Leo’s mind was in turmoil as he struggled to process all that was being said by Anthony. But that didn’t matter now, for now, he pushed those thoughts aside as he prepared. He knew this was it.

  There was no going back.

  Without a word, Anthony quickly slashed the spear ahead of him, its spear tip leaving behind a bright trail like a long string, quickly dissipating. This action caused many near him to quickly back away, not wanting to be cut by the deadly strike.

  Unfortunately not all were so lucky.

  To Leo’s dismay, two unfortunate people were unable to get away. The top of their heads slid down, dropping to the stone floor, leaving behind the lower jaw with their tongues visible. Their Refractions dissipated as their bodies fell to their knees, dropping to the floor once Anthony pushed past them.

  Immediately after backing away, many used their Refractions to the fullest, fire blazed forward, lightning danced toward the unwavering figure. A cloud of smoke erupted upon hitting Anthony, the results unknown to all.

  Everyone remained still, staying vigilant for the new threat. They all knew that wasn’t enough, and they weren’t ready to be the next victims of that horrifying weapon.

  As they waited, a flash of light glinted in Leo’s eyes as the spear shot out from the smoke, barely missing him as he shifted his body away from its trajectory. Having missed, the spear landed behind, implanting itself in the sturdy stone wall.

  Looking back into the dust, Leo saw Anthony through the smoke as it cleared. But something was encasing him as his body was covered in transparent armor, reflecting the light around him like a diamond would. The most demoralising part of this was that he remained unscathed, both his body and his armor. It was as if the barrage had done nothing to him whatsoever.

  Lifting his hand, Anthony clenched his fist. What followed was what could only be described as a massacre.

  From behind, the spear that he had thrown slowly bloated. Within seconds, the transparent spear began to expand until it was a sphere the size of a small table.

  Having a bad feeling, Leo turned to Patrick. “Patrick, harden! Now!”

  Patrick quickly activated his Refraction as Leo hid behind him from the bloating spear, pulling Connie close to him.

  Not even a few seconds later, the glass sphere exploded, sending thousands of razor sharp pieces of glass across the room.

  The glass hissed through the air, each capable of cutting through stone and flesh alike. It wasn’t in one direction either, scattering all around the dormitory. Some ricochetted while some stuck themselves into the stone or skin of the surroundings, cutting through the columns and tables.

  Some were quick to react and duck to cover.

  Others, however, were caught in the attack, their bodies ripped apart by the fragments, shredding the surroundings and people alike like paper. Many of the shards flew into the nearby rooms, with blood pouring out underneath the doorway.

  Once the rain of fragments stopped, Leo peaked his head from behind Patrick and looked around. Around half the people in this dormitory had been caught in that single explosion, most of them being the normal humans who didn’t have the heightened senses of a Smogborn.

  Behind him, Tyler and Kate were surprisingly fine as they continued shielding the three girls still performing the mysterious ritual. Joshua and his gang had minor cuts, but were relatively alright. It seemed nobody from the group had been hurt too severely.

  But that could change at any time now.

  Glancing over, he saw Anthony collecting the fragments, hovering over his clenched hands as they slowly formed the same spear he had held before.

  Leo whispered to the group, “We need to attack now, we can’t let him use that attack again!”

  In silent agreement, the group rushed at the preparing figure, not letting him reform the spear properly.

  But that only brought a creepy smile to his face as he looked ecstatically at Leo. “Finally! C’mere!”

  Throwing away the broken shards, Anthony rushed at the group. No, he rushed straight at Leo, completely disregarding the rest.

  Connie quickly knelt onto the floor, expanding her shadow towards Anthony. Once they connected, she conjured black tentacles from below, stopping Anthony in his tracks. Unfortunately it didn’t last long as the crystalline armor returned, snapping the tentacles off of him making her wince back in pain. But the momentary immobility created an opening everyone needed as Oliver and Patrick both slammed into the armored man, their fists colliding with the armor.

  The crystalline armor prevented the majority of the damage, but it still knocked him back, dazing him for a moment as he fell back from the impact. Not letting him recover, Leo rushed forward and threw a punch with the same spring-like feel to his arms. His fist connected, but Leo felt a searing pain from hitting the hard, crystalline armor, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through. Once he punched, Leo jumped back and after a moment, Anthony was flung back into the stone wall, a large plume of smoke filling the area. He could see through the dust that Anthony’s armor remained intact, but the force behind his punch had done its job as Anthony knelt down gasping for air.

  As this occurred, in the back, the twins prepared a green projectile that formed a sharp arrow the size of their arms. Designed to rip through the tough, translucent armor.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  They just needed a shot.

  And a shot they will get.

  Beside the twins, Connie, once again, conjured the tentacles below Anthony, wrapping his legs and armors down like chains. This time, they were much stronger as he struggled to break free. The tentacles wriggled with more intensity than before as they dragged him down to the ground.

  Leo looked back. “Now!”

  The twins launched the green arrow, causing a strong gust of wind to be left behind. Shooting forward in a blur, the arrow continued uncontested. Seeing the incoming projectile, Anthony tried to raise his arm to block, to no avail as they remained by his sides, exposing his body to the incoming attack. So instead, he began to thicken the armor towards his chest, gritting his teeth as he struggled to do so.

  Finally, the two collided as sparks began to fly as the arrow cracked the armor, digging itself deeper into the thick chestplate. Seeing the struggle, Jack and Eli brought their hands together in a praying motion, tensing their faces as they applied more force. Upon doing so, the arrow seemed to begin spinning faster and faster until it began to slowly drill into the armor with much higher speeds.

  With a newfound sense of danger, Anthony began to struggle against the tentacles more violently as Connie barely kept them intact, sweat dripping down her face.

  Patrick silently rushed behind Anthony, putting him in a headlock. Once he had a good grasp of his head, he activated his Refraction, hardening himself on the spot, completely immobilizing Anthony’s head.

  No matter how he struggled, Anthony couldn’t get out of the many binds holding him down.

  “Tsk.”

  Obviously annoyed, Anthony’s body suddenly turned transparent as the arrow pierced through, causing him to shatter into many tiny pieces.

  Leo looked at the sight in confusion for a moment before the glass shards began to move, joining into two snake-like shapes. Farther behind the snakes, Anthony walked out from one of the glass windows completely unharmed as he let out a sigh.

  “Why must you struggle like this, Leo? Just let me fix this already.”

  ‘That’s just not fair!’

  With a snap of a finger, the snakes rushed at the group, each reaching at least seven feet. They moved unnaturally fast, with their entire body being a giant blender as they slithered across the room. Caught off guard by their speed, a group of four were quickly surrounded, with two quickly caught by the blender-like mouths as they were shredded, leaving nothing but small pieces of flesh. One tried to use his Refraction to burn the snakes, but all it did was anger the serpents as they turned to the rest, resulting in the same outcome as the others before them.

  Upon finishing off the small group, the snakes turned to the rest as they gave chase.

  All they could do was run as the snakes were made up of the same jagged shards of glass as the spear had once been. Not willing to risk it, they ran, waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

  Behind the scuffle, Anthony raised a hand as if reaching something. And like before, a glass spear fell from the ceiling right into his hands.

  ‘What the?’

  Looking up, Leo saw the ceiling had been covered with the same crystal-like stones that Anthony had covered himself with. It seemed his abilities had something to do with crystals and mirrors.

  But that made no sense, how could he have two separate abilities?

  To his left, he saw Patrick was hardened as the snake coiled around him like an anaconda, attempting to suffocate him but unable to break his defenses.

  Meanwhile behind Patrick the other snake chased the others, sending a rain of shards at the group, blocking them from Leo.

  Leo wanted to help, but he couldn’t stop running as Anthony prepared another spear, his sights set on Leo.

  ‘Shit.’

  With a grunt, Anthony threw the spear toward Leo, the spear almost invisible with only its glittering shaft visible as it shot across the room.

  Leo dove to the floor, barely dodging the spear. But he quickly ducked for cover, as did the rest upon seeing the spear land. This time, however, the spear didn’t explode.

  Confused, Leo turned to Anthony, who had suddenly appeared in front of Leo, an identical spear close to piercing his face. In a desperate motion, Leo used all his might to push his Refraction into his arm, springloading his fist up into the spear, deflecting it up into the ceiling.

  Leo prepared to throw a counter, but Anthony didn’t let his momentum end as he dashed forward and grabbed Leo’s shoulders, encased his head and rammed it into Leo’s face. Unable to dodge, he felt an unbearable pain spread across his face as his nose crunched. His head flew back, his body unable to move in the gasps of Anthony’s tight grip.

  A sadistic grin appeared on his face as he began to manically laugh. “There we go!” His voice was muffled through the helmet he forged.

  Anthony continued to relentlessly pummel Leo’s face with his encased hand. Punch after punch, each filled with his hatred and jealousy, his eyes filling with glee as he punched away at the man he once called his friend.

  With each punch, Leo could feel his consciousness fading as his vision darkened.

  With each punch, Leo saw Anthony’s face, but his eyes were replaced with someone else’s.

  Each punch caused excruciating pain, but he fought through the pain, understanding he needed to get out before he fell unconscious. WIth a roar, Leo used his legs to kick off Anthony’s chestplate, giving them the same spring-like feeling he did with his arms.

  Unable to maintain his hold, Anthony lost Leo as he shot away from the target of his malice while Leo slid across the ground to the rest.

  Having the moment of respite, Leo quickly got up, shooting out blood from his nose as he readjusted his nose, cracking it back to ease the pain. His arms were bloodied from the rough slide, but otherwise he was surprisingly fine.

  Behind him was Alyssa and her group, tasked with preparing for a trapping ritual. Tyler and Kate hid behind their shields as they covered Alyssa with them.

  Keeping his eyes on Anthony, Leo quietly asked, “How long?”

  Alyssa turned to Leo with a smug smile as she peeked between the two shields.

  “We’re all set.”