Even as his thunderous steps cracked the tiles beneath his feet, Zeke wove a braid of pure destruction, powered by his twin attunements and held together by his Will. At first, it tried to escape his grasp, but that was no less than he expected. After all, each individual piece was enough to stretch the locus of his control to its limits, but altogether, it was everything he could do to keep them together for more than a split second.

A good thing, all told, because with every passing instant, the power ripped through his body and threatened to tear him apart – right down to a cellular level. But he still kept them together just long enough to lend power to his newest skill, [Hell Geyser]. He stomped, harnessing every point of the considerable pool of strength at his disposal and unleashed the combination of his potent skill and the technique he’d dubbed Worldbreaker.

The ground erupted, sending tiles and bedrock flying through the air as a great chasm – at least twenty feet wide – tore its way into existence, stretching from Zeke’s foot in a straight line to the throne.

Wearing Abby’s face, the Mirror King’s eyes widened in surprise and abject terror, but Zeke’s skill moved with such alacrity that he couldn’t react in time to avoid being swallowed by the chasm.

He screamed, and for a split second, the entire dais fell into the gaping chasm. However, only a moment later, a great gout of corrupted magma exploded into existence. It enveloped the mirror king, his throne, and the rest of the dais as it raced toward the ceiling.

It was only a fraction of Zeke’s power. He’d learned his lessons well, and so, he only let a wisp of the technique through. But even that was enough to drive him quickly to his knees. Still, it didn’t rip him apart. Not like the full weight of his power was wont to do.

But for a few moments, he could only watch as the corrosive magma of his newest skill did its work, melting through everything in its path. Only the barest hint of the skill brushed against the glass cubes imprisoning his friends, but it was enough to destabilize them. With that small opening, Pudge was able to break free. The cage collapsed with the sound of shattering glass accompanied by a bestial roar that sent a shiver of fear down even Zeke’s back.

Pudge didn’t hesitate to act, taking a run-up and launching himself across the thirty-foot-wide chasm to crash into the other cage. He cocked back his hand, and a great, black-and-red claw, seething with corruption, manifested above him. He swept his hand down, and the manifestation followed, shattering the already-weakened cube and freeing the four figures inside.

A clear voice swept through the area, enveloping Zeke with rejuvenating power as the rest of Zeke’s companions took stock of their sudden freedom. For Zeke’s part, the power he’d channeled through his body, though it was only a fraction of his capability, had been enough to ravage his body and soul. Fortunately, the demonic version of [Cambion’s Awakening], coupled with [Triune Colossus] was enough to keep him from being too incapacitated. Still, there was only so much demonic mana in the area, and the two skills quickly ran out of fuel.

So, he switched to the unattuned version of both, and even as his body transformed from its powerful demonic form to the more stable unattuned version, he felt the unattuned version of [Cambion’s Awakening] soothing his fractured soul. It was just enough to get him back on his feet.

A good thing, because that’s when the angels went wild with berserk fury. Thousands of them surged toward Zeke, threatening to bury him beneath a mountain of gold. But even weakened by his usage of the Worldbreaker technique, Zeke was more than strong enough to withstand their combined weight.

He lashed out with his hammer, pummeling one of the golden angels and launching it into a half-dozen others. At the same time, Zeke rushed forward, shouldering through a handful of other golden angels. He trampled them to the ground, bursting free before gathering his strength and bounding across the chasm he’d torn into the floor. Already, the damage he’d wrought upon the dungeon had begun to heal, so he had little difficulty in reaching the other side.

Zeke skidded to a stop as he reached his companions. Pudge was still very much enraged, but some of his fury had dissipated when he’d been reunited with Sasha. Meanwhile, even as the great bear hugged the girl tightly, Eta found her feet. At the same time, Silik had stepped to the front, where he clearly intended to shield the others from the oncoming onslaught of angelic statues. Still, Zeke saw the big kobold’s shoulders sag in relief when he arrived. Then, Silik slapped his free fist across his scaled chest before resuming his defensive posture. Zeke responded with a nod.

“Are any of you injured?” he asked the moment he drew close enough that they could hear him.

“We’re fine,” Eta said, a flower already blooming at her feet. With it came a wave of rejuvenating vitality – not terribly potent, but enough to take the edge off of Zeke’s more persistent injuries. “You’re glowing, by the way.”

Zeke blinked, then looked down. As seemed to be the case every time he used his techniques – or the full extent of his Will – a series of glowing cracks had appeared across his metallic body.

“I know,” he said, turning back to face the angels. Miraculously, they had stopped, almost as if they were waiting on something.

That’s when Zeke realized that he hadn’t received any confirmation of the Mirror King’s death. No surge of kill energy. No levels or Framework messages. Nothing.

“Shit,” he muttered.

Then a half-melted arm appeared on the edge of the rapidly closing chasm. Then a second followed, with a barely distinguishable torso coming soon after. Zeke watched as the creature dragged itself to safety. By the time it pushed itself to its feet, the chasm had almost completely closed.

But Zeke was more concerned with the monster itself. He used [Inspect], confirming that it was, indeed, the Mirror King. However, its level had changed. Instead of the still-daunting level sixty-seven, it now presented as level seventy-four.

Eveline, who’d been silent since Zeke had first laid eyes on the creature, finally said, “Some shapeshifters can do that. Your technique probably broke the skill it was using, so that’s almost assuredly its true level.”

Zeke had already made the same deduction, so he didn’t respond. If Eveline had any advice, she would have already given it. So, for better or worse, he was on his own.

No.

That wasn’t true.

He had his companions supporting him. Already, he felt their influence. Jasper’s song filled him with energy, while Eta’s flower sent a trickle of vitality through his body. Meanwhile, Sasha had finally extracted herself from Pudge’s embrace, and her brow was furrowed in concentration. He recognized that expression for what it was; she hadn’t gotten to the spellcasting part, but she’d clearly begun to prepare herself to unleash the full weight of her own power.

And then there was Pudge, who looked even more furious than he had when he’d broken through his cage.

Finally, Silik was there, hefting his hidebound shield and clutching his spear tightly. Tendrils of pure light wrapped themselves around his limbs as he prepared himself to defend the others.

Thus supported, Zeke turned to face the enemies.

The Mirror King was unrecognizable, and its ability to shift forms had clearly been negated. Tall, with long, thin limbs, and even longer legs, it looked like an evening shadow given flesh. And that flesh had been charred and melted to such a degree that it looked like a used black candle.

But its eyes were clear.

“You…you ruined everything!” it screamed.

Then, it shimmered with iridescent light before another charred figure stepped free of its body. Then another. And another after that. It kept going for a full twenty seconds until there were dozens of Mirror King copies, all standing in a row. Then, each one of them drew a glimmering sword from nowhere.

Before Zeke could react, they charged.

So did the angels.

A few moments later, the two sides clashed. Zeke – flanked by his hastily summoned golems – faced off against the Mirror King and its copies, while the others guarded his back against the surging horde of golden angels.

Bright skills and loud clangs filled the air as the battle was joined. Zeke ducked under a hasty slash from one Mirror King copy, while another went low. Still another thrust at him like a fencer, the glittering sword taking him in the side while the other swept across his hamstrings. Both weapons met solid metal, filling the air with a ringing cacophony of sound. But they were sharp enough to leave jagged wounds in Zeke’s metallic flesh.

Red-tinted mercury spilled onto the repaired floor, but Zeke ignored it, launching himself at the closest Mirror King copy. He swept his hammer out, embracing [Weight of Two Worlds] at the same time. The entire horde of Mirror Kings stumbled, and Zeke took advantage of the opening to bludgeon the creature into submission.

Or that’s what he intended.

Instead, the thing shattered into a hundred shards of sharp glass that immediately launched themselves at him. Each one hit with the force of a bullet, embedding themselves into his body. With each successive impact, Zeke felt some of his strength drain away. The first barely affected him, but after the twentieth, he started to feel markedly weaker.

Even worse, when he used [Cambion’s Awakening], it felt like pushing mana through a filter, and as a result, the effect was significantly weakened from what he’d grown accustomed.

“Get them out!” shouted Eveline in his mind.

Zeke wholeheartedly agreed with her rising panic, but at the same time, he couldn’t afford the time it would take to pry the hundreds of glass shards from his metallic flesh. After all, he was still in the middle of a battle.

Even as Eveline shouted in his mind Zeke’s mind whirled as he searched for a way to mitigate the damage. But no matter how he looked at it, every time he destroyed one of the Mirror King’s copies, he would be subjected to the same barrage of glass shards. And considering that, after only one, he was already feeling the effects – both on his strength as well as the potency of [Cambion’s Awakening] – he was faced with a very troubling reality.

But what could he do? He couldn’t stop and pluck the shards out of his body. Not with a battle raging behind him and dozens of mirror copies bearing down on him. Indeed, with every passing instant, he dodged more sword strikes. The ones he couldn’t avoid, he took as well as he could.

He couldn’t find a solution, though. He could once again used the Worldbreaker technique, but he knew that he probably wouldn’t survive it. He’d only barely kept the power contained the first time, and it would be much more difficult if he tried it again.

Still, keeping going as he was simply wasn’t an option. With every copy he killed, his strength and ability to heal would be further impaired. Eventually, Zeke wouldn’t even be able to support his own body.

So, what was the answer? For quite some time, he felt as if it was on the tip of his tongue. If he only had a little more time, he knew he could figure it out. But after using the Worldbreaker technique, his mind was sluggish. Unresponsive. He felt like he was thinking through mud.

It was only when he felt mana gathering behind him that he finally broke through. Not via some epiphany. Rather, because he knew he couldn’t let Sasha complete the spell she’d begun to form. If she did, and she managed to destroy the Mirror King’s copies, she would be inundated by those shards.

And given her weak physical stats, she would never survive it.

Knowing what that would do to Pudge, Zeke pushed his mind into overdrive, and then, like he’d torn through a wall, realization finally came.

He embraced his Will. However, he didn’t let it loose like he usually did. Nor did he enhance his attacks. He didn’t let it ride along one of his skills, either. Instead, he focused it on his body – or rather the foreign objects sapping his strength. At first, it did nothing but cause pain – not enough to derail him, but still not insignificant, either. Then, it started to degrade his body, bit by bit.

But he was far more durable than the shards of the Mirror King’s copy, and with so much destructive power flowing through him, the latter simply couldn’t persist. They dissolved under the onslaught, giving Zeke a burst of strength that let him reengage with every ounce of his power.

The enraged Mirror King copies screamed, but Zeke paid it no mind as he tore into them, his hammer leading the way. One by one, they fell, shattered into a million pieces that quickly lodged themselves in his body. With every breath, more of the shards were destroyed, creating an ebb and flow in his strength.

But despite that odd rhythm of strength and weakness, Zeke persisted. Pain raced through him as his own power destroyed his body, tearing it down brick by brick. He knew he couldn’t stop, though.

And if Zeke had learned nothing else in his time since being reborn, it was that if he had a superpower, it was his ability to persist. So, he leveraged that ability to his advantage, enduring well past the point when he should have fallen. All the while, he tried to repair the damage via [Cambion’s Awakening], but it wasn’t nearly effective enough to counteract the effects.

Slowly, Zeke shattered one Mirror King copy after another until only the original remained.

“You are pathetic,” it spat. “A weakling. A ridiculous brute whose only real talent is in enduring pain.”

With agony still racing through him, Zeke gave the creature a shrug. Then, he said, “Maybe you’re right.”

Then, without another word, he raised his hammer and launched himself at the Mirror King.