It seemed like Summoner-D’s campaign in the Dungeon was coming to an end.

The four fists lowered with unbreakable speed and smashed them—

Shiiiiiiiiiing!

Silver sang through the air.

It didn’t smash them.

A figure spun between them and death like a storm unleashed—all whirling motion and gleaming steel and wind so sharp it left cuts on the air itself.

The figure moved with a speed that shouldn’t have been possible, its blade tracing an arc of pure light through the dim cavern.

SHIIIIIIIIING!

The King Kong’s hands were cleanly sliced from the rest of its arms.

Thick, black blood exploded through the cavern, spraying across the stone floor in a wave that would have knocked a lesser fighter off their feet. The severed hands crashed onto the ground, their fingers still twitching, still grasping at nothing.

The King Kong stumbled to the floor, wailing and groaning.

Completely irate and in stock of what had just happened to it, the beast roared madly. The sound was louder than anything it had let out so far. It filled the cavern with so much agony, everyone’s ears rang and visions blurred.

Lancet couldn’t believe what had just happened. He thought they were done for, finished. But when he looked at the figure that landed in front of him, his brows creased.

It was Renan.

The Specialist-D leader stood with his blade still raised, silver light dripping from its edge like water. His cape billowed around him in the aftermath of his movement, settling slowly as the wind began to die.

The entire chamber froze for half a heartbeat.

Kasto blinked stupidly, his mouth opening and closing like a fish that had been thrown onto dry land.

"You..." He swallowed hard, his voice cracking. "You saved us?"

Behind Renan, the rest of Specialist-D stepped into the chamber, looking slightly better than they were when Lancet left them at the Crown Hollow.

Renan slowly lowered his blade.

Lancet looked at all of them as his own team recuperated. Then his gaze rested on the Heavenly Knight. "Why did you help us?" he asked him.

"If we got wiped out," he continued, "then there’d be nobody left to compete with for the artifact. Why help us?"

He genuinely did not understand.

This was a competition. A fight. Every team in this arena was trying to claim the artifact for themselves, and now, Summoner-D was the Specialists only threat.

If they got eliminated, the path to victory would be clear.

So why?

Why?

Renan looked toward him and in his eyes was an expression of gratitude. "Because you helped us first."

The cavern quieted around them despite the King Kong’s growling. The beast was still alive, still dangerous, still bleeding from its severed limbs—but for this single moment, everyone’s attention was fixed on the conversation happening in its shadow.

Renan pointed his sword slightly toward Lancet in an indicating manner. "Back in Crown Hollow. I don’t know why but you sent your summon to save us."

Lancet’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"You didn’t have to," Renan continued. "We would’ve been eliminated."

The Assassin scoffed. "Painfully too."

"But you helped anyway," Renan finished. "So we’re returning the favor."

For a while, silence filled the cavern. The two teams gazed at each other. Kasto grinned tiredly—a lopsided, exhausted expression that made him look ten years older than he actually was.

"Hah..." He shook his head, running a hand through his sweat-matted hair. "You Specialists aren’t as annoying as I thought." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Don’t get used to it," the Assassin replied instantly, but there was no heat in his voice. If anything, he sounded amused.

Renan looked back at Lancet.

The two team leaders regarded each other across the blood-soaked stone—one with a blade still wet from its rescue, the other with a sword that wouldn’t even light.

"Do you have a plan?"

Lancet opened his mouth, then hesitated.

His grip tightened around the Radiant Guillotine’s hilt, the metal cold against his palm, unresponsive to his touch. His Grace was still gone. Still hiding somewhere inside him like a coward, leaving him vulnerable and useless when his team needed him most.

"I did," he admitted quietly. "But now..."

His eyes drifted toward his trembling hand.

The fingers were shaking—actually shaking—from a combination of exhaustion, fear, and the bone-deep certainty that he was about to let everyone down.

"I can’t trust my Grace."

Silence.

The weight of Lancet’s admission hung in the air between them, heavy and suffocating. A leader who couldn’t fight. What use was he now?

Min Tu gazed at Lancet for a moment. She was the first to step up.

She called her Skeletons to her sides and they stood behind her like dark sentinels, their eyeless sockets fixed on the last two beasts who were recuperating across from them.

Min Tu looked at Lancet then at the rest of Summoner-D.

"But you can trust your team."

Lancet stared at her.

She stared back, her expression utterly serious, utterly certain. There was no hesitation in her face. No mockery in her eyes. No fear in her posture.

Just certainty.

"Together," she said firmly, her voice carrying across the cavern like a bell, "like we’ve done from the start."

Dane smirked. Kasto slammed a fist into his palm.

"Damn right, Min Tu."

Vera smiled despite the exhaustion etched into every line of her face.

Even Specialist-D straightened slightly, their postures shifting from wary suspicion to a sense of readiness.

Min Tu turned toward the King Kong and the remaining subordinate. The King was rising to its fists now, its burning eyes fixed on the gathered fighters while the other Kong carefully prowled around.

"You know your formations." Min Tu’s dark eyes sharpened murderously.

Kasto took his place in front. Metalhead and Overdrive dragged themselves towards him and slowly rose to stand by his side.

Vera positioned herself in the center, her Forest Stag emitting green pores of light.

Dane stood to Kasto’s left. Buster, his Astral-Claw Ursine was now healed, ready and hungry for another battle.

Min Tu stood to Kasto’s right, all three Skeletons burning with fervor.

Despite their master’s shortcoming, this team refused to relent. It was time to prove themselves, to help him and the rest of their Class Group win this competition.

"Now," Min Tu smirked, "let’s kill these ugly monkeys."

Lancet stared at them all in disbelief.