Fugue materialized in the middle of the teleportation platform, flanked by Sonata. The Hunter was already scanning the area, but she was momentarily confused. To her magical eye, the place was completely devoid of life.

Had Tirek tricked them and escaped somehow? But… it didn't make sense, no one could teleport in or out from the location as long as her spell was active. What was going on?

"How uncouth." Tirek's voice resonated in the large chamber, making her look up sharply. "To simply barge in without invitation into my domain." His voice took a sharper turn. "A domain created by the willpower of the Elders, whose will flows through me."

"Oh, Warry, don't be upset!" Sonata giggled as she shot her grappling hook and flew high into a corner of the room.

Fugue knew where her partner was, and yet, her blood sight gave her no sign of her position either. Tirek was not just diverting her magic away from himself, he had somehow managed to hide all living creatures from her sight.

"You knew this was going to happen eventually," the other siren continued, unaware of her partner's unexpected situation. "You helped us trap Adagio. You know our loyalty is to the strongest… and surprise! You're not it!"

"Oh, don't discount me so quickly," Tirek responded. "You forget that I am not simply a creation of the Elders… but an accomplished occultist as well."

Sonata laughed, kneeling behind cover and scanning the area with her rifle. "The little witchcraft you pulled off before we arrived is not real magic, Tirek."

"But I will be happy to show you what that is really like," Fugue threw in. Her eyes had narrowed and she looked around, trying to peer into the shadows, hoping to see any sign of enemies.

"Oh, just noticing now that your blood sight is not working?" Tirek taunted from his hiding place. "How disappointing, Miss Shimmer. I had thought you were quicker on your feet. Perhaps you need a wake up call?"

"Don't call me—" Fugue barely managed to fly up in the air before the area where she had stood earlier burst into flames and explosions that rocked her body despite her dodging the initial blast. MECs emerged from behind a column to her left, shooting at her. She felt the bullets hit, staggering her even if they didn't do much damage.

"I've got them Fugue," Sonata called out, "just let me—oops!"

Fugue saw the corner building where Sonata had nested explode into pieces, the whole top platform torn into nothing more than scraps of metal. She snarled as her body shook once more, a nearby explosion of missiles catching her by surprise when she had wondered about Sonata.

With a roar, she turned and dove straight at them, her sharp claws stretching long and thin. She sliced through a robot as she shoulder-slammed into another one. The third MEC didn't even hesitate to blow up the area where all of them stood with more missiles, and the whirring sound and threatening red light coming from the scanner in a sectopod bathed the area for a fraction of a second before thick plasma shots burnt through the metallic floor, leaving it glowing orange-red and half-melted.

"You dare!" she shouted from within the flames, and a red spike emerged violently from under the sectopod, slamming into—and through—its body. It shook for a moment before exploding, clearing the area in a second and sending MEC pieces (and Fugue) flying against the wall.

She landed on her back, her left arm and leg sizzling and limp.

"I dare." Tirek's laugh echoed around her, mocking and mirthless. "Of course I dare."

Fugue barely had a moment to brace herself as a dome of psychic energy suddenly flared out nearby, searing through everything in its path before it slammed into her. She cried out, half in ecstasy at the pain as the energy shook and burned through her entire body before slamming it onto the wall, the pressure pushing into her until she was slightly embedded into it before it dissipated. From the shadows, more MECs arrived, along with a pair of spectres.

"Tell me, siren, did you really think your magic was infallible? Did you really think I couldn't peer into it and discern its weaknesses?" Tirek taunted.

The pair of specters immediately melted into their nano-cloud form, slipping outside of her line of sight, while the MECs themselves were merciless in their constant barrage of explosives. Despite the concussive force of the missiles blowing up around her, she forced her body to regenerate and immediately felt again control of her limbs. Grinning at the pain, she ripped herself from the wall and tackled the MEC in front of her as her wings spread and pierced the other two next to her. Just as she grasped and tore the chest piece off the MEC under her, a plasma shot got her on the shoulder, making her growl.

Behind—and to her right—she caught sight of the spectre that had shot her, and just as she was about to destroy it with a burst of magic, another being appeared. She recognized this one: a Codex, just like the one that had recognized her as coming from Equestria. But it somehow seemed diminished—as if the mind behind it had disappeared and now it simply reacted instinctively rather than logically. The codex extended its arms and a wide, shimmering purple dome of energy surrounded her. Fugue couldn't feel much of an effect, but she knew this was just the setup for a stronger attack. She rose, ready to fly out when she was shot again by the specter, and the MEC next to her bombarded the area with missiles once more, destroying itself in the process, but distracting her long enough for the dome of psychic energy to suddenly contract and explode.

Fugue cried out, feeling the energy conflicting with her Equestrian magic and violently reacting around her, which only served to anger her. Unfortunately, her claw-swipe was unfocused and rather than slice clean through the codex, it simply severed an arm… which caused the unfazed creature to wail and teleport while simultaneously splitting into two.

"My, my, and here I thought a legendary creature such as yourself would have the upper claw against mere minions. Perhaps my respect for you was misplaced?"

Fugue growled under her breath, trying to think of how Tirek was able to mess with her magical sight. She had underestimated him, but if he thought these distractions would be enough to stop her, he was severely mistaken!

She cried out as several shots of plasma rained on her, the codexes and spectres taking advantage of her distraction to burn holes into her skin with their weapons. Whatever Tirek had done to impede her sight had thrown her off, but it was not affecting her magic besides that. She had no idea how long that would remain the same, however, as Tirek had proved unexpectedly competent for someone that had been running away terrified through most of their previous encounters.

Fugue braced herself. She was not going to let Tirek escape again, much less win. "Taunt me all you like, Tirek, but it is time you found out why a blood witch is as feared as they are." She raised her voice, gathering her energy. "I hope you're paying attention, Sonata, because I'm done holding back!"

She curved back, allowing the blood and magic to permeate her, tingling, enticing, orgasmic and vengeful. Her body shuddered with pleasure as she let loose, and the world all around her exploded into blood.