The swarm returned in silence.
No warning flutter. No sound of wings. Just sudden presence, butterflies materializing from the walls like they'd always been there, waiting.
Theo's shout came half a second too late.
The Monarch led this time. It dove straight for Riri.
Not the backline. Not the healer. Her.
Loki lunged to intercept. The Monarch banked left, impossibly fast, wings carving air in patterns that defied physics.
Riri's dagger came up. She sidestepped. The Monarch's wing grazed her shoulder.
[HP: 441/456][Status Effect: Crimson Poison applied]
The burn spread through fabric, eating toward skin.
The Monarch twisted mid-flight, wings folding into bladed edges. Its body became a crimson missile aimed at her throat.
[Crimson Butterfly Monarch used Wing Guillotine! - Damage: 340]
Fatal. Her HP couldn't tank that.
Then she was moving, not by her own power. An arm locked around her waist, yanking her backward with enough force to snap her head back. Her spine collided with a chest that felt like compressed iron.
The Monarch's attack sheared through empty air where her neck had been.
"Don't move."
Samael's voice. Low. Directly against her ear.
His free hand extended past her shoulder.
The Monarch exploded.
Not compressed like the others. Obliterated. Six hundred and fifty HP reduced to mist in the span of a heartbeat.
[Enemy Defeated: Crimson Butterfly Monarch - Level 12 - ELITE][+150 EXP]
The remaining swarm froze. Fifty butterflies hovering motionless, wings stuttering in confused patterns.
Samael's arm hadn't moved from her waist.
She could feel his heartbeat against her spine. Slow. Steady. Completely unaffected by what he'd just done.
The poison burned hotter. Her HP ticked down.
[HP: 433/456]
"Healer." His voice carried no urgency. Just expectation of compliance.
Avery's staff glowed. White light washed over Riri.
[HP: 456/456][Status Effect: Crimson Poison cleansed]
The burn vanished. Samael's arm didn't.
Riri's pulse kicked up for reasons that had nothing to do with combat. He was warm, furnace-hot compared to the tunnel's chill. Close enough that she could smell leather and something darker underneath. Gunpowder, maybe. Or ozone.
"I can stand," she said quietly.
"I know."
He didn't let go.
The swarm began to collapse. Without the Monarch's coordination, the butterflies lost cohesion, scattering in random directions, wings beating erratically. Some fled into the walls. Others simply fell.
Riri watched them drop. Fifty creatures rendered directionless by a single death. Hive mind mechanics. The Monarch had been the central node.
Which meant wounded stragglers.
Her gaze tracked the scattered swarm, Hunter's Eyes picking out HP bars dipping below critical thresholds. There. Twenty feet left. A cluster of three butterflies spiraling downward, wings torn from the shockwave of the Monarch's death.
[Crimson Butterfly - Level 9 | HP: 12/145][Crimson Butterfly - Level 8 | HP: 8/120][Crimson Butterfly - Level 8 | HP: 9/120]
All below ten percent.
"Let go." This time her voice carried an edge.
Samael's arm loosened fractionally. Not released. Just enough slack for her to turn her head and meet his gaze over her shoulder.
His eyes were darker up close. Black, maybe, or brown so deep it made no difference in the violet light. They tracked across her face with the same clinical assessment he'd used on the tunnel walls.
"You're intact," he said.
"Yes. Now let go."
His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. Then his arm dropped.
Riri stepped forward. The cold where his body heat had been registered before she could stop it.
She moved toward the dying butterflies, Loki falling into step beside her. Vesper launched from her shoulder, already understanding.
"Riri?" Theo's voice carried confusion. "What are you doing?"
She didn't answer. No time to explain while her targets were still alive.
Six butterflies total, all critically wounded, scattered in two clusters across the tunnel floor. Wings torn, bodies leaking ichor that glowed faint crimson in the violet light.
Riri crouched beside the nearest group, dagger reversed in her grip. Her free hand extended.
[Tame Beast]
Golden light bloomed from her chest, softer than combat magic, warmer than healing spells. The threads reached for all six butterflies simultaneously, spanning the distance between clusters, wrapping around their broken bodies with careful precision.
The creatures went still.
The connections formed, not like Loki's mountain-solid presence or Vesper's quicksilver awareness. These were lighter. Fragile. But layered and overlapping, six minds thinking in perfect unison.
A collective consciousness.
The golden threads tightened gently.
[Tame Beast: SUCCESS][Crimson Butterfly - Level 9 has been bonded][Crimson Butterfly - Level 8 has been bonded][Crimson Butterfly - Level 8 has been bonded][Crimson Butterfly - Level 9 has been bonded][Crimson Butterfly - Level 8 has been bonded][Crimson Butterfly - Level 9 has been bonded]
[Multiple creatures detected sharing hive mind structure][Combine into single companion slot? Y/N]
Single slot. Six creatures. Riri pressed YES.
[Active Companions: 3/3][Processing hive mind integration...][Please designate swarm name]
The six butterflies rose as one, wings still torn, bodies still leaking ichor. Then they turned toward the remaining swarm.
The butterflies scattered across the tunnel floor weren't dead. Just dying. Thirty-plus creatures with critical HP, unable to coordinate without the Monarch.
The six descended on them. Not to kill. To feed.
They latched onto their former swarm-mates, wings pulsing with crimson light. HP drained from the dying creatures in visible streams, red mist flowing from victim to predator.
[HP Drain activated][Swarm HP: 327/780][Swarm HP: 512/780][Swarm HP: 780/780]
Torn wings sealed. Cracked chitin smoothed. The former swarm-mates dissolved into gray mist, thirty butterflies reduced to nothing in seconds.
"Vermillion," Riri said quietly.
The six butterflies moved in perfect synchronization, circling her head before settling: two on her shoulders, two hovering near her head, two positioned between her and the rest of the party.
[Crimson Butterfly Swarm has been named: Vermillion][Vermillion - Swarm Collective - Level 8-9 | Combined HP: 780/780][Swarm Abilities: HP Drain, Coordinated Strike, Wing Shield][New Passive Bonus Applied: +12 Wisdom while Vermillion is active]
Footsteps behind her. Heavy boots on organic ground.
She didn't need to turn.
"Beast Tamer." Samael's voice came from directly behind her. Close enough that she felt the words more than heard them.
Riri stood and turned to face him. Vermillion adjusted position, maintaining their formation.
Up close, the height difference was more pronounced. She had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. His attention wasn't on her face. It was on Vermillion.
"You bonded them," he said.
"Yes."
"Mid-combat."
"They were dying. It was efficient."
His gaze flicked to hers. Something shifted in his expression, too fast to identify, gone before she could process it.
"Efficient," he repeated.
The rest of the party was staring. Theo had lowered his sword completely. Avery's mouth hung slightly open. Even Delilah looked caught between impressed and disturbed.
Wren found his voice first. "You just absorbed the swarm?"
"Tamed six of them. They're mine now."
Bryce stepped closer, studying Vermillion with academic interest. "So you have three companions? The wolf, the fox, and a swarm of HP-draining butterflies?"
"Yes."
"That's insane." He said it like a compliment.
Samael was still watching her. Not Vermillion. Her. His gaze tracked from the butterflies on her shoulders to her face, then lower, assessing her stance, her positioning, the way she held the dagger.
"Your companion slots are full," he said.
"They are."
"Good."
The word landed and sat there. She turned it over once, couldn't find its edges, and let it go.
Before she could speak, he turned and walked toward the tunnel's far end.
Loki pressed against her leg. Vesper settled on her shoulder. Vermillion's collective warmth pulsed behind her ribs alongside the other two bonds, distinct but layered.
"Riri?" Theo's voice. "You good?"
"Fine." She sheathed the dagger. "How much farther to the Inner Sanctum?"
"Unknown. Monarch was guarding this section, so probably close." He gestured to where Samael had stopped at the tunnel's continuation, perfectly still in the violet dark. "He's already scouting ahead."
Vermillion shifted on her shoulders, two sets of wings brushing her neck.
She followed.