“Ted and Greg, where are your brothers?” Yuna asked in a cheery mood as she flew up to the 5th floor and then the 6th floor, probably aiming for the big balcony on the 7th floor.

I think they went with your mother.

Yuna flew outside from the balcony on the 7th floor. We were only inside for about half an hour but after coming back outside I saw that the barrier was broken and the capital was on fire. And I saw a creature with a lot of magical power. He seemed to rival my mother in magical power. It was the same 8 tailed monkey I saw feeding energy to some random goons.

What is that? I asked while pointing at the eight-tailed monkey.

“Enott Hing,” Yuna replied.

Nothing? But I see something there!

“Yes, and what I'm saying is that something is Enott Hing!”

Yuna, are you sure now is the time to joke around? Our capital is on fire you know?

Maybe she is going blind, she could use a bit of your vision Agnis.

You see it too, right? I'm not the only one?

It is hard to miss something that's exuding so much magical energy, yes.

Hey, Yuna are you alright? I think I have some glasses somewhere here for you.

Wait, why do you have glasses on you?!

Haha, to become smarter of course!

I am speechless...

You can't be serious…

Yuna started to become quite pissed off and yelled: “That eight-tailed monkey there is called Enott Hing! It's his name!”

I thought I was the only one making un-bear-able puns, I'm glad I rubbed off on you!

Calling a person “nothing” is cruel even for you Yuna…

No, my sister became a bully.

“Why did I have to babysit”, Yuna sighed, “Fighting something as strong as mom would have probably been easier than dealing with these brats.” She picked up speed and headed for the mountain southeast of the capital. As she landed outside the city, she chucked us at the ground and returned to her human form. my buddies and I were used to rough landings so we landed perfectly, besides Raishin who somehow still didn't get how to orientate himself in the air and landed on his bum.

At that moment a huge explosion went off and we saw part of the palace collapse. And moments later I saw a golden phoenix with a flock of phoenixes and other mythical creatures arrive in the city and a big battle broke out. My eyes started to become tired trying to figure out what was happening, but from the few things I saw was that my mother knew that monkey I didn't know the name of and that there was bad blood between them.

What did you see?

Our mothers made contact with that monkey. I don't know the name. He has some weird-looking sidekicks and it seems there is bad blood between him and our moms.

Well since your mothers made contact with them, means they will get wiped out sooner than later, no need to panic, we should just go to our shelter and wait out the fight. No need for us to deal with this monkey business.

We started walking towards the mountain where the shelter was when Ted and Greg’s brother joined us.

“How did the situation with the dimensional crack go Jusay?”

“Hmm, it was quite weird actually”, Jusay replied. “Bob and I were at the side lines but the enemy was quite organized and it looked like they were stalling.” Jusay explained to Yuna.

So, it is all connected! I knew it!

“What do you mean Agnis?” Jusay asked.

I saw some weird energy accompanying the magical signatures of those that invaded the city, at first, I didn't recognize it but now I remember. It was similar to that dimensional fugitive we had 2 months ago. Since he came from another dimension he had a weird lingering energy around him, these guys had the same, that eight-tailed monkey was the only one who didn't have that strange energy.

“Hmm, it certainly explains a lot”, said a guy that looked like an older, taller, and more mature Ted.

Bob! Ted exclaimed as he ran over to his brother.

Yo, bro, you got some liquid shadow vodka?

Oh, you got booze?! Gimme some too!

“Wait what? Why would I give you any of this? You guys are still brats! And I don't have any on me!” Jusay said flustered while he tightly gripped his backpack.

Suspicious!

Gimme some! I had a rough day!

Ted and Gregory pounced on Jusay, trying to grab the backpack. Yuna and I facepalmed at the same time.

Bob and Yuna separated the alcoholics from Jusay. Jusay brushing the dirt off his clothes calmly explained more about what happened at the dimensional crack. I wanted to pay attention to what he was saying but something else grabbed my attention.

There were two things. The first thing was I saw a lot of that strange energy we discovered in the underground water cave. And I saw 3 quite strong individuals approaching. I only remembered the magical signature of the people I was close with so I couldn't tell if they were friends or foes. But the fact was that our capital was under siege.

Yuna, 3 people approaching from 8 o’clock!

Yuna turned around and shifted to battle mode. Bob and Jusay did the same.

“Just relax and stay behind us Agnis, you must've overworked yourself today.” I was ready to go into a battle stance too but I decided to heed Yuna’s advice. Three girls arrived 2 minutes after my warning.

Fry them!

“Nooo, wait we’re one of you guys!” One of the girls said in a panicked manner.

That is exactly what an enemy would say! Yuna turn them into ash!

“Wait! Don't you recognize me Agnis? It's me! Giana!”

Who?

“Ugh, why can't you ever remember my name?!”

Ha! Nice try invader! I will not fall for your petty tricks.

I went into battle stance and was about to rush in with my potato peeler when Yuna grabbed me off the floor mid-dash.

“Hey, Agnis aren't those Giana, Noelle, and Yvonne?”

Do you know these villains Yuna?

“No, silly brother, these girls are the daughters of our high ministers, you've met them a couple of times.”

Hey, who are these chicks?

I feel like I've seen them somewhere before.

“What's wrong with these guys? Why can't any of you seem to remember us?” A girl with brown hair and 4 wolf tails shouted while stomping her foot on the ground, sending small tremors through the ground. “Especially you Raishin after you broke my bracelet not too long ago!”

Did such a thing happen?

I don't know, it sounds like something you’d do though.

Haha, you're right, remember when I accidentally kicked the ball of that kelpie chick over into the house of Grumpy Garo?

Your ability to get into trouble of yours is truly remarkable. I don't think there is anyone who could successfully pretend to be you.

Hmm weren't those chicks at Yuna’s birthday last month?

You sure? I would remember meeting hot chicks like them. Raishin said as he was inspecting the newcomers.

I don't think you would remember anything that happened more than an hour ago.

Meh, stop roasting me! That's the job of Yu…

Yuna throws a mean glare at Raishin and he starts visibly sweating.

“Can you guys stop ignoring us?” The girl claiming to be Giana said frustrated.

“Hey Agnis, you want me to put some healing flames on you? I don't remember you having this bad of a memory.” Yuna said worriedly.

Nah, I'm fine, if I forgot, it probably wasn't important.

An icicle got sent flying my way from a pissed-off Giana. I could easily dodge it, but I could also see that it had like 0 firepower, so I tanked it like a boss.

“What...!” A surprised Giana took half a step back.

Wait! I remember! Weren't these, those chicks that hit like wet noodles?

If I remember correctly Giana has a healer-oriented skillset, Noelle has a tank-oriented skillset, and Yvonne... Ehh hmm, what did you do again Yvonne?

Yvonne shied away behind Noelle.

“Stop bullying Yvonne!” Noelle said while stomping on the ground and causing more tremors.

“Ok, playtime is over”, Bob said while drawing our attention. We need to get these kids to the shelter ASAP.

Yes, we have no time to deal with you chicks, we have to get to safety.

“Wha… but we have the same destination! We will accompany you.”

Hmm, I don't know, we can't let possible spies into our shelter.

Yuna flicked my head and said that they were allies. I chose to believe Yuna and shut up. This Giana chick however kept glaring at me for no reason. I kept looking around for enemies which tired me out a lot.

Yuna told me to relax, but I couldn't. The battle in the capital was still going on. From what I could tell this eight-tailed monkey and his team were putting up one hell of a fight. But I could also see that something was off with the energy he was giving off. It was like he was stalling for something and it gave me a really bad vibe. During our walk toward the shelter, a lot of enemies got spotted by me. Our older siblings dispatched them quite easily, but the further away we got from the capital the more frequent the enemy encounters seemed to be which was really concerning.

“Eek, his eyes are bleeding!” Noelle shouted.

“Take a rest, Agnis, we’ll be fine”, Yuna assured me. Yuna picked me up and let me piggyback on her. Exhausted, I almost passed out. I didn't because Yuna covered me with some light golden flames. Because of her temperament, she wasn't as adept at using this as mom or Xelia, but it did help. We were closing in on the mountain so the shelter should be nearby.

Maaaan, whose bright idea was to build this shelter so far!

“Well, most shelters are in the capital but since the whole capital is unsafe, we have to rely on those which are outside the capital” Jusay explained.

“Yeah, it's kind of unprecedented that anyone has been able to get near the capital, not even to talk about getting into it and launching a successful attack” Bob added.

“This all seems like a well-planned attack, which isn't surprising, Enott Hing was an important member of our society a couple of centuries ago, he knows the city quite well so only he could have pulled something like this off,” Yuna said while looking around. I was about to fall asleep when I felt a weird energy tugging at me. I tried not to use my eyes so I tried identifying the energy, but it was unlike anything I'd felt before, or so I thought as I remembered the strange energy, I saw for the first time yesterday and saw quite a lot recently. I tried to connect with it, which was a mistake. I forgot the loud voice talking in an unknown language. My head felt like it was about to split and I fell off Yuna.

The moment I hit the ground it was like for a short moment I got a map of the close by area in my head, indicating everything that was touching the ground. it looked like magic signatures but that wasn't quite right, it was signatures of this strange energy. Unlike magical signatures which I needed to get used to and remember, these instinctively told me which were allied and which weren’t.

“Agnis! Are you ok!” Yuna panicked.

Did he get hit in his head?! Enemies? Where are they? Raishin said as he looked around trying to find enemies.

Something like this happened in the underwater cave.

“Underwater cave?” Yuna asked. I tried to collect myself. I shut down the connection to that energy, which somehow drained my energy even more.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

We… need to run. I said weakly.

“Are you alright?” The Gina? Rian? Reina? Whatever her name was, chick asked.

We’re surrounded.

“What?! Impossible!” Jusay said when a group of individuals appeared from thin air.

Whoa, where did they come from? This isn't teleportation!

It looks like our shadow portal but uhm without the shadow, and I guess also without the portal.

So, it doesn't look like it at all?

Gimme a break, I had a rough day!

Gregory seemed as if he had seen enough water for the day.

“Ugh, a dimensional blink” Yuna said as she covered me in more light golden flames and protective flames.

“What? Isn't that something only nine-tails and eight-tails can use?” The Rina? Lina? Linda? chick asked. The chick with the spirit fox ears and 5 tails out. Why is she so forgettable?

“These guys don't seem to be part of any of them.” The stomping girl said. As usual, the shy girl was being shy. What an unbalanced team! As I was thinking why this energy could tell me where enemies would appear while with normal magical means, this was not easy, to nearly impossible, and a battle broke out. I sloppily counted around 22 enemies, I might've been off by give or take 5. I’m exhausted ok! Cut me some slack!

“Ted! Take the brats and run to the shelter! Jusay, Bob, and I will keep them busy!” Yuna stroked my head. “You might want to hide your silver hair from here on out”, she said as she applied an illusion to my hair. Yuna blazed up and went steam phoenix mode. She is proficient in combining water with fire and this kind of contributed to the nickname people gave her: Boiling Point Yuna. I don't know exactly how her steam phoenix mode works but I know it's helluva strong. Steam explosions are nothing to scoff at. I also totally didn't try blocking Yuna's fire attacks once with ice resulting in steam explosions and sending myself flying with minor burns. I would never do something that foolish! Seriously people thinking that ice or water is a good matchup against fire have never fought against anyone competent at using fire. It's like playing Bomberman but since Yuna is more or less immune to all that stuff it's a huge disadvantage attempting to use water against her since you will most likely just blow yourself up.

Ice element works but I’m too noob to put up any form of meaningful resistance against my sis if she’s serious. Anyways the explosions I see go off confirm what I just mentioned. The enemies are sending huge volumes of water at sis and she's just turning it into bombs and blasting them off. Since I'm quite exhausted, I'm getting dragged by Raishin. Of course, in the traditional Torai manner, by grabbing me by the back of my shirt. This Pinda chick keeps asking me if I’m alright. I ignore her and try to estimate how far it is to the shelter but since my head still hurts, I can’t really concentrate.

Ted, how far to the shelter?

Hmm, I don't really know but I think we’re close.

How do you know that?

Ha! Coz, I told him!

Do I even want to know? Fine, I'll bite, how do YOU know?

There was a sign pointing this way, which had shelter written on it.

Yeah, that's a trap.

Definitely a trap.

Yup, a trap.

“Then where are we supposed to go?” The stomping chick asked.

Beats me, but I suggest we get ready to defend ourselves. I said as I released myself from Raishin’s dragging and mustered some energy.

Hey, Pinda, you’re a healer, right?

“And who is that supposed to be?” Pinda replied.

Seeing as you responded, means I'm correct, stomping chick, Ted, and Raishin will be in the front, shy chick, and me in the middle, and you and Greg in the back. I suggest we try to limit our tailed powers as much as possible, all the circumstances since we left the capital suggest that we might've been a target. If we pretend to be regular kids, we might get lucky I said as I activated my Elgards eyes.

“Wait wha…”

Here they come…!

The first thing I noticed after I activated my eyes was that my hair was black, but not fully. The ends of my hair were still silver. Yuna wasn't adept at illusions at all, so this was the best she probably could do. I appreciated Yuna’s effort as I heard steam explosions in the distance. Since I don't know what these chicks can do, I will assume they are dead weight, yet slightly inconvenient for our enemies, which appeared from thin air. Weirdly enough these looked way tougher than the earlier group, there were only 6 of them this time though. I applied double-layered illusions on us all to appear as low-profile snot-nosed brats.

“Hey, Jeff I thought Boss said that we would find the brats of the calamity trio here, not only are there six brats here they look... Uhm, bland.”

“Hey! Who are you calling bland? I've been told I'll be one of the most beautiful women in the capital, next to Hisui when I grow up!”

Zip it Pinda, I put an illusion on us to look like regular kids. I whispered to her.

“Who are you calling Pinda? And why would you cover up my beauty?”

You’re not helping…

Wow, what an ego. Who is Hisui by the way?

I got shivers down my spine at hearing that name.

That is not important right now, hey stomping chick can you get Pinda to corporate?

'Crack!' Went the ground as she stomped yet again.

Why are they so moody? Hey Agnis, maybe you should make some ice cream for them, and don't forget to make it for us too!

Wait this isn't the time for this we need to get into formation.

“I will if this guy would put in the effort to remember my name!” Pinda shouted as she rushed at me and started grappling me.

What the…

I got headlocked by Pinda, Raishin started to argue with the stomping chick.

'Crack, Crack' went the ground as fissures start to form.

“Hey, Jeff look at this we’re getting completely ignored by these brats.” An opponent said as he pointed at us.

“Yeh, quite vexing,” says the bulky guy with a green afro and pink star-shaped sunglasses, which got referred to as Jeff.

“I think we just capture these random brats and sell them to the slave market for some pocket money. Our goal is to find the empress’ and her associates’ brats. The description of these brats is quite colorful, how come we didn't find them yet Hubert?” Jeff shouted at a tall, thin guy with long black hair covering half his face.

“Uhh... um... I…I... I’m sure they...they should pass here soo... Soon.” Hubert said, shivering like crazy.

“I knew it! your idea to put down a sign was stupid!” a fourth person said to the first guy. “Your ideas always stink Unog.”

“Wow, and trying to kidnap them out of the palace under the watchful eyes of their mothers was a better idea?!” Unog returned to the fourth guy.

“Aight silence y'all!” Jeff bellowed. “We’re doing the same thing as those brats now.” As he looked at the location we were when they appeared we were not there anymore because we legged it. "Damn, these brats!"

----------------------------------------

“So where are we running to?” Pinda asked me.

I see a cave structure up ahead; I don't know if it's the shelter but it should give us more cover.

Pinda kept asking me questions but I tuned out because my eyes and head started to hurt and exhaustion was catching up on me again, not only that Raishin, Gregory, and Ted started to become tired too.

“You guys have no stamina!” Stomping chick said mockingly, as we started to lag behind.

Hey, we had a rough day!

Don't bother Raishin.

But!

I nodded my head at Raishin. He reluctantly gave in. I got some paper out of my dimensional pocket and drew a map of the cave system on it. A notable thing I noticed about this cave system was that it exited at the edge of this dimension. It would end up in the regular dimension where all the humans and more common races lived. I looked at the map I drew and acknowledged that it was a truly shitty drawn map. Anyone who could navigate with this is probably a genius. I grabbed another piece of paper and imprinted the image I had of the cave system in my head onto the paper with magic. I looked at it and was satisfied. I pressed the map into Pinda’s hands.

We will only slow you down, we're quite exhausted. Here is a map of the cave system, go on ahead, we will throw our pursuers off and catch up later.

“But…”

Just go!

Pinda and her group looked at us reluctantly and then ran off.

Very cool mister, so what is the plan?

Good question, my head and eyes hurt so I’ll delegate this responsibility to Greg, good luck Greg!

What the... Fine, let's see.

How about we just kick their asses!

Hmmm. Hmmm Hmmm.

We didn't have much time to think of anything since the 6 goons showed up.

“Look, Jeff, they split up. I bet they got into an argument and separated from the chicks.”

“Dammit!” The 4th guy said, “Those chicks would probably fetch more on the slave trade.” The 2 goons that didn't say anything yet and which I'll call guy 5 and guy 6 rushed at us. Raishin was about to imbue himself with lightning to counter the rush but I stopped him.

Wha?

Try not to give your identity away.

Ted intercepted the two guys by low-kicking guy 5 and body-blocking guy 6.

"This kid is strong." I remembered words from Xelia about circulating magic in a certain way to be still able to fight when exhausted. I tried this but using magic again made me nauseous. I was confused, I used magic when peeling potatoes and I was fine. Also using ice didn't give me any issues. I subtly tried to use lightning but the nausea persisted and I got a nasty feeling like bugs were crawling through my veins. At last, I tried my ice element but that didn't seem to not make me nauseous. I really should work out the reason for this but now is not the time. Maybe because the ice element belongs to lost magic. Anyways ice element has a free water affinity attached so this should be fine.

I started blowing bubbles that would intercept collision-triggered magic and I made the floor slippery and started chucking icicles. The goons surprised by the sudden disruption started slipping all around and their magic hit my bubbles, meaning it didn't hit any of my allies. Ted started going all kung fu war bear on goons 5 and 6 while Gregory started casting a curse but I saw him emptying his stomach shortly after. Seems he has the same problem as me. Meanwhile, Raishin was just looking around in nearby shrubbery.

Ugh, I thought this nausea caused by magic usage was temporary.

Yoo, I could use some help here, Raishin what are you doing?!

Found it! Raishin exclaimed while triumphantly holding up a thick stick about 1.20 meters long

A stick?

A bo staff!

Ahhh.

Raishin smacked Hubert who was casting suspicious-looking magic. The first guy I forgot the name of tried hitting Raishin from behind but I made him slip. Greg, you, ok? Yeah, without magic, I don't have any options like you guys though.

That's fine, I'll just keep making these goons slip. Why don't you grab a stick too and I don't know, attach a rock to it and bonk them on their heads?

Sure, can do. As Gregory went to craft his equipment, I continued intercepting magic with bubbles, keep slipping goons, and send blasts of water and icicles toward them.

“Jeff, we can't land any hits on these brats!”

“Focus on that water user then!” Jeff shouted as he got chain slipped and his pants frozen by me. As he finally got up, he got bonked on his head by Gregory and his shitty improvised hammer. “Hah, wrong target kid! My beautiful afro makes me immune to head bonks!” I could see the panic on Gregory's face as his bonk was unsuccessful and Jeff was preparing a fireball.

Greg! Get out of there! You'll get toasted!

can't! My hammer is stuck in his afro!

Just let it go!

No, I spent so much effort crafting this!

Really, just let go!

Shit, it's too late he won't make it in time now.

Of us four, Gregory was the slowest. As 2 goons rushed at me to stop me from disrupting them, I decided to show off my speed. I normally play an offensive support role but my strength lies in my speed. I made ice tracks and ramps, skated past the goons rushing at me, freezing their feet to the floor, slid towards Jeff, and kicked his arm, which was casting the fireball, up in the air, making him shoot the fireball to the sky. I picked up Gregory and placed him at the back of the battle. This all happened within about 5 seconds, and all the goons were shocked at the speed I demonstrated.

“Yoo Jeff, how are we supposed to take that guy out if he moves like that?”

“Shut up! I don't know!” Jeff shouted as he was fixing his dented afro.

Whoa, I forgot you could do that.

Yeah, although making sure no enemy can move so he doesn't need to is also a valid strategy.

But this is way cooler! Raishin said while knocking out Hubert and goon number 4 with his stick ehh I mean bo staff.

How does it feel to pass out from my stick?!

Could you please not say it like that?

These 2 goons are quite in a stick-y situation!

I speed-blitzed goon number 1 and froze him solid leaving only Jeff and goon numbers 5 and 6.

“What is up with y'all brats?” Jeff shouted as he finally fixed his afro and was defending himself from Gregory who decided to go for Jeff's kneecaps. Ted knocked goon 5 over towards Gregory who bonked him on the head mid-flight and knocked him out.

Give up Jeff, you're outnumbered!

I always wanted to say that.

“Hah! Do you think so?! Reinforcements are coming, it won't be a 4v1 for long!”

“Uhm I'm still here,” said goon 6 as he was trying his best to not get locked into a combo by Ted.

“I will always remember the great times we had,” Jeff said as a single tear appeared from behind his sunglasses.

“Hey, don't kill us off yet!” Goon 6 said. As he lost focus, he got locked in one of Ted's martial arts combos and knocked out.

So, these reinforcements of yours. Gregory huffed as he swung his shitty hammer at Jeff's kneecaps.

How would they even know where you are?

"Haha, I'm glad you asked! I sent a signal of course!" Gregory, Raishin, and Ted looked at me and I shook my head indicating that I didn't see any magic traces of anything like covert signalling.

So, you were secretly contacting allies while pretending to fix your afro?

"Whud? No, I'm just a normal guy, that fireball that got shot in the air should be sufficient.” Gregory, Raishin, and Ted glared at me and I broke out in cold sweat.

Come on guys I made the best out of the situation, or else we'd have a fried cat!

Raishin and Ted glared at Gregory.

Ahaha yeah this might be on me.

He nervously laughed.

“You guys look bland but are quite strong, will make some good bucks at the slave trade. So be good lads and stay here till my reinforcements arrive.” Jeff said as he sat down cross-legged, fetched an afro pick, and started combing his afro. At these words, we started to become restless. The three chicks flashed through my mind. They were annoying, yes but they were also quite attractive and would probably have a worse time as slaves than we would. I normally am not very pessimistic but our mothers are still locked in battle, and so are our older siblings, since it seems their enemies’ got reinforcements. And I saw 3 individuals approaching which seemed to be quite strong. I telepathically relayed this to my buddies.

I quickly layered a third layer of illusions on us and this is where the time started ticking. Normally I could keep this up for 5 minutes but since I'm quite exhausted I would be surprised if I could manage 3 minutes. I notified my allies about the strict time limit and suggested we use it to try and get back to our siblings. As my buddies headed toward the direction our siblings were fighting, I ran in the opposite direction.

Agnis, what are you doing?

I'm going to seal the cave entrance so the three chicks won't get caught.

But what about you?!

I'll use a long-range teleport to get back to you guys.

Wait, you haven't succeeded in any long-range teleports at all ever, right?!

It is fine, I will manage this time.

I wasn't sure if I could pull it off. It is possible to teleport multiple people with it but since I can't even teleport myself that would've been a tall order. I decided that I would put more effort into this in the future. 1 minute passed and I dashed towards the cave entrance, fatigue building up and the strain of layering 3 illusions and using my Elgards eyes continuously eating at my body. I arrived at the cave entrance and used my ice element to block it completely. Ice element can absorb any heat, energy, and magic-based phenomena and turn them into magic which flows into the ice element user. This makes ice element quite anti-magic since it drains magic in its vicinity and it also never melts. Only other types of lost magic, special tools, or the caster himself can affect ice element after it has frozen something. With this, the chicks can't be caught, but also can't leave via this entrance. My mother or I could remove it when it is safe so it should be no issue.

I have about 1 minute left to get back to my siblings but honestly, I'm extremely exhausted. The magic that flowed into me from the cave blockade was useful but attempting long-range teleport in my current state might actually kill me. I started dashing back. For others, this might have been a still decent speed but for me it was slow. Too slow for my current situation. I was halfway through the distance I needed when the bleeding in my eyes became so much that I could barely see. On top of that, my internal clock said I had 23 seconds left till the 3-minute mark. I hoped I would get hit by the backlash at the 5-minute mark so I could cancel it prematurely to not get screwed over. But the last thing I saw was that 2 of the 3 strong individuals were close to my buddies, and the other one seemed to have gone to the cave. If I dropped the illusion now, I would screw over my buddies. Now you would think, just drop the third layer and you will be fine!

Well, first things, 3 layers are standard for deceiving opponents that are not specialized in illusions, 2 can be sufficient but it's a huge gamble, 5 or 6 layers are used against illusion users, and 10 or more against master illusionists. I am a noob at everything so 3 is the best I can do for a short period. Now about just removing 1 layer… It is hard. Not because I am a noob but because it is hard. Illusions are like sticky paper. It is easy to add layers. But if you want to remove layers it is hard to peel just 1. You are more likely to peel off 2 or all. The more proficient the illusionist, the higher chance he has of succeeding but the success rate never seems to exceed 85% even for the most skilled illusionist. 3 seconds left to the 3-minute mark. I am still nowhere near my buds or siblings. I might not make it. 11 seconds past the 3-minute mark I got hit by a tsunami of exhaustion and the backlash. A metal taste filled my mouth and blood flowed out of my nose. And that is where I collapsed. I don't think I will make it. Thank you for reading but this is where my story ends.