The giant, solid mana hand that came for Kagerou was bigger than him and if it came down on them, they would be crushed.

So he activated his bloodline techniques, and his sword shone with inner light; his sword shuddered, flickering as if it was a mirage, and he cut the mana hand, just a small flick at the edge, and the whole thing collapsed on itself.

"Well then." The Iridessa said with a laugh. "How do you manage to do that? I feel my enchantments collapsing, you cut the link between me and my enchantments!"

"Good to know you haven’t lost your edge." Thaedric winced as he sat up. His shoulder left shoulder was throbbing but it was nothing compared to the back of his neck.

Kagerou spared him a glance. "Your eyes...."

Yes, Thaedric could feel his eyes. It burns as whatever Cormac has done to it burns away. He knew it was purple now, and it did it with whatever the Iridessa did to him. It was stimulating his blood; even now, his aura was rising, a faint purple-like smoke that surrounded him.

However, he ignored all that for now, addressing the problem in front of him first. The Iridessa was looking at Kagerou in a way that Thaedric didn’t like one bit.

"I’d like to study you, boy. How do you cut my enchantments like that?" The Iridessa lifted his right hand, completely ignoring his other bleeding one.

Enchanting symbols such as heads start to appear and disappear around them, flickering orange, and then before them, more giant hands start to pop into existence in front of them.

"Shit," Thaedric muttered; this wasn’t looking good; the sound and his core were empty. If only he could just take some time to meditate! But then, the pain coursing through his body made everything difficult.

But at least they had stopped whatever the Iridessa was doing to the guardians statue for now. They have to defeat the twenty or so giant hands in front of them.

"Sandskar! You’ve recovered anything?" Sandskar has gained some mana. "Kage, come closer."

Immediately, he did, a translucent sphere shield covering them. The first one reached them and slapped them down; the shield buckled, sparking mana and cracking the stones beneath them, but the shield held.

"Is that the power you gained from the mirror world? How exciting! I must study you too! Wait, I can’t study you since you’re going to die here. Too bad. Your friend will do." The Iridessa’s four eyes shone.

As if to make his word real, he gestured, and one of the hands closed itself into a fist that came down on their shield. This time, Sandskar screamed and the shield cracked.

The fist went up again and Thaedric sighed. He raised his hand, and a small lightning shimmered before it fizzled out. "Well Kagerou, it’s really good to have you back."

But his friend was in full protective mode. He stood in front of him, his naked blade bathed in green light. The first came down, and he cut upward. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The shield collapsed, but Kage also cut the fist, and like before, the enchanted structure collapsed. But unlike before, Kagerou staggered, the hand holding the sword trembled.

"Interesting indeed. You make it collapse again. How are you doing it? No worries, you’ll tell me yourself. You can’t make another one collapse, can you? I can see your strength left you. But be a draining technique."

Kage smirked, his face was covered in sweat, and his limbs were trembling, but he was feeling rather good. It was as if a grey cloud had been lifted from his vision.

Now, he has his purpose back again. He lifted his sword; even if he died here now, at least it would be at doing his job. "I might not be able to do my bloodline technique. But my sword technique should be able to take care of you. And for the record? You talk a lot. Shut up!"

Thaedric started to laugh. Maybe their incoming death was getting to him, but then Kagerou started to laugh, too, even as he gathered mana into his sword and moved into his form position.

The Iridessa narrowed his eyes, and the fist came down at the same time that Kage thrust out, releasing the gathered mana, but it was weak because Kage himself had little mana left, and he couldn’t infuse it with his bloodline aura.

The fist was about to crush them when it froze suddenly, suspended there in the air. Faint, pink energy surrounded the orange of the fist.

A laugh rang around them. "You don’t think you can end a fight I wasn’t called to do do you?!" Malak was suddenly there, a single punch shattering the fist.

The Iridessa chuckled. "So many unexpected things today. Did you just stop my conjured fist now? Interesting indeed! You also go into the dark mirror don’t y....""

The Iridessa twisted away as a knife covered in an energy blast tore through the space he was before. He conjured a small platform and rose into the air so he could take all his opponents in at once.

"Blady! You are meant to distract him!" Lykon said. Holding another knife with the same energy covering it.

Malak rubbed his head. "Well, I tried."

"Not enough!" He threw his knife, and it blasted off, but an orange shield stopped it from getting to its target. "I can’t read his level, but he should be no match for two-tier fours!"

"Don’t put us in the same category," Malak said, and then he gathered mana, faint pink-like light blood around his fist. Then he lunged himself at the floating platform.

The Iridessa pointed his palm at him to conjure one enchantment or another, but he found that he couldn’t move. Only his eyes obeyed his command as Malak’s eyes held him down– his bloodline technique– and his eyes were full of surprise.

"It’s too soon to be surprised!" Then he punched Iridessa in the face.