“What the hell are you even talking about?” Anthony said. “I don’t have any parasite.”

“Can you explain more, Angie?” Alistair asked.

“With my passive [Soul Sight] Skill I’m always watching people’s souls to a certain extent. Anthony’s soul looks completely different now. There’s something moving right on the surface of his soul.”

“I’m no Spiritualist, but I think I’d notice if something was burrowing in my own soul,” Anthony said. “In fact, there’s something wrong with you.”

He pointed at Evangeline as he walked backward, taking some distance. “I was the first person to detect the monkeys, which speaks to my incredible senses. It’s like a suped-up version of the danger sense Skills a lot of fighter types have. There’s something very wrong with this woman. I don’t know exactly what it is, but she’s putting me on edge.”

“My preliminary analysis detects nothing remiss in either individual,” Bartholomew added in his droning voice.

“Well, it’s obvious that Anthony is the one who’s lying, right?” Alexandra looked at Alistair. “He’s an absolute pig and the main reason New York is a dystopic wasteland.”

“That’s completely unfair,” Anthony said. “I prefer to be called a rat, not a pig. My masculine features aren’t pig-like at all.”

“Sorry, Angie, but I have to look at this from an objective standpoint,” Alistair said, giving his sister a sheepish glance. “It’s what you would want. If something happened to either you or Anthony, like a parasite or bodysnatcher, the original personality of both of you is irrelevant. In fact, since Anthony is the strongest one here, the chance of him being affected is the lowest out of all of us.”

“Hey, this guy’s talking some sense now. You’re right, I am the strongest, if there was a parasite, it wouldn’t want a piece of this.”

“I’ve taught you too well, Alistair,” Evangeline said. “So, do you have a proposition?”

“I can use my [Eyes of Truth], though I’m not sure how effective it will be in determining who’s correct,” Alistair said. He wasn’t thrilled about the idea of going to -1 Karma, but he would do it if it was necessary. “It’s an upgrade of [Inspect] that relies on Karmic energy.”

Alfred perked up at the mention of Karma. Alistair could almost see the gears turning behind the shrewd businessman’s eyes.

“You know, I take back all the positive things I said about you. Charisma users are the smarmiest, greediest bastards. Always trying to manipulate people and be the man in the chair. I must have killed at least a hundred of them and I was doing a public service, honest to God,” Anthony said, still separating himself from the rest of the group.

“That’s real fresh coming from you,” Alexandra said.

“What about you, Alfred? If your Class is Spymaster, shouldn’t you have sensory abilities that can help us out?” Evangeline asked.

The Englishman shook his head. “I’m afraid my reconnaissance is more elementary than that. Mostly along the audio and visual lines, nothing supernatural. I wish I could help more, but it looks like it’s all up to you.”

His brother nodded, two of his machine guns dangling from his thick neck.

“Alright,” Alistair said. “Let’s see.”

Going into Karmic debt to use [Eyes of Truth] was markedly different from using it like normal. While the pain of losing his positive Karma hurt, it was bearable. Alistair’s brain had naturally blocked off the emotional pain of going into the negatives from last time, but the memories came flooding back as he dropped to -1 Karma.

A haze of shadows surrounding everything greeted Alistair, probably the result of the omnipresent danger of the island. But he immediately noticed the change in Anthony’s aura. The timeless, endless pool of clear and white aura developed a thin film of darkness over it. He guessed that the parasite Evangeline mentioned caused the alterations. While his vision wasn’t as precise at viewing the soul, the combination of the change in aura coupled with the black lines of Fate made him sure something was afoot with Anthony.

He was properly thorough, however, checking his sister and everyone else for anomalies as well. Satisfied that his inspection discovered nothing else, he shut off his [Eyes of Truth], not trying to go any more into the negatives.

Alistair made his decision in less than a blink of an eye. He didn’t want to give parasite-Anthony any time to prepare. Hopefully, they could subdue the man without killing him and remove whatever creature had taken up stock in Anthony’s soul, but Alistair didn’t have his hopes up. If the #5 on Earth still kept his abilities, they would need all five of them working together to defeat him, and they couldn’t afford to pull their punches.

With a single step in [Dash], Alistair brought himself right in front of Anthony, who barely had time to react. Barely enough time for Anthony, however, was more time in the world.

Alistair had his thoughts about Anthony’s Class and Skills after seeing him deal with the monkey, and his momentum slowing midair confirmed his speculations — Anthony had a Class relating to time.

Luckily, Alistair had an ace up his sleeve. Ever since arriving in the clearing, he was inundated with powerful spiritual pressure. He could feel in his bones that thousands had died on those rocky cliffs, and based on the anger and regret that tinged their presence. It was time for him to use the Solid Spirit Branch.

He focused on the strongest, most powerful spirit he could find until its spectral aura appeared over him like a suit of ghostly armor.

Right away, it was obvious that this wasn’t an ordinary application of his [Ghost Whispers]. A little ping and a notification window alerted him to a new Skill, one that could actually summon a ghost.

Unlike his previous uses of [Ghost Whispers], this was an actual, unliving ghost that walked the mortal plane, rejecting the call of the beyond. While his Skill could use the spiritual echoes of souls that had passed on, he had never encountered a ghost in the flesh or lack thereof.

With his ghostly armor, Alistair was more confident than ever. Through his Skill’s connection, he understood the spirit’s past. Once, he was a mighty dragon, but a conniving sorceress tricked him into coming to this godforsaken island where he perished, never seeing his family or mate again. In his pain and anger, he swore never to leave the island until he took his revenge on the sorceress.

Alistair felt his movement arrest as the flow of time reversed, but now he had the assistance of a dragon. Anthony’s Skill worked by infusing it with his Dao, allowing for a complete reversal of time. At his higher level and likely a more developed Dao Inspiration, Alistair alone would have been helpless. But he wasn’t alone.

It was already harder for Anthony’s Dao-infused time reversal to affect a purely spiritual being, but the dragon, whose name Alistair somehow knew as Ogarth, also was a member of an ancient species. Dragons were majestic and storied beings that could live for millions of years naturally. Ogarth was pitifully weak for a member of his species, barely a higher level than Alistair. Yet voiding the Dao of a puny human who dared to encroach on one of the most fundamental Daos in the universe, the Dao of Time? Simple.

Maybe he could have his cake and eat it too, Alistair thought, as his arm burned bright with dragon fire, forming Ogarth’s snout. Anthony clearly wasn’t used to someone breaking through his Skill, and Alistair slammed his burning fist right into his fat nose.

He knew he couldn’t let up on the level 29, following up with a [Mana Strike] to the guy and then a hammer fist to the top of his skull. His final blow came with decades of inherited experience from {Assassin’s Fist}. Alistair just knew that if he struck right in between two of Anthony’s ribs, he could deliver a death blow that stopped his heart. Anthony dropped to the ground, breathing no more.

“I estimated your chance of success to be less than 13.1%. Clearly, my algorithms need some fine-tuning,” Bartholomew said. Alfred was clapping.

“Impressive work, dispatching the ne’er-do-well. Unless you and your sister are working together?”

Evangeline tackled him in a hug. “I knew you could do it. I’m so proud of you, Alistair.”

Alistair couldn’t help but break out into the widest grin. He had defeated the #5 rank man on Earth, practically all on his own. Not all his own, Alistair corrected. Ogarth still clung to him, frantically looking for a new enemy, though fortunately, the others couldn’t see him.

Alexandra brushed against his arm. “You’re amazing. You know, when I first saw you, I didn’t think much of you, but you’ve proved me completely wrong.”

He could feel his cheeks grow red. Alexandra’s soft touch felt divine against his skin. Alistair shook his head. What was he doing? He had a girlfriend. Something wasn’t right with his judgment.

It dawned on him that something didn’t feel right. He just killed a level 29 opponent, and he didn’t level up? While it was possible with the exponential increases in experience needed to level up, he felt like it was unlikely, especially with his feeling that the Kellus kill gave him more than a full level.

The way everyone reacted felt wrong as well. There was a certain lack of verisimilitude to their actions like he was in a play rather than in real life. The cherry on top was the haze of shadows from his [Eyes of Truth]. His initial interpretation was that the general threat of the jungle was causing the negative impression, but that made little sense. The [Eyes of Truth] had only revealed solid, actionable threats before, not a general miasma of danger.

Ogarth’s ghost scratched him in the form of a miniature dragon. The dragon congealed into a near physical form, wisps of ectoplasm emanating from his skin.

“Leave,” Ogarth whispered. His form became one with Alistair, and he knew the ghost would disappear after he finished his task.

Alistair formed dragon’s claws and under Ogarth’s direction, cut a tear into reality. But instead of going into an endless void as he expected, he woke up in a puddle of slime.

Writhing in pain, he felt like every part of his body was burning alive. He was paralyzed, his body partially submerged in a viscous green muck that tore apart his skin and clothing.

He tried to remember the last thing that happened. How much of what he just experienced was an illusion? They were running for their lives from a pack of monkeys, which seamlessly transitioned into the argument at the rock clearing. Somewhere along the way, they must have fallen for an illusion and brought to a slimy cave of acid. He struggled to crane his neck to see the others, all fast asleep under the illusion, stuck in the green liquid.

With all of his strength, Alistair managed to pull himself out of the slime, cursing under his breath from the pain. The outer layer of his skin was corroded, along with most of his clothing, but otherwise felt okay. Checking on his status screen, he only lost fifteen health, and the Skill he acquired under the illusion, [Spectral Summoning], actually existed.

They were stuck inside a small, dank cave that contained springs of the bubbling green slime. After checking the area for immediate danger, he got to work digging his teammates out of the pools. He started with the people he trusted the most, Evangeline and Alexandra. Evangeline looked much worse than either him or Alexandra, which he attributed to her lower Constitution. The moment he fully lifted them out of the pool, they woke up. In Alexandra’s case, it involved a quite girly scream and a kick that almost hit Alistair in the face.

"Deliverance of Justice" activated the moment he dragged them out of the pools, reinforcing the danger they were in, and he got to work rescuing the others in quick succession. For Anthony, Alistair was tempted to not take him out, partially based on his actions in the dream, but he couldn’t justify losing one of the most essential members of their party in terms of strength. His Dao Inspiration grated at the idea of working with the man, but he luckily included pragmatism within his ideals, so he wasn’t an overly zealous paladin.

After everyone was out of the vats of acidic slime, they swapped stories about what had happened when they were under. Everyone remembered encountering the monkeys in the forest and running away, but everything after that wildly differed depending on the person. For example, Alexandra remembered falling into a subterranean kingdom of hostile moles, which sounded way more interesting than his parasite murder mystery illusion.

No one recalled exactly how they landed inside of the cave, however. After everyone got their bearings right, they explored the cave. Luminescent blue moss dotted the walls of the cave, which was covered in the slime from back in the pools.

After a couple of minutes of scouting the cave, they weren’t any closer to finding an exit. There was only one tunnel connected to the small room of slime pools, so they explored it. Alexandra kicked the slimy cave wall in an attempt to create her own exit. The walls turned out to be softer than expected, morphing around her powerful kick so that nothing collapsed. After she retracted her leg, the walls shifted back to their previous formation, like nothing ever happened. With no other options, they kept trekking further into the cave.

Alfred stopped in his tracks, eyes wide. “Thirty meters ahead.”

Alistair formed his Terragen Wraps around his fists, prepared for a fight, along with everyone else who grew tense, having just been completely vulnerable.

“Not a bad thing, my bad. I think I just found a room of treasure.”