“Fuck!” I yelled as I jump upwards the moment a severed hand jettisoned past my head, all the while crimson blood rained down.

Taking a quick gander all around me revealed that my situation wasn't a unique experience as hands and fingers started to come back down hitting tables and people with both meaty wacks and light thuds.

Someone even had a finger fall onto their pizza like some morbid topping from some cheesy horror film.

Then the screams started, and the hysteria really came into full swing as people pushed each other out of the way in a panic not caring at all about those they might trample underneath. The civility of modern humanity was nowhere to be found, and instead selfish yet understandable survival of the fittest bloomed.

I turned back to the chick I’d been apologizing to and kind of ogling mentally. Despite her plain clothes, the girl herself was anything but.

Still, no time for these thoughts Lucas!

The center was under attack, and while I didn’t want to be a pessimist I highly doubted they were here for the variety of summer sales.

“Run!” I yelled at the girl as I turned to dash back to my table to regroup with Lucia and Reol.

“Wait!” I the girl yelled back but I was already moving, providing an excellent display of my recently heightened physical abilities thanks to Feverish Blood, and the impurities Xue had helped me get out. I should be fully within the lower (E)-rank now, comparable to a gold-winning pre-decade of Chaos Olympian. Nothing special as it still made me a squishy human but it was definitely a leg up and it felt amazing.

Slipping through the wave of panicked buyers, I only stopped once to quickly help an old man who had fallen down and been about to be trampled. He thanked me but I was already pushing back against the wave, as I weaved myself through like a fish.

The distance hadn't been too far so I reunited with the girls but was shocked to find Reol passed out with blood leaking from her nose. Lucia had the girl on her back while copies of her exited her front only to take off into the distance. He counted five before the last one exited.

“I'll take these,” she said before wrapping her arms around all the bags of clothes and other female necessities they had purchased. Before I could speak up though the copy reentered Lucia.

“Are you part walk-in closet now?” I couldn't help but ask instead of a more suitable question like, ‘the fuck happened to Reol’ or ‘oh shit oh fuck I think the jigs up!’.

“Kind of? At least for a while, we got 4 hours before my body starts to spit out the clothes, or worse digest any originally organic cloth. I do not like the metaphysical taste of cotton.” Lucia stated with some minor disgust all while pulling out a wickedly sharp-looking combat knife from a holster she had under her shirt.

“Cool, cool, so if we somehow make it out of here at least you'll still have your fucking lingerie.” I sarcastically spat as I tossed her the underwear I had just retrieved after yeeting it in a fit that surprised even me.

Lucia at least had the decency to look somewhat guilty as she dumped the pair into her body.

“If it makes you feel better I bought the lingerie after I pickpocketed the weirdo that was hitting on Reol.”

“Now that does make me feel better, but I’d still rather you stop being so annoying at least in public areas like this.”

“No promises.” She said while expertly twirling the deadly knife in one hand, leaving me unable to do much besides sigh.

“If you fucks are done flirting, I’d really love it if we got out of here. I somehow managed to send back the Lurkers to their entry point by reversing the flow of mana, but they can still run over here. It's not like the center isn't crawling with them if they were able to just send twenty of them at us all willy-nilly like that. Especially when they waited for the exact moment we separated.”

Reol who had regained consciousness suggested in an irritated tone.

“She’s right, my copies have already made contact with twelve different Lurkers. They dispatched them, but at the rate their moving won't be long until they're overwhelmed.”

“Wait a moment dispatched as in killed or incapacitated?” I asked.

“Would it make you feel better if I said the latter.” Lucia said with an eyebrow raised up, as though the response was obvious.

“Screw those shadow-loving fucks.” Reol added.

I decided to just drop the subject. We didn't have time for it.

Instead, my brain whirled as it thought about our escape route. Unfortunately, the easiest was also most likely to fail.

“Fuck they probably already have people watching parking.” I cursed.

“The copy I sent to scope it out died the moment it entered the parking garage, so they are also somewhat aware of my power by now. My single copies are barely in the (E)-rank when not combined, and are relying on my experience right now.”

Now that's not good.

I walked up to Lucia, or more specifically Reol who was just hanging on to her like a koala.

“If we take you to the tech-yard you think you could build something to get us out of here?” I asked the petite girl whose pink hair had dimmed considerably.

“If they have usable stuff maybe. I made something to help look through all the junk for me. But if you can get me another power crystal my little toy will be able to do a lot more for us.”

“I shouldn't need the mana-field generator if you're around, so what if we scrap it for now, and when we’re back home I’ll ask and see if Xue can give me another crystal,” I suggested.

“That’ll work, just hold off for now, the ambient mana is being manipulated to cause distress right now. Once we get to the tech yard I should be good. ”

“So that's why the whispers been worse,” Lucia mumbled to herself, without realizing we were both right next to her.

Reol and I both decide to just ignore the comment for now. Instead, I continued on.

“Hand her over, your a lot more dangerous than I am so you’ll need to be the one doing majority of fighting.”

“Wait, a fucking moment, when did I give permission for this,” Reol exclaimed.

“When you realize that if Lucia doesn't protect us were likely won't make it out of this situation without a bloodstream full of tranquilizers.”

“I’ll be honest, we still might not make it out. I've dispatched another ten Lurkers since then but I've lost two more copies. We might be looking at a minimum of twenty more Lurkers plus the ones the Reol Captain Hooked. This feels like a small to a medium-sized organization that got the early birds' worm.”

I wanted to say things couldn't get any worse but I knew better than to jinx myself in such a shitty situation.

Then a crashing noise started echoing out from the west where they started their trip until it became almost deafening as it approached closer.

“CRASH!” The wall separating a small candy store and the open food court exploded sending concrete and sheetrock all over the place, leaving a dust cloud where a large figure looms.

‘Oh come on I didn't even fucking say anything! Is thinking not allowed now?!’

-(Chaos Element Trigger (negative) was found to synergize with Streak of Misfortune. Quarter Break accrued. Current Lucky Breaks 1(100%), 1(25%)-.

Did I forget to toggle that shit off!

Just as I was about to ask Winstone to toggle it I was interrupted.

“Catch! I’ll deal with the bruiser” Lucia yelled as she heaved a screaming Reol at me. She exploded forwards with speed toward the figure amongst the floating debrie.

Like a slack sack of potatoes, I ignore the profanity-spitting Reol as I adjusted her so I was able to give her a proper piggyback ride.

“Please shut the fuck up, and try to use what little strength you have to grip on to me. The fucking shadows are rising again.” I said as I readjusted her once more when she took my advice and did her best to hang onto me.

“Fuck you.” She whispered between gritted teeth but kept her frustrations to just those two words.

Off in the distance, Lucia was battling with what one might call a standard Enhanced bruiser. From the present anger in his eyes, he probably wasn't vat-grown as vat-grown enhanced don't have emotions to express. Likely some poor sod they created with a substandard super serum.

Still, his strength was obvious from the way everything just crumbled as he dashed. At least (C+)-ranked in that regard even if everything else was lower.

Yet it mattered little as Lucia reenacted her fight with Alsha but with a multitude of times more success.

I really wanted to keep watching but I had my own problems at hand.

Though there weren’t any more civilians around a few objects including myself cast enough of a shadow that four figures rose up slowly as they dragged themselves through the puddles of blood all over the place.

Cold murky brown eyes gaze into his own as the crippled Lurkers pulled out what looked like taser guns from their side holsters with their remaining hands.

My perception of time slowed down, as instinct, took over, and my hand grabbed one of the food trays that had been on the table we had been eating at.

‘Lucky Break!’ I internally screamed.

-(Quarter charge consumed. In a radius of 25ft around the user Luck is greatly increased for the next 45 seconds.)-

With a flick of my wrist, the food tray flew forwards while I leaned to the side just as the squad of Lurkers took the shot.

Then things got really funny.

From Lucia's fight, which was just barely within range of Lucky Break a random shard of concrete came skyrocketing by, as it brained one of the Lurkers effectively throwing off its aim just slightly enough that the taser gun changed to one of the other Lurkers.

That Lurker whose shot had a perfect angle for Lucas was surprised when the tray flew like a frisbee and hit the tip of the flying taser just enough to divert its path into the third Lurker's own flying taser. In an extremely unlikely event, the two tiny taser shots collided sparking.

As for the last taser, well Reol was there to take the shot like a champ. By leaning he had completely blocked the majority of his body with Reol’s.

It's not like she could move anyway.

The poor girl didn't even get a chance to scream as she passed out once again, but the taser had done him a favor as it made her tighten her grip on him to an almost painful degree.

But he didn’t stop there, he wasn’t sure how strong this probability manipulation ability was but he had to take out 2 still-standing lurkers and one that was in the middle of convulsing on the floor. As for the one who got a heavy serving of concrete, well that one was out of the fight and any future ones from good.

Grabbing another tray I threw it on the floor before jumping on it as I skated on the bloody floor towards the downed Lurker. To my side, the two standing Lurkers dashed forwards quicker than my current self by a large margin, but that mattered little when one tripped on a tray that which in turn sent the tray flying towards the other Lurker who noticed it and attempted to stop himself but found the floor slightly to slippery.

Instead of hitting him on the arm where the original trajectory was, his attempt to dodge caught him in an unbalanced state that was further destroyed by the tray which had its corner hit him in the eye perfectly.

With a soft pained moan, the Lurker went down and had the back of its neck catch the edge of a table knocking it out in the process. They might be (C) ranked but that didn't mean their durability was.

All this happened while I slid rapidly forwards to the tased Lurker who was starting to get up as his good hand grabbed at the wire trying to pull out the barbed metal.

I wasn't about to let that happen though as I took a mighty leap while still in motion and came down hard on his arms with my legs, shattering both as the weight of both myself and Reol.

The Lurker passed out immediately, the pain too great even for something designed to finish its job regardless of the threat to its life.

“Lucas watch out!” Lucia screamed as I felt a heavy presence about to crush me and every single bone in my body.

Only for it to also trip on a tray missing me by less than half a foot as flew by.

But not the remaining Lurker who found himself between a massive body and a support beam in the food court.

With a bloody squish, the Lurker was no more and the pillar looked like it had seen better days as the massive man pulled himself free, dusting himself while also wiping away viscera and guts on his face.

With a roar, he started sprinting forwards straight at me again and this time, I wasn't sure if Lucky Break would save me.

There was nothing left to trip on after the bruiser had taken everything in its path with it.

Then Lucia flew by.

She was the wind, moving so fast I barely noticed her.

It looked like she was intending to meet the charge headfirst until suddenly a copy exploded outwards from her even quicker than she was moving. While the copy kept its momentum as it soared threw the air, Lucia dipped down and with her combat knife, took aim and swung at the bruiser's ankle.

The bruiser who was unable to dodge, also caught a face full of a beautiful girl as Lucia's copy grappled onto the massive man's neck while stabbing towards his eyes.

Then the bloody execution happened.

The foot flew off, tripping the bruiser who now had an eye full of metal, but Lucia’s copy lacked the strength to drive it all the way through, which is why she held on to its head forcing it to face downward as his own weight came down on the knife lodging it all the way in.

In an instant, the body went slack as Lucia's copy now sporting broken arms and legs held back her screams.

Lucia immediately went over and absorbed her back into herself, before turning around and shuffling towards me.

“I can’t handle more than one of those at a time in my current state. I simply do not have the rank anymore after the summoning.” She stated as she moved behind me and pulled out the wires from the taser connected to Reol.

“You mean,” I asked tensely.

“Yeah, as much as I hate to say this, we need backup. The brute force kind. Otherwise, we won't be making it to even the Techyard, let alone home.”

Fuck.

He doubted he had enough mana to summon more than one of the girls. He also needed someone to keep watch over Alice, and a certain brute definitely wasn't responsible or trustworthy enough for that.

“I have to summon her then?” I asked.

“Yerp, it's time for that stupid dragon to earn her keep,” Lucia responded.

Readjusting Reol, I felt the chant leaving my lips before I could process it, as though my subconscious was formulating it without thinking about what I might have wanted to say.

“Danger aplenty is found here, but what is there to fear, when the dragon stalks near.”

Then within a blink of an eye and a large drain to my mana she appeared her all her glory.

She looked around, sniffed the air for a moment, then turned to look straight into my eyes with her own burning ones.

She smiled with teeth sharp enough to be small blades, yet attractive in a primal way I couldn't explain.

Then she spoke, and I wondered if this was a good idea after all.

“Chaos abounds here. This One will enjoy herself.” Alsha the dragon shouted to everyone.

Including the ones behind the scenes.