Jay stood completely still in the centre of the battlefield, watching the deserter sprint for his life into the sparse forest surrounding the monolith. A few seconds and he'd be out of sight.

A few minutes and he'd be untraceable.

Even if they comfortably won the battle, Jay knew that Scorpion wouldn't want to waste time searching for a straggler when there was a chance Directorate backup was coming.

If Jay lost the sage's crystal now, he might never get it back.

Urgency made Jay's decision for him. Whatever he decided, it was better than standing and staring.

A spray of gravel skittered over Jay's head as Carla grunted with exertion behind him.

He ignored her and sprinted forward.

All thoughts of teamwork fled Jay's mind as he barrelled through the Directorate ranks in escape, eyes locked on the soldier with the sage's crystal. Ping deflected every attack that targeted Jay's flank as he pounded his feet against the barren dirt.

The deserter scanned his rear, eyes widening at the sight of a sprinting Jay. He hurried his pace while weaving through the thrashing rubber trees that blocked his escape.

But it didn't matter how fast he could run, he couldn't stay far from Jay much longer.

A whipping branch curled around Jay's forehead before bouncing off, unable to stop his charge. A final crossbow bolt ricocheted off Ping's surface and the shield returned to Jay's side, ready to protect him once more. Jay darted around a swaying willow, closing the final few metres. The fleeing guard sidestepped again, avoiding a tree but bringing him one step closer to Jay.

Jay hurled his left forward, pulling back his wrist and unleashing the Quicksnatch rope coiled around his forearm. The rope slapped into the deserter's flapping moko, adhering instantly.

Jay yanked his target sideways, swinging his arm and whipping the guard into the nearest tree to his left.

The helpless guard bounced off the rubber bark. He launched back to Jay, who folded him with a punch to the liver before snatching the crystal from his waist. The deserter fell to the floor and Jay dropped his knee on the man's stomach, pressing all his weight onto the man's midsection.

Roiling clouds swirled within the crystal as the gentle yet vivid flashes within lit up the man's quivering face beneath Jay's knee. It was undeniably the sage's crystal, and looked nearly identical to the one sitting in Jay's quarters back in the Full Moon Sanctuary. As Jay looked into the churning current within, he almost grew entranced by the continuous motion.

He snapped himself out of it, and wondered why the crystal was here of all places?

When he'd first spotted the crystal, Jay almost couldn't believe it was real. Hadn't the sage placed them in important spots around the archipelago, how would the pockets of a cowardly directorate guard help Jay grow stronger?

"Who gave you this?" shouted Jay.

He held the crystal up in his fist, as if threatening to bash in the poor man's skull with it.

"I-I don't know!" whimpered the man, lip quivering with fear. His eyes started watering before he finally closed them and began whispering to himself.

Jay kept staring at the pathetic, blubbering guard. He wondered if the man truly knew nothing or was just playing dumb. If the man truly had secrets, was he willing to take them to the grave with him? How had the storm sage given this man the crystal and what, if anything, did the eccentric poet gain by doing so?

BOOM!

While Jay pondered on his mentor's machinations, a fight still raged on behind him. He couldn't spend all day interrogating the Directorate foot-soldier.

The man had had his chance to talk. He knew nothing.

Jay smashed a punch into the man's temple, feeling the thinnest point in the skull collapse beneath his fist. He rose to his feet, pocketed the crystal, and returned to the fray once more.

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Ping deflected a spearman's thrust, shoving it away from Marko's torso. Before the young gladiator could even counter, Jay drove his left fist into the spearman's ribs and followed with a metal-encased right that broke his nose, sending the man to sleep.

Marko nodded at Jay before scanning the battlefield and laughing to himself.

"Carla's struggling alone against the Sawblade-wielding behemoth, and you come to save me from that nobody? Come on, Jay."

"It appears she would do well not to antagonise her allies in the future," Jay replied, not even attempting to hide his grin.

Marko sighed before dodging a stray crossbow bolt.

"I guess I'll go and bail her out then… try and surprise Corinne's opponent while I'm gone. I've been eyeing him up all fight—he leaves a lot of openings but in this form she's too slow to capitalise on most of them."

With a nod, Marko vanished from sight. He reappeared halfway across the battlefield, both his daggers jammed between the Sawblade's teeth and his face noticeably queasier than before.

Jay left Marko to his battle and advanced towards Corinne. Thanks to her raking attacks and Marko's chaos, all the foot-soldiers were taken care of. It gave Jay an easy path to Corinne's opponent, but that also gave the gladiator a clear line of sight to Jay.

The gladiator swung his flail into Corinne's bestial chest. Its spikes needled into her flesh and she released a wail of agony. He ripped the spiked ball from her torso, Corinne's cries intensified as her blood sprayed across the dirt.

No time for hiding. So what if he spots me?

Jay commanded Ping forward as Corinne's opponent prepared another attack. She shot into the fray, deflecting the spiked chain into the air a second before it pierced Corinne's skin. The flail-wielding gladiator instantly stepped back, spinning around with his shield raised and scanning for threats.

His eyes landed on Jay.

Jay's opening punch clanged against the gladiator's shield, deflecting harmlessly aside. Jay retreated from his opponent's shield bash but his back-step brought him into the flail's range. Jay raised his left and shunted the spiked ball aside with the Clockwork bracer.

Even if the Quicksnatch rope lost its effectiveness after one use, Jay still found Pippin's creation useful. Although he'd have to work on using it more efficiently later, it worked just fine as a shield for all the attacks Ping couldn't cover.

Jay stepped forward, telegraphing an acrobatic head kick. The attack was probably too cumbersome to land, but Jay didn't necessarily need it to. By presenting the gladiator before him with an easy opening, Jay forced him into a decision.

Whether he fell for the bait or ignored it didn't matter. The time it took to decide was all Jay needed.

As the gladiator began to move, clawed fingers hooked around his torso. He bashed his shield against Corinne's scaled knuckles and swept his flail back.

Wrong choice.

Jay's shin wrapped around the gladiator's helmet, rattling his skull within. Ping flew forward as Jay's leg dropped back, slamming against the helmet once more as Corinne's grasp tightened.

The gladiator's armour crumpled as his flesh compressed inside it. The snap of fractured ribs met Jay's ears before Corinne's claws grasped at mere mist. He smiled at Corinne's monstrous form, revelling in their victory for a moment.

Not ba-

"Cut."

Jay's thoughts cut short—his triumph abruptly ended.

The lingering dread that came with pure nothingness flooded Jay's mind. He stared blankly forward. Utterly disconnected from the world around him.

Corinne's clawed fist. The corpses at her feet. The misty remnants of their last opponent.

It was all just… scenery.

Jay simply watched it, standing still and silent in the centre of the battlefield.

Wait.

No.

No, no, no.

The clenched white knuckles of Jay's subconscious pounded against his estranged body, they grappled with his reality, fighting from within.

Fighting…

The concept filled the void in Jay's mind, re-attaching the severed pieces and letting him comprehend his surroundings once more. His ally, Corinne. His opponent, now mist. The familiar roles present in every fight anchored Jay's reality as more pieces gradually slotted into place.

While his body remained still, Jay's mind caught up to reality. Reconnecting the world around him. He thought back to the instant everything changed, wondering how one single word had cut his mind to pieces.

Authority…

But from where?

The Sawblade!

Jay recalled his training with Marko, rushing to remember how he could counter the Sawblade's authority. Merely pushing back would get him nowhere—Jay knew nothing about the essence of cutting, sawing, or anything to do with the gigantic scythe behind him.

But perhaps he didn't need to.

Jay looked downwards. So what if his mind was sliced in two? He still had two fists, and that meant he could fight.

Fight.

The wispy vapours of his vanquished once-opponent curled in the air, torn apart by Hisoka's winds. The corpses surrounding Jay reminded him that he was on a battlefield.

Fight.

But mere death doesn't end a fight.

Fight.

The essence of fighting sparked to life within Jay's mind and rushed through his body, expelling his enemy's authority and replacing it with a burning hunger that yearned to attack.

His own authority stitched back his cut-open essence—reminding him why he was here.

Jay didn't consider his opponents or even his allies as willpower surged from within him.

All he knew was the fight.

I can't stop here.

I won't stop here.

Nothing else matters.

I need to fight.

Jay spun around, expecting to lock eyes with his Sawblade-wielding opponent.

He spotted the gladiator, but Jay's rapidly widening eyes swiftly ignored him.

Marko lay unconscious behind the gladiator, empty eyes facing up with half a broadsword poking out from his gut. Jay stared at his bleeding out ally, almost locked in place once more until a rumbling groan jolted him to action.

The monolith, once a bulwark of imposing certainty, had been cleanly sliced in two.

And its top half was falling.

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