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For a moment, everything was suddenly clearer. And slower again, too. But this time, his thoughts didn't feel so sluggish, as if he could step out of the chaos of the battle and assess the entire situation anew, utilizing all of the information being provided to and expended by the other four thought processes.

An extra, heightened layer of both awareness and decision-making combined into one: that is what this seemed to be.

He could think. He was still being overwhelmed, but he could think. What did he need here?

The fifth process could be freed up for another layer of counterattacking, too. But what would that accomplish? What manner of counterattack would help him here? Banda was swarming him.

No. He didn't need an extra attack. He just needed to make his current attacks more precise. He needed them to actually hit and get the raptors off his ass.

So that's what the fifth process went towards. Aiming.

A raptor's claw scraped his shield and gouged out of a chunk of his leg armor. A beam of pure heat followed immediately, barely bouncing off the shield and searing the tip of his helmet. He had to clench his eyes shut in the desperate hope that they wouldn't be burned out of his skull.

But he had a lock. With the Scarf and aura combined, he didn't need his eyes. Plus, it helped that the closest raptor was very close.

The molten cube hit dead center, and the clone exploded into smoke and dropped away from him. Hector didn't hesitate to follow up, either. A second cube, a third. Both already locked on to the second and third raptors.

They hit, though neither was as clean as the first. The second was caught in the raptor's side, tearing a chunk out and leaving a trail of crimson smoke behind, but the monster was still flying. Still chasing. And the third was even better off.

Because it had actually swallowed the cube.

Granted, that raptor didn't look like it was enjoying itself after its meal as it thrashed and vomited up glowing iron, but it still wasn't slowing its pursuit very much at all.

And there was also the fourth, of course. That one was farther back but catching up quickly now.

Hector was tempted to let loose another flurry of cubes again, but no. Precision was the key here. While it might've been a stretch to say that this strategy was truly working, it was definitely doing something. Keeping the bastards off him, at least. Giving him much needed space. He just had to--

The world shuddered. Every thought process flickered at once, blacking out his entire mind for a second.