It would be wrong to say Steven was calm. Focused, yes. But calm?

The anger burned in his gut, mixing with the spite until it boiled over, pushing against his thoughts until it was a struggle to feel anything else.

But the emotions didn’t slow him down or divide his attention. It just made his focus that much sharper.

As the emotions boiled inside, he clenched his fist, and a shield snapped into place one after another.

He deflected a hail of knives aimed at Markus’s back.

The instant they bounced off the shield, he dismissed them, expecting another round of portals to open up. Sure enough, they did. Sprouting up around Lily and Miguel.

A tarp unfolded from a portal near the ground, and Miguel instantly ran his hand along his shirt. Steven couldn’t get a good view of the paint he used, but when he threw the ball into the tarp, it detonated, blasting towards Lily like it had been launched from a canon.

Steven caught it with a shield, the fabric folding around the green oval.

As the tarp wrapped around it, the paint flew in every direction. Steven called more shields, but he couldn’t block everything.

Bits of blue ran down Lilly’s front. If any of those reached her feet, she’d be in trouble.

Steven couldn’t scrape the paint from her at this distance, he thought he was getting pretty good with his shields, but he wasn’t that good.

The woman threw herself to the side to dodge another paint spray and then closed in on Miguel, moving faster than before.

Steven started to throw a shield at Miguel when more portals opened, and more crap flew out, and his attention split.

He had to be faster!

Shields blocked hammers and knives, and chunks of concrete. He called shields and moved others, zipping them around the room as they were needed.

As long as he was moving to protect one of the others, the shields were like an extension of his body. They were faster, cost less energy, and he felt like they were more durable to boot.

If he tried to swing at one of the others—unless his attack would directly stop one of theirs— the shield took more out of him and was slower.

He wasn’t sure why Corrie hadn’t closed her viewing portals. He felt more connected to his shield than ever, but he still couldn’t block things blind.

But for some reason, the woman refused to close the portals. He was pretty sure she’d closed others from a distance, but he didn’t have time to contemplate on the woman’s motives. If she wanted to keep this dance up, Steven would dance for as long as it took.

He could defend.

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Right now, that was all he could do. He just prayed it would be enough.

~<>~<>~

Markus vaulted over a leg sweep that shouldn’t have come close to hitting him. His instincts were good, however, as a moment later, the shadow whipped out, undulating along Carl’s leg to crack through the air.

He landed and covered the distance between them in a blink. He feinted a punch while sending a knee up from the other side.

Carl didn’t buy it, backing up a step and then whipping the butt of his quarterstaff at Markus‘s side. Markus burned Meter, calling sap to block the blow.

As the staff recoiled from the amber, Carl threw a punch with his offhand. Shadow thickened around his arm as it moved, retreating from the rest of his body as he poured more into the blow.

Markus couldn’t dodge to the left. His own Sap was blocking him. He had too much momentum to go back, and he was betting the man had something planned if he tried to go right.

With a grunt and tense of the legs, Markus leaped.

He positioned his body like he was trying to dive through a narrow opening, and as he reached the apex of his jump, he called Sap between his hands.

More Meter burned, and the Sap solidified in his grip.

He pivoted, his weight swinging forward like a trapeze artist.

Carl’s eyes widened, and he barely got his shadow-covered arm around in time to block.

Markus’s shoes crashed into his arm, and the man was blasted from his feet.

The shadow spread out behind him, cushioning his impact.

Markus was already dropping from the impromptu monkey bar. He hit the ground and sprinted for the man, his Meter rapidly filling.

Carl blasted to his feet with a surge of darkness and took a wide swing with the staff. Markus ducked it and kept coming.

Lavender flashed, and a portal began to open beneath his foot. He immediately called Titan Sap under his shoe. If it weren’t for the increased reaction time Micheal‘s buff gave him, he never would’ve made it in time.

But with the Skill flowing through him, amber instantly solidified under his foot, and he pushed off.

Power coursed through him. Nothing would slow him. Nothing would stop him. He vaulted a projectile he barely saw, dodged a lance of shadow, and Advanced.

His Meter capped out, amber light seething over his body like a barely contained river.

Carl met his eyes, and the man’s face showed naked terror.

He gathered himself, his shadow twisting about his feet in a dense cloud. Then it constricted, tightening around him like a pair of boots. The man turned and ran for all he was worth.

The state of total focus that had overtaken him fell away as Markus saw the man, the boy really, run in terror.

He still chased him. These people were killers. But his Class didn’t feel so… close anymore.

Carl was damn fast when he wanted to be, and he didn’t have to dodge portals creating pitfalls and throwing random crap at him. Before Markus closed the distance, Carl reached a wall and slammed his fist into it frantically.

“Corrie, open up, Jesus fucking Christ! Open up!“

Markus was less than 10 feet behind the man and closing fast.

The wall shimmered purple, and the man tumbled through.

Markus got ready to follow him in when the portal snapped shut.

Well, it seems my opponent up and left.

Without pausing for a heartbeat, Markus spun on his heel and sprinted for Lilly’s fight.