As usual, Matheus found himself second guessing his choice.

  Well, he did the best he could with the limited information the system gave him.

  Ash rain he simply had no idea on what it could do. It didn’t sound like an offensive spell, but neither like a defensive one. Maybe it was also a debuff of some kind? Who knew.

  Summons were always cool, but hell, a beetle? Throwing an insect into your enemies wouldn’t exactly increase his attacking power.

  Wait, would it be just one beetle or a whole swarm? That changed everything.

  Damnation, he really needed to find a way to get better descriptions. Increasing his connection could probably do that, but nowadays he had so many different stats to worry about that he wasn't able to properly work on everything.

  It was too late to worry about all that stuff now. He’d made his pick.

  You’ve been rewarded with the Dark Nimbus spell.

  Spell Level: 1

  Effects: Conjure a dark cloud on top of your target, making it rain directly on their heads.

  Cost: 4 MP, plus another 1 for every 30 seconds that it stays on.

  Why, why did all his spells involve getting his enemies wet?

  That wasn’t a totally terrible spell, but could it help him against Sophie? At best it would only give her a momentary distraction. Far from enough.

  Fortunately, that wasn’t the only new skill he’d gotten.

  Echo Clap has reached level 5!

  A skill modification has been conceded!

  You have three options.

  Release a more powerful burst of wind

  Makes it more effective against physical objects, pushing everything away from you.

  Increase its effects in living beings

  Mess with the equilibrium of everyone around you. Including you!

  Continuous clap

  Get the option to add an echo effect for 5 mana, releasing a slightly weaker clap every two seconds, for 10 seconds.

  Increasing the burst of wind would probably allow him to push everything away from him. It could even be used as a defensive maneuver, which was nice.

  So far, he’d mostly used the skill to mess with his enemies' heads for enough time for him to kill them. Because of that, increasing its effects in living beings would have been the obvious choice. It would turn it more into a psionic attack of sorts.

  But that last option… it was something else. It even seemed a little out of place from the others.

  Still, the idea of claps echoing for 10 whole seconds terrified him. He’d gotten used to the skill’s ill effects on him by now, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to experience such an increased version.

  Luckily, he didn’t have to make his decision right now. Thanks the Gods skill upgrades didn’t come with a timer.

  First, he needed to replenish his health and stock up on more supplies.

  It didn’t take him long to get to Ravi’s store.

  “Matheus! Is everything alright? You don’t look very well,” Ravi asked the moment he entered.

  “We have an emergency,” Matheus said urgently, “Everyone is in danger. I need a few things.”

  “We are always in danger, in some way or another,” Ravi answered with a sigh.

  “This is different,” Matheus said, feeling grief and rage overwhelming him. “Dylan is dead. And Derek, and Nikolas. Sophie killed them.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Ravi said with shock, “why would she do such a thing?”

  Matheus didn’t know how to explain. He wasn’t even sure Ravi would believe they were from a different world. And even if he did, he might blame Matheus for what happened. He couldn’t risk it.

  “I’m not sure,” He finally answered. “But she is not finished and we need to get ready for her. I need more elixirs, and something to instantly recover my mana . Do you have an item that can create a barrier? Or at least a shield.”

  “Can you pay for all that?” Ravi asked with an arched eyebrow.

  Matheus was taken aback. He thought Ravi would see the urgency of the situation.

  “Not now, but I can get you the rest later. Right now I have 7 coins.”

  Ravi shook his head. “With just that, all the equipment is off the table.”

  “But…” he started protesting, only to be interrupted.

  “I’m sorry, Matheus. We’ve made a deal, remember? No more bargaining,” Ravi said, crossing his arms. “With what you have, you can only pay for a couple of gani elixirs, and maybe a spiritual mix.”

  God damnit, can’t he understand he was trying to save them all?

  “Give me two more gani elixirs,” Matheus said, grinding his teeth, “and this spiritual mix.”

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  He paid and drank one of the elixirs immediately, glad to see his health almost full again. He analyzed the mix.

  Spiritual Mix.

  Recovers 3MP instantly and 2 more in the next twenty minutes. Tastes like apple juice.

  He would save it and the other elixir for the fight. Still, those are far from enough. Matheus had hoped to completely fill a spot from his inventory with them.

  What now? Should he find another way to get items?

  Sophie was coming, probably already half way here. Maybe he could see if the city master could help?

  Matheus stopped.

  What was he doing? He couldn’t really win against Sophie.

  She had completely destroyed Dylan’s party, and had barely been injured. If it was Matheus in her place, he wasn’t even sure he could have won against one of them.

  She was terribly good with her bow and also a skilled close range combatant. She had some type of skill that let her shoot a special type of arrow that fell incredibly fast and hard, could literally create wind with a snap of her fingers, create dark smoke around her and use her bow as a blade, as sharp as any sword.

  He had a new spell and a few tricks that she didn't know about, but who could guess how many skills she had been saving so far?

  He was fucked. Completely, utterly fucked.

  If he fought her, most likely he was going to die.

  Should he really throw his chances of winning away like this?

  Maybe he should run. He couldn’t be blamed for fleeing a fight he had no chance to win.

  She had completely fooled him. There was no way he could outsmart her.

  He was already level 14, one more and he could take the caravan to the next city. She would eventually follow, of course. But with luck it would take a few days, maybe weeks until he had to face her.

  More time to prepare and to get new skills. His chances of surviving would be way better.

  Except, probably everyone on Tartaros would be dead.

  Well, they weren’t his responsibility. It wasn't his fault.

  He had to prioritize himself and Captain.

  There was also Rick. Should he at least take him? Now that Sophie was after him, Matheus would need to get stronger as fast as he could. He couldn’t afford sharing his experience with a swordsman who could slap. Even stronger, he never would be of any help against Sophie.

  Besides, he had lost his sword. And who could say he wouldn’t betray him just like she did?

  He couldn’t risk it.

  But, could he really leave him to be killed? Either by Sophie or by those demibeast. Death was coming here soon.

  And it wasn’t just Rick. There was Dina, Daniel, Auri and everyone else here. Even without realizing, Matheus had started to care for the people in the city.

  If he left, they would all die. It wasn't a possibility, it was a fact.

  Saving himself meant dooming every single person here.

  Could he really be so selfish?

  They aren't real.

  Matheus could still hear Sophie’s voice in his mind, repeating the same thing.

  It would be so much easier to believe that. To believe this was all some type of game, and no one here would die because they were never alive in the first place.

  This was all part of his training. Just a realistic simulation for him to prepare for the contest.

  He could just go. He should. Who knew how long he still had until his time here was over and he had to face other champions. Champions even stronger than Sophie. Most of them were aliens, were they not?

  He wouldn't win if he sacrificed himself here. And in the end, everyone in Tartaros would be dead anyway. Staying was pointless.

  But truthfully, how could he ever win if he fled here? If he had no chance against Sophie, and she was far from the strongest champion he would have to face in the contest, what was the point?

  His life would end for the second time, and that would be it. He would never have his chance at his third one.

  Truthfully, did he really think he could win? Deep down, he thought he always knew it. There wasn't a chance of him getting into first place.

  But that didn’t mean he couldn’t do better. Even if he didn't defeat everyone, he knew he could do better.

  He could at least get into the top one thousand

  No. Top one hundred. He could do it.

  And Matheus surprised himself to find he really believed that.

  He had only started. There was a lot for him to still do. There was no way he would let it all be over this soon.

  The question was, could he really stop her? With her range, the fight could be over before Matheus even noticed. A dagger against a bow was really not fair.

  But now that Matheus thought about it, he doubted she would finish him off from afar.

  Sophie hadn’t really tried to kill him. She wanted him to cooperate with her. It wasn’t guaranteed, but there was a chance she wouldn’t just put an arrow on his head and get this over with. She was still trying to convince him to help her out, by murdering everyone he cared about and leaving him with no attachments to the city.

  Talk about a sick twisted logic.

  Well, at the end of the day, he might as well be saved because of it, so no complaints. If she’d decided to murder him from the start, there was nothing he could have done to stop her.

  She had underestimated him. With some luck and planning it correctly, he could win.

  There wasn’t a lot of time left, and he still had a few more stops to make. There was no time for him to second guess himself. When Sophie came for him again, he would be ready.

  This time, they would fight on his terms.