Alex''s new monster stood upon the surface of the ckke as still as a block of ice.  The final ripples of its arrival settled down and silence returned to the world. For several long seconds afterward, Alex couldn''t bring himself to move or tear his gaze away from his creation.


    The monster was massive. It was everything he''d been looking for and more. Not only would it be the perfect tank for him, but it was also terrifying. Anyone that had something like this barreling toward them was undoubtedly about to have a very bad day.


    tion welled in his stomach. He''d actually done it.


    He''dbined his monsters — and more than that. Alex hadbined a Riftwarped monster, getting past the limitation that stopped him from binding them. He still didn''t know what it was that prevented the connection in the first ce.


    He suspected he''d find out at some point, but he was a little preupied at the moment. The Riftwarped Devouring Dredge was definitely a sessfulbination.


    Alex finally forced himself to move. He raised a hand, waving it in front of the monster''s face to see if it would have any reaction. The Dredge didn''t so much as blink. It remained frozen in ce, awaiting amand.


    "You wouldn''t happen to be intelligent, would you?" Alex asked. He still had to make sure — every time he made a stronger monster, there was a chance they would somehow unlock a degree of thought.


    He wasn''t sure what he''d do in the case that happened, but it didn''t look like today would be the day. The Dredge didn''t acknowledge him in the slightest. He may as well not have even been there.


    Alex nced back at his Spatial Mirror. There were still several monster souls within it. He could theoretically continuebining them — but he wasn''t sure if any of them had any proper synergy with the Dredge as it was now.


    Neither the Corpse Burrower nor Poker really lined up with the Dredge, even in its new form. They were just too different, not to mention considerably weaker. The Root Fiends weren''t all that much stronger than the other monsters and their wooden bodies didn''t seem like they would mesh particrly well with any of the elements in the Dredge right now.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    I think I''ve got exactly what I need right now. None of the remaining monsters are powerful or interesting enough to need to fuse, so I''ll save them for snacks to feed to Glint. Hopefully I can get him to evolve on his own pretty soon.


    Alex de-activated Harmonious Evolution. Color bloomed across the expanse of his Mind Pce — even though there really wasn''t all that much color in it beyond the darkke and the white structures rising around him.


    He dismissed the Dredge with a thought. It melted into a stream of gray energy and flew through the air, pouring into the deck at his side.


    The preparations were done. He was ready to leave the Mirronds and return to Earth once more — and, if he was lucky, he''d take another Riftwarped monster''s soul with him on the way out.


    Alex pulled himself free of his meditation. His eyes opened to find himself in the Mirronds once again. He sat on the ground in the shade of a crumbling building floating far above them.


    ire crouched beside him, her gaze scanning over their surroundings in search of any monsters and a hand resting on the hilt of the katana at her side. She nced at him as he shifted.


    "Did it work?" ire asked in a hushed whisper.


    "Yeah. More than. I used one of my new skills tobine two monsters. We can leave," Alex said, pushing himself up to his feet. "Any signs of that… thing?"


    "No," ire replied. She rose to her feet and sent onest nce in the direction that they''de from. "It''s been around ten minutes. At this point, I think it gave up on us. We got lucky and weren''t strong enough to be worth chasing. I don''t think I''d press my luck, though."


    "With you there," Alex said with a nod. "Let''s head back."


    ***


    They reached the portal a short tripter. With the extra caution they took to make sure they didn''t draw any attention to themselves while the Forsaken Revenant could still be lurking around somewhere, they didn''t run into any monsters on the trip back. That was a wee change. Alex had been expecting to run into something annoying on the way back.


    He and ire left the warped city rising in the distance behind them and made it up to the thin purple fault in the hills. Brilliant blue grass swayed around it in a faint wind that prickled against Alex''s skin.


    ire drew her katana and readied herself. Spark was still dead, but Alex still had two more monsters to work with. He summoned Glint and his new, unnamed Dredge, with a thought.


    Shattering ss announced the Shardwalker''s arrival as ws carved a rend through reality and Glint stepped out from within it. He came to a stop before Alex, waiting for amand.


    The ground to Glint''s side started to darken. Alex and ire nced down at it as thick ck sludge started to pour out from beneath the grass, bubbling like boiling oatmeal. The patch of darkness spread out and ire took a step back as the Dredge''s enormous form rose up from beneath the ground like it was emerging from within a swamp.


    Pointed legs burst from its back, spraying out sludge, and cracked together as they formed into arms that curled over its shoulders. The sharpened ws at the tips of the arms flexed, causing the rest of the arms to undte.


    "Bleed me," ire breathed, staring at the towering creature in awe. "What the fuck, Alex? This is yours?"


    "Hey, it''s got feelings," Alex said. "Don''t be mean."


    "It does?"


    "No." Alex scratched at the back of his neck. "I don''t think so. Stillpletely unintelligent. I check every time."


    "Right," ire said, craning her neck back to look up at the monster. Her face twisted in a grimace as she spotted the huge maw running down the center of its body. "Creepy. What''s its name?"


    "Er… what about Princess?"


    ire stared at Alex. She looked from him to the monster, then back to him. "Princess? Really?"


    "I mean, think about it. I say my monster''s names sometimes in a fight. Who''s going to expect the lumbering sludge creature to be called Princess? Besides, it follows Pitbull rules."


    "It follows what now?"


    "Pitbull rules." Alex scratched at the side of his chin. "It''s like when someone has a pretty intimidating breed of dog called a pitbull and they name it Brutalizer. It sounds scary, but the dog always ends up being the sweetest dog you''ve ever met. But when the pitbull is called something like Cupcake or Princess, it always lives off a diet of toddler faces."


    "Right," ire said, drawing out the word and squinting at Alex like he''d been dropped on his head. "Well, it''s your monster."


    "So she is," Alex confirmed. "How do you like that name, Princess? Is it good?"


    The Dredge didn''t respond.


    Alex was pretty sure that didn''t count as consent, but he was starting to get the idea that Princess was not particrly talkative. If the monster ever decided she didn''t like her new name, then he would change it. Until then, Princess she would be.


    "Right," Alex said. "Glint, Princess, I want to see what you''re capable of. Kill the shit out of whatever shows up. Focus on survival. Princess — your job is to absorb any attacks and keep our opponent''s attention off Glint, me, and ire. Try to lock it down and damage it if possible, but do not prioritize offense over defense."


    "I''ll let your summons take this one so you can test them out," ire said. "But you''ve got to give me a cool fight next time if you don''t end up needing my help."


    "Thanks," Alex said with an appreciative nod. He strode past his monsters and up to the awaiting portal. He lifted his hands, drawing on Riftwalk and pressing his hands into the line as power flooded through him.


    He dug his fingers into the purple energy and pulled. The crackling energy resisted him, but he was surprised to find it gave way easily.


    With a loud ripping noise, the portal tore open. A disk of spinning purple energy took form before him and a ck sheen enveloped its face like a ne of tinted ss. Alex rapped his fingers against it, but it was as hard as steel. They''d been blocked off.


    What sounded like a loud zipper tore through the air above them. Alex and ire both skipped back as a familiar-looking bundle of chitinous legs tumbled down from a portal tond with a rattling crash on the hillside beside them.


    The legs shot out, digging into the ground as the monster unfurled and rapidly righted itself. It had a crablike body with two, long, swaying eyes upon chitinous stalks. Five legs extended from each side of its hard-shelled body, which was lined from top to bottom with spines.


    A purple name burned in the air above the monster''s head, identifying it as the first Riftwarped monster they''d ever fought.


    Riftwarped Crawler (Initiate 1)


    The Crawler let out a chittering hiss and burst into motion, legs mming into the ground like a dozen drums going off at once. It charged toward Alex — and Princess mmed into it like a freight train.


    Sludge sttered across the ground as the huge Dredge drove its weight down into the Riftwarped Crawler and mmed it into the ground. Several loud cracks split the air as some of the monster''s legs were shattered beneath it.


    The Crawler screamed and hissed, trying to rip itself free, but Princess''s body glommed onto the crab and held fast,pletely locking it in ce. The huge mouth on the center of her body split open and bit down on the crawler''s shell.


    The shell crunched. Dark blood sprayed from the crab as it screamed and thrashed. Its ws snapped at Princess, carving through her sludgy body. Thick ck fluid sttered from her to the ground, but the damage was nowhere near significant.


    While Princess held the crab down, Glint advanced toward it. He waited for the right moment, watching the iling limbs until an opportunity presented itself, then burst into motion.


    Hisrge ws plunged into the top of the crab''s shell and punched through its carapace like nothing was there. Glint yanked them down. The shell barely even made a sound as he carved it apart.


    The Riftwarped Crawler''s limbs copsed to the ground. Power trickled into Alex.


    Silence ruled over the clearing, broken only by the drip of blood from Glint''s ws to the ground below and the crunch of Princess'' chewing.


    Alex and ire stared at the two summoned monsters in disbelief.


    And, in that moment, it struck Alex that they hadn''t just gotten lucky in avoiding monsters on their trip back through the city.


    The reason they hadn''t been attacked wasn''t because the monsters had all been preupied. There were no monsters in the alleys they''d gone through because the monsters that used them to avoid stronger enemies had vacated the area.


    Alex and ire had be the threat.