Even as she stood there trying to look stoic, Lyra's mind raced with panic.

One of her visions of the future during their battle with Gronex had shown Marcus going berserk and losing himself.

It had been a horrid thing to witness even if it was not entirely real. Just one of many possible futures.

However, she had managed to maneuver events so that such a terrible fate did not come to pass.

She had thought at the time that Marcus would be fine going forward. That she had prevented him from ever turning into a true monster.

What a fanciful idea that was.

Lyra was beating herself up for not being there to help when her friend needed her.

She had wanted to join the battle against the strongest Umbrashnuls just like the rest of her companions, but Relia had asked her to defend the fort instead.

Without her, it definitely would have fallen to Umbrashnul army that vastly outnumbered the vampiric defenders. Plus, her friends seemed to be doing perfectly fine against their respective opponents. There had not been any real need for her to join in from what she could see.

Still, if Lyra had known what was going to happen, she would have abandoned her position heartbeat.

While she was down here to pay Relia back for saving the Rebel Army from an ambush led by Cibor, her sense of duty was nowhere near as strong as her loyalty to her companions.

She would have turned on the Draayer Vampires in an instant if it was for the good of Marcus, Quillon, or Roxene.

Regrettably, it was already too late for her to do anything this time.

Marcus had already shifted into the form of a gigantic, monstrous worm. Something Lyra knew from stories she had heard was a truly chaotropic creature called the Doomsday Worm.

And he was not just taking its form either.

Most of its powers were at his command as well.

The core of the titanic monster had been incorporated into Marcus's scythe, and his soul was bound to the weapon.

With the two fully merged together right now, he was capable of things he would normally never push himself to do.

'Damn it all! I should have been there! Had I used my Supreme Skill to evolve again, I could have looked into the future and seen this happen. Then I could have steered reality away from this outcome.'

Lyra knew that blaming herself would do no good, but she just could not help it.

Thankfully, Roxene seemed to have some sort of plan to save Marcus.

Though it was bound to be very dangerous.

"The Mutual Seal that binds us together is still in effect. If I can get close enough to Marcus and have enough time to connect our souls together, I might be able to bring him back to his senses. From what I can tell, his mind has been separated from his body. I'm not sure how this occurred, but it has left him a creature moving entirely by instinct. We need to fix that."

Roxene detailed her plan, if it could really be called that.

She was grasping at straws, and Lyra knew it.

Still, what else could she do. There was no way that she was going to abandon Marcus. Doing so would mean that he would end up destroying the world, as was the purpose of the monster whose form he had taken. Or more likely, a group of high-level combatants would gather together and come to kill him.

As he was now, he was just too dangerous to be left alone.

"Quillon, your contracted spirit has received a bond with Marcus as well. She might be able to help me in trying to connect with him."

However, Quillon just shook his head and explained Aerial's current condition.

Marcus' transformation into a monster was affecting her as well.

Right now, she was writhing in agony and that was with Quillon doing what he could to protect her.

"If I bring her out, it will be much worse. I'm not certain what will happen. She might go berserk as well." Quillon said, his expression filled with concern for Aerial's well being.

"It must be because her bond with Marcus is one of a subordinate while mine is of an equal. I'm able to keep the negative influences from reaching me. Hm… yes that might work. Bring her out. I'll protect her and try and keep Marcus' rampage from driving her mad. We'll need all the help that we can get if we want to pull this off."

Quillon hesitated to do as Roxene asked.

She may have been strong, but shielding Aerial from Marcus' sway seemed impossible.

One could say that Roxene had a slight link to Aerial. Except, that was only through both of them being connected to Marcus. Who at the moment had completely lost himself right now and turned into a monster trying to devour everything around him.

Which included the three of them.

Already they had been forced to retreat several kilometers away and fend off assaults from the tendrils trying to consume them.

"Fine. I'm going to trust you Roxene. But if something happens to Aerial, I will never forgive you."

"Do as you please. I'm just doing what needs to be done." Roxene said, a determined glint in her eyes.

After hesitating for only a second, Quillon drew Aerial out from within his soul.

When she was finally outside, she went still for a moment and opened her eyes.

For a moment, Lyra wondered if something had changed to allow her to deal with the agony that had arose from Marcus' rampage.

That did not last though.

Aerial soon erupted into a powerful windstorm filled with wails of anguish.

It was obvious that she was in immense distress and unable to recover by herself.

Fortunately, Roxene quickly stepped in and surrounded Aerial with a shield.

At first, it was just a cocoon of light and darkness to contain he wind, but soon Lyra felt spiritual energy in the mix as well.

She knew how difficult the enigmatic power was to control. She had learned to channel the energy through her body and weapons, but nothing more.

Roxene clearly knew more applications for spiritual energy and used it to surround Aerial.

The results were nearly immediate, and Quillon's bonded spirit showed visible signs of relief.

It took nearly two minutes, but Roxene was able to create a shell of spiritual energy that protected Aerial.

"Ughhhhhh." The superior spirit of wind and light moaned as she came to.

Once she had recovered her wits, her head shot up and she directed her gaze towards Marcus.

"He's in so much pain."

Aerial did not even acknowledge the rest of them at first. Her attention was fully drawn towards Marcus.

"I know. Which is why we need to work together to fix it." Roxene said, moving to stand in front of Aerial.

"That might not be possible. His soul is currently being torn apart and put back together again in an endless cycle. Before long it won't even resemble him. He'll have become a monster in the truest sense."

Aerial looked dejected. As if she could find no hope in reversing the crisis that Marcus found himself in.

Roxene slapped her across the face.

"Get it together. There's still hope. I can feel it, and I'm sure that you can as well. Marcus gave you a portion of his power, now it's your turn to give back." Roxene said, her tone brokering no argument.

Quillon definitely was not happy watching Aerial get hit, but a glare from Roxene kept him from interjecting.

"Your right. I'll do everything that I can. Even if it means that I end up shattered as well."

With everyone onboard, their group of four set out.

Along the way they passed by the battlefield that had once played host to the core of the war between the Draayer Empire and the Umbrashnul Kingdom.

Now, neither side was fighting each other and instead doing everything in their power to not be eaten by Marcus.

Still, their resistance was only slowing down the inevitable.

Every passing seconds, tens of Umbrashnul and vampires were being swept up into the writhing mass of green tendrils and dragged towards the monster's main body.

Lyra's chest tightened seeing this, knowing that it was Marcus who was doing all of this.

The two of them had known each other for a very long time. They had first met when Marcus was just a toddler, and it truly hurt Lyra to see what he had become.

After miraculously being reconnected on Mirrion in both of their second lives, she refused to let him suffer such a miserable end.

'I'll get you back no matter what it takes. Even if I have to rip the strands of fate apart and tie them back together to get the outcome that I want, that's what I'll do.' Lyra thought as she used her Supreme Skill to forcefully awakened herself beyond her normal limits.