Raw power rolled through my veins as the bestial organ responsible for separating food and nutrients worked overtime within me. As much as I wanted to leap forward and join the melee, I stayed back and supported the others. Casting Paralyze several times in quick succession cost me dearly. To affect the Bakurean, I had to unleash it at full strength, Soulfusion with Aureus included. Fusing with Aureus was a complication in its own right, but I forced the connection, unsure whether the basic version of Paralyze would be enough.

  Freezing the Bakurean saved the lives of a dozen Blessed. It granted them a quarter of a second; just long enough for most to reorganize, prepare themselves, and strike again. Alas, it was nowhere near enough to kill the Bakurean. Several of them sustained injuries, yet the wounds only seemed to strengthen them.

  Ambient ether flowed toward the Bakurean. It seeped into their wounds, entering their bodies and augmenting them temporarily. As if that weren’t bad enough, the ether-based projectiles aimed at the more injured Bakurean faced another problem: their attacks weakened mid-flight, the ether drained from the projectiles and forcefully injected into the Bakurean, strengthening them further.

  The augmentation was not massive, but it shifted the tide of battle. The stronger the Bakurean became, the harder they were to freeze. Paralyze worked on most only once; afterward their resistance to mental interference increased enough to shut me out.

  When Paralyze no longer worked efficiently on the grotesque creatures, I triggered Mirage, bending the light around me. Turning invisible, ether forcefully suppressed, I shot through the training hall, slipping past several groups to join a pair of Blessed struggling with a Bakurean.

  Until now, I hadn’t been sure how useful the Mirage Serpent’s ability truly was. Its passive effect was powerful, but the most I usually did with Mirage was gather light and release it explosively, replicating a burst bright enough to blind opponents temporarily. True invisibility, however, was something else entirely. It was perfect for me.

  Closing the distance to the Bakurean, its scimitar carving a deep gash into a Blessed’s chest, I propelled myself forward. Ether surged into Predator and Nullblade, amplifying their stamina consumption, but I cared little. The Bakurean spun around, likely sensing the sudden burst of ether, yet it failed to locate me.

  The invisibility faded just as my blade neared the creature’s neck. It had lasted shorter than I anticipated, but that was fine. The Bakurean slashed out, moving with ridiculous speed, but a familiar scythe shot past me. The Ferronox Mantis burst from the World, bloodlust pouring from him even as the Bakurean’s severed arm hit the ground with a thud.

  My blade struck true, carving through tough skin and shallow flesh until it met the spine. The creature’s vertebrae tried to resist, but Nullblade could carve through anything. That it did. I pierced straight through and wrenched the blade sideways, ripping it free as the Bakurean collapsed, writhing.

  Nox followed, pouncing atop the creature, his scythes stabbing the dying Bakurean dozens of times.

  “Go back! This is too dangerous for you!”

  No! Blood!!

  Nox hissed in my mind, flooding me with images and reasons. I felt the urge to force my Soulkin back into the World, but traces of worry and a genuine desire to help surfaced beneath his ravenous bloodlust.

  No matter how badly Nox wanted to kill and drench his exoskeleton in blood, he was still my Soulkin. And by being bound to me, he too had changed.

  Still, he had only recently advanced to an Unblemished beast. He wasn’t strong enough to face a Bakurean.

  Together we strong!

  His reasoning startled me. More images followed – more than he had ever projected at once. The Ferronox Mantis had never been talkative; he usually relied on emotions rather than words.

  How could I reject that? I cursed under my breath and gave in.

  He was stronger than many Blessed present – his exoskeleton harder than their skin, his blades cleaving deeper than their weapons.

  “If you die, I will kill you,” I growled, locking onto my next target. “Follow me.”

  He offered no verbal reply, but he charged after me immediately.

  Scanning the surroundings, I found myself engaged with another Bakurean. Its spear shot toward me at blinding speed, but my focus remained on its limbs and posture. It took a moment, but I predicted the creature’s attack pattern and dodged by a hair’s breadth.

  The Outsider shifted suddenly, forcing me to conjure a condensed plate of earth atop my combat suit, blocking the spear as it whipped sideways. The plate shattered, and the spear’s edge sliced into my biceps.

  Gritting my teeth, I released a small burst of light while Nox’s Predator triggered. The Ferronox Mantis lunged forward, his blades carving into the Bakurean’s abdomen. The Outsider’s head snapped toward Nox, its spear thrusting after him, but he had already widened the distance. His quick strike wouldn’t kill it, but it was enough. I seized the moment, triggered Paralyze, even if it slowed the Bakurean only for a fraction of a second, and closed the gap.

  A pillar of earth erupted from the ground, its pointed end driving through the blade wound in the Bakurean’s stomach, digging deep enough to inflict severe damage.

  We can do it! I pushed the thought at Nox, my blade rising toward the Bakurean’s head – when the Outsider’s frame cracked.

  It bent over, its body glowing faintly. Ether poured from it, shattering the earthen pillar effortlessly. A moment later, it turned into a blur, easily evading the strike aimed at its head. At the edge of my vision, a metallic gleam caught my attention. It barreled toward me at a blinding speed. Predator caught sight of it in time, but it was too fast for me to escape.

  Time seemed to come to a sudden crawl as my mind went into overdrive to come up with a solution, but all I could think of were my Elemental Aspects. I tried to call upon them, but the Elemental Phoenix was already on it.

  An azure fireball ignited before me. It burst toward the blurry target faster than the incoming gleam, and the fireball swallowed the blur whole. The first thing I noticed was molten steel dripping to the ground. Then came a scream; it ripped through the air, pained and desperate.

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  Azure fire consumed the Bakurean, burning skin and flesh in record time. However, the Outsider did not succumb right away. Its weapon melted, and it charged ahead even as the azure flames consumed it greedily.

  The Bakurean was upon me a moment later, but my blade didn’t greet it. Instead, a set of Nullblade scythes jutted from its chest. Nox stood behind it, his scythes lodged deep in the enemy. Twisting the scythes, Nox ripped them out, ending the threat.

  “Thanks,” I nodded toward the Ferronox Mantis before repeating myself inwardly.

  You have to survive.

  Volix commented calmly.

  Regardless, I owe you. I forced a smile, spun around, and scanned the battlefield.

  Some Bakureans had been weaker than the others, resulting in quick deaths. Yet even as the number of enemies dwindled, I paled at the sight of corpses.

  Helping with more fireballs and protective conjurations using the Earthen Aspect, I aided a few additional Blessed, but those who had already died couldn’t be salvaged. More than a dozen Blessed lay dead, and the last three Bakureans were tenacious. One was drained of ether, missing its wings and one arm, but it continued to fight half a dozen Blessed simultaneously anyway.

  Another carried a bow and conjured highly condensed-ether arrows. Almost 30 Blessed tried to deal with the archer, but the creature absorbed more ambient ether than the others. Even the freshly conjured arrows seemed to drain the ether infused into the Blessed’s attacks, fortifying the archer instead. Several Blessed with arrows lodged in their chests, throats, and eye sockets were sprawled all across the training hall, their lifeless eyes making my skin crawl.

  There was too much death around me, but that was not about to change anytime soon. The sound of combat in the training hall was overwhelming; however, it was not enough to muffle the chaos all around us. Beasts roared at the top of their lungs, Blessed screamed, unleashing their most powerful traits, and more explosions resounded.

  The ship shook a few times, and I started to wonder how much longer we could stay in the air. Once the machine room was under attack, we’d be dead. Probably even earlier if there were more batches of stronger Bakureans on the ship.

  “Fuck,” I cursed, head snapping to the exit where some Blessed escaped. They did not return, but their screams echoed in my ears, promising nothing good.

  We’ll have to up the game a little, I commented grimly, reaching out to the bond with the Elemental Phoenix.

  It was far from the best solution, especially not in a place where everyone could see me, but I was still hopeful. Maybe my Soulfusion with the Elemental Phoenix would look like the merging with a sacred flame. I’d done my due diligence and researched sacred flames, but that didn’t mean I was confident.

  Alas, I needed power.

  Volix responded eagerly to my intent and leaped into the Soulfusion. He did not emerge in the physical plane right away, but he manifested from the World instead. The Elemental Phoenix erupted in brilliant flames that poured out of the inner World and seeped into my body. The flames latched onto the Blazing Gates connected to the weave, jump-starting them, ushering them to work harder.

  My physical strength increased ever so slightly as the Soulfusion settled. More intense was the sensation in my chest. All the ether from the Monarch jerky shaped itself and shifted. It mutated, becoming fire-attuned ether that gathered and coalesced into liquid drops.

  One more stripe.

  Volix demanded, and I followed his order right away.

  I popped a piece of jerky into my mouth and chewed on it as enormous waves of ether flushed down my throat. Before they could do any damage, the Elemental Phoenix took hold of it, attuned it, and compressed it to liquid ether.

  Volix took hold of the ether, the weave, and the Gates within me effortlessly. It looked so simple that I couldn’t imagine what would happen if the Elemental Phoenix ever tried to take over my body. Could Volix do that? Even if he could, he hadn’t done it just yet. Volix let me decide what was about to happen next as liquefied ether entered the weave, emitting enough heat to melt my body – or so I suspected. But my body did not melt. If anything, I felt better than ever.

  Flames erupted from my pores, and minuscule explosions burst behind me as I kicked off the ground to propel myself forward. More explosions rang in my ears as I reached and surpassed my top speed. Predator detected something in the corner of my eye, and I shot to the side, escaping a glistening white arrow heading for my head.

  More arrows followed in quick succession, but I evaded one arrow and released several firebolts to collide with the rest. Explosions tore through the air around me, though none harmed me; if anything, my body reabsorbed the heat and energy within the fiery bursts as I pushed closer.

  Glistening arrows poured down upon me, but support arrived. Nox was nowhere to be seen, though I could tell he was unscathed. Instead, Blessed appeared beside me. One with green wings whistled through the air, releasing wind blades at the archer and his arrows, though he barely inflicted any damage. Several blades were required to destroy a single glistening arrow, and his remaining traits seemed similarly ineffective.

  That was until he reached toward my flames, using his control of the wind element to fan them. He pushed me ahead, boosting me, just like the two Blessed whose spells I noticed just in time. An earthen wall leaped into existence before the pair of Blessed, blocking two glistening arrows from reaping more lives.

  All the color drained from their faces even as they continued to chant, maintaining their spell traits. Several luminous layers formed around me, amplifying my physical as well as mental strength. For a moment, even my bond with Volix seemed to grow stronger.

  Azure firebolts formed all around me. The Elemental Phoenix conjured and released them into the world, shattering several glistening arrows. At the same time, the other Blessed attacked. Most projectiles failed to hit the nimble Bakurean archer, but the ones that landed inflicted considerable damage. Still, they did not distract the Bakurean, which continued to focus solely on me, until a thunderous roar echoed from the left.

  “I got it taunted!” a hoarse voice rang out, the roar compelling me to glance toward its source. I resisted, barely, and reached the Bakurean archer just as its head flicked to the side, bow following quickly.

  The first thing I did upon reaching the Bakurean was sever its bow. I channeled energy into Nullblade and cleaved through the weapon before setting it on fire. Flames snaked out of me and lunged at the Bakurean like living serpents, but I paid them little heed as I brandished my sword and rammed it into the creature’s chest.

  Flames poured from the blade, boiling my foe from the inside out.

  The Bakurean clawed at me even as its face twisted in pain, and only when a barrier popped up around me did it finally scream aloud. Pain hardly seemed to bother the Bakurean, yet being unable to reach their target was a problem? No matter how intelligent Outsiders were said to be, this one didn’t feel particularly smart.

  It continued to claw at me even as I twisted my blade in its chest. The coat of Nullblade and the vibrant flames carved through flesh and bone, which only became easier as the phoenix fire burned brighter, turning azure with a dazzling white center.

  The Bakurean’s movements slowed. Its legs caved, and it collapsed to the ground, yet the Blessed around me took no chances. Several more attacks impacted, and a human-sized wind blade barreled downward, beheading the already dead Outsider.

  One dead, two more to go, I told myself, spinning on my heels to see Nox in the one-armed Bakurean’s blind angle. His body blurred as his Nullblade scythes carved a cross deep into its neck and upper back.

  The target’s head snapped back at a grotesque angle. It twisted, bones cracking loudly, as it stared back at the Ferronox Mantis upside down. Nox hissed and attacked again as the Bakurean let out a guttural growl, only for its head to hit the ground when the blades of several Blessed struck it, two piercing its chest, one slicing its throat, and Daniel finishing it with a war axe that tore through its neck, beheading the monstrosity.

  Only one Bakurean remained, but it was already caught in vines, shadowy tendrils, and a slime-like substance; one that feasted on the Outsider’s wings, devouring them ever so slowly.

  Mere seconds were needed to kill the last Outsider, but nearly a full minute passed before the first of us dared to exhale.

  “What the fuck is happening here?!”

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