"But what a hall full of rude people, entering without knocking, screaming without permission, interrupting other people’s conversations..." said Rudolf, shaking his skull in a gesture of disappointment. "It seems I’ll have to teach everyone present a little basic etiquette."

He extended both arms and immediately many small black holes began to appear behind him.

"Lesson number one: don’t interrupt people when they’re talking."

The black holes behind Rudolf began to glow with intensity.

But Rose was faster.

"Ha! As if I’d allow it!" she said, driving her staff into the ground. "CHAINS OF DARKNESS!"

The chains of darkness surged from the floor tiles again, shooting upward directly toward Rudolf. But this time the chains actually managed to coil around his arms, pulling them downward and destabilizing his aerial posture.

The black holes Rudolf was preparing flickered and closed before he could launch his attack.

"Tch!" clicked Rudolf, pulling his arms to free himself.

And at the same time, Yuki appeared at his side.

Not from below. From above.

She had jumped from one of the destroyed walls to the edge of the hole in the ceiling and from there had thrown herself directly at Rudolf with both daggers wrapped in a red energy that vibrated in the air.

"Shadow Slash!"

Both cuts were diagonal, one from the left and one from the right, aiming at the skeleton’s head and torso.

Rudolf saw the daggers coming and with a violent motion tore one of his hands free from Rose’s chains, losing several fingers in the process, and opened a black hole in front of him that absorbed Yuki’s first cut.

The second cut grazed his left shoulder, tearing off a chunk of bone that fell spinning to the ground.

"You really are impertinent!" screamed Rudolf, moving away from Yuki with a flap of his bony wings while the remaining chains stretched and cracked from the force of the pull.

And while he dealt with Rose and Yuki, Aria took her chance.

She raised both hands and a series of magical circles appeared around her, spinning rapidly.

"Reinforcement Spell: Speed Increase!"

A blue glow enveloped all of Mark’s subordinates at the same time, making their bodies feel lighter.

"Reinforcement Spell: Defense Increase!"

A second glow, this time green, covered them on top of the first.

"Reinforcement Spell: Magic Amplification!"

A third purple glow added to the first two.

"Reinforcement Spell: Strength Increase!"

And a fourth red glow completed the sequence.

The four spells activated and the difference was immediate.

Ely, who was already running toward Rudolf, felt her legs respond with a speed she didn’t have before. The ground beneath her feet cracked from the force of her impulse as she jumped directly at the skeleton.

"Holy Crescent!"

Her sword, now glowing even brighter than before, descended at great speed, cutting through the air with a sharp whistle.

Rudolf opened a black hole to dodge, disappearing into it and reappearing several meters to the right.

But to his misfortune, Alice had already anticipated his movements.

"Earth Breaker!"

Alice’s fist connected with the space where Rudolf had just appeared, but the skeleton vanished into another black hole half a second before impact, reappearing this time on top of the council table.

"Damn it!" growled Alice.

Rudolf landed on the table and quickly raised both arms.

"Unlimited Void: Spear"

Six small black holes opened around him and from each one a spear of darkness shot out, three aimed at Ely and three at Alice.

Ely cut the first spear with her sword, dodged the second by spinning on herself, and blocked the third.

Alice deflected the first with a swipe of her gauntlet, broke the second with a punch in the air, and crouched so the third passed over her head.

Rudolf didn’t stop.

"Void Realm Descent."

Four more black holes appeared above him, but this time nothing came out of them. Instead, the holes themselves began to fall like projectiles, descending rapidly toward Ely, Alice, Yuki, and Rose.

Rose reacted instantly.

"Ice Burst!"

A burst of ice spikes surged from Rose’s staff, intercepting two of the black holes in the air. The collision produced an explosion that filled that part of the hall with frozen particles.

"Thunderbolt!" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

A large lightning bolt shot from the tip of her staff and struck the other two black holes, making them detonate before they reached their targets.

The explosions shook the hall and sent up clouds of dust. Ely and Alice took this opportunity to close in on Rudolf again.

Ely jumped through the smoke and launched a horizontal slash at Rudolf, which he dodged by disappearing into another black hole. But this time Alice was waiting at the point where he reappeared, throwing an uppercut that passed centimeters from his skull when Rudolf leaned back at the last instant.

"Almost!" screamed Alice.

Rudolf moved away with a flap, opened three more black holes, and launched another round of darkness spears in all directions.

"Magma Wall!"

Rose stopped them with a hardened magma wall.

And so the fight continued.

A constant exchange of attacks, dodges, black holes opening and closing, spells flying in all directions, and explosions that were destroying the council hall piece by piece.

Mark observed the fight from his position and what he saw didn’t please him.

’That guy is fighting all four of them at the same time,’ he thought with a frown. ’And while he’s not defeating them... he’s not losing either.’

They had reached a stalemate and that was unacceptable.

"I need to intervene," murmured Mark as he raised a hand and activated one of his recently recovered abilities.

[Soul Drain]

[Description: Absorbs a considerable amount of life and mana from the selected target, transferring part of the stolen energy to the user.]

A wave of dark energy shot out from Mark’s hand and crossed the hall until it impacted directly against Rudolf. The effect was instantaneous.

Rudolf, who was in the middle of opening another black hole to dodge a cut from Ely, stopped dead.

His wings suddenly failed and his body shook in the air, as if something had hit him from within. As a result, he ended up crashing to the ground with a hard thud.

"What just happened...?" said Rudolf, noticeably stunned, as he tried to get to his feet.

However, Alice didn’t allow it.

Her fist connected directly against the skeleton’s face with all the force amplified by Aria’s buffs.

The impact sent Rudolf backward, making him spin out of control in the air before crashing against one of the hall’s walls and becoming embedded in it.

And before he could even try to get up, Ely appeared in front of him.

Ely drove her sword directly into the skeleton’s chest, driving it in to the hilt and piercing through the bones until the tip emerged on the other side, embedding itself in the wall behind him.

Leaving Rudolf impaled against the wall, with his arms and legs dangling.

"Arrgh!" he growled, grabbing the blade of the sword with both hands and trying to rip it out of his chest.

Ely placed a hand on the hilt and pushed harder, making the sword sink even deeper into the wall.

"Stay still..." she said, twisting the sword.

"Arrgh, let me go—!"

"Chains of Darkness!"

Rose raised her staff and, once again, chains of darkness surged from the ground.

These coiled around Rudolf’s arms, legs, wings, and neck with such force that his bones began to crack. Leaving him completely immobilized.

Seeing that the skeleton had stopped moving, Mark advanced until he stood in front of him.

"I must admit, you’re tougher than you look," admitted Mark. "You almost put us in a tight spot."

"Ha..." let out the skeleton with a dry laugh. "You just got lucky."

Rose approached alongside the others and spoke.

"Master, this freak definitely counts as an undead," she said, looking at Rudolf with a frown. "So you should try using Consciousness Modification on him."

"You’re right... we have nothing to lose by trying."

Rudolf, who had heard the conversation, tried to shake himself against the chains with renewed desperation.

"What?! What are you going to—?!"

Mark extended his hand toward Rudolf’s skull while activating his skill.

"Consciousness Modification."

Then a screen appeared in front of Mark.

[ERROR]

[ERROR]

[ERROR]

[Impossible to perform the requested action]

[The selected target is a familiar linked to the soul of another user]

[Consciousness modification cannot overwrite existing soul bonds]

"...What?"