Steven smacked away his third ball of paint with a scowl.

They weren’t even hard to catch; a Hand Shield angled to the side smacked it out of the air before it could get close.

But he wasn’t used to fighting someone with so much crowd control.

The paint guy gilded ahead of him, throwing out sprays of green paint in between the occasional solid glob.

He’d seen Doris get stopped cold from that paint getting on her shoes.

And so far, the blue paint was slick as ice.

He wasn’t sure what the red paint did yet, and he wasn’t eager to find out.

Lilly ran to his left, bobbing and weaving between blasts of paint Steven couldn’t catch.

“You two are pretty good!“ The man said, his voice was warm and friendly. “I haven’t fought very many people with as much experience as you two have.“

He pivoted, one hand spraying a line of blue paint in a sharp arc around a pillar.

With his other hand, he quickly tapped at a section of green paint on his shirt and slapped his hand against the pillar.

His hand stuck like he glued it there, and he pivoted around the pillar, his feet following the trail of blue.

At the end of his pivot, his hand flexed, and the green paint evaporated.

Not only was he hurling attacks so quickly Steven could barely manage to throw any of his own, the trail of blue paint forced them to be careful as they chased if they didn’t wanna kiss tile.

“I’m Miguel, by the way!“

Lilly snarled and sped up. “Why.“ She ripped a nearby mannequin from its stand and hurled it in front of her, intercepting a spray of green paint.

“Are you!“ She vaulted the paint-smeared mannequin as it stuck to the tiles. “Talking!“

She ducked a paint spray before snatching a nearby shirt and hurling it at the man’s face.

It missed, but it covered his vision for a beat, and she charged behind it. “In the middle of a fight!“ She finished with a yell.

Miguel laughed. “Because I like to talk! And I like to know people's names, especially if they’re worth being remembered!“ Miguel slowed his barrage of attacks, not by much, but enough.

Between slapping globs of paint away, Steven called a shield behind the man’s head and used Compass Push.

It slammed into the back of his head, and he staggered.

This guy had passed through his Second Threshold unless he somehow threw out three different types of paint with one Skill.

So while he cursed and stumbled slightly, he kept his footing through the headshot.

Lilly closed on Miguel, her legs pumping and her fur coat billowing behind her.

Steven got ready to aim another shield when the floor before him began to glow.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

He slid to a stop, but he was too slow.

A hand shot through the small portal and slapped the ground beside Steven‘s feet. There was a pulse of lavender light, and then the floor he was standing on turned into a portal.

He dropped.

He landed on his back in a small, narrow hallway he didn’t recognize. This must’ve been in the office section of the building.

A portal opened next to his ear, and fist raced out. He called a shield, blocking it cold.

There was a curse, and the walls around him began to glow lavender.

Steven scrambled forward, calling and pushing with a shield behind his back to hurl him to his feet faster.

With his new Trait, the impact of the shield barely stung.

The walls glowed, but nothing came through.

“I figured we’d take a little break, you and I.“ It was a woman’s voice, confident and amused.

“I’ll admit, I think I underestimated you guys. I saw your shields and didn’t think much of them. But you were doing a lot with those little things. They’re surprisingly effective at controlling the pace of a fight.“

She chuckled.

“Which is why I’d rather have you in here. Don’t worry, though. We can still have fun.“

Steven scanned his surroundings and noticed a section of small portals to his left. Each showed a different part of the mall, including the Old Navy.

“Pretty cool, huh? I can sit back and enjoy. Really take my time to devour the scene, you know?“

Steven’s gaze flipped to the next set of portals, and his stomach clenched. Margie, Del, and Lilly‘s friend fought with a short man Steven didn’t recognize. The guy was moving like a nightmare, rushing between them at something approaching highway speeds.

“I had to let Ralph have some fun or risk him crashing the whole party. He’s a demanding piece, but damn if he can’t make some moves.“

The way the woman spoke got under Steven’s skin.

He was already furious. He had been the moment he saw the bodies.

And now every word this woman said raked the coals of his anger. She was like Reina, back on that first night, treating this all like a simple game.

But with her, Steven felt like she’d snapped. Like she really believed all of this was fake. This woman…

Steven ground his teeth as he tried to think of a way to get back to the others or at least help their situation. As he did, he spoke.

Every second she spent talking to him was a second her focus was divided.

“What’s your name? Corrie, right.”

“Yup.”

“Do you think this is all a game? The System, the Scenarios and Classes. Do you think none of it matters? “

She scoffed, her voice echoing from every angle.

“Of course this isn’t a game. Are you stupid? No, this is real.”

“Then how are you okay with killing people?” He snapped, his voice coming out harsh and rough. If this was real to her, that just made everything worse.

She paused. “What are you, nine? And why do you care? We kill your cousin or something?”

Steven’s hands balled into fists.

“I care because I’m not a fucking psycho! I shouldn’t need a more personal reason than that!”

His hands shook harder, and the anger built and built. Her casual attitude tore at him.

‘Let’s me really devour the scene.’

“You just killed half a dozen people, and you’re acting like I’m the weird one for caring!”

She snorted and stepped through a portal at the far end of the hall.

“Well, aren’t you getting worked up.” She grinned. “Let’s get rolling, yeah?”

Steven tried to glare a hole in her head. The callous disregard for the dead, her smug attitude. Even if she weren’t attacking his friends, Steven would want to stop her out of pure spite.

Lavender flashed, Steven’s Class pulsed, and he threw himself into the fight.