The Undead Shadow Rebel tapped his left and right feet repeatedly against the floor, as if he were about to jog. Behind him, the Knight still watched as it merely ignored the wind magic cast by the Tieflings.

  They underestimated the Knight’s defence.

  Bluish light shone around the two Undead, and Emberwind lit up around Suna and his friend.

  The Undead Rebel crouched, shadows coiling around his legs, and rushed straight at Noa.

  “Incoming!” Noa warned, clacking his shield together.

  A blast of wind sliced beside them onto the Undead. In tremendous speed, the Undead outsped even the wind magic and delivered a twisting steel kick to Noa’s left shield.

  Steel groaned and creaked. Noa screamed as his left hand twisted with the added spin the assassin made. He let go of the shield handle and was greeted by the Undead grin, peering at him with his dark sword ready.

  It was so fast that Suna and Wendy did not get a chance to release their spell. But, now that he stopped—an invisible shield pushed up from the assassin’s elbow, knocking his sword up from his grip—a flicker of annoyance flashed across the Undead’s face. The Rebel’s eyes spun balefully at Wendy. He still had another dark sword and jabbed it down at Noa; this time, however, Suna released his arrow. Emberwind forced the Assassin to switch targets and parry the spell arrow.

  After both of his attacks failed, he was struck mid-air by John and Reki. Reki slammed his light-filled Warhammer downward, smashing the Undead Rebel into the floor. Suna could see that the Undead tried to bleed into the floor, but Reki’s light magic kept him from doing so.

  This is it. The chance.

  “Keep going!” Suna ordered.

  John stepped in and pierced his Thief Sword into the Undead’s throat, and was rewarded by a cough of blood from the Undead’s mouth.

  Suna and Wendy also stepped in front. Noa still hadn’t recovered from his injury, and he had hailed a Support Tiefling who should be with him shortly, which meant they should push their advantage now.

  Reki kept his Warhammer on the Rebel’s stomach. The office worker knew enough that he had to keep pouring his light magic into the Undead so he couldn’t use his dark magic properly.

  Reki screamed, and light poured out from his skin into his weapon, lighting up the surroundings. The light shone into the Undead Rebel, who by now was no longer playful. The assassin’s lips twitched as the yellow outline moved. He recognized death was coming.

  Suna aimed. This time, he would go for a sure kill. Sootwood arrow nocked. Enhanced and ready to release. Suna discharged the arrow and let it rip into the Undead’s throat just beneath John’s Thief Sword. It connected, and a vine sprouted up.

  As John was about to stab again. As the vine was about to choke him to death. As Reki was overwhelmed by his light magic.

  Something flicked.

  At first, it was just inside him, like a twist of some sort. Then his Rabbit’s ears twitched. They warned him. A danger. Was it the Knight? No, not the knight, it was much closer to him. Right below Reki. It was the Undead Rebel.

  Suna released another Sootwood arrow, with Wendy releasing her invisible rod magic. Then, shadows lashed like a whip, blocking all eight projectiles released at the assassin.

  The shadow was different. Different from the shadow hand it had used much earlier. Different from the Gloom Hand’s and Uzu’s.

  They should have kept going. Yet, something kept making Suna hesitate. He knew this feeling. It was the enhancement of strength, one that was a much stronger degree than his. Horror drummed inside his veins.

  He still hadn’t used it? The Drowfication?

  Shadow coiled around the Undead body and wrapped around like dark obsidian wrapping. They covered his wound and cut through the vine that had been growing. The moment the dark wrap met Reki’s Warhammer, they climbed around the weapon and twisted it around. John’s sword was caught mid-air and wrenched away from the Runebearer.

  In a flurry of movement, a fist connected to John’s face. The Tiefling managed to raise both hands in time, but both were blown, and John was sent flying through the darkness.

  “Joh—” Reki stumbled. Another fist went to the office worker’s face. A focused shield appeared in front of him to protect Reki, but it cracked like fragile glass. But that bought Suna time.

  Strength: 2336 → 3529

  Dexterity: 1602 → 2403

  Vitality: 1556 → 2425

  Arcanery: 2875 → 3550

  Sense: 1052 → 1581

  With Gale Step, Suna lunged forward and caught the Undead’s fist with his own.

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  In a brief second, the Undead smiled. Then it uttered a single word. “Inferior.”

  A kick came too quickly; Suna barely managed to raise his hand, yet he was still blasted through the floor. He spun into the darkness, now much closer to the bluish flame than before.

  He quickly stood, shrugging off the pain. Where was the Undead Rebel? With his Drowfication running, he needed to—.

  His dark sight revealed a mass of shadow rushing for him, and Suna’s lips twisted in a dry, wry smile. It came after him. Despite being able to kill his friends easily? The Undead soared through the throne room and appeared with one sword poised at Suna’s throat. Suna had already drawn Umbralline, correctly judging that the window was too small for him to draw and release a spell.

  Dark blades clashed. Umbralline ground against one of the Undead’s swords. The assassin flowed into another strike with its other blade, and in doing so, revealed its healed wound to Suna’s eyes.

  Suna received a downward strike that sent his muscles jolting despite his enhanced stats. Suna tried to advance but was met by a barrage of attacks that forced him backward.

  A shadow hand bent up from the surrounding darkness, and Pyreflame burst from his pendant. Bluish flame lit the area and burned away the shadow-hands cast by the Undead.

  Suna tried to focus despite the suddenly blaring flame across his chest. His brimhat had long fallen somewhere, but perhaps that was a blessing, as he could not possibly focus on forming the flame right now. These heavy sword strikes could cut through the Pyreflame easily, which meant his life depended entirely on his swordsmanship.

  Just then, the Undead pivoted to his left leg and was about to strike. Suna lifted his sword to block, but the attack never came. It had faked it. The true strike was a jab from its other sword, which pierced Suna’s thigh.

  He bit his lip. Drowfication nullified the pain, but his leg still collapsed to one knee. The Undead brought down its other blade to cleave his neck. Umbralline intercepted it, and Suna blew the sword back. Their blades clashed and rebounded off one another.

  Even with the recoil, the Undead committed to his next attack. His lips opened, and a ghastly face manifested, lunging to maul Suna’s throat. But Suna’s Third Hand shot forward, clamping the assassin’s mouth shut. The ghastly projection snuffed out, and the spell died.

  Suna built up air within his free hand’s palm and slammed downward, sending both of them skidding apart by a dozen steps or more. He groaned and stood. The combined effect of his Drowfication and the Spirit Rabbit Cloak enabled him. He tested his left leg, and it worked perfectly.

  With the small space they now had, the Undead moved, ready to close in on him once more. But Suna had already drawn his Gale Bow. He rushed backward with Gale Backstep. Wind curled around him and carried him away. The Undead Rebel pierced the veil of wind and lunged to gouge his throat.

  Suna drew, fast, without an arrow. Nil’s wind erupted and blew the assassin backward, straight into the awaiting Runebearers and his companions.

  Noa, already recovered, pushed his mana and slammed his bluish shield down onto the Undead, pinning him. But the Undead bled into the ground and reappeared behind him, only to be met by Reki’s Warhammer. The strike connected, but only sent the assassin skidding until it struck a small invisible barrier behind its feet, stumbling down.

  The stumble carried it into five Runebearers who had been ready to jab in. Five Thief Swords plunged toward the Undead, but none pierced the Drowfication layer. The dark cloth blocked every strike.

  Was this the power of the third stage of Drowfication?

  The Undead Shadow Rebel twisted and scythed in a crescent arc, decapitating all five Runebearers in a single sweep.

  The moment they stepped up, they died.

  Suna weaved Shadow Arrow. When the dark shaft formed, it flared with jubilant hunger. His eyes widened as a dark dot appeared across the arrow’s already black body. Shadows rippled and swelled, growing into a massive javelin. Light pushed around Suna, and an orb of brilliance swayed at his side. The throne room floor blazed with light, outshining the bluish flame.

  Heads fell.

  The Undead Rebel froze when it saw Suna; now it recognized the true threat. It bolted toward him with the desperation of a hunted beast.

  “Pin him down!” Suna shouted to the nearby integrators.

  The Undead Shadow Rebel skidded and veered sideways. It forced Suna to move, and he tried. The Shadow Arrow was heavy—so heavy he knew he couldn't hold it drawn for long. It drank the entire room’s light into its shaft of darkness.

  And his mana dropped fast.

  His target was fast. Very fast. Suna could track him only because of the overwhelming presence that the third stage of Drowfication emitted. His own Drowfication reacted to it, as did the Spirit Rabbit Cloak. He didn’t gain the strength boost from Ashen Brand; he hadn’t applied enough heat, but the resonance alone was more than enough to sense the Rebel.

  Which was why he knew that if he released now, he would miss.

  The Undead Rebel blurred through the throne room, circling farther out so he could prepare a dodge. Wendy kept raising invisible shields to slow him, but the Rebel bulldozed through her magic each time.

  She needed to repeat that one moment, the perfectly focused trip-shield she’d used earlier.

  Suna glanced toward her just as a Tiefling pressed a Mana Potion to her lips. Wendy met his eyes and nodded. Suna nodded back and fixed his gaze on the target.

  The assassin would fall.

  He had to trust her accuracy.

  His hand strained as if a boulder pressed into the muscle. The great Shadow Arrow trembled; he could barely hold its weight. There was no way he could hit like this.

  And then the pain eased. Reki stood beside him, palm glowing, pouring warm light into Suna’s drawing arm. Noa, meanwhile, tracked the Rebels’ circling pattern. The Undead Shadow Rebel was now sprinting toward John, whose arms were gone.

  The Tiefling lay bloodied on the floor. Suna wasn’t sure if he was alive. Yet for some reason, the Rebel was heading straight for him.

  Reki’s throat tightened beside him, but the office worker said nothing, not even when the Rebel snatched John by the neck, blood dripping from his stumps.

  “Take your time, Suna,” Noa whispered.

  Was the Undead taking a hostage?

  Suna saw the Rebel’s grin, a sinister curl tightening around John’s throat. He is evil…

  Wait… evil? Why label him that? The Rebel had broken free of the [Necromancer] and had even offered a place to other Undead. James was the one who decided to use the Rebels’ comrades to train the Integrators. And in a way, it worked. Noa and Reki had become reliable because of it. Their victory here might be thanks to that brutal training.

  The Undead Rebel wasn’t evil. He was just another piece on someone else’s board.

  Even now, when he screamed, “Lay down that spell, or I’ll crush this Tiefling’s neck!”

  Suna’s eyebrow rose. Did the Undead truly expect him to lower his bow for one Tiefling’s life?

  He felt pity for the Shadow Rebel, not for his foolish threat, but for how little choice he ever had.

  “Wendy,” Suna whispered calmly.

  A small cube of compressed force manifested high above the Rebel’s head, anchored to the distant ceiling.

  The Undead’s eyes flicked upward. He snapped John’s neck—yet even that didn’t stop the falling cube from smashing into his skull and knocking him off balance.

  Suna released.

  The Shadow Arrow tore through the air in a blinding streak and pierced clean through the Undead Shadow Rebel’s chest.

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