The woman before him did not look afraid. She had a glint in her eye, a slight twist of her mouth at the side. She thought she had won this.

And she was enjoying it.

Xavier looked from the woman to the people in the cell. More than once, he had contemplated what might happen if he had to choose between saving his friends and saving the Earth. Xavier wasn’t opposed to sacrificing himself for the greater good, but right now the math didn’t check out.

He felt horrible for his thoughts even going in this direction. He planned to do everything he could to save his friends—but that didn’t include sacrificing himself. That would not be in the best interests of Earth.

Hell, it wouldn’t be in his best interest.

And this woman wanted a contract of full servitude? Did she really expect him to comply with something like that? Something that took his freedom away for… ever?

She would use me to control Earth. I am from Earth, and the strongest Denizen on that planet. The level restrictions do not apply to me. She could send me back through the portal to rule Earth in her stead until the restrictions lifted.

There were probably a million other horrible things she would make him do as well, once he’d become stronger.

Xavier, whose body had stiffened, whose heart had been beating hard against his chest, released a long breath. The rage he’d been feeling was still there, burning just as hot as it had before, but there was something else as well.

A calm had settled over him.

His friends were hurting. On their knees in the cell. Hands clutching heads. Their sounds of agony tugged at his heart. He couldn’t let them remain like that.

The longer he waited, the more likely the other woman was to get the upper hand. And that was simply something he could never let happen.

Xavier zipped forward. The closer he was to the councilmember, the less distance his Willpower Infusion spell would need to travel. He intended to hit her with several spells at once, to soften her up for his control, and take her focus away from those within the cell.

Spirit Break!

Agony rippled through her features, giving him a sense of satisfaction.

Core Burn!

The pain she felt intensified.

Xavier was about to hit her with another spell, but this woman didn’t simply stand there and take it. She twisted her hands and his friends screamed out in ever more pain.

Then she disappeared from the spot she’d just been standing in, and he felt a shift in the air behind him.

Pain blossomed in his back. He’d been stabbed in the spine.

Your health is at 60%.

That’s not good.

Xavier cast Willpower Infusion. This wasn’t how he’d intended to close the gap, but she was close now. Its tendrils reached out behind him and took hold of her mind, or at least tried to break through her mental barrier. The wall that sprang up was like nothing he’d ever felt before. The strongest block he’d ever experienced.

Then something slammed into him—not into his body, but into his mind. There was a purple mist surrounding him, but it wasn’t his mist.

It was hers.

The woman had the same spell, and she was using it against him.

Xavier gritted his teeth. He split his mind into two parts. Then three parts. Then four. One part focused on the mental barrier he was trying to break through. One part focused on his own mental defences. The third part focused on his physical actions, whirling around and striking at the woman—hitting nothing but air as she’d once again teleported away.

The final part focused on his spells.

The halls were narrow. But not too narrow that he couldn’t swing his scythe-staff around.

A shift in the air to his right.

He struck out with Charon’s Scythe. At the same time, he pushed in that direction with Heavy Telekinesis, trying to throw the woman off balance.

She’s a slippery one.

Now he knew how his enemies felt whenever he evaded their attacks.

The onslaught of mental attacks he was receiving was almost too much for him to bear.

Almost.

I should have thrown some points into Willpower.

But it was too late for that now, and Xavier didn’t have access to his trump card, even if he wanted to use it—which right now, he wasn’t entirely sure of. Using Summon Otherworldly Spirit had apparently been damaging his soul. The fact that he hadn’t known that made his mind go wild with worry.

What if there were other spells that he was using that were causing him harm?

He blocked out those thoughts and kept fighting. This woman wouldn’t be able to avoid him forever. And though he felt his mental wall being taken down brick by brick, he could also see that he was making progress against hers.

Split Mind has reached Rank 14!

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Split mind has reached Rank 15!

…

Split mind has reached Rank 25!

Well, that’s something.

He felt a slight surge in the power of his mind, as the skill boosted his Intelligence and Willpower. Though Willpower was the attribute most strongly connected to mental barriers—both one’s own, and getting through someone else’s, Intelligence played its part too.

Split Mind hadn’t ranked up in a long while. Perhaps he hadn’t been pushing his mind hard enough for it to do so. He’d become too comfortable.

He was the farthest thing from comfortable right now.

Xavier quickly realised that the war on the physical plane wasn’t the most important one. Though she had landed that initial strike on him, now that he was getting used to her movement patterns and taking her seriously as a melee fighter, she hadn’t been able to land any other attacks. And he hadn’t been able to land a single strike on her, either.

His spells, on the other hand, had landed—but they hadn’t done enough to turn the tide of the fight.

This fight would be decided purely on the mental plane.

The battle of the minds wasn’t something he could see, but rather something he could feel. And what he felt was that he was ahead. Each time he pressed against her barrier, each time he found a crack in her defence, the woman’s eyes widened further. Fear starting to show on her face.

He was making progress.

More progress than her.

But if he didn’t do something drastic, he feared any progress he made wouldn’t be enough. Feared that she would get desperate and call for help. He was pretty sure the only reason that she hadn’t yet was because she wanted full control over him.

If this were an official operation, she wouldn’t be the only one here. Wouldn’t be the only one attacking him. He would be up against a C Grade. Someone who might very well be able to crush him with a single finger.

Then the only choice he would have would be either bend to their will or die.

He still heard the screams of those in the cell. Knew that they must be in tremendous pain right now. But the only thing that he could do for them was what he was already doing.

I need to boost my mental capacity. I need to push against her barrier even harder than I already am.

An idea struck Xavier, then.

It was the only thing he knew to do that might actually help.

He split his mind into five parts. Felt the strain. Felt the push back.

And he pushed further. He needed to stretch his mind beyond its barriers. Needed to stretch it more than it had ever been stretched.

Ten parts.

Twenty parts.

A hundred.

He still kept a single part on his physical movement. That wasn’t what was the most important thing right now. But every other part was either focused on his mental defence or his mental offence.

The rank ups came almost immediately.

Split Mind has reached Rank 26!

…

Split Mind has reached Rank 33!

…

Split Mind has reached Rank 40!

He grinned. A manic, insane grin. The woman was becoming more and more afraid. He could sense that fear as he broke down her defences. As the cracks increased, became gaps. As he pried those gaps open with nothing more than sheer strength of will.

Until finally he was in.

You have gained +10 Willpower!

That took him by surprise. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gained Willpower through nothing more than mental training.

And it didn’t just take him by surprise, either. It helped push him over the edge.

Straight through the next Willpower attribute threshold.

His Willpower hit over seven thousand points.

The woman froze in place. The mental onslaught that she had been putting on him had disappeared. For a moment, he almost killed her right there. But he knew he shouldn’t do that. Not yet, at least.

He couldn’t help but pause and admire what he’d done. This wasn’t just the small amount of control that he’d had over other D Grades in the past.

This was total control.

This woman’s mind was his. She’d been too focused on trying to take control of him to mount a proper defence, and when she’d finally stopped attacking his mind back, it had been too late.

He had her.

Stop hurting my friends.

The screams in the cell ceased. Howard, Siobhan, Justin, and Melissa stopped clutching their heads. They breathed heavily. Almost as though they were gasping for breath.

But they were safe, now. No longer in the pain this woman had been putting them under.

Howard was the first to make it back to his feet. He looked at Xavier. Gave him a nod.

Xavier gave the woman another command.

Open the cell.

Howard helped Siobhan and Justin to their feet. Melissa got to her feet by herself, brushing dust off her trousers. She touched a tentative hand to her head.

The cell opened, and he could see their relief.

Justin beamed over at Xavier. “You’re here.”

Siobhan shot out of the cell and wrapped him in a hug. Then she stepped back. Lowered her head. “Thank you.”

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Howard said. “Though we’re certainly in better shape than we were a minute ago.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t come with you guys in the first place,” Xavier said. He ran a hand through his hair. “If I had been with you to begin with, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Howard put a hand on his shoulder. “Not your fault. Did you deal with the council?”

Xavier looked at the woman—the last councilmember still standing—as he replied. “All but one.”

“Good. Then maybe something like this won’t happen again.”

“So, ah, shouldn’t we be getting the hell out of here?” Melissa asked.

Xavier nodded. “Definitely.”

“What about her?” Justin asked. He had a cold look in his eyes, one he directed at the woman standing outside the cell wearing a blank expression on her face.

“She’s under my control,” Xavier said. “Don’t worry, I have a plan for her.”

They made their way back through the prison. Xavier killed the guard that had led him to the cell along the way, cutting his head off just as he’d wanted to the first time he’d seen him. He supposed he’d never figure out why the man was so angry at him.

Maybe, subconsciously, the man had known Xavier would be the cause of his death.

It didn’t take them long to get back to the portal. Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any resistance along the way. Who would resist them when they had a councilmember at their side? And the moment they were outside of the prison they were able to communicate with Allegra again.

She was safe, still waiting by the portal, which was a relief. If not for her, he never would have known what had happened to Justin. At least, not until the council had decided to use it against him. And then the trap might have been a lot more effective, had they been given more time to plan.

When they were all standing around the portal, Justin looked at the woman again. “You said you had a plan.” Though he was looking at the councilmember, Xavier knew the question was for him.

Xavier sent the woman another mental command. Items began appearing in her hand. Everything in her Storage Ring, which was no doubt protected from others accessing it. She threw each of the items straight through the portal as they appeared. Xavier had no idea how much all of that stuff would be worth, but considering they were the possessions of a D Grade in a high position, he imagined it was a lot.

When that was done, Xavier had the others each strike the woman. He knew their attacks wouldn’t do a great deal of damage. Hell, they probably didn’t hurt her at all. But if they could at least do a percentage of a percentage of her health, then they would get the opportunity to share in the kill.

The Mastery Points they would receive would be insane for people in F Grade.

He even let Allegra and Melissa have a swing at her. It was only polite. Besides, though he knew very little about the two of them, what he did know was that they’d come here, on what must have appeared to be a suicide mission, to help him save a member of his party.

That engendered trust.

Once Howard, Siobhan, Justin, Allegra, and Melissa had all had a crack at attacking the currently defenceless woman, Xavier decided it was time to put her out of her misery.

He remembered the look in the woman’s face when she’d been torturing his friends. The way she’d apparently taken pleasure in hurting them. A part of him wanted to make her hurt, a thousand-fold more, for what she’d done.

But though he’d come here to get vengeance upon his enemies, the last thing he wanted to do was become like them. He didn’t want to derive pleasure from other people’s pain, even if this woman did deserve to go through all of that.

So he killed her as swiftly as he was able to.

And then, finally, he, his party, and the new additions to their base, stepped back through the portal and returned to Earth.