Sending a stream of dark lances at the aberrant death knight to draw its attention, I flew sideways as my mind raced, trying to figure out a strategy. I was angry, but I wasn't going to go all berserker on the bastard. That was a one way trip to getting my ass kicked. High tier existences had the word 'high' for a reason. They were existences that had gone beyond mortal limitations and had forged their right to disdain all those below them by their strength alone. There was only one way for a true high tier creature to completely die: the destruction of their souls.

  “Hahaha...” Chuckling darkly at that insane thought, I wondered how I was going to accomplish such a feat as my dark lances plowed into the aberrant knight's torso. They made the creature stagger back but only left behind dark cracks that began healing immediately. I had only one real advantage over him currently: my mobility. A few moments later, almost to make a mockery of my observation, the death knight crouched and then shot up right at me, leaving a crater behind on the ground from the force of his kick off.

  I was lucky that I was still moving, as I dodged the red, crescent shaped mass of mana that rippled past my head from the death knight's sword as the creature went flying by. Trying to keep form tumbling, I saw the attack spell cut into the crystalline walls, shattering a sizable stretch. Boom! The aberrant knight did no less damage as he plowed into the very same walls a short distance away. Not waiting to see the results, I continued launching dark lances into the red cloud created by the impact. I knew it was useless, but it was the best I could do for now, until the book spell I had finally placed my bets on was ready.

  As I propelled myself backwards, trying to get as far away as possible, the impact cloud finally began dissipating as my dark lances struck. However, what they struck wasn't the aberrant knight, but a malevolent, crimson shield looming out of the debris cloud. When the death knight's form finally appeared, it was crouched behind its shield spell in the middle of a crater in the wall and had its sword embedded in the wall. My dark lances pitifully impacted the shield, doing nothing more than creating ripples before they burst apart.

  I saw aberrant knight hunch down again, and knowing what was coming, I pushed more mana into my [Float] spell as I began zigging and zagging in the air desperately. As the creature launched itself with another blast, I finally finished casting [Antimagic Blast] and plunged downwards to dodge the familiar crimson slash coming my way. My spell was one of the more powerful mid tier spells I had access to. It was designed to create a temporary null zone of mana wherever it impacted, something perfectly suited in hurting the type of creature I was facing. As the knight shot by, the spell struck its chest, sending it tumbling off like a pin ball to crash right into an aberrant golem on the ground.

  I was in no better shape, as the edge of the bastard's attack had clipped my head, shearing off a full corner of it almost instantaneously. More than that, the mana in my parasitized soul was literally drained, and it was only the constant flow of mana from my main soul that was keeping this body's soul from collapsing. As I stabilized myself in the air, I grabbed my sliced head, sensing chaotic, red mana pervading the damage. If I had been actually alive, the wound would have been enough to kill me. Funneling some of my own mana to clear the corruption, I warily glanced below.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  The aberrant knight slowly stood up on top of the aberrant golem it had crashed into. The knight's chest had a basketball sized chunk almost scooped out, leaving me with a clear sight of its insides. However, even as I watched, the hollowed out space began to repair itself, purging out the death mana coating the gaping wound. The aberrant death knight opened its malformed jaws, roaring, “Gaaaarrrrrrrrrhhhh!”

  Then, it stomped on the golem underneath it, creating a massive blast that literally smashed the struggling golem into pieces and sent a pressure wave swirling around, that shredded any other golems that were nearby. If that spell wasn't enough for it to vent its anger, a familiar feeling of terror assailed me. However, this time I stayed sober, steeling myself against the high level spell by focusing on my purpose and pumping mana into my body to lessen the impact. My summons, who had been desperately fighting their own adversaries quailed for a moment, until my mental whipping sobered them up.

  I felt like cursing, as I was once again stuck trying to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do. There were only two things I knew so far. One, only my mobility was keeping me intact. If the damn thing got an opportunity to hit me directly with any of its attacks, I had a feeling I would probably be ripped apart like the golem it had just smashed. Two, it was most likely stupid. From the way it was acting, without really changing tactics and without using its true, high tier strength, I had a vague guess that the aberrant knight was nowhere near as intelligent as Neduzar's summon had once been. “So a stupid, muscle head with superpowers... but one I can barely hurt...”

  There had to be some way to even out this fight, and my glance was quickly drawn to the Mana Pool above me. It had been my final goal... but it didn't have to be. I needed to confirm something first. If I was right, then I had a chance getting the upper hand in my stalemate with the bastard.

  Looking back to see the aberrant knight still venting, I took a chance by using soul projection to peek into the Side Realm. The chaotic hurricane of death, natural, and red mana in the area almost overwhelmed me. There was no real order to the mana, and in every direction, black, blue, and red mana struggled with one another for dominance. In some places, the turbulence had even created areas of void like disturbances in the Side Realm, something that was terrifying in its implications. However, my purpose this time was not to gawk.

  What stood out first were the thick, crimson mana columns connecting the Mana Pool to the 12 large realm stones dotted around the upper walls of the dome and to the aberrant knight down below. However, my focus then shifted from the crimson columns to the one opposing them. The Soul Focus blazed in darkness as series of thick vine like extensions of death mana flowed from her to also envelope the corrupted realm stones. The combination of the two countering forces created a nightmarish scene, but it was enough to tell me red corruption did not yet have full control over the large realm stones. That meant I had a chance of destroying them in order to shut down the Mana Pool, through which the red corruption was invading reality.

  Snapping out of the Side Realm, I began immediately casting [Antimagic Stream] again. There was more than one way to destroy something like a realm stone, but the easiest way was to destabilize their structure. The consequences of course would be like screwing with the key parts of a still running nuclear power plant.

  However, my luck seemed to run out. I watched in frustration, as the muscle head below finally figured out what a high tier existence was capable of. “Gaaaawrrrrrrrrrrr!” Crimson mana flooded out of its body, coating it liberally and literally creating an red aura that fluctuated like it was alive . It might have looked like a spell at first glance, but from Neduzar's memories, I knew the aberrant knight had finally figured out how to use mana materialization.

  Then, the creature began to float. “Shit...”