I stared at the suffocating walls and intensified my starpower. The difference between knight and baron was almost imperceptible; the flow changed insignificantly, but still power coursed through me.

  “Steel, how did your SE grow so much? Did you find Ivaldie or Louize or anyone else?” I spread out the detection form, trying to keep watch.

  “Almost died five times. No, Ivaldie or the other one, there is a girl with 141 SE… she was the one who almost killed me. She jumped through walls and stopped my heart.” Steel’s eyes were burning with determination.

  “Shit… That’s Gretchen, she almost finished her second year.” There were no unusual fluctuations of starpower anywhere.

  “Doesn’t matter. We’ll win together.”

  “Yes, it matters. The Betrayer isn’t stupid, it’ll send the infected in a group, and I don’t think we can win against Ivaldie, Louize, Gretchen, and at least 16 more at the same time.”

  “I beat 8.” Steel’s eyes darted around every corner.

  “So 12 more…” No plans were coming together. I couldn’t imagine a scenario where we could fight against so many opponents. If we would even get a chance to prepare. Unless… Betrayer controls all the infected, depending on his SE, I could leverage that. But I’d need more firepower for that to work; I quickly created a soul-freezing ice bomb construct. “The only way to win is to find the Betrayer and kill it.”

  “Duh. That’s obvious. Stop wasting time.” She urged me to move. I couldn’t tell her about the plan, it’s possible it could hear me.

  I looked over the unconscious students. They were breathing, but they didn’t seem ready to wake up. Not that they’ll be useful. It’s at times like these I regretted not learning a stealth technique. That would have made everything easier.

  “Fine. Better to attack than to defend.”

  We moved through the warped corridors. They matched with the map of the actual station – winding hallways filled with atrocious engravings, the entire place smelled of oily acid, or maybe that was just my stomach.

  We came to a corner, one that led to an area with windows. And there was pure darkness within.

  “This is the end of the dungeon,” Steel commented.

  “Assistant, can we escape through this?” With my trait, we could call the actual powerhouses of the station, and then there would be no need for risk.

  “Sorry, master.”

  “If you go in, they’ll just lead you out of the same place. I almost died like that.” Steel spat on the ground.

  “You think we can try breaking the dungeon?”

  “I tried, it’ll just be that nothingness.”

  We were wasting time.

  Something brushed against my leg. Time slowed down, and I jumped. Right beneath me, there was a pale hand reaching from the ground. “It’s her!”

  The hand extended out of the floor, fingers upon fingers were growing from the bone. “It’s her!” Steel shouted.

  I shot a bullet. The hand shifted out of the trajectory even before I properly aimed. I dashed away. Steel opened her mouth and spat magma on the ground. The hand simply phased through it.

  Landing, I shot a few more bullets, all of which she dodged. A second hand appeared, then leaping out of the ground was a monster…

  It was Gretchen, those empty eyes filled with nothingness, pale as death scales; from every part of her body sprang long, bony fingers. Starpower circulated out of them towards her face. She unhinged her mouth and screamed.

  It felt like someone stabbed a knife through my heart. I lost my breath, and my hands became weak. I nearly crumbled to the ground… Then Gretchen jumped at me.

  Steel stood in the way; she wound up her fist for a punch. I expected it to pass through, but the punch collided with Gretchen’s head and twisted it.

  I coughed up blood and ate a panacea, trying not to panic about dying suddenly. Even Steel’s SE rose to 91. She sent a hook at Gretchen’s liver – her body squelched, and she was sent flying away.

  “I got you, Friedrich… Now you will die.” Her voice dripped with poison.

  Siege’s taught me how to live with a stopped heart. So long as strengthening could be channeled, I’d remain alive. “Not so fast…” I wiped the blood.

  Steel shook, and she punched her chest with full force. Bone cracked, but then in mere seconds, it regenerated.

  The healing energy surrounded my heart, and I gently pressed on it with a force form. I made it beat. Then again and again. I wasn’t going to die just from that. It started beating on its own.

  Gretchen’s body cracked, and she twisted her head back in place. “See you, then.” She started submerging back into the floor fast, but she made a mistake and met my gaze.

  I channeled as much starpower as I could into the freezing gaze. Gretchen staggered. Steel rushed forward, but she wasn’t faster than my bullets. They sank into the ghostly flesh, spreading frost.

  My barrier cracked. Heat burned into my back, incinerating a part of it. I screamed and tried to dash away. Louize stepped out of the dark void. She was like the other students, with finger tendrils coming out of her mouth and wrapping around her hands and legs. She held a burning axe.

  Fire wings spread from her back, and she flew at me.

  Steel screamed as her scales suddenly ruptured and multiple wounds opened on her body. I saw faint starpower seeping into her.

  In slowed time, I could sense everything happening, and I could feel every moment of agony. I met Louize’s eyes and cast a freezing gaze. Her wings extinguished.

  Struggling against the burned muscle, I raised my hand, and an ice bomb manifested. I didn’t bother condensing starpower much; instead, I directed my intention to spread the explosion outwards.

  Louize swung her axe at me, I pushed the ice bomb in the way. The air cracked, and ice spread through Louize’s body. She was thrown away.

  “Too cold, m-master!” My assistant’s voice shivered – the bone-chilling sensation touched my soul.

  I shot as many bullets as I could, with soul-freezing Louize didn’t have the power to protect against them. Cold locked her body in place, and with bullets absorbing her starpower, I doubted she would be able to move.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Something was not right.

  From the darkness, more infected students appeared. Four more with SE nearly as my own…

  “I’ll hold her back!” Shouted Steel, as more and more wounds appeared on her body and then regenerated.

  I started creating ice bombs in each of my hands, ignoring the pain in my back and the weakness in my arms. I needed more time to gather the starpower for the ultimate technique… It took half of my total SE to prepare it.

  Sazakie, a silver-haired student, summoned a spear made out of starpower metal. The student near her, Isawe, her claws expanded and grew, and the fingers around her twitched, creating a barrier.

  I threw the ice bomb at them, but Ysie, the one with the highest SE of 75, extended her arms a laser of starpower pierced through the bomb, making it disappear. Sazakie and Isawe rushed at me. Starpower amplified their movements to ridiculous speeds.

  Constructs wouldn’t work against them, and they refused to meet my gaze. I turned to Steel. She was exchanging blows with Gretchen, with each wound on Steel’s body, her eyes grew a bit more muted.

  I dashed backwards, baron rank force form accelerated me far faster than Sazakie and Isawe. “Grab her!” Steel didn’t hesitate and wrapped her hands around Gretchen; she didn’t even care about more of the invisible attacks striking her.

  Ysie shot a laser at me, but I avoided the strike with a timely dash. I maneuvered towards Gretchen, circled around, and grabbed her from behind. Gretchen moved slowly, and her body was as cold as ice. The bullets embedded in her continuously transformed her starpower into more freezing crystals. Freezing crystals that matched my starpower.

  I used the starpower order. Dispell. The crystals burst open with energy, and I injected mine. Gretchen didn’t feel anything… I forced the energies to meld, and I quickly reaffirmed control.

  “Assistant, now!”

  My trait has gotten even faster at disassembly. The energy didn’t even spread completely, but its intent already warped the power. I felt it closer this time; it wasn’t as alien as before. I reaffirmed the disassembly.

  Light burst from Gretchen’s body. All the fingers disappeared, and the massive burst of light covered the room.

  A hollow shell dropped on the ground. My heart clenched. Scouter confirmed her death… There was no time to dwell, even if I wanted to lament.

  Steel screamed in pain. Isawe and Sazakie struck at her. I collected my mind and dashed out. A laser hit my shoulder, breaking the barrier and vaporizing the skin. Another one flew, but I managed to dash in time.

  Steel roared and swiped her tail. She struck with bestial fury, breaking the metal spear in half, and a wet concussion rippled through the skin and bone.

  I pinned down Isawe with the force form, pressing on her ribcage from both sides. Steel didn’t even bleed from massive gashes. She struck again, her fist pierced Isawe’s stomach straight through.

  The darkness unveiled someone else. A straight posture, pure white hair, and an unbreakable gaze. Her scales glinted with white and gold, yet twitching tendrils of pale fingers covered her body like chains. Her hand was missing, and instead of it, a thick, unnaturally long arm stretched with phalanges sprouting everywhere. On her back, there was a massive black wing.

  Ivaldie. There was a wide, mad smirk on her face, so very unlike her.

  “Friedrich, are you ready to give up?” She didn’t sound like that; she would never speak in that tone.

  “Why are you doing this? Isn’t your goal to defeat your kin? You’re just making yourself an enemy.”

  The Betrayer, wearing my rival’s skin, laughed. More possessed people stepped from behind her. “This Galaxy would never consider me an ally – so I will turn them into my slaves. It’s still not too late to join me. Accept my blessing and you can have all the riches, all the women, all the power you want!”

  It was delusional. Completely and utterly. I closed my mouth and looked at Steel. Her wounds were already gone, yet her hands and legs shivered. Even her starpower was faint… Gretchen must’ve damaged her soul. I needed just a few more seconds to prepare the technique.

  “So, Earthling? You can become my servant, or I can make you my slave.”

  Could I kill Ivaldie? Should I kill Ivaldie? There was no one around who could revive her. But what else could I do? My heart felt like a bug under a rock, crawling and crawling in circles, trying to find any escape. My form had to work, my starpower had to be enough.

  It was my fault this happened. I had to win, had to save them… save those who could be saved.

  I took a deep breath and met Betrayer’s gaze. Starpower of hatred seeped out of my flesh, making the room electric with energy. Scouter pierced through Ivaldie’s flesh and showed me the true strength of my enemy – 44 SE. Pathetic.

  Starpower entwined within my throat, I infused energy like a madman, my limbs became weak, and my wounds started bleeding again. I shouted, and the room quaked, “Cease to exist.”

  Dominate. Ivaldie’s body froze. The 5 people around her started shining with light. I kept the command going. “Cease to exist!” Louder, with more intention. The plan was working.

  “Cease to exist~” My trait’s intent joined in and with it more starpower.

  Light burst from the people around and those who were slowly dying on the ground.

  “Disassemble yourself.” I was waiting for this opportunity; direct contact with the Betrayer would allow me to force the geists to die. Force it to die!

  There was a roar. It eclipsed my voice; its starpower eclipsed my own. The Betrayer shirked and wept and laughed.

  Ivaldie disappeared and appeared right next to me, a twisted Truthpower sword glowed in her hand. I tried to dash away, but before the movement happened, starpower rose from her sword.

  I couldn’t even comprehend the speed. Even Ivaldie couldn’t; I saw her muscles rip in real time from the sheer explosive power. I lost sensation in my legs and my arm. Such a clean cut – I didn’t even feel any pain.

  Steel screamed as the residual energy hit her and dug into her scales, vaporizing them.

  The remainder of my body fell to the ground. I dashed away with the remaining hand I could feel, sending bullets at Ivaldie. She parried every single one of them. Blood exploded from her muscles.

  Another burst of light resounded through the room, and she disappeared. I saw her starpower blink in, right next to Steel. Ivaldie struck again, and more injuries appeared on her body.

  But what happened to Steel was worse. A thousand little cuts all over made every single scale into mush. Her hands split apart as did her legs, then Ivaldie put a sword into her chest, and Steel breathed out.

  Darkness surrounded the corners of my vision. I would probably already be dead if not for the strengthening.

  “Are you happy with yourself, Earthling? My servants aren’t dead, I can just make new ones.” That frantic fear seeped into Ivaldie’s tone. Betrayer was losing control. “And this dumb moron, oh, how much trouble she brought me.”

  I coughed and tried to use my remaining hand to keep the blood inside. It was a losing battle. There was still one last thing to do… Trait, the last measure, do it.

  “I will delight in crushing your puny mortal minds, I will burn every shred of awareness until you are but my puppets.”

  “You… got anything new to say? That’s a pretty pathetic… thing you want to do.”

  These mad eyes snapped to mine. Ivaldie was bleeding profusely. She stumbled towards me, but her muscles were already healing, as the numerous fingers channeled a restoration form. “I will torture you for so long. You defied me for the last time.”

  “Isn’t it fun that you couldn’t even resist my dominate form?” I made sure to grin as widely as possible.

  “Why didn’t you accept me? Why, why, why?! I was always charitable to mortals, always happy to help, I would even give freedom – true freedom.”

  I nodded absentmindedly. Just a few more steps.

  “Now you agree? Too late! This galaxy will be my breeding ground. I’m not a fool who absorbs souls; I’m a peaceful farmer at heart. I’ll grow you like the fine crops you are. And then when the Myriad invades, they will die, as you will soon.” Ivaldie leaned toward me.

  “Master, I’m not ready – need more time.” Agony increased as I let the trait control more of my power.

  I looked at those manic eyes, at that alien gaze. My only hope was her. “Ivaldie. You didn’t forget my promise?”

  The Betrayer froze. The smirk twitched, the fingers stiffened. She clenched her fists. Those determined eyes stared again.

  “Maybe when we are one with the source…” Tears of blood fell. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” My eyes moved in the force pattern. I lost sensation in my remaining hand. My body leaped at her.

  “I won’t fail you, master!” The trait shouted into my mind. The cornerstone of the plan.

  A tendril extended from my shoulder and aimed at the tendrils with fingers growing out of Ivaldie’s stomach. My head hurt. I stopped comprehending anything.

  A thought formed inside of my gray matter – I knew I couldn’t conceive it, no human could. It felt like I saw a new color, like I got new glasses. Every single drop of my starpower twirled in the tendril.

  If I were to compare the intricacy of that technique to any one I knew, it would be like comparing an abacus to a supercomputer. Yet I could discern the individual patterns. They matched the book exactly.

  Ivaldie didn’t dodge. She stood still. The sharp tendril pierced her. Then the technique was executed. Ivaldie smiled, that tense smile she gave when she wanted to be approving.

  Betrayer didn’t get a last word. The fake reality of the dungeon collapsed, a domino fell, and Betrayer stopped being. It wasn’t turned into potential; it wasn’t disassembled. It simply ceased to be, following a law that the technique enacted, one that reinstated the mundane reality.

  I saw light, and then I was back in the corridor. No more crimson lights. No more geists. I saw a figure of a guard flicker amidst the darkness of my vision. I breathed my last breath a few minutes ago, yet strengthening burned still.

  Source, please. I don’t want to die…