Zarian was just about to finish unsealing his One Percent Power, chanting and hand-signing faster than ever before, when Ruven did the unexpected. The elf smashed the shining great sword on the nearest cubic stone floor, which the Void Waltz spell had moved with them into a snowy field.

Everything stopped moving.

The flurry of snow in the winter breeze. The blocky clouds covering the stars and moons of the night. Even the distant sounds of conversation and late-night haggling from the village.

Everything stopped.

Everything was frozen.

To Zarian, it felt like the freeze lasted forever while also happening within a blink of an eye. Then there was some movement again when broken fragments of the shining great sword swirled around Zarian and Para, becoming an arcane cage of sorts, before everything else resumed its flow of time.

Zarian and Para remained trapped and unable to move.

“From Grimrock to the Hidden Hell, damn your powers of the void!” Ruven snarled. “I still carry dread from when my great grandmother put me through that experience of evil magic. Just so I can be prepared for it. Of course, you’d make her right as always.”

Zarian could hear Ruven just fine. He could still see the elf until Ruven walked out of his direct view.

Zarian’s eyeballs couldn’t move with the elf. Zarian’s physical body wasn’t his own right now. A powerful type of magic froze him using the broken shards of the shining great sword that Ruven had smashed. The shards of that powerful tool floated in a cage around the Madness Wizard.

But that was not the worst part.

Zarian couldn’t move his aura.

He couldn’t circulate it. He couldn’t use it to activate skills. Everything was frozen on the outside and inside.

He would’ve been horrified if he wasn’t able to still think. Maybe that was a strange reaction, since being able to think like this would lead others to panic.

But Zarian wasn’t exactly in the mood to panic. He was absorbing as much information as he could. Every part of his Fractured Mind remained snappy and sharp even though the rest of him was stuck.

Ruven returned to the front of Zarian’s vision and stayed outside of the field of arcane sword fragments. The elf snapped his fingers to the left of Zarian’s vision and then to the right, as if checking to see if Zarian’s eyes would move. They couldn’t move, but Zarian was still aware of being tested.

“It’s as I thought. The boon combining Purehome and Lawkeep’s divinity is unmatched,” Ruven said, nodding. “It’s hard to believe a great elder of ours needed our help, let alone the help of another god, but who are we to turn down such a request from Purehome. Especially when dealing with a monster like you.”

Ruven bent down slightly to look directly into Zarian’s eyes. The vibrant green color of Ruven’s eyes spoke of a refined savagery that most people wouldn’t associate with elves.

Ruven was a killer, through and through.

But he held that part of him back for now.

“Congratulations.” Ruven straightened and walked out of Zarian’s view. “You will be the first human to set foot on the Promised Continent since the end of the Adventurer Era, years before the Dark Era began. Let’s hope my great grandmother hasn’t grown too rusty from years of being a recluse and still has the power to seal you forever.”

Ruven was now doing something in the background that was out of sight, and Zarian was left to do nothing but think. Well, at least he knew how this had all come to be.

The elves were throwing their hat into the political arena. The Good Gods were backing them to sweep their Madness Wizard problem under the rug.

Purehome was the elven ancestor of this world, which made Zarian very interested in visiting the Forever Green Empire and leaving his mark there.

Maybe it could use some sprucing, trimming, and deforestation to get his message across.

First, I need to break free of this fusion-boon from Purehome and Lawkeep, Zarian thought, which would not be an easy feat to accomplish. The trap was air tight. But it wasn’t perfect, because Zarian was certain he shouldn’t be able to think. My Floridian Mindset is keeping my mind running. And if I have an active mind, my Willpower stat must still be usable. And if my Willpower is still usable…

With some prodding, Zarian felt Para’s presence at the back of his mind. She was there, conscious and able. She benefited from the Floridian Mindset as long as they were conjoined as host and parasite.

“I can’t wait to get back. The foulness of this continent has tainted me the moment I set foot here,” Ruven said from behind Zarian. “Even with the orcs gone, their wretched stink still can’t be extinguished. I can only imagine what it was like before the Dark Era came and before this continent became inhospitable. Maybe that’s why all the humans seem more like swines to me. They have orc foulness in them.”

Ruven was a chatty guy, but at least he sounded calm. He wasn’t in a hurry to send them across the world to an entirely different continent. Ruven sounded confident that he had Zarian and nothing could intervene with that.

Zarian focused on Para. He studied her presence with Willpower and his Floridian Mindset alone. He didn’t have Naomi’s psychic proficiency. But he had enough willful spirit to get a reaction from Para.

The parasite threads inside of his skull wriggled around, squirming in the gaps between his brain matter. Para was mobile while inside of his skull, which was nifty to know, because that might be another positive side effect of Floridian Mindset.

Now it was time to have an old fashion jump scare. Zarian waited until Ruven circled around in front of him as the elf finished scrawling runes into the snowy ground. Ruven looked about in satisfaction before moving close to Zarian without touching the boon shards.

Ruven did the finger-snapping eye test again.

Para burst free from every hole in Zarian’s head. Little tendrils pushed out his eyeballs and filled the sockets. The tendrils came out from his nostrils. They exited his ears and his mouth. Then they froze along with the blood spray, making it hard to see or hear Ruven’s reaction.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Para gave Zarian some impressions of the elf. Ruven was cussing up a storm and rightfully freaked out. But then he went back to the circle of runes he drew in the snow around them and prepared to complete a ritual that would take Zarian away.

Plan one had failed. The jump scare didn’t convince Ruven to free Zarian from the trap and check on him.

Now onto plan two.

The parts of Para inside of Zarian’s brain went on a rampage. She sliced through brain matter and ate the tissue. She hollowed out his skull until there was so much damage his own life energy winked out faster than his vitality.

The moment Zarian died – again – the Divine Revival Charm activated.

The timing was perfect.

A burst of systemized divinity expanded out from Zarian’s body and destabilized the double-boon holding him trapped. The teleportation ritual failed to activate as the divine charm revived Zarian.

Since his revival was the top priority for the Star System while staying within its parameters, the System itself denied the teleportation ritual.

Para remained present during the death and revival. She used the split-second freedom to grasp the ground with her limbs and yank Zarian free of the divine trap.

Better yet, Zarian came back awake while still in the middle of his chant and hand-signing, carrying on through the motions to get closer to the finish.

But Ruven was still on him like a fly on a corpse.

The Elf Prince, Captain of the Promised Continent Slayer Scouts, moved with blazing speed that was nearly too fast for Zarian to track, even with his many abilities and stats. Zarian pushed Wondrous Speed hard, and he still took the butt of a staff swing to the head, the weapon suddenly appearing from nowhere.

Zarian nearly lost his focus. His head rang with a sharp ache. He nearly screwed up the unsealing technique and unleashed the Overwhelming Darkness.

The idiot elf wasn’t giving Zarian anytime to explain or fight properly. Para tried to intervene, turning the cloak into many grasping hands, tentacles, hooks, and blades of bone.

But the elf moved like he knew where Zarian would go and what Para would do before the wizard’s Fractured Mind could decide. The elf placed such pressure on Zarian that many of the Madness Wizard’s terrifying traits weren’t working, making Zarian more predictable to the elf and an easier target.

Worse yet, the prince had such martial skill and power in his staff swings that he completely battered aside dozens of attempts by Para to slow him down. Ruven found his openings, slipping in a thrust to Zarian’s midsection and another swing that clipped him on the edge of his jaw. Zarian reeled from the blows while still having trouble with the One Percent Power unsealing.

Then Zarian grew truly mad and charged forward instead of retreating backward. His cloak wrapped up his body to turn him into a bone armored juggernaut. He was working on casting spells through his mind, but blinding pain and a sudden shortness of breath caught him by surprise.

Zarian found himself flying and smashing across the snowy field at breakneck speeds that would’ve killed a weaker human. He felt every impact through his parasite armor, rattling his hurt body. By the time he stopped, Ruven was already there, swinging his staff around for a big hit.

Instead of dodging, Zarian and Para hunkered down in their most armored form. They were going to take the hit, but Ruven aborted at the last second.

The prince dodged away before a human meteorite of a dynamic woman came crashing down. Zarian staggered back. And Naomi stood in the crater formed by her landing, with powerful psychic energy snapping angrily around her.

The Rumble Psion slowly turned to the elf. She oozed a palpable power that was born from unbreakable Willpower and the highest tier of hard work that would make most others sick to contemplate. She looked like a physical phenom, both beautiful and dangerous. Yet, she was still not enough for Elf Prince Ruven.

A narrow beam of moonlight shot across the field for Ruven’s head. He leaned out of the way before having to step back when another moonlight beam shot at his leg. Ruven retreated as a stream of rapid fire moonlight beams assaulted him nonstop.

From the side of the field, a young amber haired woman walked on top of the snow. She moved with the grace of someone born from fairytales and myths, especially with her dress fluttering with her steps and shining peerlessly with myriad colors even in the night.

Bianca looked sharper and more steel-eyed from these last four months. She kept plucking streams of moonlight from the sky to keep the machine-gun style shooting going as her bare feet came to a stop outside of the crater.

Zarian freed himself from the parasite armor. He gave Bianca a bloody smile.

“We found your elf husband, and he’s a prince,” Zarian said.

“He’s too much of a pendejo. Let’s return this one and find me another,” Bianca said coolly. She gave Zarian a hug before providing a kiss to each cheek in greeting. She was still shooting moonbeams and keeping Ruven from diving in.

“Did you die?” Naomi asked, strutting out of the crater.

“Yeah, I did,” Zarian replied.

“I felt it. Even if it was for a split second. I wasn’t here on time to stop it.” Naomi clenched her trembling hands into tense fists. “Bianca, come on. Gilbert’s going to take a while longer. And Hannah’s still too slow.”

Hannah replied with the best she could give from afar. An artillery cannon from the library fired with a bright, flashy blast. A large ball of enchanted magic blew up the ground Ruven was running around on.

“Took you long enough,” Naomi grouched.

Zarian didn’t blame Hannah’s late response because it was just recently, while Ruven had gone on his attack, that the power cloaking the elf was using had dropped.

Zarian figured under normal circumstances he could see the identity of most creatures, since he held the greatest power of all, even if it was mostly sealed.

The moment the smoke and debris settled, revealing the elf remained upright, Zarian used his Identify trait on Ruven.

“You must be sealed away, Zarian Darkrun,” Ruven said. “It’s for the greater good.”

Hannah replied to that with another artillery shot that exploded the snowy ground at Ruven’s feet. Bianca sighed as she multiplied into a dozen copies of herself, each holding a saber of moonlight. Naomi let out a low, rumbling groan before triggering Aura Ignition, but a different version Zarian hadn’t the pleasure of feeling before.

He would have to get reacquainted with Naomi later. He was finishing his one percent unsealing with the last phrase.

“Freestyle.”

The mini cubes on his gauntlets moved up and down quickly. The darkness of the night warbled around him, the snowy fields, and for miles beyond.

Overwhelming Darkness pushed at the borders of his control like never before. Like he was going to tear apart from the inside. He hadn’t cultivated enough. He hadn’t gained enough control. But against an enemy like Ruven, he had to play to his best abilities.

Ruven was making his move, dashing past falling debris and snow from the missed artillery blast. He was about to swing his staff at Naomi while she was still igniting her aura in a special way. Bianca and her clones couldn’t make it in time.

Zarian intervened with a lance of darkness that ran fifty feet deep into the ground. The lance cut straight across the field, snow, forest, and fortress hills for a few miles before it winked out.

Ruven had to abort his attack on Naomi to avoid a death blow from Zarian’s darkness. The Rumble Psion had enough time to complete her new ignition.

Meanwhile, the Slayer Scout Master lost his arrogant composure for the first time. He even had a hint of horror showing through his vibrant green eyes.

He must’ve known by now that even at Level 112, he was nothing against Overwhelming Darkness, at least in any contest that tested his vitality and life energy on a direct hit.

“Oh, sorry, I’m not so good at controlling my One Percent Power yet. Were any of those trees your friends?” Zarian chuckled as his monstrous cloak wavered behind him and formed extra limbs.

His trio of grimoires appeared, phasing out of his body directly or through a portal. Many of Para’s extra limbs ended with alien hands and grabbed each grimoire, flipping to distinct pages, ready to cast spells. Zarian kept his Overwhelming Darkness from breaking free and eating everything despite the strain, and he kept trash talking, too.

“So your ancient ancestor is on my godly naughty list, and I know I already ate her once, but the first time wasn’t that satisfying, to be honest. I really want to relish it the second time. You think she’ll turn out spicier if I burn your tree-hugging empire down from border to border, have my way with your old as hell elders, and finish what the orcs failed to do.”