Its injured foot slowed the first step, but the creature quickly adjusted.

"Move right!" Yvonne called.

Luke obeyed, and a massive claw smashed into the place where he had been standing.

"Back!"

He jumped away as the second arm swept across the arena. Without his spear, Luke had nothing to block with. He kept moving, but the boss’s reach gradually forced him farther from Yvonne.

Gray mist began gathering around her.

The creature noticed and turned away from Luke.

"No."

Abandoning him, the Dread Devourer rushed toward Yvonne. She stood near the center of the arena while futures flashed around her.

"Left," she whispered.

Yvonne stepped left, but the boss adjusted its path.

"Right."

She changed direction, and the creature followed again. Every escape route vanished as quickly as she found it.

Luke ran after them.

"Yvonne!"

The Dread Devourer lifted one claw above her.

He had no weapon and was too far away to reach her normally. With no better option, Luke activated Reinforce and immediately followed it with Quickstep.

Warmth flooded his body as the arena shifted around him.

He appeared beside Yvonne moments before the claw came down. Wrapping one arm around her waist, Luke pulled her out of its path.

The attack struck behind them. Fragments of stone tore through the back of his shirt and opened several cuts across his skin, but he kept moving until they reached the boss’s side.

Yvonne pressed a hand against his chest.

"You used two skills together."

"I noticed."

[Mana: 30/50]

Reinforce continued draining his mana, so Luke released it.

"Can you stand?"

"Yes."

Once she had her balance, Luke let go and faced the boss. The Dread Devourer was already recovering.

Near a crack in the arena lay the other half of his spear. It was too far away to reach before the monster attacked again.

Yvonne followed his gaze.

"You want the broken shaft."

"It’s better than using my fists."

"I see three ways for you to reach it."

"Which one keeps me alive?"

"None of them."

Luke exhaled. "Look again."

One of the boss’s arms swept toward them. Luke ducked while Yvonne pressed herself against his back, allowing the claw to pass above their heads.

"Forward!" she shouted.

Taking her hand, Luke ran beneath the creature’s arm.

The boss turned left, and its injured foot moved more slowly than the other. The shift in its balance was obvious now.

"Every time it turns, it puts its weight on the bad foot."

"I see it."

"Can we make it fall?"

Yvonne searched through the possibilities.

"In one future, it loses its balance when you hit the injured leg during a sharp turn."

Luke looked toward the broken shaft. Naturally, the boss stood between him and it.

"How do we force the turn?" he asked.

The Dread Devourer stared at Yvonne while a faint gray mist gathered around her shoulders.

"It moves faster when it thinks I’m escaping."

"So we use you as bait."

"I hate that wording."

"But it works."

"Yes."

Another plan began forming as Luke studied the broken shaft.

"I’ll run for the weapon. You go the other way."

"It will follow me."

"That’s what we need."

"What happens if it catches me?"

Luke raised their connected wrists.

"You’ll see it coming."

Yvonne lowered her face toward the glowing thread. The boss inhaled again, drawing a little fear from her body, but she closed her free hand around the violet connection and stopped the mist from drifting toward it.

Her shoulders straightened.

"What future do you want?" Luke asked.

"I want the one where it turns toward me, you reach the weapon, and we bring it down together."

"Then that’s the future we’ll make happen."

[A shared objective has been detected.]

The violet thread brightened into a narrow beam of light.

Luke and Yvonne split apart as the Dread Devourer roared. He ran toward the broken spear while she moved in the opposite direction.

The monster hesitated. Luke was closer, but Yvonne’s fear still drew its attention.

She stopped.

The Dread Devourer turned toward her.

"Come on," Yvonne whispered, although her voice trembled.

The monster grinned and followed.

Luke reached the broken shaft and picked it up. The remaining weapon was little more than a long wooden pole with a jagged end, but it was still better than nothing.

"Faster!" Yvonne called.

She ran toward the edge of the arena. The Dread Devourer increased its pace while Luke pursued from behind, its injured left foot striking the ground unevenly and leaving smears of black blood across the stone.

At the edge, Yvonne turned right.

The boss planted its wounded foot and twisted sharply after her.

"Now!"

Luke activated Reinforce and drove the jagged end of the broken shaft into the wound. The wood struck the buried spearhead and forced it deeper.

The Dread Devourer screamed. Its wounded leg buckled, and its entire body tilted left.

Yvonne saw what was about to happen first.

"Back!" she shouted.

Luke released the shaft and used Quickstep.

The boss collapsed, striking the arena shoulder-first hard enough to open another crack. A moment later, its swollen stomach slammed into the stone and sent a wave of dust and foul air across the platform.

Yvonne ran toward Luke.

"We brought it down."

"For now."

The creature clawed at the ground and struggled to rise.

Several thick folds had separated across its stomach during the fall, exposing a dull red glow beneath them.

"Yvonne."

"I see it."

The stomach split open vertically, and rows of teeth unfolded from the swollen flesh to reveal a second mouth. Deep inside it rested a pulsing red core wrapped in black veins.

Luke’s disgust briefly pushed aside his fear.

"That must be where the bodies go."

The stomach-mouth opened wider and released a wave of hot, rotten breath. Then the folds began closing, hiding the core again.

"That has to be its weakness," Luke said.

Yvonne’s blindfold flashed.

"I see a future where the core breaks."