The sound of acknowledgement was nice, but Jermaine felt far from relieved. His mind couldn't stop whirling, imagining all the ways this could go terribly wrong. Finn could miss the heart completely and be consumed sword first, Finn could stab through Jake in the process, all three of them could get crushed by falling sand and die or drown or--

"Epsilon, eucrates, dernesto..." He breathed, willing himself to focus as he drew out the final runes in the incantation. The moment he finished, the sand runes begin to glow with white hot light. Just as instantaneously, the golem roared in anguish. Sand sloughed off him like shed skin, splashing into the sea all around them. To Jermaine's horror, the sea reacted and pushed back towards him and his runes like an accelerated tide.

"Now, Finn!" He shouts, desperate, watching the water as it approached. They were only moments away from washing out his invocation. "The heart, stab it now!"