Leo worriedly look at the rippling mirrors surrounding the room. “Don’t tell me…”

  “Hopefully not, but let’s go and regroup with everybody. Now!”

  Leo needed no more convincing as he went into a full sprint, luckily Oliver and brought Patrick back to the rest as the group had also noticed the abnormality.

  Neither did it escape Claudia’s eyes as she stopped her pursuit and waved her hand towards the column they were resting at. Behind the group, a surge of force destroyed the stone wall behind them, shattering at least a dozen mirrors. She tried throwing another but got interrupted by a spiky white whip wrapping around her wrist, unable to cut through.

  Velmior laughed in delight at the opening. “Hahah! Finally! Our first real landing!” He violently hooked his whip back, throwing Claudia into a wall, a plume of smoke surrounding the landing. “You really shouldn’t keep your eyes off your enemy, young lady. I’m quite the jealous type, y’know? Oh?” He was suddenly pushed back, slamming him into the wall opposite of Claudia.

  The smoke dissipated, revealing a white extended hand. Surprisingly, her clothes had no dirt on it as it remained pure white. Upon closer inspection, Leo could see a small clear space outlining her body. It seemed she had some sort of barrier around her, or at least something acting similar to one.

  Opposite of her, Velmior walked out of the smoke patting debris off his shoulder. “Well, I guess we both finally hit each other. I guess that means you’re done then?”

  In response, Claudia stepped forward, the ground beneath her cracking with small craters with each step.

  Their battle was about to ramp up.

  And he wanted nothing to do with it.

  His prayers were answered when he heard the magical words come out of Oliver’s mouth.

  “A door! A door has opened up here!”

  Passed the group in front of him, Leo could see the familiar dormitory door returned to its original spot.

  ‘Thank the stars!’

  “Lieutenant!”

  “I know, let’s start running faster, yes?”

  The two were still a good distance away from the door compared to the others. The only good thing was that Leo didn’t have to tell the group as they had already begun to run for the exit with Oliver supporting Patrick with his shoulder.

  As the two ran to the exit, Leo saw in the corner of his eye a dark green blur as Velmior began to rush to the doorway. A twisted sense of glee marred his perfect appearance, his eyes set on the open door.

  ‘Shit! We can’t let him get there! What is Claudia doing?!’

  Leo looked over to see Claudia entangled with Velmior who was throwing his whips at the porcelain guard unable to land another hit like before. She did not move as Velmior jumped around dodging the attacks she shot at him, waving her hands around resulting in a deadly force slamming into the direction. Although nothing happened when she did, Leo knew better and felt the weight behind the attacks she threw.

  Looking back on her attack on his life, Leo reminded himself of one thing.

  He’d have to fight that at some point.

  ‘Wait, that’s not the point right now! Connie! Patrick!’

  A clone had emerged from one of the mirrors, barreling toward the resting group.

  Leo pointed at the approaching fiend and shouted. “Guys! Behind you!”

  The group all turned back and reacted, but it was too late as the clone launched himself off a column into the air. With a more controlled expression, the clone threw his whip forward midair directly at Oliver and Patrick. Without hesitation, Oliver pushed Patrick out of the trajectory but was too slow to move as the whip grinded into his shoulder and sliced down to his hip.

  Blood gushed out from the wound as the clone retrieved the whip, allowing it to coil around his arm like a snake. Unable to hold on any longer, Oliver lifelessly fell to the floor, a giant gap separating his shoulder from his neck with his hips preventing his body from splitting in two.

  He had been too slow to react!

  Behind the pair, Joshua stood motionlessly as he landed his vacant gaze on the mangled corpse of his long-time friend. Unlike his laidback personality, his usually calm expression was polluted with pure shock. The last bit of light snuffing out before the twins dragged him through the exit.

  His lifeless eyes met Leo’s, leaving him aghast at the sight. Through the fading eyes, Leo could feel the sense of urgency Oliver relayed to him as a dying message.

  The clone let out a disgusting laugh, proud of his work as he puffed out his chest. “Ahhh. That’s what I’m talking about.”

  From behind, Leo slammed his enraged fist into the proud clone, easily shattering it. The clone was much more fragile than the one before, but he could see the devastating offensive power it still possessed.

  “Shit!” He stomped on the glass shards on the floor in frustration, smashing them into dust.

  A dark blur shot passed his cheek as he heard another shattering sound behind him. He saw Connie with a raised han, her eyes struggling to stay open as she leaned against the wall. “That was the last one…sorry I couldn’t do more…” She slid down the wall and sunk down into the floor as a dark puddle appeared, blending into the surrounding shadows.

  ‘Well there she goes…But this isn’t the time to be stuck! Move, Leo!’

  All around him were parts of clones slowly emerging from mirrors from the walls, floors, and ceilings. Their hands stretched out to grab anything that had the misfortune of getting anywhere near their vicinity.

  This was especially true near the exit.

  Luckily the others were far past the exit, hopefully putting themselves a safe distance from this mess. Patrick had even dragged Oliver’s body across with them.

  But how was he going to get out?!

  Beside him, the Lieutenant rested a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “Looks like our workload just got larger. That door will stay for another minute, so let’s do our best, yes?”

  Leo gritted his teeth, hissing in frustration. “To be frank, Lieutenant. My legs are about to give out. It’s a miracle I’m even standing right now. And this arm isn’t really helping me run faster either. You wouldn’t happen to be able to get rid of those hands could you?”

  He shrugged. “I could try, but there’s a risk you’ll fall behind.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Leo sighed. “Just try it, nothing can go more wrong than now…”

  After a small nod, the Lieutenant’s katana glowed white with flame once again. But this time, it wasn’t as hot as before, the flames flickered along the edges looking as though it would fade at any moment.

  It was clear this flame would be the last for a long while.

  The officer whispered to him, “Ready?”

  Leo slapped his shivering legs and nodded.

  Right after the confirmation, a white haze blinded him as if a snowstorm had suddenly appeared before him enveloping the glass clones in ashen flame, causing many of them to shatter on the spot.

  Without a moment’s hesitation, Leo forced his legs forward to sprint straight for the exit.

  1 minute.

  That was all the time they had left.

  His right arm dangled around as he ran, causing short pulses of pain to flare from his shattered arm.

  ‘Almost there!’

  The door was a mere few steps away from him now. The only thing obstructing him was the bone-white flame surrounding the opening. Pressing on through the heat, Leo continued his way forward as the heat seared his flesh in just moments.

  ‘It’s that hot?!’

  It was disturbing just how hot they were, but he couldn’t stop now. Beside him, the Lieutenant had exited, standing before the door awaiting Leo’s arrival. On closer inspection, it seemed he was also affected by the flame as the majority of his body was covered in soot and small burns.

  “C’mon, Leo!”

  Leo increased his speed, gritting his teeth as his legs screamed in pain.

  He lost his balance and fell as the room shook from another one of Claudia’s attacks. This time, one of the pillars had even fallen, caving in a portion of the room behind him.

  ‘No! No! No! C’mon! Don’t give up now!’

  Now on the floor, Leo could feel his legs had given out with him unable to move them well. His muscles were now wailing for him to stop.

  He glanced over at the brutal fight, but to his surprise, the two participants were relatively unharmed. Claudia maintained her spotless figure while Velmior continued evading her destructive unseeable attacks.

  Suddenly, Claudia squatted down, looking as though she were preparing to launch herself while still launching attacks at the demon.

  She suddenly shot a large wave of force that reached even the ceiling. Velmior quickly jumped out of the way, easily dodging the attack.

  But that was what she wanted.

  Right as he jumped into the air, she shot herself forward in a blur, her body as straight as a pencil. For once, the demon showed an expression of surprise and brought his arms forward, taking the full force of the makeshift bullet.

  A giant shockwave shook Leo’s vision as Claudia rammed her head into the demon’s stomach, launching him back into the ceiling as it caved in.

  That was who he had to survive against?

  ‘Oh! Maybe…’

  With a new plan in mind, he struggled to get up onto his wobbly feet, grabbing them with his hand as he began to mirror Claudia’s actions from before, squatting to the floor like he was about to go into a sprint.

  Gritting his teeth, he focused on creating the same vibrating sensation to use his Refraction in both his legs.

  His legs tensed, small vibrations shook the core of his muscles as if they were about to tear.

  But he couldn’t stop there. He continued focusing on creating as many small vibrations across his leg as possible, ensuring every muscle in there was clocked into overtime.

  ‘Please work…’

  Finally, he jumped forward, allowing the vibrations to explode throughout his legs. Each collective of vibrations violently separated, shooting from one point of the leg to another, clashing with each other in a frenzy. Unbeknownst to Leo, this caused the muscles within his limbs to forcibly unlock the barriers limiting his muscle usage. From the many conflicts created in his body, the nervous system is tricked into a state of fight or flight. And so, the release caused his legs to lock as he shot himself toward the door faster than he would’ve ran. He could barely keep his eyes open from the wind slamming into his face, but he could see he was nearing the door.

  He could feel his legs in agonizing pain due to the strain. Behind him, his legs were flapping around in the gust as he shot forward, completely destroyed almost down to the bone. Nevertheless, he was making his way towards the exit in time!

  But now he had a different issue.

  ‘How am I going to stop?’

  He hadn’t really thought ahead this far, and so he simply brought his head down and his arm up bracing for the impact.

  But right as he was about to pass the door, he glanced up to see the Lieutenant begin to draw his katana as he saw the officer’s mouth move as if yelling angrily. Unfortunately the shockwave he had created made his ears ring, snuffing out any words the Lieutenant was spouting. .

  But worry grew in his heart.

  ‘He wouldn’t betray me, right?’

  But at the last moment, he heard a faint whisper of the Lieutenant’s desperate cries.

  “Leo behind you!”

  Right as he heard that, he felt a cold hand grasp onto his broken arm, sending a shiver down his spine. Looking back, he widened his eyes in horror as his friend emerged from a shard that had fallen to the floor with an enraged look, his eyes crazed. An aura of pure spite emanated from the young man. A clone’s hair slicked back his messy gray hair as it handed him a translucent lance.

  “Come back here, Leo!”

  Anthony pulled his unusable arm, stopping his momentum and throwing him back across the room away from the door.

  His vision spun as he flew, eventually knocking into one of the nearby stone pillars, knocking the air out of him.

  Coughing on the floor, Leo weakly lifted his head and from his peripheral vision saw more transparent hands push the Lieutenant out, the door closing behind him as the stone walls around it welded the door and stone together.

  The door was gone.

  There was no escaping this now. Claudia was too busy to assist and there was no way out anymore. Above all, his body was simply too damaged from the extensive fight. Unlike his opponent, he could not heal as fast.

  The sound of footsteps atop glass shards approached him, the transparent spear sliding across the floor behind them leaving behind a deep trail in the stone ground.

  Anthony let out a raspy, satisfied breath as he fell to his knees, his beautiful, deadly weapon resting in front of him.

  “Finally, it’s just you and me now.”

  ‘This isn’t good…’

  With his one good arm, Leo shakily lifted himself only to fall over again. He could feel his legs and arm having reached their limit as the muscle and bone alike twitched in excruciating pain. In this state, he knew he was at the mercy of his former friend.

  Unable to move, all he could do was watch as Anthony’s figure slowly approached. But for some reason, Leo could hear a limp in his steps. The sound of glass clinking to the floor as it fell from his wobbling body.

  His vision slowly turned blurry as his body finally began to shut down. He did all he could to keep awake but even with the will to continue, he knew deep inside that there was no hope of fighting this sensation.

  ‘Not now…’

  Leo extended his hand to try and grasp at something. Anything. But all he did was slightly shift his arm without moving an inch. His body was spent, he had used all he had in that last ditch effort in escaping this room. He could feel it, the tearing in his muscles and the fragility of his bones. The indescribable pain was his body telling him that it could no longer go on. It needed at least a few minutes of rest, minutes that he didn’t have.

  Eventually, he just gave in, allowing his body to fall limp.

  Is this it?

  Is this really going to be how it ends?

  His eyelids grew heavy, struggling to keep his eyes open as he glued them to the looming danger.

  He wanted to speak, but all he could get out was a dried garble.

  ‘Ah…If only I was just a little stronger. I’m so sorry guys…’

  Closing his eyes, the last thing he saw was the two feet stopping in front of him. Muffled laughter erupting from the newborn contractor before the darkness embraced him.