The long and slender violet dragon was a small and weak one, not yet having gohrough enough evolutions to bee the fearsome beasts feared by civilization, but even a young one was formidable. As such, Thornno immediately went on the defensive and Camity activated her Invincible sigil, just in time to survive the dragon's immediate bst of pitch bck fmes. The others in the hunting group had already moved out of the way of the dragon's breath; it was a on first move by inexperienced dragons.

  Camity's sentacle's fangs failed to sink through the dragon's scales, but her follow-up cut with her banefire-enveloped sword, empowered by the Cut sigil, left a shallow incision. The dragon began to roar in pain and rage as the many afflis carried by that banefire took hold in their body. Blood erupted from the cw wounds that appeared suddenly on Camity's chest. If it wasn't for Clover's song, she would've been cut in half and her sword wouldn't have peed.

  A thrown saw from saw mao chew through the dragon's scales before the dragon k away, only to hiss angrily as the saw stopped midair auro attag them. Then 's syringes nded in the dragon's wounds, iing their poisonous tents. Immediately, the dragon shed out at with the same long-distance cw attack that had nearly turned Camity into mi. But Thornno was suddenly in front of , her shields taking the blunt of the attack. Said attack shredded Thornno's shields as well as part of her armor, and blood leaked out as she grunted with pain. immediately set to healing Thornno.

  That was when Seeker passed their hand over the dragon's eyes before disappearing again. The dragon roared angrily as they began shing out blindly with their cws and dragoh, missing more than hitting. Then saw was cut in half.

  "saw!" Camity yelled, and Clover's song turned frantic. But saw's halved body began to swell before bursting into a twisted mass of saws, heads, and red flowers, as a bloody red moon appeared overhead and the lighting turned an eerie crimson. Stunned, Camity watched the Horror luoward the dragon, filing out with her many saws. "Help me out here!" saw yelled.

  Regaining her senses, Camity immediately leaped at the dragons, having finished rec from her own wounds. It proved rather easy to nd attacks with the dragon being heavily pressed by saw's unending frenzy of saws. "You dare!" the dragon roared.

  "Surrender and you live," saw growled, her voice sounding more like saws than a voice.

  "I will never lower my head to inferior beings!" the dragon growled, bag away rapidly.

  "Fug prideful dragons," Thornno said, "Let's end this."

  "O Great Dragon Lord, help me!" the dragon screamed.

  Immediately, the overwhelming pressure of a great will pressed down on everyone. Camity felt herself falling to her knees, and she wasn't the only one; everyone, even the dragon were forced down. Then a voice full of power spoke, "Foolish young one, yht this upon yourself. I have no need of rabid beasts who attack everything they see as below themselves. Still, there are few enough of us dragons that I will offer you a ce. Swear to obey one of your foes of your choid restrain from causing unnecessary trouble or accept your death. Those are your choices."

  In a stuohe young dragon said, "Great one..."

  "Choose," the voice said forcefully.

  "I choose death! I would rather... no... I don't want to die! Spare me!" The violet dragon's voice turned frantic.

  "Then swear it," the Dragon Lord said.

  The young dragon gulped. "I son my very being and my pride as a dragon that I'll obey that weirdo over there with the tentacles and the poison sword, and that I won't make trouble unless I deem it truly necessary."

  "Wait, me?" Camity blinked.

  "If I'm going to obey someone who's not a dragon, it'll at least be a monster like me." The young dragon stared at Camity.

  The voice of the Dragon Lord spoke, "Then do you accept this responsibility to take her in and teach her? I warn you, she is rather an unruly juvenile."

  "...Not the first time I've adopted a kid." Camity said, realization dawning upon her. "Alright, but you really better behave. What's your name, kid?"

  The young dragon growled. "No. You will not be my parent. But... I accept you as my guardian. My name is Violet. And I am female." Immediately, with a flick of the Dragon Lord's pressure, a colr appeared on Sable's neck.

  Camity eyed the violet dragon as she dispelled the various diseases, curses, and poisons rampaging through her new ward. "...Alright. Okay, , you fix her up?"

  "...You are fortuhat mercy is part of the Strange Medical Corp's vows." began spraying his healing gun over Violet, mending her wounds.

  saw's Horror form colpsed bato itself, twisting bato her 'monster' form as the red lighting and bloody moon dissipated. "So... uh. Please you cuties not tell anyone?"

  Thornno eyed the Horror. "That you're a Horror powerful enough to emit a Disruption? I... will o think on it."

  "Sure thing," Camity said, "I won't tell anyone."

  "I detealice from you," Seeker said.

  "That does it for me, good enough, sure I promise." Thornno pressed her hand to her chest iraditional dwarven vow-gesture.

  Everyone, including Camity made the same promise. Except Violet who eyed saw skeptically. "You hurt me. A lot. And you're a Horror."

  "Violet," Camity said in the warning mom voice she had began developing from raising Mirn.

  Violet sagged. "Oh, fine, fine, I swear in my pride as a dragon that I won't tell anyone."

  "Thanks, I'll even five you for cutting me in half." saw grinned. "'t be on bad terms with my favorite half-dog-half-snake's kid."

  Violet raised her eyebrows. "Trying to get into my guardian's skirt? Well, it's no business of mine. Also, ward, not kid."

  "So, got a smaller form? It's gonna be a paiing you back at that size," Thornno asked.

  "Of course I ge my form," Violet said pridefully. And her body began shrinking and ging, until she became a dark-skinned humanoid teenager with purple draic features including scales, horns, cws, and a dragon tail.

  "You really are a kid," Camity said.

  "Juve kid," Violet grumbled.

  "A teenager's still a kid to me." Camity sighed. She could already tell her child was going to be a handful.

  If only she could talk to... Camity froze. How could she have fotten her oldest friend, who was always with her everywhere, who she'd switched pces with sometimes, who always liked books more than she did but also shared in her mischief...

  Frantically Camity reached out in her mind for her headmate, only to brush up against a inky mass of curses.

  "No..." Camity said in despair.

  Then she felt a faint response. Even as bogged down by the curses as that response was, it gave her hope. She definitely had her work cut out for her but she should be able to get Darkness back.

  ~~~

  "Steelhide ahead," Seeker reported, their scouting finished.

  "Think we handle a Steelhide?" Thornno said.

  "Definitely not." Clover shook her head. "Even with my song, you fall short of being able to pee a Steelhide's skin. At best, Camity could nd some of her nastiness on its eyes or is mouth, but Steelhides have exceptional vitality. I could kill it myself but only in a way that would attrawatention from the Labyrinth."

  "So we head back. The monsters're beginning to get a little much for us to handle anyways," Thornno said.

  "Weaklings," Violet snorted.

  Clover smirked. "Even you 't hurt a Steelhide."

  "I definitely could but fine, I'll go back with you." Violet swept back her waist-long deep violet hair and turned back the way they had came.

  Thirteen rooms ter on their return route, they ran across a group of other byrinth explorers. The five were all luxuriously well-dressed human men, with three Adepts that Camity could sense among them. Their smiles turned into sneers when they saw Camity and saw. "Oh look, a bunonsters and monsterfuckers," one of them said.

  "You aren't worth it," Thornno said as she turned away toward another door.

  Another member of the roup stepped forward. "No, you aren't getting away. We've been putting down monsters, we aren't about to let some get away."

  crossed his arms. "Civilized monsters are protected by the w just like you and me."

  "No one really iigates disappearances in the byrinths." The man who had stepped forward drew out his dagger. "You'll be just aatistic, like the others we've hunted."

  Violet gestured mogly. "Bring it."

  "Get settled in, this is going to be a tough fight," Thornno said as she swung out her shield in front of herself.

  Clover looked grim but also decided. "...No. They have three Adepts to our one and a dragon. I'm not risking this."

  "Oh? Thinking of joining us?" Another of the enemy men leered at Clover.

  "Know this." And Clover's voice was full of entropy and the end of stars. "The Singer of Endings have found you worth of ending, no matter the sequences."

  "What?" one of the men said while another yelled, "She's a Beyonder--"

  As Clover sang a sie, her human form fell apart, unfurling into a twisting mass of entropy with more dimensions than Clover could quite grasp. And the sie was full of impossible plexity and power. It told a story of iable dissolution ah, of everything colpsing.

  Just like that, the physical existences of the foes frayed away, crumbling to nothingness.

  Seeker reached out a hand toward the Beyonder. "No, the Laby--"

  Clover's will reached out and space itself twisted around Camity as she found herself in an alley iy. Looking around, she saw the whole group had been transported with her, except Clover. "Where's Clover?" Camity asked, her brow furrowing with worry.

  "She is fag the Labyrinth's wrath. Alone." Seeker sighed. "It does not take favorably to such extreme uses of power."

  "Damn!" saw shouted. "Is she going to--"

  "She will most likely be fine," said, "She did not directly attack the Labyrinth itself, so most likely she will simply have to pay a price then she will be able to leave."

  "Yeah, she'll be fine. I liked her singing, too," Violet said.

  Thornno frowned. "I don't like her getting into trouble either but if we'd fought them, there likely would be deaths. She saved at least some of our lives."

  "Shit..." saw found a spot to sit against the wall. "I'm gonna wait for her.

  "I'm afraid I have to report back to the Strange Medical Corps," said.

  "Might as well return to my wife and children." Thornno cupped her hand and her shield and armor melted, flowing together into a single sphere of metal in her grip. Underh the bulk, she was wearing a simple padded jacket to cushion against the metal of her armor. Her pants were padded for simir reasons.

  "I have a child to pick up from babysitting," Camity said. "Here's my number, saw, you text me when Clets out of the Labyrinth and we talk details for the threesome."

  Seeker fiapping away on their phone. "I have added you all as favorites on the group finder app. I would not mind w with you again."

  "Oh, yeah, I should do that," Camity said, as everyo out their phoo do just that.

  Violet looked at everyone's phones. "Guardia me a phone."

  "Was gonna, but we o talk about your tone." Already Camity felt like her new daughter was going to be a headache.