Ryker created a smokescreen to try to obscure my vision, but Krahinn activated something which appeared to be some sort of heat vision that might have lacked range though made up for it with how accurately it could see the rushing Rykers. The first wave was eviscerated by my <Lord's Eye> as Krahinn gave me a sphere of visibility. Now that the copies of Ryker were in front of me and attacking, I used <Warping Ward> and <Dark Nebula> in conjunction with each other, assisted by Krahinn to stop Ryker's attacks from hitting me. The sheer force of Ryker's copy attack pushed me back despite Krahinn's <Techniques> protecting me; I went back several feet as the other copies just kept rushing me from all sides. Thanks to practicing using my <Lord's Eye>, I was fairly quick at manifesting my attacks to protect myself to give myself breathing room, but it mattered little against the seemingly endless swarm of copies.

Krahinn was in full protection mode, using his <Magic> to manipulate the space around us to keep Ryker from fully connecting with me. Am I remembering to smile? It was difficult for me to tell as I was being bombarded on all sides from Ryker trying to kill me which was dividing my attention because I kept trying to figure out the closest copy of Ryker to kill with my <Arcane Eye>. Wow, the compendium really undersells just how much he hates you. Is that really helpful right now? More of an observation because his hatred is palpable. Krahinn began laughing that easily filled the space around us, which only irritated the army of Ryker more. As I kept fighting with my <Lord's Eye>, Krahinn could easily control my body to use my sword to kill a couple of copies of Ryker to alleviate the burden on me. I wasn't sure how he was able to maneuver my body so well, but his <Astral Slash> was able to cleave four to five Ryker copies at once. Just how many copies were there? The fires were only growing hotter around us as they began spreading between the buildings, filling the clearing with smoke.

<Ichor> was flowing in small rivers now, smelling like an odd mix of blood and oil. The bodies of Ryker were littering the ground of the plaza which were starting to become tripping hazards. Not like he showed any compassion for the guards. I think I can do something about them. At no point were we allowed to rest as copies of Ryker just kept coming out of the woodworks to keep assaulting us, launching a barrage of <Spells> and throwing spears at me nonstop. Krahinn figured out how to repurpose the bodies of the <Homunculi>; he began using <Magic> to throw them back at the next wave of Rykers or in the way of the attacks. Is that easier than using <Warping Ward> and <Dark Nebula>? About the same, it is just going to anger him more. He laughed at the thought of how much he was angering Ryker who was clearly pissed on having to hit his own corpse copy out of the way to reach me. The face of each Ryker was getting progressively angrier with each body they had to swat out their way to try and reach me, which was only augmented by Krahinn's condescending laughter at Ryker's inability to hurt us. We were only eleven minutes and nineteen seconds into this disaster. The copies were flooding out and surrounding me with their attacks which Krahinn effortlessly kept at bay.

"Is that really the best you have?" Krahinn taunted the Rykers as he casually made a wall of his corpses. Come on Nil, taunt him.

"I was worried you might be a threat, luckily even a thousand of you isn't enough for one of me." I added on. Eh, not bad. We'll work on it.

"Acting tough as you hide behind that blasted <Eternal>!" Ryker snarled at us.

"We'll kill you today, do not worry." A different Ryker assured me as the waves of Ryker kept attacking.

"Doubt it. Also, big talk needing the assistance of a Lord to even begin to challenge Nil." Krahinn chuckled at them as I slaughtered more Rykers with my <Arcane Eye>.

At this point, Ryker began launching stronger <Spells> with less of a care about the collateral damage they inflicted. I noticed some of his <Fire Magic> based attacks were hitting and splashing against the flagpole, making the metal start to weaken and fold over its own weight. Something in my brain clicked as I saw the Speranza flag flying defiantly in the middle of the growing inferno in contrast to the bodies of Ryker littering the ground. It might have been childish, but I enjoyed the thought of angering Ryker as much as possible at the moment. Arguably, it might give us a small leg up on him. Ryker wanted to attack Umbra and try to destroy what I cared about, so let's see how deep under his skin we could get. Let's make sure to rob as much joy from him as possible. I hoped I was smiling, but it was hard to tell from having to concentrate on so many things happening around me while I kept trying to kill as many as copies as I absolutely could; Krahinn kept playing keep-me-away from Ryker with his deep laughter echoing nonstop in the plaza to Ryker's chagrin.

Hey, Krahinn, you want to piss Ryker off even more right? I checked as I wanted to share my idea with him.

Of course, of course. Krahinn confirmed, his laughter echoing over the raging fires.

You see that flag of Speranza in the plaza? Before it falls and hits the ground, can we make a small mound of Rykers to plant it in? I requested of Krahinn. He began laughing even harder as I could feel his joy radiating from it.

In an instant, Krahinn began piling a few bodies while using his corpses to block the oncoming attacks. At this point, the ground was a blackish blue with <Ichor> from all the <Homunculi> that had been killed. The copies of Ryker were confused that we began piling up the bodies rather than letting them lay around like the trash they were; <Mana> was fluctuating wildly around from all the attacks and defenses clashing in the plaza as Krahinn enacted my idea. Soon enough, we had a good pile of Ryker in the plaza as Krahinn maneuvered my body over to the flag pole, using a little <Magic> to cut it where it was beginning to fold from the weight, kick off the remaining stub of flagpole, and stood on top of the Ryker pile. We pierced through the pile, planting the flag in the mound as I extended my sword to the next charging Ryker that was climbing the pile with a war hammer. Thankfully because of all of Krahinn's eyes I could see where the next several <Homunculi> were coming from; now that I was elevated, I could see the rushing Rykers a little better as Krahinn laughed uncontrollably at their palpable frustration of me using his corpses to support flying a Speranza flag.

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This was such a great idea. Krahinn complimented me with his voice sounding elated.

I appreciate that you enjoy it. How many more do you think we need to go? I replied as yet another group had their <Astral Scales> forcibly zeroed out.

No idea, there were thousands upon thousands of copies. Focus on clearing this section for now. Krahinn informed me. How many copies of Ryker had I dealt with?

I knew my <Arcane Eye> was leveling the playing field substantially, and Krahinn was supplying massive amounts of <Mana> along with the ability to keep me from taking damage. There was a maelstrom of <Dark Nebula> and <Warping Warp> distorting everything around me to keep the Rykers back. I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that without Krahinn's assistance I would have survived maybe ten seconds in the plaza. All of the practice had paid off in dealing with Ryker at least; I wanted to be able to protect the guards or help my family out, but I needed to focus on where Krahinn and I were. We fought to keep the Rykers off of the flag as Krahinn wielding my sword with <Domination> to slice through even more copies of him while using <Warping Ward> and <Dark Nebula> as shields from Rykers' efforts. This was such a massive pain in the gip to maintain my <Arcane Eye> to just keep clearing wave after wave of Ryker, having to rapidly form and manifest events to zero out their <Astral Scales> over and over. If I could feel things through False Immortal's Serum, I imagined my eyes would feel feverish from this many rapid activations.

When practicing, I did a few quick activations to get the sensation down, but I never imagined having to chain it this rapidly from Krahinn's varying eyes. Just how much <Backlash> was I going to be eating once this was over? How awful was this going to feel once False Immortal's Serum wore off? Of course there were more Rykers emerging, one after another charging relentlessly to be the one to hurt or kill me. The endless belief that eventually he would succeed and win was brutally apparent; the sheer determination and willingness to sacrifice for the collective good was utterly chilling. Each and every copy of Ryker was fully ready to die in order to accomplish their victory. They endlessly launched themselves at me, all focused solely on their end goal. <Spell> after <Spell> were cast at me while Krahinn effortlessly protected me from all the attempts while I stood resolute on the mound of Rykers. I knew I might have been the focus of a portion of the Ryker army, but countless others could have been in danger from the advancing invasion; I needed to persevere with Krahinn. Fifteen minutes and seven seconds so far of Rykers swarming out of buildings like rats.

How long do battles like this typically last? I wondered while spamming my <Lord's Eye>.

Depends. We need to deal with what is in front of us for now. Krahinn answered back.

Working on it, but their relentless belief in victory is annoying. They have zero hesitation to die for their cause. I whined to him.

I will give Ryker credit, he truly is willing to do whatever it takes, even die; not that it will slow me down from slaughtering them as many times as it takes. He won't yield and neither shall we, this only ends when one side is exterminated. Krahinn replied with confidence.

There are so forling many of them. I grumbled as I kept using my <Lord's Eye> to kill more Rykers.

Just keep going and remember to smile. Your face is intense, not smiling like it should be. Krahinn lectured me.

I tried smiling more, but that was a struggle as my brain was starting to feel the strain of all the information that I kept processing in rapid succession. I needed to practice doing this kind of <Magic> and fighting because of the sheer volume of what I needed to deal with. Krahinn truly was a lifesaver; surviving this would have been impossible without his help. I underestimated the absolute amount of information I needed to comprehend in fractions of seconds to stay afloat in this maelstrom. Krahinn seemed to effortlessly be able to deal with all Ryker was throwing at us. I knew he was strong, but this felt completely effortless as far as Krahinn was concerned. It was a struggle for me to grasp just how strong Krahinn actually was for a while now which was now given the perspective of seeing him tear through copies of <Homunculi> like he was swatting gnats away.

How is this so easy to you? I inquired as another batch of Rykers died.

I am much stronger than each of these, and you are efficiently dealing with the attacking side. Krahinn answered as he laughed a bit.

Is it that hard to just delete all of them with your <Magic>? I wondered while seeing a wall of <Dark Nebula> shoot up to block several missile <Spells>.

I could've likely killed all of them in one <Spell>; your <Cosmic Alchemy> is a fantastic area of effect attack. The issue is my methods of dealing with this would annihilate Umbra in the process. Now, I would be concerned when Ryker realizes he's losing because he already lit buildings on fire to increase his odds of winning. Krahinn explained to me.

Why did you say that? I asked him because that was an awful revelation.

It is a realistic outlook on what is going to happen. Someone like Ryker is not going to go down quietly especially once the weight of failure begins to hit him. We need to be ready for that moment. Krahinn warned me like it was obvious.

I understand. I sighed as the next wave of Ryker clones fell, adding to the clutter on the ground. Countless more continued rushing us as we continued to survive our way through the day.

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