I placed a hand on the ground and pushed. As I sat up I got a better view of what was going on.

A large pile of shamblers were stacked in one spot.

What the hell? I asked.

Raccoon sprinted across the street to me. Molly and someone new are holding Raziel down.

The stack of undead was pushed back, and then the ones on the bottom scurried forward.

A scream emanated from amongst the shambler's midsts. “Let me go!”

I rubbed my throat and glanced at Raccoon. What happened?

He moved closer to me so I lowered my arm. As I predicted he used it to leap onto my shoulder.

The shambler grabbed your leg and flung you from harm, Raccoon said.

I shuttered. Saved by a meta shambler.

We made our way to the shamblers and circled them until I could see what type of mess we were in.

Molly was in the air with her hands jutting forward and teeth clenched. The weirdest-looking shambler I'd ever seen was holding one side of Raziel’s body down. The other half of Raziel’s body was covered by a dozen or so hands being controlled by Molly.

What surprised me was that my skill was no longer activated yet Molly still retained control of the dead.

Next to the odd shambler lay a large brimmed hat. His arms were completely covered in wraps making him look partially mummified. He had a tattered black vest on. Under it, the wraps continued.

Below that he had on a pair of ragged black dress pants and partially destroyed boots. His face was the most disturbing part about him. His whole lower jaw was missing.

“Are you going to help or just stand there?” he asked. His voice was ethereal like Molly's.

The shamblers were blocking Raziel’s head so he couldn't see me.

I extended a hand and Koffer’s amulet appeared in it. After putting it on I unleashed Undead Domination.

Once the blast of frigid air extended past everyone I stopped it. I felt all of us struggling to hold the enraged Raziel down. He was strong. As powerful as Koffer himself.

Raziel lifted the bundled shamblers on him making a hole where he could see me. He yelled again, “Bitch! Get off of me.”

It was all Molly's doing truthfully. While I was connected to everyone around us she was in control of them.

Let me hold him Molly, I said in group.

You sure? she asked.

Our eyes met and I nodded at her.

I wasn't sure if I was able to take them from her or not. It was something we would have to test in the future.

Suddenly I could feel my hands on Raziel. Where he was able to jar the shamblers around before, now he couldn't move.

The shamblers had changed somehow. Their clothing became much thicker and I could swear they seemed bulkier.

I focused on the new shambler and realized I wasn't in control of him. “Lift him?”

“You sure you want to do that?” he asked.

When I nodded he took a second to grab his hat and put it back on his head before grabbing Raziel again.

His features changed immediately. Like ice melting in fast forward the transformation flowed down the shambler's body.

The ratty-looking black hair on his head smoothed out and his skin seemed to repair itself as whatever enchantment in the hat worked its magic.

As it continued its journey down his body the wraps formed a dress shirt.

When the alterations were completed he looked like the fantasy equivalent of a cowboy.

We lifted together, pulling Raziel to his feet. Before he could react I pushed my skill out to its limits connecting with every Hexed I could find.

Did you hear what Koffer said? I pondered.

I still couldn't get feedback from the connection. It was very frustrating. I needed to know how they were feeling.

Any ETA on that Raccoon? I asked in group chat.

He didn't reply so I continued.

Lily made a Decree. We are all to leave town. Tomorrow they enact Marshall Law and will enforce our exit.

That means the gray market is under threat. I don't know if Marshall Law will allow us to attack them or not. I'm not well-versed in Town creation dynamics. I do know their resurrection site is much closer than ours and it's only a matter of time before they clear us from the area, I shared.

“Bullshit,” Raziel growled.

I closed my eyes and relayed the memory of Koffer reading the parchment to everyone.

After I finished we all moved away from Raziel releasing him.

Molly stayed in place.

The Enlightened are the real enemy here, I thought.

With his other hand free Raziel grabbed the shambler still holding his arm and tossed him across the street as if he were a toy.

Raziel marched toward me.

Molly flew in his path, her hands extended outward. “Please stop.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

He passed through her.

I can't stop him, Inethiel, Molly warned in group.

He paused for a moment and grabbed his head. “I can still feel you in my mind. Get out!”

I glanced at Molly. “That's not how it works. Submit and become my Lieutenant. Only then will it will go away.”

A painful ding sounded in my head as a duel notification popped up.

The first thing I did was check on Raccoon.

His little mouth dropped. I didn't feel that!

While he didn't experience the effects, it seemed that everyone else connected to me did. They were all grasping their heads

Fix it for them too, if you can, I said in group.

He nodded. On it.

Without checking the terms I accepted Raziel’s challenge.

His eyes brightened.

Was he expecting me to reject it?

There were three different types of duels.

First Blood, which meant the first to strike their opponent wins.

The second type was labeled, Defeat. That version would force the loser to kneel before the winner leaving them with minimum health left over.

To Death, was the last one. Not much is needed to explain that one.

“Just you and me,” he said as he retrieved his fallen sword.

I shook my head. “That's not how my class works.”

He dashed forward, much faster than I anticipated.

Hope this works.

With a thought, everything seemed to slow down. The shamblers surrounding us began their advance but Raziel was much faster.

I, on the other hand, seemed to be moving at a normal speed and dashed out of the way as his sword came down on my old position.

Before he knew where I was I used my ability again and ran into the middle of the advancing shamblers.

As Raziel turned he swung his sword in an arc hitting several shamblers. The ones he hit were cleaved in two and fell motionless to the ground.

No wonder he was surprised I accepted. It was to the death.

Loot wasn't dropped in any of the duels unless it was agreed upon before the fight. There wasn't an additional warning after I accepted and that meant drops weren't activated.

I didn't give him a chance to make another swing and the shamblers swarmed him. The first thing I did was repeatedly slam our feet into his legs in an attempt to dislodge his armor.

While he couldn't move I noticed that only the shamblers Molly had control of were allowed in the fight. Others tried to join us but weren't able to.

There was probably a rule set up where minion masters could only bring a certain amount of minions with them.

Ms. Azerail, my Zix sword projected.

Only then did I realize Raccoon was still on my shoulder holding on for dear life.

Did you hear that Raccoon? I asked in group.

He leapt off my shoulder tumbling to the ground. Hear what?

With a sudden burst of power, several of the shamblers holding Raziel in place were flung through the air.

He had to have specialized in strength. A duel would clear all of your cooldowns and heal you to full so each opponent was in peak condition.

As for his strength specialization, he could get an extra burst of strength every so often.

The only exposed part of his body was his head. I equipped my claws and slipped into my horde. As I entered I swapped to us mode.

There were thirty-three of us left out of the forty that we'd started with. A few were recovering from being tossed on the outskirts and would return to us soon.

The Wight that was me slid behind the hulking skeleton and swiped at his skull. Little rivulets of bone peeled from his head.

Suddenly Raziel’s head spun around leaving his body facing forward. His eyes turned purple. After several swipes by the Wight and some fierce tugs in an attempt to remove his armor, he roared.

Half a dozen of us fled.

A wall of people and undead surrounded us making an arena.

I tightened my skill’s radius to encompass just the area we were in and the scared shamblers along with the tossed ones returned.

In an unexpected move, Raziel charged forward using his next burst of strength. He trampled through us. Most were knocked back but another three didn’t have the health pools to withstand the attack and were crushed by his enormous size.

We were having a problem doing damage to him. While my claws and our tugging might eventually take him out I lacked abilities to do any real harm.

The living were easy to hurt. Flesh effortlessly rended but whatever the hell made up Raziel was strong.

I had a plan but it meant we had to get close to him again.

Raziel reached the edge of the arena and turned. Then his head righted itself so his body and skull were facing us.

We spread out in a grid like we had done to the couple a few days ago.

He laughed at us. “Are you ready to die, Zombie?”

“Shambler,” we hissed.

Raziel extended a hand and curled his fingers in a taunt.

Despite my control, four of us walked forward. In a single swing, their feet were severed and they fell to the ground.

One of us was still alive and dragged themselves to his feet and grabbed one of his greaves.

Raziel raised a foot and smashed the shambler's skull in a single stomp. Blood splattered everywhere.

We used that distraction to charge him. He seemed to learn his lesson from last time and raised his sword above our heads so we couldn't get a hold of his arm.

Since we were still spread out he could only face one of us at a time. After a few more of us died I decided I couldn't wait for better positioning and we collapsed in on him.

He was faster than us and easily found good footing.

In an attempt to disrupt his balance, we repeatedly slammed our feet into the back of his knee.

This had to end soon or—

Raziel’s sword came down on me and my vision blurred and then winked out of existence.

Suddenly my body shook and I realized that it was one of the shamblers who had been killed and not me.

Did that work? Raccoon asked.

A wave of emotions hit me. Anger, some of it at me and some at Raziel. Determination, they wanted to kill the massive skeleton trapped in their midsts.

It worked! I said in group.

The shamblers around me were uneasy and scared. They'd seen their fellow Hexed die in front of their eyes. I'm sorry you're being used in this battle. I can feel your emotions now and I promise to make it up to all of you.

My mind wasn't ready for the barrage of thoughts that hit me.

Again my head was severed and my vision faded.

I blinked, bringing my consciousness back into my body. Raziel was cutting his way toward me.

Break his legs! I commanded.

We were down to twenty or so of us and no matter how much we tried his knees wouldn't break. His armor was just too thick.

Then I had an idea.

Raziel swiped with his sword again and two disorienting deaths hit me.

He then took a step and we ducked in front of him. We pushed him forward using his momentum against him.

His mouth opened as he screamed and fell. The massive sword came down in a blinding arc and hit me in the shoulder. It wasn't a shambler he'd hit, it was the Wight that was me.

I didn't anticipate his reach.

The glowing purple sword didn't slice all the way through me, it had stopped at my midsection. Normally there is a small amount of blood in a shambler's body and it's usually only in its brain. I, however, had much more flowing through my body. It oozed out of almost every crevice of exposed innards.

While there was pain it was all at once. It was like my body didn't know how to react to it all.

“Asshole,” I managed to say.

Focused on the survival of the rest of us, we grabbed Raziel's exposed head and pulled. Surprisingly, it easily separated from his shoulders.

We stomped on the giant skull and cracks began to form.

In a feat of strength, Raziel pushed and his sword cleaved me in two. The splatter on the ground was immense.

I could only watch as half of my body fell flailing and helpless.

The shamblers around me continued stomping until nothing but tiny pieces of his head were on the ground. They then stared at me with their mouths agape.

They faded from view and all I could think was, Good job.

***