I watched with dawning horror as the monster with my face contorted and bent. Tentacles of writhing flesh crawled down Poppy’s arm, spearing out from the thing’s chest. It even mimicked my robes, now, and they contorted and bend around the tentacles.

Poppy shouted, kicking the monster over and over.

[Warning: Skill: Xylem(incomplete) has been copied.]

[Anti-Light World Gate Formation detected. Xylem detected. Assisting teleport. Adjusting location target. Transfer initiated.]

[Transfer incomplete. 40% of mass lost.]

I felt a rush of air as the dome behind me popped out of existence. The copy of me exploded in a shower of gore and blood, raining over Poppy dozens of holes suddenly appearing throughout it. At least half of its body was just gone.

The body, missing half of its face and most of its chest, collapsed to the ground in a quivering, bloody pile of steaming flesh.

There was a moment of silence. Dale’s body was just… gone.

I used [Identify] on the corpse. It didn’t have any organs. There was one eyeball floating on top of it like it was liquid.

[Echo Wraith Flesh]

[This flesh was carved from the body of an Echo Wraith, a high level mimic capable of mirroring the skills of humans.]

“It’s not a corpse.” Eros said. Three arrows flew passed me, stabbing into the meat on the ground.

Poppy staggered back, turning around and panting. Gore and viscera sloughed off her hands. Her face was red with blood. It slicked her hair and armor. She brushed free chunks of gore from her hair before Anna seized her arms.

She pored over Poppy.

“You’re not hurt?”

“Did you expect me to be?” Poppy asked. She sounded half offended.

Anna sighed in relief.

“And how are you?” Poppy asked.

“That asshole ate a third of my mana.” Annabelle said. Her and Poppy didn’t pull away, the contact extended for a moment. Then Anna stepped back, wiping her hands together.

Eros stared at me like an eagle staring down prey.

“His class is right.” Eros said.

Poppy and Anna turned and stared as well. Littlebird landed on my shoulder and flapped his wings at the party, as if defensive of me.

There was a tense moment as the party and I exchanged glances. The clash continued in the sky, occasional booms rocking the air.

“You disappeared without a trace two years ago.” Poppy eventually said.

“I didn’t think two years would pass between our meeting.” I replied. “Thank you for your aid within the dungeon and guiding me to the Trailblazers. It was appreciated.” I said.

“I… wanted to say thank you, too. For showing us to that dungeon. It helped. A lot.” Poppy smiled.

“You guys seem to be doing great.” I said, looking the party over before wincing at Eros’ eye. “And… House Vascara — has your family recognized you yet?” I asked. I was asking because I knew it was part of why she came to the Savage Expanse — to cut her teeth in the wild and earn her place among the family. She had said as much when we last met.

In a way, we were very similar.

But I was also asking because I wanted to know how much she knew of House Vascara’s history.

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Poppy shook her head. She had a sad smile.

“My older siblings are already approaching the Titan tier now. Being in the first tier has been a great boon for me, but even with the opportunities in the Savage Expanse, it will take years to catch up.”

“Your siblings are as strong as Titans?” I sputtered. That meant that Poppy’s entire family approached the level of the Feng Patriarch!

“What? It’s not that impressive. So are mine.” Eros said dismissively.

“Not just your Geniarchs — Matriarchs, Patriarchs?” I asked. “Your siblings? And they’re — you’re the same age?” The Feng Patriarch was over two hundred.

Poppy snorted.

“Grandmother could bring down a country on her own. But she’s kind of…”

“A bitch.” Anna interjected.

“Did anyone get a level from the two we just killed?” Eros asked. He looked nervous.

“No.” Poppy said. “You think they’re still alive? Also, water.”

Eros threw her a canteen. She dumped it over her head. More water than feasibly should have fit inside of it poured out, pouring blood and sludge off her short cropped hair.

“Ugh.” Poppy said, turning the canteen over and throwing it back. She blinked water out of her eyes. “It comes out ice cold every time.”

Eros took the cantine up and drank from it.

“At least the monster is.” Eros said. “[Fate Sealed] is still tracking it, but its so far away that I can’t perceive it at all.”

The party turned and looked at me as if I would have an answer for them. It took me a moment to realize why.

“I got an alert that it copied one of my skills.” I said.

“A teleportation skill.” Poppy said. “And a very dangerous one, judging by the result.”

“Very dangerous.” I agreed. Then I put my blade into its sheathe.

“So, Sai.” Eros said. “Where the hell have you been? Back on your own world?”

“Not polite.” Poppy said. She had turned and was looking up at the sky, calculating. “We’ll have all the time in the world to catch up once we get out of here alive. Assuming you want to catch up, Sai.”

“Let’s get out of this dungeon and go for a drink.” I said.

We would only really have about 62 hours, not all the time in the world. After that, I would be ripped back to Sandgrave.

“You mean that black dome wasn’t the end of the chamber?” Poppy asked, She looked to the teleportation chamber. I threw a look backward.

The black orb was gone. The ground was polished to a shining clean, everything having been sucked through the portal when it finished. The qi in the entire chamber was diminished for it.

“I don’t believe so.” I said. That portal would not take us anywhere we wanted to go. Especially if Poppy belonged to a blood dynasty that were enemies of the Anti-Light Order. I stared at her with a calculating look.

“We’re going to have to kill it, aren’t we?” Anna asked.

“We’re going to have to kill it.” Poppy agreed with a sigh. “And before it progresses into the second tier.

Eros crossed the distance to the remains and ripping his arrows out of the piles of steaming flesh.

Anna slowly faded from my senses.

“Sai, you should stay back this fight. A monster at the first tier is on another level, qualitatively, than one below it.”

“I have some support skills I may be able to offer.” I said. I pulled open and checked the number of Spheres I had left.

It was only 9. I had used more than half of what remained to break out of the teleportation formation. The strange ammunition was only restored when I leveled, making it a rapidly depleting resource.

“We’ll need everything we have.” Eros said. He dumped his arrows into his quiver, then lined up his sight at the clash of the distant birds. He didn’t pull an arrow from his quiver. His hand rested on the string of his bow. The loose string turned black, covered in a swirling aura. “Are we ready?”

Poppy looked back at where Dale’s corpse had been.

“Not getting any fresher.” She said. She didn’t sound enthused. “What kind of utility can you give us, Sai?”

I hesitated. I didn’t want to reveal all of my abilities, but…

“I can alter an area so that everything inside moves faster or slower for ten seconds.” I said.

“Projectiles?” Eros asked. “Magical ones, too?”

I paused and thought about it.

“I haven’t tested it, but I can’t think of any reason it wouldn’t work.”

“Can you slow the bird down when it gets close to me?” Poppy asked.

“Yes, but if you step into the [Zone] you’ll be slowed as well.”

“Got it. Use the speed zones around the bird. I’ll try to draw its attention with [Face the End.] Eros will draw it down from the air with arrows, and Annabelle will cover defense with [Shades.] We’ll use the narrow terrain of this valley city to try to limit its disengagement. Everyone got it? Ready?”

Over my time exploring the ruins, my health had crept all the way back up to 40%. I touched at the wound on my side. The flesh was red and inflamed, but healing with inhuman speed. Opening the Skin Meridian toughened my body and aided my recover, but only slightly. The system enhanced stats must have been putting in work.

“Ready.” Eros and Anna said. Anna slipped away, disappearing ahead of us.

“Ready.” I said, nodding.

Eros fell to a knee, raising his bow and aiming.

“This’ll carve a third of my mana out of me. Only basic shots after this, Poppy.” Eros said.

She just nodded.

An arrow, at first a black that was so deep it absorbed all light, formed on Eros’ bow. I saw green simmer at the edges. Then it turned to a bruised purple-grey, a stormcloud contained in a shape of a bow. Lightning crackled on its edge.

“[Storm’s Judgement.]”

Eros released the arrow. It didn’t move toward the corrupted memory of the Titan at all. Instead, it hit the sky above it.

A dark cloud spilled outward from where it impacted the sky itself.