Hiroki, farther down the parapet, was flagging. Luke rushed to help, seeing Hannah holding her own again, though it was unclear if her consciousness had returned. A goblin appeared out of nowhere, blocking Luke's path in the chaos of the encampment, stabbing forward. Luke pulled back with a grunt of pain, pierced through the side of his leg. Not wasting any time, he killed the goblin with Needle of Life, healing himself and grimacing as his mana dipped low. More goblins approached in a tight half-circle. Their attacks were clumsy and uncoordinated, but there were too many of them. At first, Luke could only dodge, and he wasn’t very good at that yet. An axe swing bit into his calf, forcing him to his knee. Weaver's Renewal, as he rolled away, dealt with that wound, and Weavestep took him just past the line of goblins.

  Luke reached back to the nearest goblin with a thread, draining its mana. Creating space by heaving its corpse into the crowd, he barked, “Fuck off!” Then he ran toward Hiroki. This was not the time to be soloing low-level trash.

  Hiroki fought a martial artist who used a short spear-type weapon. It was a three-foot metal staff with one end sharpened to a point, which Zeluym used for thrusting and feinting, and even for bashing, like a cudgel. Hiroki and his opponent danced, trading blows as they sidestepped. With his staff broken, Hiroki, who was already at a disadvantage, bled from many wounds. As Luke ran to help, he saw the Heartsteel harden his body to stop a stab. What should have been a killing blow broke the skin over Hiroki's chest, but penetrated no farther. A second strike from Zeluym took Luke's friend off guard, though, and it found a gap in Hiroki's hardened body, pushing straight through his side, coming out his back.

  Luke seized another goblin as he sprinted, drained every scrap of mana it contained, and felt The Healer’s Moment come off cooldown. As soon as he reached the fight, having leapt up using Threads of Mana to add momentum, Luke used the skill. Everything froze. Without wasting a moment, Luke thrust threads into Hiroki, stitched ruptured flesh, and knitted organs back together, stabilizing the worst of the damage.

  Hannah, still a tangle of shadows, fought the now frantic mage. Zimeio's spells vanished into the shadows, dropping away without effect. When Luke glimpsed Hannah's face through the writhing shadows, her eyes were open, awake. That in itself was a small victory.

  With The Healer's Moment ending and Luke's attention on Hannah, he didn't see Zeluym's fist. It drove into the side of Luke's face as Hiroki let out a yelp, surprised by his wounds being healed. Dazed, Luke fell back down from the parapet. By that point, he'd lost count of the number of falls. Bracing himself, the fall wasn't that bad, and he stood back up, turned, and concentrated as he leapt, boosting himself with Threads of Mana.

  Even with that help, Luke only made it halfway up. He grabbed hold of the ladder. As he reached the top rung, desperate to reach Hiroki again, cold metal plunged into Luke's chest, an instant stab with terrifying speed, and he almost slid right back down the ladder. Instead, he held on just long enough for the enemy to kick him in the head. That finished Luke. He fell with a cry. Healing reflexes kicked in, and the hole in his chest closed before he hit the ground. He downed a mana potion and a health potion for good measure.

  His body protested at every rung as he climbed back up again. Luke needed rest, but if the Integrated up top could strike without worry, what did that mean for Hiroki? His friend still lived, leaning against the wall, covered in puncture wounds. Zeluym's short spear was embedded in his stomach, and the enemy Integrated had the audacity to give a smiling sneer at Luke as he turned from his victim to kick at Luke's head again.

  This time, Luke was ready for it. "No, you won't!"

  Thrusting with Threads of Mana, he pushed Zeluym back a few steps. To buy more time, he brought out a goblin corpse and launched it at the enemy, then turned and yanked the spear free, pulling out of Hiroki. The weapon clattered to the wooden floor as Luke healed his friend, who was on the brink of death.

  The spear slammed into Luke again, crunching through bone in his shoulder. Rather than scream, Luke grabbed the spear and pulled it out of Zeluym's hands. Focusing for all he was worth, Luke extended three threads in an instant. One sliced through the nerve bundle in that asshole's elbow, another drove into the physical heart, and a third into the meta-heart. They weren't killing blows, not yet, but it bought them time.

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  Luke yanked hard on the meta-heart, throttling the opponent and heaving him over the edge. It was most gratifying to see someone else fall.

  “Your shoulder,” Hiroki rasped, spitting blood onto the wood.

  “Can you pull it out?” Luke asked, his head swiveling, half-expecting the female Integrated, whose head sat in his inventory, to come flying back and kick him again.

  Hiroki grunted, heaved, and pulled the spear free. Luke groaned, but snatched it up and stowed it, too, into his inventory before assessing their wounds. Hiroki was worse off, but Luke didn’t have the luxury of prioritizing. He treated both at once, closing gashes, stitching muscles, and applying small bursts of healing mana. Having to split his attention like that made for subpar healing, but they were both too far gone to wait.

  Weaver's Renewal repaired Hiroki’s shredded spleen. That drained a massive chunk of his mana, and neither of them was anywhere close to full health when a shaft of light from above reached down. Luke checked over the edge. Zeluym, the Integrated he’d tossed earlier, stirred.

  “We have to kill the healer first. This is ridiculous.”

  "This is probably what it's like fighting against you, Luke," Hiroki said. "You keep bringing us back."

  "Yeah," Luke said, his focus somewhere else. “There.” He pointed. "The healer."

  Very few goblins remained outside the wall now, which gave Curtis and Zaoyu plenty of space to clash. Even as Curtis’s enormous sword smashed into him, the armored figure moved as though untouchable, healing himself while striking back.

  “I don’t know what I can do to aid Curtis,” Hiroki admitted.

  “Then help Hannah. Just… be careful. Her shadows are unpredictable.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll collect another head,” Luke said, throwing himself over the parapet and into the encampment.

  The agile warrior was already on his feet, but instead of engaging Luke, he sprinted for the breach in the wall. Luke cursed and followed. In the distance, the clawed woman was rising, her head restored to her neck. A quick check of his inventory confirmed. It was gone.

  “Goddamn zombie,” Luke muttered.

  There was no point in fighting her again, not while the healer could keep resurrecting his team. The only play was to back up Curtis. Luke ran, half-limping, healing as he went. Goblins scattered from his path, and the few that dared to attack fell victim to his mana drain. Still, it wasn’t enough. By the time he angled toward Curtis, he'd only recovered about a third of his mana.

  A shout behind him. Luke turned. Zelaui was charging toward him. Ahead, Curtis was locked in combat against both Zaoyu and Zeluym, struggling with fighting multiple opponents.

  Luke ignored Zelaui and charged in to help Curtis. He leapt, Threads of Mana boosting his jump, landing on the shoulder of the armored healer. This was it. The Healer’s Moment. He didn’t waste it on a slash or a stab. Instead, he plunged into the enemy’s mana channels, draining. Power flooded him, so much that his vision swam. When the moment ended, Luke was brimming, near full capacity. The healer sagged, reduced to a fraction of his reserves.

  The sudden shift knocked the warrior off balance. As he staggered, Curtis struck. Rather than swipe with one massive sword, the now dark form split into two slender blades. With a quick thrust, Curtis drove one through the enemy's visor, metal screaming. That one blow pierced through eye and brain both, and a slash with the other blade forced the agile warrior, Zeluym, back.

  With a forward kick, Curtis toppled the healer onto his back and raised both blades for the killing blow. Light exploded outward. Luke staggered back, eyes seared white. When his vision cleared, the warrior lay still in white fabrics, his plate armor gone without a trace, with Curtis’s blade still buried in his skull.

  But the fight wasn’t over.

  The female, Zelaui, slammed a kick into Curtis, hurling him into a pile near shrieking goblins. The agile warrior, Zeluym, pressed Luke hard, forcing him back, while Zelaui moved with a flowing grace, flanking Luke. Zimeio, the barrier mage, landed right next to the healer warrior, pale and panting, knees buckling. Blood seeped from her torn flesh, her white clothes stained crimson from more wounds than Luke could count. All three of them were battered and raging. At least their mocking sneers were gone.

  Luke tensed, ready for another round, but the woman snapped her fingers. The other two moved without hesitation, their hands grabbing the mage's free hand, and she pressed her other hand to the fallen warrior so they all touched. The air rippled. A shockwave tore outward, scattering dust and grass in every direction.

  When it settled, they were gone.