A massive clock has been ticking endlessly beneathe the glass floor. The smaller of its hands was presently pointing at VI, whilst the longer of the two was a minute short to VII.

It was 6:34 PM.

Lux had locked himself in the castle's vault, at the highest point of Morpheus Castle.

He was there to guard The Mind of Morpheus: a massive ball of swirling purple energy, which was actually the entirety of the Astral dimension condensed to an orb.

A God Relic.

Within them were inscribed the laws of reality, and magnitudes of magic only few humans could muster.

Gods were meant to host such artifacts inside of their bodies to sustain and preserve the powerful obects with divine essence. That being, if God Relics were to run out of divine essence, their existence will be eternally revoked along with the concepts and laws they carried.

There was however a good reason why The Mind of Morpheus was left floating where it was.

The late King Astel, having no siblings or children of his own, was the last of his long lineage, which meant there was nobody he could pass the responsibility to. No other god, that was. For there was of course Lux, his adopted son, whom by no means was a god by blood, but was Astel's last resort.

Just before the moment of his death, Astel extracted The Mind of Morpheus from his own body, coated the artifact with all that remained of his divine essence, and left the relic in Lux's keeping, to be guarded till a new god of dream was birthed.

Lux has so far succeeded in his mission. The Mind of Morpheus has remained unreached.

He has vowed to keep it that way.

But if Pyramid Cage was successfully cast that night, his promise would be sorrowfully broken.

Lux had to make sure that won't happen. He'll be spending every bit of his magic if he'd need to.

6:35 PM.

Only five more minutes till Erudon's men arrived.

Using the orb's power, Lux had summoned eight Apparitions: white spirits in the form of ladies who inhabited the Astral itself. Each of them was carrying a crystal ball, which they used to convey moments in the present.

Currently they were showing all the baronets, hiding in their positions as they waited for the assault.

6:36 PM.

The minute hand has slid once more.

As the time came closer and closer, the nerves in Lux's fingers grew much and much colder.

6:37 PM.

Time was getting faster now. It was taunting Lux by saying, "I'll inevitably come."

6:38 PM.

Lux shouldn't really have been so nervous. Apart from having faith in all his knights, he was also pretty confident he knew exactly how it was going to play it out.

He's seen it hundreds of times.

6:39 PM.

Then again, there was something he hasn't foreseen.

Lux clenched his fist.

As the minute hand slid onto VIII, a crumbling noise began to reverberate from the castle's southern walls.

The white bricks building the wall up were suddenly jittering, as if all the cement keeping them intact had just evaporated. But instead of falling over and crashing to the ground, several of the bricks just began to levitate, leaving an open breach through the barrier.

"Aye! Aye! What's up Morpheus?" Tau Slett emerged from the opening. On his face were sunglasses and a set of teeth lined eerily in a row. "Or should I say, 'bye-bye'?"

"Stop trying to be witty, Tau."

Behind him, two more persons were coming up: Jerald Hesttaur in an orange scarf and a black coat, and Navi Dimegent in a glass-like set of armor.

"Oh, it's massive!" Jerald rested his hands on his hips, studying Morpheus Castle. "Almost the size of our library!"

Navi surveyed a map in his hands. "That's gonna be a problem."

"It's a decent size," said a voice from behind. A fourth man was entering. "It'll still fit in our cage however."

The three others turned to see him.

Zeal Quire.

The man was walking lazily, his blue hood drifting along the grass. It seemed he wished to protect himself from the scrutiny of eyes, but not so much against the sharpness of swords.

"Can you even see in that thing?" Tau adjusted his shades.

"What needs to be seen?" Zeal asked.

"If you trip tonight, I'll be first to laugh."

Navi crumpled the map and tossed it over his shoulder. "So I'll be going to their armory? Do I really need to get inside and get lost in their labyrinths? Or is there a faster way?"

"My location's gonna be farther." Jerald grimaced. "But I'll just melt my way through."

Tau cracked his knuckles. "I can give you a hand."

"Giant Greatsword!"

The four of them whirled for the sound.

It came from Gian. Leaping from the sky with his three-meter long, two-feet wide sword, he was about to crush the trespassers.

Zeal stepped in front of his company, opened his hands, and formed a forcefield to shield them.

As the edge of Gian's blade met the protection, the contact created a small spark, but the spark swelled to an explosion, which sent Gian flying faster than he fell.

"Monarch Sphere!" Ara blew peach-colored dust at the sky.

The powder chased Gian and trapped him in a bubble to stop him skyrocketing.

The knight croaked, and his eyelids slid over his eyes as he lost consciousness.

"You guys couldn't try being discreet?" Dorias travelled across the yard. He dragged his sword along the grass, cutting several of its leaves as he passed.

"We knew you were waiting,"

Navi replied.

To his left, a tiny light flashed.

Navi turned to see it, but was only able to find Odess who was coming up with a slash. That attack was so sudden. Yet he reacted just in time, defending using his gauntlet. "Incredible. You won't be taking your time, will you?"

Odess squinted. "It's late. I want to sleep."

Dorias joined in, swinging his weapon at Navi's waist.

Navi unsheathed his own sword with his free hand and countered Dorias's attack. In that same moment, he pushed against Odess's blade, and was able to throw it off of him. His moves allowed him to gain freedom for a while, but as two swords brandished towards him at the same time, he hunkered down and blocked both of them using crossed arms over his head, and was quickly trapped under force all over again.

Jerald was about to give his ally an assist, but his attention got snatched by a smoky figure that blew right past him.

"Boo!" Thomas faded in.

Jerald jerked his hand to his right, creating an ignition as he heated the air, but Thomas had faded out again and avoided the fire. "A ghost knight, huh? I'm not afraid of you."

Loud laughs echoed from the battlements.

They were all by Talc, suddenly unable to restrict her own stomach from huffing out ha's.

Jerald's eyes grew.

Rotting hands have risen from the soil and began tugging on his pants and pulling his ankles.

"What in the--"

Talc wheezed, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. "It's 2477. Who still gets scared of zombies?"

Thomas reappeared to sit beside her. "Nice. You know, I actually regret volunteering. You could probably just do this all on your own."

Talc popped into laughter again.

"Aye." Tau made some gestures to cast a spell, and his fingers began producing zeroes and ones, which immediately streamed upwards into the bricks floating above. "This place got scary all too quick."

In just a moment, the rectangular chunks gathered into a lump, piling up taller than the wall that they had come from, and then transformed into a ten-meter tall brick golem that pounded the earth as it came to life.

Tau made the same gestures again.

This time, it was the air that danced. It whirled and whirled until it formed a Griffin made of clouds. As its body solidified, the creature lowered bending its knees so Tau could hop onto its back.

"What's down here is your problem. I'm leaving you with Rocky though. Ba-bye!"

"Wait!" Zeal called out. "Give me something."

Tau lifted his shades for a second. "What do you want?"

Zeal dug under his hood and pulled out a metal boomerang.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Shrugging, Tau casted his spell a third time, and the boomerang began tittering in Zeal's hand.

Zeal tossed it up, watched it do a swift twirl, and then quickly caught it back.

"I'll be staying up there!" Tau yelled as The Griffin took off to the sky.

He'll be coming above the roof.

Lux activated his speech audipath, and called, "Ling, Layla, Ara!"

"On it!" Layla flew from a V flock she was flying in. Two eagle wings have been keeping her aloft, but she swiftly transformed them to that of a Stymphalian so she can soar with metal feathers.

Ling leaped off a castle tower, but a spinning falchion caught her as she fell. She rode it like a skateboard and piloted to chase Tau on his Cloud Griffin. "On my way!"

Ara lowered Gian onto some grass. "Gian's hurt. Who do I leave him with?"

"We'll take care of him." Synth, Ronald, and Cass were running towards her.

Synth quickly kneeled right by the man, pulled his flute out, and began playing a song that was meant to heal Gian's body.

Green glows started wisping out of the knight.

"Thank you." Ara opened bright orange wings and fluttered to follow Ling and Layla.

"Guys." Lux called again.

Rocky the golem had begun plodding towards the castle. It moved slower than Alder drunk, but it was still creeping closer and closer.

"That golem is heading towards the Southeast Tower. It'll be breaking a shortcut for Navi to the armory."

Mycela unmuted. "We're right here!"

Her group of four arrived at the east, right when Rocky was merely fourteen meters away from the tower. Linus jumped in Rocky's way, and used his magic to repel the golem away from the castle, while his sister Bling used hers to magnetize Rocky and pull it towards her.

Rocky roared and attempted to resist the forces, but had been successfully held in position.

So long as the twins kept up what they were doing, the castle would be out of the monster's reach. But Bling and Linus weren't wells of infinite energy, so Clarence and Mycela started working on their part, to destroy the golem's body before their time ran out.

"Nuclear Edge!" The knight's blade swiped emitting cyan energy.

From a quiver on her back, Mycela drew a purple bow and charged it with a projectile. "Meld! Air and arrow!" She tugged the nock against the string as far back as she could, and then flicked her fingers to release. "Wind Shot!"

The arrow collected energy as it streaked through the air and landed with a blow, at the same time Clarence's blade did, on the body of the brick golem.

A cyan and white whirl blinded them for a second, then vanished only to reveal that neither of their attacks have made a single scratch.

Mycela pulled out another arrow. "Alright. Let's try again. Stronger moves."

"Let go of me!" Jerald had fallen onto the ground. His forehead shone with sweat, and his eyes protruded wanting to escape, as he desperately pulled his own feet back.

Navi realized that his friend was in trouble, although he himself was fighting a struggle under two swords about to cut him. His eye flashed as he mumbled a spell, and the hands grabbing Jerald transformed into bunnies. "Now help me." Navi grunted.

Talc's laughter abruptly halted, and Thomas perked up where he was.

Jerald had snapped out of his nightmare.

A bright red flame bursted at the faces of both Odess and Dorias, sending them two staggering backwards.

Odess's face darkened.

"Hey! No one does that to her!" An amber boulder came lurched from somewhere in the west.

Zeal sensed it coming even from behind his hood. He moved to block it like he did with Gian's sword. But instead of making a shield, he just punched the stone like it was nothing.

Zeal had no reaction as the amber shattered. Not a grunt, not a shout of pain. But the two of those were still heard, echoing from where Alder was, as he raised his hand twitching in torment.

Smirking lips displayed themselves as the only visible parts of Zeal. "My magic is called Mathematicon. With Tranpose, I have the ability to return pain to the attacker. And with Exponere, I can even elevate that pain several dozens of times."

A bamboo sprouted from the ground and grew right into Zeal's abdomen.

That was Zeb's spell. The brown wizard blenched as he felt the pain in his own stomach.

The rest of the White Knights decided to charge too, just as their comrade Gian has done.

Icarus swung a dark-red longsword. Blake swiped with a platinum claymore. Slate sliced the air with a blue rapier.

After a flash of light, all three of them ended up on their backs on charred turf.

"I literally just explained my magic." Zeal used his boomerang to cut the bamboo at the base. "I need a chair. I can literally just sit here all day and you wouldn't be able to do anything to me. I'll make one with this bamboo. But..." He faced the west, then continued his lazy walk as he headed to that direction. "I need more materials."

Suddenly, flames snaked around Dorias and Odess, trapping them two in a searing cylindrical cage, seemingly with no way out.

Dorias glanced at his power stone

Navi caught Jerald by the hand to help him get up, then planted a soft kiss on the man's lips.

Jerald chuckled.

"You saved me and I saved you. Just like we did when we first met each other."

"I..." Talc's eyes dilated in her own horror.

Thomas meant to teleport using his Phantom Magic, but realized that his ability was being blocked when he found himself still on the battlement.

Talc began to tremble. "I can't...I can't see any of Navi's fears.... I can only see...his love for Jerald."

Navi fixed Jerald's scarf. "You have a long way to go. I've given you a headstart."

Jerald patted dirt off his coat. "Watch over yourself, alright?"

"We'll take care of him." Tablets of obsidian buried and extinguished all the fire.

Odess erased soot from her nose. "Mistress Opa won't be so happy about the lawn."

Navi raised his blade. "You do the same, my love."

Jerald nodded and jogged to the entrance hall, while Navi proceeded to resume his battle.

Thomas tried his magic again, but it still refused to work. "Ugh." He leaped off the wall. "We'll run after him if we'll have to!"

Talc watched after him go.

*******

"Fan Falchion!" Ling hopped and kicked her blade spinning towards Tau.

The Cloud Griffin attempted a dodge, but the weapon still managed to gyrate close enough and wounded the rider's cheek.

Ling landed right back on her weapon. "Cool, isn't it? My falchion has dozens of functions. If you haven't realized that cutting is one of them, then you must be an absolute idiot."

"You know what else can cut?" Layla beat her ginormous steel wings. "Stymphalian Plumes!"

Dagger-like feathers showered upon Tau, creating more gashes and a frown on his face.

He grated his teeth. "Those scratches are gonna sting in the morning."

Zeroes and ones streamed from his fingers again, and were swiftly absorbed by the air all around.

"Data Hawks!"

Layla danced to avoid the attacks, and Ling maneuvered her falchion, but the hawks came back like homing missiles and hit both of their spines.

As the two of them lost focus on flight, Ara casted her Monarch Spheres to save them from plummeting to the rooftops.

"Two birds with one spell." Zeal clapped.

"Copycat!" Layla glowered with eagle eyes, outstretching her wings to once again take flight. "Avians are my thing."

Ling's bubble popped as she remounted her weapon. "You and your little pets are about to be blown away."

"Stymphalian Shriek!"

"Tornado Blade!"

Waves as loud as screeching metals, and a whirlwind from Ling's falchion spinning faster than ever, combined to create a cataclysmic attack, blasting at Tau's Griffin and beginning to tear it apart.

Tau used his arm to protect his face. "This is meant to be easy."

The Griffin vaporized, letting Tau fall on the back of a new one that he had just created.

"You guys are giving me anxiety." He took off his glasses and checked it for damages. "I should return the favor."

Worry overtook Ara's face.

"Pyramid Cage! Point A!"

A bright red light discharged from Tau, igniting the night sky for a good minute full. When it finally dissipated, a red crystal had materialized on top of Morpheus Castle.

"Aye! Take a look, girls!" Tau flew around the object. "One point for team Erudon! Once my friends cast their own, Pyramid Cage will be activated."

Ling glared at the crystal. "Fan Falchion!"

The blade struck with its edges at Point A.

"Keep trying." Tau's teeth lined eerily again. "You'll be wasting time and energy."

"He's not lying," Lux confirmed. He was just under the roof where the four were fighting above of. "Leave the crystal. Focus on him and knock him out. It's the only way to erase it."

"Your whole place is soon to shrink." Tau threatened. "And we'll finally be able to take the miniature to our god Erudon. But for now, I wanna have fun. So let's play a game!" Tau steered the Griffin away, leaving a trail of clouds and cackles. "Chase after me, ladies!"

"Full speed ahead!" Ling shouted.

Layla changed her wings again. "Peregrine!" This time they became that of a falcon's, allowing her to fly as fast as the bird. "You won't escape."

Ara glanced at Point A, then glided to chase with her companions.

*******

"Please hurry." A nerve in Linus's forehead was stiffening. "Rocky isn't exactly lightweight."

"Radioactive Wipe!"

Clarence's blade glowed again, but merely chinked against the bricks.

He muttered, "You're joking."

"My turn." Mycela scooped dirt from the ground and used it to paint her arrow's tip. "Meld! Earth, air, and arrow! Eroding Shot!"

The projectile plucked with a brown gust at Rocky, and momentarily clouded the atmosphere with dust.

The four of them waited for the area to clear up again, but were once more met with disappointment as the only apparent effect of that attack was Rocky's color had darkened.

Clarence cracked his neck. "I'm not hoping much, but..." He leaped onto Rocky's head, and jabbed it with his sword as the tip resonated with purple light. "Unstable Stab!"

A chink. That's all it made.

Rocky let out a roar so loud that a mini earthquake occured.

"Gah!" Clarence jumped back off and used the back of his glove to wipe sweat off his face. "This thing was built to protect us! It's made of the hardest thing there is, isn't it?"

Mycela huffed. "You're right. The walls are made of wurtzite boron nitride. The only thing hard enough to destroy it would be itself."

"My sword's clearly not made of that!"

Mycela rubbed her chin. "We need something that is."

The nerve in Linus's head stiffened even more as Rocky took a step forward. "Mycela?"

*******

Inside the castle, Jerald has been making his way through the walls by melting them. With those shortcuts, he was able to finish more than two thirds of the run in just seventeen minutes. Around eight more, he would probably have reached his destination.

If only a delay hadn't blocked his path.

Thomas stood on guard in a hallway. "This is as far as you'll get."

Talc appeared behind him. "Didn't think your boyfriend's power could do that. But now that we're far enough away from him, we'll be having much more fun."

Jerald pointed at the ceiling. "Stop worrying about what his can do and start thinking of mine."

Melted stone dripped from the ceiling.

"It's hot." Talc blew at a splat on her arm. "Reminds me of another of your fears actually. The zombies were just silly. But these ones...even I see how they're frightening."

Jerald took a step back.

Demons ascended from the floor. Eyes as empty as the ends of space glossed all over him, and droopy mouths with burning fangs opened wide, as if about to consume the man, limb by limb.

"No!" Jerald further increased the ceiling's temperature.

The concrete drenched all over the devils, and then quickly petrified turning the fiends into statues of stone.

"Now that I'm aware, I won't fall for your tricks a second time."

Talc shot a dark look.

Thomas gave her a pat on the head. "You've already done a great job. You can leave him to me now." The knight faded out, then reappeared close to the Jerald, with a sword striking to cut. "Phantom Slice!"

Jerald leaped back. "Ion Flash!"

A splash of light blasted at Thomas's face, forcing the knight to stumble backwards.

"How's that? Ghosts don't normally like light, do they?"

"That was blinding." Thomas closed his eyes. "If you're gonna take my sight, don't you think it's fair I take yours too?"

All the lights died.

Jerald wrenched his head to the left and the right, only to find nothing but thick black spaces. "Ion Flash!" he casted. But void had seemed to have sucked all air as the light couldn't be ignited.

Behind him, Thomas floated, like a vampire about to bite.

*******

Back outside, Odess and Dorias were still dealing with Navi. Their glares were sharp and just as heated as the three of their swords grinding with friction in the seemingly endless swordfight.

"You can't keep this up for too long." Odess's teeth clashed. "It's two against one and you can't even use your magic."

"It's useless against us." Dorias smirked.

"Not completely." Navi simpered, his eyes sliding suggestively onto Odess.

Her pupils contracted. "You...know?"

Navi bit his lip. He took advantage of Odess distracted and kicked her at the abdomen. Ridding of her, he also thrusted against Dorias's sword and jumped to retreat several meters away from the knights. "As a Reverser, it's a necessity to be able to smell magic."

Odess pointed her blade at the man. "If you try, you'll see a version of me you'll be forever haunted by."

Navi tilted his head. "You mean that literally."

On the yard, Synth was still playing his flute, casting his healing magic over Blake, Slate, and Icarus.

As the men glowed green, their muscles jerked and spasmed, and they frequently spat grunts of pain.

Zeb was healing too. But unlike the rest, he was fully awake. Green light emitted from his stomach.

Ronald patted his friend's brown hair. "That was reckless, what you did. You kinda deserve this."

Cass helped Gian stand.

Gian chuckled. "I thought I was never gonna feel my legs again."

"Even your attacks were useless against him." Cass watched the unconscious men. "What more ours?"

Slate slowly opened his eyes. "Ah. Now I know I'm strong enough to hurt even myself."

"You're awake." Gian smiled.

Cass gave the same expression. "I love your way of thinking, Slate. Always looking at the bright side of things."

Alder was quietly just squatted on the grass, waiting for his hand to heal, as he watched Navi, Odess, and Dorias still fighting. A layer of disappointment was clear on his face. "I can't believe I lost. Just like that."

Slate pulled himself up.

"Hey!" Ronald scowled. "You just woke up. Keep resting."

Slate didn't listen, sitting up and placing a hand on Alder's shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself, lad. I got beat too. It just so happens we're facing too strong an enemy."

Alder looked to the west. "I can't see him anymore."

Lux moved his attention to a crystal ball showing Zeal. "He's near the garden. Ethan's group is about to meet up with him."

Zeal was already in position. He could plant his orb any time that he wanted. Tau already has. They were waiting for only two more.

Odess and Dorias have kept Navi in place, and Thomas and Talc have managed to keep Jerald from reaching the library. The ladies were also doing fine, determined to get Tau. Lux was confident that three of Erudon's men would be easily defeated. But that night wouldn't really be over until Zeal was down.

"Ethan. Rin. Gleen. Lion. Give it all you can. You can do this."