Sam took this message to mean that the System was throwing him a bit of a bone in terms of the time commitment. After all, this floor had already been quite long, given that he had had two cultivation quests. Sighing, he got to his feet, and headed off to meet the Matriarch. She deserved to know that the defining battle for the realm was about to pass. So used to things like this was Sam by this point in the Tower, it was almost like a normal day for him to march to his death. In fact, it was somewhat exciting.

***

"So you will be departing us soon?" the Matriarch asked, a look of concern on her rough-hewn face. "Will it be on your own, as the victor, or with us all to the afterlife?"

Sam fixed her with a stoic gaze. "I don't know, but I'm going to do my damndest to ensure my victory. I appreciate all your people have done for me."

The Matriarch smiled broadly. "We would do no less for our champion. Good luck. Cleanse this realm of its curse, ensure that no power hungry outsiders enter, and the Gemstone Spirits will be forever in your debt."

Sam inclined his head. "I will fight until my last. That's all I can promise."

"And that is enough." The Matriarch turned, heading off to be with her children before the potential end of their reality. Sam stood there for a moment, and then teleported into the outside world, appearing on top of a craggy hill. Sweeping his gaze across the world, Sam found nothing out of the ordinary.

With a sigh, he turned towards the obelisk of the Shadow Raven, and cracked his knuckles. "Let's get this party started."

Dozens of chained teleports took him across the realm, the arc of stone and crystal flashing beneath him as he sped through the skies. As he neared the domain of the Shadow Raven, the air grew thick, a miasma of spatial corruption impeding his movement. Sam pushed through, but eventually, had to stop, about two hundred miles away from the towering finger of stone.

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Sam paused, feeling the gaze of an ancient being lock down upon him. The top of the obelisk bulged as the Shadow Raven emerged, its ephemeral beak opening wide to release a earsplitting shriek. Sam grimaced, but weathered the attack easily enough. Then, without any further delay, he surged forwards, each step carrying him hundreds of feet. The Shadow Raven pushed the rest of its body out of the obelisk, and for the first time, Sam saw why it hadn't chased him down during his slaughter of its progeny. Thick chains of condensed darkness bound the creature to its pillar, unfolding and clanking as the bird emerged fully. It was over a mile long, with a wingspan that could have cast a shadow over an entire city.

The monster's eyes flashed with a dark, ominous light, and it brought its elemental abilities fully to bear. Its wings extended fully, and a pulse of conceptual energy shot outwards. A fulminating tempest of shadowy winds and tearing blades of spatial annihilation exploded out from its body.

Sam tensed, and held himself in place with girdings of the Dao, condensing his mastery over his concept into thick plates of armor. With his latest upgrade, he felt even more powerful than before, and his Dao matched that. Given its fused nature, the power he could bring to bear was likely equal to a Fifth or Sixth Step Fragment, rather than the Fourth Step that he possessed on paper.

A tidal wave of Dark elemental potency crashed into him, trying to discorporate his body with razors of pure conceptual severance. Sam laughed and pushed back, combining his elemental energy and his Dao in a thunderous explosion of red, blue and yellow light. The Shadow Raven's influence was pushed back, and Sam took full advantage, racing towards the monster. Miles vanished beneath his stride, so quickly with his third threshold that he could hardly believe it. Shockwaves rolled across the land as he shattered the sound barrier over and over again, gathering momentum. It was too dangerous to teleport in the vicinity of a peak E Rank spatially attuned elemental, so Sam did the only thing he could. He jumped.

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