He checked the bond. Five women at the chokehold, each one alive and standing and carrying the same XP windfall he was. The fusions had been running for over an hour of sustained combat.
...
Kaiden followed the retreating column's path through the drained magma passage with Vespera's shadow gliding beside him, the dry stone still warm under his boots where the river used to flow. The passage opened into the Safe Zone, and the girls were already coming through from the other side.
Seven women converged on the dungeon entrance from both directions, weapons lowered, blood drying. Luna stepped through the chokehold passage with a scowl, and when she saw Kaiden she gave him a dry look.
"So. They just... left?"
"They left." He stopped five meters from the gate and looked at it. The dimensional threshold sat in the Cavern's mouth the same way it had since the duel began, a faint shimmer in the air with nothing coming through it. The silence on the other side was total.
