I ran southeast, away from the fighting that centered around Gulley and his throaty roots.

A couple of unfortunate assassins got suckered into the mouth of the throat and got trapped. The numbers had skewed in my favor… if only slightly.

About a hundred yards away, I finally got access to my mana. I summoned Cal in his falcon form. The great Beaks of Thunder spread his wings and let out a mighty battle cry. Cal had a dangerous glint in his eye, and as he flew high, his flight was fast and determined.

I am going to map the battle. Then I will knock out some of the pesky targets.

I liked the sound of Cal's plan. Whether he could pull it off was yet to be seen…

I shouldn't have doubted.

The flayen flew through the cavern undetected. Within seconds, he provided me with a map of the battlefield along with the Jesters' positions and the beasts. Then he updated the information with precise numbers that included all of the assassins and monsters. Not only that, each of the elves was labeled with their mana type and power level. Cal even distinguished the living and the dead.

The flood of information didn't interrupt my train of thought or vision. It felt natural, as if the data had always been present. That was probably due to one of my splits handling what Cal was putting out. However it worked didn't matter at the moment. I had just been given a huge advantage.

Based on my mapping, there was a Jester who was separated from the rest of his team. He was strong enough that beasts were no threat. I set my course for his position, careful to avoid crossfire from all the energy being thrown about.

As I worked my way toward the lone puffer, his body got highlighted with a reddish hue. I could see him fighting even through all the layers of trees. It was similar to the thermal vision I'd heard some smokers were capable of using.

I killed the lone puffer with two arrows. He was a high-ranking templar. Overconfident and talented. Now he was dead. I checked the live mapping for my next target. Hopefully, I could find another careless fighter.

Are you ready to turn the tables? Cal asked.

What do you mean by that? I found my next target. A creeper trying to escape a team of panthers.

I am going to blow the minds of the two sleepers. That should put them out of the fight for the next thirty seconds.

You can give me thirty seconds with my mana? I drew an arrow and shot, killing the creeper just as they were about to stab one of the panthers.

I will probably die in the process… Cal paused, letting his sacrifice linger. Just be quick to resummon me.

Ready. I had navigated closer to the fight, hunkered down at the edge of the sleepers' domain. The battle was fierce, and I had to use my sword and mana to defend myself from multiple attacks from the Jesters and beasts.

Now!

A focused wave of mind energy spiked on the battlefield. It was unlike any other type of mana that was present. Powerful. Alive. Free. The mana felt as familiar to me as water energy, even sharing some similar characteristics. More than anything, it felt like it belonged to me. That it was a missing part of who I was. It was almost like a missing part of my soul…

Cal returned to my mindscape, and I immediately summoned him. He took to the air and filled my mind's eye with the knowledge that was present before. Both of the sleepers were marked as sleeping, and a counter ticked down.

Twenty-nine seconds.

I pushed out my water domain, connecting to the pools of water and moisture in the air. The expanding storm was fueled by my will. Water razors cut across the air. The blades devoured trees, monsters, and the weak-willed Jesters. The attackers were pushed back on their heels, and I could feel the rage of two sages trying to snuff out my power. A paler and a bloomer. Life and death.

The two sages did their best to protect their squads.

The Paler sent all of his minions—reanimated corpses—in droves. He alone could have defeated the dungeon. His summons froze and died in my wake. Even his reanimated Jesters proved too weak for my domain. Their lack of will left them susceptible to my attack.

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

Cal's enemy count dropped to thirty.

Three Jesters were torn to bits by water razors. I shot a dozen arrows at the bloomer, stopping her from reviving her fallen squadmates. She grew frustrated by her lack of power and turned all her attention and rage on me. Just as she attacked, I pulled a hidden creeper in front of me with a water anchor. The hidden body took the full blow of the bloomer's enhanced spear throw.

Twenty-six seconds.

The creeper dropped out of her creeping mode and yelled. Her scream was a mix of agony, panic, and… ecstasy? That last one couldn't be right. She was dying, and yet… Nope. She wasn't dying. In fact, it was the exact opposite.

Life bloomed through her veins. The bloated energy enlarged and enraged the creeper, transforming her into a monstrous fire creature. White and gold energy glowed from her. She smiled at me with wild lust in her eyes. A massive claymore formed in her hand, which she swung in a cleaving motion.

I placed Snowpiercer back in its ring and drew a sword of my own as I sidestepped out of the way. Time seemed to stop as the claymore swung by in a blur. I knew it was moving incredibly fast, and yet I could track it completely. I could almost reach out and touch it with the tip of my finger—and nearly tried exactly that.

In this heightened sense, I was absolutely aware of my domain. The water whipping about. Monsters and men fighting and dying. And a giant trying to kill me, a constant stream of life energy filling her with power.

The giant covered her backswing with a blast of light. As I dodged another killing blow, the elf used mana to vanish. She tried to move away to catch me off guard. I used her moment against her, pushing her away with a water anchor. Her size and balance worked against her—and me. As she tumbled, I was pushed back.

I didn't fight the motion. My feet slid on the ground with nimble grace. A quick look brought the life sage into focus. The bloomer was in a battle of buffing the creeper and healing the injured sleepers. I pulled on the ice anchor on her chest. We lurched toward one another in the blink of an eye. My sword cut through space with perfect precision.

The sage's body split in two.

My next target was in sight—one of the other two healers trying to revive the napping sleepers. Beaks highlighted my target with a red aura, making it easy for me to track them. I pulled myself into position just as a surge of life energy blasted behind me.

The split Bloom wasn't dead. She was still alive—and very much angry. Doubly so, even. Her two bodies glowed with the same golden energy as the buffed-up creeper who had just recovered from my anchor push.

I ignored the danger breathing down my back and pursued my chosen target. The templar-rank Jester dispelled his healing powers and morphed into a massive bear. He roared, shaking the fight out of me, and then charged.

Death had me cornered. Or more accurately, life cultivators were tightening the noose of death around my neck. A split sage was at my back, a giant creeper was at my side, and the biggest bear I had ever seen was charging me like a bull.

I ducked low to the ground, one knee touching in a kneeling position, and my back hunched. Cyan energy surged from my channels and the surrounding atmosphere. It obeyed my will, hardening into a solid dome of black ice. I pushed all the energy and willpower I could into the dome.

Unwilling to back down—or enthused by the challenge—the bear-morphed bloomer continued its charge. It lowered its head just before the crash, leaving me with a split-second opening.

The ice dome obeyed my will just in the nick of time. A spear of ice jutted out of the dome where the bear was about to strike.

"No!" one of the split Bloomers yelled… Splits.

It was too late. The bear speared itself on my dome. Its body limp and lifeless. The dead bear morphed back into a dead Jester, which I then impaled to the ground with two massive ice pikes. Needless to say, I was tired of the dead rising.

"You will pay for that," Splits said, venom seething from her lips.

"I know." I breathed in deep and clutched my sword.

Twenty-one seconds.

For two seconds, I hunkered down in my dome. The ice shell took a massive beating, and nearly a quarter of my internal mana was used up to keep it intact. Hammers fell. Fire raged. Curses and hexes flew wild. My small dome endured it all.

While the Jesters focused as much attention as they could on me, I used the water outside my dome to create another ice shell. This one was large enough to trap all one hundred of us fighters inside. My mist entered the arena when the exterior dome was completed.

I'd been here before… this scenario almost exactly.

I was trapped in a dome with a bunch of hungry killers. They were intent on murdering me, and I was just trying to survive. The dome was pretty much the same. Perhaps a little bit bigger, stronger, and fuller. The opponents were different. There were still some wolfbears in the fight, though—just a lot more variety. My mist was stronger too… and so was I, for that matter. Also, I was in a shell within my shell. So maybe I hadn't been here before. Not exactly. But the fear, the silence, the weight of being outnumbered—that was the same, and that was enough.

"Your mist cannot hide you." One split said—this one with less venom in her voice… Venomless.

"We can track your life energy," Splits said, hissing even though her sentence lacked any trace amount of s. Could probably call it a skill at this point.

"Our smokers will burn you through," Venomless said.

"I know." I don't know why I bothered to respond at this point. I was starting to sound like a broken music rune playing the same tune on repeat.

One more second passed. My domes had been completely filled with mist. I embraced the water-heavy air, almost becoming one with it.

Eighteen seconds.

I slipped out of my personal dome and attacked.

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