The narrow streets of the City of Illusions twisted and turned in maddening ways, reflecting the confusion of the dream-like spires overhead. The ivory towers shimmered like translucent ghosts, ethereal and deceptive, with their walls seeming to melt into the skies where streams of light swirled like an aurora borealis. Faces, distant and disjointed, floated within the light streams, their eyes locked on the figures below as if they were silently judging the trespassers. It was an eerie, ever-shifting landscape, but none of that seemed to matter to Klax.

"Klax, stop!" Ethan shouted, his voice echoing down the shimmering alleyways. His legs strained beneath him, the pressure mounting with every turn as he tried to keep up with the wolfman, but Klax was running on instinct now—following an image that only he could see. And with Valgraiva’s heavy armor, he wasn’t going to keep up with the wolfman.

Ahead, Fauna gasped, barely able to keep pace with Tara’s feline agility. Her hands glowed faintly with magical energy, ready for whatever might lie ahead, but her eyes were wide with worry.

“What the fuck happened to him?” Tara hissed.

“He said he heard her – Jun’Ei.”

The Minxit coughed, almost like she was about to choke. “Yeah. That’ll do it.”

"It’s a trick, right?” Ethan asked her as they rounded another alley towards the bounding wolfman. “Fauna?”

“I’m detecting powerful illusory magic nearby!” she huffed. “But…there’s something else. I feel weaker here, somehow.”

“Never mind that!” Tara shouted back. “When I get my claws on that dog I’m gonna tear him a new hole!”

Ethan growled in frustration, knowing now that the city’s illusions were stronger than he’d thought. Even he could feel the unsettling weight of the memories that lingered here, manipulating the minds of those desperate enough to fall for their tricks. And Klax—driven by grief, loss, and the hope of seeing Jun’Ei again—was falling for it.

Looking at the strange spires that loomed above them, he fell to wondering – was that their purpose? To trick them?

The party kept pushing through the narrow streets, relentlessly driving towards their quarry. But every time they thought they had Klax in their clutches, they came up with nothing but air.

“Damn it!” Tara kept growling. “Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

When they found him again he was leaping through a new section of the city – one covered in a dense sapphire mist of a similar color to the Dreamstrider’s spirit bomb projectiles.

“Klax!” Ethan shouted again, pushing his legs faster as Klax disappeared around another corner. “Klax, wait! It's not real!”

But the wolfman didn’t respond. His eyes were fixed on the shimmering, ghostly figure at the far end of the street, standing in a wide midsection where three junctions met. The spirit hovered just above the ground, her face half-hidden beneath the glowing veil of light. She looked exactly as she had before—the same silver hair cascading over her shoulders, the same soft smile that Klax remembered from so long ago.

“Jun’Ei…” Klax breathed. His pace quickened as the figure turned and began to walk away, almost beckoning him with a tender gesture. He sprinted down the alley, hands outstretched. “Jun’Ei, wait!”

The figure seemed to pause, as if waiting for him. Klax's breath hitched in his throat, his heart pounding with raw emotion. He was almost there—so close that he could feel the warmth of her presence in the icy, dream-like air. He ran faster, arms reaching forward.

But then, something changed.

“KLAX!” Ethan’s voice tore through the air, a desperate scream of warning.

Klax didn’t have time to react. It was all he could do to look back at his sprinting comrades and plead, silently, for them to stay away.

A sharp scream shot through the air – like the dying wail of a cat – and a sharp twang echoed from above. In an instant, a thin spear of light shot through the mists, piercing Klax’s neck where he stood. Blood sprayed into the air as he collapsed, his body crashing onto the cobblestones in a heap.

“No!” Ethan skidded to a stop, eyes wide in horror as blood began to pool beneath Klax’s twitching form. Fauna screamed, rushing forward, but Ethan held out his arm, stopping her in her tracks. “Get back!”

Fauna’s eyes filled with tears as she froze in place, her hands trembling at her sides. “Klax… He’s…”

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“He’s still alive.” Ethan’s voice was low and urgent, his mind racing. The wound was bad—blood gushed from Klax's neck in heavy spurts, and his breaths were already shallow, fading. “Stay behind me!”

Ethan's single crimson eye swept the surroundings, seeing nothing but the towering Memory Towers shimmering ominously above the mist that now enveloped them. The towers shifted in and out of existence, translucent structures fading like mirages in the heat. His heart pounded as he activated his Appraisal, searching for their attackers. His vision flared to life, and within moments, he saw them—two creatures perched in the towers, barely visible as they flickered in and out of reality.

“Two of them,” Ethan muttered, locking onto their faint silhouettes. “Snipers.”

“Fuck!” Tara spat. “Klax! Don’t move, alright! Just…just don’t move.”

The wounded Lycae spat a globule of his slowly dwindling blood by way of response.

“Just…go…”

“Quiet!” Ethan whispered at him, motioning for Fauna to come up beside him.

The rabbitgirl stood, clutching her staff tightly to her breast, her eyes trained on the fallen body of her comrade.

“Faun.”

No response.

“Faun!”

The Hopla shook herself, tearing her eyes away from Klax’s downed body and his mumbling, bloody lips.

“I – yes.”

“Can you levitate him from here? Whip up a smokescreen to cover us?”

The Hopla blinked once, realization suddenly dawning on her.

“This fog…it’s no natural fog at all.”

“Nothing is in this place,” Tara grunted, back against the wall.

“It’s a Nullification Field,” Fauna continued, gripping her staff tighter with each passing moment. “Anti-magic, like your shield, Ethan. I…I can’t even form a simple spell…no matter how hard I –“

Ethan stopped her with a firm but gentle hand on her shoulder.

But will skills work? he thought. There was one way to find out.

Without another moment’s hesitation, he summoned a Shadow Wraith, the dark form materializing near Klax’s body. The Wraith’s ghostly figure crouched low, ready to protect their fallen comrade. But no sooner had it appeared than a string of violet light—accompanied by another piercing, inhuman scream—ripped through the air. The wraith let out a shriek before it dissolved into nothingness, its form torn apart by the blast.

"Shit," Ethan growled, watching the aftermath of the attack. His mind raced as he processed the situation. Whoever they were up against, they were powerful—too powerful to take on blindly. His Wraith had at least 300 HP. Even if he went out there guns blazing with his beefy 1000, it would only take a few shots to drop him. And there were two of them – twice the deadly firepower.

But at the same time, they had just given away their location. He could see them clearer now – two vague, dark bipedal shapes with long stalks where their heads should have been, pointing down at the party’s position.

“We – we could try going around ‘em,” Tara whispered, her eyes darting toward the shimmering towers. “You could try a Mass Hide. Under this mist, we’d probably get enough time to –“

“No,” Ethan interrupted. “No – that’s what they want.”

“What?”

He was remembering his hours as a sniper back when he was just a boy playing Battlefield, pretending at being a soldier. He remembered the war movies he’d binged as a boy, and how, more than any combatant, patience and cunning were the sniper’s greatest virtue.

“We've got snipers on us. I don’t know what kind of magic they’re using, but it’s lethal. And they want us to rush out there to help him. In fact, that’s what they’re counting on.”

“B-but we cant sit here with our thumbs up our asses!”

Ethan’s mind spun as he tried to think of a plan. They were sitting ducks out in the open like this, and with Klax bleeding out, they didn’t have much time.

“We need to move fast,” Ethan said, gritting his teeth. “Fauna, can you heal him from here?”

Fauna wiped at her tears, shaking her head frantically. “Not like this—he’s too far gone. I’d need to be right there next to him.”

“And if you go out there, they’ll take you down before you get close,” Tara added, her grip tightening on her bow. “We’re not dealing with amateurs.”

Ethan cursed under his breath. Klax's life was slipping away, and they were boxed in by enemies they couldn't even see properly. The shimmering towers loomed over them like silent sentinels, and the city’s twisted illusions made everything feel distorted—like a nightmare they couldn’t wake from.

“Dammit,” Ethan muttered, clenching his fists. “We need to buy time. There’s got to be a way to draw their fire, distract them somehow.”

Fauna’s voice cracked as she spoke. “We can’t just leave him to die…”

“We won’t.” Ethan’s eye flared as he turned toward the Memory Towers again. He could see the faintest glimmers of the snipers, watching them, waiting for another chance to strike.

And that’s when the thought suddenly hit him.

Current Spirit Cores: 300

Upgrades Available!

He grimaced, considering the option. He never thought it’d be useful…until now.

A new upgrade that just might save Klax's skin...but it'd be risky.

“There’s something I can do,” he said. “At least – I think so. A way to distract them.”

Tara stared at him, her expression unreadable. “Let me guess, another one of your reckless plans?”

Ethan nodded, crouching low, picking a spot behind Klax where he could see a bundle of ethereal stones piled together.

“Tara, Fauna, stay low. Get ready to move as soon as I give the signal,” Ethan said, cutting her off as his mind raced through the possibilities. They had one chance to save Klax, and it was all going to come down to timing and a bit of luck.

“Ethan, if you go out there—” Tara started, but Ethan waved her off.

“Just trust me.” Ethan took a deep breath, feeling the tension in his muscles as he steeled himself for what was to come. His gaze locked onto the Memory Towers in the distance, where the snipers lay in wait, before returning to the gargling body of Klax laying in a puddle of his own Lycan blood.

“Just…run!” he sputtered.“Leave this…idiot…to die.”

Not on your life, buddy, Ethan mimed back at the fallen hound. This team’s staying together no matter what.

And it was that thought, and that thought alone, that finally steeled his resolve.

“Ok,” he said. “Here’s what we’re gonna do.”