Sariel leapt backwards as tendrils of Darkness enveloped the shadow mage. His unsettling grin grew even wider as the Abyss lent its power to the chaos maker. As the last thread entered his body, he let out a low laugh.

‘Try once more.’

The three heroes faced off against Zirka once again, determined to defeat the demon once and for all. Sariel gripped his daggers, King his gauntlets, and Mister Skyler his massive greatsword.

Zirka was quick and nimble, teleporting around the battlefield and launching shadow bullets and beams of black energy at the heroes. They dodged and weaved, trying to avoid the attacks and get in close.

But Zirka was ready for them. He swung his black energy sword around him in wide arcs, forcing the heroes to keep their distance. Sariel and King tried to get in close, but Zirka's swings were too wide and too powerful. Each blow would be a punishment indeed; it would result in instant death for the two under levelled heroes in any scenario.

King held a determined look in his eyes before screaming out, ‘Balanced Scales!’

Suddenly, time stopped momentarily as King’s Omni began glowing. A pair of scales appeared over his head, and an identical one on top of Zirka. The impish demon scowled, but waited for the ordeal to end, as if he’d seen it a thousand times before.

King cleared his throat before stating, ‘Utilising attacks that can attack more than one person is completely forbidden!’ The scales slammed down with a great force, binding themselves to both King and Zirka. Time unpaused with a sneer from Zirka, who immediately transitioned into sending a flurry of blasts, thread leaking out of each bullet and dropping on the floor.

Mister Skyler hung back, watching and waiting for his chance. He knew that Zirka was a powerful opponent, and that they needed to be careful. Though he may be the strongest one in the group, patience always paid off.

Zirka laughed as he swung his sword, taunting the heroes and daring them to come closer. Sariel and King charged forward, their weapons flashing in the light of the circus tent.

Zirka swung his sword in a wide arc, catching both heroes off guard. They stumbled backwards, barely managing to dodge the blow.

Skyler finally charged forward, his greatsword glowing with power. He swung with all his might, but Zirka was too quick. The demon dodged the blow and swung his sword, sending Mister Skyler flying backwards.

Zirka had an insanity in his eyes that matched his demonic smile. He leapt up, doing a split in mid-air, and sent a blast of Darkness throughout the circus. King and Sariel quickly ascended the pillars to avoid the shockwave, but Skyler got slammed with it once more, coughing out blood.

Suddenly, the time-stopping scales rose once more, and formed a dagger that stabbed directly into Zirka’s left eye. He howled, infuriated, before blindly letting loose as many blasts as he could muster.

‘Now!’

Sariel and King leapt down from the pillars, white threads of Spirit emanating from them to ward off the encroaching threads of Darkness. Zirka swung his sword in wide arcs, forcing Sariel to leap backwards, but King got a few decent hits in before being shoved back by another wave of Darkness.

Skyler slowly recovered, popping a few Marshmallows in his mouth to recover a bit. He grasped his greatsword; then, white threads seeped into his body whilst dashing towards Zirka to form a collar on him.

Zirka swung his sword again, catching Sariel off guard. The hero stumbled backwards, barely managing to dodge the blow. King charged forward, trying to distract Zirka and give Sariel time to recover.

But it was too late. Zirka swung his sword in a wide arc, catching King off guard. His left arm was sliced off, but he jumped over the sword of Darkness nonetheless and slammed his fist brutally into the shield of Zirka over and over until getting expelled by a blast of Darkness. His breathing picked up as he attempted to cope with the loss of an arm.

Mister Skyler saw his chance and charged forward. He swung his greatsword with all his might, hoping to land a decisive blow.

But Zirka had expected this, and launched a barrage of blasts towards Skyler, catching him off guard. After he soaked three blasts, he stood his greatsword in front of him, absorbing the rest of the blasts and moving forward slowly.

‘You two,’ came the gruff voice of Skyler. ‘I’m going to need your cooperation. I acknowledge your strength. Please support me from afar.’ This was met with quick nods, after which Skyler stabbed his greatsword into the ground and rose once more.

Zirka laughed as he continued to launch more and more bullets, taunting the heroes and daring them to come closer. Skyler narrowed his eyes and took him up on that.

He lifted his greatsword into the air, and let out a loud scream. ‘Grand Challenge!’ Instantly, Skyler teleported in front of Zirka, letting loose his brutal greatsword onto the shield of the stunned Zirka. Sariel wasted no time in swapping his Omni to a machine gun and letting loose, whilst King sheepishly formed a rifle with his Omni to damage from afar whilst nursing his injury. A knowing glance was shared between King and Sariel whilst Skyler continued to continually slash.

The shield began to crack. Alarm flashed across Zirka’s face, and he attempted to swing around him swiftly, but his blade was blocked by Skyler’s own. He teleported away, trying to gain some distance from the fighters. But Sariel and King were relentless, chasing after him with their bullets and continuing their attack. More importantly was Skyler; every time Zirka warped, he followed immediately with blistering speed. It was now easy to see that his greatsword formed a chain link which binded him to Zirka.

Zirka teleported again and again, but the fighters kept coming. The audience was cheering wildly, caught up in the excitement of the battle. Every blow led to more panic, which sent Zirka into a complete panic, sending a blast of Darkness throughout the arena. The scales retaliated once more, stabbing another dagger into his last remaining eye. Sariel leapt up onto a pole and dodged the pulse, whilst King was in no position to dodge and took the hit, getting slammed into the ground.

But the fight was already over.

With a loud crack, Zirka's shield faltered. He stumbled back, shocked and disoriented. Sariel and Skyler seized their chance, striking at him with all their might. Sariel jumped into the air and plunged downward, changing his Omni back to his most familiar weapon in the sword, and shattered the shield of the imp with a coordinated attack with Skyler.

King staggered to his feet, wavering, and sent one last bullet into the head of this insufferable imp.

The pastel sky seemed to creak, as if the Abyss was visibly displeased with the outcome of the match. Dark tendrils descended from the sky and picked up the fallen imp, spitting out a whole seven Aspect Gems with four Omni Orbs.

Sariel gave a glance to King, whose arm was slowly regenerated with beautiful white tendrils. Skyler, who was bleeding, had white tendrils mend his chest and torn muscles. As for Sariel? Well, if you didn’t get hit…

Well, it was more like getting hit was not an option.

The cheers of the crowd faded as the ghastly spirits began disappearing one by one. The trio wasted no time in dashing to the gems and staring beams at each other. ‘No time. Distribution. Two-two-four, two-two-null, you two and me.’ Skyler stated a list of numbers, sending King into a spiral of confusion, but Sariel quickly nodded and grabbed two Aspect Gems for himself with two Omni Orbs, quickly telling King to pick up what was left as Skyler picked up four Aspect Gems himself.

‘Well done, you two,’ Skyler nodded. ‘I didn’t expect these two chumps to perform so well. I can easily tell that your transcendence is quite low, relatively. You’ve piqued my interest sufficiently.’ He thought for a while before shaking his head. ‘You must have hoped for an invitation to the Skyler Group, but I’m afraid you’re out of luck. We’re a tight knit band, and we don’t accept outsiders. I’ll keep my eye on you two, though. Promising gems indeed.’

King looked like he was about to protest, but the Abyss had no time for petty disputes. The floor rumbled with an earthquake, as if signalling them to get out. The white portal shimmered with uncertainty, and it took no further convincing for the three Dreamers to ascend back to the surface.

Though the portal was on the ground, jumping into it was the strangest sensation. Sariel felt his existence burn up into a sphere of Spirit, and got launched up through the darkness of the Abyss. Another off-putting landing expelled the trio from the Abyss, and they got a glimpse of the sun illuminating Otherside before they were sent back to the overworld.