Kai stared at Levi. Levi stared at Kai.

  “…So, are you betraying Vox, or are we both fighting him together?” Levi asked.

  Kai thought for a moment, then nodded. “Let’s take him out.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “I don’t like you, but he’s delusional.”

  “You think I’m not delusional? Kai!” Levi clasped his hands to his chest, touched.

  “I never said that,” Kai replied flatly.

  Levi stepped up beside Kai. He sobered. “He’s still too powerful for both of us. We can’t openly attack him.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  He pursed his lips. “Kai, do you trust me?”

  “No.”

  “Excellent.” The Armalgam appeared behind Levi. Grabbing Kai by the shoulders, he threw him backward. Kai landed, flipped, and skidded to his feet. His eyes flashed with anger. “You… already—”

  Levi threw himself out of the giant’s skull. He raced toward Kai. “Get back here, you edgelord motherfucker. It ends here!” As he ran, the Spinal Cord unwound from his waist. He lifted its tip up to shoulder-height, then jabbed at Kai’s face.

  Kai barely ducked to the side in time. The bony blade slashed his cheek and kept going. It thrust toward Vox.

  Vox stepped to the side, avoiding it.

  Levi clicked his tongue. “So close.”

  Kai touched his cheek. He looked at the blood on his fingers, incredulous. His expression twisted into rage. “I offer you a hand, and you throw away—”

  “Don’t be stupid, Kai.” Levi nodded behind him.

  Kai glanced over his shoulder. The Spinal Cord retreated toward them, slashing at Vox as it came. It bounced off his shadow armor, but returned all the same. His brows lifted. Understanding dawned across his face.

  Levi breathed a silent sigh of relief. With an edgelord like Kai, any little thing could trigger him. Luckily, he’d managed to make his real intent obvious enough for Kai to catch on, because there was no way he could fight both at once. He’d just have to run again.

  Furrowing his brows in anger again, Kai rushed Levi. Levi danced back, leading Kai toward Vox. Kai swept his greatsword in huge arcing attacks, forcing Levi to dodge with all his might to survive.

  Or… did he? He certainly seems to still be trying to kill me.

  Levi danced to the side, ducking behind Vox. Kai, eyes wide with anger, swept his blade with all his might.

  Vox’s body flickered. He reappeared five feet to the right, and nothing stood in front of Levi. Kai’s blade closed in on him.

  “Uh oh.” Levi rolled backward, using the Armalgam to land on his feet. The blade slashed past his stomach so close that he felt the wind on his skin, so close that it cut his shirt open. Colin screamed in shock, and gold light fell over Levi.

  “Damn, that was close!” Levi swept the Spinal Cord at Kai. Kai jumped it, and the bladed end hurtled toward Vox. It struck his shoulder and bounced off again, but this time, it scored a thin line in the shadow armor. Levi raised his brows. That flicker thing, whatever it was… he can’t do it twice in a row. Interesting.

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  “Take your fight elsewhere,” Vox snarled, annoyed.

  Kai and Levi both ignored him. They charged toward one another again, Levi wielding all the blades he and the Armalgam had, Kai with his greatsword. They slashed wildly at one another, fighting at full speed. Their blades clashed, over and over, and strangely, they always seemed to rebound toward Vox. Vox backed away steadily, annoyed more than anything. Neither Levi nor Kai could draw blood, but they did strike his armor repeatedly. Based on how thin the armor was, unless it had magical force-dispersing properties, Vox was getting incredibly bruised by their blows. It wasn’t that they weren’t injuring him, but they weren’t drawing blood. At this rate, their best efforts would wear Vox down, but they wouldn’t kill him.

  Levi twisted his lips, thinking. He reached out mentally, calling to something he’d already triggered long ago. It responded, closer than he’d expected.

  A smile curled over his lips. Oh, hell yeah. We’re gonna win this battle.

  “Just die already!” Kai howled. He lifted his sword high.

  Levi raised his swords in response, turning their blades so the blow would deflect toward Vox. “No, you!”

  “Why don’t you both die,” Vox rumbled. A thousand shadows burst from under his cape and slashed at Levi and Kai.

  The blades bounced off Kai’s armor, weak for their thinness. They slashed Levi’s skin, but he jerked back in time and dodged the brunt of it. Blood ran down his side. It looked bad, but the cuts were all superficial.

  I wonder if this ability costs a lot of mana? He didn’t use it when he captured me earlier. But then, it’s weak and it only seems to hit at close range, since even my other side didn’t get hit by it. I think it’s just a weak, last-second defense mechanism.

  He shook his head. “Man. You’re not equipped for combat, are you?”

  “What?” Kai asked, a dangerous edge to his voice.

  “Yeah, who the fuck brings a greatsword to a five-sword fight?” Levi asked, doubling down instead of explaining himself. He’d been talking to Vox, but it was better not to let Vox know it.

  Kai’s eyes turned dangerous. He slashed at Levi. Levi jumped back, into Vox’s blade. The short weapon sunk into his side. A sick, piercing sensation dug far deeper into his body than the blade could reach. The twisting, acid sting of poison.

  “Good job, Kai. We’ve gotten him.”

  Ah, fuck. Levi glanced down. Black lines dug into his skin, tearing through his veins.

  “Levi!” Colin shouted. He ran forward, holding his staff high.

  “I’m fine. Stay back!” Levi replied.

  Vox’s eyes glittered. He flickered and reappeared beside Colin. Unhesitating, he raised the bloody dagger to stab again.

  “No!” Levi dashed toward Colin, even though it dug the poison deeper into him.

  Giving up the ghost, Kai tossed his greatsword at Vox. Vox’s tendrils battered it down, and the greatsword slammed into the earth. It dug a trench as it hurtled forward, then lurched to a stop.

  “Don’t worry. This works on undead, too. I brought it just in case.” Vox stabbed at Colin’s chest, his face twisted in a horrid smile.

  A pale hand appeared on the air. It plucked the dagger out of Vox’s hand. Isa appeared behind the hand. She spun the dagger around and slammed it toward Vox’s face.

  Vox jumped back. The tendrils of shadow leaped up from under his cloak to grab her wrist. His face contorted in focus, nose wrinkling. “As if… that poison would… injure me!”

  “If that’s the case, then why fight it?” Isa asked blandly.

  Colin ran to Levi’s side. He pressed the staff’s tip into Levi’s wound. “Heal, please heal.”

  “It’s fine. I’ll be fine,” Levi said.

  “You’re going to die!”

  “Oh, in thirty seconds, sure. But I’m fine right now. And I’m about to be super fine.” Levi snapped his fingers, calling the thing that had been crawling closer all this time.

  The earth behind Vox rumbled. It ruptured, then split open. A brown figure burst out, translucent and wiggly. Throwing its nebulous arms wide, it wrapped Vox in a bear hug.

  Vox’s shadow armor burned off. His tendrils slapped at the figure, but did no harm. Instead, the slombie’s acid dissolved the tendrils.

  “Slombie! Hug ‘im!” Levi cheered. He punched the air. From the second he’d seen Vox and Kai here, he’d called the slombie toward him. When it got close, he had it burrow underground rather than risk drawing the boss’s attention. The whole time since he’d started fighting Vox, he’d slowly adjusted Vox’s position, drawing him closer to the buried slombie. And now, it had finally paid off.

  Colin smacked him. “Don’t move! You’re making the poison worse.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Levi breathed out, relaxing for just a hair. Vox was trapped in the slombie and occupied fighting Isa. Kai was on his side. Everything was going well.

  Vox turned. He stared at Levi, and grinned.

  “What? What are you grinning for? I don’t like that grin. Stop grinning,” Levi snapped, annoyed.

  “Do you let him die, or do you die?” Vox asked mysteriously.

  “What?”

  “I’m much stronger in the darkness. Far, far stronger.”

  The ground under Colin burst open. Black tendrils slammed upward, sharp as knives. The same black poison hissed on their tips.

  Levi didn’t think. There wasn’t time for thinking. He pushed Colin to the side. The tendrils struck his arm, his side. They slashed him open. Cut him apart. He fell to the ground in pieces.

  Vox laughed uproariously. Even as Isa stabbed him and Kai cut through the weak spots the slombie had eaten into his armor, he kept laughing. “The Apocalypse is averted. I win. I have won!”