Before Teddy could act, Leo pulled him by the hand and looked at him with desperate, pleading eyes. “Please, don’t kill him.”

  The Lieutenant stayed still for a moment, looking back and forth between Anthony and Leo before letting out a tired sigh.

  “Everybody loves working me to the bone, huh? Fine. But you’ll owe me for this.”

  Leo nodded without hesitation. He hadn’t given up on Anthony. Not yet. Who cares what debt he would incur from the scheming officer, he couldn't let his lost friend vanish for good.

  Leo tightened his grip on the man, his eyes brimming with cold confidence. “Just a favor? Fine! Just don’t kill him, or I’ll be owing you something else.”

  The officer easily shook off his grip with a small chuckle. “Hah! You just sit here and relax, you’ve done more than enough now.” He turned to call for Patrick and Oliver. “And you two brutes back up too. You’ll just get in my way.”

  Upon hearing those harsh words, the two hesitantly pulled away, sitting beside Leo as they let out a tired groan. He could’ve sworn he heard Oliver curse the Lieutenant under his breath.

  The Lieutenant stepped forward, brandishing his katana. The white hues caused the edges of the blade to brighten up, making it seem as though it was made of light itself. Leo squinted to see the Lieutenant’s back facing him.

  Taking deep, calming breaths. The Lieutenant sheathed his katana, lowering his upper body and bending his knees, his left leg positioned in front with the right behind. His left hand maintained its firm grip on the handle on the right side of his hip, his right hand holding the center of the black sheath. His head was lowered, but Leo could tell his eyes were concentrated on the enemy before him.

  Across the room, Anthony struggled to get his act together. Seeing the regeneration being halted caused him extreme distress as he kept his focus on the crater Leo had created, its cracks slowly spreading as the vibration maintained its intensity.

  Between the panicking contractor and the calm swordsman before him, Leo could see the conclusion of this fight as clear as day.

  A few seconds passed with little movement from the Lieutenant, but the temperature in the area was steadily rising, causing the trio to have beads of sweat run down their faces. Not only that, the opening of the sheath began to give off a white glow, the white hue from before seemingly concentrating inside to a critical point. Despite the heat, they held their breaths as the tension was at an all time high.

  Sensing the tension, Anthony couldn’t help but notice the soldier’s odd pose. Luckily, he didn’t seem to really care too much about it as he began to quickly spew out taunts. “What’s wrong, Lieutenant? Are you lowering your head to give up already? Hah! At least you understand.” As if in response to the beautiful view before him, a glass spear shot up from below into Anthony’s hands.. “I’ll give you the honor of at least dying painlessly.”

  WIth that said, he lifted the luminescent, needle-tipped weapon over his shoulder, his hand throwing itself back as he prepared to throw the spear directly at the Lieutenant’s head. Bringing his hand forward, the spear began to move as it remained in his grasp.

  “Just stay right, huh?”

  Before he could release it, however, the Lieutenant disappeared from his sight.

  Leo’s eyes widened, baffled by the stunning scene before him. The two beside him wore the same expression as him, followed by confusion.

  ‘What just happened? Where did he-’

  Answering his own question, he saw the Lieutenant raise his body behind Anthony’s form, the katana in hand. But the only difference was…

  ‘When did he take out the sword?’

  Leo saw Anthony move to turn before stopping midway. Looking down at Anthony’s chest, he saw a small white glow illuminating his crystalline armor as if a star had been placed inside.

  Anthony’s arms shook as he struggled to remain standing. “What are you plotting, you bastard?”

  The Lieutenant simply smiled before sheathing the katana, its white aura snuffing itself out like a flame in the snow. Right after, he slowly approached the baffled figure as he lightly slapped his back.

  Anthony angrily began: “Don’t you tou-”

  Before he could finish, a small cracking sound echoed in the area, only muffled by the devastating battle behind them. Leo looked at Anthony’s chest to see a new, much cleaner crack appearing on the crater he had made. Not only that, the crack rapidly expanded before the front section of Anthony’s armor completely broke, shattering into thousands of crystal shards, all reflecting Anthony’s shocked face.

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  Anthony slowly turned to the officer, his eyes wide. “What did you do to me?”

  The Lieutenant sighed. “You’re lucky your friend wants you alive.” Right after, he slammed his katana hilt into his face, making him fall back. Anthony’s eyes rolled back with a small spasm in his body before quickly falling onto his back.

  Farther back against the stone walls, Leo stared at the scene, unable to grasp at his feelings at the moment. The sight of his unconscious friend gave him a huge amount of relief as it gave him hope that he could still help him back up. But it also gave him a weighing sense of guilt.

  How had it come to this?

  There was definitely something he could’ve done. Something he could’ve changed.

  But he didn’t.

  Instead, he had to resort to knocking his friend unconscious to even have a civil conversation with him. Thinking things through, Anthony would probably be imprisoned for god knows how long, if they even choose to keep him alive for that long in the first place.

  Leo shakily got up on his feet as he wobbled over Anthony’s motionless body. For a while, he simply stood there, staring at him with painridden eyes. His close friend had been reduced to such a state, and for what?

  To be stronger than him?

  There was a lot he wanted to say to Anthony, but none of the words dared come out.

  It was far too late to regret his actions. Nothing he did now would change things now. He had been oblivious, no, he had ignored Anthony’s pain for far too long.

  He had no right to say anything. Nor did he have the right to try helping him, and yet he still did.

  How shameless he had become.

  A rumble shook the room, causing Leo to look over to see the two monsters continued their venomous dance.

  Velmior’s whips wildly slashed the area nonstop, his face barely breaking a sweat as if it were a leisure activity. Although the whips didn’t hit, they did slice the surroundings, causing many of the stone pillars to come down. Additionally, Claudia seemed to throw her own attacks as craters would suddenly appear further behind the demon as if a large boulder were thrown at him. Of course some would land, shattering the demon. But he would then reappear elsewhere as if nothing had happened.

  Claudia swiped her hand forward, causing Velmior to leap into the air in order to dodge. A large invisible wave of force slammed into the area he had stood, destroying the stone pillars and walls in its path. He cackled as he saw this failed attempt, it was as if he was toying with her.

  Leo noticed him peek over towards him, or more specifically towards Anthony’s unconscious body. He could see a hint of annoyance in the demon’s eyes as he snapped his fingers before refocusing on his opponent.

  Knowing that small gesture wasn’t just a habit, he quickly turned to the officer who was focused on finding an opening in Claudia’s fight. “Lieutenant, keep your eyes open! The demon did something just now!”

  Just a moment after he said that, a loud scraping sound echoed across the dormitory as a whip identical to Velmior’s came flying at the Lieutenant’s head. Luckily the Lieutenant had heeded his warning as he ducked his head just in time, quickly moving out of the whip's path.

  Following the whip’s source, he looked to his left to see it coming from one of the crystalline mirrors that sat along the stone walls. It was a weird scene as the mirror caused the whip to turn two-dimensional like an art piece, but quickly fill up to a three-dimensional weapon.

  Behind this weapon was a small figure who looked as though he were a distance away. Their hand was extended, holding onto the handle of the whip. But gradually, the figure slowly got bigger as they walked closer and closer until their body couldn’t entirely fit in the frame. Leaning down, they reached out with their hands, getting a firm grip on the edges of the mirror. And with a giant step over, they formed the body of what appeared to be another Velmior!

  There were two of them now.

  This one didn’t seem like one of those weak reflections he had sent after Claudia. This one had an eerie presence, giving the Lieutenant an uneasy feeling.

  The second one let out a tired breath as if having done a laborious task and wiped some sort of dust off his shoulders. He threw the whip back into the mirror, causing waves to ripple across the mirror as if it were water. Looking toward the group, he gave a condescending smile to the Lieutenant. “What’s wrong?”

  Without looking back, he reached back into the mirror and pulled out what appeared to be a sword made of glass, its surface reflecting the little light that remained in what was the dormitory. It looked very similar to a jian with slightly longer guard, its edges serrated as if meant to saw instead of cut the foe.

  This Velmior looked exactly the same as the original that was fighting Claudia, almost a perfect clone. The only difference was the mannerisms, instead of the relaxed and laidback attitude the original took, this one seemed to be much more prideful about themself. Not only that, his eyes were the color yellow instead of the green the original had.

  ‘Did the eyes mean something?’

  His eyes locked onto the demon’s. The way he looked at him seemed as though he were looking at a pest that had entered his home. Spitting on the floor, Velmior raised his jian and pointed it towards the group as he glanced at the fight between the other Velmior and Claudia.

  “What’s wrong? You were so ready to fight me, but now that there’s two of me, you can’t seem to hold yourselves together.”

  A smile crept up on his face, as if relishing the satisfaction of finally dealing with an annoyingly persistent pest. Leo could feel the murderous aura emanating off of him as he got up, preparing to fight once more.

  “That’s the right attitude. Hate me. Worship me. Chase me. Fear me. I welcome it all.”

  The clone savored the moment as his eyes slowly filled with a newfound insanity, with a tinge of malice. His smile stretched wider as it split his cheek apart, creating a long, bloody smile literally from ear to ear. “Envy my power that you cannot have, knowing the triviality of resisting me. Drop your weapons and I will allow you to become a part of my strength. Then, you will have my permission to die.”