The arc will most likely end tomorrow.

---------------------------------------

Carlyle pushed forward with his attacks. Each one getting more aggressive and accurate. Their wild, skillful, battle took the two outside.

Jackal, seemingly Carlyle's equal, grew with him, parrying the other's sword thrusts and swings.

"What's wrong?" Jackal laughed. "I was expecting a little more. Got me a little nervous for no reason."

Carlyle bent low and used his ability, sending Jackal up into the air.

"Hmph." Jackal put his hand over his chest. "That shit fucking hurts you know." A slight bit annoyed at Carlyle's stoic attitude, he sends mana into his hands. His clothes start to flounder wildly, multiple glowing streams of white circled around Jackal's fists. Closing the distance, Jackal lunges with his dagger.

Carlyle dodged it, but a great force, much like his ability, threw him back. Although he hasn't taken a single hit so far, he looked down to find his clothes all cut up, as if he were a soldier in war. A sharp pain permeated from his shoulder, the one closest to Jackal's fist.

Blood trickled down ever so slowly. Carlyle ignored the wound, it wouldn't hinder him much.

The two of them were like two tigers clawing at each other but never going for a fatal blow. They continued to trade blows, Carlyle getting the worst of it due to Jackal's mana charged fists but none landing anything deciding. Though each of them were tense, as they knew the other was skilled, both refused to be the first to launch their deadliest attack.

One mistake, at the level they were at, would mean it was over. If one chose to forego defense and threw everything they had in one attack, if they failed, if they hesitated or were off by a centimeter, the other, just as skilled, would capitalize and end their life right then and there.

In a battle between such well groomed beasts with the weapons they had, it was only natural that such a battle could end at the drop of a hat. Yes, neither of the two would fail in capitalizing on the mistake of the other.

Jackal's gaze flickered between his opponent before him and the headmaster whom he could still hear back inside, still being thrown around by the spell. Since the spell was still going on, and it had been going on for quite a long while, that meant that his ally was still alive and supplying it with mana.

But Jackal knew that eventually, the spell would time out and the old man would be free to do what he wished. If that happened, then he would instantly lose. Jack activated the dagger which he still held and activated its power. The two zombie like teachers didn't move.

He silently cursed.

Though the dagger in his hand enslaved anyone whom it cut, if they were unconscious then it could no longer command them, that was one of its drawbacks. The other drawback being that the dagger itself was needed to control someone, if it wasn't used, then the person would become a mindless zombie, killing everything that was in its way.

The item was a gift, something he received from those who hired him. They had told him that it was best used for assisting him in taking down the pesky headmaster. The dagger's effect also wouldn't wear off unless it was dispelled by a high level magician or the zombie came close to death, shocking them out of it. Other than that, they provided no extra assistance.

All he needed was one cut.

Jackal drew back the mana in his arms and sent it to his feet. A sudden pop and he burst forward at an incredible speed, the dagger aiming straight at Carlyle.

Surprised by the attack, Carlyle bent backwards.

I've got you! Jackal's lips spread into a smile just before Carlyle activated his ability again.

"GUH!"

Jackal landed further away, the distance of which matched the hole in the front of the building. Jackal wiped away the sweat on his forehead. There had to be limited uses for that ability. Getting ready for another go, he felt a connection sever. He sheathed his knife and pulled out a scroll from his belt.

"Heh. You can take this win. Don't think that it'll be so easy next time Carlyle."

Realizing what was going on, Carlyle broke into a sprint. "[Lightning Bolt]!"

But it was too late.

"[Teleport]!" Jackal disappeared.

-------------

The fireball flew from Anne's hand, headed straight for the open mage. Anne's lips curled up into a smile, one of a sadistic nature. Such a flow of dark emotions, the demon's power increased. It filled the demon under her control with pleasure, so much so in fact that it did not even realize the fireball behind it. As if it had some kind of obligation to its summoner, the demon chased harder after Yalsal.

It chased Yalsal while totally ignorant of where Yalsal was dragging it. That was, until a fireball scorched its backside. With a slight material form, the demon let out a screech.

Yalsal backed away and raised his hand, "[Holy Judgement], [Purify]!"

Trapped inside of the holy judgement, it had no way to escape the purify. Once both hit, the demon's body began to flicker between that of a stone gargoyle and that of a shadow.

*SCREECH*

Eventually its body began to burn away, like a person made out of paper.

Anne looked on with horror as her summon was destroyed. The scream of agony it had as it perished reminded burned, engraved, into Anne's mind. The cry of something that didn't want to die, a plea for help. A noise very similar to the one she made back then.

Then, like if history was repeating itself, the thunder beast was thrown across the room. Covered in bruises, missing patches of fur, bleeding, gashes as wide as a hand, the thunder beast struggled to get back up from its downed position. Undor, the gorilla man, dragged a clawing Halora by its tail, it too struggled, but not to get back up, but to stay on the ground.

Its powerful, hard as steel claws futility tried to pin it to a spot but Undor still dragged anyways, as if not hindered by the beast's attempt at all. Though the gorilla was also bloodied and bruised, injured from the battle, he twisted his body and slammed the Halora into the thunder beast.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

With a fist covered in stone, the ape punched straight through the two gigantic bodies as if they were water. The beasts' growls turned into whimpers.

And like that, Anne's knees buckled. Her summons had all been defeated. Her beasts were killed in the same way that Bes was. The scene repeated itself in her head. No matter her effort to forget the event, the images flashed through her mind. If she wasn't facing death, Anne might have very well gone insane.

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She moved her hands to her head. Help me. Save me. I'm going to die. Without knowing it, she sent these thoughts. Already close to breaking, she couldn't differentiate between the link and her own mind. Every thought, transmitted across the link.

I don't want to die.

She opened her mouth and screamed.

The corpses of each guard and the two beasts got on their feet. At first, the dead went one at a time, throwing themselves at the two killers, then, finally, all at once. Soon, the whole underground was filled with the smell of burning flesh.

Undor tore crushed and tore heads off bodies. Yalsal opted to burn all of them. Those who were further away became nothing more than bones or ash before even reaching him.

The two beasts were easily dismantled by Undor's unparalleled strength.

As Anne witnessed the slaughtering of the dead guards, she forced her body to move, but it wouldn't. Her ability, which she so despised, was what saved her last time, yet, right now, she couldn't run like before. Why? Did she feel an obligation to the people whose bodies she defiled using her ability? Did she feel guilty for being unable to avenger her friend who gave his life for her? Maybe it was a mix of all of them.

Nevertheless, Anne could not move despite how desperately she wanted to. As if taken over by a completely different entity, Anne's body would not respond.

Soon enough, all the corpses were back to being just that, corpses.

Yalsal spit on the ground.

"Your ability is disgusting. You know? I couldn't believe that you'd your ability on your pet. Guess you didn't love it much huh?"

Anne didn't respond, she couldn't. What he said was true. If only I spent more time training. If only I didn't start working at that stupid job. Then I could've avenged Bes.

"Let's end this already Yalsal. There's no need to torture her any longer." Undor said.

"Shut up. You weren't the one who had your goddamned hand chewed up by a fucking cat." Yalsal snapped.

Undor narrowed his eyes. "We need to move on. Unless you want to make Jackal angry."

Yalsal glanced over at Anne, "Fine." he said unhappily. "Today's your lucky day. I'll make it quick."

*Step*

"Someone's there." Undor said.

"Are you okay?" the voice was aimed at Anne.

Anne's body jerked. She was saved.

"Take him out." Undor looked at Yalsal.

"Yeah."

The rescuer stepped off the stairs.

Anne wanted to scream out but couldn't. Back up had arrived but it wouldn't matter if they were caught by a sneak attack.

"[Lightning Bolt]!"

The bright yellow light zoomed across the room. Anne, with all the energy she could muster, forced herself in front of the bolt. Anne fell to her side, whole body hot and dizzy. I'll have to leave it up to him.

----------------------

Henry reacted quickly, he flicked his finger and launched the rat with his ability. It exploded in their faces.

"GUH! My hand!"

Taking advantage of the situation, Henry threw out a blind paralyze. He knew it hit when he heard a box break. One down.

Henry threw a wild punch at the other shadow in the smoke.

"[Great Gust]!"

The magic caster pushed Henry away and cleared the smoke. A one on one. With one out, it was much easier for Henry. No longer with the problem of having to worry about a two hundred plus pound muscle brain, he unleashed the full force of his ability.

The magic caster was forced against the wall.

A rat ran up to Henry.

"Barrier!"

He was unscathed.

The magic caster raised his hand, "[Dis-"

Henry stopped him. "[Stone Cannon]!" It hit the last enemy squarely on the chest, instantly knocking him out. Henry took quick but deep breaths, unable to believe what just happened, he pinched himself.

"Got through that one. [Paralyze]."

The small green ball of mana flew and hit the magician. His ring glowed. Seeing the bright glow of the ring in the dark night, Henry instinctively moved towards it. He slipped it off the caster's finger and examined it. A clear white gem was placed in the middle.

"I guess I'll take this." he said. "You won't be needing it. [Paralyze]."

*Rustle*

Henry turned around, "Who's there!"

"It's me!"

"Thirteenth?" Henry slipped the ring into his pocket.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt badly?" Rainen looked around his friend's body. "You sure took quite a beating."

"Heh. Yeah. It would've been nice if you could've gotten here sooner you know. I almost died." Henry playfully hit his chest.

"Yeah. My bad. I'm glad that you're safe." Rainen looked around. "Did you make sure to cast stun on these guys?"

"Of course I did."

"Good." Rainen put his hands on his waist and turned his head to the sky.

"Are YOU okay?" Henry asked, noticing the boy's imbalanced stance.

"Just a little woozy." Rainen out his hands back down. "Now-"

Help me. Save me. I'm going to die.

Rainen's skin went cold.

I don't want to die.

His breath stopped and he looked around. Wrong choice. He turned around and ran outside.

"Where are you going?" Henry called out after him.

Rainen didn't respond, he just kept on going. The time it would take to make it from here to the barracks would take too long. He focused his eyes on the top of the building and disappeared.

-----------

Anne's body sunk. The hole in her heart extended to her stomach. The person who came to save her wasn't Rainen but some random guard who heard her scream. He laid only a few feet away from her, his dead eyes locked onto her's.

"Your turn." Yalsal said.