Suddenly the air flickered like a fuzzy television and twenty copies of Brightwing's team appeared. All looked real as they began casting their own spells.

"Which ones are real?" Marcus shouted. Because even the copies are doing spell imitation!

"Doesn't matter!" I called back. "We'll just wipe them all out, now area effects! Ravenna!"

She nodded sharply and switched tactics. "Void Pulse!"

Purple-black energy exploded outward from her like a tide given life, it spread like a chaotic ink on a battlefield of papers and instant touched everything that it could, a shockwave of void. Of course it had no effect on the others, it was different thing for the illusion.

The illusions flickered and vanished leaving only five standing.

"Five real members!" I identified and grinned. "Focus fire!"

Lucille solved the next problem by reappeared behind one of the Elara copies and used a dgger strike only for it to dispersed!

It was an Illusion.

Ravenna's attack couldn't wipe out all the illusion as it seems the less there are, the stronger they become.

She tried another, only to find another illusion.

But the third try to run from her but her dagger met resistance. Elara cried out, staggered. The remaining illusions vanished as her concentration broken.

"FIRST BLOOD TO RAVANA!" the announcer called.

Inside their ward, Captain Aldric's eyes darkened and he instantly began his counter-attack.

"Formation, start Spell Matrix Seven!"

All five members moved in perfect synchronization as if they were oiled machine.

Runekeeper maintained the ward while simultaneously channeling power to the others and Sarah drew celestial symbols that hung in the air like heavy light, bursting like stars.

Marcus Goldscribe also inscribed runes on his teammates' weapons and armor, his body flickering as he seems to appear in different places at once, his hands hazy as he drew.

And Elara, despite being injured, created a new illusion and this time of the entire arena. The whole place flipped and distance was warped and twisted, suddenly we couldn't tell where the real battlefield ended and fake began.

Aldric himself channeled light magic. "Prismatic Storm!"

The combined spell activated.

Dozens of miniature stars, enhanced by runes, disguised by illusions, channeled through a light-arcane prism. It was a team combination attack.

Because the next moment, the light that hung in the air combined and illusions turned into things that gained weight, weapons that turned towards us.

The result was a devastating magical artillery barrage that filled the entire arena.

Bastards!

"SCATTER!" I shouted.

We broke formation and each of us dodging desperately, not longer hiding began our shields.

The stars exploded on impact, rippling with fire and arcane lightning, heat washed the whole arena like the sun coming. The combination was nasty as the fire was mixed with light heat to create something kinetic that couldn't be blocked by normal shields.

Seraphina's holy resistance helped her tank some hits, but even she was taking damage fast, her armor was lit up and bleeding light. Marcus created barriers from formation and they seems to held for seconds before shattering.

Only Ravenna did a little better as her magic consumed some of the projectiles with void magic, but there were simply too many.

Lucille used her speed to constantly buzz around, barely staying ahead of the barrage.

I used every mobility trick I knew, shadow step, environmental prediction, as well as creating shields of darkness to block what I could.

With all of that we barely survived the initial volley, but we did.

But now we were scattered ans wounded, we were disorganized and that was exactly what they wanted.

Their turtle strategy was working and they'd weathered our disruption while they maintained their formation, and now they had momentum.

"Regroup!" I called. "Go center position and form defensive formation!"

My team converged and we quickly formed a tight circle with our backs together.

Aldric smiled from within his sanctuary. "Admirable survival but it's insufficient, didn't I tell you before, Hadeon? Finishing formation!"

They began casting again and this was one was even more complex than before.

My eyes narrowed. We had maybe thirty seconds before they unleashed something even more devastating.

I....need to do something fast!

Fuck it anyway.

"Marcus," I said quietly with a slight smile on my face. "Remember that enchantment array we theorized? The one you said was too dangerous to test?"

His eyes widened. "The Resonance Breaker? Hadeon, that could kill us if it backfires."

"Will it break their ward?"

"...Yes. Probably?"

"And if it fails?"

"We all take massive backlash damage and might knock out our entire team."

I looked at the others.

"Do it," I ordered.

Marcus immediately began tracing the most complex enchantment array I'd ever seen him attempt. It required all five of us as anchor points. We held position while he drew glowing lines between us.

Brightwing noticed. "They're attempting something. Interrupt them! Quick! Also, we need to finish ours before them!"

Sarah Starweaver launched more magical projectiles but Seraphina intercepted her with her holy barrier taking the hits.

"Hurry!" she grunted as she strained.

Elara created illusions to confuse us by making fake explosions, that boomed in the air with ear shattering sounds, and at the same time she created illusions from our shadows and throw them at us.

Lucille called out real from fake. "Left illusion! Right real! Above real!"

Aldric suddenly raised his hand and a glow converged as he charged a massive light-arcane beam. Aimed directly at us.

Ravenna created a void shield. It wouldn't hold long against that much power but it should be enough.

Twenty seconds until their attack hit.

"Marcus!" I shouted.

"Almost done! Hold position!"

Fifteen seconds.

The enchantment array was 90% complete. Glowing geometric patterns connecting all five of us.

Ten seconds.

Aldric's beam had now reached critical charge so bright that it was enough to hurt looking at.

Five seconds.

Marcus completed the final rune. "RESONANCE BREAKER ACTIVATE!"

The enchantment array flared, power surged through all of us. It was designed to do one thing: Find the resonant frequency of their ward, then emit the exact counter-frequency. Every defensive spell has a natural vibration. Disrupt that vibration precisely, and even the strongest ward shatters.

The theory was sound.

The practice was untested.

The array pulsed and sent out searching waves....it found the ward's frequency and then began to emitted the counter...

Runekeeper's ward dome flickered. Then cracked. Then...

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