It was a good thing Ray hadn’t spoken too loud. Marcus couldn’t afford to be distracted from the fight. Not when he was already losing.

Despite clearly possessing powerful abilities, the rents used by Marcus’s opponent—Ray’s opponent—were too strong. The cracked portals fired off everything from fire to lightning to dark tentacles covered in toxic spikes. Marcus’s golden shielding aura was taking a heavy beating. He could barely get in any counterattacks.

Ray looked past them. Before spotting the tunnel he had taken to come to this ante-chamber for the final boss room, there was a different tunnel on the other side. One he hadn’t noticed yet. Was that the one Marcus had used to get here?

Back to the fight. Marcus was now trying to get off his attacks no matter what. Despite the rents continuing to hammer him with their various powers, and his shield fading and cracking more and more, Marcus now focused on his attacks solely.

Bursts of golden light weaved through the air as they shot towards the dungeon boss killer. Little golden bubbles popped up on the ground, like mines about to explode.

Marcus never got a hit in. Damn portal guy couldn’t just use the rifts to fling various attacks. He could also just dive straight in and appear at a different location. Basically, teleportation, just like what Ray could achieve with Spectral Step.

With Marcus’s efforts having no effect whatsoever on his opponent, he was wearing himself down needlessly. Ray was tempted to shout out that they had the treasure. They could get going now. But that would end up distracting Marcus at a critical moment. Even a message through the chat might cause him to lose concentration.

Maybe Ray could observe, find the right moment to swoop in and get out with Marcus in tow. No, that wasn’t going to work. One of them was going to get caught.

Instead, maybe Ray could distract the rent-mage guy. He just had to find the right opening.

Just as Ray stepped forward to act, Marcus faltered. His shielding aura finally gave way. A loud crack sent shards of golden light bursting apart to Marcus’s left. The sabre construct with lightning that had been slicing away at him now broke through, slashing into and taking of his arm at the elbow.

Marcus screamed as he fell back, blood spilling all over him.

“No!” Ray shouted. He immediately aimed his hand at their opponent, Primal Spiritcraft creating a draconic maw at the end of his arm.

The rent-mage guy turned, summoning several of his jagged portal to block Ray’s path. But Ray’s initial aim was just a distraction. He jerked his arm to the side, the beam of compressed chaotic fire shooting to a point just beside Marcus.

Spectral Step took Ray next to his injured companion. He didn’t wait for words, didn’t even bother to wait for Marcus’s reaction. More fatal rents were already appearing around them.

Instead, he used Spectral Step again, this time with Marcus in tow. The twinge within his Mana core was harder as he teleported with another body. He’d have to use another True Mana shard to refill his core, but that was alright. With the little bee he had left behind at his original location, Ray was able to get away just as the rents pelted them with frightful power.

“What the hell?” Marcus grunted. “What are you doing here?”

Ray looked down. A golden orb had covered up Marcus’s stump. Likely some healing ability. “Thanks for stepping in, but we don’t need to keep fighting that jerk anymore. We’ve got the treasure. Let’s go.”

“I don’t think he’s going to let us get away that easily.”

“Brother, I just got your ass out before you got killed. So trust me when—”

“You just couldn’t stay dead inside, could you?” The rent-mage was now approaching them. “That’s alright. Now I can kill two bullies with one stone.”

“Bully?” Marcus asked.

Ray tutted. “Don’t ask. This guy’s got some kind of complex.” He stepped forward. “Just stand back and rest up. I’ve got this.”

“You sure? He’s relentless. Probably the strongest human I’ve fought, and I’ve fought quite a few, believe me.”

“Lucky you. You never got to fight me.”

The audacity of that statement was probably what shut Marcus up. That was good, because Ray did agree. This rent-mage guy was strong. Ray would need to focus to hand his ass to him.

“Sameer!” a familiar voice suddenly called out from a different end of the chamber. “The fuck? Why’s that guy holding the treasure?”

While trying to keep one eye on the guy—apparently, his name was Sameer—Ray turned just enough to see that Eliza and Karkatrix had appeared. Not surprising. He had pretty much figured that the trio were in a team together. They had been blocking the way while Sameer took care of the dungeon boss and retrieved the treasure.

Except for one little snag called Ray.

“Stay out of this, your two,” Sameer said. Despite his partners’ appearance, Sameer’s eyes were still entirely on Ray. “This is my business. I’ll take care of it.”

“We’re not here for your business. We came to get the treasure!”

“I’ll get the treasure too. Just stand back and don’t interfere. Otherwise, you’ll just get caught.”

Ray’s heart had started beating faster as soon as the other two had appeared. He could theoretically handle Sameer on his own, but adding Eliza and Karkatrix to the mix would have made things a hair too complicated. Even for him.

Sure, he had fought down over a dozen Darksigns at once. But those had been monsters. Fakes throwing out abilities they had copied without a great deal of thought.

Fighting real people, who had both self-preservation and actual intelligence alongside their various powers, would be beyond him. Ray didn’t want to be pushed to his brink.

But now, it seemed he’d get a clear shot at Sameer himself.

“You that confident you can take me?” Ray asked. “Even after I evaded your little trap and rescued your victim?”

“Fuck off and die.”

With that bit of eloquence, Sameer peppered the area with more rents that flung out different flavours of fatal danger. One spewed jets of flame in Ray’s direction. Another belched lightning, while yet another threw out pulses of energy Ray couldn’t identify. The searing columns scorched the air, while the jagged bolts crackled everywhere.

Nothing he hadn’t seen yet when Sameer and Marcus had been fighting.

Crushing another True Mana shard, Ray got moving. Soaring Wings and Soullife Cloak combined to really boost his speed, letting him get away from the various blasts without difficulty. Even when Sameer created dozens of the rents, Ray was able to get away.

He did have trouble countering, though. Like Marcus, he was too busy trying not to get killed by everything that Sameer was vomiting out to properly get in an attack of his own in.

But that was where his constructs came into play. While dodging the next barrage of energy, Ray summoned up two flying Windbane heads, sending them forth to blast his enemy. If he could keep Sameer’s attention on himself, then the maws could get a clear shot and end it.

Except, that was when Ray saw why Marcus hadn’t been able to land a blow, even when focusing on offence instead of defence at the end.

The two draconic heads got into position, then threw out lasering breaths of compressed flames. They burned through the space to impact straight on their target with enough force to emulate a rocket’s exhaust blast.

Only to be met with more rents in front of Sameer.

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Ah, of course. Ray would have done exactly that if he’d had access to portal powers. Both lasering breaths entered and disappeared inside the huge rifts.

A couple of rents near Ray shone, and he was able to dodge just in time. Asshole had more or less reflected the attacks from the constructs straight back at Ray. So annoying.

“Fast and zippy,” Sameer said. His sneer wasn’t visible through the helmet, but it was very audible in his words. “But without any real power or substance. That’s just what bullies like you are. Failures that crumble apart when they meet any real challenge.”

“Will you stop with the bully rhetoric?” Ray dodged another couple of flaming shots. “It’s getting old.”

“He’s right, Sameer,” Eliza shouted. “This is getting old. Finish that fucker. We don’t have all day, the other teams could get here any minute.”

“We killed most of the other teams,” Karkatrix said.

Eliza was probably shooting Karkatrix a disgusted look, which Ray didn’t get to see since he was too busy dodging. But he could hear her metaphorical forehead-slap when she said, “Karkatrix, we agreed that I would be the one doing all the talking.”

“Yes, all the talking. Not all the lying, though. We hadn’t discussed that.”

Eliza’s groan was perfectly audible even through all the explosions of lighting and flames.

Ray was forced to focus more as Sameer changed up the intensity. There were literal meteors shooting out of the rents now. Or maybe comets. Ray wasn’t sure about astronomical terminology.

The point was that he had to use Mottling Spiritguard to ensure that he remained safe. The sparking orbs of chaos blocked a great deal more attacks that he couldn’t dodge. But even that alone wasn’t enough. Ray had to call up Impenetrable Shell when he had been manoeuvred into position to get hammered by a gigantic, truck-sized laser stream.

At that moment, Ray couldn’t even begin to get a proper shot with anything on Sameer. He was too busy trying to stay alive, too busy trying to just concentrate on surviving.

No. There had to be a way to get through this. He just had to find a gap to take advantage of. A weakness to exploit. But what?

Ray tried to get himself some space. This constant weaving and dodging definitely wasn’t helping. So, he accelerated away using Soullife Cloak and even Goliath Eater as well. He was surprised the latter skill was working. Was Sameer actually that much stronger?

“Where do you think you’re running?” Sameer asked. “If you really can’t fight head on, just give up and stop wasting everyone’s time. You know you can’t even touch me.”

“We’ll see about that,” Ray said.

He cast Lifeblood Soulform several times in quick succession, disregarding how it taxed his Mana stores. Each cast created another Windbane maw floating nearby, surrounding Ray and dodging any further attacks that came rushing out of Sameer’s rents.

Then he fired them all at once. Every single flying draconic maw belched out a compressed beam of fiery chaos, all shooting straight for Sameer.

Their combined roars thrummed in Ray’s ears, deafening every other sound in the vicinity. He didn’t let the ripping noise distract him from his main goal, though. From performing the next step to taking down his target.

Sameer was obviously distracted. It wasn’t for long since even that many of the laser blasts couldn’t hurt him. His array of rents came into play again. They formed an impenetrable shield that couldn’t be overcome with sheer quantity of attacks. No. Anyone seeking to get past his defence needed more cunning.

Which was why the momentary distraction allowed Ray to cast Lifeblood Soulform a couple more times. The Imitator construct formed next.

“Enough!”

Sameer’s shout was followed by a change in his tactics. His rents had already taken care of Ray’s draconic constructs. Their fiery breaths had been stymied, and then they themselves had been assaulted and torn apart by a barrage of energy, flames, and lightning bolts.

But none of those would get to Ray himself. That was where Sameer’s new strategy came into play.

Instead of trying to attack Ray directly, his rents were now releasing a strange, sparkling gas. The vapour had a mystical, bluish-grey hue, little glints like stars strewn throughout it as it spread towards its target.

Ray didn’t need to wonder for long as to what that was supposed to do. A couple of his Windbane maws were still alive and flying.

But not after coming into contact with the vapour.

As soon as they touched the glittering gas, they started breaking apart. Their scales fell off, their eyes vaporized, their innards stripping apart to reveal a glowing blue structure embedded within the construct. Like there was a framework of Mana that formed the constructs’ base.

That framework started dissolving next. In no time at all, the constructs were destroyed entirely. Nothing but a sizzling mist remaining of their former selves.

Well, that proved that Ray would do well to not get in contact with whatever that was. His first thought had been that it was some sort of acidic gas, but that seemed too basic. The vapour hadn’t just destroyed his constructs, it was now dissolving his Spiritguard orbs too.

Ray flew back. Fast. He didn’t need to worry about it, though. At least, he didn’t need to worry about countering it. All he had to do was avoid the damn gas.

Because the mimic construct was already flying off, ready to attack his opponent in his place.

Ray continued avoiding the dangerous—probably fatally so—vapour. He couldn’t evade anywhere he liked, though. If it could destroy his Windbane constructs, it could do the same to the mimic construct as well. This was some sort of anti-Mana gas.

So, Ray had to restrict how far it travelled. If he dodged all over the place, the whole chamber was going to be filled up with that gas.

He had to restrict its motion until the mimic construct got into position.

His construct, which had now taken on his form and created draconic heads at the end of its arms, was flying around the outer perimeter of the glinting gas. Just a few more seconds, and it would make its way to Sameer. Though, for whatever reason, the rent-mage hadn’t moved yet. He didn’t even look like he had registered that there was a fake Ray headed straight for him.

Sameer’s attention was fixed entirely on Ray himself, the real one. He had no intention of missing the moment the gas hit Ray and ended him once and for all.

“Don’t take that fake shit lightly, Sameer!” Eliza shouted. “That bastard can teleport. He’s using it to get to you!”

Ray would have shot her a withering look, but unfortunately, he was too busy trying to find new spaces to dodge into without compromising his construct’s mobility.

“Don’t worry,” Sameer said with complete confidence. “Stop thinking I’m not ready for him. It’s him who’s not ready for me.”

Ray couldn’t decipher quite what he meant by that, but he didn’t have to for long. His mimic construct had nearly got into position. It was now close enough to slam into its target.

Sameer hadn’t done anything to block the Imitator from reaching him. Ray had mentally prepared countermeasures in case his opponent threw up any sort of obstructions with his rifts, but none materialized. The construct had a direct, unobstructed path to Sameer. Ray had been forced to make it focus on reaching its target, so it never even got to fire the draconic maws.

Except, just as the construct got close, the rents finally popped up. But instead of appearing in thin air, the cracked little portals popped up all over on Sameer.

Spikes burst out, carried aloft on those tendrils Ray had seen being used against Marcus. They speared out with such speed, the Imitator construct had no hope of dodging.

“See,” Sameer said. The larger spikes had perforated the construct in over a dozen places, while the rest of it was now locked in place thanks to the tendrils wrapping around its limbs and torso. “Told you I had it covered. What did he think was going to hap—”

The second Imitator construct appeared just behind Sameer. Ray had created it at the same time as he had summoned the visible Imitator construct, except the second one had been immediately set into camouflage mode. Now, it shed its disguise and attacked, at just the right moment Ray had set it up.

Distracted by Ray himself and the visible mimic, Sameer had no time to react to the hidden one. As such, he ate the bursting white orb of Core Deconstruction full in the face.

Of course, his battle-hardened instincts were firing on all cylinders. A rent formed behind Sameer, and the impact from the second mimic pushed him into the rift, even as he screamed out.

It was that scream that informed Ray where Sameer was about to reappear next. The yell shut off abruptly as the rift swallowed Sameer, along with the second Imitator construct’s forearm, before suddenly resuming from behind. Ray twisted around to see Sameer dropping to one of the still-intact stone bridges in the chamber, with the Imitator arm flopping next to him.

“What—” Sameer dragged in a shocked breath in between screams. “What did you do?”

White sparks arced over his whole body. He managed to get on his shaky feet, but then he moved his arms around in weird motions. His eyes, already wide, now looked like they were about to pop out of their orbits.

“What the fuck did you do?” he shrieked.

“Same thing you and your magic fart has been trying to do,” Ray said. “You’re done, Sameer. I’ve won. So the treasure belongs to me now.”

“That’s bullshit!” Eliza said. “Sameer, kick his ass.”

“I—” Sameer swallowed. His hands were jerking like they were out of his control now. “I can’t. It’s like my Mana core is gone.”

“It is gone,” Ray said. Temporarily, but Sameer didn’t need to know that. His panicky reaction was what Ray needed just then. “You’re powerless and beaten. Just goes to show that just because you were first to beat the boss doesn’t mean you deserve to win this whole thing.”

Sameer actually did look defeated. While Eliza cussed Ray out and refused to accept it, her companion didn’t deny it, just looking down at his shaking hands instead. Well, her human companion.

Her Ryous companion had pulled out his swords and that stick-staff thing, ready to join her in battle.

In truth, things were at a precarious stalemate. Ideally, Ray would have been able to get to Sameer and hold the guy hostage. The other two wouldn’t dare attack while he had their companion in killable distance.

But the sparkly mist was still active. Ray had no idea how long it was going to last, and even if more of it wasn’t coming out of the slowly-dying rents, the chunk already present had surrounded him. His mimic constructs were now gone too, so he wasn’t going anywhere just yet.

Basically, they were in an annoying stalemate.

“Forget about Sameer,” Eliza told Karkatrix. “We’re taking that treasure for ourselves.”

“Not on my watch,” Marcus said, stepping forward.

Ray: Be careful. She’s got time powers that can basically delete parts of your body.

Marcus: The fuck?

Ray: Yeah, tell me about it.

Marcus and the other two squared off. Ray was starting to feel a tiny bit helpless, but more than that, he was worried that things were going to take a turn for the worse even after he had put Sameer down. There was no way Marcus could beat Eliza. With Karkatrix in tow, he had no hope at all.

“Hey!” The shout made them all freeze. But Ray was smiling in recognition. “You guys started the party without me. How could you?”

Gritty was here. Ray blinked. A bunch of Gritties were here. He laughed. So she had figured out how to make the Darksigns follow her.

Well, looked like the tables were still turning in Ray’s favour.