Lent got to his feet as Ray approached. It might have been difficult to tell what the boulder-like alien was feeling, but something told Ray he was facing a defensive posture. It made him wonder just how much of a threat he presented to Lent. Ray still wasn’t sure about the power differential between them.

  “You don’t have to stand guard over him,” Ray said. “I’m not going to harm him.”

  “I do not merely stand guard over my last remaining companion,” Lent said. “I am looking to rouse him. He cannot cower before his fear in this manner. No matter what he might have faced.”

  Well, that settled it. This was Pierce’s fear. Which would also explain the fact that there was an apparition trying to possess everyone except Pierce. That was what Ray had noted earlier, which had led to him deciding that Pierce’s fear had overridden everyone else’s.

  “Well, doesn’t look like you’ve had much luck,” Ray said, looking down. Pierce was still curled on the floor in the foetal position. This close, Ray finally noted that Pierce was shivering.

  Lent’s posture didn’t change. “I am considering other options.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as causing him enough pain to shock him out of stupor.”

  Ray wouldn’t have considered that an option from the get-go, especially not from Pierce’s own teammate. “While I’m not opposed to causing Pierce a great deal of pain, I think there might be an easier way to solve this issue.”

  “How?”

  Before Ray could answer, they were once more smothered by their possessing ghosts. Fake Ray and fake Lent charged in. Curiously, Ray didn’t note any difference between the fake and real Lents. Where his fake had clear discrepancies such as the state of its clothes, hair, beard, skin and so on, there was no such demarcation between fake and real Lent.

  The only thing Ray could tell was different was that the evil one was a bit translucent. Kind of like it really was a ghost.

  They took care of the fakes pretty easily. Ray smashed his fake with a Viledrake tail, while Lent simply smacked his away until it dissipated.

  Ray turned back to Lent. “I’m going to take Pierce out of here. But I’m not just going to leave the rest of you here to become the demon’s next victim.”

  “Oh?” There was a note of surprise in Lent’s voice. “Are you going to drag us all with you?”

  Ray laughed. “Please. There’s a more elegant way to go about it.”

  As Ray bent down to pick up Pierce, he cast Resurrect Recollect. His Imitator construct came to life, slowly changing its amorphous form to resemble the man curled on the ground.

  “Your abilities are quite the surprise…” Lent said.

  “Thanks.”

  The plan didn’t work out. As soon as Ray touched the prone body, Pierce went stiff and still. A sudden instinct made Ray pull back quickly and retreat. He frowned as Pierce rose to his feet on his own.

  But it wasn’t just Pierce alone getting up. Or rather, not one, single Pierce. There were multiple apparitions occupying the same space. A dozen ghosts of him squeezed into the same location, their outlines blurring together so that it was difficult to even look at him for long. A dozen Pierces turning their hostile regard on Ray.

  “Ah, shit,” Ray muttered. “You didn’t say he was already possessed.”

  “I had no idea.” Credit to him, Lent didn’t step away from his companion. Instead, he got closer, standing partly in between Pierce and Ray. “It would seem I was fooled.”

  Ray cast an anxious glance to his left. The others were barely keeping Marcus at bay, thought at least nobody else had been possessed yet.

  He turned back to Pierce. “I’m not giving up on my plan. You got my back, Lent? You know, you kind of owe me for not turning your buddy in to the Sylvans.”

  “You could not have known that—you could not have known where he was.” Lent took a step closer to Pierce. “But yes. This is my battle. I brought him here. I will take responsibility and stop him, even if it costs me.”

  Pierce had already assumed his armoured swordsman form. The plate mail glinted with dark energy, the red sword shining with crimson light.

  He pointed the blade at Ray and Lent, then spoke in a dozen voices colliding together. “You have caused enough pain. You have wreaked enough havoc. It is time for you to stop. Time for you to be stopped. You will die here, and you will relinquish control over the Tower Node.”

  Ray frowned. The Tower Node. A specific one? He had suspected that Pierce probably figured Ray had several. So why was he specifying one? And which one, for that matter?

  Pierce attacked. Ray was really not looking forward to yet another fight against Pierce, not after what had happened in the last dungeon. Even if a part of him wanted to still find a way to actually beat the bastard.

  Thankfully, there was Lent in front of him this time. The boulder-like alien crashed down in front of him, then erected a large wall of stone that made everything in front of it disappear from view. Ray distinctly heard Pierce collide with the wall. Sparks of red and black energy gleamed over the wall, but it held Pierce back. Lent was strong.

  “How will you carry out your plan in this instance?” Lent asked as he called up more rocks from around. Huge chunks of the ground broke off and floated upwards. He was definitely not taking it easy on Pierce despite the fact that they were teammates.

  “Can you keep him distracted?” Ray asked. “All I need is one clear shot. Just a touch. Ideally one that doesn’t immediately get me killed.”

  There was no response from Lent. Nothing vocal and certainly nothing in his body language that Ray could decipher. But Lent continued facing off against Pierce. That was all the answer Ray needed.

  Pierce was holding nothing back. The wall Lent had created collapsed in a shower of rocky debris as Pierce’s crimson sword sent out a torrent of red energy. With how ferociously he was attacking, with how much Lent was clearly holding back in order to not injure his companion, this battle wasn’t going to last long.

  Thankfully, Ray could see his opening coming into play soon. So, he prepared.

  Dual casts of Resurrect Recollect sent out two flying Windbane maws. The first flew far, far away from the battlefield.

  The other one shot straight at Pierce.

  It wasn’t surprising that Pierce, even in his currently addled state, was distracted by a different version of himself via the Imitator construct. He had been preparing his blade to strike a powerful blow at his own teammate, now wrapped in even more blood-red power. But as soon as his fake had appeared, he froze, his vision locked on the mimic.

  Fake Pierce took a hard right turn as soon as it was within a few feet of its real version, shooting past the real Pierce.

  Pierce—the real one—jerked around to follow after it.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  He didn’t get to take more than a few steps. Ray had appeared behind him, taking advantage of the distraction provided by his construct. Just the opportunity he needed.

  Pierce was too slow to turn around. Ray had already brushed his hand on his target’s shoulder, using Temporal Passage immediately afterwards. The world warped, disappeared, as Ray shifted in space until he was next to the Windbane construct he had sent out of the battlefield.

  And with him had come Pierce himself. He staggered as he appeared, falling to his knees.

  Ray took just a second to confirm that he wasn’t in any danger. That Pierce wasn’t going to shoot to his feet and try to cut off Ray’s head as soon as his attention turned.

  Ray: I’ve taken away Pierce, so the demon should lose its anchor.

  Gritty: What? I still see—wait, is that a fake you made?

  Ray: Yep. The demon might try to renew its grasp on my construct because it still looks like him. It’ll be confused.

  Gritty: And that’s going to be our opportunity. Thanks, wingman.

  Ray: I’m just glad no more of you got Marcus-ed.

  Of course, Ray didn’t have any guarantees that his plan was going to succeed. He was only assuming that the demon would be fooled by his trick. For all he knew, it might have a deeper ability to identify different people that didn’t depend on mere sight.

  But he had done his part. The important thing was that Pierce had been pulled away from the Demon of Cowardice. Which meant that the apparitions trying to take over everyone—that specific fear of Pierce’s that the demon was using—now had to collapse with its source no longer present.

  Pierce was slowly trying to get back to his feet. He didn’t look up from the ground, though. “My head’s real fuzzy… but I still remember what happened.”

  Ray raised an eyebrow. “So you remember getting possessed by some stupid demon and trying to kill your own teammate?”

  Really, Ray wanted to ask a lot of questions. Such as how in the world Pierce had sneaked into the dungeon when the Sylvans were looking everywhere for him, or if he knew that he owed his continued freedom to Ray. The question regarding their immediate situation just took precedence.

  “It felt like some strange dream…” Pierce said. He finally faced Ray, remorse etched across his face. His face. Not some blank, expressionless mask adopted by the demon possessing him. This was the face of a guy who knew he had betrayed his own friend. “But it wasn’t a vision or anything like that, was it?”

  “Nothing so convenient, no,” Ray said. “Face it, pal. You fucked up.”

  Pierce groaned.

  And just to twist the knife deeper, Ray said, “And now you owe me even more than you used to.”

  Pierce turned to him. “So you were the one who made the Sylvans… veer away. Lent really wasn’t lying. I thought he was trying to pay me back for not securing our victory in the last dungeon. It appears he was telling the truth.”

  “He was,” Ray said. “Although… I never would have guessed that you would be here of all places. Inside the very dungeon the Sylvans want to keep you out of.”

  Pierce frowned. “Are you… threatening me?”

  “Why would I be threatening you after I helped you?”

  Pierce crossed his arms. “Were you really helping me, or were you trying to help yourself while putting me in your debt?”

  Ray was pretty sure it could be both, but he decided against saying so. He had to pause his reply because he got a message through the System Chat.

  Gritty: All done. Your plan worked, wingman. The demon was focusing too much on Pierce, so as soon as you escaped with him and left a fake in his place, it was too confused.

  Ray: Awesome. So you’ve killed that thing?

  Gritty: Well not ME personally. But it’s gone for good, yeah.

  Ray wondered who had ended up killing the Demon of Cowardice. Not that it really mattered. The fact that it was dead was what was important.

  Ray: Thanks. We’ll return in a sec.

  Pierce was staring at him intently. “I assume you were speaking with your teammates.”

  Ray nodded. “They’ve taken care of the Demon of Cowardice. You don’t have to worry about… getting possessed again. Although, I have to say, that was one wild fear you’ve got.”

  Pierce actually flushed. “I wasn’t actually expecting it to be so powerful.”

  “It’s a Tier 38 dungeon. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t strong. So… mind explaining what exactly your fear is? Why were there apparitions trying to possess everyone? What in the world happened?”

  For a second, Pierce looked like he wanted to tell Ray to screw off. Who was he to know? But then, his expression changed to resignation. Probably because he figured he owed Ray twice over now, and he’d be an irredeemable asshole if he acted too aggressively.

  Pierce sighed heavily. “It’s what happened to me. In my Tower.”

  Ray blinked rapidly. Things were falling into place. “You mean, that whole thing with the apparitions is why you want to destroy all Tower Nodes?”

  Pierce looked him squarely in the eyes. It helped that he wasn’t taller than Ray. “Yes. Tower Nodes are a scourge upon us all. Deadly things with powers that aren’t meant for any one person to control. No one. So, I need to take them away from everyone and make sure no one can ever misuse them.”

  Ray tried to take a few moments to consider what he had seen, to tie it to this deep hate of Tower Nodes that Pierce possessed. “Was it a Tower Node that caused it? A Tower Node that possessed your friends and turned them against you?”

  Pierce looked like he was swallowing a dose of terrible-tasting medicine. “More or less, yes. It drove a burning fear in me of the kinds of powers at play. Of the things I’d need to be careful about. I will never go through something like that again.”

  Except, Ray wanted to point out, he just had. Albeit, as a cooked-up vision from some crazy demonic dungeon monster. Ray once again didn’t voice his thoughts. He supposed it wasn’t fun to relive trauma.

  “That still doesn’t mean I’ll be surrendering my Tower Nodes to you,” Ray said. “You know that, right?”

  “Much as it hurts me to say,” Pierce said, really looking like it was hurting him to say the words. “I’m not going to come after you. For now.”

  “How reassuring.” The silence stretched a bit after that, and Ray got that he wasn’t going to receive any further reassurance beyond Pierce’s words. He sighed, deciding to change the subject. “Time to go, Pierce. We’ve got a dungeon to conquer. I’m sure you want to root out wherever they’re keeping the Tower Node in this place.”

  Pierce once again looked like he was swallowing a bitter pill. He accepted Ray’s offer, allowing him to teleport them all back to the battlefield with the fallen Demon of Cowardice.

  “Oh look, the wayward couple is back,” Gritty said.

  Ray ignored the joke. “We need to get going.”

  The rest of them walked over, though they were a lot warier than Ray himself. Lent was on one side, while Eliza and Karkatrix were arrayed on the other, staring daggers at each other. Well, the latter two were the ones acting hostile. Ray didn’t have the faintest clue what Lent felt.

  He supposed Eliza and Karkatrix hadn’t had the benefit of an extended conversation with Pierce. They also didn’t possess a few debts they could call on.

  Gritty hadn’t come over because she was kneeling next to Marcus, who was unconscious. A spike of worry made Ray’s heart skip a beat, but the unworried look on Gritty’s face mollified him. Marcus might not be in a good state, but he would survive.

  “What are you doing with that guy?” Eliza asked. “Don’t tell me you’re making him team up with us.”

  “I thought it would be convenient if we could all get along,” Ray said.

  “Get along? He was the reason we all almost got killed. He’s the reason why Mar—why one of your teammates is out of it!”

  Ray squinted. “Why the hell are you so bothered about my teammate’s condition?”

  Credit to Eliza, she didn’t blush. She just looked like she wanted to bite off Ray’s face. “Because if you’re going to be so callous about your own companions, then I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t give a single fuck before betraying us.”

  “Oh, can the drama, Eliza,” Gritty said from behind. “Your boyfriend’s fine. He’s just taking a power nap and you know it. Besides, wingman’s got some real dirt on that guy. He’s not a threat. He’s an asset.”

  “I despise being called an asset,” Pierce grumbled.

  “Look, Eliza,” Ray said. “Trust me on this. I’ve got no reason to make Pierce work with us. In fact, bringing him along is probably more of a pain because that means splitting the treasure three-way instead of two. It’s not ideal. But having him with us is better than having him against us.”

  “Sure it is.” Eliza didn’t sound convinced, but she chose to attack from a different direction. “I’m concerned about trust. How do we know he won’t backstab us when the opportunity is right?”

  Pierce glowered. “Why would I need to backstab anyone when I could wipe you all out with a flick of my finger?”

  “Oh, please.” Eliza stepped up, her scowl turning to a challenging grin. “You want to go right here? Or are you too scared?”

  Pierce looked like he wanted to live up to his name and stab Eliza, but then Marcus woke up and coughed loudly. Eliza’s attention immediately shifted. She realized she was staring at a recovering Marcus—with an amount of relief that looked odd on her—a little too late. Everyone had seen it. Her face did flush this time.

  Ray sighed, partly amused the situation had been diffused. Where Pierce had been glowering before, he now looked like he had just found a way to make fun of Eliza for the rest of eternity.

  “Let’s all get to the end of the dungeon,” Ray said. “And then we can decide who gets to kill whom, alright? It won’t matter if we kill ourselves now if at the end of the dungeon, we end up facing something that we can’t beat on our own.”

  Karkatrix nodded at that. “The chances of us succeeding, where we define success as reaching and defeating the boss that no doubt awaits us at the end of the dungeon, is significantly higher if we ally ourselves with a team as strong as Pierce and Lent’s.”

  Eliza was starting to lose ground in her argument. Ray had the perfect opportunity to make them all get along. But he didn’t need to.

  Eliza froze, as did Karkatrix. Moments later, their faces flicked to each other’s.

  Ray frowned from one to the other. “What’s going on? Is it Sameer?”

  Eliza faced him with a grim expression. “It is. And he needs help. The Sylvans are after him. They’re attacking him together.”

  “Fucking Sylvans…” Pierce muttered.