Aster Brooks Books

Ch.74: An Awkward Conversation

It was well past midnight by the time the festivities ended.

Cass found herself on the edge of a Spire, the city of Velillia below her, Alyx’s mother’s workshop behind her. Alyx at her side.

The two of them stared down at the city.

Salos had left to stalk Kohen. Kelstor was in the dragon’s lair in the palace, catching up with his mother and siblings.

It was just the two of them and the night and the wind.

Alyx played with the end of her sword’s pommel, refusing to look Cass in the eyes. It was obvious her thoughts swirled around her.

Finally, Alyx said, “You saved my brothers.”

Cass nodded. She hoped that was a good thing in Alyx’s book, but knew things probably would be simpler for Alyx if she hadn’t.

Alyx wouldn’t have lost her bet if the boys had died. She wouldn’t be exiled by her father if they’d died. She’d be heir to his title.

“Kohen,” Alyx said. “Is he a demon?”

“He definitely was one. What he is now…” Cass shrugged. She was increasingly sure that word didn’t mean anything.

“Did you fix him?”

Cass shrugged again. “I don’t think he’s going to eat any more souls.” That was decidedly not the answer to the question Alyx asked.

“You don’t think he will?”

“I don’t think anyone has ever done what I did. A god went and congratulated me on it afterward. That’s how experimental what I did to him was.”

Alyx’s eyes bulged as she looked at Cass for the first time that evening.

“But I think I smoothed out the edges of his soul so he shouldn’t have the instinct to shove things into his broken edges,” Cass continued.

“Is that why demons are like that?” Alyx asked, her voice shaking as she spoke.

“That’s how Salos explained it to me.”

The mention of Salos hung between them. The wind gusted, tugging at Cass’s bloody robes and pulling free strands of hair. Wind begged to run off with it. The night sky had never looked so appealing.

“Kelstor said I can thank you for freeing him,” Alyx continued instead.

Cass shook her head. “I was just using him as a hammer. His level was a lot closer to that captain’s than mine was. I’m glad you were there for him.”

She still wasn’t sure how that fight would have ended if Alyx hadn’t been there to bond with him. Would he have died at the hands of the demon or the paladin captain? Or would he have killed the two of them, leaving Cass alone with the feral dragon?

His request for Cass to kill him echoed in her head. She shook the voice away. It hadn’t been necessary in the end. That was what mattered.

“He was my mother’s dragon,” Alyx said.

Cass nodded. She’d gathered that at some point that evening.

More nodding. They fell silent. Neither of them had broached the real topic.

Cass wasn’t sure she wanted to. Strictly speaking, she didn’t need Alyx from here. The duchess had named her a hero. If the duchess couldn’t get Cass home, Alyx had no chance.

But it had never been about what Alyx could do for Cass. Never.

They had been thrown together by chance and circumstance, with nothing binding them except that twisted fate. There was no reason to cling to Alyx. But there was also no reason to let her slip away.

Cass took a deep breath and forced the words out. “I’m sorry.”

Alyx shook her head. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t remember the specifics of my bet with my father, either. Even if I had, Ahryn would have died if he hadn’t bonded with Emenes.”

Cass shook her head. That wasn’t what she was trying to apologize for.

“Even so,” Alyx continued, her misunderstanding unabated. “They both would have regretted it if she bonded with someone else. I discounted him, and for it I lost my bet. That’s all. You shouldn’t feel responsible for that.”

“Thank you, but that wasn’t what I was apologizing for.”

Alyx raised an eyebrow. “Then what?”

“I ran off the other day,” Cass said. “I shouldn’t have run off like that. That isn’t how adults have a conversation. And I wouldn’t have gotten in trouble with the cult if I’d stayed in the mansion.”

Alyx shook her head.

Cass kept talking before her arguments could come. “And you may have a point about demons. They are dangerous.”

Cass had seen the danger Kohen had presented. He was only level 33, yet he easily took down wave after wave of paladins at and above that level and fought toe to toe with the captain at level 40. That was all because of the demonic powers he’d held. There was a very real danger in letting something like that out into the world.

“But I’m not going to do anything differently. I will not betray Salos. I need you to respect that.”

Alyx’s lips thinned into a narrow line, her eyes staring harder into the night. “No. I was out of line. I’m sorry I pushed you to kill him. I didn’t—” She shook her head. “Salos is important to you. I understand that. I should have understood that then.”

Silence filled in around them again. The stars shimmered in the distance, cold astraum in a sea of darkness.

“And I’d be a hypocrite to critique you now.” Alyx’s hand clenched around her sword hilt. “Kelstor told me. Dragons are demons.”

Ah.

“It seems impossible. But it’s true. Isn’t it?”

Cass nodded.

A strained sigh escaped Alyx’s lips, released with her resignation. Her shoulders sagged. Exhaustion hung around her like a cloud. In a single night, her world had changed completely.

A sympathetic smile slipped over Cass’s lips. “Welcome to my world.”

Alyx rubbed her face into her palms, the smallest groan rumbling from her chest.

Cass patted Alyx’s shoulder. “I’d say you get used to it, but I’m still waiting for that to happen.”

“How do you do it?” Alyx asked.

“Do what?” Cass’s head cocked to the side.

“You said your world has no magic. No skills, no stats, no system. I can’t imagine such a world. I can’t imagine surviving in such a world when this is all I’ve known, and I can’t imagine the reverse is any easier.

“One small piece of my world shattered today, and all I can manage is numb acceptance. Should I be mad that I’ve been lied to this whole time? Should I be honored to know the truth? Should I accept it as truth and move on? Should I swear vengeance on the god responsible?”

Alyx’s voice shook as her hidden emotions cracked through her facade. “Were the Copper Crescent right? Are dragons dangerous monsters waiting to explode into civilization-destroying madness?” Alyx shook her head, walking away from Cass and the Spire’s edge. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t—I shouldn’t dump this on you. You—” Alyx took a forced deep breath, grasping at her composure. “You should stay in our guest room tonight. We owe you that much, at least.”

Cass could feel the formal walls coming back up. She shook her head. “You don’t owe me anything, Alyx.”

“I have not forgotten that you saved my life or the sacrifice you made to ensure I acquired the Major Blessing. Tonight’s actions cannot be ignored, either. Kelstor owes you his freedom. My family owes you the lives of my brothers. How can I claim not to owe you?”

Cass sighed. “No. No. No. I’m done with that. Did you break into the temple to save the dragonlings or me?”

“Well, once I knew they were also there—”

“Me, got it, thank you,” Cass cut her off. “You skipped dragon events to find me. You bet your future on a chance to find me a way home. You threw yourself into a fight with a demon and a level 40 fighter to rescue me. We only won because Kelstor was there.”

“But my family—”

“What family?” Cass shouted. “You don’t like them!”

“I like Ahryn well enough,” Alyx muttered.

“Don’t shoulder the debts of people who hate you.”

Alyx looked away, Cass’s words echoing in the night. Her hands clenched around her sword pommel. She whispered, “But you care so much about your family.”

“And my family doesn’t try to murder or disown me! It’s not the same.”

“Then why did you put so much effort into rescuing them?” Alyx said ‘them,’ but they both knew she meant Kohen.

Cass looked away. It was foolish. It was soft. It very well might get her killed one day. But she had too many reasons.

No one deserved to die a demon.

She didn’t want to kill.

“He’s Ahryn’s brother, too,” Cass said finally.

Alyx looked away.

“But your father made it clear tonight. No one will thank you for paying their debts. Forget them. You don’t owe me.”

Alyx glared at the dirt between them. “Why do you do this?”

“Do what?”

Alyx’s hand clenched around her sword hilt. “Cut away everything.”

“Everything?”

In the smallest voice, Alyx whispered, “Every pretense.”

Cass shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“You should just say it if you want us to go separate ways.”

Cass raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“You don’t need to systematically remove every reason I have to be near you.”

“You’ll never believe this, but that clears up exactly nothing.”

“Why are you always obtuse?” Alyx’s voice rose. “I’m saying that my debt is the only tie we have to one another. Without it, we’re strangers.”

Cass squinted at her. “What is this now?”

“You aren’t waiting for me to find you a way home,” Alyx said. “The duchess can do that better than I can. You don’t need me. And how can you trust me? I advocated for Salos’s death. We’re probably worse off than strangers.”

The wind whipped between them.

Cass restrained a sigh. “Is that all you think of us?”

Alyx didn’t look up. Her gaze remained fixed on the ground. She nodded. “I couldn’t hope for more.”

Cass actually sighed that time. “You’re an idiot.”

Alyx hazarded a glance up.

“You’re an idiot,” Cass said again, catching her eyes. “I’m gonna pretend we didn’t have this conversation, because I think you’ll be embarrassed by it in a minute.”

“What?”

“We should talk about where we’re going next,” Cass continued. “Obviously, our plans may change once I’ve gotten a look at the Vault. But right now, I’d like to look into some of the god’s strongholds. Do you have anywhere in particular you’d like to go?”

“Where we are going next?” Alyx repeated dumbly. Her eyes widened. “You—You still want—”

Cass stopped and waited for her.

“You’re not still mad at me?” Alyx asked.

“Do you still want to kill Salos?” Cass asked.

“Well, no, but—”

“If I can forgive Salos for trying to kill me that one time, I think I can forgive you for being scared enough to suggest killing him.” Cass’s tone dropped like ice as she added, “Just don’t do it again.” And then she was back to her cheery self. “We should probably not tell him, though. He’s not particularly forgiving.”

“Thanks, I—Wait. What was that about him trying to kill you?”

Ch. 73: Afterparty

Kohen led Cass to the banquet hall. Music played loudly. At the head table, the duchess’s dragon overlooked the room. On either side sat the dragonlings and their knights. Or Cass assumed it was the dragonlings and their knights.

On the matron’s right was undoubtedly Ahryn and Emenes, Ahryn dressed in a suit of shimmering silver to match Emenes’s silver scales. He wore a large circular broach—or maybe it was supposed to be a mask?—with a swirling design over its face, over his left breast. He leaned into his dragon, but otherwise looked healthy.

On the matron’s left was Fioreya and a crimson dragonling, the same shade of crimson as Fioreya’s soul. The dragonlings had been white before, and yet, from the shape of the dragonling’s face and the curve of her horns, it was almost certainly Velkora. That made Fioreya the second new dragon knight this year.

On the other side of Ahryn sat Alyx and Kelstor. Alyx had changed into an amber tunic with a pair of red dragons embroidered up the front panels.

The other dragons filled in the outer ring of the banquet hall, each sitting beside their knight.

Countless other nobles filled the rest of the hall. Many clustered around one or another of the knights and their dragons, especially the older nobles. Others moved from table to table, exchanging drinks or food with the knights before moving on again.

“That’s—” Kohen’s breath caught in his throat as he stared at the dragon beside Alyx. “But, he’s dead.”

Oh, Kohen had been rabid when Kelstor showed up and not much better off when Kelstor recovered. He probably didn’t remember. “He’s not. The Copper Crescent kidnapped him.”

Kohen’s mouth shot open to argue, but a strange look flickered across his face before those words could form. Softly, imperceptibly, Kohen muttered, “That was Kelstor. Goddess, that was Kelstor. What did I—But I didn’t. But, I remember…”

Cass patted his shoulder gently. How many of the cultists had he eaten? How many had tortured Kelstor? How many of those memories remained on his psyche?

Could she have done a better job of fixing him? Could she have filtered out that which was Kohen from that which wasn’t? Had she known what she was doing, would it have been possible to have put him back to how he had been?

The alternative had been to kill him, she reminded herself. Her best was all she could do.

“Ko!” a familiar voice shouted before Kohen could answer. Tiador waved as he approached, a pair of narrow fluted glasses in his other hand.

“Tiador!” It wasn’t quite a panicked squeak that escaped Kohen’s voice at the sight of his friend. And it wasn’t quite a begging look out the corner of his eye at Cass as he said it. But Cass could read the lines.

Cass grinned. She didn’t plan on doing anything, but making him sweat was more than a little appealing.

“You finally made it!” Tiador said, handing one of the two glasses to Kohen. “And, is that Mage Yuan? What brings you here together?”

“How much have you heard about today’s activities, Mr. Ophir?” Cass asked, partly because she thought it was a suitably teasing opening and partly because she legitimately didn’t know how much the duchess wanted to cover up the kidnapping of the dragonlings and the cult's involvement.

“Something about the cult of Fortitude being thrown out of the city,” Tiador said.

“Is that all they’ve made public?” Cass asked.

“Is there more?” he asked.

Cass shrugged. “Not my place to say.”

He chuckled. “I doubt very much you care much about your ‘place’, Mage Yuan.”

Cass laughed. “Was it that obvious?”

“An unaffiliated mage doesn’t start rubbing shoulders with the nobility of Vaisom otherwise, my lady. But you were about to tell me all the details about today’s events?”

Cass smiled slyly. “I don’t remember saying that. But I will say that Kohen and I were both integral to the cult’s expulsion, and our injuries kept us from the earlier ceremonies.”

“Oh, come now, you can’t leave it at that,” he weaseled.

Cass shook her head. The last thing she wanted to do right now was tell people about her day. “I’m afraid I need to check in with Alyx, maybe after.”

Tiador made a show of pouting. “And here I thought Ko had finally recruited you.”

“Not a chance,” Cass said. She should leave it at that. But mischief whispered to her. A grin slipped over her lips as she spoke. “In fact, it might just be the opposite.”

Kohen’s face blanched. Horror filled his eyes.

Tiador raised an eyebrow. “Oh, now I hadn’t thought about that. This changes everything, doesn’t it?”

There was an affected quality to his surprise, like this was a show he put on for someone else. Kohen, probably.

“I wouldn’t know,” Cass said with a neutral smile. This was about as far into Vaisom politics as she wanted to stick her nose. “But please, excuse me.” She pushed past the nobleman toward Alyx.

“We should offer Lady Alyx our congratulations as well,” Tiador said. “Perhaps we can discuss this more with her?”

Cass shrugged as Kohen’s nose wrinkled.

“Come on, Ko.” Tiador prodded him.

Cass ignored them. She’d rather they didn’t follow her, but it was a party. She had no authority to keep them from doing so if that was what they wanted.

Before she’d made it halfway across the banquet hall, a man approached Alyx’s table.

Thaycer Delim Veldor.

Alyx’s father.

He said something to her.

Alyx stood up, her hand clenched around her sword’s hilt.

Kelstor bared his fangs.

Cass walked faster.

Ahryn was at Alyx’s side.

The rest of the guests had scooted out of the way.

Cass pressed her way to the front of the crowd, Kohen at her heels.

“You promised to make me heir,” Alyx said, her voice a barely controlled growl. “Do you have no shame?”

Thaycer snorted. “Don’t misconstrue what was promised. I said if neither of my sons earned a dragon, and you did, I would name you heir.” He shot a pointed look at Ahryn. “And one of my sons did not disappoint me. For once.

“Ergo, it is you who must fulfill her promises. What was it you wagered again? Right. Renounce the name Veldor and leave Velillia.”

Alyx’s hand clenched into a death grip around her sword.

“Father, don’t do that,” Ahryn interjected.

“Not now, boy.” Thaycer didn’t even look at him as he spoke, his gloating eyes never leaving Alyx.

“Who will you name heir then?” Alyx demanded. “Ahryn? Kohen, despite his lack of dragon?”

“I fail to see how that’s any of your business now,” Thaycer said. “That is a conversation for my children about the future of my family.

“You have until the end of the Festival to leave before I use force to remove you.” And like that, he turned and walked away. The crowd parted before him.

But Cass didn’t move.

He actually sighed at the sight of her.

Cass, Salos hissed in her ear.

She knew she was in no state to fight him.

He was level 41. She was barely at the Gate.

He was at full Health with all his resources. Cass was scraping by with what was left.

He was a noble with all the power of his title and name to back that up. Cass was just Cass.

She lost a bet, Salos whispered. This isn’t an injustice that needs to be righted.

But she only did it for me, Cass said. She only lost because I encouraged Emenes to bond with Ahryn.

Everyone made their choices. You didn’t force anyone to do anything.

This is still cruel.

That’s how it is sometimes.

Alyx shook her head, her eyes pleading Cass to step out of the way.

Cass grit her teeth and stepped aside.

Thaycer stalked through, not even glancing her way.

The crowds dispersed into hoards of gossips as he left, leaving Cass as one of the few still standing by Alyx’s section of the table.

“Thank you,” Alyx said. Her words were directed at Cass, but her eyes were still on the back of her father’s head.

Cass nodded.

“He can’t do that to you.” Ahryn crossed his arms over his chest.

“Why not?” Kohen asked as he stepped up between the two of them. “Why should he make Alyx heir? She’s not a Delim.”

Alyx snorted. “What? You aren’t thinking he’ll still pick you, do you?”

Kohen bristled.

“Why shouldn’t he pick Kohen?” Ahryn asked.

“Have a little pride,” Alyx said. “If it’s not me, it will be you.”

Ahryn’s mouth made a little ‘oh’.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Kohen said. “You know as well as I do why he won’t name Ahryn heir.”

“Get lost, Kohen,” Alyx said.

“Happily,” Kohen sneered. “Come on, Tiador.”

Tiador raised a hand like he was going to say something, but clearly thought better of it and just gave Alyx, Ahryn, and their dragons a polite nod and wave before turning to follow Kohen away.

Alyx shook her head, a disgusted look on her lips. “We should have just killed him.”

“You don’t mean that,” Cass said softly.

Alyx grumbled. “Would you think less of me if I did?”

“Do you care what I think?”

Alyx didn’t answer. The silence grew between the two of them.

“I’m glad you saved him,” Ahryn said. His voice was meek, barely audible over the murmur of the other partygoers and the melody of the party’s music.

Before Cass or Alyx could comment on that, the music lulled into the background, and every eye turned toward the hall’s doors.

The duchess stood in the entryway in black, silken robes embroidered in shimmering silver. She all but glowed, her presence filling the room.

Her dark eyes scanned the room, settling uncomfortably long on Cass before moving on again.

Cass shivered, her every fiber screaming to stand perfectly still and to bolt at the same time.

“Good, we are all here,” the duchess said as she strode into the room. Her robe’s train trailed behind her. A kind of silence filled the room, making her words crystal clear, though the music behind her had not lessened. It was as if the air itself believed her words should be privileged over all other sound. “I know many of you have questions about tonight’s events. You should. I would expect nothing less.

“What we know now is that the Order of the Copper Crescent had been hiding in our city these last twelve years. We know our dragonlings were kidnapped.”

Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Muted by whatever skill the duchess used to project her voice over the room, but potent all the same.

“Wasn’t the cult expelled years ago?” whispered one person.

“How did they kidnap dragons?” muttered another.

“Wasn’t Lady Sellen in charge of them?”

The duchess arrived at the raised dais and high table. She didn’t need the extra height to dominate the room, but she stepped up beside her dragon, anyway. Her voice cut above the murmurs. “We also know the cult has since been annihilated.”

The bodies lying over the cathedral floor flashed across Cass’s eyes. Yes, ‘annihilated’ was the word. Or maybe ‘slaughtered’.

“The details are still being investigated, but what is clear already is that if not for the efforts of several of our young warriors, we would have had a repeat of twelve years ago,” the duchess continued. “I would like to publicly thank them now. Lady Alyx Aretios Veldor, Lord Ahryn Delim Veldor, Lord Kohen Delim Veldor, Lady Mage Cass Yuan, Lady Mage Pellen Ioptes, please step before me.”

Pellen was here? Oh. Yeah, right there, in the doorway. Had she entered with the duchess? Besides the duchess’s presence, Cass hadn’t noticed.

The five of them lined up in front of the duchess. The Veldor children all bowed their heads before their grandmother. Pellen bowed much deeper, all her eyes fixed on the tile at her feet. Cass copied Alyx.

“If not for these five, we would not have discovered the dragonling’s disappearance or location until it was too late. These five are the reason we could complete our celebration tonight and why we were able to welcome Velkora and Emenes to the System.”

To the five of them, the duchess added, “I would like to reward each of you for your role. Name your desire and, within reason, I will see it fulfilled.”

Gasps erupted from those nearby. Pellen covered her mouth in surprise.

A favor from the duchess? This was it, wasn’t it? Surely she had the power and influence to find Cass a way home?

“Think over what you want. We will discuss it in more detail separately,” the duchess continued. To the party at large, “A round of applause to our young heroes.”

Murmurs turned to cheers.

“You all will be kept abreast of further details of tonight as we uncover more about how and why this happened. But for now, rejoice, for the dastardly plot of Copper was foiled and their ilk extinguished!”

The cheers roared with the duchess’s proclamation, and the party’s energy redoubled.

Ch.72: Command

Kohen’s mouth slammed shut. His body froze in place.

Silence enveloped the courtyard.

Is there any way that was anything else? she asked.

Maybe it’s the scalpel? Salos suggested, his words drowning in unease.

Right, Cass said. That was possible. Sure, it was already stashed in her Bag, but maybe that was enough. She fumbled through her Bag for it. Take this to the far side of the atrium.

Sure. Salos took it in his mouth and scampered away.

When Salos was far enough away, she turned back to Kohen, still standing perfectly still in the courtyard’s center.

She hated to do this, but she needed to confirm it was just the scalpel. She needed it to be just the scalpel. “Sit down.”

She didn’t put any force in the order. No more than when she’d told him to wait in the infirmary. It wasn’t to the degree Salos would have been affected had he been her target.

Kohen dropped to a seat on the floor.

Cass’s eyes widened. She’d expected him to sit on the trim of one of the stone planter boxes. Why had he, without hesitation, dropped to the floor?

He stared at her, a confused frown spreading over his lips, his eyebrows knitting together.

Cass groaned into her hands. It wasn’t the scalpel.

“What did you—” Kohen asked, his voice rising with each word.

Cass cut him off. “Don’t talk, stay there.”

She turned away from him, pacing the length of the courtyard, her thoughts churning. That was a Command.

It couldn’t be anything else, but she needed Salos to contradict her. Tell her it was something else. Anything else.

Yes.

Hell.

Cass shook her head, her mind whirling. But there was only one question. Why?

I have two theories, Salos offered.

Sure. Hit me with them.

Option 1: When you subdued him, the system gave him to you, similar to how I was given to you after you subdued me.

Cass shook her head. I can control when I give you a Command. I’m not trying to do this.

There are a couple of reasons that might be, Salos said slowly. One is theory 2, which I will get to in a moment. Other reasons might be that you and I are closer entwined than you and he are.

I would have thought that would have the opposite effect, Cass said.

Normally, I would agree. However, I think—though I don’t know to what degree—that I have access to some of your Traits.

What? Which ones?

Well, definitely your bonus to range. Back in Uvana, I was offered the option of applying one of my skills to your friend. The skill in question was decidedly not a shareable buff, yet I was able to do it anyway.

Anything else? Cass asked.

Not that I’ve noticed, Salos said. Definitely not stat bonuses. But, maybe, without knowing, I have benefited from Contrary Will. Maybe, without it, I would be as malleable as he is.

Kohen still sat frozen and mute in the center of the courtyard. How long would her commands last? If she left him like that, would he faint from exhaustion before her orders wore off? Would her Command hold him in place beyond that?

How did she cancel a Command?

Theory 2: You imprinted your Will on him when you forced his soul back into shape, Salos continued.

What does that mean? Cass asked.

Will is your ability to impress your desires on the world around you. This is why it is a favored stat of mages who fundamentally alter the world with their focus. But it is also directed subtly on those around you. With a higher Will, your words sound more reasonable. A high enough Will, and you can change the opinions of those around you simply by stating your own.

Cass shuddered. Would she have invested in the stat if she’d known it would do that? How high is ‘high enough’?

Salos shrugged. Several hundred more than the target’s Resolve? Less if you have a specific skill to facilitate the effect. A skill like Kohen’s Noble Authority, perhaps? Less again if the target was already wavering in your direction anyway.

In any case, you reforged his soul when you fixed him, Salos continued. I would not be surprised to learn that his mental state was unconsciously keyed to your Will from that process.

Is that how that works? Cass asked.

Well, I don’t think anyone has ever done what you did, so who knows? This is entirely speculation on my part. Whatever it is, he’s unusually receptive to your Will.

I didn’t want this, Cass muttered. How do I free him?

I suspect that you don’t.

There must be some way to release him from this, at least. Cass gestured vaguely at the still frozen Kohen.

Oh. Probably, Salos shrugged. Try another Command.

For someone who hated being Commanded, you’re rather cavalier at the prospect of me Commanding someone else, Cass commented.

I still think you should kill him. Salos shrugged again. He should be grateful for any existence more than that.

Cass shook her head. She didn’t know about that.

“At ease?” Cass said, feeling all kinds of awkward. Again, her words rang through the air.

Kohen’s body physically relaxed as they washed over him. But only for a moment. He shot up, fire in his eyes. “What was that?”

Cass bit her lip. How did she explain?

“Show a little more respect,” Salos growled from her shoulder. “This is your master. She holds your life in her hands.”

“Salos, please,” Cass begged him. That was the last thing she wanted.

“I’m not wrong,” he grumbled.

“Don’t ignore me!” Kohen yelled. “I am—” his words caught in his throat as he stumbled over his name. “I am a son of Veldor. You can’t manipulate me. It was one thing when you ignored my orders, but you can’t do that to me. I’m higher level. I’m the grandson of a duchess. I’m the high priestess of—” He stopped short as the words poured from his mouth.

Cass sighed. “This isn’t a skill. I’m not manipulating you.”

“There will be consequences for using such a forceful social skill on me.” His bluster was wearing down. She could hear—could feel—the panic behind what was supposed to be a strong front.

Cass shook her head. “You don’t listen to others, do you? It isn’t a skill.”

“I’m—” He clenched his chest. “I’m—I’m a higher level than you. You can’t have the stats to affect me like this. Who is backing you? Alyx can’t do this. Who do you really serve? What do you want from me?” His words rambled, faster and faster.

“Quiet, for just a minute, then you can say what you want again,” Cass said, silencing him. Again, without trying—against her wishes—it hit him like a Command. His mouth snapped shut. She sighed. She had a minute now. “You understand you are a demon? Nod if you do.”

He nodded.

“Demons are monsters, rabid beasts out to kill and destroy. Sound familiar?”

He nodded again.

“That’s because their souls are broken. They are always trying to shove pieces of other souls into the cracks in their own. I fixed your broken edges. I fixed your soul.”

His eyes widened. Surprise? Disbelief? Cass didn’t know. But her minute was running out, so she barreled on.

“I think, when I did that, the system decided that you belonged to me.”

There was disbelief in his eyes for sure that time. Her minute ended, leaving no doubt. “No.”

Cass shrugged. “I don’t think you’ll believe me, but I’m not any happier about it.”

“I don’t.” He paced away from Cass, shaking his head. “This doesn’t make sense. I can’t be controlled like this. I can’t let anyone know. No one can know.”

Cass sighed. She could see where this was going. “Let’s not do anything rash.”

Kohen spun on his heel to face Cass from the other side of the courtyard.

“Rash?” He sneered. “No. Nothing rash.” He stepped toward her, his left hand raised, magic gathering around his too-long fingertips.

“Stop,” Cass said.

He froze in place, the magic dissipating from his hand.

“What part of this do you not understand?” Cass asked.

“You should just kill him,” Salos repeated.

“Here?” Cass gestured at the palace around them. “Now?”

“You could order him to kill himself,” Salos suggested.

Kohen blanched.

“You could make him do it somewhere very public.” Salos glared at Kohen from her shoulder, his eyes unblinking.

“Unpleasant,” Cass muttered. “That’s a very unpleasant thought, you know that?” But she could hardly argue. That would be, without a doubt, the easiest way to ‘deal’ with Kohen. But it was just about every kind of disagreeable to Cass. “How long do you think my Commands last?”

“Certainly indefinitely,” Salos said aloud. Not actually. I don’t know. Not something we could test easily, either.

Cass was afraid of that. Well, she didn’t want to test it regardless, but the ability to Command him not to hurt her ever would have been nice.

“So that’s how that is,” Cass said to Kohen. “These are your options: 1. We can go with Salos’s plan. 2. I can compel you to be a good little servant. 3. You can sincerely agree to stop trying to hurt me. Answer: which of the three would you prefer?”

Kohen glowered. “You can’t compel me.”

Cass rubbed her forehead. “That wasn’t one of the listed options. Let’s try again. Give me a single word answer, 1, 2, or 3, which option would you prefer?”

Kohen grit his teeth.

It should not have been a difficult question. #3 should have been the only acceptable choice. It was the only one Cass liked.

“This is why my plan is the right one,” Salos said with a yawn.

Cass glared at him.

Salos just shrugged.

“Two.” The words ground out of Kohen’s mouth, dragged from his lips like a fish from the depths.

Cass raised an eyebrow. That was not what she had expected.

He can’t honestly say he would sincerely agree to stop trying to hurt you, Salos said.

Why is he like this? Cass groaned.

Pride, Salos suggested.

“Fine. If that’s how it has to be,” Cass said. “Do not attempt to hurt me or my allies or conspire with others to do the same.”

He flinched as her words hit him. “You think your little words can stop me?”

Cass shrugged. She spread her arms wide.

His hand flew up, gathering magic. Bolts of lightning formed around his raised hand. His eyes burned into her.

Would this work? Could Commands stop future action, or was their effect limited to immediate results?

Well, she was reasonably sure that with her new trait, even if those hit her, it would only sting.

He waved his hand at her.

Cass held her ground.

Every bolt hit the floor, forming a perfect circle of scorches on the cobblestone.

His jaw clenched and his brow furled.

“Satisfied yet?” Cass asked.

“This is a trick,” he said. “You can manipulate lightning. You—you did this!”

Cass rubbed her temples. She was done with this. They were well past the point of willful ignorance. And frankly, it wasn’t her job to convince him.

“You can believe that if that’s what you want,” Cass said. “In the meantime, lead the way to Alyx, would you?”

“I don’t know where Alyx is,” Kohen almost looked smug as he said it. A little twisted to brag about not knowing something, but Cass supposed she’d be taking those wins too if someone was routinely overriding her free will.

Hell, she was commanding him around like it was a matter of course already. She rubbed her forehead again. He was just annoying enough that she barely felt guilty doing it to him.

“Sure,” Cass said. “Take me where you think she most likely is, then.”

“I refuse to be treated as a common servant,” Kohen complained even as he started walking back into the palace.

“Don’t tempt me,” Cass said, following him a step behind. “If you start getting on my nerves,” or more accurately, if he pushed her nerves any further, “I will order you to hold the doors for me along the way.”

“You wouldn’t,” Kohen sneered.

“Last warning.”

Kohen’s mouth snapped shut, his pace increasing.

Cass snorted. It seemed he was capable of shutting up if threatened enough.

Ch. 71: Unwilling

“Why do you have that?”

His voice jolted Cass out of her internal discussions with Salos.

Her bed was not the only one in the infirmary, and she was not the only occupant.

Kohen sat on the bed beside her. He stared at the soul scalpel in her hands.

“You should not have that,” he said.

“You know what this is?” Cass asked, waving it at him.

“Obviously,” he snapped.

Cass glanced at Salos. Did that mean this was common? His little cat shoulders shrugged.

“The better question is the one I asked you.” His words carried authority, pressuring her to talk. But compared to his father or grandmother, it was laughably weak. Barely even a suggestion. “Why do you have that?”

“Where do you think I got it from?” Cass glared at Kohen. She didn’t feel a particular need to hide where she’d gotten the scalpel from, and if he’d just asked her politely from the start, she probably would have just told him. Just because he’d come in strong, demanding things like it was owed to him, she was reluctant to tell him anything.

He smugly raised an eyebrow and snorted. “I’m asking the questions. Where did you get that?”

Why had she put so much effort into saving this boy again?

What do you think? Cass asked. Does he actually know what this is, or did he just Identify it and see it was unusual?

It is difficult to Identify things belonging to others unless permission is given, Salos said. So, if he recognizes this, it is likely because he’s seen one before.

You think the cultists used it on him? Cass asked. She still didn’t know how he had become a demon. Maybe the cultists had done it to him?

Only one way to find out. Salos grimaced.

“The cultists had it,” Cass said, finally. “Where have you seen these before?”

“Cultists?” he sneered. “You mean the Order of the Copper Crescent?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.” They were a cult. They sacrificed people to their god for fun and profit. She couldn’t imagine why he cared enough to make her use their full name.

Or maybe there were more cults wandering around Vaisom, and she needed to be more specific? She shuddered at the thought. She sure hoped not.

Then again, a cult to Dexterity would not surprise her, given Dexterity’s temperament and reputation.

He winced, his hand holding his forehead. His long fingers curled into a silver streak of hair amid his purple locks. Through grit teeth, he said, “That should not have left our halls.”

“Our halls?” Cass’s frown deepened. Kohen shouldn’t have any connection to the cult or the Temple.

“Cursed demon,” he hissed. His hand clenched tighter at his scalp. “What have you done to me?”

“What?” Alarm shot through Cass. Not her own. Not entirely.

Salos launched from Cass’s lap. He slammed into the Veldor boy, pinning him back on the bed, his claws hovering over his throat.

“Salos, stop!” Cass yelled. She’d put way too much work into saving him to let Salos kill him now. Also, she had questions.

Salos froze, but did not retract his claws. “He knows.”

“And he’s an ‘esteemed’ noble of Vaisom,” Cass reminded Salos. “I doubt the penalty for murdering him will be less than the penalty for being a demon.”

Salos grumbled.

“Besides, I doubt he’d be able to report us without outing himself.” Cass shot Kohen a pointed glare.

He glared back from the bed.

“Well?” Cass pressed.

The words came like pulled fingernails. “I have no intention of telling the Jothi people about our states.”

More odd phrasing. Phrasing that echoed the ramblings of the demon he’d been.

“Salos, let him back up,” Cass said.

Salos grumbled but slunk off his chest. His gold eyes promised violence if Kohen dared make the wrong move.

“Let’s start over,” Cass said, forcing her voice to soften to something more conversational and less accusatory. She stuck a hand out to him. “I’m Cass Yuan.”

If she were wrong, he’d introduce himself as normal and all would be well. If she was right—

“I am—” he paused. His mouth cycled through a series of shapes, but no sound escaped his lips.

Cass waited patiently. She hated when she was right.

Vaisom Noble? (lvl 33)

His status still called him a Vaisom Noble, but she didn’t know what to make of the question mark attached to it. Also, ‘Vaisom’ wasn’t a race. One could be a Vaisom Noble and be a human or elf or demon, and that description still wouldn’t be wrong.

Whatever she’d done to ‘fix’ him in the Temple hadn’t returned him to his previous state. He wasn’t the demon of Blood and Lightning anymore, but he wasn’t the Kohen Delim Veldor he had been either.

Was he still a demon? Cass wasn’t entirely sure, but she doubted the answer was strictly ‘no’.

Where, exactly, was the line between demon and not? Salos had once described demons as monsters with broken souls. Amalgamations of pieces stolen from others in an attempt to make oneself whole again, yet inexplicably twisted for it.

But Salos was a demon, yet he was no amalgamation.

Kohen was not broken—there were no rough edges yearning for completion—but was he solely himself anymore? Almost certainly not. Did that make him a demon still?

And what about her? Was her connection to Salos on the same level as two souls mixing? Or was there a harder delineation? Was the fact that they were still two people enough to confidently call her a slyphid and him a demon? Or was the flow between them enough to ‘taint’ her as well?

“I am—” Kohen(?) tried again. Again, whatever he intended to say caught in his throat.

“It’s okay,” Cass said quietly.

“Why,” he whispered. He stared down at his hands. “I can see it. I know it. But it slips away every time I try to say it. Even as I think it, it squirms out of my grasp.” He looked up at Cass, red eyes wide and scared. “What happened to me?”

He looked so small all of a sudden. So fragile.

What do you think? Cass asked Salos. Is he in the same place as you?

No, not by a long shot, Salos said. He has his own body; I only have a manifestation of your energy. I am bound to your service; it is unclear if anyone holds his reins.

Does the system own him then? Cass asked. Since he doesn’t seem to have a name?

That might be it, Salos agreed.

What does that mean, practically? Cass asked.

Outside a system curated zone, probably not much, Salos said, but his words wavered with uncertainty. I don’t think I have ever seen someone with this level of sentience owned by the system.

“Kohen,” Cass said softly. “Does that sound familiar?”

He frowned pensively. He mouthed the name.

“Kohen Delim Veldor,” Cass said for him.

“Was that it?” He repeated the name over and over, yet something about it sounded awkward on his tongue.

“What do you remember last?” Cass asked him.

“The cathedral of Fortitude,” he said. “I was attacked by a—a demon? Or Ahryn was. No. A cultist was going to sacrifice Ahryn. She tore open my soul. I had to consume the soul core to survive. To protect the ritual?” He shook his head, grabbing it between his hands. “None of that makes sense. And I know it doesn’t. But that’s what I remember.”

“And further back than that?” Cass asked. “Do you remember what you were doing this afternoon?”

“I was competing for a dragon.” He looked up, his eyes wide again. “The dragonlings! I need to go. What time is it? The choosing ceremony is tonight.”

He threw the bleached sheets off and pushed himself out of the bed.

“Wait,” Cass said. She had more questions. Her word rippled through the room with more force than she’d intended.

He froze a step from the bed.

Cass froze too. Had that been—

No. She didn’t have that kind of power. Not over him.

“I’m coming too,” Cass said. That hadn’t been what she’d initially intended. But suddenly the only questions that mattered were ones she didn’t want the answers to.

“Fine,” he said, his tone arrogant again. “But keep up.”

He didn’t wait for her to stand before speed walking out the door.

You are going to just let him go like that? Salos asked.

Cass pushed herself back to her feet, trying to ignore how her entire body swayed under her weight. I’m going with him, aren’t I?

But you could have—

I just want to get back to Alyx, Cass lied. A different nest of questions waited there, but at least Cass had been preparing herself for the worst answers to those.

Salos hopped onto her shoulder with a disbelieving side eye.

She followed Kohen through the palace halls. It was as grand as she’d remembered it. Long, wide corridors stretched around her, into vaulted, stained-glass ceilings. Beautiful colors drifted down, coloring the white stone floors in the patterns from above.

Kohen walked with purpose, sparing not a glance at any of it, directly through the palace to a wide courtyard.

It was a nine-sided court, paved in cobble and glass. Planter boxes overflowed with greenery around the edges. Cass might have called the courtyard an atrium, as walls of stone enclosed it on every side. The palace walls, opening into the palace halls with yawning arches, surrounded it on eight sides. The last wall, a natural stone face opening into a gaping cave, gave Cass pause.

And it was entirely empty.

Only the three of them—Cass, Salos, and Kohen—stood under the moonlight.

“No,” he muttered. His hands clenched at his sides. “No. No. No. It is supposed to be here.” His head whipped back and forth, like he could make the dragonlings appear if he only looked hard enough. “It is supposed to be here. I have to be a knight. I can’t—” He spun and turned on Cass. “You!”

Cass stepped back. “Me?”

“You did this.” He pushed a finger into her chest. “Did Alyx put you up to it? Knock me out until after the ceremony? Was that her plan to steal the dragonling from me?”

Cass slapped his hand away. “That’s crazy. I saved your life.”

“This was your compromise, then? Ruin my future instead?”

Ungrateful. He’d nearly killed her while she’d done everything in her power to save him. “What are you talking about? Ruin your future? You didn’t have a future.” If he’d still been rampaging by the time the duchess arrived, he definitely would have been killed, never mind what she or Alyx might have wanted.

“Where is she?” Kohen demanded. “I didn’t take her for a coward to send her minion. How much does she intend to insult me?”

“Are you listening at all?” Cass yelled back. “There is no plot. No secret conspiracy against you.”

“Liar,” he hissed. “You are a liar.” He punctuated each word with a jab at her chest.

“Stop that!” Cass slapped his hand away, her voice ringing through the atrium. It resounded with authority. No, this was more than the authority that backed the duchess’s words to her subjects. It was far more than the weight Kohen so often brandished on those around him.

There was no denying it.

Her words were a Command.

And he complied. Because he didn’t have a choice.

Ch. 70: Stats

Congratulations on reaching the Gate, by the way, Salos said.

Oh, right. With everything else, she’d just about forgotten. It was a blatant topic change, but Cass ran with it.

Level 27, Cass said as she pulled up her stats window.

[Str - 20 Dex - 64 End - 50

Wll - 90 Ala - 81 Res - 61

Frt - 20 Per - 40 Vit - 37

Free Points: 41]

She had come a long way today. Hell, had this all been one day?

How normal are four levels in a single day? Cass asked.

Highly unusual, Salos answered. But so is fighting that many opponents far beyond your level-class at once. Most fight things at or below their level. It’s safer. Only the lucky, the gifted, or the genius can survive fights against opponents with more stats. And only the very lucky do it as consistently as you have.

Cass wasn’t sure she’d call herself lucky. She was pretty sure it took a particular magnitude of bad luck to get yanked across universes, but well, her continued survival here was something else as well.

Any advice on stat distribution here? Cass asked Salos.

Nothing new, Salos said. Keep doing what you’ve been doing. Though you may consider making sure all your stats have at least 27 points.

Why? Cass asked.

Because 27 is a nice round number, Salos said, a laughing jab in his voice.

27 isn’t round, Cass interrupted before he could get to—what she assumed were—his real reasons.

What do you mean? How do you get rounder than 27? 3 by 3 by 3? It’s round, no matter how you look at it.

Round numbers are numbers that end in zeros, Cass said flatly.

What? Salos shook his head.

Panic shot through Cass as the possibility that this world hadn’t come up with the abstraction of the number zero dawned on her. Or worse, what if they didn’t use a positional numbering system? Did they use something like Roman numerals? Tallies?

What would you consider another ‘round’ number? Cass asked, filled with dread.

9? Salos suggested. 18, 54, 81?

And what do those all have in common? Cass asked.

They’re round, Salos said.

Cass rubbed her face. That couldn’t be it. Could it? There was only one thing those numbers all had in common.

She should have noticed sooner. All the system milestones were on multiples of 9.

Jothi uses a base-9 numbering system? Cass asked.

Base-9? Salos repeated slowly. Oh, interesting. What an unusual concept. That implies your language uses a different ‘base’?

Not important, Cass decided. It seemed like her language skill smoothed over most of the numbering differences—though now she had questions about the explanation Alyx had given her about currency, had her ‘100’ been a base-9 100 or a base-10 100?—and she could investigate the details later if it became important. What are the real reasons I should increase my stats to 27 across the board?

Ah, right. Simply, there is a bonus for doing so. The system gives out a reward for 27 stats at level 27.

Well, that was a good enough answer for Cass. She was only under 27 on two stats (Str and Frt), and she’d planned to increase Frt when she got the chance, anyway.

Str 20 -> 27

Frt 20 -> 27

Trait Earned: 27 at 27

[Twenty-seven or more across the board and only at level 27! Are you an all-rounder or is your power so overwhelming that even your lowest stats have reached these heights?

+ 3% to all Stats]

[Str - 27 Dex - 66 End - 51

Wll - 92 Ala - 83 Res - 62

Frt - 27 Per - 41 Vit - 38

Free Points: 41]

It wasn’t a huge boost, but it was another 10 points across the board, or more than a level’s worth of stats. And as a percent boost, it would keep rewarding her going forward.

Now, what to do with the rest of her free points?

Given that she was badly injured again and did not foresee that changing anytime soon, she dropped a handful of points into Vit.

Vit 38 -> 40

Maybe a few more points in Dex would keep her out of trouble in the future, too.

Dex 66 -> 70

Then the rest of it into her mental stats? That seemed like a good idea to her.

Wll 92 -> 100

Ala 83 -> 90

Res 62 -> 70

That was an increase of more points than she’d had free points, but the discrepancy came from her percent bonuses.

Overall, there was something highly pleasing about so many of her stats ending in zeros. It wouldn’t last, of course, but she could enjoy it for now.

She had one more point available. She tossed it at Frt as it was still tied for last place, and not because it was one of her stats that didn’t end in zero.

Frt 27 -> 28

Once again, she couldn’t help but be amazed by how far she’d come.

She had exited the Catacombs at level 23. In so little time, she’d hit level 27, the Gate, and all the power that came with it. All her stats had grown:

Lvl 23 -> 27

Str 20 -> 27

Dex 60 -> 70

End 46 -> 51

Wll 78 -> 100

Ala 74 -> 90

Res 59 -> 70

Frt 20 -> 28

Per 36 -> 41

Vit 37 -> 40

It was a jump from 430 stats to 517. A 20% increase. And it was only going to keep growing.

It was easy not to notice the changes when they crept up point by point, but dropping so many points all at once made the difference clear.

The room and everything in it were sharper than they had been. The medicine bottles aligned on the top shelf, their labels clear and legible even from where she sat. The scent of lime, cutting across her own body odor and the lingering stink of blood. The pulse of the wind outside, pressing against the windowpane, impatient and unyielding.

Her mind so easily cataloged these details and more, filing them away to be called up at a moment’s notice. Her thoughts idled at a leisurely pace, but with hardly a stretch, she could whip that speed to far beyond any Earthly human processing.

She hadn’t moved, but she could feel the power of her muscles lying in wait to be released. There was a sense hanging over her that if she moved too suddenly, she’d break something. And with her suddenly raised Fortitude, she was certain it wouldn’t be her.

She was more again. And would be more still.

Unrelated, Salos said as she finished applying her stats, but I found something in the Temple. Dig around in that Bag of yours. I slipped it into your Bag for later when you weren’t looking. Also, it’s too easy to slip things into that without you noticing. Increase your Perception.

You should have said that before I distributed my stats, Cass said as she rummaged inside her Bag. Wow, she had a lot of stuff she’d forgotten about in here. She should clean this out later.

A few minutes later, she found the object she didn’t recognize. It was a disk about the size of her palm, made of a polished black stone and covered in gold runes. It was curved so one side was convex and the other was concave.

Soul Scalpel

[Class: Tool

A device designed to slice pieces of a soul off of an already damaged soul, creating soul cores from the harvested piece.

- Grants minor Command over entities who have undergone this treatment to holder.]

What is this? Cass asked. Maybe an unnecessary question, she could read the description from Identify as well as anyone else, but one she needed to express, anyway. This unassuming disk was deeply concerning.

They were using it on the dragon, Salos answered. A paladin dropped it when I released him.

Kelstor had said they used pieces of his soul to track other demons. This must be how they harvested them.

What do I do with this now? Cass asked.

Don’t know, Salos said with a shrug. But I knew I couldn’t just leave it where I found it, either.

Cass grimaced, but she agreed. She didn’t want it. She couldn’t imagine ever using it on someone else. But she didn’t want to just toss it, either. The last thing she needed was someone with fewer scruples getting their hands on it.

Whoever made it must know things about souls, Cass said finally.

Probably, Salos agreed.

Maybe they could fix you, Cass said.

He shook his head. Don’t you have more important tasks than fool’s errands like that?

I said we’d fix you, Cass said. I haven’t changed my mind about that. Any thoughts on who made this?

He shook his head again, his head hanging low.

More questions for the pile, then. She’d love to stumble into an answer one of these days.

Soon, she promised herself. The Vault would have answers. Alyx had gotten a dragon. Surely that would guarantee her the position of her father’s heir.

And after that, her appointment with the Academy mage was quickly approaching. They’d have answers for her. They had to.

Ch. 69: Respite

Cass gasped as she regained consciousness.

CASS! Salos’s relief hit her like a wave, rolling over her and pulling her under. He could barely breathe and neither could she. Are you alright? What happened? You fainted out of nowhere!

She lay on a narrow bed with bleach white sheets. The air smelled of lime and citrus. Salos sat on her lap, his big, gold eyes staring up at her with concern.

I got a visit from another god, Cass said, briefly explaining her newest divine encounter and the rewards she had been given. Are they usually this chatty?

Salos shook his head. The gods rarely interact with their people directly. That is one reason they pick Champions. They are supposed to handle their patron’s business in this world.

Otherwise, one might receive a blessing or boon if one has devoted oneself to their patron’s service. That isn’t uncommon, but is still rarely accompanied by a long conversation.

Cass scowled. I don’t know I’d go so far as to call it ‘long’ or even a ‘conversation’. Conversation implied a back-and-forth. So far, her interactions with the gods had mostly been the gods one-sidedly declaring things.

Should I take this one at face value? Cass asked Salos. Could he have really just wanted to reward me?

Salos hummed in thought. It’s hard for me to say. If it were my god of Dexterity, I would say, probably. But this wasn’t. This was this era’s ‘Demon God’. His title is, Salos hesitated, ominous at best.

Cass could not disagree. But there was a second title that had come up. Do the gods have multiple titles?

No, Salos said. At least, they didn’t. Not Godly Titles anyway.

Godly titles being? Cass asked.

He of such-and-such, She of this-and-that, They of object-and-ideal. Titles that describe their domain and their interests. They should only have the one.

And Dexterity is He of Consuming Shadows and Slicing Betrayal? Cass said.

That is what Alyx said, yes.

So ‘He of Shifting Shadows and Stalwart Stone’ should be someone else? Cass confirmed.

Salos froze.

Salos? Cass poked him gently.

He shook his head, his eyes refocusing on her. What did you just say?

‘He of Shifting Shadows and Stalwart Stone’. That’s a different god, right? Cass repeated.

Salos’s eyes unfocused again. Absently, he said, Probably.

Hey. Cass snapped in front of his face. What’s going on?

Salos blinked again. What?

You keep zoning out. What’s up with that?

I—I am? Oh. Apologies. I—what were we talking about?

Cass pinched the bridge of her nose. Something was going on. Something System-y and/or demon-y if she had to guess.

Oh, the demon god, right? Salos said.

Cass nodded.

I think, as far as the rewards he gave you go, you can trust them. You did not agree to anything in exchange for the ‘rewards’, correct?

Cass nodded.

As far as I am aware, a god would need to set specific terms to compel you to action. As for anything else they may have said—he shrugged—I would be suspicious.

Cass skimmed through the things Dexterity had said again. For as much as he’d talked, he hadn’t said much. But he had referenced three other gods: Perception, who he seemed to confirm had an interest in her; Alacrity, who he was apparently on good enough terms to bet with but bad enough terms that he was going to delight in gloating to; and Strength, who he suggested had rejected her as a champion.

Was Strength the god Perception had ‘traded’ her from?

But that priest had said Strength had a Champion already. Moreover, Strength had supposedly picked their Champion years ago.

Maybe that Champion had died recently and the news just hadn’t gotten to Vaisom? Maybe the priest had lied to her? It was a weird thing to have lied about, but that priest had also tried to sacrifice her to Fortitude, so who knew.

Alternatively, maybe Dexterity was the one trying to mislead her. She didn’t know what goals the gods had. It wasn’t unreasonable to assume he wanted to steer her toward Strength’s worshipers for his own reasons.

Once again, she didn’t have enough information. And once again, she didn’t have nearly enough reliable sources to research her questions. Just speculation and superstition, over half of which was based on data an entire era out of date.

Cass sighed and flopped back on the bed. The mattress was hard, the sheets starchy. The smell of blood and sweat surrounded her. They must have just dumped her here when she’d fainted.

She couldn’t decide if she was glad for her modesty they hadn’t changed her clothing, or disappointed not to have been given a clean hospital gown. Did they use hospital gowns here? Maybe not.

Did he say anything else? Salos asked.

Oh, yeah. He left me with a cryptic message for you before kicking me out.

For me?

Cass shrugged and repeated the god’s words. ‘Ceriven does not blame her shadow for any of what happened.’

Salos frowned. ‘Ceriven’?

I’m pretty sure that was the name, yeah, Cass confirmed. Any idea what that means?

Salos shook his head. Ceriven was a… Well, I suppose you would insist I call him a ‘friend’. We both served the same mistress. Before.

So, the ‘her’ here isn’t ‘Ceriven’, Cass guessed.

Unless he was hiding more from me than I expected, I doubt it. Salos knew more. Cass could feel his thoughts turning slow but deliberate. There was only one ‘her’. And her shadow…

Was you? Cass guessed.

Salos nodded. But what could he possibly be ‘not blaming’ me for?

You have no guesses? Cass asked.

Salos shook his head. None.

I think Dexterity was hoping you wouldn’t, Cass said.

So he’s messing with us? Salos snorted. I should not have expected otherwise.

I guess. That wasn’t the sense Cass had gotten, but that could have also been part of his act. She let it drop for now. Did I miss anything while I was out?

Nothing interesting, Salos said. You startled Alyx. You should have seen her face.

Cass doubted it would have been more panicked than he’d been when she’d woken up, but let him hold his dignity.

I heard they were going to the arena to have the other dragonling choose her knight.

That made sense. That should be exciting, but honestly, she didn’t care who earned the other dragonling’s favor. Alyx had gotten a dragon, and she didn’t really know the other contestants.

If the gossip she’d overheard yesterday were true, Fioreya would probably be the second knight.

Where are we, by the way? Cass asked.

Palace infirmary, Salos answered. Alyx made them take you here. She wants to talk to you, by the way.

Cass didn’t quite groan.

Did something happen between you two?

What did she tell Salos? That Alyx wanted to kill him? Did she still want to? She couldn’t imagine him taking it well.

Hell. Actually, she could. He might do the ‘oh, I’m a horrid demon only deserving death, you should kill me’ bit again. She almost hoped he’d be upset instead.

Except, if he was upset, he might try to hurt Alyx in return. Or, more ‘practically’, he might decide he needed to silence her.

I was looking for information on the other Champions, Cass said, sidestepping the meat of his question. The priest I was talking to decided I was a demon and that I should be sacrificed to Fortitude. The dragon said they used pieces of his soul to do that, but didn’t get into the specifics. Any idea how that works?

Hiding their demon status had never seemed more important. If any priest could look at her and divine her connection to Salos, they were likely in trouble.

No. Your guess is as good as mine, Salos said.

Weren’t you part of some fancy demon-hunting organization? Cass poked him. You all must have had tricks for finding them.

His tail flicked in annoyance. Maybe we did. But I don’t know them.

Something else unsaid bubbled behind his thoughts, tinged in anxiety.

Nothing? Cass pressed.

His claws flexed in her sheets. Nothing.

Really?

His tail thrashed. Really! Look, it is hardly strange, alright. Most of the demons we hunted were the raging murder-y kind. The ones leveling cities. The ones with no reason or empathy. They were affronts to nature, the system, and the gods. There was no reason to sniff them out and no need to confirm their status.

Did we also look for hidden demons? Probably. Should I have been involved with that kind of operation given my skill set? Almost certainly. Do I remember working on that? No.

He got quiet, his words coming slow and shamed. Not in any detail. Not like I should. Was it a skill I lost? Or are they just memories she took from me?

Salos, Cass ran a hand down his back. His claws kneaded at her sheets. I’m sorry. It’s okay that you don’t rem—

It’s not though! Salos hissed. He flinched, his breath hitched. He shook his head. Sorry. He looked away, suddenly finding the tile floor of the infirmary captivating.

Ch. 68: Dexterity

Cass rubbed her forehead. She sat on a glass floor. The color was simultaneously burnt orange and midnight purple and entirely unfathomable to her tiny mortal mind.

Looking at it made her headache worse.

Unfortunately, the entire room was made of the stuff. Floor, walls, ceiling, all of it was the orange-purple-unknowable color.

In front of her was a table with two chairs. They were probably wood, but the entire scene flickered every couple of seconds, and they might have been bone instead. Again, it did nothing for her headache.

A man—he was probably a man, he had broad shoulders and a square jaw at least—sat in one of the two. Of course, he was also covered in burnt-orange scales and had claws for hands and feet. The impression of draconic wings hung like a shadow in the air behind his back. Twisting black horns adorned his head. Green eyes flecked with gold stared down at her.

Cass had a sinking feeling in her gut. She hoped she was wrong. She really didn’t have the energy to be appropriately awed if she was right.

She Identified him anyway.

Error: Unable to Identify higher order beings.

Identify has increased to level 13.

Identify has increased to level 14.

Identify has increased to level 15.

She hated being right.

“Hi,” she said from the floor.

He raised an eyebrow. “Most greet me on their stomach, supplicating themselves to my greatness.”

Cass shrugged from the floor. Fear coursed through her, but it was separate from her. Instead, she was mostly just tired. “I assume you invited me. Seems kind of rude to make guests grovel.”

He laughed, throwing his head back and banging the table in front of him with his huge, clawed hand. “Oh, I see why Perception is fond of you and why Strength couldn’t be bothered.” His laughter stopped as suddenly as it started. His eyes grabbed her, arresting the lungs in her chest and the blood in her veins. “You might be fun to break.”

He shook his head and the effect ended as suddenly as it began. “Well, maybe another day.”

Cass shuddered.

“But back to the business for today. Perhaps I should start with introductions. Perhaps you’d like to sit?” He gestured to the chair opposite him.

She didn’t want to get any closer to him than she had to, but she couldn’t deny it would be harder for him to look down on her if she were seated at his level. She scooted into the chair.

The wood was entirely too smooth under her hands, lacking any kind of grain despite visually appearing to have one. She chose not to think about it.

“I am known by most as Dexterity,” he said, flashing a smile of razor teeth. “He of Consuming Shadows and Slicing Betrayal. Also known by many as the ‘Demon God’.”

“What do I owe the pleasure?” Cass asked, skipping her introduction. He knew who she was. There was no other reason he’d have brought her here. Wherever here was.

“Straight to business. I don’t hate that,” he chuckled. “Two reasons, mainly.” He held up two clawed fingers. “One: You picked up a small task back in Uvana? Did you not? Perhaps you’ve forgotten about it entirely? It didn’t rank as a quest in and of itself, after all. I didn’t quite have that kind of power at the time.”

Cass shook her head. She didn’t know what he was talking about.

“‘Should you survive my Temple, present this skill to my representative. Your growth with this skill will be judged and rewarded,’” the god recited.

That sounded vaguely familiar. Where had she heard it?

“A gloomy-looking shadow should have said as much to you?” he continued. “Down in the Shadow Hall?”

Oh. Not-Salos had said that to her after she’d picked Mana Blade as her ‘reward’ for breaking into the Shadow Hall back in the Temple of the Deep.

“You have done well to merge the skill you were given with your stormborn nature. Tempest Blade will serve you well, certainly.” He nodded to himself. “As such, I am honor-bound to grant you a small boon for your efforts.” He twirled his fingers and pointed at her.

A window appeared before her eyes.

He of Shifting Shadows and Stalwart Stone wishes to reward you for your innovation with his skill. Choose one:

[1. Embody Patience: The storm billows without stop, but even it knows how to build before crashing. Embody that patience. Build endlessly, growing your might, before unleashing the Tempest’s rage.

2. Embody Precipice: What is a blade but the edge of life and death? Let your Tempest embody this precipice with a sharper, deadlier edge.

3. Embody Loyalty: A blade’s purpose is to serve its master. Though storms hold no such virtue, you certainly do. Rise to heights unmatched when your charge or your oath is under threat. ]

Cass raised an eyebrow at the window. “I have questions.” Lots of questions. What did any of these choices mean? Why did the title listed here not match the title the god had given when introducing himself? Why did the choices seem to match Salos’s Concepts? Why was he rewarding her for this task? What was his relationship to Salos?

“And I have no interest in answering. Choose your boon and let us move on,” he said.

“You’re just giving this to me?” Cass asked, cutting to the practical questions, hoping he’d be willing to clarify this much at least.

“There is no give here. You earned this. I am oath-bound to reward. There are no strings or tricks, for whatever my word is worth. Refuse if you truly don’t trust me.”

Trusting someone named ‘slicing betrayal’ seemed foolish. But—Well. Actually, there really wasn’t a ‘but’ about it.

That said, if he wanted to hurt her, weren’t there easier ways to do so? Smiting her from on high, for example.

But perhaps her death or suffering wasn’t what he wanted. This could be a ploy to manipulate her. But then, she had Contrary Will to break any manipulation or coercion he might try on her. How effective would it be on gods? All she knew was it was effective enough to give some of them pause about picking her as their primary toy.

“Okay,” Cass said finally. It was probably safe enough to take this.

But which to pick? All of them promised to make her stronger, though the details of each were unclear.

Cass discarded 1 after a little thought. Her entire fighting style had become lots of fast blades thrown from her staff. There was rarely time to charge an attack the way it was suggesting.

Option 2 was easily the most straightforward. Did that make its buff the weakest but also the most consistent? Maybe. If ‘game’ balance was a thing. Was it? Cass still didn’t know.

What about option 3? What exactly were ‘heights unmatched’? What was considered her ‘charge’ or her ‘oath’? Would it have made her more powerful when she had protected Ahryn and the dragonlings?

Would Ahryn have needed to burn up his soul if she’d been stronger?

Could she have been strong enough to fight the paladin captain?

She shook her head. That was the only time strength mattered. Why was she hesitating?

She selected option 3.

Tempest Blade (lvl 17)

[Gather the tempest itself to be your blade and lay low all who dare to stand before the coming storm.

Condense elements of the raging storm into blades and fill them with your mana. Direct with one’s weapon or unleash them upon your targets with your Will. Subsequent blades in quick succession are faster.

May damage incorporeal bodies.

He of Shifting Shadows and Stalwart Stone promises the greater the threat to your charges or oaths, the greater the fury of your Tempest.

Modified by Wll.

Focus Cost: 10 (initial blade), 3 (subsequent blades)]

Cass reached for the skill, stopping short of activating it. It didn’t feel any different. All that appeared to have changed was that new line above ‘Modified by Wll.’

Before she could ask, the god spoke. “Oh, interesting. I suppose that makes sense, given everything I have seen. Still not what I expected, but that is the trend with you, isn’t it?” That grin of his spread across his lips again. “Alacrity will not enjoy hearing she lost our bet. Thank you for that.”

“But what does this—” Cass tried to ask.

“Now on to matter number two,” he bulldozed over her words. “What you did to that demon boy. Your treatment of your pet demon. As the ‘demon god, ’ I cannot simply ignore your actions.”

“Excuse me?” Cass sat up straighter, ready to fight him. If he was about to suggest she should be treating Salos any differently—

“Thank you,” the god said.

Cass froze.

He grinned, the shark-y expression almost warm. “Thank you for taking care of them. I’d like to give you something for that.”

Trait Earned: Soul Stabilizer

[Souls are fragile things. If injured, they heal slowly. Some breaks never naturally heal. If left alone, such breaks may cause the soul to collapse or drive their owner to inflict similar damage on all nearby.

Somehow, you have accelerated that healing, stabilizing a soul that would otherwise have inflicted significant damage on countless others. For this, you have been rewarded:

- Increased soul stability

- Increased soul growth

- Increased resistance to soul manipulation.]

She hadn’t been given a choice or the option to refuse. But it didn’t feel like this was a trap, either.

“You shouldn’t need this for a long time,” he said. “Souls are not something you should touch at your stage. But, well, obviously, you care little about natural order, hmm?” He laughed again.

Cass read the trait description again, and then again. “Can you heal souls?”

“Can you regrow an arm?” he asked.

Cass frowned. That wasn’t a no. That decidedly wasn’t a no. Could people regrow limbs here? She’d yet to meet a doctor in this world; maybe they had magic healing powers.

“Can I heal Salos?”

He snorted. “Depends entirely on how you define ‘heal’.” He shook his head again. “But that brings us to thing number three.”

“You said you had two points of business before,” Cass challenged.

“Well. They do say I’m a liar, don’t they?” He laughed. “Your Salos...”

Cass raised an eyebrow as the god hesitated.

“I should ask you to kill him.” Dexterity sighed, running a clawed hand back through his thick hair. “For a lot of reasons. For his good. For mine. For yours, for what that’s worth to me.” He shook his head, his attention refocusing on Cass. “But I think I’ll concede to Perception for now and let you do as you please.”

Cass tried to keep her face impassive. She tried not to be annoyed by the casual way this being was ‘letting’ her do what she wanted.

“But tell your Salos that Ceriven does not blame her shadow for any of what happened.”

Cass opened her mouth to ask what that meant. Or why she should pass along any messages. Or—

The world around her blurred, like wet acrylic smeared across a canvas. Cotton filled her mouth and her brain. The lights dimmed.

“With any luck, he will have no idea what that means,” the god muttered as the world went dark again.

Ch. 67: Reunion

Cass and company were held at the scene for entirely too long. All Cass wanted to do was pass out. Her little campfire wasn’t refilling her Focus nearly fast enough to keep track of everything happening around her now that the adrenaline in her system was gone and everything hurt.

She was covered in cuts from paladin blades and lightning burns from Kohen’s attacks. Blisters covered her hands and the exposed sections of her arms. Her armor was missing large sections and all her clothing was soaked in blood.

Her Health was once again in the teens. It would be days before that crept back up and her body stopped aching.

Vaguely, she was aware of Alyx and her dragon talking to one another beside her and Salos in her lap.

At some point, they carried Kohen out on a stretcher. His parents followed, his mother all but clinging to him as they left.

One of the knights asked Cass, Alyx, and Pellen questions. They were simple things, like how she ended up here and how they knew about the dragonlings. They gave simple answers in return, all failing to mention the demonic involvement of the day’s events.

Finally, Ahryn stirred.

Emenie, his dragon, uncurled from around him. Her white scales had taken on a pearlescent shimmer, like glitter suspended in water. Her wings unfurled, the white membrane speckled with flecks of silver. Her eyes—now inky black and speckled with silver—blinked slowly as her consciousness returned to the waking world.

Ahryn, her knight, mumbled as he sat up. He still looked faint to Cass’s eyes, but he stood at Emenie’s side without shaking.

“Ahryn Delim Veldor,” the duchess said, towering over the boy, seeming to dwarf even the pony-sized dragon at his side. “Knight of Emenes of Kaidrach’s Hoard.”

His head whipped back and forth, suddenly very awake. He visibly relaxed as his hand brushed up against Emenie’s neck.

“Prepare yourself.” The duchess stared down at him, her expression hard but not quite glaring. “You are no longer the child hiding behind your father’s name.”

He nodded quickly, his hand curling into Emenie’s mane.

The duchess’s eyes turned on Alyx. “Alyx Aretios Veldor, knight of Kelstor of Kaidrach’s Hoard. Hold your head high. You have done what few would dare and won. I expect much from both of you.

“Come. It is time to introduce you to the city.” The duchess turned on her heel and strode out of the cathedral.

Ahryn stared after her. Emenie butted her head against his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”

He nodded again and scurried after his grandmother.

Alyx followed too. She glanced over her shoulder at Cass. “Us too.”

Cass pushed herself to her feet. Finally. Maybe she could slip away once they were outside the Temple. Her every instinct screamed she should get away from the duchess before more pointed questions started flying.

Maybe she was more wired from that last fight than she thought. A tension was building in her shoulders, like her body was waiting for something in this situation to snap.

They wound their way through the Halls of Fortitude, the green glass strangely lusterless around them. Had it always been like that?

Either way, it was a relief when they finally left the green halls behind and stepped out into the main complex, green glass giving way to bright blue. The relief would be even greater when she could finally get outside.

Telis and Marco waited for them there.

“You’re back,” Telis said. She stood tall and proper, but her voice wavered with emotion.

“I’m back,” Alyx repeated softly.

“I told you she’d be fine.” Marco nodded to himself, his arms crossed over his chest.

“You sent her in alone!” Telis hissed. “The average level was well above hers. And she went in alone.”

“I sent the mage,” Marco huffed.

“That’s—” Telis stiffened as she looked over Alyx’s shoulder.

Kelstor lowered his head down to Alyx’s shoulder. “Hello, Miss Telis.”

“That can’t be,” Marco muttered.

“Hello, Sir Marco,” Kelstor said.

The two stared up at the dragon, their mouths agape.

Kelstor looked away. “I’m sorry I’m back so late.”

“You fool.” Telis shook in place. She stared up at the dragon, her eyes wet.

“I’m sorry I didn’t bring Aris home,” Kelstor said.

“Boy,” Marco rushed past Alyx, slamming his face against the dragon’s chest and wrapping his arms around the dragon’s neck. “We buried her nine years ago. No one’s expectin’ you to bring her back. We’re just glad to see you again.”

“What took you so long?” Telis looked away. Was she crying?

“We’re home,” Alyx said quietly, stroking the side of Kelstor’s face.

Cass slowed down to give them space. Would her homecoming look like that? Cass could see it, somehow, she stumbled back across worlds and into her family home. She’d walk through the door, proudly calling she was home. Kaye and Robin would rush to the front door.

Would they recognize her? She hadn’t changed much physically. Just her eyes were different. Would that scare them? Or would they be too relieved to see her alive to care?

Would she tell them everything that had happened to her? The life and death adventures. The monsters she’d fought. The people she killed.

Would they understand?

Would it scare them?

Would it be enough that she made it back alive?

She shut her eyes, trying not to cry.

“Miss Cass?” Pellen chirped, poking up from Cass’s side. The little argu’s eyes all looked up at Cass with infinite worry. “Are you alright?”

“Pellen?” Right, the little mage had shown up at some point in the fighting without explanation. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, um.” Pellen looked down, her fingers suddenly very interesting to the vast number of her eyes. “You said you had something for me. And then you didn’t show up. So I got worried. So I got Lady Alyx. And I realize that might have been overstepping, but—”

So that’s how Alyx had arrived when she did. A grin spread across Cass’s face. She clapped Pellen’s worrying hands between her own and made eye contact with Pellen’s central eyes. “Thank you.”

“Th-th-thank you?” Pellen squeaked.

“Getting Alyx saved me,” Cass said. And Kelstor. And probably Kohen and Ahryn too. “Thank you.”

Pellen’s ashy skin reddened. “Oh. I’m glad. I was afraid I may have overstepped.”

Cass shook her head. “No. I would not have survived if you hadn’t brought Alyx as quickly as you did.”

A small smile slipped across Pellen’s face.

A gong rang through the temple.

Cass cocked her head.

“Miss Cass?”

The gong rang again. The sound rippled through her.

“What is that?” Cass asked, more to herself than anyone else.

“What is what?” Pellen asked.

The gong rang.

“That.”

Pellen frowned.

You hear that, too, right? Cass asked Salos.

I fear to ask, but what are you referring to?

A gong?

It rang again. Her body flinched with the sound.

“That!” Cass said again.

Pellen shook her head.

I don’t hear anything, Salos said. Are you sure—

The world went dark.

Ch. 66: Rescue

Cass felt them long before she saw them. The air alerted her first. A large party of people stormed down the corridors of the Hall of Fortitude. Most humanoid, several draconic.

But it was more than just Atmospheric Sense declaring their approach.

Cass knew how many there were, exactly: 19 distinct souls. All much more powerful than Cass or Alyx. Each with a distinct flavor. Or was it a scent? A color?

She didn’t have the words to explain it. It was like trying to explain sound with colors.

Was this Mana Sense? Or was it the nebulous soul sight she’d been seeing since she’d walked in on Kohen devouring souls? Were they different?

She filed those questions away for later as the group turned into the cathedral.

The duchess headed the group. She was even more imposing up close. Her obsidian eyes scanned the entire room, slow and controlled, her expression set and unchanging. She was dressed for combat, from head to toe in black armor. Silver lines ran in complicated patterns over the black plates. A pair of swords hung from her belt, one much longer than the other.

“And this is ‘not the Copper Crescent’ then.” Her voice was sharp and laced with dry, disapproving sarcasm.

She addressed the man in priest robes behind her. He stooped under her presence, shrinking like a mouse before a lion.

Head Priest of Vaisom

(lvl 39)

[As the most beloved priest of the goddess of Alacrity, the most beloved god of this region, this man has been named leader of the Temple of Velillia, capital of Vaisom. He has dedicated his life to the service of his goddess and her people. He is blessed by her with powers to better serve this role.]

“Jemine assured me she had expelled—” the man tried to explain.

“Silence,” the duchess ordered. His mouth snapped shut. “I am uninterested in your excuses. This is your temple, or is your title an empty one?”

His hands wrung at his sides. “Every sect is allowed private rites. Even I do not have the right to—”

“You remain on my lands because the people would have you,” the duchess cut the priest off. “I am not above becoming a tyrant if it will protect my Kaidrach’s children.

“Go count your dead. I want to know exactly how many rats you harbored in your basement before I pass judgment on your Spire’s fate.”

He glared at her but hurried away, gesturing to the group of priests in the procession to his side. They set about organizing the dead.

“Keep an eye on him, Zahryn,” the duchess ordered to the woman beside her. “And see if there are any survivors.”

The second woman looked enough like the duchess. She might have been a sister. An older sister. Identify suggested otherwise.

First General

(Lvl 47)

[First General. Second Fang. Eldest daughter of the Grand Duchess of Vaisom. This dragon knight holds many titles and wants you to know them. As leader of the armed forces of Vaisom, this woman is matched by few in raw combat potential and by fewer in the extended power she directs.]

She wore her swords the same as her mother. The only difference in their equipment was that the First General’s armor was a matte red where the Duchess’s was darkest black.

The general nodded and began directing the other knights. They swept through the room between the priests, their weapons or boots prodding the countless corpses.

While the duchess was organizing her people and grilling the priest, the dragons entered the room behind her.

There were seven of them, one for each of the dragon knights of Vaisom and the duchess herself. They were huge, all as big as Kelstor or bigger. The biggest of them was the dragon matron, the duchess’s dragon.

She was huge, filling the cathedral, her head stooping beneath its lofty ceiling, easily as big again as Kelstor was to the dragonlings. Cass struggled to imagine how she’d squeezed through the Temple’s corridors. Her scales were midnight black and glistened like oil in the light.

Velkora perked up at the sight of them.

“Momma!” she squealed and ran across the cathedral to the black dragon.

“My Velly,” Kairdrach cooed, her voice low and gravely, even while being undoubtedly soft. She was massive next to the dragonling, her serpentine neck easily wrapping around the pony-sized dragonling and pulling her tight.

The little dragonling nuzzled up to her mother, whispering into her mane quiet cries.

The matron ran a clawed hand along her daughter’s cheeks. “Hush, child, you are safe now. Where is—”

Her eyes fell on Kelstor.

He flinched under her gaze. His head lowered and his shoulders slumped. He looked away.

“Kel?” the matron asked.

Alyx patted Kelstor’s side. “Go see her.”

“I’m not a child,” he mumbled, yet still slunk forward.

The matron lifted his head with one clawed finger under his chin. “You really are my Kel. You have been alive this whole time?”

His head rocked back and forth. “I lost Melida.”

“Foolish boy, that wasn’t what we were talking about,” the matron reprimanded. Her voice was strained but forcibly light. Like someone trying to hold back tears. “You are alive.”

He nodded.

“And you protected your sisters, this time,” she added.

He nodded.

She pulled him close, wrapping her neck around his, nuzzling her snout along his mane. He pulled away, the pair suddenly looking much more like a teenage boy under an overly fussy mother than a pair of hulking dragons.

“Welcome home, Kelstor.”

Cass sighed in relief. It was all over now. It had to be. The cultists were dead. Alyx had a dragon. There was a whole host of other priests Cass could ask about Champions. Salos was back.

The exhaustion crashed over her like a wave, flushing the last of the adrenaline from her system.

Stamina: 32/150

Focus: 18/549

Health: 15/137

Everything was near empty.

Now if she could just lie down—

Oh. Right. She was staying in an inn. Well. That was better than the street.

Then again, maybe it was time to leave Velillia?

Alyx hadn’t told anyone about Salos yet, but it was only a matter of time. Especially with this demon and cultist incident. It was going to come out sooner than later, and Cass was certain she didn’t want to be around when that shoe dropped.

Before Cass could make herself scarce, Litya Delim Veldor pushed her way through the duchess’s party and into the cathedral. She ran from the doors, her robe’s heavily embroidered train fluttering behind her, a wand bouncing from where it hung from her waist, to the boys lying on the glass floor.

She stopped a step from them, a dazed look in her eyes, like she’d run headfirst into an invisible wall.

Behind her, walking at a far more dignified pace, was Alyx’s father. He was stony-faced, all sharp angles and scowls.

The Warden (lvl 41)

He stopped beside his wife, his scowl deepening at the sight of his sons.

“What happened here?” His dark eyes turned from the boys to Cass and Alyx standing beside them. His hand rested on the swords he wore on his hip.

“We recovered the dragonlings from the Copper Crescent, father,” Alyx said. Her words were carefully measured and completely hid her emotions.

“Why are my sons on the floor when you look barely injured?” he demanded.

“Is that the thanks she gets for rescuing your sons?” The words had snapped out of Cass’s mouth before she could stop them. Hearth flared in her chest again, her exhaustion burning up before rising indignation.

Barely injured! Alyx was covered in blood. And, yeah, her wounds had since closed up via magic, but the evidence of her recent injuries was clearly evident in the rends in her armor and the tears in her clothes.

Even ignoring that, to imply that Alyx had stood by and let Kohen and Ahryn get hurt?

The Warden balked. “Excuse you? Who are you to speak to me?”

There was all kinds of warning in his voice. There would be consequences for speaking back. He was a much higher level than her and a noble to boot. But what the hell, she was leaving this town soon enough, anyway.

“Cass Yuan.” Cass held her hand out for a handshake, fully expecting him to ignore it. “We’ve met.” She met his glare, her glowing blue eyes meeting his obsidian ones. “But you didn’t answer. Is that how you thank the person who rescued your sons?”

His nose lifted. An eyebrow raised. “Oh, yes, the drifter my ward brought in. Has the brat failed to teach her retainers proper manners?” He waved Cass off, his voice filling with authority. “Stand quietly behind your mistress and let your betters talk.”

His order flowed over her. For a fraction of a second, it made sense to let the nobles make the decisions here. She didn’t want that kind of attention, anyway.

But only for that fraction of a second. Contrary Will surged and slapped down that thought.

Cass just laughed. “My betters?”

It would be funny if it weren’t so disgusting.

“Cass,” Alyx whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder. Pellen shook behind her.

Cass pushed past Alyx. Maybe she should stop. This man held information she wanted behind his title. But also, it was clear he held no respect for Alyx.

“Why don’t you try asking your question again with a little respect this time? Yeah?”

“Silence,” he growled. His authority hit her like a wave. It was natural that someone like her should be quiet in front of someone as powerful as him.

Too bad she didn’t care. “No. Apologize to Alyx.”

Cass glanced past him to the grand duchess. She had her back to them, speaking to her dragon and Kelstor. Her priorities were elsewhere.

“Silence!” the Warden screamed.

Cass’s body shook under the pressure of his Will on her own.

Cass, don’t antagonize this man, Salos pleaded.

“Why should I?” Cass spat back.

THWAP!

SLAM!

The air in Cass’s lungs was ejected as her back collided with the back wall of the cathedral.

It had happened faster than Cass’s heightened Alacrity could process in real time. Maybe faster than her Perception could perceive.

But he’d slapped her. And the Strength of that open-palmed strike had sent her flying.

Pain rippled through her body. Cass gasped, trying and failing to pull the air back into her lungs.

“CASS!” Alyx shouted, turning to run to Cass’s side.

“Don’t move,” the Warden growled. Alyx froze in place. Cass’s muscles tensed as staying put sounded, for that instance, like a good idea.

She shook off the command and forced herself back to her feet.

I told you not to antagonize him, Salos said, appearing around her feet.

Yeah, well, some people need to be antagonized, Cass muttered.

Sure, fine. You’ve antagonized him. Do you have it out of your system yet?

Hardly. Cass glared at the Warden.

“Explain what happened here,” he snapped at Alyx.

“I-I don’t know,” Alyx answered, the words stuttering out of her mouth. “When I got here, everyone was fighting.”

“Everyone?” the Warden repeated. His voice was an incredulous sneer.

Alyx nodded. “Cass. Kohen. Ahryn. Kelstor. The cult.”

We should go. Salos tugged at Cass’s pant leg.

“Explain how it’s the cult that’s dead.” His voice cracked like a whip.

Alyx glanced at Kohen, her mouth moving silently as her desires spun around under her father’s commands.

She was going to tell him about Kohen’s demon nature. That was the only way to explain how they’d held their own before more powerful and numerous opponents.

What will happen to Kohen if they find out? Cass asked.

His mother had dropped to her knees at his side, caressing the side of his face. The hint of mana flickered under her hands, tasting ever so slightly of lavender. Maybe she was trying to heal him?

Cass didn’t know, and Mana Sense was feeling particularly opaque.

[Unseen Magic]

Helpful.

They will kill him, probably, Salos said.

Cass grimaced. After everything I just did to fix him? Cass didn’t think so.

It is the safe thing to do.

Maybe, but she didn’t like it.

“You don’t expect me to believe a gaggle of First Steps and Gate-Cuspers killed this many cultists,” the Warden continued, his sneer heavy.

“What is your theory, then?” Cass shot back, tromping back to stand at Alyx’s side.

His eyebrow went up.

“Well?” Cass glared at him. “You don’t believe the eyewitness reports. You’d better start theorizing on your own.”

“I thought I told you to be quiet,” he growled.

Cass shrugged. “I don’t like orders. What are you going to do about it? Hit me again?”

Don’t tempt him! Salos hissed.

“You think you can handle my full strength, girl?”

“Using the old ‘That wasn’t even a fraction of my full power’ line? I don’t know what I expected from a melomaniac of a man.” The words flew from her lips before she’d thought them through. Alacrity whirled in an attempt to give her rational thoughts a chance to keep up. But the heat in her chest burned.

Her Hearth burned behind her. This was her space. Alyx was her friend. She would not stand listening to another insult her. Not here. Not now.

And Kohen was her patient. She’d chosen to save him. She would not let them hurt him now. Not while she watched.

If she had to make the enemy of a small man like this, so be it. Every moment he spent focused on her was another for Alyx to compose herself or for Kohen or Ahryn to recover.

It was another moment she delayed before their demonic nature was discovered.

“I should punish you where you stand,” the Warden muttered.

“Why don’t you then?” Cass taunted. “Afraid of how small it would make you look in front of your mother? Can you imagine? A ‘big powerful’ man like you, unable to cow a little girl like me into obedience with the threat of violence?”

Alyx inhaled sharply.

CRACK!

Cass blinked as she found her back against the wall again. Shards of glass dusted her shoulders. Blood dripped through her hair. The world spun.

Cass! Salos stared up at her, his concern overflowed into her. She was pushing this too far. This was dangerous. She shouldn’t challenge forces beyond her scope of power. Even a slyphid matched against a human had to bow to a level difference of this magnitude. She was going to die. What would happen to him? Cass was going to die.

Cass pushed herself off the wall, her head throbbing. Her hands came away bloody, sliced by shards of glass. Pain radiated through her chest. Had he broken her ribs? Did a slyphid need ribs? Questions for later.

Every eye was on her.

Or him.

The Warden glared at her. His eyes burned with something. Rage, probably. Was this all it took to drive him this far?

When his children were lying on the ground, potentially dying? Had he asked about their well-being? No. Instead, he’d demanded to know why his last kid wasn’t lying there with them.

A bitter laugh escaped Cass’s lips. She hated it here. She glared right back at him and shook her head. “Sorry. That one was on me. I overestimated you there. I thought you had more self-control than that. I didn’t think you had quite that much in common with a toddler throwing a tantrum. I’ll be sure to lower my expectations for next time.”

His eyebrows scrunched into the deepest glare. His hand curled around his sword.

Hell. In retrospect, continuing to taunt him was probably not a move compatible with her continued health, but it felt good to say it.

Before he could draw his weapon, the duchess approached her son, a disapproving scowl on her lips.

This was where the duchess drew the line? Slapping a stranger around was A-okay, but drawing a sword at one was too much? Cass snickered. This world.

“Calm yourself, Thaycer,” the duchess said. “No one important is dead.”

Cass raised an eyebrow. The dead were countless around them. Blood pooled over the glass floor.

“By all rights, your children are heroes. We can save the how and why they found themselves here for after the celebrations. We are all late to the ceremony this evening as it is.”

Ceremony?

Cass glanced at Alyx.

She nodded at the dragonlings.

Oh. Tonight was the night they were supposed to bond with a knight, wasn’t it? Were they still going to go through with that after all this? It seemed like they should give them some time and space to decompress after a kidnapping.

Cass would have liked some time to decompress.

“As soon as Emenes finishes bonding, we are returning to the palace,” the duchess continued.

“You plan on letting them bond?” the First General asked.

Litya looked up from Kohen, her eyes wide.

“Why shouldn’t my son bond with the dragonling?” Thaycer demanded, his entire bluster turning on his older sister.

“Don’t pretend you think that child is suitable,” the general snorted. “You would have been the first to disavow the boy yesterday.”

“Yesterday, he hadn’t proven to be worthy of a dragon,” Thaycer snapped back.

“Can my boy handle the responsibility?” Litya asked the open air, her voice shaking. “We aren’t dooming two to his illness, are we?”

“A child picked a child. Without the guidance of her teachers,” the general said. “It should be stopped before she ruins her future.”

A growl rumbled through the hall. Every eye shot to the source: the black matron looming over them all.

“I will devour any who step between my daughter and her chosen,” the matron dragon growled.

The Warden and First General both took a step away from their mother’s dragon and the dragonling.

The duchess snorted. “You heard her. Kaidrach approves of this bond. That will be all.”

Ch. 65: The Point of Power

Cass sagged as the fainted Kohen released her. She didn’t have the energy to catch Ahryn, and he fell off his brother’s shoulder to the ground beside him.

Was that it?

Had she stopped him?

Carefully, she retracted Soul Guard, drawing it back around herself. Kohen did not stir. She Identified him with trepidation.

Vaisom Noble? (lvl 33)

She didn’t love the question mark, but it no longer screamed he was a demon, so she’d take it for now.

As Soul Guard settled around her, the voice of her demonic hunger quieted, and the veil Liminal had placed over her dissolved. She was left with the buzzing of her overdrawn Focus, the pain of her wounds, and the aching of her Health-drained body.

That and a surge of experience.

It washed over her, threatening to drop her to her knees. There was so much of it.

So many paladins had died, and though she had hardly touched any of them, her hand in their deaths was unquestionable. All their lives combined into a torrent of experience, to say nothing of the rewards for their captain’s death and defeating a demon.

Level Up!

Level Up!

Level Up!

+ 3 Dex

+ 3 End

+ 3 Wll

+ 3 Ala

+ 12 Free Points

You have reached the Gate! Congratulations!

+ 27 Free Points

Grow further with grace—Gain two additional Free Points per level.

+ 2 Free Points

Atmospheric Sense has increased to level 23.

Wind Step has increased to level 16.

Dodge has increased to level 23.

Stealth has increased to level 13.

Stealth has increased to level 14.

Stormstride Sprint has increased to level 22.

Stormstride Sprint has increased to level 23.

Elemental Manipulation has increased to level 25.

Elemental Manipulation has increased to level 26.

Tempest Blade has increased to level 17.

Soul Guard has increased to level 10.

Soul Guard has increased to level 11.

Soul Guard has increased to level 12.

Soul Guard has increased to level 13.

Soul Guard has increased to level 14.

Mana Sense has increased to level 11.

Mana Sense has increased to level 12.

Mana Sense has increased to level 13.

Home and Hearth has increased to level 11.

She’d reached the Gate, level 27. According to this world’s logic, she was a proper combatant now, no question about it. Perhaps it had been foolish to have ever pretended otherwise. Liminal hovered on her shoulders, assuring her that she could be without it being her entire identity.

There were so many Free Points to allocate.

Free Points: 41

That was almost 10% of her total stats. She was too tired to do this now. Dropping 4 on the spur of the moment was one thing. Dropping all 41 of these while all she wanted to do was faint was a bad idea. This would probably be the largest chunk of Free Points for a while. She should sit down with Salos to talk about what she needed going into the next bracket of levels before she made any decisions.

How did you do that? Salos asked as he rematerialized next to the boys. That shouldn’t be possible.

Cass shrugged. She still wasn’t entirely sure what she’d done. Did I fix him?

How would anyone know? Salos asked. That should not be possible. Look at him! His soul looks normal.

So I fixed him, Cass repeated.

You fixed something, Salos agreed. But—

“Ahryn!” the dragonling screamed as she darted back to the center of the cathedral.

“You did it?” Alyx grunted as she limped back over, supported by her dragon. The second dragonling hovered behind her, watching with trepidation. Pellen trailed at the back, looking every bit as tired as Cass.

Cass shrugged again. “We’re all alive.” She glanced down at Ahryn. The glow in his skin was entirely gone. The barest spark still flickered in his chest. “For now.”

The first dragonling nosed the boy with her snout. “Is he okay?”

Cass bit her lip. “I think he’s dying.”

“No!” The dragonling glared at Cass, as if Cass could somehow make a difference.

Even Alyx startled. “He isn’t just overspent?”

Cass stared down at the boy. If she didn’t have this strange soul sight, she would probably agree that the most likely explanation for his state was fainting from a lack of resources.

But she could see his soul. Or what was left of it.

Cass shook her head. “His soul is about to go out.”

“His soul?” Alyx repeated, her words stilted in disbelief.

Cass nodded. Was there something she could do for him? Beacon of Hearth and Home, maybe. She rummaged through her Bag, pulling out some of her camping supplies.

“What do you mean his soul is ‘about to go out’?” Alyx demanded. “What are you doing?”

Cass held her hand over her firewood and willed a flame into being with Elemental Manipulation. The warmth of Hearth and Home filled the air and settled the buzzing in her body.

Was there anything else she could do?

“Cass!” Alyx grabbed Cass’s shoulder.

Cass blinked, focusing back on the present. Alyx asked a question. How to explain? She didn’t even really know. More a feeling or an instinct than a well-reasoned explanation.

“I think his soul is spent.” The words came slowly as she forced the vague impressions into something approaching reason. “Like your soul has a certain amount of energy? And he’s spent it all.” Does that sound right?

Abyss if I know, Salos grunted. You are right that souls are made up of a kind of energy—potential—and I suppose, in theory, if you managed to burn it all up, you would die, but it should not be possible to consume it. Unlike Health, which is a resource to be consumed, your potential is a fundamental part of you. It makes as much sense to ‘spend’ it as it does to spend an arm.

But you can see his soul, too, right? Cass said.

See it? Hardly. Salos grumbled. Feel it oozing and sputtering… Wait. ‘Too’? You can see—

“How do we heal him?” the little dragonling asked, dragging Cass back to the immediate issues.

Cass looked at Alyx. “I was hoping that we could get him to a healer of some kind?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never heard of anyone who can heal soul things. I didn’t seriously think soul damage was real.”

Now probably wasn’t the time to mention that the goddess’s blessing had been exactly that.

Actually, wait. Cass frowned, staring through Alyx to her soul. Scars ran over its amber surface, but they were all well sealed. Cass hadn’t gotten a good look before—that she could see souls at all was a concern she was pointedly trying to ignore right now, even as she took full advantage of the ability—but Cass would have thought Alyx would still have the injuries from her major blessing.

“What?” Alyx asked, noticing Cass’s stare.

Moreover, Alyx’s soul had a tether on it. It stretched across from Alyx’s chest to Kelstor’s, terminating in the dragon’s maroon core. Even as Cass watched, a pulse of maroon energy coursed over the connection, rippling through Alyx’s before pinging back, now amber, to Kelstor.

She glanced down at Salos. A similar tether ran between them, the energy pulsing between them, fluctuating between the electric blue of Cass’s eyes and the gold of Salos’s.

Was that an exchange of energy? Could it be that simple?

What had the dragonlings said to her when they’d met again?

“Dragons and their Knights share souls,” Cass repeated under her breath.

“What?” Alyx repeated.

“Dragons and Knights share souls!” the little dragonling squealed, her eyes glistening.

“Emenie, don’t!” the other dragonling hissed.

“But, Vel!” Emenie whined. “I need to save him. He came for us.”

“Aunty’s told you a hundred times why you can’t pick him!”

Emenie bowed her head.

“Why can’t you pick him?” Cass asked. He had a blessing, and frankly, even if he didn’t, as long as he just needed soul damage to allow for a connecting point, Kohen had done plenty to the boy.

“He’s weak,” Velkora said, as if that answered everything.

Cass glanced at Alyx for further explanation.

“A knight’s job is to protect their dragon. That is their most important duty,” Alyx said.

Cass still didn’t see the problem. “He’s cleared Uvana, right? He came back from the Catacombs with a blessing? Sure, he’s not at the Gate yet, but that’s just a matter of time. What’s the big deal?”

Alyx sighed. “He didn’t ‘clear’ Uvana, exactly. He accompanied Kohen. He was never expected to do any real fighting. He was just there for the blessings and to get experience for being nearby.”

“What? Why?”

“Because he isn’t suitable for combat.” Alyx sounded tired. “He doesn’t have Stamina. It comes out of his Health instead.”

“That isn’t true,” Emenie pouted.

“Wishing it was otherwise won’t change anything,” Alyx shot back.

“He came to save me,” Emenie said. “He saved Lady Mage. He saved all of you.”

“He still can’t fulfill his duties as a knight,” Alyx said.

“You can’t pick him,” Velkora repeated.

Ahryn’s soul flickered in his chest, like a candle in the wind. Any minute now, it would go out. If it was bleeding energy, she might have wrapped it in Soul Guard like she’d done for Kohen to staunch the loss, but this was more like someone had scooped out all the wax of the candle, letting the bare wick burn down to the base. There just wasn’t anything left to fuel his soul. And Cass couldn’t do anything about that.

An image of the boy and the dragonling curled up in the library sprang to mind. The nights reading children’s books to the wind and the starlight, was that not to carry his voice to his precious friend?

“What’s more important?” Cass cut in. The answer seemed so simple to her. She stared directly at Emenie as she spoke. “The future combat power you might hold or the life of your friend?”

Emenie looked down. Her claws tapped the glass floor. Her tail swished anxiously.

“No person’s life is worth more than a dragon’s.” Velkora stuck her nose in the air. “We have a duty to our hoard and the city. We can’t choose our knights for trivial reasons like our—”

“Ahryn or the city?” Cass cut her off. “If you had to pick, who would you save? Pretend he survives this without you. Pretend you are standing before all the candidates. Which of them would you run to save if they were all in danger?”

Emenie’s eyes drifted back to Ahryn.

“If you picked a different Knight, would they let you?” Cass asked. “Would they let you rescue him?”

Emenie’s head shook slightly.

“What matters most to you?” Cass asked again. “Why do you care about power? For its own sake or to protect what you love?”

“I understand,” the little dragon said.

“Emenie, no,” Velkora protested.

Emenie ignored her sister. She curled around Ahryn and nudged his hand onto her snout. She closed her eyes.

A thread spun out from her soul to Ahryn’s. It wavered and shook. Cass held her breath.

Alyx sidled up next to Cass. Her hand ran over the pommel of her sword.

“He’ll be okay,” Cass said.

Alyx stared at the children for a long moment in silence. “Thank you.”

Cass shook her head. “I just said what needed to be said.”

Alyx opened her mouth, then closed it again.

“What?” Cass asked.

Alyx shook her head. “Nothing. Just useless thoughts. Worries I don’t have any right to worry over. Not after the choices I’ve made.”

Cass watched her out of the corner of her eyes. Alyx wore that worry openly on her face. Was she embarrassed to be fretting after nay-saying her younger brother bonding with the dragon?

Alyx’s eyes drifted over Kohen. “Is he…”

“I don’t know,” Cass answered.

“But you knew. That it was him,” Alyx pressed.

Cass nodded.

“And you wanted to save him, anyway?”

“Should I have not?”

Alyx stared at her brother. Kohen’s purple hair was laced with streaks of startling white, and his skin was still imprinted with what almost looked like maroon bruising. His hands had shrunk from the claws back to something human, but they were longer and thinner than they should have been, the joints bonier.

“I don’t know,” Alyx said finally. “Once upon a time, I might have had an answer.”

Cass couldn’t imagine. Couldn’t dream of feeling so bitter toward her siblings that the idea of killing them might be preferable.

“Once Ahryn binds—” Alyx was cut off as the building violently shook. Cass kept her feet only thanks to her heightened Dex.

An earthquake? Cass scanned the room for cover. No tables. The door frame was too far away. Could they get out in time?

Wait. Did an earthquake even make sense? The temple was on a floating Spire. A spire-quake then? Did they do that?

Judging from Alyx and Pellen’s faces, the answer was no.

“Grab Kohen,” Cass said as she swooped down to Ahryn’s side.

“Wait! Don’t touch Ahryn!” Alyx shouted before Cass could grab the younger boy.

Cass froze. The ground under her continued shaking.

“Moving him could cause the binding to fail,” Alyx said.

Cass eyed the ceiling warily. There was a lot of building above them, but Ahryn failing the binding would probably kill him too.

“We can’t stay here,” Cass said. “This shaking could bring the entire building down on us. How long will it take for him to bind?” It hadn’t taken Alyx long during the fight, but she had also been interrupted, and her dragon had forged a bond once already.

Alyx shook her head. “The ceremony takes all night, I’ve heard. I don’t know how much of that is pomp and how much is the actual binding.”

The shaking stopped. For now. If it were anything like an earthquake, there would be aftershocks.

“Salos, can you read the integrity of the building?” Cass asked.

Salos’s claws scraped against the glass floor. He shook his head. “The glass is too malleable. It doesn’t know.”

“This is the Temple,” Pellen squeaked. “The gods wouldn’t just let it get destroyed.”

The building shook again. Harder.

Alyx stumbled over, catching herself on Kelstor.

There was a roar. Then another one. And another. Seven in total.

Alyx stared at the ceiling. “The dragons.”

“What?”

“My grandmother is here.”

Ch. 64: Souls

Cass kicked at him. She didn’t have the Focus or raw electricity left for skills; it was just whatever her Strength could do.

It did nothing to slow the advance of his phantom hand toward her.

It did nothing to stop the phantom hand from piercing her chest.

Cass screamed.

The hand burrowed into her flesh. It burned where it touched her, like lightning tearing through flesh. It burrowed until it found her core, her soul.

It squeezed.

The pressure was unbearable. Soul Guard flexed to its limit.

Cass! Salos shouted, his body dissolving and his soul returning to its place in her necklace. His scream joined hers.

Cass kicked. She thrashed. She threw her weight against Kohen. Anything to break the demon’s hold on her body. Anything to escape.

The Wind howled around her in protest, but there was no escape.

She pulled inward, retreating to her campground in her soul well, willing its walls stronger. The winds roared there. A tornado spun, her tiny campground the eye of the storm. But the pressure mounted.

It grew and pressed and crushed.

It squeezed the very air from her soul well.

The Hearth of her camp blazed, as if it could burn away the pressure, but there was no sanctuary to be found.

She struggled before the demon, her soul cracking under his assault. What was left to try? What was left to be?

Never mind healing Kohen, she was going to die like this.

Soul Guard quaked. It was all that was holding her up. The only thing between her and the hand squeezing her very existence. But that was all it was, a shield.

No. That wasn’t wholly true.

Sometimes it had acted as a bandage instead, holding her soul together in the face of grievous wounds. Was the pressure it applied to open soul wounds enough to close them? Or was it just a bandage holding things together until time healed it naturally?

Could she even apply it to someone else?

You are attempting to manipulate the Soul of another Being.

[Would you like to perform Skill Injection? Injections are outside the standard range of your skill’s function and will require significantly more Focus to perform.]

She accepted. She could work with that. There was just one problem. She could feel that she needed to take down her existing Soul Guard to put it up somewhere else.

If she were fast, she could probably apply it to Kohen before he crushed her, and that would probably end his attack, if she was right about the nature of the attack and what she could do with Soul Guard.

But she was worried where her mind would go when she let the skill down. There were so many soul pieces floating around them. The air was thick with their spilled potential.

Right now, this was simply an observation, not something she felt any particular way about. But she still remembered the stirring madness that had taken her when she’d first stepped in on Kohen ripping apart a soul. The hunger.

Could she resist or would this gambit release a second deranged beast on the unsuspecting?

There were too many probablys. Too many unknowns.

Cass resurfaced, stepping from her soul well and back into her physical body.

Kohen held her tight, the madness—the hunger—in his eyes unmitigated. The pressure on her built, like her soul was under a hydraulic press. Any minute, she’d pop, Soul Guard or not.

Ahryn hung limp over Kohen’s shoulder.

Behind him, she could see the others in the cathedral’s doorway. Alyx staggered to her feet, her dragon supporting her. Pellen straightened, her hands again flipping through her tome.

If Cass could hold out another minute, they’d rescue her.

If she held out another minute, Alyx would kill him.

No.

Cass had to do this. Before Alyx recovered.

She took a deep breath and dropped Soul Guard.

The pressure was unimaginable. His hand squeezed her, hot and writhing.

And the hunger. It was as bad as she had imagined. Worse?

No, it was better, the hunger whispered. What was wrong with being hungry when she was surrounded by food?

She shook aside those thoughts. That wasn’t who she was. That wasn’t what she was.

Then what are you? the hunger asked. Not human. Not slyphid. Why not demon? Why not just give in? There were so many souls here. So many already destroyed. What would it matter if she collected them up? It would be a waste to let them dissolve into the aether.

It would make her strong. Strong enough to resist Kohen’s crushing grip even without her skill. Strong enough to kill him and anyone else who tried to hurt her.

She wasn’t human anyway, —

She wasn’t slyphid anyway, —

—so what if she was demon?

There was a delectable reason to that. It would be so easy to accept it as truth.

But she wasn’t a demon.

She wasn’t any of those things.

And she was all of them.

Concept Applied: [Liminality - Will, Ala, Res

The space between. The space overlapped. The space that is neither and both.]

She gasped as the pressure fell around her. It was still there, pain pressing deep, deeper than her bones.

And yet, she didn’t feel it. Not really. Not the way she had a moment ago.

It was separate.

The demonic hunger tugged at her attention.

But it was separate. Like a veil had been dropped across her mind. On one side was the pain and hunger and the screaming. And on the other side were her goals and her dreams and her ideas. She felt them both, clear and real and intense, but they didn’t spill into each other.

It was enough to hold what was one as two.

She pressed out with Soul Guard, throwing it over Kohen’s writhing soul.

His soul buckled and pressed against the restrictions, gobbling down her Focus with every jerk and shove against her Guard.

She breathed easier as his grip loosened and his phantom hand disappeared, forced back into his soul by Soul Guard.

But there was so much power rolling within him. So much power that didn’t know where it was supposed to be. So much that had no place in his soul.

And that power had nowhere to go. Soul Guard was impenetrable. It was his soul under extreme pressure now.

If this kept up, his soul would break, and he would die.

She needed to let some of that power out.

Soul Guard protested. Nothing in. Nothing out. Nothing.

It could not be reasoned with. It was just a skill.

A skill she could apply a Concept to. She had yet to do so intentionally, but Salos said it was possible if you knew what the combination would do.

And she knew what she needed it to do.

Concept Applied: [Liminality - Soul Guard

[An unguarded soul is fragile. You have been trained to protect your most vulnerable piece, but know the value of letting the trusted in and the unneeded out.

Passively increase resistance to attacks on the soul and, to a lesser degree, the mind.

Actively enforce a lockdown on your Soul Well, letting nothing in or out.

Association with the Concept of Liminality allows some things to be allowed in or out at your discretion. The defenses become more flexible, making it more resilient to certain kinds of attacks but weaker to others.

Cost: minimum 1 Focus/min

Modified by Res.]

The skill became malleable in her hands. With a thought, she opened vents along Soul Guard’s walls, squeezing until the discordant pieces of his amalgam of soul were forced into the soul-filled air.

All the while, her Focus dropped.

Focus: 8/549

Health: 40/134

There was barely anything left.

Focus: 3/549

She burned Health. Her Hearth happily burned it up for more Focus.

Focus: 48/549

Health: 15/134

Still, he struggled against her. Still, his soul writhed under the pressure of Soul Guard.

Focus: 34/549

More.

Focus: 27/549

Focus: 6/549

Until there was nothing left to burn. There was no Focus left to hold Soul Guard. In a matter of seconds, she would collapse and it would all be for nothing.

Why? a voice asked. Why would you stop when there is so much energy all around you?

The air shimmered in her eyes with the potential of all the fallen paladins. All the men and women Kohen had crushed to nothing.

She couldn’t eat that. Those were souls. Or what was left of souls. That was how Kohen had gotten into this trouble.

Who said anything about eating them, that hunger asked. She did not need to incorporate them into her soul to use them. What was the Hearth burning so greedily for, if not for burning potential?

Could she do that?

Why not, asked Hearth. The alternative is to give up on him. To let yourself burn out. To force Alyx to kill him.

Cass opened herself up to the energy in the air, feeding it directly into her Hearth.

Her Hearth burst to life, burning away the potential with glee and filling her Focus.

There was so much.

More than enough.

Maybe too much.

She felt like she’d just downed a gallon of coffee and chased it with an energy drink. Her entire body buzzed. Her head felt fuzzy even as the energy chased away the exhaustion.

Cass pushed the feeling across the veil in her mind, setting it aside with the whispers of the demonic hunger. There would be time for it later.

For now, her Soul Guard held.

Kohen’s soul pressed against it, but with every passing second, more of his excess energy was forced through Soul Guard’s vents, until his struggle slowed. Until the writhing within his soul stopped.

The sparking madness in his dark eyes faded. The hold his hands had on her wrists loosened. His knees buckled.

Kohen collapsed, his skin settling into something very near to his original appearance.

Vamphellish Demon has been Subdued.

[You have defeated a Demon of Blood and Lightning in a Battle for dominance.

You have been awarded experience for Subduing the Demon of Blood and Lightning.]

Ch. 63: Body of Storms

Energy surged through Cass. It was different from a level up, which almost felt like energy washing over her from above. This surged out from her chest, rushing out over her arms and legs and coating her in something warm.

She staggered to her feet, her entire body buzzing. But strangely, she didn’t feel like that was a problem anymore. It was only a touch more notable than the room being a little cold.

The dragonling was still trying—failing—to hurt Kohen. Her horns thrashed through empty air, missing him by miles. He stepped around her easily, even while parrying Alyx’s sword and dodging the larger dragon’s claws.

A growl rolled up his throat. Balls of lightning formed around him, each the size of Cass’s fist.

Cass summoned a Tempest Blade to her dagger. The wind edge formed faster than ever, condensing tighter and sharper. It buzzed with sparks of electricity.

Focus: 19/549

And it didn’t consume her Focus? Instead, the buzzing in her body faded, rushing to fill her skill.

She grinned. She could work with that.

She swung her blade, throwing it at the demon’s back.

It sliced through skin and muscle, slicing a deep gash across his bare back.

He turned, throwing his hand down and releasing his lightning orbs at her. They shot through the air, burning brightly.

Cass raised her dagger to block. Her pulse quickened at the sight of them. But this wasn’t fear coursing through her.

It was anticipation?

Cass, move! Salos screamed.

She didn’t.

The first orb slammed into her shoulder.

It hurt. It hit her like a physical projectile, blowing the remains of her pauldron from her shoulder and digging into the flesh underneath. But the pain came with a pleasant buzzing. A promise of another skill.

She cackled, drawing another Tempest Blade to her dagger and Dodging the second. She threw the blade at him as he darted toward her.

It struck across a shoulder, drawing more blood.

A third orb grazed her cheek. The raw lightning burned at her skin, but her body absorbed the energy as it passed, funneling it into another Tempest Blade.

The dragonling chased him, her horns swinging.

“Get out of here,” Cass yelled at the dragonling, throwing the Tempest Blade at Kohen.

The child flinched, her head whipping around to Cass. Her eyes were wide, flicking between Cass and the demon. “But, he has Ahryn!”

The demon’s blade swept past Cass.

She dodged out of the way, suppressing a groan. “I can’t rescue him and protect you.”

“But. But he’s dying!” the little dragon yelled.

Kohen swung again.

Alyx stepped between them, her sword intercepting his. “Get out of here, Cass, Kelstor, and I will rescue him.”

The demon snarled something in Kaldish as he darted back and around Alyx, racing for Cass. Another round of lightning orbs flashed into existence around him.

“Kelstor!” Alyx shouted.

The big dragon pushed his way between Cass and the demon, his wings flaring open and glowing with a maroon aura.

Cass jumped onto the dragon’s—Kelstor’s?—back, throwing her Tempest Blade between his wings at the approaching Kohen. It sliced into his chest, ripping a scythe of blood through the air as they flew through flesh.

Through it all, Kohen was careful not to let any of their attacks touch Ahryn.

He was still protecting the boy.

Were demons really as crazed as everyone said?

There must be a way to fix him, Cass’s thoughts echoed again.

You can’t fix a demon, Cass. Kill him and save the boy if you can, kill him before he can grow any more powerful if you can’t.

There must be a way, Cass insisted.

There isn’t.

Should I give up on you? Cass asked in response.

Kohen swung his sword through empty air, releasing a volley of lightning orbs. They shot in every direction. Dozens struck Kelstor’s glowing wings, sputtering out like they’d struck bare ground.

More peppered the glass floors, leaving scorched glass.

Alyx flickered out of sight as one nearly struck her. She reappeared behind him, her sword glowing with her amber aura.

Kohen twisted, his sword catching hers. Their swords locked, but Alyx was pushing harder. He took a step back.

Kelstor’s claws swung at him from behind, raking across Kohen’s back.

Kohen’s sword disappeared. Alyx stumbled forward. Kohen darted around her, his sword reappearing in his hands. He slammed it into her side as they passed one another, his lightning blade tearing through her aura armor.

Alyx screamed as his lightning coursed through her and she crumpled to the ground.

“Alyx!” Kelstor shouted, storming forward.

Cass jumped from his back, landing at Alyx’s side. Cass could feel the energy rolling through Alyx. There was no way she’d be able to move for a while.

Kohen smirked down at her.

“Get Alyx and the dragonling to safety,” Cass yelled at the dragon.

“You can’t handle him alone,” Kelstor said.

Salos materialized on Cass’s shoulder. “Who said she was alone? Protect your own mistress.”

The dragon grumbled and scooped Alyx from the floor. His tail curled around the dragonling, herding her away from the demon. “I will be right back.”

“Of course,” Cass said.

Are we going to kill him now? Salos asked.

The correct answer was ‘yes’. Everything everyone had told her said saving him at this point was impossible. Stalling further in the hopes she’d find something to change that was pointless.

She knew that.

She could feel the intensity with which Salos believed it.

You don’t seriously believe you can still save him?

Kohen burst toward her. She ducked under his first sword swing, skating around him, her dagger, sheathed in a crackling Tempest Blade, cut through his exposed abdomen. Blood ran down his sides.

He twisted after her, swinging again.

Her dagger blocked the strike, but she wasn’t nearly strong enough to stop it. He sent her flying backward, skidding over the slick glass floors.

Be realistic. Salos sighed. You can’t even fight him. How are you going to save him?

You want to fight him then? Cass asked.

Sure, let’s see what this child can do.

Their perspectives switched as Shifting Mind activated.

You hold the dagger wrong, Salos muttered as he adjusted his grip and raced toward the demon. The blade wove a complicated pattern of slices and slashes, leaving an array of cuts along the demon’s skin.

Cass, in cat form, leapt from Salos’s shoulder, landing on Kohen’s with claws covered in Tempest Blades. They ripped across his skin, adding blood to the already thick layers.

Focus: 16/549

Kohen grunted in pain, flinching for a fraction of a second. Long enough for Salos to dart in and cut under Kohen’s guard. But not long enough to stop Kohen from countering with his lightning blade.

The blade sliced across the slyphid body, leaving a trail of blood. Salos flinched, lightning racing across the slyphid body he wore. He blinked as the stunning force of electricity never came.

Kohen swung in the gap.

Salos ducked left, returning the slice with a shadowed stab of his own, burying the blade behind Ahryn’s limp body.

Kohen screamed, his free hand raising with a flourish. A sea of electric bolts appeared in the air above them. Kohen’s hand swung down, and the bolts shot down with it, all of them arching toward Salos.

What exactly were the limits of her body’s new electricity resistance? It wasn’t an immunity; the impacts still hurt. And that was a lot of bolts.

Shifting Mind.

Cass swapped back without warning.

Her hands went out, throwing Elemental Manipulation out in every direction, grabbing the falling lightning with the energy stocked in her body from Kohen’s last attack.

Kohen’s hold on these was weaker. Unlike the sword, which he actively held in shape, these he let fly as lightning wished.

But she had plenty of practice redirecting such lightning.

She wrenched them off their path, throwing them harmlessly to her side.

Thank you, Salos said. But a little warning next time.

He said that, but he was already darting behind Kohen’s ankles, his claws digging into the pulsing flesh, the damage multiplied by Hidden Edge.

Kohen snarled, twisting around for Salos, unaware he’d already slipped into a shadow and out of sight.

Cass took that opening to create distance between them again.

They were hurting him. Bleeding his Health point by point. If she wanted to kill him, this was how to do it. Alyx and her dragon would be back soon. Had Alyx called for help before diving into this mess? Probably, right?

Her reinforcements would be here soon, surely.

If she wanted Kohen dead, all she had to do was hold him down here and bleed his Health away. She just had to wait for the powers that be to finish him off.

‘Isn’t there something you can do?’ Ahryn’s voice echoed in her ears. His eyes, wide and hopeful, flickered in her mind’s eye.

Her conviction burned. Her hand tightened around her dagger.

She couldn’t capture him, but capturing him had always been a method of stalling for a better answer, anyway. It was time to find the better answer.

He was a demon; a real fix would change that. What did she know about demons?

They were mad. Completely lacking a sense of self or a spark of rationality, the twisted amalgamation of every soul they’d shoved into their core.

They were broken things, either over swelled with the fragments of those they devoured or crippled with jagged edges yearning for more.

The soul was the key. If that could be fixed, wouldn’t that be enough?

Soul damage on its own was not uncommon. The goddess Alacrity and the dragon had both commented on the damage done to hers. Soul damage paved the path for dragon bindings.

They said her soul was covered in scars. Scars implied healing.

How?

Time? She didn’t have that.

Bindings? She couldn’t force the dragonlings into a bond with Kohen.

Could she create a binding with something else? How? With what?

How did she heal a soul?

The question burned in her mind as Kohen lunged at her.

Cass Dodged around him, sliding behind him.

Your turn again, Cass said, swapping herself and Salos.

Salos drove their dagger into the demon’s back, his Hidden Edge multiplying the damage as it dug unseen through writhing flesh.

Kohen snarled, his hand reaching around and grabbing Salos, his claws clamping around his wrist before he could pull away.

“Let me go, you beast,” Salos growled, pulling against Kohen’s superior Strength anyway.

Kohen jerked him forward, Salos’s dagger still planted in the demon’s back.

“Fine,” Salos shouted. “I give up. Let me go, I’ll let you leave with Ahryn. I won’t chase you.”

Salos? Cass froze.

Assassin’s Yield, calm down, Salos explained. As long as he agrees, I get to stab him in the back.

Kohen’s lips curled into a grin. His hand clenched tighter around Salos’s wrist. His lightning blade shot forward.

Abyss, Salos muttered as he twisted out of the weapon’s path. But there was only so far he could move with Kohen holding his wrist. It grazed across his chest, the lightning burning through armor and into flesh. Salos winced.

Cass switched them back. The lightning in her body surged. Could she use it on any skill? She pressed it into Elemental Manipulation; the energy balked. She forced it through anyway, summoning a ball of astraum to her free hand. It was much smaller than the ball she’d created with Focus, sputtering to life much slower.

But it was plenty cold. She slammed it into Kohen’s chest.

He snarled in surprise, grabbing her second hand in his and jerking it away.

Salos leapt on his face, his claws raking through eyes and skin.

Kohen shouted, and lightning sparked around his head. Salos caught the brunt of it, collapsing to the ground at their feet, twitching as the lightning rolled through him.

Cass tried to twist her arms free, but Kohen’s grip was a vice.

But that was fine. As much as Cass was stuck, so was Kohen. He couldn’t attack her without releasing one of her hands.

She just needed to buy time. Alyx would recover any minute, and both she and Kelstor would be back to help.

This was to her advantage—

Kohen’s phantom arm materialized between them.

Cass’s blood ran cold. Oh. Right.

Ch. 62: The Demon

Cass breathed with relief as the paladin captain staggered under Alyx’s blade and slumped to the ground with a crash of metal on glass.

As he collapsed, the air burst, no longer contained within a small subsection of the temple, the pressure inside and outside equalizing with an outward rush. The seal had broken. She was finally free.

But so was Kohen.

He knelt over the goddess’s manifestation, his hands tearing into her body and pulling away ectoplasmic globs of flesh.

The goddess screamed. Mostly profanity, cursing his mother and his lineage and his already cursed soul. All of it pained. All of it defiant, despite her inability to do a thing about it.

He shoved the globs into his mouth, entirely ignoring all else. Most of it dripped down his face, but too much still trickled down his throat and into his soul. Cass could see his pulsing core swelling with every bite.

All the energy she’d forced him to burn regenerating his body was back. Back and then some.

The goddess flickered, opaque one moment, translucent and fading the next, her integrity failing either from Kohen’s feasting or her captain’s defeat.

“You demons shall pay for this,” she shouted through her pain. “I shall wipe your ilk from the skies and crush your souls to nothing. You shall know oblivion, and it will be too good for you.”

And then she was gone, dissolved in a mist of green energy.

And Kohen was no longer occupied.

He stared at his hand, now empty. His eyes were dilated. Slowly, his head turned across the cathedral.

Cass’s skin prickled as his eyes carried over her.

This was not how this was supposed to go. The captain was not supposed to be the first to fall. But it had been him or Alyx.

Alyx leaned against her dragon. The dragonlings huddled together by the door with Pellen. Ahryn swayed on his feet, the silver of his soul dimming with every passing second.

Uncountable paladin corpses lay scattered around them, their blood pooling in lakes, empty eyes staring blankly at their cathedral’s ceiling. Cass tried not to think about them. The cult was dead.

Nothing was left to distract Kohen with. Nothing remained to hold him down here.

All that remained between him and a feast of souls across the city above were Cass and Alyx.

What are the chances you’ve thought of a new way to fix the containment fields? Cass asked Salos.

Kohen stood and pulled his lightning blade from the glass floor. Blood rose from the pools around him. He swallowed it, his skin rippling as torn muscle and flesh reformed around him, uninjured.

I have not. Those will take an hour or more to re-enable and even longer to draw up from scratch, if it’s possible at all. Besides, look at him. He’s absorbed so much potential from that goddess manifestation. I doubt the containment fields would hold him now, even if we tried that.

She was afraid of that. With Alyx and the dragon, they could burn through his energy again. There were no more souls for him to recover it with.

But then what? Could Pellen hold him?

Pellen leaned against the wall, her eyes closed, her breathing ragged. Maybe she could. But not for long. And then what?

She still didn’t have an answer to that question. What did she do with him if they captured him?

Kohen walked toward the doors. Or the dragonlings. Or both.

We need to kill him, Salos said. If he gets out into the city, it will be a massacre that will not end at the walls of Velillia.

Cass stepped in between him and the door, raising her dagger. There had to be something else she could try. They’d gotten this far.

He snarled, raising his sword in turn. He said something in Kaldish.

He demands we step aside, Salos translated.

Cass shook her head. She couldn’t do that.

Alyx joined Cass, the dragon following close behind. She glared at the demon, her aura armor glowing bright amber. “What’s next, Cass?”

Would that glare be as intense if Alyx knew it was Kohen she was staring at? Or would it be worse? Would she celebrate knowing her brother—the brother who had tried and failed to kill her—was a demon now? Or would she look at him with the same, desperately hopeful eyes as Ahryn?

“You said not to kill it, but—” Alyx left the rest unsaid. She didn’t need to say more.

He was a demon.

He was drenched in blood. His hands were claws. His face distorted. He was everything Alyx had warned her about Salos.

“Kohen.” Ahryn teetered forward hesitantly.

The demon turned, an eyebrow raised.

“We’re safe now.” Ahryn took another staggering step toward the demon. “You don’t have to keep protecting me.” His voice was weak. The light within him flickered. “Alyx and Miss Cass saved us.” He took another step forward. “You—You can stop now.”

“Kohen?” Alyx asked. Her eyes glanced to Cass for an explanation.

The demon opened his mouth, a snarl already on his lips.

But Ahryn reached out to him. “Please, Kohen. Let’s go home.”

No sound left the demon’s lips. His expression softened.

Ahryn staggered toward him. One step. Two. Only to crumple to with the third, his legs giving out and his body falling. The light within him fading to the barest flicker.

“Ahryn!” three voices shouted simultaneously: Alyx, one of the two dragonlings, and Kohen. All three, plus Cass, darted for the boy.

The demon was closest.

He caught the boy as he fell.

His arm curled protectively around Ahryn even as he shot a glare at the rest of the room. He snarled something with enough force both Cass and Alyx stopped short.

Was that a threat? Cass asked Salos.

No, it was an order that we stay back, Salos said. His existence is the threat.

He looked down at Ahryn in his arms. His red eyes stared past the boy’s skin and into his core. Or what remained of it. It was a tattered, broken thing, burned out and strained beyond measure.

The demon’s phantom hand touched Ahryn, prodding at the broken soul within. Almost tenderly. Like a nurse examining an open wound before she cleaned and dressed it.

Or like a gourmand inspecting his plate for the best place to begin his meal.

Hell.

Salos, Fairy Fire me, Cass said.

Are you sure that’s wise? Salos asked.

Salos, Cass repeated. That one word was both warning and plea.

Salos sighed. Fine.

The fires sprang up along her skin.

The demon’s red eyes flicked up toward her. His skin pulsed and writhed as they made eye contact. Red splotches swirled over his dark skin, bulging and deflating like waves over a pool.

The phantom hand froze over the boy.

Cass put her hands up slowly. Her voice was as soft as she could manage. “Hey. Hey. It’s okay.”

The demon’s head tilted slowly. His phantom hand twitched. His eyes stared at her, his pupils dilating.

Cass, I do not think that’s working.

“Why don’t you put Ahryn down?” Cass continued anyway. “He needs help. You want to help him, right?”

Kohen spoke. The words were sharp and fast. But Cass didn’t need to speak the language to tell it was filled to overflowing with disdain.

What’s he saying?

‘Filthy Jothan, I will take my prize as I please. Leave before I sacrifice you to his health,’ is more or less what he’s saying.

Any idea what that’s supposed to mean? Cass asked.

It’s just depraved demon ramblings. Whatever pieces he’s absorbed of others are merging into something unstable and confused. Kill him.

He has Ahryn. I can’t just attack him, Cass said as a body ran past her.

“Leave Ahryn alone!” the dragonling shouted, her voice high and shrill despite her pony-size, as she careened past Cass and Alyx for the demon.

Kohen snarled and threw Ahryn over one shoulder. His sword materialized in his free hand.

The dragonling did not slow, her head down with her horns pointed at the demon.

Hell. What was she doing?

Cass Sprinted after her.

Kohen swung his lightning sword.

The dragonling’s eyes squeezed shut, her legs pumping all the harder as she ran blindly at the demon.

Please tell me that dragonlings are electricity-proof, Cass begged Salos.

They are not.

Cass cursed a dozen times under her breath and leapt to the dragonling’s side.

Salos, swap, Cass yelled across their bond as she activated Shifting Minds.

The world shifted as she found herself in the dragon’s shadow.

Salos in her body met Kohen’s sword, lightning and steel clashing. His muscles strained under the demon’s strength. This is more than I can redirect.

Time slowed as Salos was pressed back. As the demon’s blade twisted around Salos’s.

Should she switch back? If she did, could she use Elemental Manipulation to redirect his sword? That hadn’t worked last time.

She ran down her list of skills, rejecting each one after another. She didn’t have the Focus for wild experiments. She didn’t have the time.

The lightning blade slipped closer with every fraction of a second.

What else could she do?

1. Salos was hit. His Frt was less than hers. Could he survive it?

2. They dodged; the dragonling was hit. The child died.

3. Cass swapped back in and took the hit. What would happen to her?

Option 2 was unacceptable. Options 1 and 3 had similar results. Her body had to withstand Kohen’s blade, whether it was her or Salos piloting it. The only difference was who felt the pain and whose Frt they attempted to resist the strike with.

Put like that, the answer was simple.

Shifting Minds.

Space shifted around her. She gripped the dagger in her hands, Kohen’s strength slamming through her arm.

What are you doing? Salos shouted. Get out of there!

But she couldn’t. She was all that was between the dragonling—a literal child—and the lightning blade.

His blade shoved her dagger aside. Lightning sliced through her chest, leaving a long gash from shoulder to hip. A wave of jolting energy ripped through her muscles up and down her body.

She convulsed, crumpling to the floor as she lost all control of her body.

Salos manifested on her chest, howling. “CASS!”

The dragonling swung her head at the demon, her horns slashing through the air. He stepped out of her way with ease, a perplexed expression flickering over his face.

“Emenie!” the other dragonling screamed from the door. “Get back!”

Cass needed to stand. She had to stand back up. But the riotous electricity overrode every impulse she sent to her legs.

“Cass, get out of here,” Salos hissed at her side.

Working on it, Cass said. Protect the dragonling.

“What about you?” He nudged her shoulder with his feline forehead. His concern overflowed into her.

Salos, please. There wasn’t time for more argument. Ahryn and the dragon Emenie were both in danger. She didn’t have time to convince him.

The dragon kept thrashing. It was a clumsy attack. The demon dodged her slashing horns and claws with ease. He raised his lightning blade repeatedly, yet every time it was lowered again as he dodged another slash.

Fine, he grumbled, leaping into a shadow and appearing again behind the demon. His claws dug into the demon’s ankles.

The demon staggered, his head whipping around to find Salos, just as Emenie slammed her horns into his body.

The demon didn’t even flinch. He said something in Kaldish and Salos hissed back.

Alyx and her dragon hurried to catch up. Her dragon swiped at Kohen. He parried with a swipe of his lightning sword. Alyx attacked from the opposite side, her blade stabbing his abdomen and drawing blood, but he barely seemed to notice.

Cass tried to stand again. Her entire body was numb to the instruction.

She didn’t have time for this. Salos needed her. Emenie and Ahryn needed her.

Hearth burned in her chest, demanding that she act. That she save them. That she protect them.

Wind gusted around her. How could she let something as fleeting as lightning hold her down?

But neither had a solution. Neither could change what had already happened.

Why did lightning even affect this body? It was a spirit. Impaling her shoulder hadn’t stopped her from using that arm when, by all rights, it should have. She had lungs, but she did not need to breathe, taking in air or not as was convenient. She had a stomach, but filling it with food did not sustain her.

This physical form was just what she believed it should be. None of it worked like a human’s.

Because it wasn’t a human’s.

It was a slyphid.

And slyphids were spirits of storms.

Trait Awakened: Body of Storms

[The slyphid are spirits born of Aether and Storms, not yet set in their path. Their bodies are flesh coalesced from their overflowing potential and desire to be a part of this physical realm.

Your desires resonate with Storms.

Fly on the wind. Dance through the cold and the heat. Play in lightning and sing with thunder.

- Increased affinity with Storms]

Ch. 61: Alyx: Dragon Knight

Alyx's conscience surfaced as she was torn off Kelstor’s back by the paladin captain.

Warning: Too many Concepts. One may only possess 3 Concepts. Please fuse Concepts until you possess 3 or fewer. Refusing to do so may result in Breakage.

He slammed her against Kelstor’s side, his sword stabbing through her chest and into Kelstor’s flank.

Pain consumed her. His blade burned her insides. Its edge sliced through soft organs and twisted through flesh.

“Have a nice nap?” the paladin sneered, leaning over her.

Behind her, Kelstor shifted. A low groan escaped his lips. “Not really. Why does everything hurt?”

The white bands around him dissolved. By the door, Pellen slumped against the wall.

The paladin’s sneer darkened, his eyes flicking up to the dragon. Sarcastically, he said, “You bound yourself to the demon. Congratulations.”

Alyx hurt too much to follow what he was saying. But the pain was followed by a wave of energy. More than she’d ever felt in her life. More than any level up. More than any skill milestone.

It rushed over her. Overwhelming. Like a waterfall dumped over her head. Like lightning striking her nerves. So much it was its own kind of pain. But the kind of pain that promised power.

You have bound your soul to the dragon, Kelstor.

[Your bond has permanently changed you.

You are now a Dragon Knight.

Your dragon reveres Strength, Endurance, and Fortitude. This will be reflected in future growth.

Retroactively applying Dragon Knight stats from level ups, please hold.

Str 64 -> 97

End 47 -> 82

Frt 33 -> 63

Retroactively applying Dragon Knight stats from skill milestones, please hold.

Str 97 -> 103

Dex 38 -> 55

End 82 -> 100

Wll 22 -> 28

Ala 19 -> 25

Res 16 -> 18

Frt 63 -> 68

Per 24 -> 34

Vit 15 -> 24]

Her body spasmed as the stats rushed through her. It hurt and then it didn’t. She was out of breath, and then she wasn’t. Her muscles screamed, then relaxed. And then it all started again and again. A body wasn’t meant to increase in stats like this.

And all the while, her Concepts pressed down on her. They squeezed and screamed.

The paladin pulled his sword from her chest, and her body slid to the ground.

The ground was wet. Sticky. Hot. Or was she cold?

“Leave her alone, monster.” Kelstor snarled. He reared back to his full height, his wings flaring out protectively around her and glowing faintly with a maroon aura. His voice whispered in her ear, Shielding Wings.

“Rich words coming from a beast!” The captain swung at Kelstor, but his blade rebounded off Kelstor’s skill-enhanced scales.

Alyx put a hand to her abdomen; it came away bloody. That was a lot of blood. That stuff was supposed to be inside her body.

Hold on, sprout, Kelstor’s voice whispered in her ear. Use this.

Your dragon believes in second chances and miracles.

[Your Human skill (Second Wind) has been converted to the Dragon Knight skill Draconic Rebirth, level maintained.]

Draconic Rebirth (lvl 3) (Dragon Knight)

[The dragons of ages past were powerful and prideful peoples. Their divine curse has forced them low, yet all dream of glorious rebirth in glory and power. May you herald that era for them.

Immediately recover all Stamina and Focus. Immediately heal all injuries. Consume a considerable portion of remaining Health. Cannot be used again until Health has recovered to a minimum threshold (it may have since fallen below that threshold again).

Minimum Health Threshold: 98%

Modified by your End.

Modified by your dragon’s Vit.]

The skill activated on its own.

Maroon flames erupted from her skin and burned over her body. They raged through muscle and bone, scorching away the pain, until only the pressure of her Concepts on her was left.

Scales formed behind the flames, pressing her wounds closed. She propped herself up with her sword. The exhaustion burned away as she moved. By the time she was standing, fresh Stamina ran wild through her muscles.

The scales flaked off, leaving behind not a scratch. The only evidence of her previous injuries was her tattered armor.

At her side, Kelstor burned as well. He burned so bright in amber flames she could barely look at him. After a moment, the light left behind a transformed dragon. His tawny scales had transformed, glistening golden amber, glowing with a light within. The open wounds and scabbing sores were gone. His horns shone, lustrous and bright. The rends in his wings were whole.

He roared in approval, his voice echoing powerfully, triumphantly, through the hall.

And Kelstor wasn’t done.

Your dragon believes in stubborn resistance.

[Your Medium Armor skill has been converted into the Dragon Knight skill Dragon Scale, level has been maintained.]

Dragon Scale (lvl 20) (Dragon Knight)

[Legend tells of dragons with impenetrable scale. Your dragon wishes the same for you, wrapping you in his considerable Frt.

Manifest armor from your aura. Any armor you are familiar with may be created.

Alternatively, create a layer of draconic scales over your skin with your aura, increasing your effective Frt.

Modified by your Frt.

Modified by your dragon’s Frt.]

The skill flared to life around her, her body glowing with her amber aura. The skill was waiting for something. Waiting for her to choose the armor she would wear.

She pictured her mother’s armor. Was there anything she was more familiar with? She had spent so many afternoons helping her polish it. So many mornings begging to help her put it on. She could have traced every scratch and rivet blind.

The skill didn’t form around the image.

Not that kind of familiarity? Unfortunate. It needed to be something she had worn a great deal then.

She pictured the armor Marco had helped her pick out. The gloves Telis had surprised her with. She could feel the weight of the plate on her hips. Could feel where the gambeson Telis had quietly had embroidered with a second set of protections pressed against her skin beneath the metal.

In a flash, she was fully armored again.

Well-Loved Armor Manifested.

[Original Stats:

- Average Collective Effective Frt +15%

Manifested Stats:

- Average Collective Effective Frt +20%

- Weight Reduction -10%]

It felt good. Better than she remembered. Her aura crown flared to life on her forehead, anointing her from head to toe in glowing amber armor.

She burst forward, surprised by how fast and far that single step propelled her. Heaven’s Strike built on her blade, her aura flaring with her approach. It crashed into the captain, her aura digging at his raised shield.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

His shield flashed green and Alyx was thrown back.

Kelstor lunged forward in the gap, his jaws clamping down around him.

Alyx charged another Heaven’s Strike while Kelstor held him.

The captain slammed his sword pommel against Kelstor’s skull. It clipped his eye, and the dragon flinched.

But Alyx was already swinging. Her blade struck his unguarded shoulder as he tried to shake the dragon off him. Her sword glanced off his plate armor as he broke free of Kelstor’s jaws.

He charged her again.

Warning: Too many Concepts. One may only possess 3 Concepts. Please fuse Concepts until you possess 3 or fewer. Refusing to do so may result in Breakage.

She flinched as her Concept pulsed for her attention.

Kelstor pushed between them, his claws swiping at the paladin.

The paladin blocked with his shield.

Scorching Lance, Kelstor’s voice echoed in her head.

A beam of piercing light shot from the dragon’s mouth and struck the paladin’s shield. This was nothing like the billowing heat of his feral dragon breath. This was a concentrated beam of death, burning too bright to look at and hotter than hot.

The shield glowed red hot under the onslaught. The captain staggered under the force, only to lunge away as the flames burned through the shield’s center.

Alyx gave chase, her sword dripping with her amber aura.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

The captain parried her attack, or tried to. Shadow Strike moved the line of her attack to the opposite side. His sword destroyed the aura shadow while her blade slashed across his chest.

Sword scraped across metal. Strength tested metal and Fortitude.

Absolute Might, Kelstor roared in her soul.

Her muscles flared. She felt her Strength multiply. Two times? Three times?

The plate armor crumpled before her blade. The paladin stumbled back. Neither Alyx nor Kelstor gave him a moment to recover.

Kelstor lunged at the man, his claws shoving the off-balance man to the ground.

Alyx was only a step behind. Her sword slammed into his chest, the full might of Kelstor’s buffing skill still coursing through her.

It still wasn’t enough. It left a sizable dent in the armor, but the man just grunted, his teeth bared in a grimace. His Fortitude was just too much.

She raised her sword again, Heaven’s Strike building on the blade. Amber sparks fell around her.

Not for the first time, she wished she had the Lightning Concept. The offensive power of that Concept could surely blow through even his Fortitude.

Warning: Too many Concepts. One may only possess 3 Concepts. Please fuse Concepts until you possess 3 or fewer. Refusing to do so may result in Breakage.

Could she make it with what she had?

[Current Concepts:

- Light

- Sword

- Flame

- Vines]

Maybe if she combined Light with something? Light and Flames? Light and Sword?

What was Sword, anyway? She hadn’t had it long. Not long enough to apply it to any of her skills.

But it sang as she swung her sword. It was a constant humming in the back of her mind.

Her blade scraped across the captain’s armor again. The Concept hummed.

He struck back, his sword glancing off her summoned armor.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Would a fused Lightning Concept even be the same as a pure and properly won version?

Would it even be enough if she had the power her grandmother wielded?

Would she be enough if she could call Lightning to her blade?

Their blades crossed again. Her Strength surged and pushed him back. Kelstor snapped at the captain as he reeled.

Her Concepts roared in her ears. Her aura rippled along her blade.

No. They screamed, no.

She would never be enough of a Veldor. She could never be her grandmother.

They exchanged another volley of strikes. She moved faster than she’d ever moved before. Her body surged with Strength. Her blade dripped with her aura.

But it still wasn’t enough to break his defenses.

It still wasn’t enough. She would never be enough.

Would Fioreya struggle this much? With her genius swordsmanship and peerless skills, would she be able to overpower even an opponent as over-leveled as the captain? With a dragon at her side, could she be stopped?

Would Alyx be like her if she had the family’s Lightning Concept to support her? Or would even that fall short?

Alyx dove in again, her sword slamming into his armor, her every thought shoving Light and Flame together in hopes it would make Lightning.

Her sword deepened the dent in his plates, but her amber aura didn’t spark with lightning. Her blade once again failed to breach his armor.

Useless. How many times would she need to repeat the action before she accepted she couldn’t do it?

She was just Alyx.

Apex Declaration, Kelstor roared and the entire building shook. The captain flinched.

Cass appeared behind him. “Ahryn, now!”

A bolt of white light struck the captain; his armor rippled like water.

Cass drove a dagger into a gap in his shoulder plates.

He grunted, twisting after Cass, but she slipped away before he could grab her.

Alyx couldn’t miss this opportunity. She darted forward, her aura pooling over her sword.

Yes, she was just Alyx.

She wasn’t a genius like Fioreya. She didn’t have the Lightning Concept like her brothers.

She could only be Alyx.

If Cass could repeatedly beat the odds by forging her own way, why couldn’t Alyx do the same?

Flame burned in her chest in agreement. It flared around her, her aura burning with the Concept’s light.

Her blade burst with light, the aura shining brighter than daylight. It burned, hot and bright. Brighter than it had ever glowed before.

Why couldn’t she forge her own way?

Flame consumed Sword, fusing into something new. Not Lightning. Certainly not Lightning.

She didn’t have time to look at what it was. All she knew was that the pressure evaporated as her four Concepts became three. Her sword swung faster as she threw off the status affliction. Her aura burned brighter still.

It was almost too hot to hold. Too bright to see through.

With a war cry, she drove her blade at the man’s heart. The sword struck metal with a clang. But she didn’t stop pushing.

She couldn’t stop pushing.

The physical blade could go no further, but she refused to be stopped.

She refused to fail here.

Light refused to be stopped.

Concept Applied: [Light - Str, Dex, End

Be a force unstopping. Undaunted. Uncompromising.]

Her aura burned a hole in the metal, cutting through fabric and flesh like it wasn’t even there.

Its tip hit something hard in his chest, where the heart should have been.

She roared. Kelstor roared with her.

He placed the palm of his claw on the pommel of her sword and, together, they pressed. Light and draconic might pierced the metal heart and the paladin fell still.

Delay in today's chapter

For personal reasons, today's chapter is going to be a few hours late. Expect it in the next two.

Sorry for the delay.

Ch. 60: Alyx: Concepts

Alyx found herself in a garden. The sun overhead hung low on the horizon in a sky painted soft pinks. Flowers filled the beds, their petals a riot of color, their scent sweet in the air. Somewhere nearby was the soft music of birds and the calming whisper of a fountain.

Before her, the garden stopped abruptly, the color flattening into an empty void the color of the sky.

In it, he stood.

“Kelstor!” Alyx ran to the very edge of the garden. Could she step out any further? She looked down. Was it simply a pink floor, or was this the edge of a strange Isle?

“Do I know you?” the dragon asked. He stood out in the pink without issue. “You look familiar, but…”

“It’s me.” She tentatively stepped out into the nothing. Her feet found something solid beneath her. She didn’t dare look down to check what. “It’s Alyx.”

“Stay back,” Kelstor barked.

Alyx froze. Did he not recognize her?

“Alyx? My little Alyx?” His voice was sharp. “No. Do not lie to me, stranger. My Alyx is only a child.”

She didn’t know if she should be relieved or crushed. He still thought she was a child? Then he didn’t know… “You’ve been gone for twelve years.”

His tail curled forward around his back legs, and his head lowered until his horns were level with her. His eyes narrowed. “That’s impossible.”

“It really is me, Kelstor.” Alyx took another step forward.

He shook his head. “That would mean—”

Alyx nodded. “My mother is dead. You’re feral.”

He took another step away. “Liar. Twelve years feral? Hardly. Someone would have slain me. I don’t like this lie, woman.”

“We don’t have a lot of time to explain. I think the people who killed my mom held you this whole time. Please, bond with me.” Alyx held a hand out to him. “We need to avenge her.”

“Bond with you?” His head rose a little, but he hadn’t relaxed. “I sense the major blessing on you. Why would you bother with a feral beast like me when there are undoubtedly children begging for your protection?”

He was right, of course. She held the Major Blessing. Her future, assuming they got out of the clutches of the Copper Crescent, was certain. She would be a Dragon Knight. She could raise either of the dragonlings into a partner to complement her skills.

He was already well past the Gate. He’d grown to match her mother. There wasn’t a lot of room left for him to grow toward her.

Just considering what would make her the most powerful, this was a poor choice. And yet, “I don’t want to see you hurting.”

He stepped back, a snarl in his words. “You think this is what your mother would want? For you to throw your future away over me?”

“You think this is what she wants for you?” Alyx stepped after him, maintaining the same distance. “To die feral? Would you have me leave you like this? Or would you ask me to kill you? Is that what she’d want for either of us? For her daughter to kill her s—” She forced herself to stop. She didn’t know what Kelstor might think of that. “You think she would want me to kill her dragon? You think I want to kill you?”

Slowly, imperceptibly, he shook his head.

“Please, Kelstor.” Alyx stepped closer, reaching for him. Her fingers brushed his scaled snout.

He recoiled with a hiss. “Get back, you fool. This side isn’t stable. You’ll fall through.”

She did not retreat. “It’d be plenty stable if you bond with me. Please, Kel?”

She reached up again for him. For a second, she was a small child, not even six, reaching up for his attention.

A grumble rolled in his throat, but he leaned back down to her. “I want better for you.”

“I know,” Alyx whispered back, stroking his snout. Gently, carefully, pulling him closer. “But I want better for you, too.”

“How did you get so old, Aly?” he muttered, his scaly snout nestling closer to her.

“I hate that name, and you know it.” She put her forehead to his, like she had done so often as a little girl. Her hands ran up into the soft mane below his horns.

“You should not choose me,” he whispered. “The major blessing holder should choose a dragon to protect. To raise. One who will grow to be your strength, as I was raised to be your mother’s. I’ll never match you the right way.”

“That doesn’t matter.” She stroked the ridges of his face.

“You would be much more powerful if we did.”

“Who says?” Alyx asked.

“Everyone.”

“I won’t.”

“Our Concepts don’t match,” he said. “They’re supposed to match.”

“We can fix that.” She looked up into his eyes. “Please. Let me save you.”

He looked away, but didn’t pull back. “When did you become so stubborn?”

“Like you’re one to talk.” She snorted.

“You should not pick me,” he said again, but it was nothing more than an empty protest, the force in it gone entirely.

“I know. But I’m going to do it, anyway.”

He shook his head. “You won’t regret it?”

“The only thing I could regret is leaving you here.”

“Can we even do this?” he asked, a tinge of fear creeping into his voice. “Isn’t there a reason people don’t bond with feral dragons?”

Alyx shook her head. “I don’t know. But I’m willing to find out with you. Please, Kelstor, will you accept me as your Knight?”

He sighed, but nodded. “Alyx Veldor, I accept you as my Knight. May I always be your dragon.”

A grin slipped across Alyx’s face. “Kelstor, I accept you as my dragon. May I always be your knight.”

Something clicked as she said it. The world around her shifted and twisted.

Warning: Your bond with the dragon Kelstor has granted you new Concepts.

[One may only possess 3 Concepts. Please fuse Concepts until you possess 3 or fewer.

Current Concepts:

- Light

- Grasping

- Sword

- Flame

- Wilds

- Wing]

Refusing to do so may result in Breakage.

It was hot and windy and she couldn’t breathe. A pressure crushed her. She felt like an explosion squeezed in a shrinking room.

She needed to fuse Concepts? How did one do that?

She had heard about Concept fusion. It was a waste of time, if not actively harmful. Pure Concepts, derived from treasures or monsters, were just better. They were the manifestation of a cultural understanding of an idea, while fused or mutated Concepts were only an individual’s understanding. They were inherently shallower.

But Salos had disagreed with that, hadn’t he? He’d thought Concepts should be tailored to the individual.

Which kind were Cass’s? Cass was unreasonably strong. More so than simply stats or skills could explain. Was that because she had individualized Concepts?

Warning: Too many Concepts. Automatically Breaking: Wing.

Alyx screamed as something shattered. Shards of what felt like glass burst through her body, raking through her mind.

Something inexplicable was lost.

But the pressure significantly lessened.

Warning: Too many Concepts. One may only possess 3 Concepts. Please fuse Concepts until you possess 3 or fewer. Refusing to do so may result in Breakage.

‘May’? Yeah, right. More like ‘will’ and ‘immediately’.

She grit her teeth and forced herself to focus. It didn’t matter if fused or pure Concepts were better. Either she figured out how to fuse them, or she was going to have to put up with the pain of her Concepts breaking two more times.

It hurt, but she thought she could handle it.

It would probably—

The pain flowed back into her. She flinched, her entire body contracting as if that would somehow alleviate it. At her side, Kelstor was screaming. How long had he been screaming?

She put a hand out to him. They’d survive this. They had to.

As her hand brushed against his snout, the pain spiked again.

Or, no. His pain flowed directly into her. This was his pain in the first place. His Concept breaking. Alyx was just feeling the reverberations.

“A-Alyx,” he whimpered.

“I’m here,” she whispered back.

“It didn’t hurt last time.” He meant when her mother bonded to him. Probably because he’d been a child with no Concepts of his own then. He’d easily taken on her mother’s. There had been no overload like this.

“I’ll make it stop,” Alyx assured him. Somehow, she’d make it stop. She just had to figure out how to fuse her remaining Concepts. While this pain echoed around her. Before the System Broke another one for her. “But I might need your help.”

He nodded weakly.

[Current Concepts:

- Light

- Grasping

- Sword

- Flame

- Wilds]

Five Concepts remaining. Vaguely, she thought she had heard someone saying something about the more Concepts one tried to fuse at once, the harder it became. Something about contradictory meanings causing friction in the process?

She was also pretty sure she’d heard that fusion—if one even went that route—was only something to consider after one developed a deep understanding of and connection to their Concepts.

She barely understood the three she’d brought to the equation. She had not succeeded in applying any of them to her stats, and only two of her skills had Concepts:

Radiant Aura (lvl 15) (Light)

[Your aura is a force unto itself. Declare yourself and throw back those who try to restrict you.

Blast your aura out around you from the impact of your weapon against a surface, creating a wave of aura strong enough to push nearby entities away.

Association with the Concept of Light increases the brightness of your aura, blinding those who witness with a chance to stun them.]

Commander’s Rally (lvl 10) (Grasping)

[A true leader commands from the battlefield, directing their followers with orders that cut above the din.

Rally your followers with a shout, raising morale and buffing skill levels and stats slightly. Specific orders can be given to reorganize your allies.

Association with the Concept of Grasping increases the chances your allies will hear your rally or orders regardless of the situation and improves the likelihood they follow them without question.]

Light, as she understood it, was about forcing herself to be seen. About making them acknowledge her. Grasping was much the same, wasn’t it? Making them hear her, no matter the situation.

Wouldn’t that mean they’d combine without issue? Could she force them into something like Declaration or Acknowledgment?

Even as she suggested it, it felt hollow.

All her life, she’d been performing for her family. She’d done everything and anything to win their approval. That was what had sent her chasing after a dragon. Why she needed to win the Festival.

And yet, she hadn’t followed through. She was here, saving Kelstor, saving Cass, instead. A feral dragon should be put down, not rescued. Cass was an outsider. If Alyx wanted her family’s approval, fighting in the arena was the better answer, not running off on rumors Cass was in danger.

But these were the right things.

These were the right things.

Even if they set her back. Even if she was hurt trying to see them through.

The Concept of Light flickered with the idea, as if to endorse it. Grasping lay quiet.

Was this a dead end?

“How did my mother understand Flame and Wilds?” Alyx asked.

“Flame was our weapon,” Kelstor said. “She wore it on her sword and in her hair. It was my breath and my claws. Flame was the promise we would rise again stronger. She said it was a Concept she carried from her homeland. That it was weaker here initially, but that every time she used it, it was stronger than before.”

Aris, the Everburning. People had called her mother that once. Her stained glass portraits always depicted her with flaming hair and a burning sword.

It wasn’t a Vaisom Concept? Or maybe it hadn’t been originally. Maybe her mother had forged it into one all on her own.

“Wilds was our refuge. My scales, her armor. A place for us to return to when there was no duty to perform. When the court and city didn’t need us. An escape.”

Alyx remembered trips out into the wilderness when she was small. Her mother often took her hunting. Well, more accurately, her mother went hunting with her friends, and Alyx tagged along under Telis and Marco’s watchful eyes. Alyx had always assumed those were subjugation assignments from the duchy. Were they actually an excuse to get out of the city?

Alyx didn’t need an escape. She was strong enough to stand her ground on what she wanted. She’d worked tirelessly to get at least that much.

She’d be dead by now if she hadn’t.

But what had it gotten her?

She was actively trying to strong-arm her way into a family that didn’t want her. That refused to acknowledge her.

Did she actually want any of that?

If escape had ever been presented as an option, would she have taken that instead?

No. There had been no point. There was only victory or death. Even marginal victory had been worth risking it all for, because what did she have to lose? Her tentative position in the city? Her strained relationship with her brothers?

Her death would have meant nothing but freedom for her retainers—a mercy her mother should have granted them from the beginning.

And now? Escape was still not something that appealed to her. Even with Kelstor at her side, the idea of running rankled.

But Grasping ached at the thought.

Of escape? No, not quite.

Rather, an idea Kelstor’s description of Wilds skirted around.

“A place to return to.” The words slipped out into the silence. They ached. They promised.

A scene flashed before her eyes. Childhood. The yard of her mother’s workshop. Late afternoon. The sun trickled through a canopy of vines growing through the pergola between the pond and the workshop, the dappled sunlight dancing softly on her skin as she dozed to the sounds of her mother’s forge.

The world was simple. The world was safe.

And it was gone. But the Grasping yearned for it. Wilds whispered maybe it could be again, if she could but find it.

She clenched her hands. This was it.

Grasping was a hungry want. But a want with no goal. It was impossible to satisfy because it was the act of wanting itself.

Wilds, on the other hand, was a promise. For her mother, maybe it had been a promise of no expectations. There was no need to search for it, because her mother had it. But for Alyx, it was an answer.

She pushed the ideas together. Wilds, unexpectedly docile. Grasping as hungry as ever. Grasping pounced, consuming Wilds like a rabid animal.

The world around her twisted again. Her stomach flipped. Kelstor groaned.

Concepts Grasping and Wilds have been fused. Congratulations on creating: Vines.

Warning: Too many Concepts. One may only possess 3 Concepts. Please fuse Concepts until you possess 3 or fewer. Refusing to do so may result in Breakage.

[Current Concepts:

- Light

- Sword

- Flame

- Vines]

The pressure dropped again.

Vines wasn’t what she had imagined would be the outcome of fusing Grasping and Wilds, but she could feel how it was right. The reaching desire of the plant to expand out and find another anchor point to call home. The way it formed mats and alcoves. It searched for and created small spaces of sanctuary.

Around her, the garden rippled, spreading under her feet and consuming the void she and Kelstor stood in. Vines crept up the trees that decorated the garden’s edges.

She needed to make one more pair.

The garden shook. Something grabbed her shoulder and yanked her down. The ground liquefied under her feet.

“Alyx!” Kelstor yelled as she was pulled under.

Ch. 59: A Goddess Problem

Cass watched in horror as Ahryn’s soul exploded.

One moment, it had been obviously damaged, all but turned inside out. The next, its edges surged until there wasn’t so much a singular core in his chest but instead, his entire body glowed with the silver light of his soul.

His energy radiated off him in waves, surging with every skill he used. And with every surge expelled, the weaker the silver of his body became—the less remained of his soul.

But she could move.

The captain’s sword jerked forward again, the silver light dispelling Ahryn’s barrier.

The dragonlings scattered, bolting away from the man.

Cass swung her dagger, fully expecting the usual blade of wind to form and fly from its blade. But Tempest Blade didn’t heed her call.

All her skills had gone silent.

And with it came a sense of calm. Everything was okay. She would be safe. Her skills would be back as soon as Ahryn ended his skill.

The captain stomped his foot after the fleeing dragonlings. A puzzled look crossed his face as nothing happened.

See, everything was fine. The captain had lost access to his skills, too.

A grin slipped across her lips as she imagined the moment Ahryn’s skill dropped and her skills returned. With her Alacrity and Dexterity, she would react first. She could tear out his soul before he could defend himself. His soul was still leaking tantalizingly from the wounds Kohen had inflicted on it.

But that was for later. Right now, she needed to make the most of this moment.

She ran at the captain, her dagger clenched in her hand.

She lunged, her superhuman Strength and Dexterity unaffected by Ahryn’s skill.

But neither was the captain’s superhuman Fortitude.

The dagger slammed into his back, skidding across the metal, leaving a trail only because it was still soft from the dragonfire-inflicted heat.

The captain spun, striking Cass with his sword pommel.

She should have dodged that. But Dodge hadn’t warned her.

Instead, the strike sent her flying across the room, tumbling over the glass floor.

Tumbling right out of the range of Ahryn’s skill.

It was like stepping out of the shade and into the direct fury of the summer sun. All her skills screamed for attention as the calm evaporated.

Cass gasped on the floor. The air swirled around her. The fragments of soul in the air smelled so sweet. Mana blurred her vision. She probably needed to apply a tellbren and peripenny compound to her cuts if she wanted them to heal with minimal Health loss. She needed to get up and devour the bleeding souls. She needed a staff. The aether was thin here. If she wanted to hide, now was the moment to slip away while the paladin captain turned on Alyx.

Her Alacrity spiked as it struggled to keep up with the sudden deluge of skill information again.

She staggered to her feet. Her head throbbed. The Focus loss was compounded with the overload and the head trauma.

Her mouth watered. Everyone oozed souls. Ahryn was still broadcasting his, though he was fading fast. The captain’s soul leaked from a claw-shaped rend. Kohen’s pulsed and rippled, absorbing and throwing off bits and pieces with every breath. Alyx’s soul carried snaking wounds, not yet healed and actively exacerbated as she rammed it against the dragon’s half-formed one.

It was a veritable feast before her. She just needed—

She flicked on Soul Guard. It constricted around her, and she could think again.

Hell.

Soul Guard was a skill. It must have shut down while she was under the effects of Ahryn’s skill. That could have been bad.

Salos, you here somewhere?

Ah, yes. His voice came from her necklace. I seem to have demanifested.

That made sense. It was a skill that let Salos manifest as a cat, after all.

What do we do about the floating lady?

That—Salos paused. Recognition rippled over their connection. He knew who the goddess was. More than simply recognizing her as one of the gods, he knew her, personally. That is a manifestation of a god. She is a fraction of the goddess’s power channeled through a mortal representative or physical anchor.

And what do we do about her? Cass pressed.

Run? Salos suggested half-heartedly.

Still not an option.

Kill her representative, which, I will remind you, you were struggling with before she showed up.

Her representative being the paladin captain, Cass confirmed.

Presumably.

Not ideal at all. Just about every step in her plans had been upended.

What are the chances we can lock the demon in the dragonling’s containment circle now that the captain’s taken it down for us? Cass asked.

Did you see the explosions? Salos scoffed. It’s at least as badly damaged as the first one, if not worse. We are not reactivating that. Not in any reasonable time.

Yeah, that was what she was afraid of.

Was there another way to capture him? Pellen was here now. Could she hold Kohen?

The little mage stood in the cathedral’s doorway, her entire body shaking as she chanted her binding spell. The dragon visibly strained against it. How much longer could Pellen hold him? Would she have anything left after?

Her calculations hadn’t changed. Taking down the captain’s sealing skill was too dangerous until Kohen was contained. With the summoned goddess, could she keep delaying on the hopes of saving him?

He, the captain, and the manifestation of the goddess were all within Ahryn’s skill suppression zone. Cass couldn’t enter it without losing her rationality to Salos’s demon impulses. Ahryn’s soul burned, every second undoubtedly doing permanent damage. Just outside the skill suppression zone, Alyx was still binding with the dragon, with no indication how much longer she would take.

Worse, the captain was walking in Alyx’s direction.

But Cass couldn’t do anything about that. She couldn’t fight him. Definitely not in the skill suppression field without her skills or Salos’s help. Both Manifest Form and Shifting Minds were skills.

Wait.

The lady is a ‘manifestation’ of the goddess, Cass repeated. What does that mean, exactly?

It means—Salos huffed. Look. I am not an expert on godly intervention. I have no idea how it works.

But it’s not a skill, Cass pressed. If it were, she’d have blipped out of existence like you did when the field went up.

I suppose, Salos agreed.

And it isn’t the entirety of the goddess.

No, definitely not. Salos agreed.

You said she was a ‘fraction of the goddess’s power’. Did you mean, like, literally? Like a fraction of her soul? Did gods have souls?

No. Salos scoffed, but unease rippled through him. No. He forced levity into his words. No. That would make her a demon. And the gods are not, would not, could not, approve of demons. That’s like suggesting the abyss is up or blood is empty.

Okay, but then what is she? Cass asked. And can we kill her?

How would you even do that? Salos asked. She doesn’t have a body you can cut. She is just a spirit form without physicality.

Cass bit her lip. This was a bad idea. She knew that already. She asked anyway. Can you target her with Fairy Fire?

What? Salos froze.

Can you target her? Cass repeated.

I mean. Not while the suppression field is up. But, yes, I think so. Why?

Demons devour souls, right? Cass cast her gaze on Kohen.

No, Salos said flatly. You are NOT feeding a piece of a goddess to an unstable demon. You just spent the last—I don’t even know how long— trying to bleed off all the energy he has consumed. Do you have any idea what might happen if you feed him a goddess?

You said she wasn’t really the goddess, Cass pointed out. That she isn’t even a part of the real goddess’s soul.

I mean—

So, worst case, he eats what? The bits of soul the paladin was trying to sacrifice to the goddess? It can’t be the paladin’s soul, right? Cuz that would be demonish too, right?

I suppose, Salos muttered. The most likely explanation is she’s nothing more than a mana construct. He didn’t sound convinced, and Cass wasn’t particularly convinced either. She didn’t know the details about ‘mana constructs’ or Ahryn’s skill, but she would have assumed such a construct would have been constructed by a skill the field would have deactivated by now.

But there was so much magic she knew nothing about. For all she knew, it was some magical third thing. Maybe the divine had rules completely unrelated to the magic of skills, mages, or souls.

And, really, this was the only idea she had.

Ready? Cass asked.

This is a bad idea, Salos replied.

But are you ready?

I see a dozen more problems with this plan.

He was exaggerating a little, but he wasn’t wrong that there were a few obstacles.

1. The goddess’s manifestation had a suppressive gravity aura that would almost certainly return if Ahryn’s skill ended.

2. Kohen could not move under the goddess’s suppression, and he couldn’t use his demonic devouring skills under Ahryn’s.

3. Salos couldn’t use Fairy Fire on a target inside Ahryn’s skill suppression field.

Answer? She needed to deactivate both Ahryn and the goddess’s suppression fields. Removing Ahryn’s was as simple as asking nicely (probably) or, in the worst case, waiting for him to pass out.

Removing the goddess’s was trickier.

She didn’t have a skill for that. She assumed Ahryn couldn’t narrowly target her either, or he would have done that to begin with. And, even if he could, that would still leave her untargetable by Salos’s Fairy Fire.

Was it just an unworkable idea?

No. Wait. There was that in her bag, wasn’t there?

How solid do you suppose the goddess is? Cass asked. The phantom woman was translucent, but then, so was Cass’s aura cloak, and that was plenty solid when she wanted it to be.

I don’t know. I don’t have a history of attacking gods’ manifestations.

And I don’t really want to make a pattern out of it either, but here we are. Can we stab her, Salos?

I don’t know. Maybe? How does stabbing her help us?

‘Maybe’ was not the answer Cass was hoping for, but she rummaged through her Bag anyway, trading Erizen’s Blade for her scavenged Skill Sealing Dagger, the one Levina used on her back in Uvana.

Just apply Fairy Fire to the goddess as soon as you can, Cass said.

Abyss, Salos huffed but sent the impression of a nod over their bond.

Cass ran, shouting as she went, “Ahryn! Cut your skill!”

She passed the threshold of Ahryn’s skill before he could react. She slowed as Stormstride deactivated. Doubts fluttered to the fore of her mind as Soul Guard failed. Why give Kohen this role? Why not seize it herself?

How much stronger would she be if she absorbed this fragment of a goddess?

The thoughts were sweet, their promises heady. She could be more.

<Devour. Grow stronger. Be more.>

Irrational. Invasive. These weren’t her thoughts.

Just keep running.

The goddess was just ahead.

Ahryn’s skill dropped.

Cass’s skills came rushing back, every one of them screaming for her attention. She flicked on Soul Guard, let Stormstride run, and forced herself to ignore the rest.

The gravity hit her next. Only Cass’s existing momentum carried her forward.

Just another step.

The goddess’s silhouette lit up with purple flames. I’ve done it. Now what?

Behind her, the captain advanced on Alyx, entirely unfazed by his goddess’s skill.

“Give up, traveler,” the goddess taunted. Her face was hidden behind a heavy helm, but Cass could feel her smirk all the same.

Cass forced her body forward another step to stand beside the altar.

Her knees shook under the pressure. Her shoulders bowed. Her entire body threatened to crumple under the goddess’s domain.

Cass raised the dagger and stabbed into the aural form of the goddess.

Only for it to pass through the goddess without purchase.

“Useless.” The goddess sneered down at Cass, her eyes glowing copper from under her helm.

Damn. Was that it? Was that all she had?

A blast of lightning jolted past her.

Cass blinked.

Kohen was next to her, his eyes wild, his phantom hand latching onto the front plate of the goddess’s breast plate and dragging her down to his level.

How was he able to move all of a—

The gravity field was gone.

Cass stared at the dagger’s blade, still submerged in the ghostly form of the goddess. Was that enough? She almost laughed. No one had said she had to cut her target with her blade. Contact with the bared blade was plenty.

“Vile demon,” the goddess grunted, her armored hands gripping at Kohen’s phantom one, but unable to break his grip.

He said something in return, his voice vicious.

“Blame the traitors or your own misfortune if you want to blame someone,” the goddess spat back.

His answer was to drag the goddess to the ground and pin her to the floor with his lightning blade.

She screamed as the blade went through her shoulder.

Gravity mounted as the goddess attempted to reengage her gravity field as Kohen pulled away from Cass’s dagger in his attack. But Cass tossed the dagger into her, and the skill ended immediately.

Kohen laughed. It was a dark, sadistic thing. His phantom hand ripped the breastplate of the goddess’s armor off. It disintegrated into a cloud of copper particles, rejoining the senseless clouds of shattered souls from which it had come.

His hand dug into her phantom chest, pulling free globs of forest green soul. He pressed it to his lips. Most flowed down his face, evaporating back into the clouds around him. But more than enough filled his bulging soul to bursting.

That was going to be a problem.

But so was the paladin captain dragging Alyx from the dragon’s back on the other side of the room.

Ch. 58: Ahryn: Purpose

Ahryn’s heartbeat was the loudest thing in the room. The paladin captain stood in front of Emenie. His sword was raised.

And he couldn’t do a thing. The very air held him in place. Like it had turned to stone. Like the weight of an entire continent pressed down on his shoulders.

Focus: 4/126

Health: 3/112

He could do nothing.

Once again, he could do nothing.

He wasn’t seven anymore, but he might as well be.

What was the point in having levels and power and skills when he was still just as weak as he’d been without them?

He’d always been sickly. When he was a child, before he turned nine, they said he’d grow out of it. That some children have a slower start. That he shouldn’t compare himself to Alyx or Kohen.

When he was a child, any amount of running would leave him out of breath. Walking from the base of the palatial hill to the palace was enough to leave his muscles shaking.

Work harder, his father had said.

Work diligently, his mother had encouraged.

One day, you’ll have the Stamina for even these simple things.

One day. That was what they said.

One day didn’t come fast enough.

He was seven when it happened.

It was the end of the last Rising Dragon Festival. Twelve years ago.

It was night. He was supposed to have been in bed. But he’d snuck out. To see the stars. To catch a glimpse of the dragonling. There was a spot on the palace wall that overlooked the nursery where the dragonling lived, where he could get a good view of both. Getting there was tricky, but not impossible. Time consuming mostly.

It was late, and he was panting heavily by the time he got there.

And people were shouting.

Lady Aretios stood in the nursery courtyard, her dragon, Kelstor, at her side. Strangers in armor and green and copper tabards stood opposite her, the dragonling, Melida, shackled at their side. The dragonling pulled at her bindings, but she was just a child, too. What could she do against fully grown adults?

He froze there on the wall, staring down. Froze like he was frozen now. Helpless, as he was helpless now.

Lady Aretios and Sir Kelstor fought the invaders. But even a dragon knight and dragon could be beaten by superior numbers. Especially when there was a hostage.

Lady Aretios took countless wounds. Sir Kelstor bled from brow to tail tip. Yet their enemies were tireless.

Ahryn could only watch. He had to do more. But he couldn’t move.

The invaders dragged the dragonling from the yard. They were going to get away. They were going to take her.

What could he do? He was just a child. But so was Melida, and she was struggling with all she had, her claws digging into the dirt as she was dragged away, her wings flapping futilely to push against even the air, her jaws snapping at anyone she might bite.

Lady Aretios cut down yet another of the invaders. She took a step toward the dragonling. Under the moonlight, her aura surged.

A blade pierced her chest. An invader had snuck up behind her. Her blood splattered through the night air.

Kelstor roared.

Ahryn screamed.

Lady Aretios staggered forward, her aura still growing around her body. She swung her sword with all her remaining power, the entirety of her aura flying from her body across the yard. It missed the man dragging the dragonling away. Maybe it had never intended to hit him.

The aura blade struck the dragonling squarely in the chest.

She was dead in an instant.

Lady Aretios fell to the ground a moment later.

Ahryn stumbled back, unable to believe what he’d seen. Shocked into movement, he ran. He ran like he should have run from the start. He must have seen wrong. Someone must be able to save Melida and Lady Aretios.

Someone.

Anyone.

He ran until he couldn’t breathe. He screamed the whole way. He didn’t remember who found him. He didn’t remember the rest of that night. All he remembered was Lady Aretios under the moonlight, a sword stabbed through her back, the blood froze in time, arching away from her body.

All he remembered was his useless, useless self.

And here he was. Again.

Held in place because he was too weak.

It was Emenie there instead of Melida.

One day, they said, he’d be strong. He’d have the Stamina to run.

If only he had the Stamina to run to her.

He still didn’t. He’d never outgrown his weakness like they said he would.

He’d looked forward to his ninth birthday. It was supposed to change everything.

He remembered the faces of the adults when he showed them his inborn trait.

The disappointment.

For him.

In him.

Ethereal Constitution (Inborn)

[Your body is fueled by something more fundamental and far less tangible. Draw from this well with care, and none shall stand in your way. May you burn bright, if only for a moment.

You possess no Stamina.

Any bonuses to Stamina are applied to Focus and Health instead.]

They reassured nine-year-old him it would be fine. This was a boon for a mage. Kohen was already well on his way to being an accomplished swordsman. The family didn’t need two swordsmen. He would complement Kohen better as a mage.

No one talked about how his Health dropped just from walking across the city to the Academy.

No one talked about how even running short distances started cutting into his Health.

And it didn’t help now.

His heartbeat hammered in his head.

Emenie would die.

Maybe Miss Cass had another trick. Maybe Alyx would finish binding with Kelstor, and she’d do what her mother couldn’t. Maybe Kohen would push through the overwhelming power of a goddess to save Emenie in time.

He wished one of them would.

He wished he could do more.

He wished with all his heart that he could be more.

[Ethereal Constitution: Draw power from within?]

He stared at the window before him. It was tinged with the silver color he associated with his Concept of Starlight. He didn’t know what that meant, but did he really have a choice?

[Ethereal Constitution: Drawing power from within. May you burn bright, if only for a moment.]

Power surged from his chest, like something had torn down a dam and all the stored water behind it poured out at once.

It filled him.

It overfilled him, pouring off into the air in a silver light. But there was no stopping it. Not until Emenie was safe.

Focus: 126/126

Health: 35/112

He stood, the weight pressing him down little more than an inconvenience. He was more than it now; if only now.

The captain’s sword was raised. He swung down on Emenie. With his Strength, with her lack of stats, that one strike would be enough to kill her.

Ahryn refused to let that happen.

He held a hand out. He didn’t know a proper shield spell. All he had was Lightscreen Barrier, with its deceleration properties. But couldn’t he slow the paladin’s sword until it came to a stop?

Normally, no. The spell was expensive enough slowing objects by 10%. But right now, what was Focus when he had something more fundamental fueling his every movement?

A white field appeared above Emenie. The paladin’s sword hit it and froze in place. The captain could not pull it out any more than he could push it down.

Good. That bought a moment. What next?

How did he save Emenie?

The captain had to die. But Ahryn couldn’t do it. He had yet to memorize offensive spells cast with only hand gestures. The best he could do was put Miss Cass and the others in a position to rescue Emenie for him.

Which meant they needed to move.

How exactly were they being held in place? The goddess’s presence? Or was it a skill?

He didn’t think he could banish the goddess. Not from her temple. But if it was a skill, maybe he could counter it.

He reached for a skill of his own.

Storm’s Lull (lvl 20)

[This world is a raging storm and you but a fragile boat rocking on its winds. Only by carving out places of calm can you find safe harbor to rest.

Enforce a zone of calm in an ongoing conflict by disallowing skills.]

He threw his Focus behind the skill, charging it with far more than it asked for. Focus and that ephemeral something surging through him.

The white light of the skill spread through the room, blanketing everything and everyone.

It hit the manifestation of the goddess, still hovering over the central altar.

“Mortal, you think you can silence me? In my temple?” she growled. She pushed back against his skill.

It wasn’t his place to challenge the gods.

He was no one.

Nothing.

Insignificant and useless.

But Starlight burned in him. Cold and bright and insistent.

Sweat beaded on his forehead. His heart pounded. His lungs burned.

The goddess—or the fraction of her manifestation, the tauran paladin had called forth—pushed back against the skill. Her Will was solid, like a wall of stone and reinforced with the weight of something greater than any stat.

But Ahryn was empowered by more than his stats. And he was here with his entire being, not just a fraction of it.

His skill surged outward.

Ahryn shouted back wordlessly. He had only one wish. He might be as insignificant as any singular star in the night sky, but tonight he’d burn that star like it was another sun. He would protect Emenie and Velkora, even if he burned out in the attempt.

Ch. 57: Hold

The dragon fire pressed against Cass’s control. It bucked and rolled with an indomitable will, rebuking Elemental Manipulation.

Stamina: 56/141

Focus: 38/549

Health: 70/134

The heat was a force unto itself, scalding her skin and devouring her Stamina. Blisters rose along her palms, but she couldn’t break. The dragonlings whimpered behind her.

Cass shoved the flames to either side, forcing Focus through her skill, pressing back with every scrap of Will. And yet, the fire crept forward, the heat increasing with every fraction of an inch.

Stamina: 42/141

Focus: 5/549

She’d spent every sliver of Focus she’d recovered while running from the demon and then some. And it still wasn’t enough.

The flames tore at her control, wild and mad and hungry.

She refused to let this be the end. She refused to let them die.

She burned Health.

Stamina: 57/141

Focus: 40/549

Health: 40/134

The fire within burst to life, burning hot and fierce. Hotter than the dragon’s flames.

Cass pressed the surge of Focus into Elemental Manipulation, forcing the flames back.

Focus: 34/549

How much longer, Salos?

He was behind her at her feet, his claws scratching at the runes in the floor around the dragonlings. This would be easier if I had opposable thumbs, he muttered.

Should we switch?

The fire flickered out as the dragon turned to bite Alyx.

Cass could leave most of the distracting to Alyx and support in cat form while Salos used her body to finish up the alterations to the seal.

Kohen now held Ahryn on the far side of the room, so there would be no more using him to bait the dragon through the paladin captain. A few of the surviving paladins—how were there still more?—approached them, their eyes glinting with Fairy Fire.

The captain stood again, his shield and armor all faintly glowing red from the heat. How was he alive in that? Fortitude was scary.

Salos grumbled to himself. It might help—

“Pellen, hold the dragon in place!” Alyx shouted across the room.

Pellen jumped, frantically flipping pages of her tome, already chanting the first lines from memory.

Alyx dodged around the dragon’s bite, leaping onto his back. “Cass, protect me!”

And then she went limp.

Cass Sprinted across the room.

The dragon thrashed, his head craning around to bite at Alyx on his back.

Cass threw a Tempest Blade ahead of her. The lightning blade arched around to strike the side of his face.

The dragon roared. The building shook.

To her ordinary eyes, it looked like Alyx had stopped moving. But to whatever sense was showing her the nature of souls, Cass could see more.

Is she binding with the dragon? Cass asked. The two rammed against each other repeatedly, completely out of sync and bouncing off each other in random directions.

Your guess is as good as mine, Salos muttered without looking up. Are we switching or not?

Pellen shouted something, her hand outstretched to the dragon. White bands wrapped up his legs and body, twining up his neck and constricting.

He thrashed against them, but with every additional syllable from Pellen’s lips, the binds constricted further.

The dragon roared again, but could not move.

The paladin captain stepped toward Alyx and the dragon, his sword glowing just as much from the heat as the rest of his armor, his eyes fixed on the frozen pair.

I think I’m needed over there, Cass said, Sprinting back to Alyx. Do what you can.

Sure, fine, stop distracting me, Salos said.

Cass appeared in front of the captain.

“You want to die first, demon?” he said.

“I’d rather no one died,” Cass replied. “But I’m not going to hope I can convince you of that.”

He had tortured the dragon. He wanted to torture the dragonlings—literal children. He had no qualms about killing her or Alyx or Ahryn. Her grip on her dagger tightened.

“Cute.” The captain swung at her. She dodged out of the way. The air screamed as the blade cut through the space she’d just occupied. She could dodge, but there was no way she could stop that sword. He had far too much Str for her to take on directly.

He kept up the attack, sword strike after strike. Cass wove between them. With the flick of her wrist, she sent a Wind Tempest blade at his eyes. It left another shallow gash on his cheek.

“That the best you can do?” His sword sliced down at her. She avoided it by a hair’s breadth.

This was easier when she could run away. But if he couldn’t get her, he’d attack the defenseless Alyx, and she couldn’t allow that.

Her head hurt; her body was tired. She was running out of everything.

Stamina: 52/141

Focus: 28/549

But surely, recruiting the dragon would turn this conflict in their favor.

Cass just needed to make sure they lived through the process.

The captain’s sword ripped through the air. Cass Dodged, but it clipped the edge of her aura cloak.

At the far side of the room, Kohen had killed the last pair of paladins. Ahryn struggled in his arms, wriggling to get free.

Salos, move the Fairy Fire to the paladin captain, please.

What part of ‘don’t distract me’ do you not understand? Salos grumbled, but the purple flames moved from Ahryn to the captain in an instant.

She didn’t need to worry about Kohen eating them if there were no paladin grunts. If he could leave Ahryn alone now and help her, that would be great.

She sidestepped another sword strike. She wanted to return the attack with her own, but her Tempest Blades weren’t doing enough damage. It was nothing but a waste of her quickly dwindling Focus.

Luckily, Kohen was more than happy to provide the offense. His lightning blade slammed into the paladin captain’s back, and the man staggered forward.

Cass scattered, giving both of them space.

“You want some too?” the captain growled, turning with his momentum to strike Kohen.

Kohen caught the paladin’s sword with his lightning blade and said something in that other language in return. The two men clashed for a moment before their swords broke apart.

But not before Kohen summoned a cloud of lightning orbs, throwing them indiscriminately over the room.

Cass planted herself between them and Alyx, grabbing them from the air, one after another with Elemental Manipulation.

Focus: 19/549

Several struck the captain, leaving burned and glowing metal pits where they hit his armor and shield.

“I’ve had enough of this,” the captain growled. He raised his sword, glowing a dark forest green. “Lady of Fortitude, Keeper of Souls, and Overseer of Rightful Death and Final Rest, take the lives lost upon your altar as a sacrifice to your power and grant me a boon to slay the demons defiling your temple.”

The air glowed.

No. The powdered souls in the air glowed. They burned with copper light, blindingly bright. They swirled around the paladin captain, coating his armor with their copper sheen.

The silhouette of a person appeared in the glowing particles above the altar in the cathedral’s center. They were huge, bigger than the captain by another head, their broad shoulders made broader by full plate armor.

Manifestation of the Divine

[A call for one’s divine patron with an offering of unbridled potential.]

A woman’s voice echoed through the cathedral. “Your offering has been found wanting.”

It was heavy, physically weighing on Cass’s shoulders. It was all Cass could do to stay on her feet, even though her entire body begged to fall to her hands and knees. Even the demon, Kohen, quaked in place under its effects. Poor Ahryn collapsed to the floor, his entire body shaking.

“The souls of the faithful are powerful indeed. They are fine fuel for my boon. Yet the boon is unearned without a soul of my enemies among your offering. Slay any of the demons before you, and I shall grant you the full power of the Mountain.”

The captain regarded the room, his eyes sliding from Kohen before him to the dragonlings still in their containment field. He smirked and stepped toward them.

Kohen snarled something in his other language, forcing a step after the captain.

Cass couldn’t move. The weight was too much. It was like the gravity of the room had increased a hundredfold.

The captain stood at the edge of the containment field. He had his pick of demons, and the defenseless dragonlings were it. But they were still inside the field. Salos hadn’t broken it open yet. They were still—

The captain stabbed his sword into the runes of the field’s boundary. Energy sparked through the air. Explosions popped along the ring. The dragonlings squealed. Salos hissed.

Ahryn screamed. “NO!”

He just—He just broke it! Salos sputtered. I was almost done. And he just broke it!

Can you stop him? Cass asked.

No. I can’t move. But we need to stop him. You could barely handle him as it was. If he gets a goddess’s boon, you can forget about escaping, much less escaping with anyone else.

The captain stepped over the destroyed field’s boundary. He stood before one of the two dragonlings.

Ch. 56: Alyx: Endless Assault

Alyx carried her momentum into the captain, darting around his side and slashing while he blocked another blade of Cass’s lightning. Her sword bit at the plate, breaching the metal with a spray of blood.

She activated Resonating Blade, and the cut duplicated itself under his armor. Blood dripped between the overlapping plates and down his armor.

The demon pushed itself back to its feet, leaping at the nearest paladin, its lightning sword jammed into the man’s chest. The paladin shrieked.

“No, you don’t!” Cass shouted, appearing at the demon’s side, her dagger slicing through the space between demon and paladin.

Her blade didn’t touch the creature, yet it still recoiled with a hissing curse. Its lightning blade flickered out as it turned on Cass, only to reappear free of the paladin’s chest to swing at Cass.

She dodged out of the way, the lightning blade missing her by a breath and not more.

Behind the slyphid, Ahryn erupted in purple flames.

The demon’s eyes flickered toward her youngest brother. Several of the nearby paladins turned on him, swords raised.

Cass disappeared.

What was Cass thinking? Ahryn couldn’t defend himself from—

The demon launched itself on the nearest of the paladins, ripping through the man and leaping at the next.

It really was protecting Ahryn?

She shook her head. She’d assume Cass had a plan.

Cass always had a plan.

They were often mad plans. But they worked.

“Blasted demon,” the captain hissed, watching his men attack Ahryn, only to be decimated by the demon. Pain echoed in his voice. More pain than Alyx would have expected from the wounds she’d inflicted on him thus far.

“Do you have time to worry about them?” Alyx asked, diving back at him with renewed vigor. She sliced at him, her sword cutting and slashing. He turned aside her strikes, redirecting the vast majority with his shield.

Kelstor swung his horns at them as he turned to charge Ahryn.

Alyx ducked under the attack, charging a Heaven’s Strike along her sword, as his good horn scraped against the captain’s raised shield.

She swung up as he slipped past her, her sword slicing across his armored side.

He twisted, batting her sword aside with his shield, his face contorting in a pained grimace as he moved.

Too slow, she was already drawing back for another cut.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Her blade danced around him, tracing over his armor. It glowed with her aura as she slipped in Heaven’s Strikes amid her regular attacks. Everyone was another strain on his armor. Fortitude didn’t falter, but all metal eventually gave out.

He swung back, his huge blade slamming into her sword, looking to brute force his way through her defenses with his superior Strength.

This wasn’t how a man of his level should be fighting. A man of his position and level should have a Sword Mastery skill. With it, he should be carving her up, even with his wounds.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, +1 Dex, + 1 End]

Kelstor stormed across their fight, lunging through them. She darted back, his body glancing across hers, his claws scraping past her, his tail whipping into her and the captain as he passed, leaving a gash across her face and a dent in the captain’s armor.

Alyx’s eyes followed his path. Ahryn was over there now. How had he moved from one side of the room to the other so quickly?

Cass slipped into Stealth, disappearing as the demon slashed down another paladin. As Kelstor bowled into another group of paladins between him and the boy.

Cass had done it then? To throw Kelstor at the captain?

The captain lunged at her. His blade bit into her shoulder before she could block. Pain bloomed across the wound.

He drew back again, hacking at her side.

She deflected the sword, his Strength reverberating through her arms.

Alyx pushed through the numbing pain, snaking her sword around his. Her Reverberating Blade found a gash in his armor, cutting deeper through the torn flesh below. A dozen shallow cuts materialized over his body as she activated her blade’s ability.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

But none of it was enough. His sword chopped into her side, her shoulders, her thighs.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

For every cut she made, he found two openings to exploit.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Every time Kelstor charged between them, claws swiping and jaws snapping, chasing Cass and Ahryn, she was left with as many wounds as the captain.

[Endless Assault: + 1 End]

His sword pushed hers wide. It sliced across her chest. Her armor split before his blade. Pieces fell to the floor. Gashes ran across her chest, blood running over torn clothing and ripped skin.

What was Cass planning? How much longer did she need to hold out?

Alyx glanced toward Ahryn, looking for Cass, as she deflected another sword strike. He was by the door, the demon between them.

The demon ripped a man’s head off, dropping both head and body to the bloody floor. It was covered in even more wounds than she was. Its dark skin, writhing like a thing possessed, was slick with the crimson liquid.

The captain swung again. Alyx blocked, her Strength approaching the captain’s and nullifying some of the shock of the impact.

The demon dodged around another swipe of Kelstor’s claws as the dragon rampaged toward her brother.

Behind them, in the doorway, she spotted Pellen. She’d caught up. Marco must be with her, too. Surely, with him at her side, they could turn this around.

The captain’s next strike slipped through her defenses, slashing her thigh. She bit back the pain and countered with a strike of her own, calling Heaven’s Strike to her blade and sweeping it across his side.

She couldn’t beat the paladin captain alone. But with Marco covering her defense…

Her eyes darted around the room, looking for him.

He would have run to her side. Unless he thought there was tactical merit in protecting Pellen or Ahryn. But he wasn’t.

He wasn’t here.

Cass dropped out of Stealth behind Ahryn, scooping him up and sprinting away from demon and dragon. They both gave chase.

Still no sign of Marco.

No sign that Cass was moving on to the next phase of her plan.

Kelstor charged through. His thrashing head slammed into the captain. He grunted, taking the strike to his shield.

Kelstor’s head bounced back for her.

A dark blue force shield materialized between her and the dragon. Kelstor rolled past.

The captain lunged, blade sliding through the weakened barrier with a crack of breaking magic. Alyx sidestepped, her sword swinging into his unprotected flank.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Okay, Marco wasn’t here. That was fine. Pellen was plenty, as long as she had Focus.

How long would she have Focus?

Would it last long enough for Alyx’s Strength and Endurance to ramp up to the captain’s? Would it last until Cass’s plan swung into effect? Until Telis returned with the Grand Duchess?

Or was this entire thing a house of cards waiting to fall at the first setback?

This would be so much easier if Kelstor fought at her side. But there was no reasoning with a feral dragon. He didn’t recognize her. He couldn’t.

Not unless…

She deflected another sword strike, parrying with a stab of her own.

She couldn’t bond with an adult dragon.

If it were that easy, they wouldn’t put down feral dragons. If it were easy, ensuring the dragonlings had knights before their ninth birthday wouldn’t be such a priority.

It wasn’t done.

It was something out of the founding myths of the duchy. Not something for a mortal woman like her to be considering.

But she had Alacrity’s Blessing and with it the right to bond with dragons. That had to count for something.

It was fresh on her soul. Was it enough?

It was the Major Blessing. Did that help?

Kelstor’s claw slammed down as he roared past again. She rolled out of the way, his claw tips scraping over her armor.

Getting near a feral dragon was dangerous. And one needed to maintain contact with one for an extended period to perform the binding, all while he raged.

The paladin swung at her again. Her sword snapped up to block, but his shimmered out of existence, only to reappear a fraction of a second later swinging at a completely different angle. It sliced through her defenses, her armor like wet tissue paper, her Fortitude crumbling before his Strength.

She grimaced. He still had more tricks? She skirted back to buy herself a moment to regroup.

[Endless Assault: + 1 End]

He stormed after her, his sword swinging.

A lightning blade flew through the space before her, its edge scraping across his armor. Another pair of blades followed it.

His sword whipped out to strike the Tempest Blades from the air.

Would Kelstor even accept her as his knight? Feral dragons weren’t sane. How would that affect the process? Dragons rarely made a second bond if their first knight died. Was that because they were unable or because they were unwilling?

Another dark blue barrier appeared to block the captain’s sword.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Kelstor reared back, unleashing a blast of dragon fire over the cathedral. The heat was intense, the floor melting where his breath touched directly.

The paladins nearest him incinerated without even a scream.

The demon grabbed Ahryn and spirited to the far side of the room, dragging her brother behind him.

The paladin captain slammed his shield into the ground, dropping into a kneeling crouch behind it, a green force field appearing between himself and the flames.

Alyx turned and sprinted out of the path of the flames. She didn’t have a skill to stop that. All she could do was run.

The dragon fire rolled through the room, consuming everything that wasn’t fast enough to get out of its way. They surged toward the dragonlings in their containment circle.

They were directly in the flame’s path. The dragonlings pressed against their prison’s invisible walls, shrieking for help. Would the fire pass through the barrier? Would the heat? Could the dragonlings withstand either?

Marco could easily block the flames with his shield if he were here. But she didn’t have that kind of defensive skill.

Pellen flipped frantically through her spell book.

Ahryn tugged at the demon, shouting for it to turn around. To save them.

She could only watch as the flames raced forward. Could only watch as another generation of dragons died on her name’s watch.

Cass appeared between them.

She raised her hands before the incoming fire. It licked at her, its tendrils surging forward only to be turned aside by Cass’s Will and cascading like a river around the vulnerable dragonlings.

But not without scorching Cass. The heat blistered Cass’s skin.

Could Cass hold it back?

Alyx’s heart pounded in her chest. Her body swelled with so much unspent energy stockpiled high from Endless Assault.

This couldn’t continue. Whatever Cass’s plan. However long they had to last until the Grand Duchess arrived. This had to end now.

She couldn’t let Kelstor continue like this. She couldn’t let him kill the dragonlings or Cass or Ahryn.

She ran along the edge of his flames, the heat a physical force buffeting her back and sapping her endurance. But she couldn’t let it stop her.

She reached out for Kelstor. Would touching him be enough?

She had never seen a binding ritual. The last one to be held had been before she was born.

She’d heard that it was usually done in a sealed chamber within the dragon’s lair outside the influence of others, where dragon and knight would be safe during an otherwise vulnerable time.

How much of that was required? How much was just good practice? How bad of an idea was this? Could it be worse than one of Cass’s plans?

Kelstor’s flames sputtered out as he ran out of breath. His head whipped around at her, his jaws snapping at her outstretched hand.

She pulled back at the last second, narrowly keeping her hand. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe this was impossible.

But the only other options were to kill him or let him kill her. And those weren’t options.

“Pellen, hold the dragon in place!” Alyx shouted over the room. She could only hope the little mage still had the Focus required of the binding spell. “Cass, protect me!”

Alyx ducked around Kelstor’s head and leapt onto his back. She slid into the nook between his wings and his neck, where his knight—where her mother—would sit.

She buried her hands in his mane and—

The world went dark.

Ch. 55: Alyx: Melee

Alyx charged across the cathedral, aura trailing from her blade, her eyes fixed on the paladin captain. He blocked a sword swing of the demon with a thick metal shield.

The demon’s lightning blade snapped back, darting around the other side. The captain’s sword parried it wide, swinging down and across the demon’s chest.

The two moved at incredible speeds, the Strength in their strikes obvious in the ringing of their clashes.

Copper Crescent Captain (lvl 40)

Demon of Blood and Lightning (lvl ???)

Alyx was only level 30. The level gap between her and the captain was huge. Assuming he didn’t have any other bonuses, that was at least a 60 point difference in their raw stats. Likely more, given he was a tauran, not a human, and probably got more stats per level than she did.

And that assumed he didn’t have bonuses for getting skills to the Gate, and at level 40, he must. Maybe all of them were. She’d heard that every skill at the Gate was like three more levels worth of stats.

He could have anywhere from 150% to 300% her total stats, depending on how many skills he had and other bonuses his goddess may have given him as her favored warrior.

As for the demon, Alyx had no idea how she stacked up against it. That it was keeping up with the captain while protecting Ahryn and handling the dragon and the scattered remaining paladins suggested it was at least as strong as the tauran.

Normally, Alyx wouldn’t stand a chance.

But the circumstances were hardly ordinary.

The tauran swung at the demon. It was a sloppy strike, and the demon parried it easily, returning with a snappy stab at the paladin’s exposed chest.

The tauran lifted his shield, trying—failing—to angle it into position.

The lightning blade slipped around it and sparked against the plate metal.

The tauran grunted as the impact force pushed him back a step. His whole body trembled.

Alyx raised an eyebrow. A man in the tauran’s position should have better sword form than that, and with the Fortitude he must have, that strike shouldn’t have phased him, but less taxed his body enough to make him tremble.

He was injured. Probably fatigued too.

It was subtle, but a snarling grimace accompanied his every movement. Blood stained his tunic and dripped down his armored legs.

And she’d built up a tidy sum of bonus stats in her fights to the cathedral.

[Total Temporary Stat change:

+ 15 Str

+ 5 Dex

+ 21 End]

Still not enough to close the raw gap between herself and the captain at the top of his form, but maybe enough to bridge it now, while he was tired, injured, and distracted.

Alyx charged a Heaven’s Strike, feeding her Reverberating Blade her aura. The glow grew above her. It would not be an honorable attack, blindsiding the captain from nowhere, but honor was unnecessary when fighting the men who killed her mother.

She leapt forward, drawing her blade down his back. Her aura collided with his Fortitude reinforced armor. The two met with a screech of metal on metal. His plate armor flexed. She threw all her Strength into the strike. All her Will.

His armor held.

The demon swung at him from the other side, his lightning blade slicing down his sword arm, lightning licking at the metal plates of his armor.

“Who are you?” The captain growled, wrenching his body around, his sword swinging for the demon while his shield knocked Alyx back.

Alyx leveled her sword at him. She announced her presence. “I am Alyx Aretios Veldor. Daughter of Aris Aretios Veldor. Granddaughter of the Duchess of Vaisom. Holder of the Major Blessing.”

The dragon roared with her announcement, charging through the paladins behind her and barreling toward her.

The paladin captain groaned. “Great, another Veldor brat bragging about how she’s mutilated her own soul.”

“You will die by my hand,” Alyx promised and rushed him.

Her sword snaked between his shield and sword, but deflected harmlessly over his plate armor. He slammed his shield into her sword and followed with a heavy sword blow. She caught it on her blade, redirecting the strike wide.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

And then the dragon slammed into them. Claws swiped across paladin, swordswoman, and demon alike, scraping loudly against the paladin’s armor, cutting through Alyx’s, and leaving long gashes through the demon’s flesh.

Alyx staggered away, her free hand pressing against her bleeding side.

The dragon was a sad sight. He was beaten and dirty. Blood ran in rivers over torn scales. His horns were chipped and flaking. His mane was ragged and matted.

His eyes were the worst. There was no intelligence behind them, just fearful rage. A need to cut down everything and anything around him. The curse of a feral dragon.

The captain blocked another claw with his huge sword and returned the strike in turn. It cut through dull scales, drawing blood.

Blood covered the dragon’s legs and sides. A gash ran along his neck. His wings were tattered. Cuts, old and new alike, bled without stop.

Her heart ached at the sight of him.

But he didn’t stop his attack, biting at the tauran and demon, his jaws gnashing at whatever he could reach. The paladin and demon jumped apart to avoid them.

The dragon turned on her, jaws snapping at her.

She jumped out of the way, his breath hot against her skin. His teeth missed her by a hand.

[Endless Assault: + 1 End]

He swung his head, his horns sweeping past her like blades. The longer, unbroken of the two scraped against her armor, bone and metal grinding together, while the broken tip missed her entirely.

She stared as he pulled back, something about that tugging at a memory.

She had to be wrong.

There were a hundred reasons for a feral dragon’s horn to be broken.

Abuse. Neglect. Self-mutilation.

And yet.

She couldn’t look away from his horns.

Dimly, she noticed a pair of paladins beside her. She blocked a swing without looking. Her blade sliced through the second, blood spraying around her.

But her mind was years in the past. She was a small child, her system unlocked only the year before. She was in the wilderness with her mother. Her mother and Kelstor, her mother’s dragon.

She’d wandered too far away.

Alone, she’d encountered a growling beast with horns and claws. It pounced. She screamed and ran. Plants swatted at her face. She stumbled over uneven ground. Panic and time blurred the chase.

Until he jumped from the bushes with a roar. Kelstor.

His scales had shone with the crimson color of her mother’s aura. His claws dug into the beast’s side, blood welling much the same color.

The beast grappled back, their horns clashing, the two rolling through the brush.

There was a snap. A roar of pain. And then the whimper of life slipping away.

Kelstor climbed away from his kill, rends in his scales, tears in his wings, and the tip of his right horn missing.

Broken in exactly the same manner as the dragon before her.

But that was impossible.

Kelstor was dead. That’s what they’d told her.

He’d died alongside her mother. At the hands of the Copper Crescent.

He was dead.

And yet.

She searched the dragon’s face. The ridges were so familiar, despite the gaunt cheeks and hanging skin. The turn of his eyes were so right, despite the madness within them.

That was Kelstor.

It could only be him. How could she mistake him for another? Even in this state. Even after all this time.

How could he be here? How could he be alive?

There was only one answer.

The Copper Crescent had taken him. They’d held him.

For nine years.

They’d held him in a state worse than death.

They’d left him feral.

Her hand clenched tighter around her sword’s handle as she cut through another paladin.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

She bolted at the paladin captain, another Heaven’s Strike building on her blade. It slammed into his shield, her aura cutting through the metal. He twisted the shield under her. Her blade came away with a corner of the shield.

She wound back to slice again.

Kelstor’s tail swiped across the flight. It knocked the demon to the floor, whipping into the captain and slamming across Alyx’s back, knocking the air from her.

She gasped, staggering forward.

The captain swung at her. A lightning blade flew through the air and struck the captain’s sword. He flinched as the electricity bolted down his arm.

He flinched just long enough for Alyx to catch her breath and pull her sword back into position. She deflected his attack.

Another lightning blade zipped over her shoulder, slamming into the captain’s chest.

At the same time, Ahryn pointed at the tauran. A bolt of support magic burst from his hand and collided with the tauran.

Kelstor swiped at her. She deflected his claws with her sword. They slid across one another, her blade drawing a new line of blood across his palm. Her heart twisted at the sight.

In his madness, he didn’t recognize her. He couldn’t tell she was an ally. That she wished he could be safe.

That hurt more than any of her wounds.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Ch. 54: Reunited

Cass released the breath caught in her throat as she watched Kohen eviscerate the paladin attacking Ahryn. The boy stumbled back as Kohen rammed his sword through the man’s chest again and again, his phantom hand shooting out and crushing the soul within to a fine powder, before dropping the lifeless body to the ground and lunging at the next nearest paladin.

It worked.

For now, at least, Kohen was too busy protecting Ahryn and punishing the boy’s attackers to devour souls. Which meant everything else might be possible.

The dragon charged the boy. Kohen snatched Ahryn up by the back of his gambeson and dragged him out of the dragon’s path, tossing Ahryn past him before turning to slice at the dragon’s flank.

The dragon twisted to crush him in his jaws, but Kohen skipped out of the way, his lightning sword leaving a crisscross of cuts along the dragon’s snout.

The captain charged into the fight after the dragon, scooping up a fallen paladin’s shield to replace the one the dragon had crushed.

“Focus the demon!” he shouted at his subordinates.

The captain isn’t affected by Fairy Fire! Cass panicked.

He is much stronger than you or I, Salos answered. Even with relatively low Resolve, he likely has enough to match my Will. Additionally, his desire to kill the boy is likely comparatively low. Remember, Fairy Fire does not manufacture conflict. It only heightens what already exists.

But it works on the grunts, Cass said.

They are all lower leveled and likely have tendencies to murder whatever is put in front of them, Salos answered flippantly. Do you want to speculate about this in greater detail, or can I focus on the miracle you have asked me to perform for you?

Cass waved him off. If he was going to be like that, she’d let him concentrate.

The captain swung at Kohen. Kohen caught the strike on his lightning blade. Steel and lightning clashed.

A paladin, ignoring—or perhaps incapable of following—his captain’s orders, swung at Ahryn.

The boy raised his hands to summon another shield, backpedaling to get out of the way.

Kohen’s lightning blade disintegrated to break the sword lock. He stepped back, turning to run to Ahryn’s aid. The captain’s sword slashed down his side, leaving a long, bleeding gash.

Kohen raised his off-hand, dripping with blood from his new wound, and traced a symbol in the air with it. His blood glowed. It shot off his arm in a burst of fine needles.

They pelted the attacking paladin and the two immediately behind him, puncturing their armor like pin cushions. The attack wasn’t strong. With their Fortitude, it was likely little more than an irritation. But it was unexpected.

The paladin staggered back, covering his eyes with his shield.

Kohen leapt at him, his sword impaling the man’s chest. They tumbled to the ground. The phantom hand snapped out and crushed the soul.

A fine powder was building in the air. It glimmered and shone, promising power if she could just collect up enough of it.

They were the remains of the souls Kohen crushed. Formless but powerful still.

Could he consume them? She hoped not.

Much of it swirled around the central altar. Souls flickered like a growing fire above it. The souls of the men the captain had killed.

That seemed to deny them from Kohen, but was that just because he was too busy with living souls to investigate the ones on the altar, or was there something special about them there that made them off limits to the demon?

Too many questions. Too many baseless guesses.

The captain swung at Kohen again, his massive sword whooshing through the air.

Kohen spun to block, a Fortitude’s Protection leaping into existence between blade and body. The captain’s sword slammed into it, sending cracks through the spell.

The dragon thrashed, swinging his head like a hammer at the gathered combatants. Ahryn threw up another light barrier. The dragon slowed as his head passed through it.

Slowed enough for Kohen to shove Ahryn out of the way, his green barrier falling as he did so.

Ahryn fell out of the dragon’s path.

The dragon struck Kohen, his huge head slamming Kohen across the room. He bounced across the glass floor, a trail of blood spraying behind him.

Ahryn scrambled out of the way as the paladins surrounded him. As the dragon turned to chase him.

The captain followed Kohen across the room, yanking him off the floor by his hair. Kohen snarled. Blood dripped from his forehead and gushed from his side. He clawed at the captain’s armored arms.

A paladin swung down at Ahryn. The boy rolled out of the way, the blade missing him by a hair.

“Pathetic demon,” the captain sneered, raising his sword to Kohen’s chest. “Lay what remains of your soul before our blessed lady. Find salvation in her exaltation.”

The demon growled something in that other language.

The dragon roared, his claws slamming down on the humans below him. They crushed a paladin between him and Ahryn.

“Die,” the captain said in return, stabbing his sword through Kohen’s chest.

A paladin swung at Ahryn.

Kohen gasped. It was a hiccuping, choking sound. Bloody and wet.

The captain dropped him. He slid off the captain’s blade, landing with a wet thud on the floor.

Cass dropped out of Stealth between Ahryn and the paladin.

Order of the Copper Crescent Paladin (Lvl 33)

She wasn’t sure when she’d started running, only that she was here now. Only that if she weren’t here, Ahryn would die.

She raised her dagger to block. It was awkward in her hands. Was there a technique to blocking, or was she supposed to just take the hit against her weapon? Salos would know, but Salos was busy.

She called Tempest Blade to its edge. The lightning buzzed comfortingly before her. A promise that even if his sword shoved her aside, he’d hurt for it.

The paladin’s sword swung down.

A barrier of white light appeared between her and the sword. The blade slowed as it passed through the light. She didn’t have the Strength or Fortitude to contest the paladin’s Strength directly. But maybe with it slowed, she could survive anyway.

Blades slammed together.

The paladin’s Strength ripped into her. She was thrown aside, her arms numb from the force of his attack.

But lightning coursed back down the paladin’s blade, through gauntleted hand and into his body. His muscles spasmed as the lightning ran rampant.

But it wasn’t enough. There were more paladins. Another stepped forward, sword in hand. More drew closer. All surrounding the trapped boy.

And Cass struggled to stun even one.

Had it been enough to buy time for Kohen to get back up?

His breathing was shallow. Wet. Drowning.

He lay where the captain had left him. His soul still glowed, but it was a twisted and pulsing thing. He was alive, if barely.

The captain stood over him, blood dripping from his sword, waiting for Kohen’s next revival to stab him again.

Salos, cut Fairy Fire, Cass called. Maybe it would be enough to spare Ahryn. Maybe it would buy her enough time to do something else.

The flames flickered out. The paladin’s approach did not slow.

The dragon roared.

What else could she do? She was just about out of resources. She’d recovered a few points of Focus while the paladins had swarmed Ahryn, but not enough to change her options dramatically.

Stamina: 47/141

Focus: 32/549

Health: 70/134

Not enough for Confounding Mists. Not enough for anything crazy.

Enough for a judicious use of Elemental Manipulation. Maybe two, if she didn’t have to summon any material.

Could she save him with that?

She’d have more if she burned Health. She could do that twice, for an additional 90 Focus. Could she save him with 122?

She clenched her teeth. She could still barely feel her hands.

But she had to try, didn’t she?

Cass—

A paladin flew backwards into the cathedral with a scream and a thud. He slammed into the group around Ahryn. They jumped apart as the man fell.

A figure stormed in after him, sword out and trailing amber aura. It dripped from her blade, falling like stars behind her. She twirled it around, slamming it through the fallen paladin’s chest. Her aura burst in his chest, and the man fell still.

Her armor shone, despite the rents in its plates. The blood smeared across it was worn like honor to her might rather than a testament of her wounds. Over a mane of curling crimson hair, she wore a circlet of amber aura, burning like the sun.

Alyx was here.

Cass froze. Relief and reservation hit her simultaneously.

What was Alyx doing here?

Was she here to rescue her?

Was she here to hurt Salos?

Neither thought made sense. There was no way Alyx should have known Cass had been kidnapped. And, if she did, there was no reason Alyx would chase Cass into danger just to hurt Salos.

She must be here for the dragonlings. Like Ahryn was.

That made the most sense.

They were Alyx’s goal. There would be honor or merit or something for rescuing them.

Alyx pulled her sword from the paladin’s chest, flicking it to the side to knock the blood from the blade. Her dark eyes scanned the room, narrowing as they passed over each paladin.

Freezing at the sight of the dragon. Freezing again on Cass.

“Another one?” the captain grunted in disgust. “Kill her too!”

Like a disturbed ant’s nest, the paladins surged at their captain’s order, Ahryn entirely forgotten before the far more dangerous Alyx.

There was no time for wonder or questions. Cass had to trust that Alyx was here to help. She ran for the swordswoman.

Salos, Fairy Fire me again! Cass yelled across their bond.

Fairy Fire this, Salos, Salos muttered, his voice echoing Cass’s cadence, Stop Fairy Fire, Salos. Fairy Fire me, Salos. Carefully deactivate the magic circle, Salos. Her skin erupted in purple flames despite his grouching.

“Come get me!” Cass shouted as she stepped behind Alyx.

The paladins obliged, running at them.

“Cass?” Alyx murmured. She sliced down the first paladin, her sword cutting through his armor like a hot knife through butter.

Cass looked away. “Ah, hi.”

“You’re alive.” Was that relief in her voice?

Alyx sliced across the next two, cutting one paladin’s shield in half and cutting deep across the second’s chest. A third ran at them from Cass’s side.

“Trying my best,” Cass said as she summoned a Tempest Blade to her dagger, throwing the lightning blade at him. She wove it between his shield and sword, striking the center of his chest, stunning him as Alyx knocked back a fourth on her side.

“Are you hurt?”

Cass shook her head, ignoring the gashes along her arms and legs. “I’m alright.”

Alyx glanced at Cass as she turned to cut down the one Cass had stunned. Her dark eyes pierced through Cass.

Cass looked away as Alyx’s amber sheathed blade sliced through the paladin. Her aura rippled around her. Her body overflowed with it. Had she always been this strong?

Across the room, a surge of crimson mana overflowed, sticky and creeping. Kohen rolled to his feet, his wounds closed again, the blood dried from his lungs. He launched at the captain, his lightning blade slamming against his shield.

“What exactly is happening here?” Alyx asked.

The dragon reared back, his lungs expanding for another breath attack.

Cass opened her mouth to explain. How did she even explain? Her eyes lingered on Kohen. Would Alyx even understand?

She had wanted to kill Salos, whom she nominally liked. Would she have any reservations about killing Kohen, whom she’d been expecting to kill even before all this?

No. Better to keep the details to herself. There wasn’t time for a long explanation.

What did Alyx need to know?

“That’s the captain of the Copper Crescent,” Cass pointed at him, fighting Kohen. “We need to kill him to get out of here.” Her finger shifted over to Kohen. “The demon is protecting Ahryn for now.”

Alyx opened her mouth, undoubtedly with very reasonable questions, like ‘what did Cass mean, “demon”?’ or ‘why would a demon protect Ahryn?’ or ‘shouldn’t we murder the demon?’.

Cass kept talking before the question could be voiced. “Salos is working on freeing the dragonlings.”

“Then we need to kill the demon before the Copper Crescent Captain.” Alyx slashed through another paladin.

Cass threw another Tempest Blade over Alyx’s shoulder. “Well. No. I mean. You would be right, if killing him was the plan.”

“Cass. We talked about—” Alyx cut herself off, shaking her head. “We can’t let it get into the city.”

“Agreed,” Cass said. “But, I have a plan.”

Well, the start of a plan. She would have to admit, if pressed, she didn’t know what they’d do with him after they contained him. But, as long as no one pressed her on it, she was content to leave that part to herself.

Cass could feel Alyx’s eyes on her again. Their previous argument bubbled unspoken between them.

Cass understood the fear now. Kohen—as a demon—was powerful. Far more powerful than he’d been as a human. And the ease with which he destroyed souls was terrifying.

But she didn’t want to yield to that fear. And she refused to let anyone paint Salos with that same brush.

“And it involves not killing the demon?” Alyx asked.

Cass nodded, steeling herself for an argument.

Alyx’s jaw clenched. Her eyes drifted out over the cathedral again. Her hand tightened around her sword’s pommel. Another paladin dropped. Then another. Finally, Alyx said, “Okay.”

Cass blinked. Wait. Really? She was going to go along with it just like that? But she’d been so ready to kill Salos. She—

“What do you need me to do?” Alyx asked. Her eyes were serious. This wasn’t some strange trick or ploy. Cass could decode the reasons later. Now was the time to work together.

“Weaken the captain and the demon as badly as you can. But don’t kill either yet.”

“And the dragon?” Alyx asked.

“Try not to hurt him if you can.” It was a non-answer, and Cass knew it. She had no idea how to save him, just that he needed to bond with a knight. But she assumed that someone who knew more could take care of him once the dust settled.

It seemed to be enough of an answer for Alyx. She visibly un-tensed. “Anything else?”

Cass shook her head.

“Then let’s go.” Alyx sprinted into the melee, her sword flying and her aura shining brightly.

Ch. 53: Ahryn: Trust

Ahryn watched the fight, his heart in his stomach.

He had wanted to help. He had thought this was his chance to help.

Kohen was always helping him. Miss Cass’s encouragement had been unexpected, but all the more dear for it. Emenie was his daily strength.

He just wanted to help.

Focus: 14/126

Health: 22/112

Just the barest trickle of resources left. Sure, he’d helped Miss Cass a little, but he was sure she would have figured something else out. If he hadn’t been in the way, wouldn’t she have effortlessly dodged every attack?

If she didn’t need to protect him.

It was the same for Kohen. If he hadn’t been in danger, would Kohen be like that?

Kohen—he forced himself to call the demonic figure sword fighting the big tauran man his brother’s name, because the alternative was to admit he was only a demon—had only become like that because he, weak Ahryn, had been in danger. They’d only been in danger because he, useless Ahryn, had insisted he could save Emenie.

It was all his fault.

No. He shouldn’t think that. He wasn’t that important. He wasn’t. He never would be.

He was sure, when the dust settled, they’d blame Aunt Ashrel for failing to protect the dragonlings. They’d blame Kohen for failing to protect him. For failing to keep him out of danger.

His chest hurt, like a frayed knot was burning within. It pulsed and twisted and every time he moved it felt like something was trying to rip his organs out.

If he weren’t painfully familiar with the pain of missing Health, he probably would have assumed that was all it was. He was down to just 22 Health after all.

But he was, and that wasn’t it. Health loss felt more like a draining exhaustion. It made even breathing difficult. Sleep felt shallow. The world muted.

This was stabbing.

Perhaps, if he were more prone to dramatics, he might assume this was simply crushing guilt. It was certainly the kind of pain that made him wonder if death would be easier.

But he knew what crushing guilt felt like. He felt it daily. It was more of a sinking hopelessness. Sourceless and breathless.

No. Something else was wrong with him.

Something new.

His mother would cry when she found out. She didn’t like to show it, but he knew she did.

Maybe he could hide it.

Concerns for later. If he lived. That brought a twisted smile to his lips. If he died here, she’d never know he’d hurt himself in some new way. That was something, wasn’t it?

Not much of a silver lining, but it was something.

He’d still rather not die. She’d cry worse if he died.

Kohen would have done that to himself for nothing.

Maybe even the desire to help was too ambitious a goal for him. He should have run when Miss Cass had asked him to.

The big tauran erupted in purple flames. Ahryn found his eyes drawn to him as the dragon and Kohen both turned to attack the man.

A moment later, Miss Cass appeared at his side. She must have Stealth skills besides her mage ones.

What was that like, to go wherever she wanted without everyone looking at her?

The purple fire over her skin was gone. Her cat was nowhere in sight.

“Do you trust me?” she asked. Her voice was tight. She was worried about something. Him probably. Maybe Alyx, too. Did she know Alyx was here? Maybe not. Maybe she was just worried about him.

What was the question again? Oh. Did he trust her?

The correct answer was ‘no’. He knew that. You didn’t survive as a noble of Vaisom without learning that.

Miss Cass, as kind as she seemed, was a stranger. From everything he’d heard, she was from distant lands. There were all kinds of reasons his parents would tell him not to trust her. All sorts of reasons Kohen would tell him not to trust her.

But she was also the first to assume he’d enter the catacombs this year. The first person to ask him what he wanted to study at the Academy—the rest of that conversation hadn’t made a whole lot of sense. What was a Large? Why would he pick one?

This wasn’t her city, but it sounded like she was fighting to protect its people. She was certainly fighting to save its dragons.

To protect Emenie.

Wasn’t that alone enough?

Plus, Alyx trusted her. Trusted her enough to give up on the coliseum fight to look for her.

And if that wasn’t enough, what would be?

He nodded.

The tension left her shoulders, but her expression darkened. “This might not work. You’d be putting your life on the line.”

He hesitated. Kohen had bought him this moment. He couldn’t throw it away.

“More accurately, you’d be putting your life in Kohen’s hands.” She looked meaningfully at the demon his brother had become.

Demon of Blood and Lightning

Lvl ???

[A beast born of pride and desire. Fear it, for it will consume you and all you hold dear.]

He shouldn’t trust Kohen now. That was a demon. He couldn’t pretend it was anything else.

Only a fool would trust a demon. That was what the stories all said. Demons lied and betrayed. They killed everything in their path.

He should resign himself to the facts. Kohen was a demon.

His hand drifted over his chest and the burning pain within. Kohen had done something to him. He could still see the madness in Kohen’s—in the demon’s—eyes as he’d pressed Ahryn against the altar. He’d hurt him and been happy to do it.

Kohen, as Ahryn knew him, was dead.

And yet.

He opened his message log. He reread the last Starlight Message he’d sent. The panicked message he’d sent after Miss Cass had pushed him out of the way of one attack and into the sword range of the next:

Kohen, please, help me. Please.

The message he sent, and the impossible reply he got back:

Coming.

It wasn’t much.

It wasn’t anything.

But Kohen had come. He’d appeared with a bolt of lightning and heralded by thunder.

Kohen had saved him.

“It’ll help Kohen and Emenie?”

Miss Cass nodded. “If I’m right.”

He nodded. “I can do it. Just tell me what.”

“I’m going to have you attract everyone’s attention,” Miss Cass said. “I’m hoping Kohen will protect you.”

He was the distraction then. The distraction for what?

Miss Cass’s eyes flicked back to the fight in the room’s center.

If she had time to explain the details, she would have. And he’d already decided he’d trust her. So instead he asked, “What do I need to do?”

“Don’t die.” Miss Cass’s stare was serious.

He honestly didn’t know how much control he had over that, but he nodded all the same.

“But let yourself be in danger,” Miss Cass continued.

Again, he doubted he’d have much control over that, but he nodded again. “Is that all?”

Miss Cass hesitated. She shook her head. “Try to get as far from the dragonlings as you can.”

His eyes widened. He understood. “I’m the bait to get the dragonlings to safety?”

Miss Cass nodded, but it was a slow, unenthusiastic thing. There was more to this plan then.

“This will save Kohen?” he asked.

She hesitated. Just a moment. But she nodded, her voice strong and confident. “Yes.”

It was a front for him. She was anything but confident.

But she’d also promised to do what she could. And he’d decided to trust her. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

The glow of Miss Cass’s eyes flickered. Her face flinched, like she was moving through several expressions in an instant. Less than an instant. Fast enough, he’d probably imagined it.

His skin erupted in magenta flames.

He jumped.

But they weren’t hot. Instead, they were a temperature-less illusion.

The feel of eyes on the back of his head wasn’t. He turned. All the paladins were looking at him.

The nearest one charged him.

His heart skipped. He raised his hands, casting Lightscreen Barrier.

The screen of white light flickered into existence between him and the paladin, his mind straining as the spell ate at the dregs of his Focus.

He had a few more spells left in him.

The paladin raised his sword. It swung through the Lightscreen, the blade slowing as it cut through the debuffing space, slowing enough for him to stumble backward out of the blade’s path.

He held his barrier as the paladin swung again.

His entire body sagged under the strain. How long had Miss Cass hoped he’d last? He should have asked that much, at least.

The blade sliced through the barrier, slowing again as the silver light enveloped the attack.

Thunder roared. The scorching smell of burning air filled the cathedral.

Kohen appeared, his sword buried up to its hilt in the paladin’s back.

Ahryn’s heart pounded in his chest.

Relief and fear mixed into a paralyzing concoction.

Kohen had saved him.

But what would come next?

His chest throbbed with its mysterious but piercing pain. Kohen had done that to him. He could do it again. He could make it worse. He was a demon.

Kohen could kill him now.

Another paladin ran past Kohen.

His brother’s casting hand twisted through a series of gestures Ahryn knew well.

The spell bolt shot from his hand, striking the second paladin in the back. The man seized, falling to the ground.

Kohen’s sword disappeared, and the first paladin fell to the ground. Kohen stepped over the second, his eyes widening at the fallen man. Kohen didn’t touch him, but the man screamed, then fell silent.

Those eyes fell across Ahryn. Wide and dark, glinting with the purple fire of Miss Cass’s skill. But they weren’t empty.

They were desperate.

Desperate for things Ahryn could not know and did not understand.

But also to protect him.

Ch. 52: Souls and Lightning

Up close, Cass could see Kohen under the mutations of the demonic energies. The set of his jaw under the pulsing flesh. The sharpness in the eyes, unmitigated even by the hungry madness. The color of his hair, even streaked with white as it was.

Kohen snarled something. It was unmistakably a complete sentence, but it was in neither English nor Jothi. It was a fast, clipped language, dripping with disdain.

His lightning blade flashed around, twisting to slice at her.

Cass leapt back, yanking her blade from his arm.

Salos, any idea what he’s saying?

I am a little busy, Salos replied, his stress leaking across the bond. Fixing things is not as easy as breaking them. I need to concentrate.

Sorry.

But that was Kaldish, a language that was all but dead even in my time. An undercurrent of concern ran under Salos’s words. The words themselves are unimportant. Basically, just making fun of you for using lightning against ‘one who rules lightning’.

Yeah, maybe using lightning against a Veldor was a bad idea. But, I thought you were focusing?

I am! So stop disrupting me!

Any idea how long it will take?

Not yet.

Kohen lunged at her. Cass Dodged it, the blade flying past her as she twisted out of the way.

Fighting him like this was not to her advantage. She barely kept up with his speed, and only because of her Concept Wind and inhuman levels of Dexterity were speeding her movements.

She darted away from him. Range was her friend.

Range meant he needed to expend Stamina to keep up with her. He needed to use big magic, spending Focus to hit her. Range meant she could attack with Tempest Blade from outside the effective range of his lightning blade.

Paladins moved to surround her, but they were even slower.

Across the room, the dragon roared, his tail knocking half a dozen from their feet as his fire breath burned through another dozen on the opposite side.

The captain threw up another Fortitude’s Aegis, protecting another dozen before the flames turned on them.

The dragon stampeded through their fraying lines. Stampeding directly at her.

Right. Fairy Fire.

Cass glanced between the dragon running at her on one side, flames still billowing from his mouth, and the lightning blade of the demon on the other. With the paladins closing in on either side of her, getting out of the way would be difficult.

Hell. From frying pan to fire, huh?

But she could turn this to her advantage.

She skidded to a stop, sliding another yard toward the dragon over the slick glass floors, and Stormstrided straight back at Kohen.

The dragon’s flame breath licked at her heels, pulled up into the whirling winds of Stormstride Sprint. The dragon thundered just behind.

Between the demonic madness and the urges of Fairy Fire, Kohen didn’t pause to question why his prey might run back. Perhaps his vision had tunneled down on her so tightly he didn’t even see the dragon.

He swung his blade.

The dragon lunged.

Cass Dodged around Kohen’s blade, sliding past him, the dragon’s flames whirling around them.

It burned at his flesh and his clothes.

The dragon’s jaws snapped shut just short of Cass. Just directly around Kohen.

The dragon lifted Kohen, thrashing him through the air. Kohen snarled. A twisted hand flipped through a series of gestures at his side. Mana gathered.

Several dozen balls of lightning materialized in the surrounding air.

Lightning Rain

The spell he’d used in his duel with Alyx.

The lightning rained down on the dragon and the paladins unlucky enough to be caught in the spell’s radius. Cass danced between them, her heart hammering in her chest.

The very air buzzed with electricity.

Bolts struck the dragon’s sides, slicing new tears in his wings and burning new gashes in his scales.

Paladin shields and glimmering, green Fortitude’s Protections went up, covering heads. But bolts still blasted through paladin armor, burning flesh within and paralyzing men.

This was many times more powerful than the version he’d used in his duel with Alyx. That version of this spell had threatened to paralyze Alyx. This version threatened to kill. Was that a difference born from intent or raw power?

With a roar, the dragon threw Kohen to the ground. He splatted against the glass, his momentum rolling him several bloody feet before he came to a stop.

The dragon didn’t watch. His eyes snapped back to Cass, glistening with Fairy Fire. He roared and charged her again.

Cass Stormstrided into the gathered paladins.

There were a lot of them, and more were still trickling in. Some remained in a tight line between their captain and the rest of the room, but most were scattered around her and the dragon.

One swung his sword at her as she ran past.

She dodged out of the way, the dragon behind her slapping him to the side with a claw as he chased her. His tail thrashed through another pair, knocking them to the ground.

Behind her, Kohen was a mangled mess. Blood pooled around him, gushing from deep punctures where dragon teeth had torn open flesh. Writhing skin hung in tatters. Bones were visibly broken.

His body could only be agony.

And yet, energy still surged in his corrupted soul.

His hand twirled. Mana swelled. Blood from the newly fallen paladins welled and collected and balled. He beckoned it closer, swallowing the blood.

His body twitched as the blood rushed through him with a surge of energy. He staggered up, his skin sealing back together and bone snapping back into place.

His eyes hungrily tracked her as she ran. They burned into the back of her neck.

The dragon’s claw slammed down. She Dodged to the side, turning around it to wave at the demon.

“I’m here! Come get me!” she shouted, Sprinting again past the dragon and through the growing crowds of paladins. He must have burned through Focus or Health to use that healing spell. It cost Health to heal, this couldn’t be that different. If she threw him against the dragon a few more times, surely she could wear him down enough to trap him.

I have bad news, Salos interrupted as Cass dodged around another paladin’s sword.

What’s up? Cass asked.

Whatever they did to this circle to break it, broke it beyond repair. It is completely destroyed. I would need to rework it from scratch to power it again, and you don’t have that kind of time.

How much time would you need? Cass asked.

More than a couple of hours, Salos said. And I do not care how much Focus you have, even if you can’t keep this up that long.

Cass wanted to argue. Wanted to beg him to find a way to turn hours into minutes. To say that she could last as long as he needed to make this work.

But she didn’t have the resources to last.

Stamina: 36/141

Focus: 25/549

Health: 70/134

She had Health she could burn. But that was enough Focus for another skill or two, not for hours more slow attrition while Salos reconstructed the containment field.

We need to kill him, Salos said.

Ahryn’s starry eyes reflected in her memory.

There had to be something else she could try.

Killing him couldn’t be the only answer left.

Kohen threw himself into the mass of paladins and the chaos of the dragon’s wake after her.

Their swords sliced out, looking for her but catching only empty air and Kohen instead. Their blades drew new rends across his body. Blood poured in unrestricted fountains down writhing skin. The dragon’s tail thrashed through them all, knocking men to their knees, and slapping Kohen from side to side.

Kohen lunged, his lightning blade dancing out to strike her.

She darted out of the way, watching as he sailed past and into another paladin, skewering him through the chest.

Kohen snarled, his eyes flickering between her and the man he’d impaled. Some calculation twisted behind his purple-glinting eyes, and his phantom hand lashed out into the paladin’s chest and fractured the soul within.

The pieces exploded into the air, passing through the solid bodies of the demon and paladins without resistance.

Only the demon’s phantom hand could touch it. He plucked a shard from the air, bringing the piece to his mouth. It slipped past his lips, not swallowed like food, but absorbed into his body all the same.

Cass winced at the sight.

Take your share, whispered a perversion of her voice. Why let him eat it all? <<Devour.>>

Kohen’s soul surged as the phantom hand shoved the piece down his throat. He grinned, crazed bliss spreading over his lips.

She could have that, too. Power and peace and—

No!

Cass grimaced, forcing herself to look away. This was wrong.

Soul Guard has increased to level 12.

Kohen dropped the lifeless, soulless husk. His skin rippled again. A crimson rash floated over his dark skin as it bulged and contracted.

He bolted at her again, even faster than before. His lightning blade flew past Cass’s cheek as she Dodged.

Her heart hammered in her chest. He was so fast. His sword cut through defenses like there were none. If she failed to dodge, would she survive the experience?

The dragon’s claw slammed down. Cass darted back, putting it between her and Kohen, skirting under the dragon and out the far side of his body.

Kohen zipped around, his lightning blade swinging.

Cass Dodged around it, only for it to lodge in another paladin’s shoulder.

There wasn’t a debate this time. The phantom hand shot out into the paladin’s chest.

Cass summoned a Tempest Blade. She couldn’t let him crush and eat another soul. She threw the mana-infused blade of wind at the phantom wrist.

The hand recoiled like the blade was a hot stove, releasing the soul in its grasp.

Kohen glared at her. The purple of Fairy Fire flickered weakly in the depths of his eyes. The demonic hunger within threatened to devour the Fairy Fire.

“Fight me!” Cass yelled.

Kohen just stared at her, his phantom hand reaching out again. Squeezing tighter around the soul.

The paladin screamed in pain.

Cass threw another blade.

The demon’s free hand moved directly into the blade’s path. A green Fortitude’s Protection appeared between them.

Cass pulled the flying blade wide around the shield at the last second, but the paladin’s soul shattered before her attack landed.

She drove the blade of wind into his chest over the core of his soul. The wind sliced through exposed flesh, releasing another fount of blood.

He ignored her as he stuffed his face with more soul shards.

Soul eaten, he lunged again.

She Dodged by a hairsbreadth, the margin she had of speed over him shrinking with every soul he devoured. She drove her dagger into his side as he passed her, leaving a long gash.

But his lightning sword found purchase in a paladin behind her. It stabbed through the man’s shield, straight through to the man’s chest behind it. The lightning blade cut like the plate armor wasn’t even there.

Could she kill him even if she wanted to?

He was stronger than her. And getting stronger.

He was just as fast. And getting faster.

He could heal as long as there were corpses to steal blood from, and there was no end to the bodies he could make into corpses.

She had long since given up fighting him directly. She was out of resources to attempt a battle of attrition.

She couldn’t trap him. She couldn’t exhaust him. She couldn’t kill him.

The demon stabbed another paladin, his phantom hand snaking out for another soul.

Was there some way to separate him from the paladins? If she drew him to the far side of the room? But the paladins would chase her too as long as she was affected by Fairy Fire.

What if she dropped Fairy Fire? No. Then he wouldn’t follow her either.

The demon’s hand clamped down on the paladin’s soul.

Could she stop him this time?

Before he could crush it, a sword cleaved the skewered paladin’s head in two.

The paladin captain pulled his blade free of his subordinate’s head. The long, wide blade dripped brain matter as it came free.

Cass could only stare as blood and grey matter splattered to the floor.

He’d just—

But that was—

That was his ally. His subordinate.

And he’d killed him.

He killed him.

Cass could already hear the rational explanations. She could see the utility in denying the demon the soul within. She could see the mercy in killing the man rather than letting his soul shatter alive.

And yet.

The blood rolled down the body, trailing down the tabard, crimson on green and copper. Crimson matching the crimson splatter on the captain’s tabard, green and copper.

The soul within the new corpse flickered like a candle in the wind. The demon’s phantom hand darted out to snatch it, but it slipped through his fingers, floating away and across the room, settling above the altar in the cathedral’s center.

The demon snarled, his eyes flicking between Cass and her Fairy Fire, the soul slipping away from him, and the captain who had denied him that soul. The allure of souls warred with the pull of Fairy Fire.

The dragon charged between them, his head snapping after her, breaking the stalemate.

Cass shook herself and darted behind the captain.

He raised his shield, bracing as the dragon slammed into him.

Kohen dashed around them both after her.

Cass ran.

So, Fairy Fire wasn’t enough to keep the demon from snacking. They couldn’t trap Kohen in a containment field. She didn’t see how she could kill him. Or the captain who fought on equal footing with him.

Was that it?

She turned the problems over and over in her head. Something felt wrong with some of them. Which ones were true? Which ones weren’t?

Fairy Fire couldn’t keep him from eating the paladins he’d killed? That was true. He was snacking on anyone who got between them.

But there were souls he didn’t eat. Earlier, when he’d come to Ahryn’s defense, he had crushed those souls to a fine powder and hadn’t looked at them again.

Why were they different? He wasn’t killing them any differently. He was stabbing and decapitating all the same.

Was it just that Ahryn had been in danger?

Was he punishing those who had tried to hurt Ahryn?

It was unbelievable. It ran counter to what she’d been told about the mindless madness of demons. But then, Kohen protecting Ahryn at all went against what she’d been told.

The sketch of a new plan formed in her mind. She could use this to keep Kohen from eating more souls, but was that enough to win?

If they just wanted to kill him, probably.

But they—she—didn’t want to kill him.

Kohen leapt at her. She Dodged around another paladin, wincing as lightning skewered the man. As Kohen pulled him in close. As the captain’s sword decapitated the unlucky man.

Exhausting Kohen was only half the battle. She still needed to contain him afterward.

Could they lure him into one of the storage rooms and lock the door? Was a locked door enough?

Probably not. It had been trivial for her to break out of their storage room. She doubted Kohen, with all his demonic strength, would have more trouble.

The dragon lunged through a wall of paladins, sending them flying like bowling pins as he tried to snap her up. She leapt into the air, flipping over him as he continued into Kohen and the captain.

The captain braced behind his shield as Kohen jumped over the dragon after her. The dragon slammed into the shield, his jaws crunching down on the plate with the groan of metal and the roar of draconic frustration.

Ahryn shot a debuffing bolt from across the room. He was still by the dragonlings, just outside the second confinement circle, within which they were trapped. His magic struck the captain from behind.

The man had no warning as his Fortitude suddenly gave out under the effects of Ahryn’s skill. No warning as his Fortitude-enhanced shield crumpled like wet paper before the dragon’s jaws.

The dragon’s feral instincts drove it forward, gnawing forward as the obstruction broke. The captain scrambled back, a Fortitude’s Aegis springing up between them.

Cass kept running, Kohen close on her heels.

Wait. What about the field the dragonlings are in right now?

Salos groaned. You want me to release them and then reactivate it around the brat?

Yes? What’s the problem? Cass asked, again ducking around a sword strike.

Nothing. It is just going to take a while. Not as long a while as fixing the broken one, sure. But a while all the same. How are you planning to protect the dragonlings while fighting the cultists and the demon? Even protecting them from the adult dragon could be difficult.

Well, here’s the thing, Cass explained her harebrained scheme.

Salos scowled. I thought you liked the boy.

He’ll be perfectly safe. Probably.

Salos rolled his eyes. Of course. Well, not like I particularly care what happens to him.

Ch. 51: Blood and Lightning

The cathedral was chaos. Kohen and the dragon ripped through paladins like tissue paper, the screams of paladins ringing through the air.

Cass had made a promise. Now, the question was, how did she keep it? How did she avoid killing Alyx and Ahryn’s brother?

They couldn’t just ignore him. Releasing the seal on the hall while the demon was on the loose meant letting it into the city. And she couldn’t do that.

Was there another option?

It was the paladin captain’s power that held him now. Was there another method of keeping him here? This was the lair of ‘demon hunters’. They had to have something to lock up monsters.

She scanned the room, looking for inspiration.

The first of the next wave of paladins had made contact with Kohen. He decapitated the first man, his lightning blade buzzing as it sliced through metal and flesh. His phantom hand broke the soul and plucked out the pieces from the corpse as it thudded to its side. With each fragment, the purple and crimson of his soul, with its streaks of swirling greens and blues, all muddied into an ever-darkening black.

It spoke of power overflowing, burning with intensity to the nameless sense buzzing in her mind.

She could have it too, it whispered. She could effortlessly stab through her enemies. She could wade through them, the wounds they inflicted on her made meaningless.

She shook the thought aside, pulling Soul Guard tighter. These weren’t her thoughts. They were nothing but demonic impulses.

Soul Guard has increased to level 11.

She didn’t need overwhelming power. She needed to restrain Kohen.

Across the cathedral, the dragon rammed the circle of paladin shields, bowling through them and into Fortitude’s Aegis summoned by the captain to fill the gap. Paladins charged from behind, their swords slicing at scales, only to be knocked aside by the dragon’s thrashing tail.

Behind her, the dragonlings pressed against the walls of their containment circles, shaking in terror at the carnage before them. A second, darkened circle lay empty across the room.

Cass’s eyes lingered on the empty circle. “The containment fields. Salos, you can break containment fields?”

Salos’s tail flicked. “Yes, obviously.”

“They are for holding demons. Did I understand that right?” They hadn’t held her, but she was special, according to the dragon.

“Weakened demons,” Salos said slowly. “The kind that are not gorged on souls and overstuffed with energy.”

“But that is what they are for.”

“Yes.” Salos sighed.

“Can you re-enable them?” Cass asked.

Salos shook his head. “Maybe. It depends on how they were disabled.”

“But in theory, you can?”

“Killing him would be kinder,” Salos said.

Ahryn’s shoulders slumped.

Cass glared at him. “I said we’d do our best.”

Salos sighed loudly. “In theory, this is possible. But, right now, he’d probably blow right through the field, as overstuffed as he is on souls.

“But if you can bleed off the excess energy he’s consumed and somehow force him to expend down to his baseline, then yes. I suppose it would be possible.”

“How do I get him to spend it?” Cass asked.

“Drain his resources. Any or all of them. Stamina, Focus, Health.”

“Beat him up, got it.” Not ideal, for a lot of reasons, but…

“We can do it,” Ahryn said. His soul quivered.

“Go prep the containment field,” Cass said to Salos.

“Fine, fine.” Salos disappeared into a shadow. I’ll look into it. But if you see an opportunity to kill him, do it. Don’t be soft here, Cass. I mean it.

I’ll be careful, Cass promised.

That wasn’t—she could feel him shaking his head. Fine. Just don’t get yourself killed. Please.

While Salos worked on that, Cass just had to weaken the demon enough to contain him. No big deal.

And also not let him devour any more souls.

His phantom hand plunged into another paladin’s chest, crushing and tearing the soul into bite-sized pieces. Her skin crawled at the sight, and her stomach rumbled.

The paladins were a liability to her here. Too strong for her to do anything about without great difficulty. Too weak to be anything but a snack for the demon.

And she really needed him to stop snacking.

She had one really simple answer to that problem. But Salos was going to hate it.

“Ahryn, stay away from me,” Cass ordered, sprinting away from the boy. “Support me from a safe distance.”

“Oh-okay?”

Salos, Fairy Fire me!

His groan was audible across the room. What do you mean? Do you want to be the center of attention for the entire room?

The demon can’t eat what he can’t catch, Cass answered.

Please do not get yourself killed, he said as her skin ignited in purple flames. The eyes of the room gravitated toward her.

Thank you.

He grunted.

The nearest paladin turned away from Kohen, his sword slicing through the air as he spun.

She slid under it without slowing. The paladins couldn’t catch her. Only the captain, and only with his charging rush attack, was fast enough to keep up with her.

Ahead of her, Kohen turned, his dark eyes glinting with the purple of Fairy Fire.

“Yeah, you!” Cass yelled at him. “Fight me!”

He grinned, the lightning blade in his hand flaring brighter.

Demon of Blood and Lightning (Lvl ???)

Cass’s stomach flipped. Maybe this was a bad idea. He had been a higher level than her before becoming a demon with more combat experience and who knew what kind of tricks.

Now he was a monster that fought evenly—at an advantage?—against the level 40 paladin captain. He tore the hordes of paladins apart like they were TV ninjas.

But she had his attention. It was too late for second thoughts.

He sprinted at her, his sword swinging, his dark eyes glinting with madness and fire.

Good. Now, to keep him occupied.

She ran, throwing a Lightning Tempest Blade at his face behind her.

He chased, his sword dancing out to parry her flying attack as it came. His lightning blade flared as the two lightning blades touched.

She followed it with a Wind Tempest Blade, arching it around his side. He didn’t notice it until it struck his temple. It cut a deep gash, blood welling and gushing down the side of his face.

He didn’t slow his chase to blot it. He didn’t even wince.

Cass’s heart hammered in her chest. Had he even noticed, or did he just not care? No, either way was fine.

She had two goals: drain his resources and keep him from eating any more souls.

Blood loss drained Health. Whether or not he felt the wound, bleeding was bleeding. This fight wasn’t about stopping power. It was about bleeding him dry.

Bleeding him dry without running out herself.

Stamina: 38/141

Focus: 37/549

Health: 70/134

She was almost out of everything. Stamina was at a quarter and dropping at a manageable rate, as long as she didn’t need to Liminal Dodge. Focus was down to about 5%. Her head pounded with every step, the Focus depletion headache building.

She didn’t have the Focus to waste on fancy skills, but if she stuck to Tempest Blade, she should manage.

Kohen was in no way limited.

Behind her, she could feel a surge of mana, crimson and sticky. His off-hand twisted through a series of arcane gestures as he chased her. To her horror, blood rose from the fallen corpses, pooling in balls in the air above the fallen paladins.

Call of Blood

[A skill for accumulating the fallen life force of foes for use in further skills.]

Cass Stormstrided away from him, but there were so many of them. There was a ball in front of her. Another to her right.

Corpses everywhere, his reach stretching across the room.

He raised his hand, palm out at her, and shouted a single word in a language Cass didn’t know.

Alacrity slowed time as his spell activated. Their surfaces rippled. They vibrated. They exploded.

Spikes shot from the orbs, like crimson sea urchins.

Cass Dodged back, narrowly avoiding a set of new holes in her chest and neck.

The paladins around them were less lucky. Blood spines jabbed through gaps in armor and punched holes through thin plates. They stabbed through eyes and wrists. They fell in droves.

At the same time, Kohen lunged forward, his lightning sword quickly catching up with her fleeing body.

Cass spun, her hand out on instinct, grabbing at the rampant energy in his blade with Elemental Manipulation. It resisted her control, more so than lightning alone usually did. Another’s Will held it in its blade shape. A Will no less formidable than Cass’s.

Time slowed as the blade flew for her neck. Cass pushed against the energy. Kohen’s Will pushed back, gaining inch after inch.

She pulled at the edges, looking for a weak point to destabilize the blade. The demon’s Will followed her attention up and down.

It was so close to her body. Barely any space between the blade and her hand or between her hand and her neck. And her Will was straining. Her Focus was bleeding.

Focus: 25/549

She couldn’t redirect the blade with Elemental Manipulation. Could she still Dodge?

Dodge screamed that there wasn’t time. That she was a fool. That a Liminal Dodge was the only way she would not lose her head.

Atmospheric Sense buzzed in her ears about the movements of nearby paladins, which points would be dangerous to move to, which would be safe, where the dragon was, where Ahryn could cover her better, where Salos was hunched over the side of the magic circle, where the captain directed his soldiers from, where more people ran through the halls in conflict before even arriving.

Stealth asked why they were here at all.

Staff Mastery whispered she’d have a better chance if she could find another staff. That it could do nothing for her with the dagger in her hands.

Wind Step whirled, ready if only she had the Focus to activate it.

Tempest Blade chomped at the bit to fight back. To let it cut.

Before she could attempt any of that, Ahryn’s voice echoed softly over the battlefield. “Storm’s Lull!”

A white light fell over Cass and Kohen. For a second, the world was still. Her mind was quiet. There were no whispers of her skills at the edges of her consciousness.

Kohen’s lightning blade flickered out of existence. His arm swung past her. His eyebrows knitted in confusion.

And then the light was gone. Her skills roared in her ears for attention.

Move! Dodge shouted, yanking her body right.

Cut, Tempest Blade hissed, lightning springing to the edge of her dagger.

Kohen’s sword sprang back to life, the back of the lightning blade millimeters past her neck. She could feel the buzz of its energy over her skin.

She darted around the reforming blade and stabbed her dagger into the demon’s shoulder.

The blade hit bone, but the lightning rolled through his body. His muscles spasmed. Yet his lips just curled up in a grin.

Ch. 50: Pellen: Her Place

Pellen knelt over her spell array in the storeroom. The sound of dragon roars rumbled through the wall in front of her. Sir Marco remained at his post by the room’s one door.

“I’ll have it ready to send you in just a moment,” Pellen said, her eyes tracing the chalk lines for signs of degradation. For places she might have gotten it wrong to begin with.

She prayed they were right. It was too late for Lady Alyx if she’d gotten them wrong. Lady Alyx was already on the other side. Or dead. Or on the other side and dead.

Pellen’s fingers peeled at the skin around her fingernails.

Odds said Lady Alyx crossed safely. The odds were favorable. The success rate of this inscription variant of her teleportation spell was eight out of nine. It was an entire order better than the chant variant she’d used as a last resort on Miss Cass in the catacombs.

Lady Alyx was probably fine.

The runes looked correct. She’d paid special attention to the Myzer runes on the left side. She definitely drew them correctly this time. Her Runic Writing skill confirmed the array was well balanced, that the runes were clean, that the formula running around the circle’s edge had no inconsistencies.

Her Inscription skill didn’t see any flaws either. The silver-quartz dust was evenly distributed by the chalk sticks, facilitating the mana flow. The connecting lines were sharp. The circle was unbroken.

She ran Diagnostic through the circle again, anyway. It didn’t report any new problems. Nothing had changed since she’d sent Lady Alyx over the spatial barrier.

Lady Alyx was fine.

She would bring Miss Cass back.

Everyone would be safe.

Miss Cass would be safe.

She repeated that to herself.

Lady Alyx was not lying in two pieces on the other side of this wall. Miss Cass was not dead.

Miss Cass was not dead.

“How much does it cost yah to cast this one?” the guardsman asked.

“Oh, um, a lot?” Pellen admitted.

“More than a quarter your Focus?”

It cost more than that. Quite a bit more. It was a dreadfully expensive spell. She nodded.

“Are you going to have anything left after you move both of us over?” he asked.

Pellen’s eyes widened. “Both?”

He raised an eyebrow, “You’re not come’n?”

She shook her head. “I wouldn’t be much use. It would use up all my Focus to move a third person.”

Maybe if she had brought her Mana reserve crystal with her. She hadn’t expected to need it during her errands today. She only had her Academy primer because she had intended to return it after her business with the Temple.

The guardsman folded his arms, a finger tapping against his buckler in thought. “No. Better you go then.”

“Me?” Pellen squeaked. “But—I mean—What about your lady? You can’t let her go by herself!”

He shook his head. “You’ve got a wider skill set with your spells. You’ll still have at least a third of your Focus, yeah?”

She would. Enough for a few spells. But, “I’m not a combat mage.”

“You’re not?” he asked. “But you’re past the Gate. You’re not old enough to have gotten to level 27 from just birthdays.”

Oh, how did she explain that to this martial?

“And you did fine in the catacombs,” he added.

Fine? Maybe that’s how it looked to an outsider, but the catacombs had been a struggle.

She’d gotten lucky. It was luck that she had grabbed onto Miss Cass as they’d fallen between floors. Luck that Miss Cass hadn’t shaken her off and luck that Miss Cass had a means of turning that deadly fall into a safe landing.

It was luck that Miss Cass had wanted her company and luck that Lady Alyx had let her tag along.

She couldn’t fool herself otherwise. She hadn’t won. She’d survived, tugged along in Miss Cass’s wake like a kite on a wild wind.

“I’m not a combat mage,” Pellen repeated. She drew the textbook on combat spells from her robes. “I can barely use any of these spells with reference. You shouldn’t put your lady’s safety in my hands.”

They shouldn’t put Miss Cass’s fate in her hands.

“You’re sure?” Sir Marco asked.

Pellen stared down at the sigils of her array, her hand clenching in her lap.

Lady Alyx would bring Miss Cass back safely. She had to.

Miss Cass would be safe.

Her chest constricted.

People died every day. Pellen knew that. There was a reason she wasn’t a combat mage. There was a reason she’d left the Dusklight.

People died, even in safe places like the Academy. Experiments went wrong. Spells misfired. The maneuvers of politics and wealth intruded into the world of academics.

People died.

But that wasn’t supposed to be Miss Cass’s fate. She was strong. She was kind.

She cared.

But it was out of Pellen’s hands. She’d told Lady Alyx. She’d sent Lady Alyx on. She’d done what she could.

Her role now was to wait. And pray. And hope.

Lady Alyx would face armed resistance. There would be combat. Even if she arrived safely in the sealed section, she might die fighting for Miss Cass.

Lady Alyx was strong, but she was still a young warrior, only just past the Gate. Could she handle the full force of a religious order?

She had to.

Pellen had to believe she could.

Because it was out of Pellen’s hands. There was nothing more she could do.

Maybe, if she were a combat mage, she could have joined Lady Alyx. Maybe, if she held the Arcane Concept, she could have the strength to stand at their side. Maybe, if she was more.

“You’re overthinkin’ it,” Sir Marco said, interrupting the spiraling thoughts.

Pellen flinched.

He crouched in front of her, on the far side of the array. His steely eyes met her primary ones. “What do you want?”

“I—” What did she want? She wanted Miss Cass and Lady Alyx to come back safely. But, “I’m not—”

He shook his head. “Scythes can be made spears, doubly so if that’s what the scythe wants. So what do you want?”

Pellen stared at him. This was the lives of his lady and Miss Cass on the line. What she wanted was unimportant. He was a higher level. He had combat experience.

“If you don’t want to go, I won’t make you. There is no shame in that. Not everyone can. Not everyone wants to be. We all got our roles.”

Her heart pounded in her chest.

He didn’t break eye contact. “You have the choice. Not everyone does. Can you leave them to me, or will you save them yourself?”

Pellen’s hands gripped tighter around her textbook. Would she forgive herself if Miss Cass died? If she went and Miss Cass died? If she didn’t go and Miss Cass died? Which was worse?

“You’ve come this far,” Sir Marco said softly. “You really don’t want to go the last step?”

Pellen flinched.

She didn’t have to come this far. She could have sent a note to Lady Alyx, but she’d barged into the arena. She could have left Lady Alyx at the temple’s doors, but she’d insisted on following her. She could have shaken her head and claimed there was no spell to break into this sealed space, but she’d offered her experimental spell instead.

Why?

Because Miss Cass would do the same? Because she refused to let Miss Cass die?

Because she couldn’t let Miss Cass face trouble alone.

“I’ll go,” Pellen whispered.

Sir Marco nodded, a melancholy smile slipping across his face. “That’s what I thought.” He stood, walking back to the door. “Protect my girl. She’ll chew me out for sendin’ you alone later, but you’re the right choice.”

“You’re sure?” Pellen asked, even as she stepped into the center of her teleportation array.

He waved lazily. “I can protect my lady. Maybe I can protect her sorceress. I don’t know if I can do both. You, on the other hand, with all your tricks, can’t you do both?”

Pellen shook her head. She didn’t know if she could live up to that expectation.

“And that Miss Cass’ll almost certainly find you more useful than an old man like me.” He chuckled. “She’s quick like that. Go. Save her.”

Pellen clenched her textbook of combat spells to her chest, willing her Focus through her feet into the array. This wasn’t a mistake. She could do this.

She intoned the activation word. Space shifted around her.

Miss Cass, stay safe just a little longer. She was coming.

Ch. 49: Alyx: Assault

Alyx paced the storeroom as Pellen triple-checked the runes of her teleportation array.

They were as close to the seal space as they could go. Cass was in the space on the other side of the back wall.

Marco leaned up against the room’s only door. It was open just a crack to let the guardsman watch the hall.

“Okay,” Pellen said as she pushed herself back to her feet, brushing chalk dust from her hands. “The array is ready. But, um, are you sure you want to do this?”

“Cass is over there, right?” Alyx pointed at the back wall.

The little mage nodded. “But it isn’t too late to get supplies from the academy and use a different method. I think I could get us a talmen core for Breach 87. That’s a much safer, well-studied spell. Or—”

Alyx put a hand up to stop the mage’s increasingly panicked rambling. “We don’t have time to go across the city for supplies. You wrote this spell, right?”

Pellen nodded.

“And it will get me to Cass.”

All of Pellen’s eyes squeezed shut. “I really think we should consider the success rate. Its only—”

“Pellen,” Alyx interrupted before the little mage could spiral into another whirl of doubt. “Yes or no, can it get me to Cass?”

Pellen nodded again.

“Then let’s do this. Send me to Cass.”

Pellen took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Stand in the center.”

Alyx stood as she was directed.

“You sure you want’a go first?” Marco asked.

She clenched her sword’s hilt. “I need to be the one to do this.”

He nodded. “Then go.”

“Last chance to change your mind.” Pellen knelt at the array’s edge.

“Send me, Pellen.”

Pellen whispered the activation words, and space shifted around Alyx. One gut-twisting moment later, she found herself in a green-walled hallway. In the distance, the sounds of conflict—shouts and sword strikes—echoed down the halls.

A roar shook the space.

A dragon’s roar.

It was here. And it was feral.

Her hand clenched around her sword’s pommel.

Feral dragons were things of distant wild places of the world. Cursed beasts as tragic as they were dangerous. They had no business in the basement of Velillia’s Temple.

But, knowing Cass, that would be where Cass was.

Alyx ran down the green-glass halls of Fortitude toward the sounds. Ran directly into a paladin.

Copper Crescent Paladin (lvl 31)

[The enemy of your mother and your people.]

Alyx was lower leveled than this man at level 30, but not that much lower. And she was the Major Blessing Holder.

And he was one of the ones who killed her mother.

Her sword was out before he’d even noticed her.

Heaven’s Strike struck him between the shoulder blades before he could turn. Her amber aura sliced against the metal of his armor.

But his armor was hard. Her Heaven’s Strike flickered as she struggled to keep her aura flowing through the skill for another second.

Metal shrieked against metal as her aura melted away. As the bare blade scraped along his armored back.

She drew back for another strike as he turned, his sword rising to block.

She couldn’t charge Heaven’s Blade with her aura long enough to cut through his armor and Fortitude.

But his armor couldn’t be invincible. There would be weak points, joints her blade could slip through, places he’d traded defense for mobility. She just had to find them.

Aura coated her blade as she prepared her next skill.

He swung at her, no skill on the blade beyond the Mastery skill he might have wielded it with.

She parried, pushing his sword off line and sliding her blade into the gap she’d created. Her glowing amber blade struck his armor again, her aura gouging a scratch in the metal plate.

He slapped her sword, attempting to stop its tip from digging deeper into his armor.

But Alyx engaged another sword skill as their blades touched: Shadow Strike.

The bare metal of her blade was pushed aside by the paladin’s attack, but her sword’s shadow—her glowing amber aura—remained pressed against his armor.

While her aura blade pierced through the metal and into the Fortified skin underneath, her physical sword whipped around, driving at the joint where his armor plates met.

He grit his teeth and rolled his shoulders back. A wave of green aura flowed off him. Her aura blade melted, and she was shoved back down the hall.

But the tip of her blade was crimson with his blood.

Alyx grinned at him. Her aura accumulated along her blade again.

He didn’t return the grin. Instead, he charged her, the aura on his shield and sword growing with each step.

Alyx let him come, her amber aura growing to more than match his until the entire hall was awash with the amber light.

He stepped into range, his sword swinging at her.

Her sword slammed down into the glass. Her aura exploded out with her skill Radiant Aura. Her aura filled the hall, drowning out his green. Drowning even the green glass of the floor and walls.

He stumbled back.

Alyx raced forward. She kicked his chest before he could recover.

He toppled over.

She raised her sword, again glowing with her aura, and plunged it down in Heaven’s Strike.

It drove into the divot she’d cut earlier, bursting through the weakened metal, sliding between the chain mail beneath, slicing into his chest.

She hit something hard where his heart should have been.

She roared and funneled more aura into her blade’s tip.

He struggled beneath her. His sword scratched at her armored legs, but from his angle, there was no strength behind the attack.

He couldn’t stop her.

Radiant Aura.

Her aura exploded. Exploded inside his chest.

His whole body jolted. But the energy couldn’t escape his Fortified skin. Instead, it ran rampant inside his organs.

He gasped. Blood spurted from his open mouth. It oozed from his nose. From the corners of his eyes.

Alyx pulled her blade from the corpse as the experience for the paladin’s life was absorbed into her body. A slender smile slipped across her lips.

One down. How many would it take to satisfy her mother’s memory?

She flicked the blood off her sword, intending to sheath it again.

Before she could, another paladin turned the corner onto the hall with her.

Her smile spread into a grim grin. She sprinted down the hall.

One fight turned into two, turned into three. Every fight brought her a little closer to the roar of the dragon. Every enemy she slayed was one also headed in that direction.

She didn’t know exactly what trouble Cass was in, but she was confident these were just as much Cass’s enemies.

Another paladin and another fell before her. But each one was easier than the one before. They all fought the same way, unafraid to take her hits, too slow to hit her in return. Their hearts were all hard. She didn’t know why, but the rest of their organs were plenty susceptible to blasts of Radiant Aura from within.

Another fell without contest.

Level Up!

+ 1 Str

+ 5 Free Points

A new level filled her with renewed energy. She spread the Free Points between Str, Dex, End, and Frt. She’d need the physical stats now.

She drove onward.

Another paladin died. Another.

Ahead, a pair slowed her.

Paladin (lvl 33)

Priest (lvl 27)

This was the first priest she’d seen. He wasn’t armored like the paladin woman before him but wore simple green and copper robes.

“Another intruder!” the priest shouted, pointing at Alyx.

The paladin woman raised her shield, a green aura growing on its surface. An aura bash, if previous fights were anything to go by.

How would the priest change the fight dynamics?

Better to kill him quickly before she could find out. If she could get to him. The paladin placed herself firmly in between.

Alyx burst forward, her sword glowing amber as it trailed behind her. She swung up at the paladin, intending to shove her aside with the upward sweep of Heaven’s Strike.

The paladin took the skill-empowered attack without flinching. She shot the aura bash at Alyx.

Alyx sliced the aura attack in two, slipping between the waves of dispersing energy with a returning slash of her own.

The paladin slashed at Alyx. Alyx parried. The paladin’s sword pushed Alyx’s wide before it could exploit any opening.

Alyx grit her teeth. This one’s sword skills were the best so far. There was no way around her to reach the priest.

They exchanged a flurry of strikes, each slash and stab pushed aside by their opponent.

An opening appeared on the paladin’s left. Alyx snaked her blade into it. The paladin tried to close it, but it was too late. Her armor would probably stop the worst of it, but Alyx’s aura would damage that in preparation for the next strike or the one after that.

Her sword didn’t connect.

A green force field appeared over the woman’s armor instead.

The priest’s hands were out, the whisper of a spell on his lips.

He’d protected her. Alyx glared at him.

Realizing she hadn’t been hit, the paladin quickly redirected her sword after Alyx.

Alyx grit her teeth and turned her attention back to defending herself. She pushed aside strike after strike, harrying the other woman in turn. Neither of them expected any of these to go through. All were an attempt to draw the other’s sword out of position.

There!

Alyx stabbed into an undefendable opening.

The paladin didn’t even try to defend it.

A green force field snapped into place over her armor. Alyx’s sword struck the force field, her aura doing nothing to the surface.

At the same time, the paladin’s sword returned the attack, swinging for the opening Alyx’s attack had created. The paladin’s sword sliced across Alyx’s breast plate.

Alyx activated Forceful Exit, her dodge skill.

She flickered out of existence for a fraction of a second.

By default, the skill would drop her to the side of her attacker, but with a little extra application of Focus, she could pick a different nearby location.

Like directly behind her attacker, between the priest and the paladin.

The priest didn’t have time to shout. Alyx’s sword slipped into his chest as she rematerialized. His body was far tougher than any unarmored person should have been, but no amount of Fortitude could make simple cloth resist the full force of Alyx’s Aura Blade.

And, unlike the paladins, his heart wasn’t made of steel.

He was dead before the paladin could turn.

The paladin screamed when she saw him at Alyx’s feet, throwing herself at Alyx.

Alyx parried, attempting to push the paladin’s sword wide.

Instead, the paladin’s blade crashed into her, their swords clashing with resonating steel and unbelievable force.

Alyx was pushed back. Pain radiated up her arm from the impact. There was way more Strength in that attack than any up to this point.

A rage skill?

Alyx grimaced. Perhaps killing the priest first had been a mistake.

The paladin lunged at her, her sword flashing.

Alyx turned the attack aside, returning with a strike of her own. It glanced along the paladin’s armor.

She blocked another strike. The force rippled down her sword and up her arm, numbing the muscles and sending aches through the bone.

The paladin swung again. And again. And again.

Alyx was tiring. How many paladins had she already fought?

How much Stamina was left?

Stamina: 38/141

About a quarter and dropping, and it was showing in her speed. Her arms moved like lead to block. Her body screamed for rest.

Alyx ignored it all, summoning Aura to her blade to compensate for her lower Strength and fleeting Stamina.

She swung with all the force of Heaven’s Strike, her aura trailing off the attack in an amber arch.

The paladin took the strike head-on, letting the aura crash on her chest plate. Letting crash as she stabbed back at Alyx.

The paladin’s sword slammed through Alyx’s defenses. Sword tip punctured armor.

Pain bloomed in her lower abdomen as the blade parted organs and flesh.

Heaven’s Strike broke, her aura fading.

Alyx staggered back, blood trailing from her guts.

She couldn’t fall here. She grit her teeth, her hands clenching tighter around her sword’s hilt. There wasn’t time to be tired.

These were the people who had killed her mother.

They killed dragons for fun.

They’d taken Cass.

She could not stop.

She had to—

Skill Earned: Endless Assault

[Some fights are battles of skill. Others are battles of attrition. You will never lose the second.

Gain temporary Endurance the longer a fight continues.

Gain temporary Strength the longer a single exchange of blows continues.

Gain temporary Dexterity the longer you attack others without being attacked yourself.

Temporary stats decay while not being stockpiled.

Modified by End]

Power coursed through her as her new skill settled into place within her.

A grin spread across her face as she lunged at the paladin.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Her sword scraped against plate metal. The paladin swatted the sword aside, returning with a strike of her own.

Alyx parried, her arm shaking under the force of the other woman’s Strength. She twisted the parry into a stab of her own. It slammed into the paladin’s armor.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Their swords clashed with a resounding crash of metal on metal. Exchange after exchange.

[Endless Assault: + 1 End]

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 Dex, + 1 End]

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End

Total Temporary Stat change:

+ 5 Str

+ 1 Dex

+ 6 End]

The paladin was struggling now. Her redirected strikes were pushed further out of line. She stepped back when their swords locked.

And Alyx’s Strength kept increasing.

[Endless Assault: + 1 Str, + 1 End]

Alyx swung. The paladin attempted to parry. Heaven’s Strike went right through the woman’s sword instead.

The paladin stumbled backward, Alyx’s sword chasing her.

It slammed into the woman’s chest. Alyx’s aura burned through the armor, the amber scorching the green and copper. Her sword sunk into her body.

Alyx drove through her, shoving her into the wall. Her sword tip hit the steel heart.

Her Strength ticked up again.

Alyx shoved her sword forward again, Heaven’s Strike burning brighter with her aura than ever before.

It sliced through.

The paladin gasped and fell still.

Alyx’s body vibrated with power.

[Total Temporary Stat change:

+ 6 Str

+ 1 Dex

+ 7 End]

Endless Assault has increased to level 2.

Endless Assault has increased to level 3.

Alyx pulled her sword free and sheathed it.

[Total Temporary Stat change:

+ 5 Str

+ 6 End]

Her hands shook. She didn’t have time to waste here. The more she fought, the bigger the buff she could build, the better state she’d be in to rescue Cass.

Alyx looked up and down the hall. Ahead, she could hear the sounds of conflict and dragon roars. She ran toward it.

She was coming, Cass.

Ch. 48: Affliction

How did the blade go through that time? Cass asked.

Behind her, she could hear gasping as Salos’s claws dug into the lightning-stunned lvl-29. Abyss if I know. The kid said I should stab him. I stabbed him.

Cass pulled the blade free as the man’s heart exploded from the blood freezing and expanding within. “What did you do?”

Ahryn stood a little straighter. “Debuffed his Fortitude.”

The kid’s an afflictionist?

Is that unusual? Cass asked.

Yes. Well, uncommon, at least. Especially among humans. Especially at his age and level. Is that important right now?

The sword of lvl-30 swinging past her face as she dodged out of the way answered that question.

Lvl-33 was out of the ice field too and quickly approaching.

Across the cathedral, the demon stood over a concerning number of corpses. Its soul—or the twisted, writhing, pulsing thing that sat in the place of a soul—burned like the sun, hot and hungry and feasting and pressing fiercely against the defenses of Soul Guard.

The dragon unleashed another blast of flaming breath, the heat a tangible force even at this distance.

And, despite the number of corpses, the number of paladins and priests in the room had only grown. Another wave was already on their way to reinforce the two still attacking her and Ahryn.

Was there an end to them?

Cass shook her head. That was the wrong question. It didn’t matter how many paladins there were. Killing them all wasn’t the goal. Getting Ahryn, the dragons, and herself out of this mess was.

All that without letting a starving demon loose on the city.

Even if there was, would exhausting that supply be helpful? She just needed to get Ahryn, herself, and the dragons out of this mess without letting a demon run wild in the city.

‘All’ she needed to do was kill the demon, break the captain’s skill, and then run. In that order. Critically, in that order.

But the demon wasn’t any weaker than he’d been a minute ago. If anything, he was just getting stronger by devouring the souls of the paladins.

Would killing all the paladins keep him from doing that, or would he just try to eat her instead?

She shook the thoughts aside as she Dodged around another attack from lvl-30 and tossed a pair of Tempest Blades at lvl-33, one of wind and one of lightning.

The wind blade struck his armor, breaking on the metal plates and against his exposed face. The lightning blade he blocked on his shield, the electricity running ineffectually through the metal, unable to make the jump to his body.

Salos appeared on his shoulder, his claws sliding uselessly over the plate metal.

Why? Ahryn had thrown his debuff attack at 33 first. Cass watched it hit as she’d run up. Did the debuff have a limited time? A set number of attacks before it wore off?

Was 33 just that much stronger than the others?

There was no need to wonder. “Why didn’t my attack go through?”

“Ah, the debuff timed out,” Ahryn called back.

“Can you do it again?” Cass asked.

The boy’s hand twisted as he began casting.

Status Effect Spell

[Purpose: Debuff?]

Well, that was an answer. How did it change her next move?

He could help fight. With him, they might hurt the captain. But that still left the demon. Should she just throw what was left of her Focus at killing it? Would that even be enough?

Ahead, lvl-33 raised his shield, the green glow of aura accumulating over its surface. He was charging an Aura Bash. Just negating one clipping her shoulder had cost her 50 Stamina. Partially negating a direct hit had been 75.

Stamina: 42/141

Focus: 103/549

She couldn’t afford even that much right now. If he hit her with that, she would feel it.

Just don’t let it hit, then.

The blast was fast, but she was faster.

And Ahryn’s spell was already done. The boy pointed, and a white light shot from his hand, flying across the gap.

Salos, all you, Cass said, Shifting them.

He bolted after the spell in her body, his dagger gleaming.

The white light hit lvl-33.

A burst of slate-grey mana exploded in front of Salos.

[Unknown Spatial Warp Skill]

Lvl-30 appeared in front of him. His dagger slammed uselessly into the man’s shield.

Cass would have screamed in frustration if she were still in her body. That skill was getting in the way again?

But, no. This was fine. This was just an inconvenience. The debuff wouldn’t wear off in the time it took him to slip around lvl-30 and stab 33.

Lvl-33 took a step to the left.

Lvl-30 swung at Salos. He dodged back.

Lvl-33 released the Aura Bash from his shield.

And Cass understood what the paladins had planned.

Ahryn was by himself. Flatfooted. Alone.

Salos was too far away to push the boy out of the way. He’d have to step into the attack’s path if he wanted to stop the attack. And he wouldn’t survive it either.

She swapped them back, Alacrity burning for an answer. The world shifted around her. She could feel the whoosh of air as lvl-30’s sword swung past her.

Could Ahryn survive the attack? Not if she couldn’t. She doubted his Fortitude was better than hers.

Could she make a shield? Not at this distance. What would she even make a shield out of?

Could she move him? How?

Wind. Ahryn was as weak as a quivering leaf in a storm.

Her dagger whipped out, pointed at the boy. She pulled up Elemental Manipulation, grabbing all the surrounding air. Willing more to fill the room. Pushing it into a united front. Willing it to run.

To run!

It gusted forward, faster than the aura blast. Like a gale unleashed.

It knocked into Ahryn. He braced against it, but only for a moment. He tumbled over just as the Aura Bash flew over him.

He hit the glass floor hard. A surprised yelp escaped his lips.

Focus: 83/549

Lvl-33 advanced on Ahryn. Him and four of the new reinforcements—a pair of level 32s, a level 28, and another level 31. They were all closer to Ahryn than Cass was.

Salos, take out lvl-33, Cass said, Shifting them again.

With pleasure, he said, slipping around lvl-30.

The 32s had formed a wall between him and Ahryn. Lvl-30 chased after him.

Cass leapt up 30’s back, lightning Tempest Blades on her claws. The electricity zapped the paladin as they raked across his armor. She didn’t wait to see him fall, leaping on to the nearer of the 32s.

But he saw her coming. He slapped her down with a bash of his shield.

Salos stepped into the opening behind the man’s shield and drove his dagger into a gap between plates, pulling it free with a trail of blood, ducking out again before either man could grab him.

It wasn’t enough to phase the paladin.

Meanwhile, Cass hit the ground, coughing up blood from the impact.

Stamina: 39/141

Focus: 73/549

Health: 70/134

Behind the reinforcements, lvl-33 raised his sword over Ahryn.

Ahryn lay on the ground where he’d landed. His hands were up. His white force field flickered between them. His eyes squeezed shut. He whispered, “Please.”

Salos would not make it to him in time. Cass couldn’t either.

The blade would slice through the boy.

There was nothing Cass could do about it.

The roar of thunder shook the cathedral.

A blast of lightning bolted from the brawl by the door into the side of the attacking paladin, cutting a hole through the man’s plate armor.

Lvl-33 blinked, electricity running up and down his body.

Behind him, a figure materialized.

The demon.

The reinforcements to either side flinched back.

“Kohen!” Ahryn sighed with relief, his entire body relaxing.

Kohen?

The demon’s phantom hand dove through the man’s chest. It clamped around the soul within and crushed it. Pulverized it. Until there was nothing but a fine powder.

What?

The level 31 regained his nerve first, his sword striking for the demon’s neck.

The demon dodged the sword, summoning its lightning blade to a clawed hand and driving it into the paladin’s chest. Again, the phantom hand pulverized the man’s soul before Cass could stop him.

The demon moved on before it absorbed any of the particles of the soul.

Why? Were there too many paladins around for it to stop and eat it now? But that hadn’t stopped it earlier when it had been surrounded by even more paladins.

One of the level 32s swung at the demon while the level 28 turned on Ahryn.

The demon ducked under lvl-32’s strike and skewered lvl-28 with his lightning sword. It dragged the man through the air on the end of its lightning blade, hammering him into the lvl-32. A moment later, both souls were vaporized into a fine mist.

Was he protecting Ahryn?

Why?

Ahryn shot a debuffing bolt at lvl-30.

Salos darted after it, his dagger plunging through the weakened armor and twisting through the compromised flesh underneath. Your turn.

Cass winced and activated Shifting Minds.

Blood ran over her hand from the paladin’s wound.

She took a deep breath, calling astraum along the blade with Elemental Manipulation.

Cold came for him, freezing the man to death.

Cass pulled her dagger from the corpse. The body collapsed before her, metal ringing against glass in her ears.

Focus: 53/549

The second lvl-32 swung at the demon, slicing a deep gash across its back.

“Kohen!” Ahryn yelled again. His hands made a series of arcane gestures before clapping together before his chest. A white light enveloped the demon, and its bleeding slowed.

“Kohen?” Cass repeated. “That’s Kohen?”

Ahryn hesitated, his hands pausing mid-gesture.

The demon snarled and struck the paladin. The lightning blade slammed into the man’s armor, knocking him back several feet. The demon surged after him.

The boy took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes?”

Kohen was a demon? How? Why? Since when?

No. None of that was important. The only question was: What did this change?

The paladins on the other side of the room were reorganizing. Most still fought the dragon, their captain throwing shields between them and the dragon periodically. Was he leaning on his shield?

They had formed a tight ring around the dragon, their shields pressed against each other, only separating enough to jab their swords through when the dragon was faced away.

The dragon was covered in new wounds, blood dripping down his flanks, his scales cut away in ribbons.

The rest of the paladins chased the demon across the room. They would be here sooner than later.

Her primary goal was unchanged: escape.

Her secondary goal was unchanged: escape with everyone.

The method for completing that goal was unchanged: remove the captain’s skill, ideally through intimidation, but with force as necessary.

Force looked increasingly necessary.

There was really only one way that this new information could change anything. And it was her definition of ‘everyone’.

“You’re sure that’s Kohen?” Cass pointed at the demon.

The demon—Kohen—was on top of the paladin, pinning the man to the floor. His lightning sword had shrunk to a dagger-length blade. He was slamming it against the paladin’s armor, stabbing it through joints for fountains of blood, even as his phantom hand pressed through his flesh for the soul.

Ahryn hesitated just another moment before nodding. The core in the boy’s chest flickered. There was something terribly wrong with it. Souls were meant to be round—perfect, flawless spheres.

Yet, Ahryn’s core was torn open, like a soccer ball ripped apart and turned inside out.

It looked painful. Horribly painful. How had he been moving at all up to this point?

“You can see that’s a demon, right?” Cass asked.

Ahryn paled. Or perhaps his skin was already unnaturally ashen? He nodded. “But it’s also Kohen.”

Cass ran a hand through her hair. She didn’t like Kohen.

She didn’t like him at all. Like, he was probably one of her top five least favorite people she’d met in this world. Maybe top five least favorite ever.

He was rude and manipulative and—well, she couldn’t say she knew him better than that.

But he was Alyx and Ahryn’s brother. That might not mean anything to Alyx, but clearly, that meant everything to the kid before her.

“We can save him, can’t we?” Ahryn looked up at her. Something shimmered silver in his dark eyes, like stars on a clear night. That probably wasn’t good. She was certain human eyes didn’t do that. “He’s just protecting me. We don’t need to hurt him.”

Salos leapt onto Cass’s shoulder. “That is a demon. It has no concept of you as a person. You are nothing but a soul to be devoured.”

He does seem to be protecting Ahryn, though, Cass pointed out privately.

Coincidence, Salos muttered. It will turn on the boy as soon as there are no other targets.

“I don’t believe that,” Ahryn said. If the talking cat bothered him, he didn’t show it.

“Boy, does that thing look like your brother?” Salos asked.

The next wave of paladins had arrived. The demon ripped an arm off the nearest one with a clawed hand. His skin rippled as he moved, snarling and cackling in equal measure.

How is that happening, anyway? Cass asked. He’s got a physical body, right? Is shapeshifting possible for them?

Sure, it’s just incredibly painful and slow, Salos said. It looks like the raw potential in the souls he’s devoured is reshaping his body as we speak.

It looked unpleasant.

“Isn’t there something you can do?” Ahryn asked. Another face superimposed over the boy’s.

Cass’s hand clenched into a fist.

Did ‘everyone’ include Kohen or not?

Every bit of good sense screamed ‘no’. She couldn’t let a mad demon loose on the city. She didn’t have the resources to drag this out until she had another option.

You cannot save everyone, Salos whispered, his soul heavy against hers. You will only drown if you try.

“Miss Mage?” the boy’s voice quivered.

He wasn’t Robin.

Kohen wasn’t Kaye.

Not by a long shot. They looked nothing alike.

But that was the face Robin had made. That night. As she’d been pulled from Earth.

A desperate face. A terrified face.

“I’ll do my best.” The words slipped out.

Hope bloomed in the boy’s eyes, shining like stars.

Salos shook his head on her shoulder.

The words were a hollow promise. She didn’t know how she’d save him. They were completely empty of everything.

Everything, save intent.

But the intent burned.

“Your best,” he repeated with a nod. He swayed on his feet, but his body had taken on a silver glow, cold like starlight. “Let’s do our best, together.”

It was all she could offer.

It was the least he could accept.

Now, to find a way to make good on them.

Ch. 47: What She Can

Cass Sprinted across the room.

She had a choice here.

1. Fight alongside the dragon to find an opportunity to one-shot the demon.

2. Sneak around behind the paladin lines and attempt an assassination on the captain.

3. Run to Ahryn’s side.

1 or 2 could end this fight. But could she really succeed at either? If she were more like Salos, an assassin with overwhelming single target attacks, then maybe one of those would have been the right answer.

But she was Cass. Tempest Blade barely hurt the paladins, forget scratching their captain. Even with the soul damage helping to even the playing field between them, Cass wasn’t optimistic about the amount of damage she could do to the man.

And she didn’t want to kill him.

She shook that last thought aside. It was a foolish impulse. She’d killed. She could—would have to—do it again.

Fighting alongside the dragon had similar problems. It was possible the dragon would create an opening for Cass to slide in and freeze the demon to death. But it was also possible the demon’s weird biology wouldn’t freeze. It was possible it could use its blood revival skill to recover from freezing.

In contrast, running to Ahryn’s side would not improve her chances of getting out of this basement. It would not end this fight any sooner. No amount of killing or disabling the paladins running to surround the boy would stop the rest from trying to kill her.

But how long would the boy last if she left him to his own devices?

Could she live with his life on her conscience?

She couldn’t kill the captain. She couldn’t kill the demon. But she could save the boy.

She’d figure the rest out after.

Ahryn stumbled away from the men. Behind him was the containment circle holding the dragonlings. His gambeson was splattered with blood. More dripped from his neck.

Faint white light glowed from his gloved hands. He held them out at the paladins quickly surrounding him, visibly shaking all the while.

There were five of them, all as big and as well armored as any in the room. All well above the boy’s level.

Veldor Mage (lvl 25)

Copper Crescent Paladin (lvl 29) x2

Copper Crescent Paladin (lvl 30)

Copper Crescent Paladin (lvl 31)

Copper Crescent Paladin (lvl 33)

The lead paladin (level 33) stepped closer to Ahryn.

The boy pointed his palms at the man, a burst of white light shooting across the gap. The man raised his shield and the light dissipated harmlessly into nothing.

“That all you can do?” the man scoffed as he raised his sword.

Ahryn’s white light formed a barrier in front of him, thin and flickering.

Cass darted between them, her dagger drawn. Salos, take over!

Shifting Minds!

Our targets are rather far away, he grumbled even as he stabbed his dagger into the paladin in front of him. She didn’t need the hints flickering across their bond to know he meant the captain or the demon.

His blade skidded across the paladin’s armor, metal scraping against metal. Abyss, that’s hard.

If you can’t stab this one, do you think you can get through the captain’s armor? Cass pressed as she leapt from his shadows. Even for Salos, five was too many. She needed to limit the number of enemies who could attack them at once.

Stamina: 42/141

Focus: 168/549

Health: 71/134

She didn’t have a lot of resources left for this fight, just a third of her Stamina and a quarter of her total Focus. She needed to be sparing with it. Make every attack count.

It wasn’t enough for Confounding Mists, and even if there was, she didn’t know how her and Salos’s teamwork would fare in it.

That left Elemental Manipulation.

She darted into the center of the group of paladins, willing water to form and freeze beneath her feet. It spread around her, climbing up the legs of lvl-33 and the nearer lvl-29.

Focus: 145/549 

Lvl-33 scowled, his swing coming up short with his feet frozen to the floor. He swung again at the much closer Salos.

Salos stepped out of the way, his high Dexterity navigating the slick ice without difficulty and pushing Ahryn another step out of the ice field at the same time.

“Miss Mage Cass!” Ahryn’s eyes widened. His voice shook. But the glow of his barrier brightened. “You’re not dead!”

Shifting Mind.

Cass again stood between paladin and Ahryn, her dagger awkward in her hands. “What? Dead?”

Salos appeared on lvl-33’s shoulder, his claws slipping into a weak point and coming away with blood.

The other lvl-29 swung at Ahryn. He turned his shield toward the attack. The blade sank into the fragile barrier, slowing enough for the boy to scramble out of the blade’s path.

“I heard you were kidnapped.” Ahryn made a complicated gesture with one hand and pointed at the lvl-29 attacking him. Another white bolt of light shot from his hand into the paladin.

Again, it hit the paladin without appearing to do anything to the man.

He knew she’d been kidnapped? How? Who could possibly know that?

“Then, you came looking for me?” Cass threw a Tempest Blade at the lvl-29 chasing Ahryn, widening and blunting the profile of the blade. She didn’t hope to cut them with their Fortitude. But if she could knock his feet out from under him on the ice, that could give Ahryn another moment to get out of the way.

The invisible blade of wind struck the back of his knees.

She wasn’t expecting it to actually cut. Or the blood that gushed from the suddenly open wound.

The man stumbled over the ice, his weight suddenly unsupported and unbalanced on the injured leg.

“Oh, no. Emenie and Velkora were kidnapped, too.”

Lvl-29 caught himself with his sword, but Salos appeared on his shoulder, cat claws sinking through plate metal like it was tissue paper.

Was that paladin’s Fortitude just bad? That seemed unlikely, given his patron. That was too weak even for a normal amount of Fortitude.

What was different about this paladin?

Cass threw another Tempest Blade into his back, the vibrating blade of wind slicing deep through metal and cloth and flesh.

He crumpled, screaming in pain.

Focus: 139/549 

Meanwhile, lvl-33 pulled his foot free of the ice. He stepped toward her, his feet crunching through the layer of ice, slow and methodical so as not to fall. Lvl-30 and lvl-31 had the same idea, walking with heavy steps through the ice.

All three advanced toward the boy.

Behind her, Salos dropped on the other lvl-29, his feet still frozen in place.

Cass darted between them and Ahryn, her dagger raised. She would not let them through. But there were three of them and only one of her. They split up, lvl-30 and lvl-31 turning in opposite directions, lvl-33 advancing directly on her.

33 swung at her, the ice under him crunching under his weight and the force coursing through his body.

Cass dodged back, gliding across the ice.

30 reached the edge of her ice field and sword range of Ahryn. That sword sliced through the air at the boy.

Ahryn put up another light barrier, slowing the swing and scrambling out of the way.

Not fast enough. 30’s sword clipped his shoulder, slicing right through his gambeson and adding to the blood.

The boy winced, biting back a scream.

Cass’s heart twisted. He was so young. Younger than Robin. He shouldn’t be in this kind of danger. He shouldn’t be so used to pain that he bit back screams like it was expected.

She slipped in front of him, her dagger raised and her heart hammering.

“You should get out of here,” Cass said. Out of the cathedral, at least. The paladins had bigger threats. If he were out of sight, they’d leave him alone, at least until the demon and dragon were contained, surely?

She’d said she could save him. And she would.

But protecting him was hard. Her skills were around keeping herself safe: hiding, running, dodging. She didn’t have any defensive skills that could protect others.

Lvl-31 caught up, swinging through. Cass raised her dagger to block but immediately realized that was stupid. She wasn’t strong enough to stop a level 31, physical fighter’s sword swing. Not with a weapon she barely knew how to use. Luckily, she didn’t need to.

Salos, switch.

Her surroundings twisted. She found herself on the shoulder of the lvl-29 she’d caught in her ice field. He was free and bleeding heavily across his face. His sword was on the floor beside him, abandoned for being too long to swing as close to his shoulders and neck as he’d need to hit her.

“I won’t leave Emenie,” Ahryn said.

“You are an idiot,” Salos muttered from her lips, their dagger twisting the paladin’s blade out of position. He darted forward, inside the paladin’s reach, stabbing the dagger into the man’s stomach.

The blade glanced across the plate metal instead.

Salos clicked his tongue.

Meanwhile, Cass slipped around the armored hand, a hiss slipping from her lips on instinct. Lvl-29 kept grabbing after her with empty, grasping hands.

She summoned lightning Tempest Blades to her claws as she scrambled over his body, willing the lightning to course through him. He convulsed beneath her.

Focus: 129/549 

“I can help,” Ahryn insisted, still under attack. His hands flying in a series of arcane gestures.

Salos shoved him out of the way of lvl-30’s sword. “You’re in the way.”

“Am not!” Ahryn shot lvl-31 with another white bolt of magic. “Stab him again.”

Salos snorted but slipped under another sword swing again into the personal space of lvl-31. His dagger slammed into the metal plate, punching through like it was cardboard rather than metal.

Salos’s eyebrows went up. “Well, look at that.” He twisted the blade.

Your turn, Salos said, switch us back.

Again, their surroundings shifted as Shifting Minds swapped them back.

She was pressed against the paladin, her dagger buried up to its hilt in his chest. She could feel his breath, hot and humid on her neck as he exhaled in surprise.

She knew what Salos wanted her to do next.

She knew exactly how this should end.

Alacrity burned as her mind looked for any other answer. Any other way through. Any reason she could spare this man.

Atmospheric Sense warned her that lvl-30 was approaching on the other side. That lvl-33 was getting closer, too. That the demon was tearing through paladins on the other side of the room, ripping souls from bodies and devouring them on the spot. That the corpses at the dragon’s feet were only growing.

That if she wanted to leave this place alive, if she wanted to bring Ahryn out safely with her, she needed to do this.

Cass channeled astraum down the blade. It filled the cavity Salos had carved out.

Focus: 109/549 

Ice formed on the man’s armor as the water in the air froze to his supernaturally cold body. His skin paled. His heart pounded beneath her dagger’s tip.

She forced her thoughts to something else. She could unpack this later. Now was for survival.

Now was for protecting what she could protect.

Ch. 46: Demon of Blood and Lightning

Salos, Fairy Fire the demon! Cass said.

The purple flames around her went out, reappearing around the demon.

Every eye fell on it.

The fleeing paladins faltered, all turning and hesitantly approaching. The ones that had already been running to their captain’s aid ran faster, the whisper of Fairy Fire egging them on.

They all barely avoided the rush of the dragon. He slammed into the demon, his head striking the demon like a hammer, driving the creature into the shield of the captain. Crushing him between dragon scale and steel.

The demon went down.

The captain stumbled back under the impact, still disoriented from the pain radiating through his soul.

The dragon was on top of the demon, his claws raking into the demon’s writhing flesh. Blood pooled around it.

But the demon didn’t go quietly. It stabbed up at the larger beast, its lightning blade slicing through dragon scales like a laser through paper.

The dragon roared in pain, his claws digging deeper.

The paladins drew closer, their shields and swords raised, forming a wall between the dragon-demon fight and their still kneeling captain. His screaming had fallen to pained panting. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

Maybe this would work exactly like she’d hoped.

The demon was unexpected, but if the dragon could kill it on his own, Cass could return to plan A without worry. Alyx and Salos’s fears were unwarranted. The demon was just another monster.

Plenty killable by force. Just like anything else.

Not worth putting extra consideration into.

Things were going according to plan—

A Fortitude’s Protection flickered into existence between demon and dragon. Dragon claws slammed into the green force field.

The demon staggered back to its feet, long ribbons of flesh hanging from its body. Its right arm was mangled, broken in at least three places, each break twisted like a new and unnatural joint. It stood unsteady, its left leg similarly broken, the bones twisted to look more like a dog’s digitigrade leg with an extra bend halfway down the shin.

What was left of its flesh rippled. Maroon splotches flared over the tattered skin.

Cass’s stomach twisted. How could it still be standing? How could it still be alive?

She could see its organs, pierced and torn, hanging from its open stomach. She could see the white of its bone. Atmospheric Sense could feel air against the outsides of its lungs and around its heart.

It should be dead.

The air buzzed. Lightning flickered up and down the demon’s body, buzzing like nerves across torn flesh.

The dragon slammed another claw into the demon’s shield. Demon and shield were knocked back under the dragon’s Strength. Back into the line of paladins and their shields.

The demon turned on them as he fell, landing sword first in one of the paladins. The lightning blade sank up to the hilt in the man’s chest.

The paladin gasped. It didn’t seem to matter to the demon or the force behind the demon’s blade that the sword was supported by his three-times broken arm.

Simultaneously, the demon’s free hand made an arcane gesture. Three orbs of electricity materialized around it, rotating around its body in a slow and widening arch. They each struck an unprepared paladin, electricity exploding into wide storms of lightning, striking everything and everyone nearby, sending lightning coursing through metal armor and the bodies within. Paladins dropped to the ground—not dead yet, Atmospheric Sense informed her, but definitely paralyzed.

The remaining paladins broke, their line splitting, each man trying to put as much distance between themselves and the demon and its electric attacks as possible.

The paladins distracted, the demon’s phantom hand snapped out, crushing the soul of its first victim. The paladin screamed in pain as shards broke from his soul. As the demon devoured the pieces. Until the little remains of his core disintegrated.

Only then did the demon let the corpse fall, finally silent, from its sword.

Its soul surged in Cass’s vision, like a fire with gasoline poured over the open flames.

Another soul broken. Another soul eaten.

She could do that too, a voice whispered from the far side of Soul Guard. She could effortlessly take down paladins many levels above her, too.

She shook the thoughts away. This was wrong. She could see the pain.

The demon bent down, pulling a paralyzed paladin up from the floor. Their phantom hand reached out to the man’s core.

But they deserved it, didn’t they? She was willing to kill them. She was willing to let their deaths be experience which nourished her level and her skills. Why not feast on their living souls?

No. No. No.

Cass’s hand clenched around her dagger. This was different. She wasn’t a demon. She didn’t want to hurt anything like that.

Soul Guard has increased to level 10. 

And she couldn’t let this monster do so either.

She threw a Tempest Blade at the demon, a blade of invisible wind racing across the cathedral. It sliced across the demon’s tattered wrist. Blood spurted from the wound, a paper cut amid the grotesque wounds it had already accumulated. The demon did not release his prey.

The dragon rammed into the demon and paladin, body checking the pair across the room. Paladin and demon bounced over the floor, the paladin sprawling amid the others, the demon slamming into the central altar.

The dragon roared and charged after it, the purple Fairy Fire the only thing in the dragon’s eyes.

On the ground, the demon clawed itself into a sitting position, its back to the altar, the fallen priestess’s corpse beside it. It held a hand over her chest, its long fingers twisting in arcane gestures.

Blood rose from her torn viscera. It pooled in the air, growing and glowing with crimson promise.

Call of Blood

[A skill for accumulating the fallen life force of foes for use in further skills.]

Oh, that couldn’t be good.

Cass leapt forward, a Tempest Blade whirling to her dagger’s edge, sparking with electricity. She threw it, sending it flying for the creature’s neck.

Its dominate hand was busy. Its offhand was broken. It should have been helpless.

Instead, that crimson phantom hand appeared from its chest, a summoned Fortitude’s Protection springing to life between lightning blade and writhing flesh.

Salos jumped from her shoulder, darting for the blood ball even as she threw another pair of blades at different angles.

The blood ball grew. The priestess’s corpse dried up before their eyes.

The demon’s index finger beckoned the ball to it, and the ball flew.

Salos swiped at it as it flew past, his claws trailing through the blood’s surface. It oozed the last stretch, leaking a trail of crimson but not stopping. Not breaking.

Its hand grabbed the ball from the air as the phantom hand blocked each of Cass’s Tempest Blades.

It brought the blood to its lips and swallowed the thing.

Cass’s stomach turned.

Mana pulsed through the creature’s body.

Unknown Blood Technique

[Purpose: Recovery]

Before her eyes, the demon twitched. Already writhing flesh knit back together before her eyes, the newly joined skin now vibrating like bees had been released beneath. Its broken arm twisted around, the bone resetting itself with a sickening snap into place. Its body jerked up, its crushed leg inflating like sausage pressed into a new casing to support its weight.

The dragon lunged, jaws wide.

The lightning blade appeared in the demon’s hand. With a twist of its now whole wrist, it slashed across the dragon’s snout.

The dragon grunted, its head turning from the pain as the demon stepped out of the way.

The demon was uninjured. Like neither the captain nor the dragon had ever touched it.

Abyss and blood. Salos slunk back to her side. It has blood skills, too? A demon with blood skills. He shook his head. This is going to be messy. 

Is it going to be able to recover like that again? Cass asked. Surely a skill as powerful as that had to have a long cooldown or significant costs of other resources, right?

Depends, Salos muttered.

Depends? 

He shot her a frustrated glare. On whether the limit is Health or time. If we are lucky, it has a long cooldown. Skills like that usually have multi-day cooldowns if that is their limiting factor.

And if it’s not time? Cass asked.

Then you should assume it will do that every time the spilt blood is greater than the injuries it has sustained. Salos glared at the demon, unbridled hatred radiating off him. Because every time it devours a soul, it tops off its internal Health. Skills like that combine stolen blood and the user’s Health to instantly heal wounds.

So, in order to kill it—

And we need to kill it, Salos interjected.

I would need to do so without letting it kill anything else it can draw blood or steal souls from? Cass finished like he hadn’t interrupted her.

Salos nodded. Or kill it so fast it does not have time to draw off blood for its recovery skill. Probably best not to let it eat more souls either way. Every one it gets will be another spike in power.

Cass ran a hand through her hair.

The demon was unhurt. The dragon chased it, claws swinging and maw snapping. Paladins flittered around the two, swords swinging after the demon, their shields blocking lightning.

The demon wove through the onslaught, lightning blade lashing out at everyone and everything, cutting through steel and scale with abandon, snatching souls from bodies and cramming the shards down its throat. The dragon’s attacks caught more paladins than the demon in its sweeping claws.

Across the room, the captain shoved himself to his feet. He raised his sword, his aura glowing around him in vibrant green. “Order of the Copper Crescent! To me!”

His voice echoed through the building in an undeniable rallying cry. A surging wave of mana accompanied it, grabbing at the priests and paladins cowering in the corners of the room. Like a shot of adrenaline, they stood straighter. They hurried to their captain’s side, forming ranks of shields and swords.

Behind him, more paladins ran into the room, summoned at their captain’s call. They reinforced the growing line between the captain and the rest of the room.

The captain stood tall behind them, looking every bit unaffected by the still bleeding gash in his side. If not for the pulsing, jagged soul in his chest, Cass might have thought he too was as invincible as the demon.

“Kill every last one of them! The demons, the Veldor brats. All of them. Send their broken souls to be judged by our Lady!” The captain leveled his sword at the demon and dragon, sweeping it across the room.

Either end of his line of paladins surged forward. Half ran at the demon and dragon, formalizing the attack around the two into an encirclement, locking them in a tightening space together.

The other half charged across the room. Toward Ahryn.