Jay watched the entire courtyard rush him, all at once. He sighed. He'd have to fight, it seemed.

  Liquid spikes sprouted from Jay, turning him into a porcupine as flowers spread across the ground, grabbing and holding Zarlans wherever they were found. They immediately retracted, having fulfilled their purpose of buying a couple moments for him. Jay wasn't as good at manipulating his soul as Amon was, having less practice doing so. Some of the Zarlans didn't land on the flowers, avoiding them until they got a taste of Jay's blunted sword, getting smashed down-directly into the aforementioned flowers.

  Jay stared at the battlefield, vines holding each and every Zarlan in place. Some were struggling, futilely attempting to escape, while others lay there, assuming their deaths were near.

  Jay never got a chance to decide their fates, one of the walls suddenly smashing inwards. Jay squinted his eyes against the dust, seeing a figure slowly moving into the room. Jay pulled himself up one of the walls with a Hook of Thought to find a better vantage point.

  What he saw horrified him.

  The blood beast was back, somehow. Larger. Stronger. More intelligent, by the way it suddenly looked up and locked eyes with him. It was currently chomping through one of his captives, the blood that spurted out flying back into the beast, making it stronger. After swallowing the man's dead body, it spoke, his flesh having disappeared in its now completely opaque body, event to his eyes. "I planned to wait, but I decided to strike earlier. After all, more blood is always a good thing, isn't it?," the blood beast asked.

  Jay sighed, releasing his captives. He wouldn't hold them in place to die, though he also certainly wasn't going to go back and help them. Now, how would he deal with the blood beast? Jay glanced upwards. There had definitely been a ward of some kind keeping the prisoners from escaping through the top-if it wasn't there, this area would be useless-but had the blood beast broken it? If it had, that was his ticket out. He turned back to look at the blood beast just after latching a Hook of Thought onto the air above the wall. He flew upwards, narrowly avoiding a massive, bloody claw that reached out for him.

  The blood beast was fast. It had already caught up to him and attacked within the span of a few moments. Jay's Hook of Thought carried him over the wall. The ward must have broken. He detached it, using another to pull himself towards the ground, quickly getting himself up to an incredible speed before slowing down with a Hook in the other direction.

  He watched the beast follow and left a present for it, a full-powered Water Bullet. Jay turned and started to run. What'd I miss?, Amon asked.

  I was put in a cell by Striaster. Then I escaped the cell and found myself in a fighting arena, which I recently vacated due to the blood beast, which is somehow still alive.

  Ah. Looks like an eventful day. Imma go back to sleep now.

  The blood beast is currently chasing me, so you might not want to do that.

  Oh. Step to your left, by the way.

  Jay did so, seeing a massive spike of blood, about twice the size of his head, fly past him. That looked painful, he noted as it hit the building in front of him, breaking through the wall. Wait. A building?

  Jay smashed into the side of the building at full speed. Instead of smashing through, as the spike had, he bounced off, falling on his butt. Dazed, he slowly got up. Pay attention to your surroundings and not just the horrible monster chasing you next time.

  Do you think I'll be any smarter next time than I was this time?

  Point.

  Jay staggered to his feet as the blood beast approached, the compressed blood forming it moving around in its body, creating eddies and currents. Got any tricks?

  He received a headshake in reply. For a moment, he looked up, just to make sure there was nothing coming down at him from above. All he saw was the lip of the roof above him, extending quite a distance outwards from the building. Well, time to do something stupid in order to escape. He could clearly sense its power, even from where he was standing. Before, he had fought it in a place of his power, and had taken multiple deep wounds before winning. Now, it was far stronger, strong enough to break through that wall, and the ward that probably covered it, with brute strength. If he fought it, that was a definite death sentence. Hitting him even once would create a Jay-pulp and the monster knew it. His only chance was escape.

  Jay ran directly towards the monster.

  It stared at him, surprised. It hadn't expected this. Something more of a 'run off to the side' or 'run into the hole behind you' but not a 'I'll run directly at you and try not to die.

  Jay ran closer and closer, even as the monster raised its claw to slash. Just as it did, he yanked himself up and backwards with a Hook of Thought, barely clearing the roof's lip. Then he started running again. That was stupid.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I agree.

  He heard the monster howl in frustration behind him. Then the building started to shake. That's not good, is it.

  I think you should get off this building. Like, right now.

  Jay obeyed, launching himself to the nearest building. He turned back with bated breath, watching the building he'd recently left simply... collapse, straight down, no rubble exploding outwards, not even any dust being kicked up. The roof just fell downwards, shortening the building.

  What just happened?

  Amon's voice came back with a hint of snark. The beast generated a spatial anomaly. What else would it do?

  Jay started running.

  Blood watched the child run. Why wouldn't he stand still and die? That would be easier for the both of them. He raised one of the blood beast's paws, shuddering at the sensation. He didn't like being a mutt-he'd finish this quickly. Blood gathered his power, breaking the beast out of the broken building. He frowned in his real body. If he used up all his Influence now, he would have a definite kill on the child. He would also then have to regenerate the Influence over decades. If he used little bits, there was a chance the child could escape and he would fail.

  Blood thought for a moment before pouring every single drop of Influence he had into the blood beast. It would be worth it.

  Nire said we have a problem.

  Huh?, Jay asked, as he continued running, making the jump over to the next rooftop. I thought the blood beast was the problem.

  The blood beast is being controlled by Blood, who is using every single point of his godly resources to kill you.

  Well, that's reassuring.

  Maybe run a bit faster?

  Jay did so, his muscles starting to burn. But nothing could have prepared him for what came next.

  The blood beast nearly teleported in front of him, backhanding Jay hard enough to send him flying right back to the building it had spatially deleted most of. Jay landed on his back, feeling bones crack. With a use of The Harsh, Lifegiving Sun, he fixed the worst injuries, saving the rest of his Dominion for later. Another claw slammed into him, sending him flying once more. Keep yourself unanchored. Right now, more of the force is going into sending you flying than damaging you.

  Jay didn't answer, in too much pain to do so. He smashed into the side of a building, landing on his feet, which he barely stayed on before he was hit once again. Jay? Do you have any experience?

  Jay answered the question just before he got hit again. I have quite a bit. From what, I don't know. It's enough to get all my classes to level twenty-five, frankly.

  I'll tell you how you got it later. Just use it.

  Jay shoveled experience into his classes as he continued getting whacked around. At some point, he had to start using more Dominion than he regained, bringing him closer and closer to having none. Finally, the blood beast seemed to get smarter and simply teleported on top of him, pinning him to the ground. "You're dead, child. Last words?"

  Jay thought for a second. Stall as much as possible. Say something about 'they need you'. Your class upgrades are your last chance, frankly. We also have to hope that your classes upgrade at twenty-five and not like fifty.

  "Uh. You can't kill me. You need me."

  The blood beast raised its mouth and laughed, growing more teeth as it did. Jay wasn't sure why it did so, but it certainly made the thing look scarier. "And why do I need you?"

  Because you're the strongest human in ages.

  "Because I'm the strongest human in ages?"

  Jay finished shoveling enough experience into his classes to get to level twenty-four before the creature snorted. "You may be, but we're stronger than all those mortals. Anyways, my time's up soon, so I'm going to kill you. Have a nice stay in hell."

  The blood beast raised its claw, ready to strike down and impale Jay. It paused. "Oh, and by the way. I'm Blood."

  The brief hesitation was just enough time for Jay to get his classes to level twenty-five. He waited. Nothing happened, and he watched as the claw swung down. Why could he see it moving? The claw slowed, and stopped. Jay attempted to move, but found he couldn't. Then he saw his own face stare down at him from above. "Hey."

  Jay attempted to flinch, but nothing happened. "Why have you stolen my body?," he asked, finding he could use his voice.

  The Jay staring down at him raised an eyebrow before responding. "I'm the one who's going to let you choose what you upgrade your classes to. Also your first Tier two class."

  Jay shrugged. "Choose. Frankly, you are me, aren't you?" At the confirmation, he continued. "So just choose. But I want to know what a Tier Two class is."

  "A Tier Two class isn't something I can talk to you about. You'll find out what it does later." The Jay looking down at him nodded, pulling multiple blue boxes out of thin air. "These good?"

  "Yes," Jay said after a couple seconds, finding he couldn't nod.

  The him in midair waved his hand, and everything started to move again. The blood beast above him paused. "Something's changed," it said, staring at him. "What changed?"

  Jay smiled, having read all the blue boxes. "Oh, well, I just upgraded my classes. That's what's going on."

  The blood beast-or rather, Blood's eyes widened, slamming a claw into stone as Jay simply... was not bound anymore. It howled, returning to the state he'd seen in the forest-an unintelligent creature. Though it could still kill him with a single attack. Or maybe not, with his new classes. A shield of solid water formed in front of him as the blood beast struck, far slower without Blood in it. His shield easily deflected the blow as he shot a spear of water that scythed through the blood beast, exploding when it got to its center.

  The blood beast howled in pain just before lifeforce flowed out of its wounds, swimming through the air to Jay. "Goodbye."

  It staggered towards him, clearly wanting to continue attacking, but failed, the entirety of its lifeforce now gone. Jay, not taking any risks, had Amon capture every single drop of the beast's blood, pouring it into a small Thought construct. He'd probably burn this to ashes later. Couldn't take too many precautions, especially with that thing.

  Well, we won! I have a few new tricks you'll like.

  Jay groaned. Please don't be that happy just yet. I'm tired and cannot stand happiness.

  Suit yourself. I won't tell you about those tricks, then.

  Jay smiled for a moment before jumping down to walk among the buildings, picking a random direction. We'll get somewhere eventually.

  Eventually. Can't you run?

  Jay ignored Amon's reply, continuing to painfully stride into the distance.