His hand fell to the floor and for a brief moment, Tibaut and Avis felt optimism.

("My arm is gnarly, but his is gone. Within a few minutes, the big guy's gonna pass out from blood loss.") Tibaut thought to himself.

("I've finally managed to inflict major damage. With more of the poison in his system, this should be his end.") She thought with a vengeful look on her face. She could already feel the pain in her legs fading.

As a river of crimson flowed from Cormac's arm, he flicked it up and shouted in pain. Avis was a fan of the sight and didn't decide to interrupt him while preparing his funeral ground.

Being cornered while in this armour was a new experience for him. His mind didn't how to react and the drugs in his system removed any critical thinking he was capable of. Only one thought surged in his head in these brief moments.

Survive.

As Avis watched on hoping to see his horror and maybe have him beg for mercy, he grabbed at her wire and she quickly let go. He moved his fist down and destroyed one of her feet with a slam to the floor. It wasn't that the blow was fast that she got hit, it was because she didn't think she was going to get hit in the first place, that it happened. She used all the strength in her other leg to jump away but he managed to keep up with her and she dodged his advances.

("I am this slow? No, he's managed to increase his speed even with the increased poison.") How she managed to calmly think was a mystery but she barely avoided his attacks while the grazes he landed would leave cuts across her body and tears on her uniform.

As Tibaut was positioning himself to place the flame veil, Albus came up to him to whisper something in his ears.

"What the hell are you doing, go help your maid there!" He angrily responded.

"Despite how I look, I'll be dead in a few hours without any medical help. But putting that aside."

Tibaut's face was in shock after hearing that but that wasn't what he came to deliver.

"..."

"Tsk, fine, since Jake is suggesting it, it'll probably be fine."

The atmosphere around became slightly different and after doing that Albus rushed towards Avis and took her out of danger.

Cormac in this state ran after Tibaut instead and he activated the flame veil.

All four were now trapped in it. With one still outside and out of sight for Cormac.

("This is a gamble but with how my magic works it should work... I hope.") Jake thought.

As Cormac attempted to escape the flame veil, deciding Tibaut wasn't worth it, Albus ran straight towards him with Avis still in his hands and managed to wrap a wire on his torso. He paid them no mind and attempted to exit the veil, just mere feet away from it but he fell to his feet and started clutching his leg in pain.

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Tibaut had no idea what caused this other Jake relaying a message to him to release his mana.

"Is this Jake's magic? (But how? Shouldn't his armour stop it?)"

He fell to the floor and scrambled around even turning away from the veil, with erratic movements. Based on how much he was screaming and looking around, something must've happened to his senses.

"What the hell kinda magic is this?" Albus commented.

It wasn't safe to approach him but with the combined effort of Avis and Albus pulling him around when he approached the exit, it seemed like they had this in the bag.

Just what was he experiencing?

"What the hell is going on?" Cormac shouted.

He couldn't see anything but black, one of his legs felt like it was broken and the only thing he could hear was someone's else breathing. He was no stranger to drugs and their side effects. However, this one was new. As listened closely he could hear the sound of destruction and shouting from far away.

("Is that me?") He wondered. ("But then how am I listening to myself so far away?")

Even his sense of smell was altered. He was smelling sweat instead of the blood and dust he had been exposed to for most of this fight.

As he felt himself getting unnerved by this he struggled more to release himself and the destruction in the distance became louder.

He could feel his hand and feet touch the ground but not being next to the sounds he made, shattered any invincibility he felt during the fight. He could also feel himself being moved but he wasn't sure if that was just his mind playing tricks on him.

He struggled more but the sound didn't come any closer.

From Albus and Avis's perspective, this thing was a mess. Given the damage to Avis's lower body, he had decided to substitute in their place and hold her in his arms as she wired Cormac. After she did so the Giant thrashed around on the ground like an alligator and they were flung around a few times trying to keep him in the veil but his struggling seemed to intensify as time went on.

"I thought that little bastard said this would get him to ease up!!" Albus shouted as his legs were now looking monstrous in how defined they were.

"Unfortunately master, this is better than he was earlier." Avis coldly stated as she held her wire like a lasso in her hands with her arms visibly straining to keep him in.

He destroyed some much of the floor, they weren't sure they'd have any level footing by the time this was over.

Meanwhile, it was taking Tibaut all he had to maintain the veil while occasionally avoiding the rampaging Cormac.

("Was it always this hard to maintain?") He wondered as sweat ran down his brow. It wasn't from the heat but exertion.

("Damnit, this feels a worse version of the time Vanessa had me help her out.")

He stopped moving and stood as far away as he could to keep distance between him and Cormac. It got so bad he wasn't confident he could dodge if Cormac came his way. He fell to his knees and rested his good hand on his knee.

"Damnit, go down already you bastard."

He didn't think he had the energy left to fire any of his magic if the opportunity presented himself.

As Cormac struggled with his vision, hearing or smelling, he could feel the heat slowly taking hold of his body. This caused him to panic even more and shouted like he was being murdered in a back alley.

("Fucking hell, is that really me screaming like a banshee?") He thought with his hearing placed from the action. ("You know, what fuck it. I'll just pick a direction and keep going.")

After that thought he stopped struggling and got on all fours. Albus's feet looked like they were going to explode with how much muscle was being contained in his poor skin and Avis fought the exhaustion from the heat to prepare for what was to come.

There was a straining noise being heard in the veil and three other than Cormac, had no idea what it was. Although he couldn't hear it, he had a good idea what it was. It was Cormac tensing his muscles to their absolute limits like a spring being compressed as hard as it could.

No one saw what happened next, the only thing in the veil was dust and flying debris.

Avis noticed the gloves she wore had slipped off and wondered if she would have lost her fingers if she didn't wear any with no sight of the wires anywhere.

The entire room shook like a cannonball had been fired at it and there was a hole in the veil. Outside of that hole was a different one in the wall. It looked like it was connected to somewhere else in the mine. There was no one in the passage that was broken into.

Tibaut released the veil and immediately fell onto his ass while looking at the sight.

("That bastard managed to escape.")