“I must have been muddled when I thought this was a good idea,” Gemini muttered. His eyes were fixed on the first few attackers — the ones closest to the demon he’d just killed — and his body turned into a blur a moment later as he closed the distance. It was better for him if he were to strike pre-emptively, rather than letting them all encircle him at their own pace.

The absence of the Demon God’s Demigod was telling loads, however. Exemplar Rilata, who had sallied forth to do battle with the Demon God’s so-called spokesperson, was probably still fighting well. He could tell, from the occasional rumbling that echoed all throughout the vast plains of the Grand Lands, that a battle of epic proportions was well underway.

But that was the extent of it. That was not his battle.

Qi swirled around his sword as he closed in on the nearest cluster of demons who were racing towards his original position. The previous fight with one of them had been an experiment that had decisively proved one thing — the moment his qi ran out, Gemini would meet a horrible end. The demons chasing him were strong enough, even based on physical strength alone, to tie him down. One on one, Gemini could still prevail based on superior blade work, but a single moment’s delay when facing multiple such enemies would be fatal.

It didn’t take long for Gemini could come up with a plan, and by the time his target’s sword and body had been cut into two, the Constellation had finalized his strategy for drawing out battle as long as possible.

Gemini’s sword swung out again, but the demon he was targeting next had clearly learned a lesson. Like Gemini’s own sword, the air around the demon’s had warped — this was the only way it could deflect Gemini’s attacks. Sparks flared, over and over as the two slashed out at each other without reserve.

Euphoria coursed through Gemini’s veins as they continued to strike out at each other. The Constellation frowned — this feeling was incredibly familiar to him! He’d forgotten about it, but now that this high was upon him, Gemini was able to recall the first time he’d taken up a sword on Orb, shortly after the Constellations were summoned.

Yes, it was that exact same high he felt — and it was the one responsible for turning the Constellations into mass murderers. Revulsion welled up within Gemini, and with a mighty swing, the hero forced the demon away from him, creating enough of a distance for Gemini to escape combat immediately.

“User-designated abnormal state detected.” A pleasant voice spoke in his head, a voice that Gemini intuitively attributed to the Status…the game-like system he had. “Purging.”

At these words, the complex mix of emotions began to drain out of Gemini, and the hero felt himself return to his original state of mind. The abnormal euphoria had been in his system for longer he’d noticed, and sensations of pain returned to his system. He hadn’t thought much about it, but the absence of any fatigue or pain whatsoever the entire time had been odd, now that he thought about it. Now, without that abnormal state he was in, the very thought of using the Psyche-Splitting Strike was raising alarms in his head.

Gemini had the feeling that without the amplification from whatever the Human God had done to them, some of the clearly-overpowered Skills the Constellations had would have rather…adverse effects, to put it mildly, when used.

He snapped out of it as the demon he’d forced away swooped in, clearly intent on taking advantage of Gemini’s abnormal state. His sword flicked upwards on reflex, and an immense force sent him reeling backwards as the demon’s attack slammed into his guard. Without giving him a chance to recover, his opponent put on a burst of speed, while the last demon, who had been on standby to step in, circled around to Gemini’s back, a blade of qi in his right arm.

A thunderclap echoed around the plains as the charging demon slammed his sword against Gemini’s own. Two strips of metal flew off into the distance — both weapons had shattered from the violent clash — but the true killing blow came from behind Gemini.

Something like a building or a pillar smashed into Gemini’s back, sending him into the distance. There was no pain, just a horrible absence of sensation, and for the first time in years, Gemini felt the spectre of death looming up onto him. From the feel of it, that single attack had broken his back, and with so many opponents around, such an injury would not be any different from a death sentence. Perhaps, he didn’t even need to wait for his enemies to finish him off; such an attack would have ruptured his internal organs.

“Huh?” Screens began to appear in his vision, each of them bearing the same translucent blue hue as that of his status, but before he could focus on any of them, these screens closed as quickly as they came, until only one was left behind.

“Unlock conditions fulfilled. Passive Skill, Collective Entity, has been activated.” As these words appeared on the translucent blue screen, pain coursed through Gemini’s spine, and his eyes flicked up to the top right of his vision, where his health bar had been.

For a moment, the hero didn’t know what to think. The red bar in his top right, which had been something he’d neglected the whole time, was four-fifths full. He’d run a single test with it earlier on, but it wasn’t enough to conclusively prove that he had a body like that of a character in a game. Obviously, the fact that some new Skill had activated meant that until then, Gemini’s body was still the same as that of anyone else on Orb.

Behind him, he could hear a demon approaching at high speed, clearly intent on cutting him down. Gemini, still soaring through the air from that single attack, bared his teeth.

Air whistled as the demon approached, but without much of an effort, Gemini turned around to face the pursuer. Shock flickered across the demon’s face, an expression that was swiftly replaced by that of disbelief as the Constellation drew yet another sword out of nowhere and stabbed it into its chest. Gemini twisted the blade and then withdrew it swiftly, sending a spray out blood out.

Behind the motionless demon, its companion dithered to a stop. Gemini smiled at it, but instead of chasing it down, he chose to flee. He could sense the other demons closing in on him, and even with the new power he’d unlocked, the Constellation couldn’t afford to take many hits either.

As Gemini zipped away, a fan of lights closed on his current position. It was time to carry out his plan.