"The Endbringer has been moving in circles. It seems to be protecting something, but based on its pitch-black eyes, I will put my money on the fact that it is blind. We can’t face it head-on, obviously, so we don’t have many options left."

Leomaris said, dragging a finger across the map spread before him, every area the Endbringer had passed through in the last three days accounted for.

"Just like yesterday, I believe Raine and Charlotte will most likely attack in the afternoon, and Warner and Alfred will attack this morning or at night. We will continue to observe and wait. As long as they have no idea of our hideout, they won’t be able to tell whether we are making a move or not," Lucius added.

As if on cue, a column of flame tore across the sky, driving straight for the looming Endbringer. Leomaris pressed himself behind the statue’s neck and watched Alfred’s spirit-dragon rip clean through the clouds.

One of the six heads held the mantis under constant fire, and without giving it a moment to cool, a second head followed with ice.

The effect lasted seconds at best. A few forceful yanks of its limbs, and it was already free from the ice.

Further off, Warner and his fallen beast were perched on a building. The beast fired black bullets at the creature on his command. They hit. Nothing.

The Endbringer screeched and launched a limb at Warner. The fallen beast had its arms around him in an instant, launching them both into the air. Alfred’s dragon caught them before they could come down.

Below, the creature raged, and the destruction it had already left behind was enough to make Alfred and Warner think twice about pressing it further. They were gone almost immediately.

Leomaris let out a sigh. "If we don’t stick with this plan, we won’t stand a chance."

Lucius gave a nod and tossed Leomaris a roasted mushroom the moment he turned. Leomaris’s face screwed up at the sight of it.

"Breakfast, huh?"

Lucius forced back a grin and failed, letting out a teasing laugh.

They’d been living off potatoes and mushrooms for three days running, ever since Raine and Charlotte had taken the only animal worth eating.

Not only was it doing nothing for them nutritionally, but it barely felt like food at all. Leomaris would rather have fasted than keep forcing down something that left his stomach worse off.

Not that it was all bad. These past few days had brought him closer to Lucius, and he wouldn’t deny being chuffed about that.

He was under no illusions about Lucius: no emotion, no empathy, and every smile was a put-on. But something had taken root between them all the same, and Leomaris held onto the quiet hope that it might make Lucius think twice when the time came.

Something else nagged at him, though.

He’d half-expected Instructor Moon to have something else up his sleeve, another measure, something to make sure he didn’t get out of the Rune Realm in one piece. Nothing so far.

Something felt off. Was Instructor Moon truly going to force him into a Malice Rune Realm and leave it at that? The more he turned it over, the less it added up.

If it came to that, he’d have to make sure the rest of the cadets went down with Leomaris or find some other way to shut them up.

Five of them were Calamities, and however favoured Instructor Moon was among the Archmages, the authorities would still give weight to five Calamities claiming he’d forced Leomaris into a Malice Rune Realm and got him killed.

’Something doesn’t add up... everything is going too smoothly. It’s like an actual raid instead of a scheme to kill me.’

The thoughts had barely run their course when Lucius’s voice rang through the room.

"I’ve been thinking, Leomaris. How exactly are we going to kill this creature?"

That got Leomaris’s attention. His golden eyes settled on Lucius’s blue ones as he turned the words over.

"Hmph. That is indeed a complication. I would suggest we wait for one of them to slay the creature, but that would not be easy."

The other two parties aside, Leomaris and Lucius were both close-combat mages. Leomaris could summon his false entities for long range well enough, but there was no need.

Taking on a creature like that head-on would probably finish them both off, close-combat mages against something of that size. Clearly, what Instructor Moon had in mind. But Leomaris couldn’t shake the thought that he’d counted on them steering clear of it altogether as well.

"If we wait for them to kill it, the portal back to the Modern Era will finally appear, and even if we get to fight them before they enter it, we will have no choice but to kill them."

Lucius’s gaze locked onto Leomaris. "I don’t think that’s something you’d want."

"Yeah, I wouldn’t want that. That leaves us with two options: either we avoid fighting entirely, or we rely on our superior physical strength to find a way to attack the creature."

Lucius massaged his brow, thinking it through for a moment. "I can’t avoid fighting the creature. I may not need the title of a ruler on my credentials, but I do need the experience."

’Go figures.’

Sidestepping it entirely would have suited Leomaris fine. But he’d always known Lucius wasn’t built that way.

"Well, that leaves us with one option. We must determine a way to engage it in combat."

The two wasted no time. Strengths on the table, they worked through every advantage they could scrape together for a long-range attack.

Afternoon came soon enough, and right on schedule, the ground trembled with the Endbringer moving on its usual route.

Close behind came the sound of attacks, Raine and Charlotte, probably. They didn’t give it much thought until a loud, gruff voice boomed through from somewhere distant.

"It looks exhausted, Jack. Attack it from the rear. We must keep it occupied."

Leomaris and Lucius frowned in the same instant. That was neither Raine nor Charlotte.