The freckled creeper bit her lip in a playful, curious manner—more friendly than flirtatious—and sat on a chair of summoned white energy. I got the impression that if I hadn't already been sitting, she would've summoned a chair for me, too.

"You were ambushed…" Freckles asked. "By who?"

"More like we were led into a predetermined ambush and became casualties." It took me a second to realize there wasn't much difference between what we both said. Freckles nodded like she understood the nuance.

"A convenient casualty. Any idea of the source?"

She was toying with me, right? I just stared, resisting the urge to answer.

"Right. Most likely, the secret order of assassins is interrupting your meal." Freckles chuckled lightly and shook her head with mock disappointment. "I misjudged you, Kip. I knew you were astute, but so calm in the face of danger—that's an uncommon trait."

"You can quit blowing smoke," I said to Freckles while staring directly at the smoker channeling a dangerous amount of fire mana. Either the charmer slipped, or the loss of dinner was getting to me.

"Oh, I like you. This is a real shame." The elf looked honestly conflicted. "One more question before I kill you. Do you have Sunny's ring?"

Time stood still. Mana raged. Fire roared. Earth rumbled.

I kicked back, sending my chair crashing to the ground, avoiding the exploding fire pit. The rabbit was ripped to shreds. The heat singed my body, and my excessive rolling helped extinguish lingering flames while dodging the grappling earth. At one point, I rolled into an invisible barrier made of light energy. They had me caged. I kicked off the barrier to maintain momentum as I dodged the next wave of veiled attacks. Wind howled as thousands of blades attempted to dissect me. Water and dark energy tried to slow my steps. It was no use.

My mind was alive, and my body responded quickly. Even though I faced overwhelming opposition, the attacks came at a slower pace, while my movements were still at a speed I was getting used to.

I danced in my invisible cell, avoiding all sorts of attacks from hidden assassins. Freckles and her team were good—coordinated and powerful, more so than the Jesters I'd faced previously. There was just one problem: they were one loop too late.

As I moved in the limited space, I learned the attack patterns and position of each of my killers. Only seven of them were in the box with me. The rest were on the outside, providing support. Unfortunately, both of the bloomers were on the exterior team. A rather inconvenient inconvenience. My dance lasted two more seconds before the Jesters grew tired of my evasiveness and attacked with full force.

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"Did it ever occur to you that this fight would be over if you didn't stay in the prison with me?" I said to Freckles. "You could've cooked, frozen, suffocated, or buried me."

"And what would be the point of that?"

"Well, it would allow most of you to walk out of here alive—if not all…"

"You are good on your feet. Do not mistake our whims for foolishness, though."

The first assassin to attack with a weapon came at me with a spear. It was the crunch of the earth that gave away their position—barely audible over the torrent of mana raging in the cage. I blocked the thrust with the palm of my hand, allowing it to pass to the side of my body as I grabbed the back end of the shaft. My other hand drew my sword and, with one swift motion, severed the life of the assassin.

I heard a mumbled curse to my left and threw the spear in that direction. As it flew, I drew a mana pistol and fired two shots at the same target. Another spear attack forced me to spin into the attacker. I was too close for my sword, so I shot directly into the Jester at point-blank range.

Dropping the pistol, I grabbed the dead Jester before they fell and used the invisible body to block the attacks at my back. With a jerking motion, I tossed the body shield into the smoker and grounder that had just attacked. I didn't trust the dead to do their job, so I followed the throw with a charge. Both swords were in hand now.

My calculations were slightly off. The smoker didn't dodge like he was supposed to. He got tangled up with the corpse. To make matters worse for the Jester, I stabbed through the body, then booted the two into the light barrier.

A quick slice with my left hand nearly eliminated the grounder winding up for a hammer attack. They didn't survive my follow-up.

Three and a half assassins were left in the light cage—Freckles' clone, possibly a sleeper, a smoker, and a puffer. I couldn't tell for sure, but I got the sense that the three I killed were a creeper, a grounder, and the weaker puffer. Of course, the assessment of the dead didn't add up to much. There was a good chance the dead were being revived by the bloomers outside the cell. They could very well be alive and kicking, just practicing caution.

The smoker in the ring particularly messed with my senses. The heat had been rising in typical fire cultivator fashion. Small fires spread across the ground, corralling me into disadvantages. As the heat intensified, my ability to sense water waned—as did my confidence in surviving unscathed.

Sogg's ripe bastard spawn. Smokers were the worst.

I was light on my toes. My swords whipped in all directions, executing perfect slices. As I navigated the cage match, I made sure to attack the barrier between dozens of actions. Dodge, defend, kill, strike. It felt like I was back in Tom's cavern, practicing a dual-sword kata as he assaulted me verbally, physically, and spiritually. "The perfect defense is the perfect offense," he'd say… which was great, but then he'd also say, "The best offense is an unbreakable defense." So that was all I had going for me.

As solid as my defense and offense were, it was the time dilation that gave me my one and only edge. When the walls of the light cultivator's barrier finally shattered, I used all my speed, strength, and wits to rush the hidden bloomers. I caught one in surprise, killing them before the last of the light shells had hit the ground.

The second bloomer was protected by a dowser and grounder. I didn't let them stop me, even sacrificing parts of my body to score the killing blow. At the end of my twelve-strike rush, I was a bloody mess, the guardians were wounded, and the Jesters were down both bloomers.

With the bloomers out of the fight, things were gonna get real spicy.

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