"So close." Thomas sighed, shaking his head as the portal closed behind them, taking a seat on a couch. Quinn was already there, looking understandably stunned by the fact that she'd just lost pretty much everything she held dear. "Though, I will say, I think the cops being walking lie detectors is kinda cheating."

"Eh? Even without that, there were definitely enough signs that we were weird around. It was just a matter of which one they caught first." Greg shrugged. "And since World fuckery is in play, they were going to catch something."

"Well then the World is cheating." Thomas grumbled. "What's the point in playing a game you can't win? Freaking bullshit."

"This isn't a game!" Andrew snapped back. "We're fugitives now! How the fuck are we supposed to deal with the Ruin while we're being hunted down by the fucking government for causing the Ruin!?!"

"Through tough thorough thought?" Greg offered with a grin, earning himself a glare from Andrew, which only caused his grin to grow wider. "But seriously, it's just another obstacle to overcome. This was never going to be easy, it's just a matter of how hard it's going to get."

Andrew glared at him for a moment, before snorting and shaking his head. "So what now? We go on the run?"

Greg nodded. "Looks like it. We need to find a place to hunker down and level, since we can't really do it in Chris's world. He only has so much energy for us to use, after all, and we should probably leave it for him."

"Don't steal my shit." Chris nodded in agreement.

"Right." Greg nodded. "However, the World probably won't let us just sit somewhere and grow… so we need something to actually do while we grow."

"Well, for starters, we need a way to actually destroy the dungeon, so we should be looking for some sort of space magic or something." Thomas muttered thoughtfully.

"Then we need a way to destroy the Ruin itself." Chris added.

"So space breakers and weapons of mass destruction, got it." Greg nodded, before pausing. "I honestly have no idea where to even start on those… Andrew?"

Andrew shrugged helplessly. "Level up? That seems to be the answer to most things around here."

"But we're already going to be doing that, aren't we?" Thomas pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it's a matter of speed, so it isn't like we can simply take our time…" Greg muttered. "So what we need to do is find somewhere we can grow fast, that can also teach us about space and mass destruction…"

"You could join Nobilis Academy." Quinn offered numbly. "It offers the best facilities for training your skills and rapidly increasing your level. But that probably isn't an option anymore and it's only for the elite anyway."

"That might have been something to shoot for before we made the Ruin." Greg commented. "Gone for a good old academy arc."

"Then you could find a space-aspected danger zone." Quinn sighed. "It's dangerous, but as long as you don't die, your space related skills will experience rapid growth."

"That could work." Greg nodded. "Dangerous, but rewarding, plenty of opportunities for 'events'... yeah, okay, I'm down." He paused. "How do we find one?"

"The Northern Wastes are known for spatial phenomena. You should be able to find a few danger zones there." Quinn replied. "Additionally, no one controls that area, so you won't have to worry about pursuit by the government. Just outlaws, overgrown beasts, and raiding parties from the monstrous races looking for errant nobles to prey on."

"Even better." Greg chuckled.

"I suppose I'll start heading there then." Chris shrugged. "The question is whether it's easier to escape the city or the Ruin…"

"Seeing as the Ruin is the same trap filled clusterfuck we just spent hours crawling through and several insanely powerful people are taking turns destroying it, I'd say city." Greg commented.

"Fair enough." Chris nodded, moving to open a portal, before pausing. On second thought, he should use another self for this. He had a feeling he was going to die a lot in the process.

*

"Stop!"

"Cut him off!"

"Someone block his teleportation for fucks sake!"

"We're trying! It's just not working!"

"It's the arrows! You need to deal with the arrows!"

"We know!"

"I have no idea where I am." Chris muttered to himself, looking around, flickering in and out of the Immortal World as ice spikes, wind blades, fire balls, and many other types of projectiles shot at him from the pursuing police officers. "This city is too damn big." He shook his head, raising his bow. There was a reason everyone used the portal system to get around.

He shot several arrows in a few different directions, both to throw the officers off and to give him options when he inevitably had to find a different path. The officers had already cornered him a few times, preventing him from shooting any arrows outside their net, forcing him to backtrack. Only his perfect memory kept him from being completely lost as he made his way towards the edge of the city.

Chris grunted as he appeared by his next arrow, a dagger stabbing into his chest. "Just. Die. Already!" The officer panted, glaring at him as she practically collapsed on him, exhausted by the chase and emptied of Energy due to teleporting after this bastard.

Chris raised an eyebrow at her, before disappearing and reappearing behind her. "No thank you." He replied as she collapsed to the ground, raising his bow again. "You should get some rest."

"Monster!" She spat out with a groan before he disappeared again. She struggled to her feet, preparing to chase after him again, but exhaustion and Energy drain finally caught up with her as everything went black.

"She was cute." Thomas commented. Greg had complained about being bored (who would have guessed) so Chris had thrown up a screen displaying the chase from his point of view for them to watch.

"Do you want me to grab her?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"We are not kidnapping police officers!" Andrew protested.

"I wouldn't call it kidnapping… more like a prisoner of war?" Chris replied. "She has stabbed me over a dozen times by now. Plus, maybe a hostage would convince these people to leave me alone."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"They think we're terrorists! They're not going to stop for a single hostage!" Andrew retorted.

"Well, if nothing else, we could at least explain our position, you know? Tell her we aren't so bad, so she can tell the others?" Thomas offered.

Greg shook his head. "Buddy, you really need to stop thinking with your dick."

"I'm not!" Thomas protested. "We haven't told anyone what really happened yet! What if all we need to do is explain and all this will resolve itself?"

"Yet you only thought of it after you saw the cute police girl." Greg pointed out. "How about we just catch one of those guys?" He pointed at one of the random male police officers Chris was currently dodging as he attempted to get an arrow through the once again tightening net.

"They-" Thomas began, hesitating before letting out a sigh. "Fine, I'm thinking with my dick. Just a little though! It's still a good idea!"

"If I connect her to my world, it would give me more advancement options." Chris added thoughtfully.

"Guys! No. Kidnapping! Policewomen!" Andrew exclaimed.

"It's not-" Chris began.

"No taking them prisoner either!" Andrew snapped. "Just focus on escaping the damn city!"

Chris shrugged. "If you insist." He didn't particularly care either way.

"Plus, what would you even say? Andrew can create dungeons and it just got out of hand? That would get us in even more trouble!" Quinn pointed out. "They'd lock him up and experiment on him!"

"Pretty sure they'd experiment on all of us." Andrew grumbled. "Who wouldn't want to study the freaks from another World?"

"At least they'd try." Greg commented. "As you can see, locking us up isn't exactly easy." He gestured to the screen, where Chris once again escaped the police's attempts to capture him. It was getting easier and easier as they began to run out of Energy, and while reinforcements were constantly steaming in, there were only so many resources they could dedicate to capturing one man while a Ruin grew outside their gates.

They continued to watch until Quinn had a thought. "If all the police are focused on Chris… Do you think we could sneak back to the apartment so I could grab some things?"

Chris paused. "Hold on." He briefly opened a small portal in front of his eye, peeking into the apartment, before quickly closing it and shaking his head. "There's still people there. They seem to be investigating."

Quinn jumped up. "Are they going through my room?!?"

Chris gave her a weird look. "I couldn't see, but almost definitely. They're tearing the whole apartment apart."

Quinn's expression twisted as she went pale, collapsing back into her seat. "The police are going through my sex toys!" She groaned in mortification.

"Quinn, they think you're a terrorist." Chris shook his head. "I'm pretty sure the last thing they're going to be doing is kink shaming you."

Thomas suddenly perked up. "Kinks?"

"It's none of your business!" Quinn snapped at him, flushing deeply.

"What'd you want to get anyway?" Andrew asked with a frown.

"Clothes, my computer, personal effects." Quinn sighed. "It's just- everything I own is in that apartment! I don't want to just abandon it."

"Well… unless it's magic, I can grab most of it for you." Greg offered. "Go in as smoke and just dissolve everything out from under them. Which, of course, would make us look even more suspicious, but I'm pretty sure we're already screwed in that department anyway."

Quinn whipped around to look at Greg with a hopeful gaze. "Are- are you sure?"

Greg shrugged. "Unless they figure out they need to trap me in an energy barrier in the few minutes it'll take me, there's not much they can do to stop me. Even then, I can just send more smoke."

"Then- if- if you could." Quinn nodded, and Chris opened a small portal for Greg to send some smoke through. A few seconds later the apartment erupted into panicked shouts as a strange smoke appeared to be melting everything in sight, the investigators running out of the room, throwing up skills to protect themselves. It didn't take long for Greg to get everything in the apartment, leaving it completely bare, before escaping back through Chris's portal.

"I think I got everything…" Greg coughed awkwardly. "That, uh, fourth drawer down-"

"Don't! Talk about it!" Quinn interjected, flushing furiously.

Chris rolled his eyes. "It isn't that embarrassing."

"Just… unexpected." Greg agreed. "Honestly, I've done weirder shit with Tessa, and that doesn't even come close to the stuff I've done to myself. I just never would have thought you-"

"Stop! Just- stop!" Quinn pleaded, her face burning as she buried her face in her hands. This was why she never let anyone go in her room!

"Oh, look, something is happening." Thomas gestured to the screen, desperate to change the subject. He didn't want to pry into Quinn's business but the secrecy was killing him! There was nothing worse than people hinting at a secret you didn't know.

They all turned to look as a man flew down and landed in front of Chris, sending up a cloud of dust, staring him down with a severe expression. "So you're the one terrorizing my city in the middle of a national crisis." The man growled.

"Actually, it's more like your city is the one terrorizing me." Chris replied. "I'm just trying to leave."

"Sir, he's with the terrorists that created the Ruin!" One of the officers exclaimed.

"We aren't terrorists." Chris retorted. "Though yeah, the Ruin is our fault. Not on purpose though. My friend can create dungeons and shit happens, you know?"

"Chris, you are the worst." Andrew groaned, covering his face with his hands.

"You caused this disaster, even if by accident, and you dare attempt to flee?!?" The man asked incredulously.

"Well, we were planning on staying to help, but then you tried to arrest us, and we're really not about that." Chris shrugged.

"You should be arrested! You created a Ruin!" The man retorted.

"Eh? Maybe? But still, I'd rather not." Chris replied.

"That isn't how the law works! You don't get to just ignore it!" The man declared.

"You aren't wrong, but there's the issue of enforcement to consider." Chris countered. "A law that can't be enforced isn't a law at all, and any law that seeks my imprisonment is futile, because there's no prison that could hold me. Therefore, your law isn't a law at all for me."

The man sneered. "What if I seek your death?"

Chris chuckled. "Yeah, that's not going to work out for you either. Your men here have already killed me about half a dozen times. Doesn't exactly slow me down."

The man blinked, glancing at the officers, who nodded hesitantly. They'd seen Chris get stabbed, decapitated, and even turned to ash by one particularly frustrated fire mage, only to reappear moments later, none the worse for wear. "You- no matter! I refuse to believe there is no way to contain or eliminate you!" The man exclaimed.

Chris shrugged. "Suit yourself." Then he disappeared.

"You think you can run from me!?!" The man roared, reaching out and forcing Chris's portal point to expand, freezing as it revealed the five of them sitting in Chris's world.

"Now how did you do that?" Chris wondered, cocking his head. According to his senses, the portal point was still the same size, but the man had somehow expanded space so that the portal was larger.

The man sneered, stepping through the portal. "You think your little tricks can escape me?!?"

"Oh, I wouldn't have done that…" Greg muttered.

"Just asking for trouble." Thomas shook his head.

"Dude, this is my world." Chris leaned forward in his chair. "You don't want to be in here. Not as an enemy."

The man hesitated at the sheer gravity and certainty in Chris's tone, before his expression hardened and he took another step forward. "You are all under arrest." He growled.

Chris sighed, sitting back in his chair. "Pity." He waved his hand and the man disappeared as Chris sent him into some distant corner of his world. He hoped no one would miss the man. He seemed rather important.