Honestly, if Ray somehow ended up not beating Derrick for whatever reason, he could take great solace from the look on the man’s face.

The leader of the Wild Tides had been so confident he could win. That his overpopulated cult would stomp out the Insurge Faction. That he would then claim victory over Ray with minimal fuss thanks to his combination of Call Upon and Liturgical Following.

But that overconfidence was going to be his undoing.

“You couldn’t have orchestrated this,” Derrick said. It was fun how his face kept changing, like he wanted to glare at Ray but was too afraid of things turning even worse. “We’re supposed to win.”

“Supposed to? What kind of bullshit is that? You’re the one who decided to take advantage of others, and now you’re going to pay the price.”

All this while, Ray hadn’t once looked at how things were going everywhere else. He trusted Maya, Gritty, and the rest of the Insurge Faction to be handling things well on their own. They had a battle plan, after all. They knew what to do, and they had done it well enough.

It was time for Ray to capitalize.

Of course, just because Derrick’s power via his stats was decreasing didn’t mean he was now suddenly much weaker than Ray. He would still need to be careful.

The Wild Tides leader attacked furiously now, determined to reach and kill his foe before his stats fell any further.

Things were coming to a furious end.

Ray shot out a Mottling Membrane. He had a plan and he had to execute the parts of it with great care. With the barrier of black-red energy now obscuring him from view for a couple of seconds, Ray immediately used Lifeblood Construct to create the Windbane Maw just behind him.

He had been condensing Mana into True Mana all the while he had been speaking with Derrick, so it took no time at all to summon up the draconic head made of pure, bristling energy.

Then he sent it flying behind, while summoning Soaring Wings to obscure its flight.

Mottling Membrane dissipated the next instant as Derrick barged through. He had used his spinning ability to dispel it while taking no damage.

Ray was ready for it. While one hand had been busy with Lifeblood Construct, the other had used Primal Summons to create the same draconic maw around his hand. As soon as Derrick charged in, Ray blasted him with chaotic flames from the second summoned Windbane Maw.

Derrick, who had been about to jump at Ray and maul him with those claws, was now forced to dodge to the side. “Repression.”

Ray moved the head around to follow his foe, even if his Mana was depleting rapidly. The problem, however, was Repression. While the flames didn’t damage Derrick as he was moving too quickly, they were still close enough for him to use Repression to absorb way too much energy and fling it right back at Ray.

Good thing he had seen it coming. With wings spread, Ray took flight and got away as rapidly as he could, once more maintaining some distance. Already, he had been almost hit once or twice as Derrick screamed Projection at him.

Ray tried throwing a few spiralling bolts of Chaos Chymify at Derrick, but he dodged easily. He wasn’t interested in continuing the same chase as before, though.

Time wasn’t on his side.

So, Derrick rushed in, throwing caution to the winds. Just what Ray had really been looking for.

With an almighty leap, Derrick shot straight at Ray, shooting through the air with a whirlwind of power. Glowing slices of air shot in every direction as he streaked at his target like a comet.

Ray was able to dodge with the help of his wings and after reapplying Occultic Apparition on himself.

But Derrick had somehow retained enough control mid-flight to yell, “Projection!”

Some sort of band tightened around Ray’s legs, almost like he was being hugged there. His momentum thanks to his flight flipped him over and made him lose complete control. No surprise, then, that he crashed hard to the ground in the next instant.

An instant where Derrick had already landed and launched himself straight at Ray. Even worse, he had used that ability where he spun into a ripping cyclone again.

But Ray was ready. He used Lifeblood Construct once more. This time, he used his latest acquisition for Lifeblood Crucible—Impervious Shell. A bloom of chaotic energy made the Duskshell’s pure black carapace appear right between Ray and Derrick, like a giant satellite dish standing on its side.

Derrick was rushing in too fast to change direction. He slammed into it, and the summoned shell completely blocked all the damage.

Ray was a little amazed, but then, he recalled the respective Tiers. Lifeblood Construct had called up Impervious Shell at Tier 6, since that was the Tier of Lifeblood Crucible right now. However strong Derrick’s ability might be, it couldn’t get past an Impervious Shell that strong.

All the better for Ray. As soon as Derrick’s ability stopped, where he must have realized it was futile, Ray struck.

He had just managed to condense enough Mana into True Mana to recreate another Shatterclaw arm. As Impervious Shell dissipated, Ray punched forward.

Derrick tried to deflect once more, but Ray had seen that coming. He slowed down his swing and opened the claw-tipped fist. Instead of actually landing a punch, Ray grabbed onto Derrick’s arm.

Locking him in place.

“I’ve got you,” Ray said.

Derrick’s eyes were wide with rage and desperation. “You’ve got nothing.”

He roared. This close, it hurt Ray pretty bad, and it also began to tear away at the Shatterclaw arm, shredding apart the monochrome spectral matter making it up.

But it kept Derrick still. He couldn’t move, couldn’t get away no matter how much he struggled. What little progress he made was negligible. Worthless. Until the arm itself was destroyed, Ray had him.

That was when the Windbane Maw construct he had sent flying off, that he had distracted Derrick from noticing, finally rushed in.

Its jaws yawned wide, its whole form sparking with virulent energy. Ray almost felt like he had his Diamond-crusted Ring of Temporal Evasion on. Time seemed to freeze for an instant as the Windbane Maw appeared.

Then it fired off a compressed beam of fiery, chaotic energy. The blast struck Derrick so hard, he was ripped from Ray’s Shatterclaw grip, sent flying about a hundred feet. Ray’s construct had spent so much energy in that attack that the maw itself dissipated to nothing.

For a second, Ray didn’t move. The shock of the sudden victory had him rooted. The fact that his plan had worked was difficult to believe.

But it hadn’t succeeded completely just yet. Ray hadn’t received any notifications for the kill yet.

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He twisted and hurried to where Derrick had fallen. The Wild Tides’ leader had to be barely holding on to life. Ray could end him as soon as he was within rea—

Kredevel: Ray, stop! Move no further!

Ray stumbled as he kept moving. What in the—what the actual—

He forged on. That fucker Derrick was almost dead. He couldn’t let this opportunity to slip by.

Kredevel: Ray, please! It’s a trap!

The ground rumbled. Ray jerked to a halt. A trap? Then the earth ruptured.

Spiralling growths shattered out like thorny spikes. They ringed Derrick’s body, spearing through the nearby area. Ray threw himself back as he was nearly impaled.

“Fucking—”

Too late, he threw a bolt of Chaos Chymify at his fallen foe. It didn’t strike the target. The spiralling hornlike thorns had grown too large. Some of them twisted and broke when they were struck by Ray’s spell, but there were too many.

Derrick was safe. Alive.

Ray looked around. They had moved away from the main battle, which was still raging somewhere off in the distance. People were still fighting. But Ray and Derrick had moved to their own little spot.

Which helped Ray spot the Sylvan slowly walking towards his position.

Ray quickly fell back. Kredevel had said there might be a Sylvan watching, the same one who had been working with Derrick at the Sylvan base all this while. But forget watching, he was now interfering directly.

Ray: Kredevel, what’s he doing here? Derrick is almost dead. We need to finish him.

Kredevel: Lastiel has clearly decided that Derrick Orden needs to remain alive. I suggest you give up on the idea of killing him.

Ray: What?

If Kredevel had been about to answer, Ray didn’t get the chance to see it. The enemy Sylvan was closing in on his location.

Ray tried to use Presence of the Primordial but it didn’t work. The Sylvan was still too distant. Besides, it looked like he wouldn’t get the chance. Unlike with Derrick, his current opponent wasn’t giving him any opportunity to get up to his regular tricks.

The Sylvan pulled his arm back, a spiralling growth of light materializing in an instant in his grip. It flew in from so far away. That was the only good thing about it.

Ray called on Impervious Shell using Lifeblood Construct once more. His spell did block the attack, but the impact was still immense. The ground shattered with a powerful detonation, the floating shell cracking apart as more spiralling growths emerging from the point of impact.

Then another glowing spear crashed in, piercing through the shell and nearly striking Ray. It missed by merely a foot, though he was sent flying by the explosion blasting out from its impact.

Ray twisted, summoning up his Soaring Wings to take control of his flight. What the hell was up with this Sylvan?

Kredevel: Ray, you must retreat. You cannot fight Lastiel. I can hold him for a while.

Ray: No, we can’t lose our only advantage over the Sylvans already. Not yet.

Regaining control of his flight, Ray mentally pushed aside the chat window from Kredevel. He could handle this. Hadn’t he killed Sylvans before? Maybe he would just need some True Mana, so he began to condense his regular Mana as fast as he could.

If he could just get in range, check what the Sylvan had with Presence of the Primordial, he could—

Apparently, he wouldn’t need to get closer. This Lastiel was heading straight for him.

Ray’s eyes widened a little as Lastiel took to the air. More of the spiralling, hornlike growths Ray was starting to associate entirely with Sylvans had come out of Lastiel’s back, like a set of strange wings. It was these that allowed him to take to the air, rising higher than Ray could with Soaring Wings.

Another spear formed in Lastiel’s hand, a lance of the same construction as everything else had used so far, gleaming so brightly that it hurt to look at.

Oh no. That didn’t look good.

More True Mana. Ray needed more True Mana. His heart thundered. Condense, condense, condense—

Then the Sylvan flashed in at Ray.

Way too fast.

Ray didn’t know how much True Mana he had been able to gather by that point, didn’t know if it was enough, but he used True Enhancement on Lifeblood Crucible and Impervious Shell.

A stake of pain carved through his head. It felt like his brain was being dislodged. But the main point was that a True Mana variant of his new shield did pop up. Even as Ray’s vision faded at the edges, a gleaming shield of black-and-white energy amassed into the form of the giant black shell, outlined in burning red.

Just in time to take the brunt of the Sylvan’s flying charge.

There was another incredible detonation at the impact. But the True Mana enhanced Impervious Shell lived up to its name fully. Truly Impervious. Nothing got past it.

The pain in Ray’s head receded for just a second. Truly Impervious. Was that what True Mana did? Growth Mana created growths, Flight Mana allowed flight, and True Mana brought out the true potential of a spell. Its truth, for lack of a better word.

Now was not the time for musing, even if he had attained a strange but interesting understanding.

With the Sylvan blocked, now was Ray’s opportunity to counterattack. He could have tried to use Presence of the Primordial then, but it would waste precious seconds he didn’t have.

Ray would have followed it up with an enhanced Shatterclaw, but he had run out of True Mana. He had also just felt what happened when he tried to use True Enhancement without enough Mana condensed into True Mana, so he wasn’t keen on repeating that.

So, he attacked with blasts of Chaos Chymify just as the shell began dissipating. But Lastiel wasn’t there.

He had already fallen far back.

Another lance made formed from a spiralling growth had formed in his hand. It was the longest one Ray had seen yet. A heart-stopping realization set in—the Sylvan could swing and hit Ray even from that distance with how long his newly-crafted weapon was.

Which was exactly what he proceeded to do. Ray used his wings to rise higher just as the enormously long lance swung in.

But that just took him into position for Lastiel’s other hand to swing in, unleashing a second gleaming spear. One that flew in too fast for Ray to dodge fully.

A scream ripped free from Ray’s throat as he was struck. Violent pain burst out of his shoulder while the impact flung him back. The application of Recovery to fix his wound was an instinctive thing. Ray was only aware of applying it, and aware of his pain going down rapidly.

He looked up quickly to see if the Sylvan was closing in for the kill. But no. Ray was safe. His opponent was distracted by…

Blood on his face?

Ray quickly got this feet, one hand clutching his shoulder. Despite pouring out a ton of his Recovery—the wound had taken up over a quarter of his total capacity—he hadn’t fully healed the injury. But it wasn’t debilitating, and that was all that mattered.

As for the blood, it was Gritty’s work. She was rushing in to stop the Sylvan. Ray yelled out a warning. Gritty being Gritty, she ignored it.

Ray didn’t even know how she had gotten blood on the Sylvan’s face from range. He did spot more blood on the ground. Likely left behind by Derrick as Ray’s construct had blasted him.

Gritty looked like she was about to hammer the Sylvan with a strange ability that made a blood-red aura flicker to life around her. But despite the distraction, the Sylvan was still able to respond. He kicked one foot up without looking.

Mirroring his leg’s motion, a spike of spiral growth burst out of the ground. Too quick for anyone to react.

It impaled Gritty through her midsection and stopped her charge completely. She screamed as she was raised nearly thirty feet into the air, her blood waterfalling down around her.

“No!” Ray shouted.

The warnings from Kredevel rang loud and clear in his head. Shit, shit, shit.

Ray got his wings back, then flew straight to where Gritty had been impaled. There was no way he could pull her down without injuring her further. She was alive, though. That was good enough. Plus, the Sylvan was going to use some other long-range ability and skewer them both at any moment.

So, Ray did the most sensible thing he could think of and attacked the spiral growth itself with a Shatterclaw. It broke easily, likely because he had infused it with his ring to take it to Tier 5.

Gritty and the bit of the growth still impaling her were a heavy burden, but Ray managed to fly away as fast as he could. Thankfully, he managed to get away by the time the Sylvan had recovered enough to attack from range.

Though, that begged the question of how the hell he had located and struck Gritty with that impaling attack when he couldn’t even see?

“Fuck,” Ray cursed. He couldn’t stop the stream of expletives from coming out.

So close. He had been so close to ending Derrick. They had known the Sylvans were working together with the Wild Tides, and he’d had confirmation from Kredevel that the Sylvan’s second-in-command would be keeping an eye on the battle. But to interfere directly?

Ray cursed again.

He dropped to the ground and paused for a moment, as much to recover as to crush another Mana crystal, before flying on. “Hold on just a little longer, Gritty.”

She mumbled something. That was good. Still conscious. Still alive.

The rest of the battlefield appeared before Ray. So many bodies were strewn before the keep. Strange redoubts and barricades had gone up to shield the besieging members of the Wild Tides from the attacks of the defending Insurge Faction members.

So many little details tried to tug at his attention. The different powers on display, the fact that a lot of the Wild Tides were either retreating or hunkered down in a single location, the presence of unfamiliar people at locations farther out. He could pay attention to it all later. First, he had to find the person he was seeking.

Ray: Joaquin, where are you? This is very urgent.

Joaquin: West of your Base, near Sector 50.

Ray flew past a few skirmishes and found the cleric attending to a group of others, all of whom were either more wounded or more medics. Joaquin rushed over, as did another man and woman, who took Gritty from Ray and began to tend to her.

“We’ll look after her,” Joaquin said. His eyes landed on Ray’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“It’s nothing serious, I can take care of it.”

“Where are you going?”

The real question on Joaquin’s mind was clearly more along the lines of what was next.

Ray could feel his face turning cold. “Time to end this stupid battle.”