noct

399. Come

Ike flashed toward Brightbriar, punching toward the man. As he closed in, Brightbriar waved his hand. A door appeared in front of him and opened miliseconds before Ike impacted it, swinging inward ...

121. Have You Committed Any Economic War Crimes Today?

The three soldiers landed, dismounting their swords with well-drilled motions. They turned toward Rhys and the others, looking them up and down.

Rhys harrumphed and stepped forward. Before th...

398. Last One Standing

Ike absorbed Llewyn. It was shockingly easy. Llewyn himself resisted, but the rest of the fragments didn’t, or maybe they couldn’t. They felt washed out, as if something had been taken from the...

120. Economic Warfare is Still Warfare

Rhys crouched in the woods, not far from the road. Not just one week had passed, but two. His kitchen was all but set up, now, cauldrons reforged and ready to go, bowls awaiting chips, tongs and fo...

397. Clash of the Fragments

Ike and Llewyn slammed into one another. Sparks flew as the Hungry Sword gnawed into Llewyn’s shiny gauntlets. The two of them struggled, both about at the same strength. Their eyes narrowed, and...

119. Back to the Beginning

Their trip back was short. Lira descended into the streams, and Rhys and Mouse walked back. They had to pause for an Empire patrol to pass by, but Mouse easily hid their presences, and the patrol p...

118. The Most Fun You Can Have Outside of a Library

As both of them had expected, Lira was waiting for them by the time they reached the bridge outside the library. Not only waiting, in fact, but swimming loops in the water and spouting it out her m...

396. Llewyn Returns

“Put some fucking clothes on,” Ike snarled, and kicked the puppet back. Just because Llewyn was a featureless puppet, and not one of the hyper-detailed ones that could pass as human, didn’t m...

395. Cooking up Mana

On and on they went. Ike got increasingly creative with how he lit the puppets on fire, practicing technique after technique so he could take some time and simply refine them. Any technique he coul...

117. Acquiring Resources

It wasn’t far, as the bird flew, to the ruins of Purple Dawn Academy. As mages who barely needed to stop or rest, it was even quicker, though slowed somewhat due to their inability to use the roa...

394. Strike the Heart

At last, they reached the center of the city, and still no puppet army. Ike frowned, looking around. All the footprints led here, only to vanish, as if something had swallowed them whole. He looked...

116. New Recruits

The sewers spilled out into a river not far from the garbage heap. A few filthy fish splashed around nearby, eating the filth, and algae and bacteria bred in the bank nearby, soaking up those exces...

393. City Center

The path widened as they went. More tunnels spilled out into this one, and more and more boots joined the original sets of boots until the tunnel was wall-to-wall with boot prints. That sinking fee...

115. Long Story Short

Rhys told his tale. He skimmed over some things, like the names of the people he’d broken out, or exactly what he’d done to regain his magic, since he wasn’t sure of Mouse’s allegiance—th...

392. Secret Tunnel

They plunged into the earth. It wasn’t his first time, or second, or third, so Ike expected the jolt as Wisp caught them with a spider thread. They still weren’t anywhere near the hole’s bott...

114. The Sewers and What Dwells Within

The stench was worse than he could possibly have imagined. Even to someone who was used to trash, who spent all day scrambling over garbage pits, this was something else, another realm of disgustin...

391. This is Hostages

Ike gathered all the artisans on the floor. There were only a dozen to start with, and after Wisp’s timely lunch break and Ike’s somewhat reluctant efforts, only about six remained. The floor w...

113. Trash Fics and Hidden Techniques

Mouse scurried off, and Rhys headed off to the second story of the library, toward where she’d indicated the void myths awaited him. He kept his head on a swivel, but remained disappointed. No li...

112. Seeking a Cat and Finding a Mouse

Rhys stared. “Mouse?”

The gray-brown haired girl adjusted her big round glasses and gave him a nervous smile, nodding. He looked her up and down, then realized he sensed mana from her. In...

390. Warehouse

It wasn’t a long run from the palace to the warehouse, as if Brightbriar were mocking them, or perhaps showing off how little he cared for the king’s efforts to slow or mitigate his puppet-buil...

389. Battle?

“Shall we?”

“Why should we?” Brightbriar remained as composed as ever, in the wreckage of the ballroom, surrounded by shattered puppets and the remains of what had been a party. In th...

111. Grand Strategy

The mages looked amongst one another. At last, Korii stepped forward. “We await your orders, s… Rhys.”

Rhys nodded, deeply pleased. Nothing quite like basking in the real-life playout o...

110. New Hideout

As it turned out, the sun was low in the sky, but not yet setting, when they reached their destination, the time somewhere between afternoon and evening. They smelled it well before they reached it...

388. King Killers

The king drew his sword. It shone, bright gold, laden with diamonds down the spine. He swung it awkwardly, clearly unused to wielding it, a quality that transferred to the puppets. Ike frowned. If ...

387. Beat Him Up

The nobles whirled, instantly unleashing attacks at Ike. Although their faces remained impassive, now no more than flat masks unable to show emotion, their attacks were all unique, the techniques t...

109. Break Out

Tall stone walls blocked their path, with mages mounted atop them pointing powerful spells their direction. At the far end of the prison compound, double doors led out into the world beyond. Rhys l...

386. Spiders and Flies

A circle of nobles surrounded Brightbriar, all of them tittering and hanging on to his every word, giving him the undivided attention of sycophants. Ike reached their circle and found them an impen...

108. Pitiful Heavens

Rhys charged directly at the Warden, drawing his sword as he closed in. The Warden whirled his sword. The two of them clashed. The Warden parried his strike and instantly forced him back, his stren...

385. Alone in this Room

Ike stared at Brightbriar. This was it. This was everything. The end, or maybe the beginning. The obstacle before him, that he had to clear before he could become. His hand clenched, and h...

107. Trash to Trash

Rhys grabbed a clump of energy that still hadn’t merged into the trash star. There were a few lumps like that, all of them the energy he’d drawn out of the guards. The energy clung to itself, t...