Reklaw slides into the control chair behind the wrecking ball, and releases the safety. With a clank, it swings out at Chamo. The devil sidesteps the enormous, destructive orb, moving to position himself close to Five, who scuttles away, panicked. Five’s lemure form crouches behind an outcrop of fiery hot boulders, and is joined by the goblin form of Sisserus and by Mr C.
Relkaw abandons the wrecking ball for an ion cannon, blasting Chamo with a blaze of lightning and dealing devastating damage to the devil. Chamo curses and swears revenge. He picks himself up and spins to see Reklaw at the controls.
The archduchess Fierna swoops down to scoop up the grievously wounded Reteterrex. The salamander’s lashing tail drips ichor as the pair rise into the blistering air. The bone devil throws itself into the air, slashing a at Reteterrex. The salamander, already injured, slumps in Lady Fierna’s arms, dying. The archduchess disengages and withdraws from the battle, towing the body of Reteterrex to relative safety.
Far beneath, one of the salamanders darts forward to seize the girallion, grappling the devil and rendering it temporarily helpless.
Kiki vaults into the truck, slamming the heavy hatch behind himself, sliding into the seat behind the ion cannon. “Who should I shoot at?” he demands of Kiki.
“Fierna!” the mapach shouts back, barely heard over the crashing of combat and the screams of the damned. Sides have clearly been drawn.
Outside the tank, a pair of salamanders leap to attack the hovering bone devil, missing. Belial flies closer, tossing a Fireball spell into the path of Chamo and catching both Sisserus and the nose of the Ford in the blast. The passengers in the truck are shaken, deafened but mostly protected from the devastation.
Several of the comrades, Mr C and Lula, leap into the truck. They are unaware that smoldering Chamo has pursued them, stealthily winging into the back of the truck, unseen. He is able to strike at Reklaw. His staff slips from him, plunging out the door and sinking beneath the lava.
Swearing at his wretched luck, Chamo bears down on Reklaw with claws.
