Out of all the Cursed groups that had split up, one was faring a lot better compared to the others and that was Sam's group. Most of this was actually thanks to the synergy between Layla and Nate.

With her acting as the group's marksman, now that she had improved her powers she could injure most of the Masked before they got too close. Nate would be there to fight off those who had evaded her attacks, while allowing Sam to pick off the weaker ones in the back.

Layla was able to freely change between her three forms, so whenever they had a short break, she would transform into her third form, allowing her use the special flames to heal any injuries Nate and Sam, while also renewing their buffs.

There were a few times that they had struggled, in particular whenever the Masked had attacked with ability users in their midst. However, for those occasions, they had an ace in the team that their enemy had no way of dealing with, which was, once again, Layla.

Whenever they came across a troublesome ability user, Layla would quickly change into her second form and join the fray from up close. This would put more pressure on Nate and Sam, but a few four legged beasts also had come to their aid to help them fight.

None of the ability users were prepared to go up against someone who was capable of negating every single ability there was out there, making it easy for the young woman to finish off the troublesome ones..

'This is the power of having real support on our team.' Sam realised as they struggled through a new wave of Masked. 'If we'll ever have to fight this type of battle again, it would be best if we had more supportive abilities to help out the groups."

'However… just how many of those Masked are there? No matter how many we kill, their number doesn't seem to drop. If anything I think they're getting more numerous with each new wave. I'm not sure if the other two have noticed it, but each time we're getting pushed further back.'

"Sam!" Nate called out. "I'm nearly out of blood. My flask is practically empty."

This was another problem. Although Nate's stamina was great, better than most in the Cursed faction, and although nearly none of them had been injured, there was the issue of blood. Using their blood abilities allowed Sam and Nate to perform strong attacks, but without blood not only would it make them weaker they could no longer produce their red aura.

"Let's head closer to the castle!" Sam ordered.

Everyone started to slowly retreat. With no end in sight, Sam was trying to figure out how they would win this. After all, their victory condition was having to make sure the enemy didn't get the Demon tier beast. Unfortunately, he lacked critical information about how the other sides were doing, and he had a strange feeling not too long ago, he didn't think it was a good sign.

As the group was moving back, Sam could feel the back of his hair move violently, as if a storm was coming. He had a premonition that it might be dangerous to turn around, but his fear that it could be the enemy made him take a quick look, only to see a black feathered beast he hadn't seen before.

"Sam, we need a new plan!" The beast shouted, that he recognised as sort of Vorden's.

"I know, but it's kinda hard to come up with something, while we're surrounded by the enemy!" Sam replied back, slightly annoyed with the tone Vorden had given the second he had arrived.

Before Sam could say anything else, another strange creature ran past him, also passing Nate and Layla as well.

Turning around, they could see that it looked like a person, who wore the same black clothing as the Masked. However, he seemed to have cut off the sleeves of the clothing. The next moment they saw why, as both his hands formed into two gigantic blades.

The second the strange person had disappeared into the jungle, he started to slice down all of the Masked one by one. Most of them weren't even able to retaliate, as for those who did, their red aura proved to do nothing to the assailant.

"Raten can deal with any of the Masked that come our way. Now, how about we talk?" Vorden asked again.

Hearing who the strange person was, Sam could only reach one conclusion which was that Raten must have evolved and was now inside the body of humanoid Demon tier beast. With this revelation, Sam believed that they might have a chance.

"Quin just sent us over to Wevil's group. He's dead and Linda can no longer fight. Borden should have brought his body back to the castle and is probably looking after Linda now. This fight… it's worse than we thought. Apart from the Masked, there're also Dalki!"

"Judging by the look on your face, I assume you must have thought that with me and Raten having evolved we might stand a chance of winning this, right?" Vorden asked. "I thought the same, until I saw what state Linda was in."

"Even if we can win this fight, we might even be lucky if more than a few of us will actually survive. Quinn was right, Eno doesn't care about us. We need a better plan!"

Sam had mixed feelings after hearing the news. He had prepared himself for the possibility that some of the Cursed faction were going to die after finding out who they were going up against, knowing the enemy would surely have some tricks up their sleeves, but it still felt surreal at the moment.

Worst of all, he didn't even have time to grieve over Wevil because Sam needed to think up their next course of action to prevent anymore losses.

"There's more news!" Fex shouted over.

Towards the castle, the heavy grown jungle area lessened. The trees and grass were thinned out, giving a more open area allowing for everyone to see each other easier. When turning around. Sam could see Fex and the rest with them. He found it strange they were travelling with a gorilla, but when seeing Mona, and considering the beasts that had helped them at the cost of their own lives, Sam didn't find it too strange anymore.

With the three groups meeting up, and Raten in the jungle making sure no one got close to the castle, all of them shared the information they had gathered.

There were three key points to take note of.

First, nearly all of the Masked they were facing were clones. If Richard could create clones it made sense that Jim could as well, but one question popped up in all their heads. Where exactly were Richard Eno's clones right now?

The information brought from Vorden was that there were also Dalki here, which they had predicted would come at some point. Additionally, he had brought the sad news of Wevil's death. Everyone went silent for a moment before they continued to talk again, but the worst piece of news by far was the news that Mona had brought them.

It was because of this, Sam had made the decision.

"We have to give up on the Demon tier beast." Sam concluded. "We will leave this island. I thought that the location of the teleporter was subpar, so I had Logan create another one just in case. If he hasn't finished it yet, I don't think he will need much longer. Most of us are weak and can't continue fighting, it's the only thing we can do."

"The teleporter is at the Temple."

"What about Quinn?" Fex asked. "Don't we need to tell him as well? What's he even doing at the moment?"

Just as Fex had asked that question, a loud roar from the Dragon was heard. Since they were close it felt like they could feel its power just from the roar it had made.

"We can inform Quinn he will come, but he has something important to do first." Vorden answered.

——

A while ago, Quinn had gotten his body back from Vincent, only to find himself facing the trio of Blades. As the three of them were together, Quinn could feel something, a couple of his connections, his links to those that he turned were in trouble. It still hadn't gotten to the point where it was life threatening but he knew they needed help.

He was about to go himself, but as he was, a voice spoke to him once again. The tablet not too far from where they were had lit up once more but the voice when it spoke sounded weaker than it ever had done before.

"Quinn! Quinn can you hear me? It's Ray!" The voice must have been shouting, but all Quinn could hear was a faint whisper. "I've been watching everything that has been going on, and I'm here to tell you that you can't win this fight! Not the way you are right now!"

"If you stay here, you and all your people will lose their lives for nothing. You have to leave this island! I thought you had a chance since you seem to possess a certain amount of strength, but I've just felt something far stronger than you out there!"

"There is a chance that once you leave this island that they will also destroy it. Even if they don't they may certainly take an interest in this tablet. If that is the case, if I get destroyed then... I can't fathom what will happen to this world and its abilities. Most likely, it will leave the human race with no chance at all."

Listening to what Ray had to say, Quinn believed it, mainly because he could tell from his connections how certain members of his were struggling.

"I've seen your shadow power, perhaps there is a way you can place the tablet in your shadow. Please, if at all possible, YOU HAVE TO PROTECT THE TABL-!!!."

The glow of the tablet went down once again, but Ray had said enough for Quinn to take him seriously.

'Take the tablet with us? That's easier said than done. I doubt the Dragon will just let me take it, even if I ask him nicely...'

******

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