It all made sense.

Tight formations. Practiced, precise movements. Coordinated spells. Similar features.

The perpetrators were no ordinary gang or cult. The City of Ygg was under attack by a foreign power. Only the rank difference and guerilla tactics helped Nox and Joey get the upper hand and maintain the advantage. It was likely their opponents were war mages and not delvers. As a result, they were not used to solitary, chaotic opponents who specialized in disrupting and taking down large groups.

Unfortunately, the pair's advantage seemed to be at an end. The middle-aged man before Nox had the aura of a low-expert aether warrior. He had only sensed something of the kind from his mother's royal guard. It was overwhelming and set his already racing heart into overdrive. The confrontation was going to take more work than he had initially hoped.

The first challenge lying before Nox was figuring out how the aether warrior’s aura worked. Nox was confident his opponent hadn’t touched him directly. Given the runes covering the sword, Nox was sure that if it made contact, he’d be dead. Even though Fold Step took giant chunks out of his mana pools, Nox used a couple more to create more distance between himself and his opponent.

The remaining enemy forces gathered around Joey. Even though he held the rank of adept, he was stronger than his opponents on paper. They significantly outnumbered him. The once-thief only had a year and a half of magic training under his belt. Most of his strength came from Nar’s guidance and quick thinking. Meanwhile, if the criminals were Imperium soldiers, as Nox assumed, they had endured formal training for most of their lives. The combined strength of journeymen and apprentices could potentially crush an inexperienced adept. War mages and aether warriors specialized in fighting more of their kind, after all.

When Nox fired more projectiles at his opponent, none of them made it to his target. A translucent tentacle moved at blinding speeds, whipping them aside. His heart dropped. The low-expert aether warrior had an aura designed to repel or exert force, and he had the ability to shape and control it. Only the most skilled individuals in the discipline exhibited such skills. The Imperian man was well out of his league.

It was time to call for help.

An empathic signal told Otis what he needed to do. The gremlin had laid low during the fight thus far. Now, he scurried to the trap door and hung through it before releasing the spell stored in his crystal growths. Before setting off, he had designed a warded essence glass talisman to protect Joey and himself from its effects. The fist-sized disk in Nox’s pocket shattered, and the only side effect he suffered was an uncomfortable sensation in his feet.

The blast Otis released didn’t just stun everyone. A loud hum sound spread from him, reverberating through the walls and everyone’s bones. The gremlin didn’t stick around. He disappeared through the trap door. Nox had given him instructions to flee to the roof and set off another spell. The inscribed essence glass contained a simple light spell. It wasn’t blinding and caused no harm. Instead, it was a signal flare that no guard, student police, mage, or aether warrior, and more importantly, party member, would miss.

Unlike with the arrows, the sonic blast had the intended effect on the expert aether warrior. He had fallen to his knees and clutched his ears. Unfortunately, the man had enough sense and experience to wrap the aura tentacle around himself. Nox’s follow-up projectiles failed to get through. Nox had no choice but to switch Ratra’s Bow to its shortbow form. Unlike the longbow, it didn't use all of the weapon's resources, and he kept the gauntlet active. He loaded both of its slots with essence glass marbles for emergencies before nocking an arrow.

The recent Fold Steps had drained Nox's spatial planet and half of the mana in the connected star. Nox hadn't used as much mana since his adventure in Terrastalia. Now wasn't the time to hold back, so he pushed himself harder, not worrying too much about maintaining reserves. Haste already increased his speed. Now, he wrapped himself in a field of the same cantrip but used mana from his newer star. Time slowed all around Nox. The recovered and advancing aether warrior only moved at half speed. Nox’s arrows had slain two dungeon lords. He was confident he could take on a low-expert aether warrior or at least delay him long enough for help to arrive. He had no time to worry about Joey or anything else. Nox only focused on his immediate surroundings and fighting his opponent.

The short bow's arrows failed to protect the aether warrior's malleable defensive aura. Nox didn't worry too much. The projectiles bounced off the transparent, almost gelatinous tentacle before stabilizing. Jaw-clenched focus dominated his opponent’s face, suggesting his attacks were doing their job: slowing the man.

Meanwhile, Nox put his Essence-Shaping planet, micro-Shaping, and live-Spell-Weaving skills to their limits. A handful of carefully selected marbles melted, dripping onto the floor before circling Nox, forming intricate circles, shapes, and patterns. He had only used active ward-making in training and never in live combat. Nox's heart raced, temples throbbed, and sweat dripped down his back and neck as he hoped his ploy would work.

A pair of bubbles grew and rippled around the aether warrior's feet. They exploded, and he shot forward. The aura tentacle broke into three. The thickest of the new appendages coiled in front of the man, protecting him from Nox's projectiles. Meanwhile, the latter two pushed off the ground on either side of him, helping him maintain his speed despite the barrage of projectiles pushing against him. He either didn't see the forming luminous script under Nox or didn't care about it.

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The chaos had helped Nox move to the other side of the building, giving the aether warrior a lot of ground to cover, but it seemed like a trifle for him. Occasional ice puddles caused by destabilized arrows made him slip, but the tentacles righted him a moment later. The aether warrior only slowed when he encountered the molten rock puddles Nox's fiery and thermal arrows had created. He went around them and passed his colleagues, focusing on the now-cornered Joey.

Nox only had a dozen feet left behind him before reaching the wall. Yet, when the aether warrior reached him, he retreated backward instead of fleeing sideways. His opponent foolishly stepped on the ward and it exploded. The man wore steel shoulder guards, gauntlets and boots. They were strategically stained and muddy so as not to stand out in the outer rings. Nox was sure a shabby cape would've sufficiently concealed them. For now, he intended to use them as lightning rods.

Crystalized lightning essence formed the defensive ward. The script instructed it to activate as a shock trap when the next person stepped on it, and the magic circle did just that. The blinding blue-white energy danced between the floor and the metal armor.

Nox had several shards of essence glass, which he avoided using. It wasn’t because they were destructive but because of how difficult they were to procure. Some only came from dungeons, while he got others from mages who weren’t always willing to work with him or weren’t available for sparring. Slashing Essence was one such piece of magic. It didn’t have a set name, and little research existed on it. Most wrote off the rare spells that used it as force magic, but Nox believed differently. Efficient Shapers and Manipulators would have no trouble creating blades out of it, but it wasn’t quite the same.

Slicing, cutting, slashing, or whatever name the caster or researchers used specialized in doing just what the name said. Unlike modified force spells, it had significantly less difficulty cutting through harder materials and defensive magic. Even Crystalize Essence struggled with it, and only the spell caster's script, casting ability, and mana limited its capability. Nox only had enough of it for five arrows and had three ready.

Ratra’s Bow vibrated when he drew the mana string to its maximum length. The essence and the spell were better suited for the longbow. Nox struggled to keep it stable, and tiny lacerations opened on his gauntlet-less hand and forearm. Before Nox could release the arrow, the aether warrior’s aura tentacles struck the ground. The force shattered the ward and knocked the man sideways, away from the lingering Lightning Cage. Nox failed to remain steady, and the projectile flew off target. Instead of removing his opponent's head as he had hoped, it only removed the sword-wielding arm.

Before Nox could celebrate or take advantage of the opening, the man lunged. One tentacle wrapped around the stump of his lost arm while the other two grabbed Nox just as he prepared another Fold Step. Rage, pain, and hate filled the aether warrior’s eyes, and the appendages slithered around Nox, tightening their hold. He struggled to suck fresh air into his lungs, and the tentacle over his mouth kept their sparse contents from escaping.

The aether warrior grunted, rising to his feet, and limped to Nox. Angry red lesions resembling feathers and ferns marked the man’s flesh and skin. The right side of his face appeared so burned Nox couldn’t tell whether the eye had survived. He didn’t get long to worry about his opponent or study the man. He swung a clenched fist into Nox’s torso.

Even though the man swayed on his feet and appeared on the verge of collapse, something cracked inside Nox’s chest, and the trapped air threatened to explode his lungs. The shortbow dematerialized as Nox lost his grip, but the gauntlet remained. The man claimed essence glass pouches and quiver before releasing his grip.

Nox painfully landed on his injured chest. He coughed violently as his lung’s contents finally escaped. Meanwhile, the tentacles retrieved the fallen sword, and the aether warrior took it in his right hand. The lightning had scorched his sleeve and gauntlet black, and his grip seemed weak, but it was enough to lift the sword high above his head.

Nox struggled to focus. His screaming lungs, blurry vision, and horrid cranial pain made spell-casting impossible. Fortunately, he still had the essence marbles loaded in the gauntlet. It took all the willpower he could muster to raise his arm. Just as the aether warrior swung downward, fire exploded from the gauntlet. The force knocked Nox’s arm backward, and new pain lanced through his shoulder. He had experienced enough dislocations while sparring with Lillin to identify a dislocation. It did enough to buy Nox a few more moments of life, knocking the man away and onto his back.

Concentrating continued to prove impossible. Nox attempted to manifest another bow but failed to get the combinations correct. The mana gauntlet sputtered out of existence too. The punch and crushing tentacles had shattered most of the vials Nox’s coat contained. However, the crystalized recovery pills had survived. He destabilized the little sphere’s outer casing before popping them into his mouth.

Warmth pulsed through Nox. His stars had an easier time absorbing the energy swirling around his mana system. Ambient mana also flowed into him more readily. The little cuts on his limbs stitched themself closed, and all pain dulled. Unfortunately, the recovery brew risked doing more damage to any broken ribs and didn’t help with his dislocated shoulder at all.

Overconfidence had cost Nox. When he found himself facing a significantly stronger foe, grabbing Joey and fleeing would’ve been the smarter move. However, fleeing while leaving Leanna and all the prisoners behind didn’t feel like an option. Nox worried the perpetrators would move if not kill everyone to cover their crime.

The room felt especially dark when the aether warrior rose to his feet. Nox still struggled to rise from his knees. He kept his gauntlet pointed at his opponent, ready to fire the second essence glass marble. He only needed the aether warrior to come closer.

Much to Nox’s relief, the man didn’t get the opportunity to take another step. The ceiling exploded, and Caitlin dropped through the enlarged opening. Shadows pooled around the distracted aether warrior, and Liesel Wyrd rose out of them. She swung her arms inwards, and black-as-night sickles bit into his flesh. The follow-through decapitated the man.

Nox stayed down and leaned against the wall. Help had arrived. Everything was going to be okay.