River had lost all sense of time.
He no longer remembered how many minutes, hours—or lifetimes—had passed since this hellish trial began. The only thing that remained constant was the agony.
He couldn't count how many times his body had been flung through the air like a broken doll, slamming into jagged obsidian pillars only for them to crumble beneath his weight. Nor could he tell how many Constructs still stalked him, circling like vultures, waiting for his final breath.
The numbers had stopped mattering a long time ago.
His ability to fight had already withered. The dagger, once firm in his grip, had long since flown from his hand. His Bubble Bombs were gone—his creativity reduced to survival instinct.
All he could do now was summon [Bubble Barriers]—thin, translucent layers of mana that cracked and shattered the instant they were struck. Each time the enemy descended upon him, he would instinctively conjure another, and another, and another.
