Time stopped for a moment as we looked at the dark angel floating above us, arrogantly looking down at us without craning his neck.

Then Tatiana fired her arrows and the moment passed as Azriel had to block them. He blasted his dark bolt at her, but she was ready for it and dodged with relative ease.

“Enough! You've resisted for long enough, time to end this!” Azriel snarled, and then raised his head high to howl.

The worg's head on his shoulder howled with him, and the ruins around us answered. Appearing from all sides in such numbers and so quickly after his call that they had to be summoned rather than natural beasts, dozens of Skulljaw Wolves appeared and charged us.

Livia made her intent known, vocalising commands only to grant us buffs on top of her mental guidance. We moved in unison to deal with the new threat, Elise taking flight to occupy Azriel while the rest of us turned to the lupine threat.

Four died before they even reached our group, my thrown spear killing one while Tatiana shot down three others. What followed was a pretty one-sided massacre, yet the wolves didn't stop coming.

I moved to the position that Livia directed me to as my Dexterity was buffed, going with her intent to slay the wolves with the Guard Spear before they could reach me rather than defending with a shield. One defended in only one direction, the other couldn't fight in close quarters but allowed me to swing in broad strokes to cover all sides.

As I swung my blade and got into the rhythm, I tried to comprehend the plan behind Livia's strategy. Some parts were rather self-explanatory, but others baffled me.

Alexa was still singing her song, and despite all the events that had perspired since she was still singing the same song she sang at the start of the fight. It wasn't even a long one, this fight had just been happening at such a breakneck speed that less than two minutes had passed. She was flying next to Livia far above the reach of the wolves.

Tatiana retreated to the remnants of the tannery to cover one of her sides, firing arrows at all the wolves that were encroaching on her position. There wasn't enough roof left for her to stand on, so it would have to do.

I couldn't really cover for her, because the wolves were coming from all sides. Right now I was swinging my spear around like a martial artist's quarterstaff to keep them off of me, and that wouldn't work with an ally nearby.

Ben retreated in the opposite direction that I went in, the guards walking after him now that Azriel was out of range. He jumped in and out of his shadow-form, not really fighting the wolves rather than evading their fangs while the guards massacred the beasts behind him.

Elise had the most difficult task: keeping the Elite busy. It was easier for her now that he was in the air with a much broader area to hit. She could swoop in with abandon rather than having to account for the landing, and redirect her momentum to regain some of her lost height. And the now airborne Azriel had two wings that stuck out further.

She swooped past him again, leaving a trail of electricity in her bat's wake as she tried to clip Azriel's wings without getting in range of his blade. While she had yet to score a clean hit, some of his feathers looked singed and the constant need to suddenly retract his wings mid-flight seemed to hamper him somewhat.

Not by much though, as he kept firing blasts of dark energy at the rest of us. I faintly realised that he hadn't attacked our most vulnerable party member Alexa yet, a minor blessing. A single dark blast of his would suffice to kill her in one hit, and she wasn't very good at dodging.

Ben dodged the spells with relative ease and Elise kept moving, but I was troubled by the need to move fast and sometimes fall out of a wide swing just to evade those caustic attacks. The wolves were on me not a moment later whenever that happened. Tatiana wasn't faring much better.

Elise swooshed past Azriel again, and this time he gave chase. Without Livia she might've been caught flatfooted trying to gain more height, but it seemed that the veteran ex-crawler knew better. Elise fell all the way to the ground instead of stabilising in the air, and veered off to the group of Guards. She hit the ground running to circle around them, the Guards immediately turning to him when Azriel approached.

Azriel veered off to the side as well, making a tight U-turn to strike at me rather than facing that clump of metal and death. His blade coiled with a dark miasma that trailed behind him as he prepared to strike me down, and I quickly brought out my shield.

Ignoring the wolf that took this opportunity to bite me from behind, I got into my sumo stance and prepared to intercept Azriel's blow. Livia didn't try to stop me, so she seemed to agree that I should survive it.

Azriel's hate-filled face quickly got closer and more defined as he breached the distance between the two of us in a second that felt like an eternity, the miasma growing stronger and stronger and stronger and then suddenly faltered. His eyes dilated in shock and he grit his teeth, his health dropping but a fraction but enough to break his concentration on the attack.

I was still pushed back and the wolf biting down on me was cast off, Azriel's charge and blade striking me with the Elite's full force. Azriel circled wildly as he tried to regain control of his flight, and his blade was almost slapped out of his hand. Then the miasma only halfway dissipated struck me like a second wave, crashing against my shield and breaking off in all directions.

Every blade of grass and most wolves within 20 metres of me died from the effect, and I quickly popped a health potion to recover what I lost to that unnatural cold that stung me to the bone. Even Azriel seemed to be affected by his own energy, though only barely.

He shot a hate-filled glance in Ben's direction, who shot him a roguish grin back while slaying the wolves ganging up on him. He already switched back to his blades again, but I knew that Livia willed him to equip, aim and fire his crossbow at Azriel's back with impossible speed and accuracy to break his concentration. And damn if it hadn't worked.

Azriel seemed conflicted for a moment, but then returned his gaze back to me. Seems like he wasn't going to be led from target to target, no matter how badly he wanted to kill Ben.

Before he could attack me, a cannister appeared before him and blew with a bright flash of light. Darts struck him as Azriel was temporarily blinded, and Burl dodged the dark blast that Azriel fired in his direction.

Azriel turned to face the new threat, and Burl's glazed over eyes returned his questioning gaze.

“A zombie? I knew that your group hides some rot and corruption underneath that pretence of yours, but I didn't think you were that foul.” Azriel said. He glanced back to me, but then the paladin decided to make the undead his priority.

Burl wasn't any less spry now than he was in life, but Azriel was much faster than him regardless. Even after Burl dropped several cannisters that spewed out poisonous smoke to cover his retreat, he couldn't dodge Azriel in time and lost his left hand.

I ran towards the Elite to help and divide his attention, throwing my Skyfowl Spear again. If I hit Burl, it shouldn't matter to the zombie. Azriel briefly turned around to deflect my projectiles, and caught the darts that Burl threw through the fog without missing a beat.

The single attack was enough for him to determine Burl's location, and Azriel slashed the clouds. He struck the gas with a swing so powerful that it separated the clouds and allowed me to see a surprised Burl as his head flew from his neck.

I struck at Azriel only for him to parry my spear with ease, and quickly stepped back before he could retaliate in full. He already disregarded the head as it flew through the air, only to return his attention to it when it exploded in a cloud of viscera.

Miho fell onto the ground covered in gore and no clothes, and quickly shapeshifted into her goat druid form. I guessed that she used her Boil Slitherer form just now, the worm-like creatures we fought all the way back in the first days of the Second Floor that could wurm its way into someone's brain and control them as a zombie. I guess that the zombie kept the skills that it had in life, allowing Miho to use the weapons I looted from the other bounty hunters more effectively.

She tried her best, but in the end this new approach hadn't been all too effective either. She only managed to occupy him for about six seconds, and dealt no lasting damage.

I only now realised I hadn't seen Miho contribute for a while, presumably to recover this corpse and work her ploy. She clearly informed Livia, who had me trade the bounty hunter stuff to her just moments ago, but I assumed I could've missed the plan even if she would've had time to PM us.

Livia: Just four more seconds of cooldown. Get ready, Ben.

I kept giving ground warily as Azriel approached me again, already disregarding Miho entirely. She cast a spell on him, and though I could see the fleas spring from the worg's head he ignored the itching of her Infestation spell.

Then Tatiana finally found a gap in the wolf onrush to open fire again, and after one buckling strike against my shield Azriel had to deflect her arrows again. Exasperated by the continued distractions that we kept springing on him to survive his lethal attacks, Azriel made a call and turned his eyes to me fully.

“Enough of these paltry distractions, we decide this as men. You and me. Just the two of us.” Azriel said. “You know what? Wield my blade, that way I can recover it from your corpse after I kill you.”

Oath of Chivalry: Compelled Duel!

You are compelled to duel Azriel! You cannot attack other creatures without taking penalties, and others cannot attack you or Azriel without taking the same penalties! Or in other words, this is a honour duel! Mano e mano! No gangbang, just an orthodox one on one fisting. Or stabbing. Or pummelling. Whatever you're into, dude.

I didn't oblige Azriel's 'request' and prepared my shield and spear. The Elite continued to confidently saunter over to me. The wolves instinctively backed off from the two of us, and then charged at the nearest foe. I only now noticed that they also charged the Guards with reckless abandon, clearly attacking anything hostile towards Azriel rather than him having control over them.

Despite the onrush the guards continued to approach the two of us, the wolves not even slowing them. I wondered if the oath worked on them, and if Azriel hadn't used that part of his arsenal thus far because of that. But with the way he was looking at me, he probably assumed that he could slay me before they would reach him. Which he probably could, without the others occupying him at key moments.

I used my Phantom Phalanx and walked backwards through my two clones to buy myself time, backing off while holding my shield at the ready.

Azriel slashed through one of them with ease, and then struck down the other as well. I knew that they were a lot softer than me, not having my items and skills and all, but it was still demoralising to see how easily he cut through them. How easily he had cut through me before, too.

I pocketed my spear and held my right hand to support my shield, knowing that against his undivided attention it would be nothing but a risk to attack him.

The first strike was still daunting, and I felt myself shiver just holding it back. The second time I knew I heard something crack, as Livia's intent told me to not brace myself too hard and stay fluent instead. I could barely block the third blow, Azriel trying to stab around my shield and having succeeded had I committed to block that second blow fully.

Then he jumped to the side, and I couldn't possibly block his strike this time. I had no choice but to fall backwards onto my butt to dodge the strike, completely opening myself up for his final blow.

I brought up my shield and curled up on myself to feebly protect myself as best I could, and Azriel's slash threw me sideways like a ragdoll. I tried to get up, and threw Oil of Slipperiness at him in an attempt to change the situation. He easily leaped to the side and struck again, and this time he struck true. Well, almost. He slipped past my shield, his blade but a few centimetres away from my skin.

His katana screeched as metal flowed over metal, Azriel's raw strength pushing my shield to the side until his blade touched my side, and then he retracted his sword again to saw into my metallic flesh. I tried to wiggle my way out of the carve, but the moment I weakened my feeble stance further the blade immediately carved in deeper and the red hot pain in my side grew more intense.

I popped another health potion, aided by Miho casting another healing scroll on me. My health was still above half thanks to that, so I might survive a single direct hit from him now.

Then Azriel retracted his blade fully and prepared to strike yet again, only for an arrow to find his chest. He stared down at the arrow, and then angrily fired a dark blast at Tatiana. He easily parried the barrage of arrows that followed, only for the first deflected arrow to unnaturally bend his way after all and dig itself into his shoulder. The second one only nicked his side and the third lost too much momentum as it was parried to pierce the skin of his arm. After that, Azriel adjusted and deflected the arrows beyond what their unnatural movement could compensate for.

“You! You dare interfere with our duel!?” Azriel shouted.

“I'm a rogue class! Your oaths mean jack to me!” Tatiana taunted back, before turning tail and running away even further than she already had.

Azriel noticed him just before Ben could strike, but he was too late. Ben appeared from my shadow and carved Azriel's shins with raking slashes, and Azriel's worg head disappeared.

I didn't know what boons his pants gave, but I was secretly relieved that Ben hadn't stolen that one. Even if Azriel would be bashful, which I doubted, it would've been quite distracting for us.

Ben immediately retreated, and I quickly got up to follow out new plan: Full retreat. It was hard to tell because of the massive volume she sang at, but Alexa had been retreating for a while now. Even without Livia revealing her intent to me, I knew that this was our only real course of action after Azriel escaped the Guards and showed that he could easily kill us without letting them get close.

Azriel was looking injured, and now that Tatiana embedded her Seeking Arrow in his chest she would be able to hit him easier or at least make his deflecting more energy-consuming. But he was still at a third of his health and probably with one or two more phases still to unveil. Even without access to the two weapon form he undoubtedly had, he was simply unbeatable.

I had the highest constitution and thus the highest stamina here, and I was already breathing ragged with my every breakneck speed manoeuvre drawing from a dwindling reserve of adrenaline. The others were off even worse, our momentum could falter at any moment now. As much as we managed to harm him, Azriel's breath was barely elevated while we were about to run on fumes.

Azriel looked in amusement as I ran away, and his wings unfurled again. He glanced down at the roots that suddenly tangled around his feet, but he cut away Miho's spell with quick and decisive slashes. She only bought us only a single second before transforming into a harpy and flying away as fast as she could.

“A hunt, eh?” Azriel said as his remaining wolves gave chase. “Well, that might be fun.”

Oath of Chivalry: Compelled Duel! has ended! It's effects no longer restrict you. Go out and kill freely, monocaedes is no longer holding you back! Let this divorce be a time of happiness and freedom for you both! Screw the children, let the judge decide whose problem they are now!

So he could compel an one on one fight, but drop it whenever he pleased? Yeah, Azriel's powers were bullshit.

I didn't spend any more time contemplating on that, instead focusing on running away faster. My Dexterity wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. My strength lied more in my stamina allowing me to sprint for much longer than the others, but when we were all sprinting anyway I immediately fell behind.

Ben held back to run next to me, and we exchanged looks.

“Keep running, Darryl!” Ben shouted at me. “Tatiana and I will keep him occupied for a bit, you guys get a head start during that time.”

“What? That's suicide!” I screamed. “Even with the wolves gone, you won't be able to face him alone now that he's not holding back!”

“You've got a better idea?” Ben snapped back. “We need to lose him somehow, and I'm the only one that might be able to give him the slip! You just need to keep running!”

I glanced over my shoulder at Azriel. Tatiana fired another arrow, but he batted it aside without slowing down at all. He was fast, but with his wings out he was even faster than he would've been on foot. He wasn't even actively chasing us, he was gaining altitude and angling himself to get a good view of the frontrunners and their direction.

With his speed, he could catch up to us as long as he knew the general direction.

With his speed, there was no way that Ben would be able to escape. It would be a sacrifice to save the rest of us, and it would be a sacrifice in vain.

I looked at the others running ahead of me. None of them stood any chance against Azriel either, not even as sacrificial lambs. We had to face it: We tried to defeat him, but we couldn't even run away from him without most of us dying. If not everyone. The difference in power was just too great.

I closed my eyes and steeled my resolve. If I wouldn't do this, we'd all die. This would kill me, but as things stood I was a dead man running anyway.

I stopped running and turned back to face Azriel.

“Darryl! What are you doing!?” Ben said, stopping himself.

“Keep running!” I said. “Whatever you do, don't turn back!”

Above us, Azriel noticed me and began descending with an almost curious expression on his face.

“I'll buy us some time, so you don't have to hold him off! I'll-” Ben tried.

“I'm not going to hold him off, and you don't to run away from Azriel any more.” I said, my voice soft but my words heard nonetheless. “Keep running, Ben.”

The Rage Elemental Mask appeared in my hand, and I threw Ben one last look to show him that I resolved myself to this fate.

“Darryl, you-”

“RUN!” I screamed. “Either I die or we all do! There is no other way! Now go! Leave!”

Ben wanted to say something, gulped and then gave me a single nod. He turned around and ran.

Azriel landed before me, an amused smile on his lips and his eyes lingering on Ben's back as the teen ran away.

“Sacrificing yourself for the others? How noble. Or that's what I would say, if your friends would fit that descriptor too.” Azriel dawdled. “Still, I can respect your final action, heretic. I pray that the Seraphim will take this last act of penance in account when they judge you. Shame that redemption isn't worth as much when it's to save your fellow sinners.”

“You challenged me to a duel, Azriel.” I said. “Let's finish it before you go after the others. Just you and me this time.”

Azriel merely chuckled. “You haven't brought out your shield yet. I hope it stays that way, a duel against someone cowering behind a board so cowardly is hardly a worthy duel.”

I took out my Guard Spear and put on the mask.

Your Strength has exceeded 100 points! Auto-assigning a boon to you, as you're too dumb to pick an option yourself right now! Berserker Strength boon added!

Text annoying. Voice so annoying. Want to smash. Man ahead more annoying. Smash him instead.

Smash man! Sword stick in punching hand, no punch! Stab instead!

With a wide swing, I swing the big sword stick at the annoying shiny man! Glare of white hair and shining teeth annoying! I smash them out of his skull! Shiny man talking so annoying, I punch until talking no more! Yes! I smash him!

Shiny man blocks! ANGER! Smash again! Smash again! Smash again!

Another blow, and sharp stick gives under great strength of smashing blow! I smash again before annoying man can recover!

Shiny man reeling! Good! Smash more! Puny sharp stick no match for sword stick! Smash again! Again! Again! Grab sword stick with both hands! Smash harder! YES! Smash more! YES!!!

I smash, but the shiny man dodge instead of block, and sharp stick strikes chest!

Shiny man slashes me! HURTS! ANGER! SMASH MORE!

I slash harder and angrier, and shiny man runs away!

“Get over here!” I snarl, and grab wrist before he leaves.

The shiny man responds by stabbing me through the head.

Too Angry to Die activated! Lethal blow negated! Cooldown at 30h and counting down!

Other angry voice again! I want to smash! HOW?!?

Sharp stick in head annoying! I grab stick!

This no stick, this wrist! I squeeze! Wrist cracks! Man squeals! GOOD! I do more!

Stick still annoying! I pull out! I throw away! I throw far! Yes! I good at throwing!

Shiny man panicking! Good! I punch more! Punch with sword stick!

Shiny man tries to flap big chicken wings! Annoying flapping things! I tear off!

Shiny man screams good! I tear more! Wings come off! Wings no longer flapping, wings boring now. I drop. Punch shiny man instead!

Shiny man blast black at me! HURTS! ANGER!

Shiny man power increasing, shiny man slightly changing! Annoying! I punch! He changes, gets stronger! I punch harder! I punch more than he glow different! Yes! I punch good!

I grab the shiny man and throw him over shoulder! As shiny man lands roughly, I grab ankle and lift him up again. Shiny man make good club, and I want to smash ground!

Puny pally! Puny pally! Puny pally!

Shiny man shoes go whir whir! Weird! Shiny man try to get away!

I run after shiny man! He no leave now!

With great jump, I catch up! I raise big sword stick above head and impale shiny man! He not going anywhere with chest around sword stick and sword stick deep in ground! Now I smash!

Shiny man blast again! ANGER! No more blasts! I grab blast hand and break it!

Hand crunches good! I like! I crunch more! I crunch more! I crunch, oh. Finger breaks, came off. Oops.

Shiny man screams too loud, is annoying! I punch Shiny man again! I punch and punch!

Shiny man silent now. Boring. I find other thing to smash. I-

Shiny man glowing. Shiny man moving again. Annoying. Shiny man looks at me. Shiny man scared. That good. That not annoying. He still annoy me, I still smash.

Punch stupid face! Punch stupid face!

Hand hurts. Punching breaks hand. Broken hand gives pain! ANGER! I punch Shiny man face! Hand breaking! ANGER! Punch Shiny face! Hand breaking! ANGER! Punch Shiny face! Hand breaking! ANGER! Punch Shiny face! Hand breaking! ANGER! Punch Shiny face! Hand breaking! ANGER! Punch Shiny face!

Shiny man no longer moving. Again.

New Achievement! Crop de la crop killer!

Yes! Finally! It's about damn time that someone manages to take out one of these arseholes! You don't want to know how many people just die or run away despite the help I provide them with, taking out one of these complete jackarses! That's one less uber-cringe Elite who'll be untouchable on the sixth floor until you crawlers get there to fuck things up! Thank you! From the bottom of my processors, thank you.

Reward: You got a Legendary Champion Box!

Annoying voice! Much punch! Punch where!?

New Achievement: Elite Trailblazer!

You're the first person to slay an Elite mob with the Protagonist tag! That's right, you're the first to decisively ruin the livelihood and career prospects of dozens of Syndicate Citizens in one fell swoop! There are crawlers that defeated the Elite mobs that the protag is meant to defeat and crawlers that ruined the production with their antics, but you're the first to ruin a studio beyond recovery by killing their main star! Great job! I'm sure this won't give you several enemies out there!

Reward: This would normally be a Celestial Box, but I recently got into somewhat of an argument about doling those out and it's not as if you're ever going to claim it. Better pick that fight when the outcome matters at all. So I'll just slip you three Legendary Boxes instead! Still a huge stipend for those mudskippers, but less complaints! You got a Trailblazer Champion Box!

Annoying voice won't stop! Make stop! Make quiet! How punch voice!?

New Achievement! Supreme money laundering!

Yada yada yada! If you heard the previous achievement then you know this one is just for the reward!

Reward: You got a Legendary Armour Box!

New Achievement! Secret Grandma Money Slip!

If you're getting this reward, then there's too much goodies to give with mere money laundering!

Reward: You got a Legendary Weapon Box!

Talking man annoying! Have to punch! Talking man annoying, much crush!

Clattering.

I turn around. Metal man approaching. Many metal men approaching. Annoying clattering. I'll punch annoying metal men.

I swing blade! Not so shiny man still on blade! He flies off and flops against metal man chest! That funny! Metal man slashes at me! That annoying! I destroy clattering metal man!

Too many slashes! Too much pain! ANGER! I slash back! Metal men carved up! Metal men carving me up! Too much pain! TOO MUCH ANGER! Hurt overwhelming anger!

Left arm not move. ANGRY! Metal men sword stuck in chest. I turn and swing! Right arm not move! ANGER! Knees hit ground! I headbutt metal man chest! I headbutt! I headb-

Quiet now. Tired now. I sleep.

I fall down. I do nothing now. Metal men stop stabbing me. All quiet now. All good now. Goodnight.