The hair on Alex’s neck stood on end. He’d just watched Glint cut Derek’s head clean off his shoulders, but the man had barely been inconvenienced. He had some form of immortality like Princess — but Alex didn’t see a white mask sitting around to target.

Derek took a step forward. His grip tightened on the haft of his axe.

Alex lowered his stance and sent a mental command to all of his monsters. Glint leapt back, keeping a wide berth around Derek as he raced to rejoin Alex. Princess moved to stand before them, her sludge-filled form bubbling as she rose to her full height.

“Here I come!” Derek called, shifting his weight forward and bursting into motion.

He charged Alex — at the speed of a strolling, middle-aged man. It would have been a relatively slow charge before the Apocalypse had made it so that people could strengthen their bodies to inhuman levels.

It was so slow that Alex had time to blink in surprise. The charging Anomaly may as well have been underwater.

Is it a feint? Or some sort of powerful attack that he has to move slowly to generate power for?

“I’ve got you!” Derek yelled, raising his axe over his head — still about ten feet away from Alex.

Princess stepped forward and punched Derek in the face.

Her huge hand slammed him into the ground. Dozens of bones shattered as one with a loud crunch and blood splattered across the brown clay hills. Derek’s axe spun off to the side, clattering against stones before skidding to a stop several feet away from where he had fallen.

Princess lifted her hand, then shook the blood dripping from her sludgy knuckles. The large man laid in a pulverized heap; a remarkable impression of a cockroach that had been squashed against the ground.

Okay. Maybe that wasn’t a feint.

A wet pop squelched out from the bloody mess. Derek’s body twitched. Then it lurched, shooting up to its feet. Muscles knit back together and blood flowed across them in a race back to its position. Broken skin sealed itself shut and the weapons in the fleshy mass quivered as Derek returned to his normal form within seconds.

“Ouch,” Derek said. “I was still attacking.”

“Were… you planning on taking actual turns?” Alex asked, trying to determine if he was stunned, terrified, or impressed.

“Yeah, kind of,” Derek replied. He glanced at his axe.

Princess smashed him over the head with both of her hands. There was a sickening crunch as he flattened. Alex and Claire both winced. Princess had flattened him into a human pancake. The only things that had survived her attack in one piece were the weapons protruding from his crunched-up form.

Shit. I forgot to rescind the command to attack.

The Dredge took a step back and lowered her hands. Derek’s body pulled itself back together within seconds, taking the weapons with it as he rose back to his feet. That was his third death — and his heart had definitely gotten crushed in the process.

A flicker of unease built in Alex’s stomach.

There’s no way he’s actually immortal, is there? Is he just playing with me? Or is this his actual personality?

“Ow,” Derek said, rubbing at his eyes. He squinted at Princess. When the monster made no move forward, he edged over to his axe and picked it up. “Okay. Now it’s my turn.”

“You… can just attack,” Alex said. “There aren’t turns.”

“Oh, right. I forgot.” Derek lunged forward — and this time, he moved at about the speed of a normal human. It wasn’t a particularly fast attack, but it was better than his first attempt.

Princess’ fist slammed down on Derek once more.

The axe clattered across the ground.

His body rebuilt itself.

He picked the axe back up, then wiped at his eyes once more. “You’re good.”

I… don’t think I’ve really done much of anything, actually. I feel like I’ve walked into an alternate dimension. Well, I guess that happened when the apocalypse arrived. This is a new alternate dimension. What the hell is going on?

Derek burst into motion again.

Princess slammed her hand into his chest — but this time, there was no crunch. Derek let out a grunt and fell to one knee. He skidded across the packed clay, pushing back against Princess’ immense strength for a brief moment.

Then her other hand fell on his head and flattened him.

Flesh and bone rippled. There was a familiar squelch. Derek re-formed, his mouth already mid-way through a yawn before his face had even fully knit back together.

He’s got to have a weakness, but what is it? Maybe we have to cut out his heart?

“Sorry, sorry,” Derek said. “I’m enjoying the fight. I promise. I’m just a little tired.”

Princess whipped a fist toward Derek.

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He leaned back. Instead of catching him directly in the chest, her blow hit Derek’s shoulder. The Anomaly staggered back, but he didn’t fall. Princess’ other hand crashed down toward him. He crossed his arms before himself.

Princess’ fist slammed into his body, her sludgy flesh flowing around his crossed arms and driving straight into his chest. Derek staggered back, but his feet dug into the ground and he managed to maintain his footing.

With a roar, he swung his axe.

The blade flashed through the air and carved into Princess’ arm, severing it. She lurched back, putting space between them as a victorious grin crossed Derek’s face and he thrust his axe into the air.

Wait. Is he —

“Ha! I landed a hit!”

The sludge on the ground bubbled. It lurched through the air and reconnected with Princess, reforming into a hand. Derek blinked. He looked from his axe to the monster. Then his grin grew wider. “Oh, sweet! Your monster can do that too?”

Alex’s skin prickled.

Princess lunged at Derek. He hopped back, evading her grasp, then swung his axe again. It thudded into the Dredge’s back and sent black sludge splattering across the ground.

The Dredge drove her fist into his stomach and tossed him back, but Derek kept his grip on the axe as he was forced away. The weapon carved across Princess. She reformed, but the monster only had so much energy to work with — and it didn’t look like Derek was running out.

Shit. There’s no doubt about it. Derek was either holding back at the start of the fight… or he’s getting stronger.

And, in the light of that realization, an excited grin pulled at the corners of Alex’s lips.

“I’ve never had a fight like this before,” Alex said.

“Me neither!” Derek exclaimed. He charged toward Princess and bounded into the air, whipping his axe down like he were trying to split her straight down the middle.

The monster flowed to the side and the axe slammed into the ground where she’d been standing with a loud thud. One of Princess’ centipede-leg arms shot out and slammed into Derek’s chest, driving straight through it.

Derek ripped a sword out from his back and brought it down, cutting through Princess’ arm. He ripped his axe from the ground with his other hand and brought it crashing down on her other arm, severing it.

“I’m going to use my other monsters now,” Alex said, the grin on his features matching the one on the other man’s face. He couldn’t keep himself from warning Derek. The other man was just too genuine.

“You can use all of them at once?” Derek’s eyes lit up with delight. He dodged a punch from Princess, and his axe flashed as he cut it across the front of her chest.

Princess ignored the middling wound and lunged forward, slamming her body into Derek and pinning him to the ground with a crash. He struggled to free himself, but it was fruitless. The monster was still considerably more powerful than Derek was, even when she wasn’t empowered by Qi or Rift Flood.

There was just no point making her stronger than she already was. It would just be wasting energy, and Alex had to conserve everything he had until he could figure out a way to actually deal with Derek.

Could I stop his regeneration by just cutting him apart while he’s trying to reform? Maybe it can only heal so much.

Glint and Spark both exploded into motion. Princess lurched back just as they arrived. Derek brought his axe to bear, but Spark slammed into him and ripped the weapon from his grip, flinging it to the side.

Derek thrust his rapier at the Echo Wraith, and Glint used the opportunity to flit behind him and rake his claws through the back of the man’s neck, severing his head from his neck once again.

Spark slammed his hands down on the Anomaly’s back, and Glint ripped into his body with reckless abandon. Derek’s remains slithered apart under their rain of blows.

Then they lurched. As they always seemed to do, the pieces of Derek’s body pulled themselves back together. Alex commanded Glint and Spark to continue their attack, but the Anomaly continued to reform even as they ripped him apart. His body almost seemed like it was putting itself together faster the more damage it took.

Metal flashed.

Spark floated back, a deep cut running across the chitinous armor that made up his segmented body. Derek’s body knit itself back together in its entirety. He held two of the swords that had been buried in his back in his hands.

Derek swayed in place and let out a huge yawn. His eyes fluttered.

Princess reached for him.

He blurred, vaulting through the air as his weapons carved across her back. Black flesh sloughed away from the monster and Princess stumbled, cut in a dozen different places.

Spark left a shadow on the ground behind him and leapt forward in conjunction with Glint. The two monsters collapsed on Derek, attacking him from opposite directions.

Light danced across blurs of metal in the large man’s hands. Spark flashed as he swapped places with a shadow, narrowly avoiding a strike meant for him. Derek had somehow grown faster again.

What kind of ability is this?

Alex extended his power toward his Shardwalker, letting Qi fill him. He couldn’t afford to risk keeping his full strength contained any longer. Even if he didn’t have a way to fight Derek yet, the man had just gotten too fast to continue the fight as things were.

He’d yet to see what a Qi-empowered Rift Flood would do to Glint, but he imagined it couldn’t hurt.

Alex activated the ability.

Glint’s body bulged, more than doubling in size. Shards of glass shrieked as his back hunched and jaw elongated until his face resembled that of an anglerfish. His mirror shards, instead of turning a pure purple like they had when he was summoned with Qi, darkened around the edges and buzzed with reddish-purple mist.

The power faded away as Glint’s form solidified. He loped forward, moving just as fast as normal despite his considerably larger size, and lunged.

Derek dodged back as Glint’s claws raked through the air where he’d been standing. He brought his axe down on Glint’s back in a blur of metal. A ringing clang echoed out. The strike should have been more than enough to shatter the shards jutting from Glint. It probably would have killed the Shardwalker on the spot if he hadn’t been transformed.

But, instead, Derek’s sword rang off the monster harmlessly.

Glint drove his serrated claws into his target’s stomach. Blood spilled across the ground as he ripped Derek open with a snarl.

The ground beneath the anomaly’s feet cracked. Even as blood poured from his stomach, Derek launched himself toward Spark. He ducked past Princess and slammed both of his swords through Spark’s chest before Alex or any of his monsters could react.

But, in the brief moment where his weapons were lodged in place, Glint attacked once more. The Shardwalker leapt forward and raked his claws along Derek’s back, slicing him into ribbons.

Spark died, transforming into a stream of power. The swords lodge in his chest fell through the air — but they never hit the ground. Derek grabbed both of them before the skin had even finished re-knitting itself across his fingers. He let out a massive yawn.

“Sorry,” Derek said, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his palm. He stumbled over his own feet before catching himself. Glint slashed at Derek and the Anomaly twisted to the side, avoiding the strike. “I’m paying attention, I swear. You have some scary abilities. Going to give me nightmares.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. Derek wasn’t trying to be rude. That much was obvious — it went completely against the man’s nature. He was genuinely sleepy.

Derek isn’t running out of energy. He’s still getting faster… but he’s tired.

Realization washed over Alex. That was how Derek’s power worked. He got stronger and faster every single time he died, but he got more sleepy with every death.

The more I kill him, the more dangerous he becomes. But if I can kill him enough times to make him pass out…

I win.