Discretion didn’t matter anymore. I was using my strength at its fullest to propel me through the air. Barely a hundred meters separated me from them, and I would cross them in just a few seconds.

The battle was raging and flooding the air with the metallic scent characteristic of blood. Magic still rained on top of the Fourth’s backline, trying to cause as much distraction as it could.

Our melee units were fighting at a disadvantage, five against seven if we didn’t count the many enemy mages, wizards, and archers. They were trying their best—exchanging blows, parrying, blocking, and side-stepping.

But we were fighting a losing battle.

When I finally came close enough, right when the first heads were turning my way, I discharged a pair of blades to the group of mages in charge of maintaining the shield.

I was not expecting to kill them, but I was hoping the distraction would be enough to let a few of our attacks land and cause chaos. I didn’t wait for the results; I extended two of my energy arms in a straight line and made sure they were as sharpened as they could get.

I crashed against a mage that was preparing a yellow burst of energy, surely intending to blow me with it. One of my arms pierced right through the chest as the other one bounced off some invisible wall.

I rolled on the floor, my next move ready to be fired. I send a pulse with compressed energy on the utmost layer, hitting enemies and allies with my [Fusion]-powered energy.

I heard a few cries, but I couldn’t stop to check who it was. A sword whistled next to my ear as I rolled once more, escaping from the heat of a magic fireball by just a hair’s width.

I didn’t aim when three more blades split the air in two. System notifications were piling up, either informing me of kills or warning me of damage. I was not escaping unscathed from my dive in.

A thunderbolt had pierced straight through my right arm, and a spear had managed to draw blood from my chest. I might have done some damage, but I was not in the middle of the fright with no place to escape.

“And the beast shows its fangs!” Gabriel shouted from behind the circle of people pointing their weapons and magic at me.

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“You shouldn’t have come! You will die here!” I said as I formed a compressed energy attack.

The atmosphere was packed with magic, making it hard for my senses to pick up exactly what was going on. There was no difference between allied magic and enemy attacks. I couldn’t tell what was aiming for me and what not.

I was lost.

“Why don’t you look around you?” Gabriel said, amused and short of breaking into laughter.

I turned just in time to see how the Fourth beheaded the last of our melee units. The other four that had made it this far were lying lifelessly on the floor. In a moment, they had been dispatched.

“Did you really think we could not handle them? We were just baiting you!” he finally couldn’t stop himself from laughing like a madman.

His pedantic face was enough to make me lose what was left of my composure. I slowly opened my hand, and with might I had never gathered before, I let the concentrated magic attack free.

His eyes went round with surprise. He hadn’t been expecting anything like that. They had, after all, underestimated my actual power. Both my classes, when added together, also made me a level 50 menace.

If I can get the leader, then I’m sure the rest will be much easil-

It was my turn to go crazy. A soldier, spurred by a thought process that I failed to comprehend, jumped right in between my attack and Gabriel. My attack made contact and exploded into a fury of energy.

I heard the System ding as the man, with a hole in his chest, collapsed to the ground. My surprise attack had failed. I had killed one more enemy, but that wouldn’t be enough. I needed the head of their leader.

I…

I had run out of options. And like any trapped beast, I lashed out in all directions. I sent blades, energy arms, slightly condensed balls of energy, pulses with solid energy, and attempts at corruption. Everything was deflected.

I was about to give up when my pulse caught sight of something unexpected. A lone figure, Charlotte, running towards the enemy formation.

“We will make sure to make you suffer; don’t worry.” Gabriel smiled at me.

Charlotte kept running without caring about the ongoing battle or the danger she was putting herself in.

“As we will with that classless traitor scum!”

Gabriel spit on the floor as she looked at Charlotte with blood-infused eyes. But that didn’t make her stop; if anything, it motivated her to run faster. To shout louder.

“Do it!” Charlotte was screaming at this point. “Finish what you started!” She was almost begging me. “Corrupt me!”

But you will die… Even now, I knew that she was on the verge of crossing the line. I could see the bugs of corruption eating at her, reattaching and multiplying with every passing second.

Almost like she was asking them to be there, to consume her.

“It’s the only way!” She insisted once more. “Just do it!”

I closed my eyes, a sigh escaping from me without my consent or permission. I tuned out Gabriel’s rage and shouts, and focused on my energy. I wanted a compressed pulse, one with clear intentions.

Corrupt her. Finish her class. Give her power.

Opening my eyes in a purely symbolic gesture, I aimed the pulse at her and no one else. I sent it straight to her running figure, and I watched as she became enshrouded by a black mist. A layer of bugs so thick that it almost looked uniform.

The next thing I knew, she was by my side, touching my shoulder with her pitch-black hand.

“Thank you,” she only said.