Episode 183 - Bad Blood

## Synopsis

The students stood before the corruption. Integrity told her friends they belonged to the Progenitor, and without hesitation Mira decided they needed to die.

The spindly grub (the Mage) pointed its staff towards its massive companion (the Hulk), and caused the space around it to bend and warp, as the Hulk immediately teleported in front of the students, tendrils of psychic energy lashing into them as it appeared.

Integrity attempted by blow parts of its grub body away, before moving around to its body to surround it. Serinepth looked over to the Mage, and surrounded it in a barrage of ice and snow. The creature looked back at her and sneered, “*I come from far beyond light and matter, where the worlds are cold*.”

Serinepth yelled back, “*Thanks for letting me know!*”

Mira reached out to the Hulk, and the red and blue energy of her tattoo pulsed into its arm. It grunted, and detached the affected limb, stopping she curse she had afflicted on it from spreading. Winsler raised his hands towards the Hulk, enveloping it in a massive *Watery Sphere* and lifting it off the ground.

The Hulk lashed out, though hindered by the water. It connected with Mira, but missed Serinepth, before breaking free of its watery prison. Mira felt the divine glow around her soften the impact of the blow. The Mage again pointed its staff towards the Hulk, sending two balls of psychic energy slamming into it, before being reflected into all the students.

Integrity focused on the Hulk in front of her, *Hex*-ing and weakening it, before carving into its back with her *Jade Dagger*. The Mage ordered her to stop, and stand aside, but Integrity replied that’s she would never abandon her friends.

Serinepth again looked towards the Mage, blasting out a *Cone of Cold* that quickly became wreathed in flame as she changed its elemental nature. The fire seemed to melt the Mage away, before more grubs emerged from thin air to compose its body again.

Mira pulled back on her lyre string and fired a lance of psychic energy towards the Mage. It completely absorbed the energy into its staff, though the effort of doing so momentarily incapacitated it.

Winsler moved around the Hulk, creating a line between it and the Mage before *Catapulting* a massive chunk of jagged stone that slammed straight into the Hulk, grubs sprayed away from its body before turning to ash.

The remaining grubs in the Hulk’s shifted and squirmed until they created four arms that spun out, hitting all of the students and knocking Winsler and Serinepth onto the ground.

Integrity grasped her dagger as a vacuum of sound and energy encircled the blade, before stabbing the arm that slammed into her. As she cut the arm off, she felt a sharp pain in her back, and black blood began to flow out of her.

Serinepth turned her attention to the wounded Hulk, sending three rays of scorching fire into its form.

Mira ran around the Hulk, touching Integrity on the shoulder and healing her a little as she noticed the black blood oozing out of her.

Winsler again raised a massive chunk of stone and fired it toward the Hulk. With a distraction from Mira, it again smashed straight into its head, knocking even more grubs away. He then tried to run away, but in its fury the Hulk managed to slam into him as he did so, the blow again softened by the divine aura around them.

The Hulk then turned to Integrity, forming two spikes of grubs that shot towards her. She managed to avoid some of the effect, but was still severely hurt.

The Mage, now recovered from Mira’s assault, turned to her and caused the space around her to warp. She found herself 60 feet in the air and falling, as tendrils of psychic energy lashed out at her friends from where she had been standing. This energy reflected off of the Hulk, and rebounded back to the students, knocking Integrity and Winsler unconscious. Serinepth just barely managed to hold on, and cast *Feather Fall* to slow her friend’s descent.

As Integrity lay unconscious, she heard the voice of the Progenitor in her head. “*What are you doing Horned One! Why are you fighting against me?*”

“*You can’t fight my friends!*”

“*Weak*.”

Serinepth looked at her unconscious friends, and moved around the Hulk before blasting a *Lightning Bolt* through it and towards the Mage, again manipulating its elemental energy into a firestorm that surrounded them both. The Hulk was annihilated, burned to a crisp as the Mage just barely avoided the worst of the fire. From where the Hulk had been, three smaller piles of grubs began to crawl their way towards each other.

Mira safely floated back to the ground, before running over to Winsler and brining him back to consciousness. Winsler crawled over to Integrity and used his limited healing abilities to bring her back as well. He then stood in front of his friend and yelled, “*Back fiend!*”

The residual grubs from the Hulk writhed on the floor, biting Winsler’s ankles. The Mage bent space and pointed its staff simultaneously at Mira and Serinepth, firing a psychic orb into them both. Thanks to their protective glow, neither suffered the full force of the impacts.

Integrity stood up and shot blasts of eldritch energy into the piles of grubs that surrounded the students, before moving closer to the Mage.

Serinepth moved away from the group, and focusing on her innate magical power conjured enough energy to blast a *Cone of Lightning* towards the Mage. A blue light illuminated the room as grubs fell out of the Mage’s space burning and writhing in pain.

Mira played a slow song on her lyre, filling the mind of some of the grubs were filled with lethargy. The Mage looked unaffected, though this seemed to take some kind of toll on it.

Winsler conjured several tiny meteors that orbited his wrist, before sending one flying towards the Mage and another into one of the grub piles.

The grubs slowly crawled closer to each other, tendrils forming between and binding the separate piles as they started to reconstruct another entity. The Mage slid over to Integrity again ordering her to stand aside, before walking through her, sending a tiny sliver of psychic energy into her head. In response she pointed her finger towards it and began to burn away at the grubs with hellish flame.

Again the Mage raised its staff towards Mira and Serinepth. One orb of energy slammed into the door besides Serinepth, while the other went straight into Mira’s body, sending her mind reeling in pain.

Integrity turned to face the Mage and again sheathed her blade in thunderous energy before stabbing into it and running closer to her friends. The grub form, now looking near the end of its life, spun around and cracked its staff across her back. Integrity collapsed unconscious onto the ground.

Seeing her friend fall over, Serinepth focused her power towards the Mage, and released a massive bolt of lightning towards it. As the electrical energy coursed through its form, the space around the Mage warped as dozens of grubs fell out of nowhere, turning instantly to ash as it was defeated.

The grubs on the floor writhed closer and closer, as Mira healed herself in preparation for a continued fight. Winsler conjured a tiny flame in his palm, before launching it towards the grub that had bit him before. It squealed and crumbled to ash. He then launched two more meteors towards the remaining grub piles. As the fire receded, only one pile of grubs remained, though severely injured.

The remaining grub pile swirled into a small slug form. It undulating across the floor towards Winsler and Integrity, before jabbing Integrity in the neck with a thin spike of grubs, bringing her to the brink of death.

Serinepth watched as the grub slug stabbed her cousin, before walking over to it. She stood above the pile and raised her hand as a pillar of lightning burst through the skylight, slamming into her as she channeled all of its power into the grubs at her feet. The slug grub squirmed then crumbled to ash.

Now out of imminent danger, Mira raced to Integrity and brought her friend back to life. “*Hey it’s ok, I’m not going to let my twin die.*”

Integrity’s eyes snapped open as she gasped for air. Her back felt as though the skin had been scraped raw as the black blood continued to pour out of her.

Serinepth picked up the staff left by the Mage. The students all joined in a group hug, the battle against the corruption won without casualties.