Ray was drawn into a fight almost immediately. He would have loved some time to come to terms with the fact that he was about to be embroiled in a brawl instead of meeting up with someone he had considered a friend. He really would have liked to ponder who it was that had betrayed him. Was it the proprietor of the shop, or was it really Ram, Bam, and Lam?

Sadly, there was no time for stray thoughts. He had to focus on surviving the sudden assault.

More of the ranged attacks with burning red spears shot in, but his Spiritguard orbs provided a very surefire defence against them. Ray was well protected.

But that changed when the first of his assailants swooped in.

The warehouse was structured a little too familiarly. Boxes and sacks filled almost the entirety of the space all around him, arrange in such a way that there were little corridors to walk through in between.

It was through one of these corridors that a man in a roguish outfit and twin knives rushed in to attack directly.

Ray’s response wasn’t immediate. He had to master his impulse to cast a spell as soon as the man appeared. Instead, he allowed his attacker to get in close. Not hard, considering that the man was moving with incredible speed.

Just as he got close to the swirling array of Spiritguard orbs, he leaped. Somehow, likely with a skill that Ray wished he’d had the time to check using Primordial Gauge, the man shot through the orbs without suffering any damage. It was like he had phased through them.

This time, Ray held nothing back. He let his impulse run wild.

A quick cast of Soulstrike brought up the True Mana arm an instant before the man’s long knives reached Ray. The impaling point pierced through the would-be killer’s midsection, drawing out a scream as his blood splattered everywhere.

He wasn’t alone, of course. Several of Ray’s Spiritguard orbs smashed against a larger fellow that had rushed in behind his roguelike companion.

The man survived the orbs’ attack. His body glowed with golden light, clearly some kind of highly effective defensive buff. He roared as he brought his huge club down to crush Ray to a pulp. All he got was a smack by the True Mana arm for his troubles.

Ray brought around the same Soulstrike that he had used to impale his first attacker, bashing his second one with its “forearm”.

Both the impaled man and his larger companion went flying, crashing through several crates and sacks.

“You bastard!” someone screamed.

A woman in the distance fired shots of purplish energy at him, but there were enough of the Spiritguard orbs remaining to keep him safe. Her attacks weren’t alone. More of the red spears shot in, as did other attacks like giant crystals, bombs, and other abilities. Someone even summoned shadowy hounds to rush Ray’s position.

Clearly, they meant to overwhelm their opponent with the sheer number of abilities all acting at once.

Ray cast Mottling Spiritguard once, twice, three times. He had to. There were just too many skills aimed at him. But Spiritguard alone wasn’t going to be enough. Ray cast Lifeblood Soulform to give life to a flying draconic maw to counterattack his assailants.

They killed it in short order, though. Drats.

And then the attackers finally broke through. A glowing arrow found a chink through his defence. It wasn’t that Spiritguard orbs, which were less orbs then and more flat shields that rebuffed everything thrown at Ray, weren’t effective. They were.

But the enemy possessed abilities that Ray hadn’t foreseen. The arrow never struck the Spiritguard defence.

That was because a little portal had appeared in front of it just before it made contact with Ray’s defence. A second portal materialized at almost the exact time, belching out the arrow within the little sphere of protection that Ray had constructed. The shot found its mark. Ray yelled out as the shining arrow found its mark and pierced his shoulder.

Immediately, Ray fell to one knee. His body jolted. Paralyzed. This was—

Fuck, this was electricity.

Something was burning. The world juddered. It was all Ray could do to not fall face first to the floor. Shit, shit. Not good.

He couldn’t move, couldn’t get the arrow out of his shoulder and free himself from the deadly grip of the electric arrow. But he was still conscious. He could still cast his spells and channel his Mana.

His Mottling Spiritguard orbs were fading, but they had lasted enough to prevent any of the attackers from taking advantage of Ray’s state. Yet. That wasn’t going to last long.

Ray managed to cast another Soulstrike. Just barely moving his arm through the shocking binds was enough. He followed it up immediately with Primal Spiritcraft, grafting the spectral Greater Windbane Maws on the ends of both his True Mana arms

Then Ray let his consciousness split, imbuing life into his summons.

His head didn’t feel like it was splitting in two. Sure, the world faded to a great extent for Ray. He experienced less of it. Fewer things registered through his senses. But his thoughts were still clear, struggling only against the electric binds from the arrow that had gripped his body in shocking pain.

The two draconic maws took care of defending Ray against his attackers. That left him free to focus on the main goal—getting the fucking arrow out of his shoulder.

It was hard to tell how long it lasted, but it was too long. Ray just couldn’t get his arm or any other part of his body working. That was the point of electricity. Complete debilitation of the nerves. He could almost appreciate his assailants’ strategy.

Ray called up his Soaring Wings on his back. Then he made them flap backwards to push him forward. The sudden forward momentum was just what he needed.

As he smacked into the floor, the impact of his shoulder against the floor bent the arrow just right. It would have been a big gamble. He could very easily have snapped it off and dug the point deeper into his body.

But Ray’s new Vestments had absorbed a good deal of the arrow’s force. It had pierced barely an inch or two into his shoulder.

Short enough that falling to the floor at the right angle forced the arrow painfully out of him.

Free. He was finally fee.

Ray forced his wings to work. The timer for one of the Soulstrikes had already run out, and only one was still left shooting chaotic flames and snapping at anyone that had tried to get close. But the first had done its job. Now, it was Ray’s direct turn.

He recalled his full consciousness, letting the True Mana arm return to its normal, lifeless state. A quick use of his wings took him to a nearby second level that ran along the wall of the warehouse. One of the ranged attackers had been taking potshots from the edge. He staggered in surprise as Ray appeared in the blink of an eye.

Casting Primal Spiritcraft again brought up the draconic head on Ray’s actual hand this time. He fired its breath in the next instant, giving his opponent no time to prepare.

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The man had mistaken believed that Ray would attack directly, thinking the aura around him would be enough to safeguard him against any spells. He had crossed his wand-like iron rod of weapon in front of his chest like it could guard against a physical blow.

Ray’s laser blast sent him screaming and flying off the balcony.

It wasn’t enough, though. This man wasn’t the one who had shot that electric arrow at him. Where was the archer?

There was no time to find his main target. Of course, Ray had cast Mottling Spiritguard as soon as he had taken to the air to continue protecting himself. Good thing he had. Just as Ray took care of the man on the balcony, a spear of crimson energy shot at him, seeking to take advantage of his apparently distracted state.

A Spiritguard orb counteracted it, though the detonation caused by the impact sent Ray slamming against the nearby wall. That attack had been powerful.

The next second, his balcony collapsed. His assailant had targeted his platform, making Ray crash down. Maybe he had forgotten that Ray had wings or believed he would be too surprised to use them.

But Ray’s instincts were on overdrive. The Soaring Wings of black-red energy stretched out, slowing Ray’s fall and allowing him to land harmlessly.

Except, he was immediately attacked by the red-spear wielder.

The man in gold-chased black armour fired off several ranged spear attacks in quick succession. None of them got past Ray’s Spiritguard defence.

He cast the spell again and again, sending half of the orbs to counterattack the man. But the spear-wielder had a powerful defence of his own. As soon as the orbs reached him, he spun his spear like some crazy king-fu master. The spinning crimson disc formed a shield that stopped the orbs completely. No matter what form they took, they couldn’t get past.

That kept the man busy, though. Ray used Soulstrike to take advantage, but he was forced to redirect the attack to a different enemy who had shot in far too close.

This one was weaker, at least. He bashed away Ray’s True Mana arm with its slicing end, but Ray switched it up to a grasping end and grabbed the man’s sword in the next exchange. Then he flung the man and his sword aside.

It was instinct driving Ray to throw himself back with his Soaring Wings. Instinct that saved him again.

A millisecond later, the spear-wielder sailed through the spot he had been and crashed into a towering column of crates, all of which burst apart under a detonation of crimson energy. Fucking hell, that guy was relentless.

The supposition was proved in the next second when he turned and immediately continued attacking, without a moment’s pause. The distance had allowed Ray to use a Soulstrike against the guy, but he dodged Ray’s swipe and then pinned the True Mana arm with a spear impaling it into the ground.

Who was this guy?

The armour clearly indicated a man affiliated with the Everstead military. So was Cory acting against Ray directly now?

His assailant didn’t give him any time to ponder. The man just attacked and attacked. Ray couldn’t meet him blow for blow, of course. He was a mage, not some warrior or rogue type class who had a proficiency with a chosen weapon. His best bet was to not meet the spear-wielder head-on.

Trying to create some distance wasn’t working. The man took care of the volleys of Spiritguard orbs without difficulty. Ray threw himself back, used his Viledrake tail to throw out streams of lava to zone the guy and then take care of him.

But the man used a skill that made ethereal red spears pop out of the ground, and then began using them like stilts in a flood. What a fucker.

Ray focused on his Fleshcrafter Tower Node. Fleshform Manipulation worked to make him a better melee fighter. His body grew lighter and faster and hardier all at the same time, his reaction time improving rapidly so that he could see and react to his enemy’s ceaseless impaling assaults.

He also used Vengeful Plunder to raise his stats the man didn’t care about dodging the Spiritguard orbs. Every blow, blocked or otherwise, counted as a hit for Vengeful Plunder, so Ray was receiving a powerful boost from that as well.

But that growing power counted for little when he couldn’t hit the guy. The man was just either too evasive or had one or more ways of blocking Ray’s spells.

The Spiritguard orbs never penetrated through his spinning spear shield. Ray’s Soulstrikes were all bashed away or pinned back. Taking a long-range potshot with a draconic maw’s breath only showed him how fast the man was at evading. This guy was annoying.

Ray went far, far back. All right. So this guy just wouldn’t rest. Then Ray would—

A massive wall of energy slammed towards Ray. His eyes widened. He hadn’t even seen it appear. The man or woman or gigantic troll behind the strange skill appeared through a portal and instantly disappeared behind a huge wall of shining white and gold energy. A wall that was crashing at Ray with the speed of an avalanche.

The use of Soulstrike as an arm to push back against a skill that huge was instinctive. What other defence did Ray even have that would work against something like that?

It did work, though. Somehow, the True Mana arm held back against the force behind the wall, at least when Ray used both arms. But it had also distracted him from the spear-wielder, who swooped in to take advantage.

Ray probably would have been impaled, but his mind was working furiously fast. Bless the Intellect Tier breaks.

He cast Lifeblood Soulform to create the Impervious Shell. That stopped the man with the spear, if for a while. His impaling thrusts came with so much power, the spear punctured through the shell everywhere, Ray’s defence rapidly cracking and breaking apart.

But it was enough.

He cast the same spell again, this time calling up his Imitator construct. Simultaneously ordering his construct to take his form, Ray used Origin Resonance to cloak himself with Mimic Mana to turn himself into the floor and lay down.

The timing was perfect. He let his True Mana arms fade as the Impervious Shell fully dismantled. The assailant’s spear stabbed through and impaled the construct—the fake Ray. It took some mental effort to not wince at his Imitator’s suffering. But that successful impale also meant the wall had stopped advancing, so as not to hit the spear-wielder.

Which gave the real Ray the perfect opportunity to act. He used Soulstrike once more, casting it from underneath. The man was flying over him, he and his spear just about to push the fake Ray back quite far.

But he never fully succeeded. The new True Mana arm rose up sharp and fast, the slicing cutting into its target.

Even still, the man was fast and powerful. He kicked back against the impaled Imitator construct just in time. Instead of slicing the man himself in half, all Ray managed to do was take off the spear-wielder’s arm and shoulder. He grinned as the blood splattered over and around him. Maybe his opponent wasn’t dead, but that wound was devastating.

The wall of energy crashed apart as the big, troll-like woman yelled out. There was a huge, spiked club in her hands, and she slammed it down with enough speed and power to pulverize Ray.

But the blow never landed. Ray was well-prepared. The Imitator construct was far from dead, despite suffering that stab from the spear-wielder. Instead, it had transformed into a different construct now. The flying Greater Windbane Maw roared out its humongous compressed fiery laser of chaos, blasting the giant woman back with its power.

Ray almost laughed. There was just a different kind of pleasure in seeing his powers magnify with Vengeful Plunder and all his other boosts coming into play.

It took him a little by surprise, how powerfully he could send others careening back. But there wasn’t time to stare and enjoy. Ray was already getting back to his feet, shedding his cloak of Mimic Mana to face the wounded spear-wielder.

He had to stick close. The assailant’s presence was what had prevented the rest of his cronies from attacking Ray from range, in case they accidentally hit their comrade.

Ray frowned. The man’s arm… was already growing back. Even as blood pulsed and pushed out through the gory wound, new flesh and bone were growing, covered in a net of fine blood vessels. How high was this guy’s Recovery?

“There’s someone else here,” a woman shouted from farther off. Was that the archer? And more importantly, someone else? “Kill that bastard, quickly!”

The spear-wielder took those words to heart. Ray did his best not to be distracted by the sounds of distant commotion, of new screams and the clash of different abilities elsewhere.

Despite the massive wound—albeit one that was quickly regenerating—the man attacked with relentless fury. Ray was once more pushed back, forced to defend himself and somehow try to eke out and opportunity to strike.

The spears seemed to come in from everywhere. They flew in swarms, erupted out of the ground, came rushing in with furious impaling motions.

Ray’s Spiritguard orbs were too busy defending him to counterattack his opponent. He wasn’t getting any further boosts from Vengeful Plunder, not when he wasn’t landing any attacks of his own. That was fine. The power he had gained was enough. He was fast enough to match the man’s incredible speed, and that was enough.

But the man continued to be relentless. The spear-wielder sent out a tidal wave of crimson energy that Ray blocked with his Impervious Shell.

Despite only being powered by one hand, the crimson spear punched through the shell, goring Ray in the chest. Thankfully the impact wasn’t too bad as he had fling himself back, his Recovery fixing up the injury in as second. He kept moving though.

More spears burst out, these ones coming from the wall behind Ray. He flew straight up, through the whole in the broken balcony.

The perch provided just enough room to crush a True Mana shard and fire off his Primal Spiritcraft-ed laser breath, but the man dodged that too. At least Ray was able to knock his follow-up spear chucks out of the air with the draconic maw’s breath.

But damn it, they were in a stalemate. How? The guy was too strong.

Ray focused on his Fleshcrafter Tower Node. Tower Nodes. He had multiple. Time to make use of them before the man’s wound was fully healed.

The spear-wilder would have come in again, but then, the screams and shouts got much closer. Both Ray and his opponent turned to see the giant woman falling back with an earth-shaking crash. A spur of bone the longer than the man’s spear emerged from where she had been stabbed in her chest.

But it wasn’t her wound that made Ray’s eyes widened. The blood pouring out of the injury wasn’t polling to the ground. Instead, it was travelling up the woman’s body and masking her head. Suffocating her. She had not one but two problems to deal with.

Blood. Blood being manipulated in that fashion…

It couldn’t be, right? Gritty was here? Here?