The last [Distorted Fallacy] he was able to use for quite a while, and he used it to get Carmella back on her feet.

  He could have used it on Henry, perhaps it would have made defeating him easier on everyone.

  However, there was still one possibility Somnu was watching out for, and if it happened, having a Savant Sleeper on their side when it did was far more valuable than one mere use of his skill.

  Besides, for some reason, he couldn’t just abandon Carmella to her agonizing fate.

  Whether he could empathize with her pain, or it was because of a hunch he had about her situation, helping her felt like the right thing to do.

  A little bit of good, in a whole lot of bad. He, too, wanted to believe in that. Perhaps, especially him.

  “Why…?”

  “...?”

  “Why did you use your last skill to help me?” Carmella asked, leaning closer to his eyeless face, her smooth breath brushing against his skin. She reached out and softly traced the still visible scar on his left eyebrow, now sitting over an empty eye socket. “In your current state, why did you prioritize me?”

  “You’re… strong…” He let out through the blood filling his lungs and blocking his throat. “Please… help them…”

  “...”

  Pleading, showing her his weakness, none of those were the smart play to do here.

  He knew it, and so did she.

  And yet…

  “It takes incredible strength to plead for help from the weak.”

  “!”

  As she leaned even closer, close enough to whisper in his ear, her voice turned almost ethereal, echoing repeatedly in his mind.

  Then, he felt her tender lips on his cheek, and with it, a rejuvenated rush invaded his nerves, clearing his lungs and throat.

  Switching to a bird’s eye view, Somnu saw a multi-colored glow enveloping his own body as she pulled away from him, but kept a hand on his chin for a moment.

  “You stay here, dear. We’ll talk later.”

  Just go already! He wanted to shout it out loud, but he didn’t even want her to waste more time on any rebuttal, even when her voice seemed like a beautiful, otherwordly song.

  Not when Henry was still resisting everyone fighting him.

  Multiple clones of Naga, along with her main half-clothed slithering body, were all wrapped around Henry’s bulky figure, squeezing him enough to threaten his bone structure.

  The moment he attempted to get them off of him, Lulu and Mathros landed some heavy blows to stop him.

  He had tried his gold coin shield to block, the golden glow to escape some blows, the enforced loyalty and domination wave he had already used once, but none of those worked on any of his attackers. Best he could do was delay some of their movements.

  His henchmen, as well as his furious black dogs were fighting back against the dozens of familiar clones, but they stood no chance. Fala and Naga were both based on Grudgekeeper’s level, rather than just Somnu’s Hollow Core.

  And the Dream Catcher in question had now reached the third grade, Tuned, making the familiars bigger and more ferocious than some Specter ranked Nightmare Creatures, as well as strong enough to attack and damage a Savant.

  Considering they could each summon more than a dozen clones at once, the scarecrow might as well have had an army fighting for him, even in his current, weakened state.

  That’s why Somnu hadn’t been affected by the same Restriction Mathros had when the lizardman first encountered the black dogs. The sightless strawman had recognized them from a previous vision where the same creatures attacked his siblings, but thankfully, his familiars had slain a few before they could affect him too.

  Similarly, that was also the reason why the number of his Terror Cores were going up with every black dog that dropped dead, allowing him to level up two more times to help speed his recovery somewhat along with Carmella’s buffs.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Get off me already you stupid thing!” Henry dodged another dropkick while trying to get Naga’s main body off of him.

  “I’ll make you pay for what you made Master do!” Naga hissed at him, biting and squeezing more before moving her head to his back where he couldn’t reach.

  “I didn’t make him do anything! Don’t blame me!” The bulky guy cried out, grabbing onto the Grudgekeeper part that was wrapped around the serpent’s body.

  “The enemy of our Master, is our enemy too!” Fala flew in and aimed her talons at the bulky man’s eyes.

  “Damn familiars! Why are you so strong?!”

  “Who are you talking to, idiot?!” Lulu scoffed, landing a kick to the chest, managing to avoid hitting Naga’s main body.

  “I think he’s talking to Fala and Naga… Looks like he can understand them.” Mathros saw Henry get pushed back towards him, and punched him in the lower back, making him shudder and stagger forward. “Even you shouldn’t be able to use your skills for much longer, give up.”

  “You are right, lizard.”

  “!”

  “You!!”

  Everyone turned to see the lady stroll in with her elegant dress. For some reason, almost all of them had disgusted looks on their faces, especially the familiars.

  Almost in practiced unison, all the females present on one side clicked their tongues.

  “Ah! The envy only fuels me with more power, ladies! Keep it coming!” Carmella fixed her hair with both hands, pushing them behind her, then looked down at the struggling bulky man she had been controlled by not mere minutes ago.

  Her voice was magical, filling the surrounding with a calming tone, enough to make the remaining black dogs fall asleep, and quickly fall prey to the clones. Only the four restricted henchmen remained, making Henry’s pupils constrict into tiny marbles.

  “How are you walking, bitch?! Submit to me-”

  “I realized something, old dear.” She cut him off, bringing two fingers to her glistening red lips again, a shining glow of the same color enveloped her entire curvy figure. “You are weak, too weak. You bitch and moan like a toddler, a man’s actions show his true strength, not his words.”

  “What are you on about…?!” Henry shifted his body again, barely getting himself free of one of the clones before yet another one popped out of the main body and restrained him once more.

  “I’m saying I found myself a stronger man… a better man…” Carmella blew an audible kiss, letting an imprint of her lips fly slowly towards her old patron.

  “Stop! Remember what I did for you! They’ll kill you too, you dumb bitch!”

  “If that’s what he wants, then so be it.”

  Henry’s body glowed golden in an attempt to move out of the way, but Naga quickly wrapped herself around his legs, locking him in place. The CEO was surrounded by Lulu, Carmella, and Mathros with Fala resting on the lizardman's shoulder, relaying everything to her master.

  They all watched as his demise slowly approached.

  “Damn you all! Who do you take me for?! I’ll be the CEO of the biggest company there is! I’ll be a master of all! I won’t die here this easily to a bunch of weak idiots and some familiars!! If it has come to this-URGH?!”

  “See? Bitching and moaning like a toddler.” Carmella sneered, her head slightly tilted, having watched the imprint of her lips make its way into his heart.

  THUD!

  “It’s finally over…” Mathros muttered, watching Henry’s body fall motionless to the ground.

  “Somnu-!”

  “Don’t move!!”

  “?!”

  Just when Lulu was about to jump towards the injured party member, he shouted, making all his allies shudder in place.

  “W-what’s wrong with you?!” The bunny girl looked back at the body to check, then cried out in irritation.

  “He’s not dead yet.” Carmella confirmed.

  “How…?” The lizardman took a few steps back, reloading his slingshot.

  Naga, who had left the bulky body, circled back to check while Fala flew over her.

  “I haven’t received the confirmation yet…” The owner of the magical voice maneuvered away with a series of graceful steps, accompanied by a pink-ish glow and some glister surrounding her.

  “!”

  The glister floated around and enveloped the allies too, rejuvenating them with a new rush of energy.

  “Stay on alert! Even I don’t know what’s happening now!” She sang, watching an ominous red and white smoke rise from the supposed dead body.

  Crow-Shit! I was afraid of this… Somnu pushed himself back up, and grabbed his two sickles that he had dropped earlier. Thankfully, his body had managed to regain a semblance of strength.

  Henry’s body began to hover up, the wound on his heart had already closed.

  The scarecrow had used his last skill on Carmella for the possibility of this outcome, as a contingency, and here it was.

  He forced his legs to step forward, to join the fray along with his allies, but with every step, his body grew heavier once more.

  Which only served to confirm his suspicions.

  “Well, you’ve grown enough to beat even Henry, what a surprise! It hasn’t even been half a day either! How delightful!” Henry’s mouth moved, but it wasn’t his voice anymore. Even his eyes were stuck in a crazed state, remaining wide open as his pupils turned from blue to deep crimson.

  Naturally, everyone except Carmella knew who it was they were up against now, but none of them were able to move an inch.

  All except…

  “You’ve grown stronger yourself…” Somnu mumbled, straining his body to continue walking while he gripped his sickles tightly.

  “Oh?”

  Then, the scarecrow raised his socketed face and aimed his non-existent eyes at his mortal enemy.

  “John Doe, Bloodfiend, or whatever your name is… I’m coming for you next.”