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Tom stretched his proprioception to it’s limits as he flailed for balance mid-air, his expression echoing his fear as he just barely managed to hit the wall boots first and thanks to the aid of the Phantom Walk ability, kept his feet affixed to it and fought against the momentum that washed over him, beckoning him to crash against the wall instead.

His knees groaned under the strain but Tom held onto his footing though gritted teeth.

Then he was running up the wall as his proprioception stat nullified any nausea he would feel as he gazed down upon the battlefield with his sight inverted.

“Seriously,” He muttered under his breath as he watched the Nether Lich still seated on its throne as it’s minions, four-legged, winged creatures that were fashioned out of ivory-colored bone and nether crystal harried his companions.

Aleph dodged, her expression unreadable behind her crystal vizor, while Zirel swore as he evaded a chasing skeleton bird by diving beneath another’s legs and rolling forward, all while dealing as much damage as he could with his blade of necrosis.

Tom’s gaze shifted to the Nether Lich and almost immediately, his expression sank.

For the Nether Lich was gazing right back at Tom. He could tell, even if the damned creature’s eyesockets were empty.

It tapped it’s staff on the ground once and the square curtain of energy that it had used to attack Aleph reappeared. It tapped again and the energy reshaped itself into a long shaft with a cone-shaped cap.

“Oh shit,” Tom protested as his eyes widened in horror, realizing the mass of energy for what it was.

A bloody spear.

One that was headed right for him.

His heart hammered in his chest as he exploded forth with momentum, only to find his potential capped because he was still trying to run upside down, powered by an ability not truly his.

He screamed out loud as a terribly sharp pain ripped across his abdomen. Tears threatened to build up in his eyes as he finally managed to pin-point the source of his agony, noticing that he was bleeding from a large gash in his side.

A painful wound, but not nearly a fatal one.

“Enough!” Aleph’s furious roar pierced the air, almost demanding that Tom turn his attention to her.

He only managed to keep her in the periphery of his vision, the rest of his focus trained on the Nether Lich.

He watched as Aleph’s blade sliced off a crystalline claw along with the limb of a charging skeletal bird.

But she didn't stop there, even as the creature that should be incapable of feeling pain reeled backwards from the sheer force contained behind the strike.

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A second strike with her rare artifact swept outwards, lacerating the creature across it’s ribcage.

Tom’s expression tensed in surprise as Aleph kept going, her every strike faster than the last.

After the fifth strike, Tom’s proprioception stat failed to keep up with the blur that was Aleph’s sword arm and blade.

‘Holy shit,’ Tom watched as Aleph finally pulled away from the skeletal bird, leaving behind only a pile of shattered bone and nether crystal.

Unfortunately, that admiration came to an abrupt end as he observed the Nether Lich tap its staff, summoning another curtain of energy.

Just as it shaped the curtain of energy into a spear, Tom threw himself to the ground before rolling forward, not underestimating the Nether Lich’s attack speed this time.

A blur of violet streaking past his vision was all Tom registered of the deadly attack and from the eerie chatter of teeth, it seemed like he had successfully annoyed the Nether Lich.

Tom broke out into a sprint as he surveyed the battlefield, searching for a fight where he could make the greatest impact.

He watched Zirel, as he cancelled his phantom blade ability and instead, made a lashing motion with his right hand, shooting forth a shadowy tendril that wrapped around a charging skeletal bird’s right hindleg.

Tom watched with bated breath as the skeletal bird neared Zirel, slowing its momentum slightly as it raised both its forelegs, with those terrible crystalline claws and poised to strike.

Zirel tugged forward, pulling its right hind leg from under it and leaving it with only one limb to balance its weight on.

Tom was certain that it was a common card’s ability that Zirel was using, but the timing and confidence he used it with allowed him to fell a skeletal bird with shocking ease.

Instead of attacking the downed construct viciously like Aleph had, Zirel retrieved a glass vial from his inventory.

He retreated even as he threw the glass vial towards the skeletal bird that had lost its balance, striking it right on one of it’s nether crystal claws.

A torrent of fire bloomed outward from where the alchemical reagent shattered, interacting with the Nether Crystal to cause an explosion that arced vertically instead of horizontally.

The skeletal bird was clearly done for, but the battle was far from over.

“Zirel!” Tom called out as he weaved across the battlefield. “Can you ignite the Nether Lich’s throne?”

“Are you insane?” Zirel bellowed back the question as he calculated his next move. “If I ignite that concentration of Nether Crystal, it’s going to blow us all to smithereens,” He explained.

‘I know that,’ Tom thought, as he did his best to push away the fear that was trying to influence his judgment. ‘I know that but…’, His gaze swept across the battlefield, noting that not as much as a scratch marred the Nether Lich. Aleph could deal with the skeletal birds, but her reserves of strength were not endless.

Striking with that much force that quickly had to be eating away at her stamina.

‘Fuck, is there really no other way?’ He asked himself as his gaze locked onto the Nether Lich’s hollow eyes.

Or slightly above it, if he was being honest.

Above its head, on the number ‘one’ that was accompanied by a jester icon.

Until now, not a single phantasmal creature he had encountered had triggered his Active Shroud—Maya ability. And now, when it had, it asked only a single SP from him to peer into the mind of the most powerful opponent he had encountered in his life.

‘There’s something very wrong about this,’ He thought, his hands clenched onto his daggers as if he was seeking support. ‘But if I don’t do this, we’re all dead anyway. Damn it all.’

Time seemed to freeze for Tom and the world went black.