Drekar blocked one of Spider’s attacks, spun her into the path of Zen’s arrow, and slashed her across the chest.

"No!" Zen roared as his arrow punched through her shoulder and she fell.

Faust pushed in and tried to drag Drekar away from her, but that was exactly what the assassin wanted.

Drekar deflected Faust’s cutlass, kneed him in the stomach, and stabbed at his skull. Faust caught the man’s hand purely out of reflex.

Then, he threw Drekar across the room. For how ridiculous the man’s Agility was, his Strength was way lower.

Faust glanced at Spider and saw her mutation disappear immediately. Drekar had stolen her Schema.

But as he watched the assassin, he didn’t see any transformations.

’He can’t use all the powers he steals. Just one.’

He hadn’t used the archer summon’s bow skills either, but Faust had initially thought that was just because Drekar had no bow.

’If my Schema was Gold rank, that would probably be one of my limitations, too. Only using one replicated schema at a time.’

But another one of Faust’s Schema limitations was that he had to defeat his enemies to permanently keep the replicated abilities.

Faust’s breath caught. He remembered what happened during Negan’s arrival at the Town Hall—when he had destroyed half the building and instantly killed a lot of people.

’If the owner of the replicated schema dies before I beat them, I also lose their schema.’

A flash of silver light filled the air. Faust simultaneously sent a text to Nirvana while he charged at Drekar.

She glanced at him once, confused by the text, but he was too busy fighting to explain. The silver light coalesced into the Red Wolf summon that Drekar had stripped of speed.

The wolf limped around, confused by the battle raging around it, whimpering as it tried following its master.

Nirvana pulled out her Mage staff and swung it at the summon, casting Wailing Whip. The glowing, green whip made of screaming faces phased through the wolf’s body and dealt agonizing damage.

The beast dropped, snarling and howling for Faust. But without its speed, it couldn’t escape.

Drekar saw this and realized what was happening. He dived into the shadows to get to Nirvana, but Faust was one step ahead.

’Pathfinder!’

’Shadow Step!’

He pushed his mind to the limit and predicted where Drekar would pop up to attack Nirvana, appearing there before him and blocking both daggers.

She only spared them a single glance before quickly using Death Curse. Nirvana struck the wolf one more time, killing the summon mercilessly.

After all, it could always come back in twenty-four hours.

"No!" Drekar hissed.

"Oh, yes!" Faust shouted back.

’Dash!’

He had already built a lot of power in his muscles from copying Spider’s Force Stacking skill. He paired it with Dash and exploded into motion.

Without Pathfinder, he would have been moving far too fast to even land this attack. But with it, he planned his next move perfectly.

’Instance Replication!’

He shot forward and slashed low just as Drekar used his own movement skill to try and escape.

They both skidded to a stop almost ten meters away from their original positions.

It all happened in a second.

But Faust looked down at his Jackal Dagger and grinned at the blood coating the blade.

Drekar rubbed his side, snarling, "You finally managed to hit me. Congratulations."

Faust nodded at the daggers in Drekar’s hands. "One hit is all I needed. This is my divine move."

Drekar turned pale as his daggers dissolved into black mist in his hands and disappeared entirely. "My Schema... is gone?"

Faust had replicated the Envy effect that Drekar had used in so many attacks against him.

Nirvana had no idea what had just occurred, but she sent a quick text to Faust now that she knew they held the advantage.

[Nirvana: Thalia said both of us should leave this place and get to the throne room! Zen will support from afar]

Faust briefly turned his gaze upward. Above them, wreathed in rain and lightning, glowing like a small sun in this black and white world, was the throne room.

The final battle.

Vicius Valerius.

Then he turned back to Spider, whom Greg was healing with a white glow emanating from his entire body. She had quickly recovered—it must have been a regeneration skill or a health potion.

Spider, Greg, and Thalia against a schemaless Drekar, with Zen still occasionally helping from afar...

Faust could see it working. Drekar didn’t have his Schema anymore. They might still die, but victory was nearer than ever. He would be the unanimous MVP, undeniably the best player in the world.

[Red God: Okay. Tell her to stall him.]

Immediately, half of the ghosts and skeletons rushed forward. Zen began letting off a furious barrage of shots, his eyes narrowed in pure hatred. Greg and Spider charged forward right behind the summons.

They must have coordinated the assault in their party chat this entire time.

Faust grabbed Nirvana, appreciating their cover, and rushed toward the edge of the flying hall.

Drekar saw him escaping and tried to rush forward. "No! I won’t fail Vi!"

But then he froze. The ground right under him glowed a brilliant blue as a trap circle stopped him dead in his tracks.

"You will," Thalia said solemnly, "because I am here."

Faust leapt from the collapsing platform and swung his Slime Tether up toward a piece of wall floating above them.

He pulled and retracted the tether at the same time, swinging himself upward at high speed.

"Nirvana?!" Thalia called out, an incredulous look flashing across her face. Her voice dropped to a low mutter. "... What are you doing?"

’I’ll have to ask what that meant when we get up there.’ 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He ran vertically across the wall at high speed and began jumping between the broken pieces of the floating castle.

The rain was getting weaker the higher they rose. "Can you transform and fly up here?"

Nirvana nodded, turning into black mist instantly. A bat shot up through the thinning rain toward the throne room.

Faust squinted through the downpour in his eyes, tracking the golden glow above like he was ascending to heaven.

He landed heavily on another piece of floating rock, but before he could leap up to the next one, lightning flashed.