, just rushing in there headfirst didn't seem like the wisest course of action.

'Can you tell who's winning?' thought Roman.

'Not really,' said Voreese privately. 'It's a mess up there. Hmm. Looks like Hector's being chased, though. Uhh. Oh, yeah. You should probably go--'

Roman never liked it when she suddenly cut herself off like that.

'He needs help!' she yelled, touching his arm briefly to invoke his undead strength. 'Go go go!'

It was time to stop hesitating, then.

Roman blasted away from the ground, cracking it with an instant thoom. He didn't hold himself back, going full speed straight away. His body could scarcely handle it as his bones creaked, muscles ached, and blood pooled in his feet. His passive soul defense wasn't quite up to par for this level of intensity, nor would it probably be for many years.

None of that mattered to him now, though. The only thing on his mind was getting to Hector in time.

'He just got eaten!' said Voreese. 'Swallowed whole! Get him out!'

What the fuck? Roman barely had time to process it, because he was already getting close enough to see for himself what was going on.

Not that it helped a whole lot.

There was the enemy. That crazy half-dinosaur looking motherfucker. But he looked even more fucked up than Roman expected.

The guy was twisting and turning over in the air, clutching his morphing head and letting out strained, agonized groans. And as if that wasn't confusing enough, he was shifting in and out between smoke, too. Dinosaur, then man, then smoke, then two at once--or all three, even.

It took Roman a second to regather his wits. He still had some distance left, and it looked like the guy was too busy with whatever existential crisis he was going through in order to notice him.

Lucky. Roman wasn't about to complain. He raised a hand to launch an attack, but another telepathic voice arrived first. One he'd heard before.

'Stop!' said Pauline Gaolanet. And her giant avian form melted out of the air next to him as her talons wrapped around his torso. 'You're too close!' She carried him back the way he'd just come, fast as an airplane.