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The magnetic force that kept the orb aloft required two hands from Karkash. Hector and Stoker both saw the opportunity and jumped at him. Karkash was forced to bring one hand down to make lightning.

He correctly chose to zap Stoker down first, giving Hector the time to get close. And for an instant, they met one another’s gaze.

The man’s face was an angry wall--stern and attentive with gritted teeth.

Karkash reeled back, avoiding a cranial blow, and took Hector’s punch square in the chest. He went flying backwards and bounced off the orb. Karkash spun toward the ground before stabilizing himself in the air, and when he saw the orb falling down again, instead of trying to stop it, he merely flew out of its path.

Hector was the only one in its way. It was so large that he couldn’t annihilate it all instantly. Instead, the mass disintegrated in giant swathes, swirling around its body, taking a few seconds to finally destroy the last bit at the center.

After that, the three combatants were all on the ground together, and a silent intermission passed. Battle conditions were reset, each servant fully regenerated.

Karkash returned to the air, no doubt thinking he had the advantage at a distance, and Stoker took the opportunity to make his way toward Hector.

“Can you not trap his reaper with your metal?” Stoker asked.

“I’d have to get close to her,” said Hector.

“That’s not going to happen.”

Lightning interrupted them, but Hector had a spire waiting to absorb it.

“Do it again,” Stoker told him. “The giant sphere.”

‘You have a plan?’ said Garovel.

Stoker gave a nod. “Force him into my fog, and I will take him down.”

Karkash gave them no more time to discuss the matter, deciding to seize the two spires that had been protecting Nize. Stoker immediately bolted toward her. Hector first had to construct new spires to absorb the imminent lightning, which left Stoker alone to deal with the two flying at him. And to the man’s credit, he did so admirably, somersaulting over the first one and melting the second with a glob of acid.