Round 194 Transcript

At dark corridor in New York high rise penthouse suite, the pressure shifts from waiting to immediate risk. The ward answers the party's presence with a fresh pulse through the stone and no one can mistake it for safety. The nearest sign of danger is now structural collapse imminent. Someone has to answer that change now.

I feel the wardstone pulse again, closer now, like a heartbeat counting down our seconds. The barrier I'm holding shudders through me—the dildo pressed into the wall socket is barely containing that ancient fuckery. Halie's leaning against the door with all her weight, but even she can't hold back an entire building forever. Her hands are burned red from gripping the metal frame too long. Hera's huddled beside her, hyperventilating—too much corruption running through that poor girl's system—and Abby's trying to keep her calm, which is a lost cause. I need Silra's timeline. If we have minutes left instead of seconds, I can push harder into the demonic reserves and hold this barrier long enough for someone to find an exit. But if it's just moments... The floor tilts again under our feet—water and lubricant making everything slick as shit—and Halie slides a little before catching herself. "Jeane!" she calls out, voice cracking. "I can't feel the door giving way yet, but I don't know how much longer my arms will hold!"

Two minutes. That's all I have before my reserves burn me up from the inside out and this demonic half turns into something else entirely. And if anyone sees what happens when a succubus overdraws power... Silra needs to answer me right now.

Halie leans her full weight against the door, shoulder burning from the pressure, trying to keep it braced while her burned hands grip uselessly at the frame. The floor tilts beneath them—water flooding in somewhere—and she feels every groan of the building like a physical pain. Hera crouches behind her, hyperventilating, covered in that slick sweat that isn't natural and makes Halie's stomach turn. "Silra!" She shouts into the darkness where Silra descended. "How long? We need seconds here!"