Round 241 Transcript

Silra watched Jeane writhe on the floor, the building groaning ominously around them. The forty-minute timer had just expired—five minutes remained before structural failure. Halie's barrier was failing too; her arms shook visibly as she held it between herself and the succubus aura. "Halie," Silra snapped, "your faith isn't going to stop a succubus rampage." She stepped closer to Halie, eyes never leaving Jeane. "I'm not abandoning her—we're preventing her from hurting you or anyone else."

Halia's voice cracked: "She's fighting it! Don't you see?"

"See what?" Silra demanded, scanning the room for anything useful. The metal fittings and reinforced brackets caught her eye—they might hold if welded together over the barrier gap. "I see a monster in our friend's skin."

Abby tried to approach Jeane, hand outstretched: "Jeane? Are you still in there?"

Silra cut her off: "Don't. She doesn't recognize herself right now." Her gaze was cold as she assessed the situation. "The building wants us to fuck each other senseless—fine. But on our terms, not its."

She moved toward the supplies corner, pulling out the welder and metal components. "Halie, keep that barrier up for thirty seconds. I'm reinforcing the walls around you." Her voice was flat with focus. "And stop expecting divine intervention to solve this—I've got a better plan than prayer."