Terror was a weapon.
Dante had just turned it against the ones who made it. The shadow puppet was a perfect dark shape of the boy Erica had turned to vapor.
It rose from the smoking crater. Its violet eyes were empty of life or memory. They fixed on its former teammate.
The Wardcraft user was still scrambling to his feet. He stared in horror. The remaining members of Derek's team froze.
Their desire to kill was forgotten for a moment by a deep primal fear. They had dealt death. But they had never seen it twisted and thrown back at them like this.
"What is that thing?" the Wardcraft user stammered. He stumbled backward.
The shadow puppet didn't answer. It simply obeyed Dante's will. He pointed. "Attack."
The creature lunged forward with an unnatural silent speed. A faint sickly green mist began to leak from its shadowy form as it closed the distance. It was a ghost of the Toximancy it once used.
The Wardcraft user screamed. He threw up a shimmering barrier. The puppet slammed into it. Its shadowy claws scraped against the magical shield.
That moment of horror was the opening Dante's team needed. Rina's face was pale but determined. She rushed to Jin's side. Her hands glowed as she began the difficult process of healing his battered body.
But Derek was not a man to be frozen by fear. He was a predator. His rage quickly burned away his shock.
"It's just a puppet!" he roared. His voice snapped his teammates back to reality. "Forget the shield wall! Kill the puppet master! He falls they all fall! Focus on Dante!"
His command gave them new energy. The Maleficium user was a thin boy with. He turned his attention from Erica to Dante. "Curse of the Leaden Mind," he hissed.
A wave of mental fog crashed into Dante. His thoughts grew slow. His commands suddenly felt distant and sluggish like trying to shout through water.
At the same time the Phantasm user waved his hands wildly. The battlefield shimmered. Three more versions of Derek's charging brawlers appeared.
"Dante watch out!" Eric yelled. He planted himself in front of him. He was a living mountain of defiance.
The injured Graviton user clutched his bleeding thigh. He pointed a trembling hand at Dante.
The air around his feet grew heavy. It tried to root him to the spot. The spell was weaker now but it made directing the battle nearly impossible.
"We have to protect him!" Masha shouted. She launched a volley of ice shards to intercept one of the brawlers real or not.
Talia was a silver ghost. She danced between the illusions. Her Kinetic Eye struggled to track the true threats through the confusing magic.
She parried a blow meant for Masha. Her foil rang out in the chaos.
Their support members Neil and Juno were now their most vulnerable assets. They stood behind the frontline. They desperately tried to provide the information the team needed to survive.
"His greatsword has a flaw!" Neil shouted. His eyes were wide with the focus of his Lore Archive skill. "There's a sigil on the hilt! It's an artifact that grants him strength but it drains his stamina with every swing! He can't keep this pace up!"
It was a vital piece of information. But in shouting it he had made himself a target.
One of the brawlers was a hulking brute who had been ignored in the chaos. He suddenly broke off his attack on Eric. He had been an illusion.
The real one was hidden by the phantasm. He had circled around their flank. He charged out of the shadows. His mace was raised high. His target was clear.
"Neil!" Juno screamed. He saw the real threat on the edge of his vision.
But it was too late. Neil looked up. His face was a mask of sudden final understanding. He had no combat skills. No time to react.
WHOOSH!
The mace came down with a sickening wet crunch.
CRUNCH.
Neil collapsed without a sound. His vital knowledge was silenced forever. A wave of collective shock washed over the team.
Erica screamed his name. Her voice cracked with grief. The loss was a physical blow. It staggered them.
And their enemies took advantage of it.
"One down!" the Maleficium user cackled. He turned his hateful gaze on their other analyst. "Your turn artist!"
He flung another curse. "Hex of Shared Pain!"
Juno had been trying to find Derek's weakness. He suddenly cried out in agony. He clutched his arm as if it had been struck.
CRACK!
A sharp sound echoed as his own bones snapped under the sympathetic magic. It mirrored an injury Eric had just sustained. He fell to his knees. His skill was now useless.
They were falling apart. They had lost their intelligence network in the span of ten seconds.
"Dante!" Derek's voice was a triumphant roar. He had finally pushed past Eric who was now fighting off two other brawlers. "Your little tricks are over!"
He charged directly at Dante. His greatsword was held high for a killing blow. Dante's mind was still slow from the curse.
His feet were heavy from the gravity spell. His shadow puppet was still locked in a struggle with the Wardcraft user. He was defenseless.
Masha tried to form an ice wall. But the Phantasm user created a shimmering distortion in the air. It caused her spell to form a foot to the left of its intended target.
Talia was too far away. She was locked in combat with the gravity mage and another brawler.
'This is it,' Dante thought. The thought moved like sludge through his cursed mind.
Derek's blade began to fall. Dante could see the cruel victory in his eyes. He saw the reflection of his own shocked face in the polished blood-stained steel.
Then a spear of pure white-hot plasma screamed past his head. It wasn't aimed at Derek but at the ground right in front of him.
BOOM!
The earth erupted in a blinding flash. The force of the blast threw Derek backward away from Dante.
He turned to see Erica. Tears streamed down her face. Her expression was a terrifying mixture of grief for Neil and pure unfiltered rage. Her hands were held together.
The air around them crackled with an unstable overwhelming power.
She had saved him. But she had poured all her remaining energy all her pain for Neil into that one desperate blast.
The battle was not over. They were still alive.
But they were crippled grieving and standing on the very edge of destruction.