I swooped down at speed in hopes of getting out of the firing line for the bows. As I did so, I fired an [ICBM] over in the direction of the centaur and the holy spear user. I saw golden light appear around the bird as the horse leapt in the air.

  I pivoted and rocketed towards the centaur while it was still midair. I rolled to the side to avoid a volley of arrows as a massive boulder was thrown at me by Basil the cockatrice.

  My fist carved through the stone as an arrow hit me through the dust. It jabbed into my shoulder with a surprising amount of force. I ripped out the arrowhead and pressed by burning fingers into the wound to close it up.

  It was a neutral effort. I hadn’t managed to capitalize, but I did reach the ground without taking much damage.

  I sized up my opponents with rapid flickering of my eyes. In terms of long range offense, maneuverability, and lack of defense, the centaur was my best option. Going after anyone else would expose my back to constant arrows. I didn’t need my joints to tighten from damage at critical times. The only question that remained in that strategy was whether or not Basil the cockatrice would move to defend them.

  Time to see how coordinated they are.

  I rose a wall of [Obsidian Spikes] behind me to block off the robed demon and the golden bird. I fired an [ICBM] over at Basil while I charged directly at the centaur.

  The centaur’s fingers deftly moved to almost instantly nock five arrows onto his bowstring and fire them in rapid succession like a gun. The speed was further augmented with a prodigious amount of finger strength. As I weaved at max speed through the arrows, I noticed that there were no magical effect attached to the projectiles. I could only conclude that this was the representative of Wrath.

  One more reason to start with this one.

  I unloaded a close quarter’s bomber into the centaur’s horse flank. I saw the flesh ripple and tear, but it was not enough to down it in one strike. He stumbled away, his fur sizzling from the impact and his back leg limping severely.

  I moved in to deliver another strike, but a flurry of feathers shot at me from Basil’s direction. I used my left arm to brush the feathers away, unable to be able to dodge the full amount. Where the feathers struck, my flesh hardened and began to turn to stone. My limb went limp, exposing my left side to another arrow shot.

  My hand scythed through my left shoulder and my new limb grew. I rose [Obsidian Spikes] in Basil’s direction while a golden spear cracked the one’s behind me. I sent an [ICBM] through the gap in the defensive ring and rushed the centaur again.

  He fired a new volley of arrows at me. I could have powered through again, but I felt like I could do so much more to mitigate the damage. This time, I had a new idea. I formed an obsidian disk out of my hand and deflected the arrows that fired at me. I mentally called this new ability [Obsidian Shield].

  I quickly closed the gap and activated [The Box]. The black walls closed in on the both of us and left us in tight quarters. The centaur unsummoned his bow and quickly exchanged it for a pair of curved swords.

  He kicked at me, trying to drive his hooves into my chest and slam me into the wall. I hopped to the side and summoned [Obsidian Spikes] directly beneath the centaur’s body. Multiple black spikes pierced the centaur’s midsection, causing gaping wounds to form on the soft underbelly of the animal.

  He sliced the spikes with one sword while coming down hard at me with the other. I stepped to the side, losing the tip of my middle finger to the sharpened blade.

  [The Box] cracked as a golden spear penetrated from the outside before Basil smashed it with a shoulder check. The centaur moved to get away from me, but not before I swung around with my [Axe Tail] and caught him on the knee. It carved through the joint and sent the centaur toppling to his side.

  I turned around at sent a high powered [Bomber] directly into Basil’s side. However, it didn’t seem to do much damage at all. In fact, it looked like he got slightly larger as a result. A punch from him sent me backwards, tumbling over the top of the mountain and receiving an arrow shot from the wounded centaur. I quickly shot an [ICBM] at a motionless target, but a golden bubble of mana blocked most of the damage.

  The armored bird shifted over towards the centaur. Light emanated from their hands and the lopped of limb of the centaur started to regrow.

  I dug my talons into the ground, carving long trenches into the surface as I caught my footing and shifted the weight to push off at high speed towards the bird to disrupt the healing process.

  As I closed in the distance, the mountaintop changed into a cathedral. A wall of light hindered my progress far more than those fortress defenses ever could.

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  A hazy figure on a cross stared down on me from on high. I found it bizarre that I had trouble recognizing the man nailed onto the crucifix after all the times that I had looked at him during my life. I hadn’t deserved to recognize him anymore, but I felt that it was stark that I rarely thought about him anymore.

  “He doesn’t belong down here,” I said as I slammed through the wall at full power.

  “How dare a godless beast preach to me,” the bird demon screeched.

  I punched the bird square in the face, sending it tumbling backwards through the pews and into the wall. I sent a shot at the centaur, but I somehow missed.

  A patch of grass formed in the center of the chapel, right where my fist landed. The church cracked apart, much to the dismay of the bird demon.

  “No! How dare you do this to my temple?”

  But, the centaur didn’t care. A field sprouted, ripping the building apart and pushing me further away. I still hit the centaur with an [ICBM] before the distance rapidly rose and the centaur disappeared over the horizon.

  Then, I was punched in the face by Basil. The field disappeared and was replaced by a colosseum. Thunderous applause by faceless spectators rained down upon their presumed champion. Those cheers almost covered the shouts of frustration from the other two. The centaur and the bird were no longer far away.

  “Fool!” The centaur shouted. “You have ruined my strategy!”

  “Pagan!” The bird cawed.

  Basil just picked at his ear and continued the attack. I preferred Basil’s honest form of close quarters combat. I ducked beneath his punch and delivered my own before he slammed a heavy forearm onto my shoulder. He grabbed both sides of my head and head-butted me. I countered with a [Bomber].

  However, it seemed my skill did less damage than my regular punch. Additionally, his stare made my body feel strange. My health dropped from the look before stabilizing. He gave me a confused look at the fact that whatever he was trying to do wasn’t happening.

  “You’re strong,” he remarked before I delivered a maximum strength regular punch into his chest, sending him flying backwards and allowing the other two’s mindscape to begin to influence the world again.

  The church and the field warred. No longer was there any form of collaboration. I took advantage of the animosity, plunging towards the pair who were constantly shifting from a wide field to a compact church. The changes in spatial distances warped my mind and made me feel like I needed to purge my stomach.

  I targeted the centaur, partially because I wished to remain on my original strategy and partially because I would prefer the church for my own plans.

  I sent an [ICBM] at the centaur, burning his body further and ruining whatever concentration he might have had. The field disappeared and only the church remained. While the bird seemed to celebrate this with a pleased squawk, it quickly turned to a look of horror as the space change brought them moving directly into my fist.

  [Bomber] right to the head, cracking the bird’s beak and sending blood all over the sterile house of worship.

  The church faded and the colosseum reformed. Basil attacked me with honest punches. I responded with combinations of my own before the centaur struck us both with arrows. Basil seemed just as annoyed with the centaur that I was. It was all the confirmation that I needed that these fighters were not well suited together. There were gaps that were waiting to be exploited by someone like myself.

  Then, a spear from the bird came a little too close to Basil and he slapped it out of the way. I regretfully used this opportunity to send Basil flying and turned to face the two long ranged nuisances.

  This time, I formed the spikes on the opposite side of the centaur while he shot the arrows at me. He didn’t even notice them until it was time to hop away and he bumped into them. I smashed through him and the wall of spikes driving him to the ground and smashing on his mannish torso with my fists. Strong as his natural health may have been, it would not survive a sustained onslaught. Combined with the damage that he had already taken, four uses of [Bomber] finally finished him off.

  I formed an [Obsidian Shield] to use to deflect an incoming spear from the bird. The word reformed into the church. The bird was prepared this time and already stabbed at me, using the changing world to accelerate them further.

  I allowed the spear to pierce through my hand and bring out bodies closer together. I summoned [The Box] and trapped the both of us inside.

  The bird demon immediately created a barrier that pushed me to the wall of my ability. I opened the walls slightly to give myself the required breathing room.

  “I have seen the tricks of this realm,” the bird squawked proudly. “All I need to do is wait for my allies to break the exterior and I’ll be free again.”

  I thought about undoing my ability before Basil ripped it to pieces, but I wanted to see something for myself first. What if he didn’t arrive?

  As the seconds went on, the bird’s confidence began to wane. It turned from brief nervousness into rage.

  “I don’t think they like you.”

  I summoned [Obsidian Spikes] from every angle, pushing in on the shield while I unleashed [Bomber] after [Bomber]. The shield broke under the pressure of my spells, allowing me to launch into further attacks.

  The bird tried to fight back with their spear. They weaved it around, but I shrunk [The Box] in every way to deny them a reach advantage, to throw them off of their regular attack patterns while being able to deliver my own.

  I was wrong, in a way, the bird was hardier than I expected and delivered good solid strikes. I supposed that there would be no reason to select them for this task if they were weak.

  Then, an explosion of pure magic pressed into [The Box]. I quickly maximized my defense as the bird got atomized in front of me, a squealing caw left its beak before nothing remained. The force of the blast pushed me into the far wall of what was now the colosseum. I could see Basil fuming as he looked over at the robed demon who finally chose to make his entrance.

  “Why did you wait so long,” Basil asked in an accusatory voice. “I thought this was your leader’s idea in the first place.”

  The robed demon extended their fingers. Mana poured out from his hands and created massive orbs of pure magic. It tore away at the colosseum and brought us back to the top of the mountain. A storm now formed on the peak, brought in by the mana concentration.

  “Because the other two wouldn’t have survived this, Basil,” the robed demon answered. “Hail to you, dragon. I am Merlin, second in command to the Chivalrous Demon, and I will be the one to pacify you.”