The... thing inside me was quiet for now, but I could still feel its confidence boost rushing through me like adrenaline. Kaelen shielded us in her force field, and Alaric popped up at the front, flapping his snow white wings. He commented, "Fighting among humans? Hoot! Alaric does not like this! What did you do, hoot, while Alaric was gone?"

I opted for silence as an answer, because mostly, our current situation was my fault.

"Terra, do you have enough Mana for a monster?" Elias asked, "I can support with my corrosion Skill, but I can only focus on one guard at a time, and my boulder attack takes some time to build up."

I nodded, grinning, "Glad that you asked. I have a lot in reserve, and I am ready to pull off this attack."

My gaze swept through our opponent's ranks, and I added, "We don't know what kind of powers they have, but there are only five of them. I am confident I can make my creations take on three to four of them."

"Then, I can make another force field and trap a guard," Kaelen suggested.

Elias chuckled, "And fry them?"

That called up an unwelcomed picture of roasted chicken, with the guards' faces juxtaposed onto them. I winced internally, banishing that thought away from my brain. Kaelen did not seem to be affected by this imagery, however, because she just agreed, "And fry them."

"I'll go for hand-to-hand combat with the one at the far right," Elias pointed at his target, "The Queen Bee dropped a weapon I'm eager to use."

Right on cue, a sword with a yellow and black aura appeared in his hand, and he elaborated, "It is magically poisoned without needing my own Mana. This would work really well with the corrosion Skill."

None of us objected. The plan has a decent chance of succeeding, and I was itching to try out a new Skill combo I had been thinking of. Elias left with Alaric - we agreed that Alaric could serve as a distraction or even a minor threat by aiming for the eyes, and Kaelen used her force field Skill on the left-most guard. It was my turn. First, I set the scene for an illusion. It would be simple, like the encounter with the bee. Nothing would change in the illusion, except that the three guards under my spell would not be able to see or hear any of my monsters and any of my other attacks. Three was my limit for Illusion, so it was just enough. Wonderful.

I called out mentally for the Story Weaver paper then, and it appeared alongside the black leather book. I sketched my first design, together with its desired attributes. It was simple, really, just a normal tiger with a stinger for its tail, without any fancy magic powers - that would cost me too much Mana, a resource I had to use sparingly. Not wasting any time, I conjured up an image in my mind, not sharpening out too many details for the sake of time but leaving enough to not compromise the quality of my creation. Then, I hurled the qualities I wanted it to have - strength, aglity, durability and poison - at the tiger, and it was done. There was only a minor aching in my mind when I placed the tiger behind my targets, making sure that it was far enough from Elias.

It wasn't that difficult, since the three had begun to attack our force field. One of them generated sharp spikes that protruded out from his fist, and pounded on the barrier with them. The middle guard was clearly stronger, with a skill similar to telekinesis in her arsenal. However, the rocks she had been trying to hurl at us were way too weak to do any real damage to the force field, with any damage to it quickly repaired by Kaelen. They must be really weak compared to the bees, but I guess 100 tiny Level 1 bees were strong in numbers. Regardless, our enemies' efforts were futile - the last guard, the same one who had spoken to me earlier, had been trying to throw himself against the glowing barrier for the last five minutes. It did occasionally crack, but it did not shatter.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Kaelen had already begun to rain down lightning bolts on the man she had been focusing on, resting after every wave to replenish her Mana, but the bolts were enough to incur screams from the man, who was too preoccupied with not dying (he was failing at that, too) to try escape the bubble of light he was trapped in.

I took in all that in a few seconds, then lowered my head again to work on crafting a story for the tiger. The creature alone would be enough for now, I decided, after seeing the power level of my three opponents, but if it was not, I could just create a helper for it. The story was not of the best quality, but it did not have to be. My author side hurt at this thought, but I didn't have time to care. If I wanted to, I could get a little pet just for me and give it a backstory, after this is over.

I directed the tiger to finish off the three guards, as well as the remaining two if they were not dead by then, before self destructing like the other monsters I had created. Every time I had to destroy one of the monsters I brought to life with the skill, some part of me ached, but it was okay. I reminded myself of the Companion I would make for myself the next time we rested, and watched as the new pieces of paper attached themselves to the black book by magic, and my headache increased. I no longer needed to do anything, though, so I sat down and just watched the scene unfold.

Ding!

Watch the Illusion Realm?

[ACCEPT]

Curious, I cautiously clicked on the Accept button. Illusion was my own Skill, so it was unlikely to hurt me, right?

It did not, thankfully, but the scene in front of me did change slightly. It was like I could see two versions of the tiger versus guards battle, one in the perspective of those under my Illusion, and the other as per normal. Although disorientating at first, I quickly got used to it, and I had to admit, there was a sadistic kind of fun in seeing how well the combo was going.

The guards could not see the tiger, so all they knew was that some kind of invisible monster was trying to hurt them, and that made them panic. They were trained, yes, that was clear from how they did not just start running away like a normal person would. I would do that, too, if I was the victim and not the attacker. However, training could not protect them against some enemy they could not see. Although they were occasionally lucky and were fast enough to land a hit, my normal vision told me that the slices were shallow. In response, the tiger's claws and bites always landed true, and his barbed tail had already injured two of them, leaving the left-most guard to fend for himself while his teammates flailed around in the ground.

It was a losing battle. For them, of course.

This was the first time I had truly felt the power of my Skills, as in, really, truly, realized the things I could potentially do with it, and these were only three Skills. I was not sure if I could get more, but my System Team's wording told me that there was a chance I could. The foreign personality within me suddenly did not feel that alien anymore. Perhaps, it was supposed to be part of me?

Yes, it seemed to whisper in a language only the two of us could understand, We are one. You are me, and I am you.

By now, the tiger had obliterated my last enemy, and Elias looked to be close to getting his kill, too. Kaelen's target had been reduced to ashes, and her offense force field had been recalled by now. Since Elias did not need my tiger's help, I pulled out my Story Weaver book and, with a few quick scribbles, changed the tiger's ending so that it died as soon as it killed the last guard. I watched the beast disappear into fragments, my ears full of the ringing from the System notifications. I decided to look at them later, humming as I watched Elias' fight. With a triumphant shout, he wrapped his left hand around the guard's neck, his corrosion Skill eating away at the man, who was already bleeding out from a poisoned wound in his abdomen. Before I knew it, the guard was dead, and our way forward was clear.

Elias turned back to us, boasting as he Inventoried his sword, "That was easy. You need help- Oh, never mind. The two of you are faster than me!"