Leo’s vision spun as he was thrown back by the sudden eruption. Claudia and Velmior moved in blurs. Wherever they went, destruction followed. Velmior manically laughed as he wildly whipped his weapons around the dormitory, their jagged edges slicing through the stone and corpses alike. His attacks didn’t seem to be aimed at anything as his whips danced wildly across the air, searching for any target they could find.

  Meanwhile, Claudia simply gave chase, her arms still within the robes. Somehow she was not getting hit by the onslaught as she casually hunted down the lord. Every step she took looked as if she were bouncing off the floor. Her body easily launched itself up with little difficulty, and on the way down, she would seem to slowly float down like a feather falling from the sky.

  The serene, almost elegant movements were a stark contrast to her savage, primal opponent. But neither side gave the other an opening, continuing their dance for now.

  Meanwhile, during the clash, Teddy and Anthony had entered a battle of their own as Teddy was fending off three of the glass serpents. His katana whizzed through the snakes, but easily deflected any loose shards that were sent at him, the heat from his sword melting the glass as they dripped off his sword. It looked as though he was performing in a lightshow as the katana left behind a white trail, illuminating the glass shards around him to create a circle of light.

  Anthony himself, however, was nowhere to be seen.

  Leo looked around, but to no luck. For now it seemed Anthony had gone into hiding.

  ‘Hey, can you hear me?’

  Leo whipped his head around, hearing a strange voice coming from somewhere.

  ‘This is Joshua, I’m using my Refraction to speak to you right now, we’re behind the stone pillar behind you, get over here.’

  Immediately, Leo rushed away from the two deadly battles, running back to the stone pillar where the group hid.

  Around the pillar, Connie and Alyssa leaned against the stone pillar away from the battle while the twins crouched to the sides of the pillar, watching the clash. The rest were a small distance farther back hiding behind the left over tables and chairs, all nervously peaking towards the contest of strength.

  Or at least they were trying to.

  Leo couldn’t even keep up with where the two powerhouses were, losing sight of them as quickly as he had seen them. All he had to know was that they weren’t in range of the devastating battle.

  Patrick crawled towards Leo in worry. “Are you alright? They didn’t do anything, did they?”

  Leo shook his head. “I somehow got out unharmed. What’s the situation with everybody else?”

  Patrick solemnly lowered his head. “Not very good…Out of the thirty people that were here, roughly a quarter of them are left, half being too hurt to fight.”

  ‘A quarter left…’

  Leo had expected losses, but over half of them had already been killed, the other half being either too tired or too wounded to even fight.

  He let out a tired breath, leaning against the stone pillar over Connie who lazily tilted her head up to him. Noticing his glaring wounds and bruises, she weakly asked, “You good?”

  He nodded. “Better than you…”

  She rolled her eyes. “So, we got the message out, I guess. What now?”

  “Right…”

  To be honest, he hadn’t really expected them to get this far. It was by a multitude of miracles that they had survived by themselves up to this point. But he was confident with the Lieutenant and porcelain warrior entering the fight, they could make sure everyone else gets out of here intact.

  As that was happening, Teddy was holding back the trio of glass snakes that were attacking him. The only difference was that these serpents were a lot stronger than the ones that they had fought. These three were much bigger with a lot more glass shards making up its body with their frames more durable than before. Not only that, they were much more coordinated as they synced their attacks together and acted as one.

  The three would cover for each other, when one attacked, the other would move to an opening and try to catch Teddy off guard. When Teddy moved in for an attack, another would swoop in to plug the gap.

  Despite the increased difficulty of these horrendous foes, Teddy appeared to be doing fine as he blocked and dodged all the attacks around him. His sword moved at blazing speeds as he quickly reacted to anything the snakes threw at him.

  But even from afar, Leo could see the Lieutenant slowly beginning to struggle. Despite being able to avoid the attacks, he couldn’t get out from the encirclement as the three serpents ensured any escape routes were cut off from their formation.

  Not only that, but the circle around him was condensing as the snakes slowly inched their way closer towards him.

  He had to do something. But how?

  They couldn’t help with Claudia’s battle, he couldn’t even see a way he could be even remotely helpful. He couldn’t even see the two!

  But how could he help the Lieutenant? If he could get rid of these snakes, he might be able to help Claudia, breaking their stalemate.

  ‘C’mon, Leo. Think! Think!’

  He looked around, trying to get an idea. He had a few Smogborn with unknown Refractions, though he doubted the others would want to throw themselves into the mix, the twins with that arrow of theirs, and Connie with one attack left in her.

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  There really was only one option.

  “Jack! Eli! Come here.”

  The twins glanced over confused, slowly making their way to Leo beside Connie.

  “Can you guys make that arrow again?”

  The two of them looked at each other before nodding.

  “Great. How long will it take for you to charge that up again?”

  The two thought for a moment before Eli answered. “I’d say around five minutes will be enough.”

  Five minutes. Although it would usually be a short moment, in a situation like this, Leo knew it would feel like hours before the arrow was ready. But seeing the Lieutenant’s performance against the glass beings, he believed they could do it.

  “Alright.” He glanced over farther back. “Tyler! Kate! Oliver! Come here please. I need you guys to hide what they’re doing, okay?”

  The trio nodded, not asking any questions.

  Leo was reminded of something. “Joshua. How long can you do that telepathic thing?”

  Joshua promptly replied, “As long as I can see you.”

  ‘Thank the stars.’

  Leo had never been more grateful for a Refraction, he could practically cry. “I need you to keep me connected with everyone else, okay? And tell me when the twins are ready.”

  “Ready with?”

  “Ah, whenever they’ve fin-”

  Before he could finish, he was grabbed by the collar, pulling him up to the face of Anthony who had appeared from a nearby crystal mirror. Upon seeing Leo’s face, Anthony broke into a disgusting smile. “There you are!”

  Immediately after, Leo was kicked away by Anthony’s armored foot, launching him across the room into a nearby stone pillar towards where Teddy was.

  Leo struggled to get up as he got up onto his knees. Joshua’s voice echoed into his mind. ‘Leo! Are you okay? Oh, and you can reply with a thought!’

  ‘Oh. Yeah, I’m fine. Just make sure to tell me when the twins are set.’

  “Get up, Leo! I know you’re not this weak!”

  Leo lifted his head to see Anthony with only the right side of his body keeping the crystalline armor, the other half having been shattered from Alyssa’s Refraction. But the worst part was that he had healed from his wounds, his nose having regenerated itself as if he hadn’t been hurt at all.

  ‘At least I can hit him properly now…’

  He shakily got up, giving a weak smile to hide the pain. “Yeah, you would know, wouldn’t you.”

  Across from him, Anthony tapped his foot, creating a crystal mirror below him. He raised a hand over the mirror, causing a glass spear to rise up into his hands.

  ‘So that’s how he got the spears. If I could just figure out how he’s forming those mirrors, maybe I could prevent his armaments from appearing.’

  Leo let out a tired breath. He didn’t want to fight his friend, especially not like this. But what could he do at this point?

  Leo spat out some blood and wearily raised a hand. “Anthony, we don’t have to do this. Please, just stop.”

  In response, Anthony let out an incredulous laugh and looked at him with ridicule. “Stop now? Look around, idiot. There is no going back now.”

  “No going back? We can leave! Get out of here! Go back to the outskirts, back to the villages! We won’t be able to live in the paradise we wanted to but we’d be together! All four of us.”

  Anthony seemed to reminisce as his head lowered. “The four of us…”

  Leo kept his voice steady as he continued his efforts. “Yes, Anthony. Amanda is still waiting for us to get past these stupid tests while Diego is still taking them with us!” His voice broke for a moment. “We promised each other…You would break our promise for something like this?”

  “Shut up!” Anthony gritted his teeth in frustration, placing his spear in both hands, it’s speartip facing Leo. “Screw that promise. You talk about breaking promises when you threw away my trust like it was garbage!” He caressed the pellucid spear. “At least with this, I am strong enough to protect myself!”

  “You’re strong enough? Or is he strong enough?” Leo nodded toward the direction of Velmior, wherever he was at now.

  “Tsk. You know, I envy you, Leo. I envy your strength. I envy the people you’ve gathered around you. And most of all, I envy your fate. Since we got here you’ve done nothing but succeed, losing nothing from your actions. If anything, you’ve gained things. Friends, powers, connections. Those are just a few things I envy you for. I can’t help but be jealous. Whereas I lost everything. I’ve lost the peaceful life we had before. I’ve lost the friendship we all had. And I’ve lost the love of my life to some mutt. And for the cherry on top, I’ve lost my trust in you all…”

  A single tear dragged down Anthony’s cheek.

  “Now, I’ve lost my soul. The only difference was that I lost it on my own terms. Only then did I actually begin to gain things like you did. Friends, power, and connections. Yet, I still feel this sense of inferiority towards you. Why? Why do I still feel so little when I compare myself to you? So that’s when I thought, if I killed you, how could I feel anything but superiority when looking back at you.”

  He clenched his spear, the shaft slightly cracking under the tremendous pressure. “That is why I’ve decided that I must kill you. Not because of your act of betrayal, but to correct this disgusting feeling of inferiority.”

  Leo remained frozen as he listened. When Anthony finally went quiet, Leo took a deep breath and shakily raised his fists, his eyes filled with a new unwavering resolve.

  Leo spoke in a steady, but pained, voice. “You truly aren’t the Anthony I remember.” He took a stance and raised his fists. “I will take you in and correct that flawed mindset of yours. Don’t see this as me giving up on you, I’m just gonna hit you until you’re thinking straight again.”

  The two were at a standstill as they locked eyes.

  One filled with an insatiable bloodlust and urge to kill the enemy before him.

  The other filled with a desire to save the one they called “friend”.

  The ground shook as the gargantuan clash behind them continued, cracks forming on both the walls and the stone floors. Yet despite the disturbances, the two remained unmoved.

  Somewhere on the battlefield, a piece of stone crashed into a nearby mirror, splitting the two figures reflected inside straight down the center. It didn’t take long before the glass gave way, separating into two pieces, never to be reunited.