Emberwind lit up the dark, wide chamber in orange illumination, revealing a golden throne atop a dais right in the middle of the throneroom. The sudden light snapped everything into a flurry of movement.

  Suna wrenched his vision away from the knight and focused on the Shadow Rebel. As his eyes left the level-seventy, the blue knight charged. Suna stood still, aiming his arrow at the opponent in front of him. James blasted wind from his feet and launched at the knight; rends of sword exchanged in a burst of flame that sent a heat threatening to his back.

  Suna was aware of the overwhelming presence behind him. But for now, he had one objective, and that was to buy time for the others to arrive.

  He had to somehow survive alone against the Rebels.

  Suna released his arrow, letting a slice of flame sing toward the Undead Rebel. The Shadow Rebel still silently laughed. He opened his mouth, and again the ghastly face appeared. The Assassin then mauled Suna’s spell arrow mid-air, silencing the room into darkness once more.

  Ridiculous.

  Suna did not let up; he wove another Emberwind and released two back-to-back, each with enough power to pulverize a normal Undead Assassin ten times over. This time, the Undead Rebel did not stand still; he zoomed forward, and a shadow hand extended from his cloak, just like Uzu’s and the Gloom’s hand. The hands surged forward, five of them piling on both of the flaming arrows and snuffing them out.

  The sound of the arrow’s shaft snapping resounded through the now once more dark room.

  A bluish flame burst behind and colored the eerie throneroom with bluish light that reminded Suna of the Pyreflame’s archer.

  Sweat cooled around his neck.

  Focus! In front of you.

  Suna, this time, drew Sootwood Arrow and let three loose in quick succession. But three whips of shadows blasted all of his arrows away. Suna made out that it was three hands, which meant there were still two more. Shadow moved, lashing above him. Suna was able to track its movement with his eyes, and he slashed his Galebow forward, cutting the first one. His eyes immediately caught the second coming toward his side. Suna was about to jump over it—too late—he was sent flying into a rolling heap.

  Pain flared. He could swear something cracked. But his Spirit Rabbit cloak mended whatever it was. By the time Suna shook his head, his back was to something—something shiny. The moment he opened his eyes, the Shadow Rebel was running at him, with twin dark swords ready to cleave down. The first strike, he ducked; its force slashed through the throne of gold. Suna summoned Shadow Arrow, drawing it as he would, as if he were about to release it. Darkness banished beneath, and his life flashed as he saw the smile of the Undead Rebel about to bring its second sword at his neck.

  Suna's eyes now zeroed on it, the dark steel now naked for his eyes. Not only that, the five hands of shadow were about to each grip onto him, too. But he was far from helpless. Pyreflame burst out from his pendant and burned away the shadow hands. However, that did not stop the sword; no, it pierced through the bluish flame straight at his throat.

  Then something halted it. A hand of Shadow. Not from the Undead Shadow Rebel but from Suna’s stomach. His Third Dark Hand caught the dark blade, narrowly stopping it from taking his life.

  The Undead Shadow Rebel formed an alien wide smile, and Suna mirrored it. The assassin yanked the sword backward while he used the other one to thrust at Suna’s throat.

  Suna did not sit still; he had drawn his Umbralline that had fallen beside him, and he clashed against the Rebel’s sword. Their swords grinded against each other, pushing each other into a rebound, then they brought them together again. This time, the Undead overpowered Suna, and he had to yank his head backward as his own sword almost slit his throat.

  Suna saw the Rebel about to bring his second sword down again. So he built up Gale Step on his feet and stomped down, sending his knee lurching up and slamming the Undead’s chin, snapping the assassin’s head up. Umbralline, once again, fell out of his grip. So Suna lifted both hands and slammed down Gale Bow. His heart skipped a bit as his spell connected, but in the last second, the Undead Rebel summoned a dark shield of hands around his chest in time and was blown backward.

  The Undead tapped his hand down and somersaulted into position once more. Once he landed, he swept his arm in courtesy like some Ringmaster. But Suna did not intend to play with it; he summoned Emberwind and streaked the darkness between them with a volley of Spell Arrows.

  The Undead dodged the first one, the hem of his cloak burning, then he flowed to parry the second arrow with his sword, and for the third and fourth, he let the hands of darkness catch them.

  Suna bit his cheek, surely there’s a way… He drew Shadow Arrow and poured Mana into it, causing lights to dance further around him, and he released it. His passive had built up a bit, so this one was much more powerful than earlier.

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  The Undead Shadow Rebel did not move. He smiled widely and sent five shadow hands to meet Suna’s shadow arrow.

  It wanted a contest.

  His shadow arrow surged through the first two hands, but the third one slammed it down onto the floor beneath.

  Well, unlucky for it, Suna had prepared another Shadow Arrow. The Shadow Arrow seemed to work the best compared to Emberwind and Sootroot Arrow. If he built up his passive more by not moving and kept peppering it, then maybe he could break through this defense…

  Suna released the dark arrow, but what left his bow was an arrow in a pathetic state. It was small, so small that the Undead Rebel blocked it as if it were merely a child's play.

  Why?

  Suna glanced down, and the answer should’ve been obvious to him. The shadow arrow borrowed darkness around him when he drew it, but now he was covered in bright light thanks to the last time he released it.

  “Stupid…” he grumbled, as he drew Emberwind, letting the tailed flame dance behind his shoulder. The Undead Rebel was about to launch at him, but Suna let out a smile. The Undead wasted too much time.

  A Runebearer, bearing the thief sword, slashed down on the Assassin. The Undead Rebel sent one hand to grasp its throat and crushed it in an explosion of blood. The Assassin then proceeded to block the Emberwind with both swords, cleaving apart his arrow. Panic started to climb in Suna, and the Undead was about to bolt at him again until an invisible shield stopped the Undead.

  “Watch out!” Suna screamed. Six Runebearers charged in, splaying wind forward and blasting through the floor with Gale Step. The Rebel’s shadow hand moved and blocked each wind magic, and the assassin was forced to exchange swords with the Tieflings. John and Amidela went into the front, and a spike of fear inside Suna rose for them.

  The best thing he could do for now was to light up the battlefield. Suna streaked Emberwind into the floor near the Shadow Rebel, sending flame bursts apart and illuminating the battlefield where the assassin and thieves danced in a flurry of swings.

  “Suna!” a voice called. Wendy ran toward him with Noa and Reki, who both, for some reason, did not help in the fight.

  “To position! Come on!” Noa shouted. “The Tiefling would break apart into two and a half will help James!”

  Suna glanced at the other battle, James trading blows with the knight—no, not trading blows. He saw the Knight's sword of blue flame, and James, the mighty Tiefling, had to dodge around with his Gale steps and was incapable of closing in on the knight. One wrong move, and the Thiefmaster would be dead.

  It would be much safer to have some speedy Tiefling relieve the burden.

  Would this be wise, though? Suna would lose his passive stack. But on the other hand, it would be much easier for him to catch the Undead Rebel off guard, since the Rebel could elude the battlefield away from him. Besides, he could keep using shadow arrows as the light did not follow him…

  “Let's go!” Suna said. He ran forward. Reki and Noa were in front with all of their armor.

  “John!” Reki screamed. “Go! Break out!”

  The Tiefling glanced at them after he parried the Rebel’s sword attempt to gore his shoulder. “Amidela! Lead ten to James!”

  Amidela did not waste time; she screamed, “Ten on me!” and zoomed across the throne room toward where James was.

  The Tieflings broke away with the intent of using ranged magic to keep the Undead Shadow Rebel busy. But that did not mean they would let it free in close range. John and Reki rushed at the assassin. Reki slammed his Light Warhammer forward. The Undead Shadow Rebel, who had been confident in parrying earlier, did not take the chance.

  The Assassin jumped atop the hammer and was about to send Reki’s head off with his kick, but John was there, also mid-air, and clashed against the Rebel. They broke apart in clashing steel.

  The Shadow Rebel did not have a clean breakaway; a solid invisible shield formed behind him, smashing his head in.

  The Rebel did not smile anymore; that yellow line of lips turned sour, and his eyes settled on Wendy. But before he could even think to hunt her down, he had to face the full power of Suna’s Shadow Arrow that had been brimming in his hand.

  He released it, and light grew luminescent with a sudden wisp of orbs around him.

  Shadow banished, and his arrow flew true into the Rebel, who managed to get up both of his swords and slam them against his arrow. A blistering clash of dark Mana swirled in a mess of warping, and the shadow arrow won, lancing into the Shadow Rebel’s chest, where another shadow arrow was stuck on it.

  Suna strained his eagle eye, searching for blood as the figure of the Rebel fell. But he saw none. The moment the Shadow Rebel dropped to the ground, his body was eaten away by the floor. He melted into shadow.

  “Around Suna!” Noa guessed and ran along with Reki and John.

  And sure enough, the Shadow Rebel’s head popped beneath him, and he lurched forward with the blade fixed on Suna’s chest. But his Third Dark Hand appeared and grasped the sword. The second sword tried its luck, but Wendy was able to manifest a shield fast enough. And she even summoned five rods, which each flew at the shadow hand, holding it back for a brief moment for Suna to whip his leg with the power of Gale Wind and smash it into the Assassin’s face, sending his entire body flying through the air.

  Suna did not plan to watch the assassin fall. He fired an Emberwind, and the darkness parted by the streaking flame arrow. The Undead Rebel was able to block it again with his sword somehow. However, that sent him blasting backward again, into where James and the Undead Knight were still fighting.

  And they noticed.

  The blue knight halted his entire body from chasing James and turned to prepare for the Undead Rebel. A slice of wind hummed through the air at it. But the Undead Knight stood still. The Wind Magic vanished the moment it contacted the armor. And it was just… gone. Even James' own magic did nothing to it.

  The Undead Shadow Rebel saw where he would land. And in a jerk of movement, he summoned the five shadow hands and had them clenched around his body and forced himself to turn away, killing his momentum.

  “It can do that?” Suna grumbled.

  Reki and Noa walked in front of him, both letting out ragged breaths. Suna knew they were not tired; those breaths were from tension, from the battle against both of those monsters. But, in a small window where they passed him, he saw a brief smile marking each of their lips.

  The Undead Shadow Rebel landed, meters away from the Undead Godknight.

  They stared at each other, and the throneless room held silence as if waiting for their decision.

  The Assassin grinned, waving his sword at the knight and, with one leg, playfully turned away from the Godknight to face Suna and the others.

  “So much for hoping they fight each other,” Wendy mumbled, voicing what everyone thought.

  “That would be great, wouldn’t it, human!” John barked out a laugh.

  “It would,” Suna said, and drew his arrow. This time, he was not alone anymore.

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