When the pain subsided, it left Melmarc breathing heavily.

“What was that?”

The panic in Delano’s voice was raw. Melmarc needed to catch his breath before he answered his friend.

Fortunately for him, Ark did the answering for him.

“He just got a contaminated skill.”

There was a pause as everyone waited for Melmarc to catch his breath.

“Isn’t that right?” Ark asked.

Melmarc nodded. He hadn’t seen it yet, but he just knew that was the case. Trust life to keep throwing me curve balls.

Somewhere in his pain, the notification had disappeared. He pulled it back up and braced himself for the outcome.

[Anomaly detected]

[Due to detected and resolved anomaly, re-calculations have been made]

[Melmarc Jay Lockwood, a selection of supporting skills has been listed out for you. Would you like to view them?]

[Yes/No].

Melmarc thought he could feel his hands trembling.

“Ye—”

“Wait.”

Everyone stopped and turned to Delano.

“What?” Erom’s asked.

“You guys didn’t hear that?”

Everyone waited in the silence, even those on the other end of the phone. A short while past, probably thirty seconds, and nothing happened.

“Hear what?” Ark asked.

“You know when you live upstairs and person downstairs keeps trying to get your attention by hitting their ceiling?” Delano asked. “That small but annoying thud you keep getting? That.”

They gave it a little more time and nothing happened.

“I don’t hear anything.” Eroms looked at the door. “Do you think someone was knocking?”

Delano shook his head. “It came from below us.”

Melmarc thought about it. “Maybe they’re working on something downstairs.”

“And we only get the one sound? I doubt it.”

Delano frowned as his mind went through the motions. If there was a possibility that a secret was being kept, he was always more curious than the next person.

Surprisingly, he let it go.

“Never mind, let’s finish up with what we’re doing. I’m really curious about this contaminated skill. Even though I know we won’t choose it.”

Melmarc pulled it up again even as his sister asked, “Why won’t we choose it?”

“Because it probably belongs to the guy that broke into the house when we were small,” Ark answered.

“I don’t get it. Why will his body be offering him skills that belong to a guy from… Oh… I get it. It has something to do with the scar, right?”

Ark nodded.

“I guess that’s a no go then.”

Melmarc couldn’t help but appreciate how easily his sister had swept the skill away. She didn’t even try to consider the healthy possibility of giving it a chance.

He wasn’t sure if a therapist would support it, but he loved her all the more for it.

A shame I won’t tell her.

He was a brother, his job was to show love to his sister by annoying her and walking into her room and using her things and making a mess while she was inside.

Ark did that more than he did, but he sometimes found the time to indulge in it. It was a sibling custom, after all.

He looked at his notification, read it to himself again, and answered.

“Yes.”

Please choose a skill you feel will best support your use of Knowledge Is Power.

[Puppeteer]

You have complete mastery over self for eight minutes upon conclusion of skill Knowledge Is Power.

[Secrecy]

The Gifted secures an area of their choice in a bubble of mana that traps sounds from escaping and obscures outside sight.

[Chaos Counter]

You counter all skill effects and status debuffs applied on you within three minutes of skill Knowledge Is Power conclusion with a seven seconds delay.

[Bless Your Kindness]

Conclusion of skill Knowledge Is Power grants +0.5 increase to all stats for eight minutes and a potential status buff based on number of life forms detected.

[Would you like to select a skill now?]

[Yes/No].

The new skill read like a main skill.

It didn’t even have the decency of trying to conform to something that suited Knowledge Is Power. He hadn’t been going to choose it before, but now he definitely wasn’t going to choose it.

“Do we want to know what it says?” Ark asked.

Ninra looked at him like he’d just asked a stupid question. “Why wouldn’t we want to?”

Ark sighed. “Because we might listen to the skill and realize that it’s actually an amazing skill that’s better than all the other options. Then we’ll be forced to share in the pained grief of having to give up a really good skill just because we don’t like who it came from.”

Everyone paused.

“That was…” Dorthna cleared his throat awkwardly. “That was surprisingly very insightful.”

Ark shrugged. “I’m an insightful person.”

Ninra rolled her eyes. “Well you definitely could’ve fooled me.”

“Truthfully, it’s not that bad,” Melmarc said.

Then he read it out loud.

Delano was the first to comment.

“Lame. What are you even going to use that kind of skill for? Crowd control?”

“If you’re fighting another Gifted in public it can prevent panic,” Eroms said.

“Maybe.” Delano couldn’t care much for it. “Since we’ve still got the other skill, I say we select it and see what that baby does.”

Melmarc agreed.

[Would you like to choose Bless Your Kindness? You will not be able to renege on this decision.]

[Yes/No].

“Yes.”

[You have selected skill Bless Your Kindness. This has been permanently added to your skill list.]

Melmarc sat there, waiting.

Nothing happened.

The notification remained in place, staring at him like they owed each other something.

What happened now? Did he have to give a command of some kind? Was he supposed to do something complicated like call up his status?

“Let me guess,” Dorthna said. “It’s taking a while.”

“It’s just there.” Melmarc swiped at it but nothing happened. “It’s not even giving me a loading screen or anything?”

Had his interface crashed? Did they even crash? It wasn’t like it was some kind of AI programming.

“I don’t think you get a loading screen,” Delano pointed out. “It’s not like it’s a video game or anything. Maybe it’s just taking a long time deciding on what your class is going to be.”

Eroms got up from the bed and made his way to the cabinet. “You had the interruption because of the contaminated skill. Maybe that’s why it’s taking time.”

He pulled out a bag of chips, opened it, then started eating.

“Dude,” Delano groaned. “You just ate.”

“And I’m hungry again.”

Eroms ate the chips four at a time. Melmarc would’ve probably said something if he wasn’t so concerned about his frozen notification.

“What are the chances it’s taking so long because he’s going to get a powerful Class?” Ark said. “Or maybe a powerful rank.”

Delano thought about it, then shook his head. “There’s no noticed relationship between time and class or rank strength.”

He paused, thinking about it some more. “Although there’s a rumor going through the community that unranked Classes don’t get to choose their classes whenever they like. Some people say the skills even have an active timer.”

Ark and Melmarc exchanged a look, but it was Ninra that spoke.

“And what community is that?”

“It’s… it’s just some stupid group.” Delano scratched the back of his neck and looked away. “It’s really not important.”

And he claims to be a proud member, Melmarc thought absently.

He would’ve probably taken the chance to make fun of his friend if he wasn’t growing so worried.

[Classification is taking longer than estimated. Kindly exercise patience.]

Melmarc read it out before he could stop himself, and Delano tumbled off the bed laughing.

“Marc broke himself,” he laughed, holding onto his stomach on the ground.

On the other end of the video call Dorthna rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “That’s odd. I’ve never heard of something like this.”

“Must be a really powerful Class.” Ninra was beginning to sound excited. “The first SS-rank in the family. I’m going to use you to brag so hard when I get back to school.”

“I don’t remember being born for bragging rights.”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re my little brother and I’m free to use your name however I please.”

That insinuated so many things that Melmarc wasn’t ready to touch.

[Anomaly Detected].

Melmarc started at the sudden appearance.

[Alien mana detected].

[World Debuff has been applied].

[You are under a World Debuff: Intruder].

Intruder

An Intruder is a sentient life form existing in a world they do not belong.

-0.5 to all stats.

Melmarc’s jaw dropped. “You have got to be kidding me?”

This couldn’t be happening to him. How was he going to go around with a constant negative debuff? And how was he going to be useful if all his stats were constantly less than they were supposed to be.

“What’s wrong?” Dorthna asked. For the first time since the call started, he sounded worried.

“It gave me a freaking—”

A new set of notifications silenced him.

[Anomaly detected]

[Assimilated alien mana detected]

[World buff has been applied].

[You are under the World buff: August guest].

August Guest

A sentient life form not of this world but from this world has been detected.

+0.5 to all stats.

Melmarc stared at it, confused. So they cancel out?

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Uncle D?”

“What do you need?”

Melmarc wasn’t entirely sure how to ask it without causing any panic so he just asked it. “Have you ever heard of something called a world debuff?”

“It’s very rare, but it happens. There are portals you enter that give world buffs while some give world debuffs. It all depends on what you’re doing in the portal. Why?”

“I think I just got one.”

Melmarc scratched his jaw nervously while every looked at him.

“Well, I got a world debuff,” he said. “Then I got a world buff. They are both similar so they just sort of cancelled each other out.”

Dorthna opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked like he was contemplating his next words.

Whatever he was about to say, Eroms beat him to it. “What’s the World Debuff?”

“No.” Dorthna’s decision cut Melmarc off before he could answer. “Let’s leave the Debuff alone. Tell us what the buff is.”

His uncle’s tone worried him. But if his uncle had a possible idea of what it was, Melmarc wasn’t surprised his uncle didn’t want him saying it in public.

“Well, I got something called an August Guest buff.”

Dorthna nodded. “That’s a good buff.”

But it’s useless since the Intruder debuff is there.

As if it had been patiently waiting for him to finish his conversation, another notification popped up.

[Classification complete.]

[Would you like to view your information]

[Yes/No].

“I think my class is ready,” Melmarc informed them, his voice a bit too high.

He was excited and terrified at the same time. At this point it was anyone’s guess. With everything that had happened in the time he’d taken to select his skills, he couldn’t even begin to guess what it could possibly.

Delano was twitchy, Ark’s eyes widened as if he could somehow see the skill. Melmarc wondered if a Gifted could see another Gifted’s notifications through a video call or on camera. He chucked it aside as a question he would have to ask Dorthna, or maybe something he would test out with Ark later.

“Yes,” he accepted and stared as the notification changed.

This was going to be the beginning of the rest of his life.

The notification displayed his information in front of him and his face twisted in confusion. It wasn’t a terrible Class, neither was it a very common one. And Delvers that possessed the class were a controversial lot when it came to success.

Truthfully, he didn’t know how to feel about it.

“What did you get, Mel?” Ark asked overexcited. “Was it Basher?”

Delano looked at him, appalled. “Why would you want Basher?”

“Basher’s an awesome class.”

Melmarc wasn’t sure if he would’ve preferred Basher to the Class he’d been given. Right now he wasn’t sure of anything except for two things.

He didn’t know what to do with his new class, and it was vastly odd that Delano had heard something suspicious probably happening downstairs and had dismissed his curiosity too easily. The very same 'downstairs' they had been asked to stay away from for the night. Delano lived to unravel the suspicious. So why?

The latter was something to be handled eventually. For now, Melmarc stared at his class and his rank.

[Name: Melmarc Jay Lockwood]

[Class: Faker]

[Rank: B]

[Growth Potential: Unranked]

This might be a problem.

……

Joshua stood under the star filled sky. It was an odd thing to have it so bright even without the moon present.

He’d stood where he was more than once, on this side of an empty road in the middle of a dark or bright night. Sometimes the luminance was just somewhere in the middle.

But every time the massive compound on the other side of the road was always so bright. Always so rich. It was vast with lawns and gardens and sculpted hedges and plants. It even had its own street lamps they kept it warm and yellow.

The owner had hired enough Gifted to start a small army, but none of them were above D-rank. He took them and used them and paid them.

There were at least three elementals and four weavers working in the mansion. Together, even at D-rank, they affected the atmosphere of just the compound. In winter, like it currently was, they kept the temperature just cold enough to be comfortable but warm enough to not need hand gloves or speak with puffs of steam coming out of your mouth.

“You’ve done quite well for yourself, Vlad.”

He removed his hands from his pocket and checked the canteens strapped to his belt. There were four in total and he hoped they would be enough for what he wanted to do.

Tonight was supposed to be the last night. Everything might not have started in this mansion, but he was determined to have it all end there.

He strolled across the empty road and onto the mansion’s gate.

He’d calculated everything, spent the last month studying the compound. He knew Vlad had guests, and everytime he had guests, the security was not as deadly as when he didn’t. Joshua couldn’t blame him.

You wouldn’t want a bunch of high school kids getting electrocuted to death because of some stupid dare like leaving the compound to do something they shouldn’t.

When he got to the gate, he held on to one of its balusters. He tested its grip since it would need to hold if he was to vault over it in one leap.

Instead of getting a sturdy grip, the gate opened inwards. There was no groaning of metals or rusted hinges. It was smooth and soundless.

Joshua paused. Lax security?

He shook his head, banishing the thought. Vlad’s security was never this lax. Even if any of the security men currently seated in some fancy room watching the CCTV cameras had made a mistake, Anais would’ve corrected it.

She was ever the thorough one.

Joshua dropped his hand from the balustrade, contemplating.

So he’s expecting me, he concluded. That’s interesting. He wouldn’t know I’d be coming unless he was divining again. And divination requires a lot of blood sacrifice.

He almost laughed at his own thoughts. Vlad had spent years condemning him for how he abused his abilities over blood, but here the man was, consuming just as much blood as he did.

Hypocrite.

But he was not angry or annoyed. If Joshua was to pick an emotion, it would be disappointment. Despite everything they’d been through, Vlad was supposed to be the good one. The hero of justice.

It didn’t matter. If Vlad was expecting him, then he had nothing to worry about. There would be no traps designed to clamp him down or burn him alive or flay him.

It was just not his cousin’s style.

So he took a simple stroll down the compound. He followed its winding road, took in the sights of the water fountain that doubled as a roundabout, and skipped his way up the front stairs.

Would he have left this open, too? He thought, standing before the front door.

It was all the questions he had bottled up in one. If the answer was yes, it would answer a whole lot of questions on how much blood Vlad had consumed.

It would also answer the question of what the outcome of this meeting would be. Because to be able divine so accurately, to the point that he was sure enough to leave both his front gate and his front door open, was beyond reason.

Joshua raised his hand. He stopped himself before he could knock.

No. Where’s the fun in that?

He really, really wanted to know just how much blood his brother had consumed. So he turned the handle. It let out the common clicking sound. And he pushed.

The door opened inward.

Joshua chuckled. He couldn’t help himself.

Oh, sweet cousin. How far down the rabbit’s hole did your hunt for me lead you?

He strolled into the mansion and closed the door behind him with his foot.

Just how much blood have you been drinking, Vlad?

……..

Anais stood beside Vlad. Her face was etched in worry.

Vlad was standing in a pool of blood. The room reeked with its stench. He looked weak, hollow. Even at A-rank she doubted he could put up much of a fight against anyone.

“We don’t have to do this,” she told him for the countless time. “Even if he’s coming, we don’t have to let him in.”

Vlad shook his head. “There’s no ifs, my child.”

His voice was old and wary, croaked. He looked sixty, and everyone thought he was. But Anais knew better. He was forty, at most. But his skills were killing him the way he used them. They were aging him. They were not designed to be used as ethically as he used them.

“The blood has spoken.” Vlad walked over to his desk with sluggish steps and picked up a green hand towel. He wiped his hands of fresh blood. “The blood never lies.”

He dropped the bloodied towel on the table then walked off towards the door.

“Let’s go meet our guest,” he said. “You can leave the study as it is. It won’t matter.”

Anais frowned as Vlad walked past her.

She didn’t know who exactly this person was, only that Vlad had been looking for him for the past few years. It was part of the things that had brought them to America. While other things had chased them from Romania, the council included.

“Where is Tepes?” Vlad asked in his weak voice.

They were walking down the hallway. From here they would get to the stairs and walk down two flights before getting to the main entrance.

Anais didn’t like any of this. “He’s waiting for us downstairs.”

“That’s good. I would be remiss if our guest met no one on his arrival.”

“He is not a guest,” Anais grumbled under her breath. “He’s a parasite.”

“Perhaps. But whoever said guests had to be wanted… or nice.”

Anais slipped her hand beneath the apron of her maid uniform and brought out a small phone. “I need to confirm Bella and Giorni are doing their work.”

There were too many plans in place.

And with the children present, anything could go terribly wrong. She’d advised Vlad against this decision but he’d ignored her. The blood never lied, he’d said.

To him, everything happening now was how it was meant to happen. It didn't matter what logic demanded. It didn't matter that he should've found a way to handle this confrontation when the children were not around.

It was the reason she hated his class. He should've just been a medium.

Vlad waved her off with a raised hand. “Do not worry about Bella. She’s doing her work perfectly well.”

He held a finger up and twirled it, indicating the space around them.

“Even now I can feel her skill permeating the place.” He chuckled. “I almost don’t want to go downstairs.”

Anais knew he’d meant the words to reassure her, but it did nothing of the kind. Bella was an employee specifically picked for her Class. She was a D-rank Illusionist who specialized in mental illusions. Some people called her a false telepath but she disagreed.

Anais agreed.

The normal Illusionist bent light and warped sounds until it suited whatever lie they wanted to show their target. What Bella did was get into a person’s mind and have them convince themselves of whatever she wanted them to.

And it worked in a versatile way, she could even make people decide not to do something. If Anais was to give her a category, just as she was a Weaver of self, she’d call her an Illusionist of the mind.

Her skills weren’t strong enough to do much in a bind, and she usually needed time to set them up. And any competent C-rank could see beyond it.

But they hadn’t hired her for her skills against C-ranks, or even any Gifted. She was hired because it worked perfectly well on normal people.

For it to be affecting Vlad in any way spoke volumes of his current state of strength. And if their unwanted guest was anything like the rumors and stories she’d heard of him when they were still in Romania, then Vlad needed her and Tepes more than she thought. Their duty, even if he didn't say so, would be to buy him the time he needed to use the skill that was his trump card.

At least she hoped so.

Anais put the phone away, and followed dutifully beside him.

“He’s come here to kill you, uncle,” she said. “You know that.”

Vlad nodded. “He has.”

“Tepes and I don’t intend to allow you die. The world still needs you.”

“And I don’t intend to die, my child.” Vlad placed a hand on the railing of the stairs, needing the support as they climbed down. “But I don’t intend to see him die, either.”

Anais didn’t like this.

“Is there a way?” she asked.

“None that the blood has spoken off.”

“And yet you’ve let it come to this?”

Vlad looked at her and smiled softly. “Oh, my child. Where there is a will, there is always a way.”

It was something he said often. Against her own position on this, Anais couldn’t help but complete it.

“And all we have to do is find the way.”

When they got to the bottom of the stairs Vlad paused in shock. He stared at the man standing at the entrance, giving a silent Tepes a friendly smile.

When they arrived, the man looked up at him, then waved. “You’ve gotten old, Vlad.”

If his words offended Vlad, he did not show it.

Instead, he made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “For people like us, age is more than a number.” Then he frowned. “But we grow forward, Turin, not backward.”

Anais watched the man standing casually in their home.

A few hours ago Vlad had called the employees of the mansion. Not all of them, just the few he’d needed. Then he’d given them instructions, contingencies to be set in place, routines to be ignored.

All for this boy?

She was confused. The person they had been looking for was supposed to be in his late thirties, mature. Not young. Not…

…This boy can’t be who we’re waiting for, right?

She looked from the boy at the door to Vlad.

Was his skill wrong?

She doubted it. It was the skill that had led to the rumors that had people believing he was a medium. There was yet to be a person whose eventual location his skill had gotten wrong. It was either right or it had no answer. And after years of making attempts, he’d finally said Turin would be here.

But Turin’s meant to be older.

Turin folded his arms over his chest. From his belt four canteens dangled. It made him look odd. But Anais knew it wasn’t a fashion statement. Sometimes weak Gifted carried things to support their skills.

“You don’t look so good, Vlad,” Turin said. “And I go by Joshua here. Turin’s a bit… old school.”

Vlad shook his head in disbelief.

“You don’t look so satisfied to see me.” Turin rubbed his hairless jaw. “Is it the face? Are you worried people might think you’re my grandfather, cousin?”

“What have you done?”

Over the distance between them and with the weakness of his voice Anais was surprised Turin could even hold a conversation with him.

“I didn’t do anything,” Turin said. “The world did. I got a skill upgrade.”

“Impossible,” Anais spat.

Turin spared her a scathing look. “Be quiet, child. Your betters are speaking.”

Standing to one side, Tepes spoke for the first time since Anais and Vlad had arrived.

“Are you my better as well, Master Turin?”

Turin gave him a warm smile that reached his eyes. “Never, Tepes. If there was ever a better man than you, I am yet to meet him.”

Tepes gave a low bow at the neck, ever the butler.

“As I was saying, cousin.” Turin’s smile slipped back into something mocking. It seemed it was what he kept for Vlad. “I was gifted with a skill evolution. I could either make Tonic of Blood stronger, or I could get something new. Guess which one I did?”

“Why?” Vlad asked. He looked tired.

“Why not?”

“Walking Flesh is not a skill you or anyone should choose.”

“Why? Just because you don’t like it that doesn’t make it bad.”

“Don’t like it?!” Vlad scoffed in derision. “The skill warps the body at the cost of too much blood? Do you know how much blood is required to run such a skill?”

Turin looked at Vlad as if it was a stupid question. Then he spread his hands.

“I couldn’t possibly know, Vlad. It’s not as if I’m not currently using the skill.”

Anais gritted her teeth, appalled. Disgusted.

She knew the skill Walking Flesh. People called it a chameleon skill, but anyone with any level of decency knew better than to choose it when offered. In and off itself she saw no use for it, and the cost was too steep.

It was a skill that bent flesh and molded muscles. At the cost of blood and flesh.

“You’re disgusting.”

She couldn’t help herself. The words had just come out, blurting her true thoughts.

Turin looked at her like she was filth. “And you are becoming a nuisance, child. One more word out of you and I’ll have your tongue.”

Anais couldn’t believe his arrogance. She and Vlad stood above him by the simple virtue of still being on the stairs. Yet he managed to look down on her so easily.

It grated her, and it wasn’t the drawbacks of using her skill. She hadn’t weaved anything today.

“I’d like to—”

Vlad hushed her with a raised hand.

When she was silent, and sure that she would remain so, he spoke.

“What happens now, Turin?” He lowered his hand, rested it on the rail. “You’ve made an abomination of yourself, and you know where I stand on that. I cannot let this be.”

“It’s always about you,” Turin sighed. “I tell you my name is now Joshua, and what do you do? Ignore it. Now you’re telling me about how you can’t let me be with a skill I was offered from my own hard work just because you have some sick notion that there are skills that are simply inherently evil.”

He shook his head and took a casual step to the side. “Open your eyes, Vlad. Even the council refused your proposal to mark skills as forbidden. There are no such things as evil skills. Just skills, and people.”

Anais agreed. She couldn’t think of one positive use for Walking Flesh but she knew skills were not evil, only those who used it.

And she was staring at one evil person right now. Her hands itched to cast a skill, to weave.

At one side of the room Tepes remained standing.

“Do you have any idea why the council refused you, Vlad?” Turin was saying. “It’s not because you were wrong. Think about it, you’re an A-rank Gifted, and your Class allows you dabble in questionable things thanks to your skills. In fact, I could argue that your Class is inherently evil, which means you should know what you’re talking about.”

Anais had always wondered why Vlad’s proposal had been rejected. She had not agreed with it, but she hadn’t expected it to be rejected either.

Now was her chance to know.

Turin’s eyes moved slowly over to her, before going back to Vlad.

What does this have to do with me?

Turin shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I thought you’d been divining with the blood of others which would leave you at full strength, so I came here ready to have a long conversation, use subterfuge and all that. But looking at you, I can see you’ve chosen the stupid path of using your own blood. So I guess there’s no need for the unnecessary stories.”

He pulled out a gun and everyone grew alert. The tension in the air was so strong anyone could reach out and touch it.

“Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t for you.” He pointed the gun up. “It’s for the subterfuge.”

Then he pulled the trigger.

The explosion was so loud that Anais winced. It dug a hole in the ceiling and some debris fell over Turin’s shoulder.

He looked at the gun then at the stairs. “That’s odd. I was expecting some panic by now. Did you drug the children and their teachers?”

Anais turned a worried look on Vlad. “I thought you said he doesn’t harm kids.”

“I was wrong,” he said. “He’s changed too much.”

Turin pointed the gun up again, and fired.

“I don’t think you’d go as far as sedating the kids,” he muttered. “Is it a barrier? No, I’d feel the effect. I might just be a C-rank but we’re not as useless as people like to think. Besides,” he looked up, “the ceiling’s cracked, so it can’t be a barrier.”

It was a barrier. Two-folds actually.

Giorni kept a physical barrier active. It covered only the second floor above them, though. The floor the children and their teachers inhabited. While Bella held all of them in a wide spread mental illusion.

Giorni's barrier would keep out most of the noise they would make, while Bella’s illusion would convince anyone that might hear anything that whatever was happening downstairs was not interesting enough to check. Only a Gifted of significant rank would be unaffected. And none of their guests were Gifted.

Anais understood Vlad’s desire to give a family member one last chance, but everything about the man in front of her screamed against it.

Turin wasn’t a man deserving of chances. If he looked eighteen instead of his late thirties, then she could only imagine how much flesh and blood he’d had to consume to achieve it. She could only imagine how many deaths were now on his hands.

She raised her hands and weaved herself with her main skill, [Chemical Exchange]. It allowed her amplify any aspect of herself at the cost of another. Tepes was already moving as she did.

The head butler was the closest to Turin, but when Turin raised his gun, he pointed it at Anais and pulled the trigger.

Another boom filled the air, but she was already done with her weaving.

She felt the spike in adrenaline and her muscles tighten. She was borrowing from every other aspect of her being to fuel her combat prowess.

Weavers were like Elementalists. But their elements were the human body. Some could weave emotions or physical aspects or blood or tears or hair. But when a Weaver weaved themselves, they could weave anything to the benefit of the other.

Anais weaved herself into apathy, giving all her emotions in exchange for agility and power.

She ducked to the side, knowing Turin’s shot would miss, and darted down the stairs.

Turin didn’t even flinch as two C-rank Gifted came after him. A C-rank Basher and a C-rank Weaver.

Instead, he kept his eyes on Vlad, a manic smile on his face.

“Will you let your underlings do your work for you, Vlad?”

He opened fire on Anais as he dodged a blow from Tepes. He created space between him and them with hurried steps and fired again.

Anais rolled to the side to dodge the shot as Tepes charged forward.

Turin didn’t even look bothered. He still had his manic smile and his eyes on Vlad.

“There’s no fun in this!” he barked at Vlad, then aimed the gun at him even though Anais and Tepes had drawn terribly close.

His smile never shifted. Never waned.

“MAKE THIS FUN FOR ME, NECROMANCER!”

Then he pulled the trigger.