Vic paused mid-battle to stare. "I've been undead for two centuries, and this is still the weirdest thing I've ever seen."
Fabio winked at him. "Flattery will get you everywhere, handsome."
The pastries organized themselves into pairs—donuts flying in tandem, cupcakes coordinating their attacks, macarons moving in perfect synchrony. Each paired attack was exponentially more effective than single pastries, dissolving shadows on contact.
"They're working in pairs!" Delilah shouted to Sam. "Just like everything else we've seen!"
Sam gave a quick nod of understanding before dodging a shadow creature and continuing his advance toward the central artifact.
Mayor Grimble emerged from behind a boulder, his miniature hat now sporting what looked like tiny pastry launchers. "As official municipal baked goods coordinator, I hereby authorize this unconventional tactical deployment!"
"Nobody asked you, sweetie," Fabio called back, directing a squadron of muffins to form a protective barrier around the Mayor anyway.
Elder Thornberry appeared beside Delilah, munching on what appeared to be one of the combat pastries. "When yeast rises with magical intent, shadows fall before breakfast's might!"
"You know," Delilah said, ducking as a cruller whizzed past her head, "that almost made sense."
"I have my moments," Elder Thornberry replied, before disappearing behind a cinnamon roll barrage.
The tide of battle shifted as Fabio's pastries created enough chaos and confusion for their team to advance. Delilah scrambled toward Sam, the mirror-map still clutched in her hands.
"The central artifact!" she called. "It's the lynchpin!"
Sam nodded, his wolf form leaping over a fallen shadow creature. He was nearly at the ritual's heart now, where a glowing crystal orb pulsed with dark energy.
Morgana scrambled to protect it, her silver hair wild around her face. "No! You don't understand what you're interfering with!"
For just a moment, her shadow elongated behind her, forming a shape that wasn't hers—a tall, featureless silhouette with too many limbs.
"Daddy-O!" Fabio called down to Delilah. "The shadow behind her—that's what my gambling contacts warned me about! The one who wears faces!"
"I see it," Delilah called back, her heart racing as Sam closed in on the central artifact.
She had seen many impossible things in her life, but nothing had prepared her for what happened next.
The shadow behind Morgana elongated further, stretching impossibly tall as Sam lunged for the central artifact. Delilah's heart hammered against her ribs as she raced forward, the mirror-map vibrating in her hands like a living thing.
"Sam!" she called out, her voice nearly lost in the magical chaos.
He turned, yellow eyes locking with hers across the battlefield. "Trust me! Whatever happens, just keep going!"
Delilah nodded, drawing a deep breath as she plunged her hands into the spell matrix surrounding Morgana. The Silver Witch screamed, her perfectly manicured nails clawing at Delilah's intrusion.
"You fool! You'll destroy everything!" Morgana's eyes flashed with panic as the spell began to unravel. "My master will?—"
"Your master is using you," Delilah hissed, fingers working through the magical threads like she was untangling Jinxie's yarn collection. "Look at your own future in the mirror!"
Sam's wolf form leaped over a final shadow creature, jaws closing around the pulsing crystal orb. Cracks spread across its surface, light spilling through like liquid sunshine.
"No!" Morgana lunged forward, but too late.
Sam's teeth crunched through the artifact. The sound of shattering crystal rang out with impossible clarity over the battlefield chaos.
Magic exploded outward in concentric rings of raw power. Delilah felt herself lifted off her feet, suspended in a kaleidoscope of energy. The mirror-map melted into pure light between her fingers, reshaping the broken spell matrix into something new.
"This is not what I signed up for!" Vic shouted from somewhere to her left. "Magical apocalypse prevention costs extra!"
Fabio's pastry armada dissolved in the magical wave, raining down sugary shrapnel. "My créations! My beautiful, battle-hardened croissants!"
