Even with lightning burns covering half his body and one leg barely functional, he continued to cast. Fireballs launched from his palms, forcing Moon’s approaching team members to scatter. One nearly caught the healer in the chest, but luckily, Moon and a few mages cast their spells which countered it.

Moon’s eyes hardened. The man was too dangerous, too strong to leave breathing, and too stubborn to surrender.

He had to die.

Moon channeled two elements at once. The ground beneath the mage erupted as molten rock surged upward, encasing his lower body in a hardened shell of earth and magma. The mage screamed, thrashing against the restraint, his hands still burning with fire.

Wind and lightning merged at his hands, compressing into a spinning blade of lightning air. He had been wanting to try this combination for some time.

The wind-lightning blade crossed the distance in a blink. It struck the restrained mage in the center of his chest and carved clean through.

[You have killed the Level 35 Pyro Mage]

[You have gained 12,500 Lives]

The mage re-spawned instantly and before Moon could blink, fire was already gathering in his palms. The mage was unwilling to surrender, he was fighting till the very last breath.

Moon was done with him.

He drove his staff into the ground. Earth and magma surged up once more, catching the freshly spawned mage before he could cast. At the same time, Moon released another wind-lightning blade. The mage countered the spell with a fireball of his own.

BOOM!

Suddenly, from the smoke of the attacks, another wind blade, crackling with lightning tore through, striking him in the neck.

[You have killed the Level 35 Pyro Mage]

[You have gained 1,250 Lives]

The body hit the ground and didn’t disappear.

A true death.

Moon turned toward the other two.

His team had caught them. The brute and two warriors had cut off their retreat while the archer peppered them with arrows from range. The two remaining mages fought back viciously, their spells tearing through the air with more enough force to crack the ground and shatter boulders.

A fireball struck one of Moon’s swordsmen in the chest. He flew backward, dead.

One of the mages in Moon’s team took a direct hit from a flame lance. Her body crumpled, and she too didn’t rise again.

A warrior charged in from the flank and was caught by a sweeping arc of fire.

The archer saw it from his position. His face went pale.

"She... she’s not respawning." Someone said, staring at the fallen mage.

One of her friends knelt beside where her body lay. His hands were shaking.

"Oh no...Eleanore spent most of her lives evolving a skill just yesterday." His voice was hollow. "She was so excited about it. She said it was the first time she’d leveled up in months." He struck his fist against the dirt. "She didn’t have much left."

The silence lasted only a second. Then it was filled with rage.

Moon looked at the two remaining mages. They had killed three of his people without a moment’s hesitation, resulting in the true death of a mage of his own.

These were killers. Inner circle. First Star Evolvers who had chosen their side long ago and had no intention of changing it.

Moon made the call.

"Kill them. Don’t hold back."

Nobody hesitated.

The team closed in from every direction. The two mages fought to the bitter end, casting spell after spell, taking lives with every blast. But the numbers were too great. Arrows found gaps in their defenses. Earth restrained their legs. Lightning paralyzed their arms. And when the openings came, Moon’s warriors didn’t miss.

The first mage died screaming, brought down by a combined attack that left nothing standing.

[You have killed the Level 35 Fire Mage]

[You have gained 6,200 Lives]

He respawned. Moon killed him again before the fire reached his fingertips.

[You have gained 12000 Lives]

He stopped coming back.

The second mage lasted three deaths before her lives ran out. She died on her knees, her hands still raised in an attempt to kill.

[You have killed the Level 35 Flame Weaver]

[You have gained 7000 Lives]

The battlefield fell silent.

Moon stood in the center of it. Around him, his team stood among the fallen, their faces grim, their weapons bloodied.

One of their own was gone, forever.

"Remember this." Moon’s voice was quiet as he stood over the body of the fallen Evolver. A woman. One of the mages. She had stepped in front of the second volley of fire spells to shield the healer behind her, and the attack had taken every life she had left.

She didn’t respawn.

"Remember what they did. And remember that we gave them every chance to stop."

The team stood in silence around her body. Some had their heads bowed in shame.

"Tomorrow, we finish this." Moon said. "Bury your companion...she deserves that much."

They buried her where she fell. The tank dug the grave with his bare hands. The brute carried her body and lowered it in gently. The archer placed her staff beside her, the weapon she had carried through every hunt, every fight, every day on this floating island. It belonged with her.

Nobody spoke during the burial. Nobody needed to.

Once it was done, they left the site behind. The old hideout was gone, collapsed and burned. They weren’t going back.

The tank spoke up. "There’s another shelter about an hour east. We used it a few months back during a spirit sweep. It’s small, but it’ll fit us."

Moon nodded. "Lead the way."

As they walked, Moon pulled up his status screen.

—

[ Name: Moon ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Class: Classless, Tank]

[ Level: 32 ] [98%]

[ Lives: 66,407 ] [Super Lives: 0]

[ Strength: 150 ] [ Agility: 210 ] [ Constitution: 172 ] [ Mana: 252 ] (+10 to all stats)

[ Attribute Points: 5]

—

He was on the brink of leveling up. The three First Star Evolvers had provided a massive amount of experience, pushing him to 98% in a single encounter. A few more kills and he would cross the threshold.