Ito was just ahead of me as we darted through the back
corridor toward a narrow stairwell that descended into the mechanical room—one
of the few functioning centers in this half-dead building, controlling the
remaining tech both inside and out.

The first thing I saw when we arrived was a massive, gnarled
black hand wrapped around Jax’s leg. He was partially suspended, dangling like
a doll, one wrench jammed between the bars of a generator while his other hand
hacked wildly with a smaller blade. Each swipe cut clean chunks of shadowed
flesh away, but it wasn't enough—dark mist bled out of the wounds, curling like
smoke and scorching his skin, turning patches of it grey and shriveled.

Ito didn’t hesitate. His sword came down with brutal force,
but the blow was caught mid-swing—by another arm. A second limb had punched
clean through the floor, gripping his blade with impossible strength. Two left
hands. Four arms?

With a hiss of displaced air, Ito’s blade puffed out of
existence and reappeared in his grip. He sliced again at the obstruction. The
strike bit deep, but not as deep as his light blade would have. It wasn’t
enough to sever the limb.

I looked up—Jax was still screaming bloody murder, slamming
the now-depleted light blade against the wrist that held him, the glow long
faded. Ito was flung backward as the arm he'd been fighting vanished in a blur,
revealing it had been nothing but a mirage. The real arm came crashing in from
the other side, catching him off guard and hurling him into the ceiling with a
wet crack.

I lifted the cane and charged it with excess energy. A
glowing line launched forward, slicing into the thick wrist holding Jax, but it
barely left a mark, no more effective than Ito’s previous hits. I fired again.
And again. Line after line of arcane energy surged from the Arcane until the
pumpkin attached to it dulled and dimmed, its power spent. I tossed the
hollowed-out thing behind me and drew my pistol.

I emptied round after round into the same point on the
monster’s wrist, each shot hitting the mark until the limb finally cracked open
under the pressure. The grip on Jax weakened just enough.

I lunged and yanked us both away from the pit.

Ito was back up, bruised but focused. He grabbed Jax with a
practiced motion, pivoted, and used the kid’s momentum to judo-throw him right
through the main doorway, where Bjor and Drek were already waiting, weapons
raised.

A deafening crash sounded from the building’s front. Kito
shouted something I didn’t catch, her voice sharp and commanding. I glanced up
just in time to see bony hands and jagged appendages slamming into her
shimmering barrier—windowpanes that looked like they were made of refracted
force magic. Some of the spirits had already made contact and were clawing at
the edges.

The arms that had attacked us pulled back, slithering down
into the pit like black serpents. Bjor leapt past me, hammer in hand, and
brought it crashing down onto the floor around the holes. The ground convulsed
as the earth closed in on itself, sealing the breaches with trembling stone.

“Fwhoo…”

Tao’s voice rose from across the main hall, shouting
something I couldn’t make out. I stumbled toward the source of his voice and
caught the tail end of his thought: “—only began to react once the aura of that
thing suffused the space! They may not even be here for us!”

His words reached Ito, who was hauling himself over an
overturned table. Chairs lay scattered around like corpses, the whole building
shifting under the rhythmic pounding outside.

I cupped my hands and yelled, “Why don’t we move sideways
out of the building? If they come after us, at least we’ll see it happen!”

Another loud crack thundered overhead. Kito’s force shield
on the front windows shattered into glimmering dust.

They all looked at me.

I nodded.

Without waiting, I bolted toward the side wall and flung
myself at it—only to vanish mid-sprint and reappear on the far side. A small,
violet pulse glowed in my palm where the teleport rune had once been blank. One
of the charges was active now.

I turned and shouted, “Over here! Hey! Hey!”

Several skeletal figures twisted their heads toward me.
Their movements were slow, as if confused, weapons dragging behind them. Their
hollow, red-glowing eyes fixed on me for a moment—then turned away. They went
right back to pounding the building instead.

I blinked. Ran back toward the wall. Teleported through it
again. Thirteen jumps left on the line.

“They didn’t even try to follow. We should have Bjor lower
one of the walls. Go out the window and take the fight outside.”

“We need to understand why first, Jaeger,” Tao said as he
approached with a bone clutched in one hand. Drek had hacked it clean from one
of the things earlier.

Without hesitation, Tao cut into his own palm again and let
the blood drip onto the page of the spirit tome. He dipped the golden-tipped
quill, now acting more like a wand than a pen, into the blood and scribbled
down three rules:

You
will tell us your purpose.

You
will define if we are ally or enemy.

You
will speak only the truth.

He then placed the bone atop the book and laid the quill
next to it. As he chanted, the bone lifted off the page, and a dim golden light
wrapped around it like chains of intent. The quill snapped up, hovering in
place. A skeleton—dressed in the remnants of soldier’s armor—collapsed to the
ground in the distance. Its spirit had clearly been pulled in to respond.

The pen scratched two words into the paper:

Illictus fef.

ENUN TO MI ENUN.

“Well that explains some things…” Tao muttered, his brow
furrowed.

I moved beside him quickly and gripped his shoulder. “What’s
it mean?”

Tao exhaled slowly. “It means the language we speak—or a
close variant—existed here, but very few used it. The spirit from the tunnel
said it was discovered in that underground space. This must’ve been inserted
into the world somehow. Maybe players who came before us? Maybe the creature
down there learned it? I honestly don’t know.”

“That’s a whole lot of nothing, Tao.”

BOOM.

Something enormous struck the side of the building. One
corner exploded inward, sending a cloud of choking dust pouring down like a
waterfall. Through the debris, I saw it—a massive skull, its eye glowing like a
furnace in the night.

The T-rex.

“Oh shit,” I hissed. “Bjor! Open up the wall! I’m sick of
waiting around. Either we wipe these things like everything else or we fall
right here. We know they’re not fueled by death magic—they’re spirits, and that
means they can be killed.”

Ito raised his sword in agreement, slashing it through the
air as punctuation. “Choose now!”

“I say we go through the wall and watch what happens next,”
I said, flipping my lighter open. The smoke curled upward as I took a long
drag.

Creatures began pouring through the broken windows. Drek
stepped forward, waving his hand, and a volley of razor-sharp ice spikes burst
from the ground, skewering several of the bone soldiers clean through. The gap
sealed behind them in a jagged mess of frost.

“I vote we move out,” Drek said, and Bjor gave a grunt that
meant yes.

Tao was already moving to one of the walls Bjor had sealed
earlier.

“Alright,” Jax muttered, fiddling with a mana crystal and
clicking it into the handle of his light blade, “but if that thing can feed on
lifeforce or merge all their bones into some... eldritch meat mech, we’re in
real trouble.”

“This came sooner than our last ‘seven-day’ cycle,” Kito
said, her eyes narrowing as she backed toward the center of the room.

“If the timer reset when we left Wish’s space, it tracks,”
Tao replied, pulling the Infinitum out of his haversack and
beginning to chant.

Auras flickered into place. One surrounded Ito. Another
wrapped around me.

I flexed my hand. It moved twice as fast.

“Holy shit,” I said, grinning. “This is what it feels like?”

“Don’t get cocky,” Ito replied, eyes on the ceiling. “The
buff’s fast, but if you burn it too quick, you’re dead weight.”

Bjor flipped his warhammer into the air and caught it by the
handle. With a grunt, he turned it upside down and stood over the sealed pit.

Kito moved beside Tao. Jax held his weapon ready. Together,
they stared down at the space where Bjor would dig.

Another thunderous crash. The ceiling cracked. Shadows
poured in like floodwater. Kito’s barrier flared and held. For now.

“Let’s go!” Ito barked.

Drek gave a nod. Bjor crouched, leapt once to get momentum,
then again, slamming his feet into the hammer with such force that the earth
didn’t resist—it simply parted. He dropped straight down into the
stone like it was paper.

Ito kicked off the wall and stabbed his sword into the
ceiling, anchoring himself. The moment Bjor’s landing echoed from below, Ito
flung himself after him like a torpedo. Drek followed, freezing the tunnel’s
walls into a slick, perfect slide as he went.

I spared one last glance at the chaos behind me. Kito, Jax,
and Tao were holding, but not for long.

I tucked my cloak close, ducked my head, and dove in.

The tunnel wasn’t a slide. It was a drop. My body slammed
from wall to wall, each impact jarring until I thought to apply friction—hands
out, legs angled, I slowed just enough before a final ten-foot plummet planted
me hard on my feet.

The moment I hit the ground, something huge flew by my face.
I turned in time to see Bjor’s hammer scream past me, followed closely by the
man himself.

Ahead, flashes of light illuminated the fight. Ito was
already locked in combat with something towering and monstrous—a four-armed
creature wearing a demon’s mask, its skin the color of ash, its body easily
twice my width.

A sound above made me duck. I moved just in time as
something else crashed past. I pulled my pistol and opened fire, one shot after
another. Most bounced off harmlessly, but one bullet struck the side of the
mask. It pinged off—but it had the thing’s attention.

Two of its arms swiped toward Ito, catching him mid-motion
and sending him flying.

Why am I wasting the buff?

I holstered the gun and brought out my chain blade.

It wouldn’t cut deep like Ito’s sword, but I was better at
tying things up.

I lunged forward, extending the chain in bursts. It cracked
through the air and wrapped around the creature’s chest like a coiled serpent.
The monster reached for it, but I yanked, sending the blade snapping back,
embedding in one of its arms. I tapped into the arcane buff Tao had granted me
and shot into the air, leaping up over its shoulder and retracting the chain
just enough to carry myself over.

Then I swung down, using the momentum to pass under its
legs. Another flick, and I launched myself back upright in a single motion.

The monster cocked its head. Three arms grabbed the chain at
once.

And then it pulled.

Okay, so I hadn’t planned this out.

I went flying toward the creature, quickly throwing my chain
blade upward past its shoulder, managing to loop it securely around its thick,
muscled neck. Its massive arms shot out with terrifying speed, aiming to seize
me, but I teleported in the nick of time to the other side of it, barely
managing to catch hold of the chain again before falling.

Ito roared past me, glowing intensely in a hue I'd only
witnessed once before. He surged forward, his blade igniting in radiant fury.
"You son of a bitch!" he shouted as he delivered a precise, powerful
strike that cleanly severed the creature's lower left leg. Sparks erupted
brilliantly as his blade continued upwards, carving a deep, smoldering wound
across its broad back. Miraculously, my chain held firm without even the
faintest scratch—god bless Craft for that.

"Middle bottom side! Jaeger, duck!" Ito shouted
urgently, driving his sword straight through the creature's back so forcefully
that it pierced outward from its chest. I instinctively yanked hard on the
chain, but my effort didn't even shift the beast slightly. However, the thirty
sharp earthen spikes hurtling toward it from behind certainly did. They
impacted violently, one after another, piercing deep into the monster's arms
and chest. Each spike glanced harmlessly off the eerie mask covering its face
but punctured every other exposed surface.

Drek slid swiftly toward us on a sheet of conjured ice,
planting his palms firmly against the ground. In response, frost surged outward
and swiftly rose up through the creature's midsection before shattering into
thick, thorn-covered vines of ice. The beast swung its heavy arms weakly toward
Drek, but several swiftly conjured shields intercepted its attacks, halting
them firmly mid-motion.

Ito, moving with a warrior's grace, kicked off my chain,
using it as leverage to gain height, and in a single, smooth strike, cleanly
decapitated the monstrous creature. The headless body toppled to the floor
heavily, as Ito immediately propelled himself away from the twitching corpse.
Black smoke, thick and acrid, began pouring from the open wound.

"Fucker," Ito spat venomously as we watched a
large magical shield swiftly form around the body, attempting to contain the
noxious smoke within. The earthen spikes that had impaled the creature began
cracking ominously, and the ice quickly turned a sickly, mottled grey color, as
if being corrupted by the escaping energy.

Tao hurried forward, weaving deftly around the weakening
shield, rapidly writing complex, golden inscriptions in the air while muttering
incantations under his breath. He abruptly called, "Lighter!"

Without hesitation, I threw him mine. He caught it, fumbling
briefly with the unfamiliar design before igniting a small flame. He pulled
several candles from his haversack, items I'd previously returned to him from
Frog after the incident with Wish. Swiftly lighting each candle, he positioned
them methodically around the rapidly destabilizing shield.

The creature's body convulsed violently, collapsing inward
upon itself grotesquely. A nauseating display unfolded as it was forcibly drawn
through a dimensional tear far too small to accommodate its bulk. Soon it
disappeared entirely into the tiny void. Moments later, the swirling black
smoke that had poured from its remains twisted like a miniature cyclone,
rapidly drawn into the void as if sucked through an invisible drain, until the
tear itself vanished completely.

"Where did that send it?" Drek asked, his voice
uncertain.

Tao shook his head slowly, eyes fixed on where the portal
had vanished. "I don't know this world. It was simply the most effective
banishing spell I could remember under pressure."

Together, we all turned simultaneously to peer down the
shadowy tunnel behind us. Countless pairs of glowing red eyes appeared there,
creating an unsettling impression of a starry sky filled with crimson, hateful
constellations. They blinked out abruptly, one after another, leaving us
staring into empty darkness.

Before I could fully process this sight, vertigo seized me,
disorienting me momentarily. My stomach lurched, and when the sensation faded,
I found myself landing heavily onto another person, causing them to exhale
sharply.

"I seriously hope that's your pistol," Jax groaned
from beneath me, squirming uncomfortably. "Hop off, damn!"

I quickly rolled away, grabbing his arm to pull us both
swiftly to our feet. Glancing around, I realized we'd been transported to the
interior of a rustic cabin. Tao, Ito, and Kito were extricating themselves from
an awkward pile on the floor, with Kito lingering a suspiciously extra second
atop Tao—much to her apparent embarrassment when she noticed my smirk.

Drek and Bjor had become an ungainly bundle of limbs on a
nearby couch and were busy disentangling themselves. The cabin was around a ten
thousand square feet, its sturdy structure supported by thick pillars made from
whole tree trunks. Strange animal heads adorned the walls, each bizarrely
twisted: four-eyed feline creatures, boars with large bat-like ears, even a
statue of a monstrous, dark bear with six arms.

Half of the ceiling was an expansive window through which I
glimpsed the swaying tops of needle-like trees silhouetted against the night
sky, illuminated by a large, luminous moon. The room's furnishings included a
substantial wooden table, carved ornate chairs, and a deep-red carpet.
Glass-covered pedestals holding various oddities lined the walls.

"What the fuck..." I murmured quietly, glancing
toward a pair of wide-open double doors at the cabin's opposite end. Through
them, the scent of forest air drifted gently inside.

"Nighttime again here, too? Coincidence?" Drek
asked nervously, helping Bjor rise and dust off his clothes.

"I don't know," I replied, my eyes narrowing
thoughtfully as I scanned the room again, feeling something off. Above the
fireplace mantle was an empty weapons rack. Clearly, a weapon—likely a
high-caliber rifle—was missing, as evidenced by the clean outline where it once
rested. Several chairs had been dragged haphazardly across the carpet, likely
to obscure the floor beneath.

"Wait," I cautioned, raising a hand before anyone
acted impulsively. "Before we pull that carpet, I need to check out
more."

The others nodded in understanding as I lit a cigarette,
inhaling deeply before closing my eyes momentarily to focus. "Nobody move
just yet," I warned softly, opening my eyes and scanning the room
intently. Footprints marred the carpet in several directions, many leading
toward the mantle, some toward a nearby small bookshelf, others heading outside
without returning. A partially unlocked window, slightly ajar, caught my
attention next, held only by its secondary lock.

Someone had explored here recently—and thoroughly.

Drawing my pistol, I carefully halted one of the double
doors from swaying gently and peered cautiously outside. In the moonlight, the
serene lake shimmered past a thick fringe of trees. Around the cabin were
scattered torn clothes and dark crimson stains. A clear trail led along the
cobblestone path toward the lake before disappearing into the dense foliage.
Scraps of torn clothing implied someone had fled, while others were clearly
dragged away violently.

I scanned the ominous tree line slowly, seeing nothing
moving or responding to my cigarette's faint red glow. Carefully, I shut and
locked the doors before turning back to face the group.

"There isn't much left intact here," I observed
quietly. "There's a hidden mechanism near that shelf. A gun—likely a
rifle—is gone, and there should be ammo hidden among the books. Something
underneath the cabin, too; scratch marks indicate a concealed opening in the
floor."

I exhaled smoke slowly. "Outside, it looks like
something violent attacked whoever was here, tearing them apart. Someone
escaped, possibly wounded. Whatever dragged off the victim headed toward the
lake, maybe just using the available path. We should stay clear of the
trees."

"Do we open it?" Jax asked, already inspecting the
shelf, his curiosity piqued.

Ito nodded approval, and Jax began carefully removing books,
eventually uncovering a nearly empty box containing ornately carved
silver-tipped rounds.

"High-caliber, just as I thought. Whatever we're up
against takes heavy firepower," I murmured, examining the rounds closely.
"Tao, Jax—are these inscriptions?" I asked, handing them over for
further inspection.

Tao held one up to the candlelight, nodding slowly.
"Yes, these symbols appear to relate to purification. Similar to the
cleansing spell I used on you earlier, but more specifically designed to bless
or purify."

Jax turned another round in his fingers thoughtfully.
"The engravings on this one indicate a spiral pattern—likely to follow the
rifling inside the barrel—and it seems intended to channel a small amount of
magical energy into a piercing force."

Ito sighed in frustration. "So we're dealing with
something immune to mundane attacks?"

"Possibly cursed," Tao replied. "Silver is
traditionally used against werewolves, vampires, and similar cursed
entities."

I scoffed lightly. "I tried silver rounds already, and
they did jack shit—just normal bullet wounds. We all saw."

Tao nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps what you faced
previously wasn't genuinely cursed, merely mutated or transformed. True cursed
beings could respond differently."

"Well," I conceded, producing a box of silver
rounds via Frog, "let's not risk it again. Teach me those
inscriptions."

Both Jax and Tao nodded, setting the mechanical wrench to
engraving mode. As the others spread out to guard entrances, we gathered around
the table, carefully and patiently carving each bullet tip, making sure I
followed closely, memorizing every careful inscription they made.

“These squiggly lines—what exactly do they do?” Most of what
they'd inscribed consisted of intricate circles and precise lines, but in some
places, they had switched to something resembling elegant cursive.

Tao leaned forward slightly, his voice calm yet
authoritative. “Those squiggly inscriptions are holy scripts under the domain
of gods, divine entities, or the wardens of nature—druids, the nature affinity
practitioners of your Spirit Vessels. At their core, holy inscriptions impose
order upon chaos. Curses, much like magic itself, adhere to very specific rules
and structures. Sometimes, you can unravel curses directly if you precisely
understand their origin and formation. However, what we have here are mostly
neutralizing scripts, designed to continuously draw and disperse ambient energy
from their target.”

Jax raised a finger enthusiastically, eager to elaborate
further. “Think of it like an open circuit where electricity arcs between two
points, continuously dissipating energy into the environment. These
inscriptions specifically utilize life-based scripts—very rare and
potent—turning them into a sort of continuous drain, actively burning away
lifeforce. Essentially, it's like countering a curse with another curse, just
focused outwardly rather than inwardly.”

Tao nodded approvingly. “Precisely. When paired with a
medium effective against a creature, like silver, these inscriptions become
exceptionally powerful, weakening and gradually burning their target's
lifeforce.”

Satisfied, I accepted the carved rounds, noticing suddenly
that Drek was staring at his medium with intense concentration. He quickly
slapped Bjor on the arm, prompting him to check his own. I frowned slightly and
turned my wrist to check my own watch.

Defeat the boss of round 6.

Curiously, the number 6 had been visibly crossed out. A
premonition of confusion passed through me, mirrored in Tao's sudden slump into
his chair.

“We were in Wish's realm, untouched by time,” Tao explained
loudly, so everyone could hear clearly. “Jaeger’s actions there likely aligned
our timeline with the outside world—including this fountain's cycle. If Jaeger
inadvertently defeated replacements, it means we may not have actually faced
the first four true bosses. This cross-out might indicate that these remaining
three bosses are actually the original three we should have faced first.”

Ito’s eyes lit up with excitement, blade materializing
instantly in his grip. “Then we don't need to hold back anymore?”

“I doubt it,” I agreed, extinguishing my cigarette and
rising to my feet. “Didn't that four-armed demon creature become easy once we
really pushed ourselves?”

Drek and Bjor exchanged a knowing glance. “Ready to put on a
show, then?”

Jax laughed loudly, scrambling beneath the table. “Hell
yeah! Let's get outta here faster than weeks!” He paused abruptly, his voice
slightly muffled. “Wait…should we be stealing everything valuable from these
places?”

Kito laughed warmly. “Jax, twice today you're proving
yourself the wisest among us.” All eyes suddenly turned toward me expectantly.

Grinning broadly, I summoned Frog onto the large wooden
table, tapping its sturdy surface lightly. “This is nice—think you can handle
it, buddy?”

Frog hopped a few times experimentally, then opened his
mouth wide, creating a swirling mirage of dimensional space. The entire table
promptly vanished. Jax emerged from beneath, catching Frog in surprise. “Well…
maybe we could've saved that one for last.”

As I reclaimed Frog, I surveyed the room. “Think these
trophies might be useful to the school?” Without hesitation, Frog took the
mounted creature heads, followed swiftly by the plush rug, ornate couch, and
the beautifully carved chairs. Soon, even the mysterious glass cases and their
pedestals vanished into Frog's internal dimension.

Two sharp swings shattered the cabin's front doors,
splintering them outward dramatically. Ito and Kito stormed outside, yelling
jubilantly.

“Come and get it!” Ito bellowed into the night.

“Double fresh special!” Kito shouted, echoing him.

Despite a lingering caution, Tao followed them, shaking his
head and quickly casting protective spells over the exuberant pair. A deep,
monstrous roar echoed through the trees, and soon a grotesque half-bat,
half-wolf creature burst from the foliage into the sky above.

Ito launched himself upward in pursuit, disappearing from my
view. Chaos erupted as massive trees toppled like dominos around the cabin.
Kito swiftly conjured barriers, and a heavy thud signaled something large
striking an invisible shield.

“Jaeger, take the shot!” Ito shouted, landing beside Tao and
Kito once again.

Squinting into the night, I activated my bracelet, absorbing
a third lightning rune—painful, but manageable. Enhanced senses sharpened my
vision, pinpointing the shadowy form flitting through the dark skies. Calmly, I
ejected the current ammo from my pistol and carefully loaded the newly
inscribed rounds. Three rapid shots rang out. The first narrowly missed, but
the subsequent two struck true, center mass.

An ear-piercing screech filled the air before the beast
crashed violently through the cabin's roof. Jax burst from the building,
screaming in terror. Bjor and Drek were already grinning widely as they charged
forward. Earth surged upward at Bjor’s command, pinning the creature down
firmly.

“Hold on!” Drek shouted, holding up a hand. “Check beneath
the carpet first!”

With practiced ease, he encased the struggling beast
entirely in ice, silencing its awful cries. Slightly deflated from the abrupt
pause in excitement, I approached the mantle, pulling the last untouched book
from the shelf. Gears clicked audibly as the mantle descended, revealing a
ladder downwards.

“Another tunnel? Really?” I groaned.

“Another, so help me gods there is another tunnel.” Chimed
Drek.  

There wasn’t.

It was a mad scientists lab and we soon left, I wish I
hadn’t gone down. Whoever was here had created creatures to hunt through odd
transmutation magics. What they had used were already monsters, and the last
had instead hunted them. Tattered clothing had led to a device that had been
shut off by the only other person that had been here. Matching the area where
patches had been torn off of a jacket and shirt outside, it was the person who
had got away.

He had shut down the experiments. I placed a bullet in the
head of the creature still trapped inside the cabin and in a flash we all
landed in a desert isle. A large winged lion prowled the skies in the distance
and I let off several shots. It began to fly towards us at great speeds.

The buffs were still on Ito and Tao. Bjor brought his weapon
down in the shape of a shovel causing sand to be shot into the sky like a ramp
and turned to sandstone with a crunch as he twisted the shovel in one heavy
heave. A series of steps that Ito and Tao bolted up before leaping off to meet
the creature mid air.

Kito cast a shield that the creature ran into and it roared.
Winds blades shot forward and Ito grabbed his brother and tossed him back as he
met blade to wind blade. Sparks flew out and the two shot backwards together.
Ice appeared in a slope like blooming roses from the sandstone steps. Bjor
began to spin his weapon and sand picked up in a maelstrom of cutting
potential. Ito and Tao were caught by the ice petals the size of dinner tables
and leapt back towards the thing in the air. Tao seemed to have burned his
Empower skill and collided with the creature with a glowing fist straight to
its face.

Ito sliced at its wings and it fell out of the sky. Several
shields appeared beneath the twos feet and they looked as if they ‘floated’ in
the air.

Bjor had a blade of compressed sand formed that was nearly
15 feet in height. Jax was jumping up and down as Bjor let it fly and it carved
through the sand and picked up in size.  The creature roared and ran
forward unable to fly to meet the blade head on. It was severed directly in
two.

Bjor collapsed to a knee, “Damn that takes a lot of magical
energy, I’m fucking drained”

Drek was fanning himself, “It’s hot as fuck”

I felt vertigo come over me and a smile broke out on my
face. Water parted as I was shot out of a fountain to a roaring crowd.

Tao was asleep as his buff dropped, and Ito picked him up
along with the crowd. Drek and Bjor had bright smiles and a group of nerdy
glass wearing girls were crowded around Jax who was puffing out his chest.

I lit up my cigarette as a woman ran towards me. I nearly
dropped it.

“Lex”