The silence in the throne room was shattered as the sound of the wraith's growls and snarls filled the air.

Thor bodies had turned glassy, becoming mirrored but sinewy surfaces that reflected the dim light around them.

Each one had a pair of glowing blue eyes, cold and hungry, like the reflection of a predator staring out of a cracked mirror.

Wade moved, shifting into a defensive stance beside the others.

"Back to back!" Sebastian barked, his voice cutting through the rising cacophony.

They all moved instinctively, forming a tight circle in the center of the hall.

Ingrid was behind Wade, her bow already drawn, Rowan stood to his right, staff glowing with light, and Sebastian on the left, his giant axe twirling like a stick in his hands.

The wraiths circled, their claws scraping against the mirrored floor, leaving cracks that spiderwebbed outward. It felt like they were waiting for something.

Then the first one leapt.

It came at Wade, its claws raised high, light glinting off its reflective body.

Wade twisted, swinging Toothpick in a wide arc. The hammer side of the weapon met the creature in the air, and the impact shattered it like a crystal vase.

The shards burst outwards in a rain of glass and light before fading into mist.

A second wraith lunged immediately after, swiping at his neck. Wade ducked low, then drove the axe's bladed end up through its chest.

The monster screamed, a sound like breaking glass, before its body fractured apart.

To his left, Ingrid's bow thrummed. Each arrow she fired left a faint white trail before piercing into her targets, bursting through their bodies in sprays of shimmering fragments.

"Two down!" she shouted, nocking another arrow without breaking her rhythm.

Rowan slammed his staff into the ground, and a flash of light flared out from the point of impact.

"Barrier!" he called. A circular wall of pale light rose around them, slowing the wraiths' movements at the perimeter. "That won't last long!"

Wade gritted his teeth. "It'll last long enough."

He felt one of the wraiths rush from behind the horde in front of him, leaping high, not at him, but over him, aiming straight for Ingrid.

His perception notified him before his eyes even saw it. Without thinking, he spun, grabbing Toothpick by the handle and hurling it like a spear.

The spinning weapon howled through the air, striking the wraith. The monster shattered in a burst of glass shards before it could reach her. Wade raised a hand.

Recall.

Toothpick disappeared in the air, before reappearing in his hand an instant later.

"Nice shot!" Rowan shouted, his voice filled with amusement.

"Don't jinx it!" Wade yelled back, pivoting to meet another attack.

Three wraiths charged him at once. He swung hard, his axe cleaving through the first, shattering its upper half.

The other two slammed into him, clawing wildly. Their razor-like claws scraped across his armor, shrieking against the reinforced pauldrons.

He grunted, pushing one off with his shoulder, then drove the axe into the second's chest, sending it crashing into the floor, shattering into nothingness.

Sebastian's bellow echoed behind him. "Keep them off each other!"

His axe came down in a sweeping motion that bisected two wraiths at once. Sparks of mana burst from the corpses before they faded to mist.

The Mirror Wraiths didn't stop. They poured in from every corner of the hall, their reflections multiplying in the mirrors until it was impossible to tell how many there truly were.

Wade pivoted, breathing hard. "There's way too many."

"Then thin them out!" Sebastian rumbled over his shoulder.

Even with the seemingly unending wave of wraiths, they were all calm, because they knew they could take care of them easily.

Wade grinned and slammed Toothpick into the ground. "Fireburst!"

The explosion erupted outwards in a sphere of blazing fire. The wraiths nearest to him shrieked as the fire engulfed them, their glasslike bodies glowing red before bursting into fragments.

Heat washed through the hall, and several of the mirrored walls cracked, the reflections twisting and warping.

The fire died quickly, leaving only the faint shimmer of rising heat and the ringing sound of Sebastian's axe cleaving another monster in two.

Wade exhaled, the grin never leaving his face. Around him, the wraiths hesitated briefly, almost as if recalibrating. Their blue eyes turned towards him in eerie unison.

He tightened his grip on Toothpick. "Perfect," he muttered. "Come at me."

He took a few steps away from the others, deliberately drawing their attention.

The first few lunged, and he met them with a smile. Every swing of Toothpick crushed another wraith into shards, his movements fluid and graceful.

The wraiths tried to circle him, one diving low while another leapt from above.

Wade dropped into a crouch, his axe sweeping low in a deadly arc that cleaved the one below in half.

He then twisted, bringing the hammer side up into the chest of the one above. It shattered in midair, raining fragments down on him.

He felt glass shards bounce off his cheek, none of them strong enough to slice it. His physical stats were high enough for him to ignore these kinds of damage.

"You're not getting past me," he growled under his breath.

A cluster of three wraiths lunged together.

Wade spun, his movements blurring. Toothpick met the first one in a downwards strike, crushed the second in a backswing, and buried its edge into the chest of the third.

The monsters burst apart in a chain of flashes, their fragments scattering across the reflective floor.

The last few that remained tried to bypass him, heading for the others, but Wade was faster.

His footwork carried him between them, each teleportation blink placing him perfectly in their path.

And every time Toothpick descended, all it left behind was a rain of glass shards.

Across the room, Ingrid loosed a final arrow that struck through the head of a wraith creeping towards Rowan. The creature had a second to scream, before shattering into glass shards.

Then, silence filled the air.

The only sound that filled Wade's ears was the slow sound of his steady breathing. The battle hadn't even winded him. It had just been like a warm-up.

Then the notification appeared.

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have slain: Mirror Wraith(x38)]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Level: 10↑]

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