Azara stood beside Jax. Same cold face. Same icy demeanor. Like she was looking at a bug on the ground.

"I never expected you to be foolish enough to go against a whole bunch of champions."

Her voice was flat. Disappointed.

"And where is all that arrogance? That confidence you always carry?" She glanced down at him. "Pathetic. Lying here useless."

Jax opened his mouth to fire back. But then he looked into her eyes.

Behind that coldness. Behind that harsh tone. There was something else.

Relief.

She was happy to find him alive here.

'Well, well. The ice princess has feelings after all.'

Azara continued. "You're just lucky we were already plotting against these champions. We happened to run into you at your worst." Her eyes scanned the battlefield. "We never intended to fight them directly. But your stupidity led us here."

She paused.

"I knew you would get eliminated because of your stupidity someday. But this?" She looked at the horde of enemies still surrounding them. "You've gone completely insane."

Jax coughed. Blood came out. "You knew? You knew I was here?"

"Of course, idiot." Her tone didn't change. "I saw how foolish you were. How childish. When the goddess summoned you right before me."

'Wait. She was looking? Did I look dumb in front of everyone? Shit. I probably did.'

Before he could spiral further into self-doubt, Zinnia spoke up.

"I'm telling you. Saving him is a mistake." She crossed her arms. "We've already committed that mistake, but we can still back off. Change the plan. Hand him over. Or if things fail, just teleport away from here."

Jax looked at her.

She met his gaze for half a second, then turned away with a dismissive hum.

'Bitch.'

Thalia shook her head. "We can't do that. We need forces to win this game. Jax is a great asset. We can't afford to lose him."

Kiera laughed. Actually laughed. "Asset? Are you dumb, Thalia?" She pointed at Jax's broken body. "Look at him. Then say that again with a straight face."

She smirked. "I think you fumbled the word. He's not an asset. He's a liability. Always has been."

'I will remember this, you bitch. When I recover, I'm going to—'

Thalia cut through his mental cursing. "We can argue about this later. But now that we've entered this fight, there's no going back."

Her voice turned serious.

"We can't run from them anymore. They'll become more attentive. More cautious. They'll use everything they have to hunt us down. Each passing minute, they're getting stronger."

She gripped her spear tighter.

"We talked about doing this early. Now is the time. It's not exactly how we planned, but we can still win this."

Kiera and Zinnia didn't argue. They knew she was right.

Thalia looked at Zinnia. "Heal Jax. We'll need him in the long fight ahead."

Zinnia's face twisted like she just smelled something rotten. "You're joking."

"Now, Zinnia."

She sighed heavily. Walked over to Jax with disgust written all over her face.

"Don't waste my time and mana." She grabbed his shoulder. A yellow energy flowed from her palm into his body.

It felt warm. Soothing. Like sinking into a hot bath after a long day.

His HP started climbing slowly.

[HP: 50 → 89 → 134...]

Sylvie and Roxana finally approached. The queen looked at the four women with confusion.

"Who are they?"

Jax opened his mouth. Then closed it.

'Shit. I can't tell them these are my friends and champions. That would expose me too.'

"Just some random women I helped once." He shrugged. "Now they're repaying the favor."

The four girls turned to look at him.

Thalia's eye twitched. Kiera looked ready to slap him. Zinnia almost stopped healing right there.

And Azara?

Something flickered in her eyes. Hurt. Betrayal.

'Random women he helped once? After everything?'

But before anyone could say anything, the enemy moved.

Harry had recovered. Masha had shoved a healing potion down his throat, and now he was back on his feet. His eyes still burned with that same murderous rage.

"FINISH THEM!"

His remaining army surged forward. Masha's beasts followed.

The chaos resumed.

Thalia instantly took command. "Zinnia, stay behind and focus on healing! You two—" She pointed at Sylvie and Roxana. "Protect Zinnia and Jax until he recovers. Zinnia needs concentration."

The sisters had been fighting alongside Jax. Thalia could tell they were capable.

Sylvie nodded. Roxana followed.

"Let's go." Thalia's spear materialized fully in her hand. Wind swirled around its tip.

Azara raised her hand toward the sky. Lightning crackled between her fingers.

Kiera's hand formed a whip. Blood red. Pulsing with energy.

They moved.

CRACK!

Azara's lightning struck the frontline like the wrath of an angry god. Five undead soldiers simply vanished. Three more collapsed, twitching and smoking.

A dire wolf charged from the side, jaws wide open.

Kiera flicked her wrist. A portal opened right in front of the beast's face.

The wolf ran straight through.

And came out of another portal. On the cliff. Fifty feet up.

It fell with a pathetic howl. Hit the ground hard. Not dead. But definitely not getting up anytime soon.

Thalia jumped.

Not a normal jump. Wind exploded beneath her feet, launching her higher than any human should go. Twenty feet. Thirty. Forty.

An undead drake swooped toward her, rotting wings beating the air.

She threw her spear.

WHOOSH!

It pierced straight through the drake's skull. The creature didn't even have time to screech before it started dissolving into purple mist.

The spear flew back to her hand as she landed gracefully.

Jax watched all of this with wide eyes.

He pulled up their stats.

[Champion: Kiera Rayne]

[Level: 21]

[HP: 1,000 / 1,000] [MP: 7,000 / 7,000]

[Champion: Azara]

[Level: 23]

[HP: 800 / 800] [MP: 8,000 / 8,000]

[Champion: Thalia Steele]

[Level: 28]

[HP: 6,000 / 6,000] [MP: 4,000 / 4,000]

'Level 28? Thalia's the highest among them. And Azara's MP is insane.'

A grin spread across his face.

"You girls have been taking this seriously, huh?"

Zinnia didn't respond. She was focused on channeling her healing energy into him.

Jax didn't like being ignored.

His HP was climbing steadily now. Around 800. He was feeling better. Good enough to be annoying.

He grabbed Zinnia's hand.

"What are you doing?" She tried to pull away.

He lifted his shirt with his other hand and pressed her palm against his stomach. Right where the nail marks were.

"Isn't your job to heal injuries? Look. I have so many scars here. It hurts really bad."

She stared at the deep red lines across his abs.

"What the hell did this to you?"

"A fierce cat beast." He made an innocent face. "Very aggressive. Very wild."

Sylvie and Roxana looked at him.

Then at each other.

They knew exactly what kind of "cat beast" made those marks.

Jax held Zinnia's hand tighter, keeping it pressed against his stomach.

"What else can you do besides heal anyway? Might as well make yourself useful. Get your greatest asset back to full health. Then cheer me on while I win this for all of you."

Zinnia's eye twitched.

She yanked her hand back.

"Useless, huh?"

Light gathered in her palm. It grew brighter. Took shape.

A Warhammer. Massive. Golden. Crackling with holy energy.

She lifted it onto her shoulder like it weighed nothing.

"Let me show you what else I can do."

'Oh. She's not just a healer. Noted.'

On the other side of the battlefield, destruction continued.

Azara's lightning chained through a group of undead mages. Four of them dropped. Two more stumbled, paralyzed.

Kiera opened a portal beneath an iron boar's feet. It fell through and came out sideways, crashing into a group of goblins.

Thalia's spear danced. One thrust took out a skeleton soldier. A wide sweep sent three more flying. Wind followed every movement, amplifying her strikes.

They were dominating.

But not winning.

For every enemy they killed, many more seemed to take its place. Harry kept pulling summons from his reserves. Masha's beasts regrouped and attacked from different angles.

The numbers were just too much.

Then everything stopped.

A centaur galloped toward Masha. It whispered something in her ear.

She smiled.

Then laughed.

She patted the centaur's flank like praising a good pet.

"Finally."

The silence that followed was deafening.

Then Jax heard it.

Footsteps. Hundreds of them. Coming from behind Masha.

They emerged from the dust and smoke. Not in any organized formation. Just walking. Slowly. Like predators approaching wounded prey.

Champions.

More than fifty of them.

Jax's system went crazy trying to scan them all. Windows popped up and overlapped. Names, levels, stats. Too many to process at once.

[Champion: ???] [Level: 17] [Champion: ???] [Level: 13] [Champion: ???] [Level: 23] [Champion: ???] [Level: 11]

And behind them?

An army.

Not fifty soldiers. Not a hundred.

Five hundred. Maybe more. Maybe a thousand.

Different races. Different armor. Some looked like stolen soldiers from kingdoms they had conquered. Others looked like mercenaries who just wanted to watch the world burn.

All of them staring at Jax and his small group.

Masha's laugh echoed across the ruined battlefield.

"Did you really think it was this easy?"

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