Alwin split his attention in half—one eye turning inward, overseeing the entire production within his Core, the other observing the battle in front of him.

Mrs. Cooper sprinted toward Alwin with all the force of how many hundreds of pounds of bulk that her turtle self could muster. It wasn't a lot of speed, but it was terrifying.

Behind her, Commander Cooper was stuck in a hopeless melee with the fused Elders. It was as effective as getting a slipper to successfully run a bakery using nothing but interpretive dance and scented candles—frankly, it was both impossible and ludicrous, or just ludicrously impossible if you wanted to be efficient.

Commander Cooper dealt an avalanche of winged blows with those mighty muscular wings of his. It was pointless. The fused Elders caught every punch with a nonchalant flick of their wrists. They donned a tired expression on one half of their face, while the other smiled with devilish glee, enjoying the thrill of absolutely dominating their prey.

Meanwhile, Alwin was still prepping for phase two of his plans. Spirit Bombs continued to be manufactured within his Core, much to the chagrin of Niwla. Winal simply helped to the best of his ability, moving completed Spirit Bombs down the mental conveyor belts, stacking them at the edge of the Core, ready to be dropped at a moment's notice.

As he continued to observe, Alwin noticed something. It was something subtle, so minute that most wouldn't have been able to catch it. And even if they did, they wouldn't have been able to decipher its meaning. But Alwin did. It was something that he was all too familiar with.

While Chi Ren and Jin Ren may have been fused together, it was only in body, not in mind. The split expressions spoke volumes about that fact. But the shifting of eyebrows, slight twitch of lips, and ever-so-tiny movement of eyes whispered even more.

They were arguing or, at the very least, having a not-so-pleasant discussion. Their goals may have been aligned, but not their methods.

They weren't in sync.

That was good. Even the slightest advantage could turn the tide in his favor.

Yes, keep fighting, you no-good, meanie Elders. Keep bickering and then turn on each other. Even better, devour each other in an attempt to gain control of your other half. Become stuck in eternal turmoil as you waste away your energy. Then, when you're nothing but a shell of your former selves, Alwin would swoop in for the kill.

If only things turned out that way.

The shift, twitch, and ever-so-tiny movements ceased. Their expressions began to harmonize with each other. Slowly morphing till their entire face was a perfect blend of boredom and wicked excitement.

Within that short span of time, where Alwin hoped for their downfall, they had somehow made amends with each other and came to some hellish agreement.

This was bad.

What was even worse was the hand raised high above their head.

This time, lightning erupted from their palm while a bolt of flame struck down from the heavens to meet it. Power swirled, fused, and howled. In less than a second, it was about to come down on Commander Cooper and fry him into a Cooked Cooper.

There was no time to think. So he didn't.

Alwin released the massive mountain of Spirit Bombs that had been piling up inside his Core. They materialized into the real world, all something number of them, right behind him.

The moment the first of the blue, beautiful, ceramic spheres, filled to the brim with volatile Mana, hit the ground, the world turned to nose. One explosion triggered another, setting off a chain of sheer explosive force that blasted Alwin faster than he had ever flown before.

If it wasn't for the Crimson Gold King Ant form that he had yoinked control away from Winal, he would've blasted off more than he could chew. In other words, Alwin would've been dead.

He rocketed past Mrs. Cooper in a blur of heat. Through those compound eyes of his, he caught the slightest glimpse of her bulky turtle arm extended toward him. But that was immediately replaced with the sight of the fused Elders hurtling into view.

Things were moving too fast.

Until they weren't.

The fused Elders had caught him like it was nothing. It was as simple as breathing. One moment, Alwin was flying; the next, their heaven raised hand was wrapped around his head.

Hopefully, he wouldn't be seeing heaven anytime soon.

They brought him closer to their face, inspecting him. The quiver in their lips. The crinkle in their nose. The squint of their eyes. He couldn't hear what they were thinking, but apparently, he was a big enough deal to warrant using both of their hands.

They tossed Commander Cooper to the side. Their other hand rose, clasped against his exoskeleton cheek, which might as well have been putty to them.

Whatever they were discussing about him, it wasn't important. What was important was that this was the perfect distraction.

Alwin opened his mandibles wide, or at least tried to.

One moment they were attached to his face, the next they weren't. Only the slightest change in position of their fingers, and a surge of pain, alluded to what had just happened.

Moving at a speed faster than he could comprehend, they had flicked his mandibles off the moment they sensed an attack incoming.

Alwin wanted to scream, but he couldn't. His voice was locked in his throat. Thoughts were paralyzed. An overwhelming sense of fear suppressed the desire to yell in pain from having a part of his body forcibly removed in an instant.

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"You have the aura, though weak, of our esteemed Crimson Gold Sect. You will make for a fine pet when we rebuild our sect to its former glory," the fused Elders said. "Once the matter with these beasts has been thoroughly dealt with, we will tame you into complete subservience."

"Not on my watch!" a shrill voice cut through their blazing and crackling hands.

It was Mrs. Cooper, here to save the day. Or maybe she wanted to get her hands on him first for breaking their promise, before shipping him off with the fused Elders.

A gray Shellmet materialized and slammed down onto his head, squishing his antenna. This time, he was large enough that it didn't consume him whole.

A cluster of Selfish Shellfish sprouted around his head, forming a writhing swarm where the fused Elders had a grip around him. The mass of oysters, clams, lobsters, crabs, and more scuttled and clicked up their arms.

They barely made it an inch. The moment they touched the fused Elders, steam hissed off their husks as they turned into blackened overcooked seafood.

As far as Alwin was aware, it wasn't even a technique or spell; that was just the way their body worked.

Did that mean Commander Cooper had a huge burn around his neck from when they had a death choke around him?

Never mind that. Where was the large bird man after the fused Elders had literally tossed him to the wayside moments prior?

Alwin wanted to look around, but they had a firm grasp on his head.

That was the least of his worries. Even if he did want to turn, darkness was slowly consuming him whole.

No, he wasn't losing consciousness... Again.

Mrs. Cooper's giant clam had resurfaced. Its shell was slowly closing around them.

Somehow, Alwin managed to catch sight of Commander Cooper's or, at the very least, his reflection. On the fused Elders' eyeball—the golden one—was the faintest image of the large bird in all of his muscular glory.

It might have been the pain talking or the fact that he was in a similar-looking giant oyster, but joining Commander Cooper was the vaguest outline of another giant oyster.

Please let him be somewhere near it.

Because if Commander Cooper was where Alwin thought he was, it meant that phase three of his plan was on the horizon. A successful execution of it would take nothing short of a miracle.

The darkness that was slowly encroaching upon them was ripped away with a blast of vicious light, courtesy of the fused Elders burning the giant oyster away. It was a double attack of both the sun and whatever technique they had Silent Casted to form that blazing bright flame.

The fused Elders sighed, shaking their head, "I shouldn't have thrown away that chicken beast. I was too carried away when I spotted this little insect. No matter. Now, we end this."

They released Alwin, only to follow up instantly with another Silent Cast.

Large metallic discs clamped around his six legs, alternating Crimson and Gold. Each cuff was linked to six glowing stakes embedded deep in the ground. The crimson restraints burned with a searing flame that harmed even him, while the golden ones zapped away with lightning bolts that dished out an equal amount of pain.

Together, they kept him locked in place.

But as long as his head was free to turn, as painful as it was, he could get a front row seat to his masterful plan in action.

With a lot of effort, fighting through the awkward angle and the attacking chains that held him, Alwin finally managed to angle his head so that both the fused Elders and Commander Cooper were in view.

As he had hoped, Commander Cooper was near the giant clam that protected Cooper Trooper and should've been protecting him. But Alwin was more selfish than Mrs. Cooper's shellfish—which led to the strange set of circumstances, where he was moments away from being turned into a pet.

But that wasn't the point. In fact, Alwin didn't care about points at all. That wasn't his role in his amazing plan.

Alwin was all about the round stuff—disregard the technicality that a sphere was made up of infinitely many points.

When Alwin had blasted off earlier, during that split second, he had the instinct to launch half of the Spirit Bombs that he had amassed behind him and toward the ground. The other half, he launched straight into the air.

At the same time, a volley of Fire Blasts specially prepared by Winal to be extra Fire and Blasty were launched high into the sky as well.

Meanwhile, Niwla had carried out his part to a tee.

The Spirit Bombs and Fire Blasts fell. They didn't just plonk straight to the ground. Instead, every pair spiraled around each other, drawing closer to each other and the ground with every revolution.

They were being Mixed.

A deliberately slowed and delayed Mix that seemingly defied gravity, set up by Niwla during that less than a second he had to work with. Alwin would have to ask for the secret sauce on how he managed to accomplish such a feat on such a grand scale in such a short amount of time.

Alwin, Niwla, and Winal had done their part.

Now it was all up to the Coopers.

Commander Cooper had positioned himself just right in front of the mass of spinning Bombs and Blasts. He angled himself straight at the fused Elders.

Literally right as the spells came into contact with each other, Mrs. Cooper activated Inverse Shell.

That faint giant shell appeared in the sky as everyone's speed was reversed.

The previously lightning-fast fused Elders moved so slowly it was as if time itself had been paused for them.

Explosions rang out as the spells were finally Mixed. Each one struck Commander Cooper in the back. For every explosion, he seemed to move even slower. No, he was definitely moving slower.

Alwin had gambled a lifetime's worth of luck for his plan to work.

It involved incredibly perfect timing—something which he could never accomplish on his own. And an understanding of Mrs. Cooper's Inverse Shell, as shoddy of an understanding as it could be.

From what Alwin understood, fast things move slow and slow things move fast. Pretty much everything had a baseline speed, so no matter how slowly one tried to move to 'cheat' the skill, the effects of the spell forced you into that baseline anyway.

In the Fused Elders case—ridiculously fast. Which meant, under the effects of Inverse Shell, they'd move ridiculously slow.

However, as far as Alwin was aware, there wasn't a cap on how fast one could try to move. It was just like when he had first experienced Inverse Shell and tried to turn. He kept applying more and more force, hoping to turn, but it only made things worse. Alwin just ended up moving even slower because he was trying to go fast.

And when Inverse Shell ended, he ended up spinning like a top thanks to all of the momentum he had been building up.

That was the principle behind this madness.

All of the Fire Blast enhanced Spirit Bomb explosions would cause Commander Cooper to rack up more and more speed. And once Inverse Shell ended, he'd end up zooming off straight into the fused Elders for a one-shot kill.

Whether or not it'd actually work out was another story.

The biggest problem with that plan was that, while it gave their side ample time to prepare, it also gave the fused Elders plenty of time to come up with countermeasures.

There were so many ways it could go wrong. With how fast they normally move, what if they simply stepped to the side to dodge Commander Cooper's attack?

Alwin sat there watching, hoping.

He had set up the stage for the Coopers. Sure, the stage might've been falling apart with more holes than floor, but it was infinitely better than what they had without his help—which was nothing.

They were the adults in this situation. Surely, they were graceful enough to dance around the few holes in the unfortunate setting. Right?

Above, the giant shell faded away as Inverse Shell ended.

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