One Last Trick

Dispersing the shield, the entire landscape was a mess. At the center of it all, in a small crater, Roy huffed heavily.

Roy's scales were currently grey, without any luster having unleashed all of his energy. From the crevices of his scales, blood dripped out lightly like the falling of raindrops.

With feeble steps, he staggered his way towards Rentaro, a deep concern giving him the motivation to keep moving.

"Second Brother!" He cried out, his eyes warm with tears.

Rentaro breathed heavily, patting Roy's head with his right hand, and Roy couldn't help but whimper even louder. Thanks to the life energy provided by the two "Vultasoris" from Kia-Nian and Icrin, he was feeling strong enough to move slightly.

Weakly, Rentaro mustered the best smile he could, "Hey, the two of us are still alive...."

Even so, Rentaro felt sorrow as he looked at what remained of his left shoulder. Sure, he experienced death which was worse—but now he was alive, and he would naturally prefer to keep all of his limbs!

In front of him, Roy felt his body falter, collapsing heavily to the ground.

"Roy!" Rentaro's eyes widened in worry.

"I'm fine, just tired." Roy said with a sniffle.

"Roy... Get some rest...." Rentaro muttered, summoning him back into the system space.

"Rentaro—I'm sorry!" Icrin cried out in guilt.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Icrin. I've been through worse, you know—"

Rentaro paused, noticing his slip, 'My death and reincarnation would be far too much for anyone to believe, huh?'

The others didn't notice his slip, the situation too grim for such a detail to be of importance.

Nearby, continuous "boom" sounds rang out as the fight between Quint and Edalas raged on.

Standing up, Kia-Nian swarmed with lightning, "I'm going to go assist Edalas. Help should be arriving soon."

Aside from Kia-Nian, everyone felt drained of energy. They nodded meekly in response.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted, "You didn't really forget about me, right?"

It was Jean, an ear-to-ear grin on his face.

"It's nice that the majority of you have used up all your energy by now, it makes cleanup much easier for me!" He prattled on, "Elder, you're only at the eighth stage of Foundation Establishment, while I'm at the ninth. You better watch yourself."

Jean pounced forward, unleashing a ruddy yellow aura of the earth element.

Constructing around his body was a stone armor, snorting in annoyance as lightning clashed against him without any effect.

"Regardless of what mutation your lightning element went through, my element is the perfect counter. Why not give up? I'll leave your body intact for future research!"

With a shout, four stone spikes shot from the ground, forcing Kia-Nian back.

"I prefer restoration over destruction," Kia-Nian spoke sternly, raising his hands in the air, "But you're forcing my hand here."

Rumble!

The rumbling of a storm was heard, and it felt like the sky became overcast with clouds.

Jean smirked, "So, you still have some tricks up your sleeve? Your clan's abilities are truly astonishing!"

"Well then,"

Kia-Nian starred Jean in the eyes, while a burst of purple lightning shot from the sky, enveloping his body. Similarly, he formed an armor of lightning around his body, his eyes glowing viciously while blood seeped through his pores.

"Let's see if you can handle this move."

In his hands formed a long spear, glowing brilliantly, its aura heavenly. Kia-Nian grasped the spear tightly, aiming it forward.

'He's stronger than me, I need to finish this fight in one move before he has the chance to join up with Edalas.'

With a low shout, he thrust the spear forward with as much power he could muster.

Jean focused, finally acting with seriousness. Several mounds of earth rose in front of him, yet the spear pierced through each one.

Dhun! Dhun! Dhun!

Each mound burst with a shockwave, yet the spear continued on!

Jean's hands pulsated, the stone thickening around them like iron gauntlets as he pushed forward against the spear. Under the spear's power, his feet sunk into the ground, skidding backwards.

Even so, there was no joy on Kia-Nian's face as his body slumped down in exhaustion.

"You have got to be kidding me!?" He shouted in disbelief.

The lightning spear fell apart, and aside from breathing in heavy pants and a sweat-soaked face, Jean was perfectly fine.

The armored gauntlets were near crumbling, but that was it! And they rapidly regenerated, as he laughed jovially, "Not bad, that was quite the scare! If you could properly control that lightning of yours, it would have been much more dangerous for me!"

"But don't worry, even if you can't control it, I'm sure I can find a way! I'm just glad that you have used your strongest move, so I don't have to worry about killing you—my master would love to extract your bloodline and see what split caused such a mutation! You are the perfect gift that I could give him!"

Jean's face twisted in excitement, immersed in his imagination as he joyfully gleamed into the sky.

"Hmmm, Aside from Tsyun, the rest of you aren't really needed."

He redirected his gaze to Rentaro begrudgingly, "I see why my master would be interested in you, with the wave of your hand that beast vanished! Truly mysterious, aren't you? I guess I'll have to leave you as well."

Further away, Quint saw everything going on—yet he couldn't break away from Edalas.

Teng!

His dagger crossed with Edalas' sword, the red and black giving off an ominous vibe.

Teng! Teng! Clank!

They clashed dozens of times almost instantly, Quint constantly exerting his energy to maintain the dagger's form.

'Damn! I should've just grabbed a normal weapon! He's going to run me dry at this rate!'

Chrick!

In a second of lost focus, the dagger shattered! Edalas' sword sliced down his chest, followed by the spurting of blood.

Quint dodged backwards, grabbing his chest in pain with gritted teeth.

Edalas wasn't going to standby while he recovered, immediately giving chase with a vicious laugh.

"Quint, my old friend, take a look behind you! Your little friends are in serious trouble!"

It was a trap, but Quint looked nonetheless. He saw that the others were truly in danger as Jean neared them. 'Where is our support? I can't hold on for much longer!"

Of the group, Rentaro was the only one who could make a move. And yet, his body was battered, his left arm gone, and his cultivation much lower than Jean's.

'What can I do?' Rentaro's heart beat rapidly, clutching his fists in anger—anger at his own helplessness!

But just when he started feeling hopeless, he had an idea... The chance was slim, but even so, he felt the odds were still feasible!

'Wilhelm!' He yelled into his thoughts.

Wilhelm asked in concern, [Rentaro!? You don't plan on doing anything dangerous, right!?]

'No, there's only one solution I've come up with! If I do a summoning with the system, will the summon's cultivation be specific depending on what tier?'

Tess responded first, [Technically speaking, there's a link between the summoner's strength and the corresponding strength of what they summon. Through the system however, there's' not enough experience to go based off of.]

[A random summoning is 5 spatial credits, while a rare is 10, a royal 30, and so on. The chance of getting a summon with a higher cultivation is about equal when considering the three grades you can choose from, so repeated random summonings would give you the highest probability of the three.]

Rentaro made up his mind as he urged, 'Random Summoning!'

The automated voice followed, [Random Summoning costs 5 Spatial Credits]

[Current Credit Balances]

[Spatial Credits: 14] [Syndicate Credits: 14]

[Are you sure you would like to do a random summoning?]

'Yes!' Rentaro anxiously screamed.

[Deducting 5 Spatial Credits]

[Summoning will now begin! Good luck!] The automated voice cheered, while an astounding sight surfaced outside.

As Jean neared Rentaro's group, a huge circle formed from strange runic symbols appeared, surrounding him, and an aura suddenly erupted, forcing him against the ground.

'What the hell is going on?'

After all this time, only now did Jean feel like he was in danger. He couldn't move a single muscle under the aura, feeling like he was caught for slaughter,

He lifted his head, stunned by the unearthly symbols, varying in green, black, and gold. It felt—ghostly... As if spectral beings were creeping into existence.

And behind him, a shadowy figure started to manifest.