It was clear Ryan was losing.
Everyone in the audience hall had retreated to the far side and sought cover behind the meager pieces of furniture available. Pricilla stressed the importance of staying out of Ryan's line of sight. Positioned near the exit, the Ryan/Reed/Demon fusion was exhibiting erratic behavior, switching between ranting, raving, screaming, and even occasional singing in a desperate attempt to distract himself. Ryan, on the one hand, resorted to a constant stream of pseudo-scientific babble, hoping to logically grasp the situation. On the other, Reed expressed his struggle to resist the overwhelming urges by lamenting that he just couldn't catch a break. The demon just howled and kept trying to wear the other two down. This was all taking place in the first three minutes since Ryan had been exposed. As he ranted, Ryan estimated it would take about eighteen minutes for Monique to get back with Betty.
He also estimated he had about two minutes before he completely lost control and started murdering everyone.
Observing the unfolding events, Lily couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt every time Reed emerged. Amidst the chaos, she spotted the potions Ryan had acquired from Charity scattered on the floor nearby. Acting swiftly, she collected them, deciding to keep the healing vials for herself while holding the two mana vials in her off-hand. Downing one of the mana potions without hesitation, she then positioned herself behind Pricilla, who was desperately attempting to use her light powers to control the unfolding disaster.
"Any luck?" Lily asked Pricilla as she pressed the remaining mana potion into Pricilla's hand
Pricilla shook her head, "Sooth isn't working. The ward must be nullifying it." She looked at the vial then sadly up at Lilly, "I don't have anything I can do that I can use this mana for."
Lily nodded as she kept watch from the over-turned table Pricilla was hiding behind, "I noticed most of your mana seemed to be countered by the ward, but you could still heal Kyle." Lily stood up while kicking off her high heels, "What's the range on that anyways?"
"Fairly far if I pour some extra mana into it, but what is healing-" Pricilla noticed Lily standing up behind her, "What are you doing? Get down!" She reached for Reed's sister to pull her back down behind cover.
Lily ignored Pricilla and slipped out of her grasp, "You said he feeds off hatred and rage, right?" She started walking across the hall while raising her voice, "I Don't Think There's Anyone In This Room Reed Hates More Than Me."
The shifting hybrid that was Reed/Ryan looked up as Lily approached. He slowly rose up to solidify into the shape of a classic red demon complete with hooves, horns, red skin, claws... the works. It growled, "GET BACK!" as Reed briefly took over, only to become subsumed back into the gestalt.
Lily spoke over her shoulder, "Saintess, Try and keep me alive as long as possible." She held up her arms and covered them with a coating of water, a classic water elementalist defensive spell. She moved over to the far side of the room, to try and give herself room. The demonic thing took a step toward Lily.
Pricilla slipped out from behind the table and moved over to a column that was closer so she still had some cover, "Have you lost your MIND???"
Lily turned sideways and started bouncing on her toes like a boxer. Clearly, she had some training, "I know you've been wanting to beat the crap out of me for years!" She called out to the thing before her, "Mira knows I deserve it for what I did to you. For what it's worth, I am sorry! Maybe if you focus your rage on-"
She never got to finish her sentence as the demonic amalgamation closed the distance before she could even think of dodging. It backhanded her sending her flying sideways into a wall. She bounced off it and slumped to the floor spitting up blood. At the same time, Pricilla let loose with a ranged heal that seemed to repair most of the damage, but Lily didn't look comfortable. Ryan/Reed turned away from Lily to face the cowering crowd. A number of the men readied their weapons and prepared to sell their lives as dearly as possible.
"THAT ALL YOU GOT?"
The demonic thing turned back to see Lily standing back up. She looked grim and determined as she reformed her blocking spell, "Way I figure if I'm the one you hate the most in this room, I'm the one you should focus on!"
Reed's face formed for a moment, "I'll Kill YOU!"
Lily nodded, "And you'll have a whole lot less rage to feed you when you finally do." The thing took a swing at Lily, but this time she managed to take it with her watery shield, "Might give everyone else a chance and you won't have as much blood on your hands."
The beast rippled and grabbed its head, "No... I never wanted this!" Reed surfaced and grabbed his head holding it in both claws, "I just wanted a FAMILY!"
"For what it's worth, you're family to-" Lily's response was interrupted with a blow that sent her bouncing backward along the wall into the far corner of the room. Ryan and Reed were no more.
Only the demon remained.
Pricilla continued channeling more mana into Lily. Despite the potential risks and drawbacks of this plan, it appeared to be their only viable option at the moment. The demon within Ryan was struggling to control its own strength, evident from the somewhat restrained force behind its attacks. Nevertheless, even these "pulled punches" were overwhelmingly powerful and lethal. The onlookers in the crowd stood frozen, their expressions reflecting their horror and dismay as they witnessed the one-sided beat-down. They perceived this situation akin to a sacrificial offering, a lamb sent to the slaughter. Although horrified, no one else seemed willing to step forward and take Lily's place in this perilous confrontation.
Pushing herself up, Lily retreated to the corner of the ward, bracing for what seemed to be an inevitable conclusion. She spoke words filled with remorse, "I'm sorry, Reed! I am. If you kill me, I forgive you! Hell. I deserve it! I hope you can-" However, before she could finish her words, the enormous fist of this monstrous hybrid struck her with such force that it caused the protective ward behind her to ripple from the impact. The blow left her slumped for a moment until Pricilla's healing energy intervened, partially mending the damage. Nonetheless, the force of the punch was severe enough to make Lily cough up a tooth. She finally realized the gravity of the situation. Fear took hold, and her expression became a mix of regret, determination, and genuine terror as she came to terms with one inescapable conclusion.
This was how she was going to die.
"I'm Sorry."
Another body-mangling blow landed, immediately followed by a beam of healing magic knitting her back together.
"I'm Sorry-"
Another blow.
Then Another.
And another.
Lily gave up trying to speak.
Inside Reed and Ryan's mindscape the fight was taking forever.
Seated cross-legged, Ryan shut his eyes, channeling all his mental energy into an intense effort to regain control over the raging amalgamation. Meanwhile, Reed wandered about in a state of agitation, gesticulating and conversing with himself in a desperate plea to a higher power, "Oh sweet Mira, please. I hate my sister, I wished her to suffer, but not like this! I mean-" The sight of another slow-motion blow impacting Lily was heart-wrenching, with each spray of blood standing out in vivid crimson. Reed couldn't fathom the reason for this violent outcome, bewildered by the tragic turn of events, "Why is it like this? Why couldn't they just leave me dead?"
Ryan sighed and cracked open an eye, "We no longer have control over our two main cores. I could theoretically direct the demon core, but for some reason, I can't. I thought one could do anything with a demon core. However, It just seems to be a reflection of the other two cores we have, with... maybe some deep, hidden powers we can't tap into yet. I don't know. It's hard to do a mana scan under these conditions."
Reed screamed in Ryan's face, "WHAT'S THE POINT???"
Ryan opened both eyes to look at his spiritual roommate, "The point is if we can divert enough mana away from the demonic core, we can weaken ourselves enough to buy time for the girls to get back with Betty! Right now I'm boosting our defenses and strengthening everything BUT our arms!" He gestured around the mindscape, "And I'm boosting our speed, but only inside our head, not out there where we'd just kill her faster, but..." His words trailed off
Reed looked back at his sister. In this space, she existed as a distorted image projected onto a movie screen, "But we aren't bleeding off enough mana fast enough to save her." He turned back to Ryan, "So... we just do something else! There's gotta be something mana-intensive we can try!"
Ryan sighed as he rubbed his eyebrow with the heel of his hand, "Anything I come up with will likely kill everyone in the room! I can't access anything that isn't related to violence right now!" He stood up, summoning a mental representation of his mana imaging equipment in the mind space, "We can't burn off more mana without the demonic core rampaging and killing everyone, so..." Trying to trace the source of the immense demonic mana, he manipulated the image to depict a human body lying down. With a wave of his hand, the image started to morph and twist, "Where is all the demonic mana coming from? Demonic mana comes from negative emotions, and everyone is afraid but that can't account for this virtually unlimited amount of energy! So what did the powder do? Did it..."
Reed covered his face, took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
Ryan glanced at him, "You aren't actually breathing in here, you know?"
Reed glared at him, "I KNOW! By the gods, you are pissing me off!"
There was a pulse.
Ryan blinked and glanced around, "Did you feel that?"
Reed looked around as well, "Yes. I did."
Ryan gestured at the imaginary imager and added in two bluish fields overlying the body, "Wait... what if the power source is our souls?"
Reed stepped up to look closer, "If demonic energy forms from negative emotions, and there are two souls in a body with a demonic core-" He held up his hands in the form of a square and then slowly pulled his hands apart. The image started to ripple through various spectrums of mana. A strange web-like pattern suddenly shifted into existence, "There."
Ryan blinked. For all of Reed's problems, Ryan couldn't help but be impressed by Reed's strong grasp of arcane principles. Ryan shook his head to clear it then turned his attention to the web-like pattern, "Usually the demonic core destroys or ejects a soul when you put a core in a human body. This is why Mana actives die, and only normal humans can survive the process. But we're different because of our dwarven heritage." He pointed at the unusual thick mana pathways that were a gift from his dwarven mother, "This is why we are alive."
Reed nodded, "So if you had a demonic core and somehow retained a human soul-"
Ryan pointed at Reed then back at himself repeatedly, "Correction, Two souls that are full of pain and angst-"
Reed blinked as a look of dawning realization overcame him, "Then you have an unlimited wellspring of energy." The realization became one of horror, "We'll NEVER bleed off enough." He looked at Ryan with desperation, "How do we fix this?"
Ryan turned to watch another slow-motion blow strike Lily forcing her back to her knees, "She's never going to last until they can get back with Betty."
Reed grabbed Ryan by his collar and yelled in his face, "How Do We Fix THIS???"
Ryan screamed back, "I DON'T KNOW! WE DO THE IMPOSSIBLE! WE HAVE TO STOP BEING MISERABLE!"
They both went silent.
Reed let go and staggered back a step, "We just have to put on a smile?"
Ryan shook his head, "No. We have to ACTUALLY stop being unhappy." He held up a finger, "Like, We need to forgive everyone who ever wronged us."
Reed blinked, "Uh. Okay!" He flailed his arms about, "I don't want my sister to die! I forgive everyone!"
Nothing happened.
"Your turn!" He said in desperation.
Ryan sighed and slowly shook his head, "It's not that simple. First of all, honestly, I'm not pissed at anyone. Not... anyone out there."
Reed narrowed his eyes, "Wait a minute... Are you saying...?"
Ryan nodded with conviction, "Yup, you guessed it. We have to forgive everyone." He pointed back and forth between the two of them, "EVERYONE."
Reed blinked and looked confused, "What?"
Ryan stepped closer to Reed, "Look. We both are bottomless pits of pain. Nobody hates us more than we hate ourselves. I have no doubt that all this self-loathing is what is powering this beast." Ryan tapped Reed on the chest, then himself in turn, "If you and I cannot figure out how to let go..."
They both looked up to see Lily stagger from another blow. Her face was an ever-shifting mass of wounds and healing skin. Blood and tears ran down her face in equal measure. Her lips moved even if she couldn't speak the words, 'I am sorry.' it was her mantra. Even as her eyes swelled shut over and over, she kept mouthing the words.
Ryan pointed at Lily.
"...Your sister is going to die."
