Everyone, Sarah included, turned to Gary.

The latter shrugged. "I can’t let her be defeated so soon. It would make things more troublesome for me... I’d rather avoid that."

Dale didn’t hesitate to launch more light and dark slashes out. Except this time, nobody was spared from his attack list.

Austin, Gary, Trevor, and Sarah suddenly found a fair dozen elemental attacks surging at them.

Gary had it the easiest. He summoned his force field and expanded it.

Then within the space, he created another one and a small one.

The slashes shattered the first, then the second but couldn’t pass through the third.

At the same time, Trevor opened his mouth and uttered a command: "Miss"

Something imperceptible about the world shifted and the slashed went off course.

Sarah, having experienced the attack before, knew what to expect and managed to swerve out of the way.

Austin had barely dodged the crescents when Dale was upon him.

The redhead used his ability to push himself back and out of the way.

Dale immediately resumed his assault, rapidly changing positions whenever Austin’s muscles tensed.

His roommate suddenly charged forward, his fist swinging at him.

Dale timed the speed and started to dodge but something happened.

Austin’s fist suddenly sped up as though extra force had been put into it. In fact, Dale was very sure that was what had happened.

He couldn’t dodge, not only because of the speed of the attack — his martial art specialized in sudden, impossible movements — but because of his earlier use of Decay and Blight.

As much as he tried to hide it, the slashes had drained him. It required far more energy than normal to release a single slash.

’Shit.’ He just had time to clench his stomach as the gauntlet connected with his torso.

A thin layer of air formed between the gauntlet and his skin, folding on itself and detonating with a loud bang.

Dale felt the wind knocked out of his lungs as an explosive force sent him flying back.

He twisted himself in the air and tried to land on his feet. It didn’t work.

The moment he tried to exert the force required to balance himself, his core muscles gave out and he fell, rolling.

Austin suddenly swerved as a fireball swept by him.

He turned to the side and saw Sarah but before he could focus on her, Gary charged in to keep her busy.

Dale tried to push himself up despite how much his body protested against any motion.

Every muscle in his middle body burned and ached. It was undoubtedly bruised.

His grip around Blight tightened and a wave of energy coursed through him. He felt his stomach ripple and the bruises on the tender flesh healed.

[Embodiment of Light] healed whoever activated the weapon skill but just like [Thrall of Darkness], there was a reason he didn’t want to use it.

As he had found out, Decay and Blight provided immense boons but at the cost of the mind and body respectively.

The only reason he was using it was that he was far too petty to be down for the count, especially when he could change it.

’And they say pride comes before a fall... I refuse to fall because of my pride.’ He smiled as he forced himself to his feet.

His body had thinned and become pale having lost some muscle mass — the price of [Embodiment of Light]

He could always eat to stock up on fat and rebuild his muscles.

As he turned his eyes to the other four, he was pleasantly surprised.

Austin was currently engaging with Trevor. His muscles clenched repeatedly yet the latter seemed to completely shrug it off, only slightly affected.

’There is absolutely no way he completely rendered himself immune.’ Trevor was powerful but not by that large a margin.

Logically, he must have assigned himself an adjective — one that opposes motion. Perhaps something along the lines of ’Scalar’.

And so, since his ability skill wasn’t working, they both of them and resolved to use their fists.

’How quaint.’

Dale turned to Gary and Sarah and needless to say, the situation was far from what he had expected. Gary was the one on the offensive.

Both hands were currently surrounded by smaller versions of his usual forcefield. He used them to trade blows with Sarah’s flame-coated fists.

And whenever she suddenly released a wider attack — ranging from ice projectiles to wind slashes — he countered by sacrificing his boxing gloves and generating his forcefield.

All things considered, it seemed as though the spar had reached an equilibrium.

Dale smiled to himself. He could wait until they tired themselves out and victory would be easy for him.

’No.’ He wasn’t going to take that route. Perhaps against an infinitely stronger opponent, sure. But against the Awakened trio and Austin, he’d see how he’d fare in a battle against them.

The threat of Ream, or whoever was responsible for the death of the recruit, loomed over him.

Just because he hardly thought of it didn’t mean he had forgotten. He couldn’t always take the easiest way out.

And so, he gripped Decay tighter. [Thrall of Darkness] activated and Dale’s skin reacted.

His veins darkened and an ocean of strength washed over him, filling every ounce of muscle with power.

He leaned forward and kicked the ground, launching himself towards Gary and Sarah.

His logic was simple: eliminate the one person who had prevented him from removing Sarah.

If he could do it before, then he could do it again.

As Dale ran, he tossed his sabers into the air and quickly closed the distance.

He slammed his palms against the new forcefield Gary had generated. Without hesitation, he used his signature skill [Energy Pulse].

The shield cracked but didn’t shatter so he released another pulse and another until it broke.

At the same time, he caught the blades that had finally caught up to him — the principle of inertia — and performed a slash with Decay.

The dark crescent approached Gary and he jumped to avoid the attack.

Dale smiled internally and immediately performed another slash with Blight. There was no way he could dodge mid-air.

He was wrong.

Gary started to manifest his force field from beneath him. He used it as a platform and kicked it off to change direction mid-air.

He landed softly and stared at Dale in shock.

Dale stared at Gary and came to a conclusion: In as much as he seemed relatively unbothered, his energy was rapidly spent. It wouldn’t be long before he couldn’t manifest anything.

But the question was if he could last long enough to see that end.

A thud from the other side of the room drew their attention.

Austin was flat on the floor, clearly unconscious and Sarah was engaged with Trevor — the latter seemed to be drenched in sweat and struggling.

Even Sarah’s attacks started taking more time to manifest. It seemed almost everyone was tuckered out.

’Well, this is advantageous.’ Dale reasoned and used the last weapon skill.

[Perfect Conduit]

The familiar energy of [Embodiment of Light] filled him alongside [Thrall of Darkness].

They seemed to feed into each other, bolstering their effects exponentially.

’Good. It. Is. Good.’ Dale’s thoughts were a bit clunky and awkward but he hardly noticed at all.

With his renewed vigor, he charged in.