As Cal felt the void mana move across his channels, he, not for the first time, and knowing himself doubt would be the last time he considered focusing more on his other mana sources. He had spent most of his time in the loops so far primarily using his lightning mana, even despite the merger of the two mana spirits and the evolution of his abilities. He formed the mana into a small ball and launched it at the center of the monster.


    He had made a giant mistake and knew it immediately as the air around them rippled. He had caused all the oxygen in the room to be drawn toward the creature, further pulling in the flames, and while he may have caused the rest of the room to extinguish, he had somehow greatly increased the size of what he had to deal with it in front of them.


    “Damn, didn’t think of that problem!” Cal yelled looking at the fire beast they now face.


    “We need to get through it to Bug quickly!” Gretel yelled back, the roaring flames of the monster partially drowning out her voice.


    “Trying something!” Cal answered as he tried to feel the concrete slab below the garage. He hadn’t done much practice yet now that he had Grannus safe, so it was time to learn on the job. He just hoped not to cause any more earthquakes as he played around with it. He pulled the concrete up in front of them as he had done many times before, feeling the Earth at a much further distance than he ever had. Ignoring that extra awareness for now, he pushed the plate forwar,d trying to wrap it around the flame creature.


    The plate superheated as he tried to envelope the monster, and while it was showing signs of cracking, it held well enough. The fight against the stone soon stopped, and he felt the inside begin to cool. Cal smiled despite the worry. He had managed to smother it without losing control. As he pushed the now crumbling concrete away he let himself hope the lessening of the flames had decreased the pressure on his sister. She just had to hold a little longer. They were on the way.


    They charged forward as a group, spilling into the kitchen together, where the scene of what had happened became obvious. There were small bursts of fire coming out of each of the hostage''s stomachs, and Bug, through pure force of will, was holding them all together. Stan and Frank were desperately trying to kill every flamebug that escaped Bug’s own power, but there were far too many for them to stop, and Glenn was whispering to Bug that help was coming. He was right. Help was here.


    “Starry, what do we need to do?” I yelled to the mana spirit.


    “Matt you need to touch Bug, then we can all our power together,” they answered.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    “Alright, we can do that, Alfred, go help Frank and dad,” Cal yelled.


    “Got it,” Alfred said before breaking off as we moved toward Bug.


    “Hey girl, are you holding up okay?” I asked gently as the cooling bubble closed around her and Glenn.


    “She hasn’t said anything, but I know she’s doing everything to hold this all together. Should we just end the loop?” Glenn asked. I hadn’t considered it, but yes, I would do that if something wasn’t done immediately to save Bug. Restarting the loop despite what it would cause was a far better choice than losing her.


    “No, I can fix this,” Starry said as Matt reached out to touch Bug’s side. The moment he made contact the power emanating from Bug shifted slightly. The change went from just holding everything together to a feeling of holding and healing. Parts of Starry seemed to break off and meld into the people in the room, healing their bodies. No new flamebugs were appearing. The faces of the hostages started to morph from terror to calmness. Even Ethel’s perpetual scowl lessened.


    “Matt? Starry? So our weird bond wasn’t a horrible mistake?” Bug said, some of the stress vanishing from her face. Cal didn’t know what she was talking about, but if it had saved her, he wasn’t about to complain.


    The fire vanished all around them as Bug’s feet gave way, and she fell to the ground. Still very much alive but looking exhausted. Cal wrapped his arms around her, glad she had managed to stay alive through the insane feat of bravery.


    “We need to get out of here now!” Twonger yelled from outside, causing Cal to notice the sirens and troops pouring of new transports.


    “Dad, take them all to my room and use the gateway there I’ll have it reopened. Everyone else help our friends and family, I’ll make sure Twonger gets away,” Cal barked out the orders, letting Glenn grab Bug from him. “I assume you heard that,” Cal then said in his head to Fulginanis.


    “I did, do you want me to close it if you aren’t able to make it back through?” Fulginanis asked in return.


    “Yes,” Cal answered before sending an arc of lightning through the window and following behind it. He followed this up by grabbing at the earlier power he had felt deep in the Earth, and ripping it all upward, causing the road in front of the house to crack apart as new small hills rose, blocking out the house.


    “Wel,l that’s fucking nifty. Learn that with the crazy Earthquake, I take it?” Twonger asked as he followed Cal back through the window.


    “I think so. Hard to remember what really happened with the Earthquake, but come on, we need to get back to the voidhouse and help all the wounded,” Cal said as they saw most of the people had already moved from the kitchen toward his old bedroom. He picked up a few straggling capybaras, and Twonger grabbed the duct-taped form of Brice that no one had bothered with, and soon, for the first time in two loops, they were all reunited and home in the voidhouse again.