Bella frowned. “An offer?”

“I do not believe we have been properly introduced,” said Mixie. “My name is Keeper MCXII, or Mixie, if you prefer. While you lack anything of worth for now, I am willing to loan you the funds for a most potent weapon. It should help amplify both your fire and metal skills. In return, I will receive the next five hundred fragments you collect, as well as first rights to potentially trade for any treasures you come across.”

“If it lets me burn that place to the ground, then--” Bella hesitated before staring off to the side, doubtless listening to some advice from her guide. “Thing is, that’s a lot of money. I haven’t even seen the weapon yet.”

The tip of Mixie’s vile tongue slipped out between his lips. He removed the sword with the phoenix-feather handle from its place at his hip and presented it to her, its vibrant orange blade resting along his outstretched palms.

“This,” said Mixie, “is an ancient orichalcum blade infused with the elemental core of a fledgling World Phoenix. On top of being a perfectly devastating sword in itself, it serves as as a remarkable conduit for magical energies. As such, it should at the very least double your current output. At this stage, such an improvement is priceless.”

Bella bit her lower lip. “One hundred fragments.”

Mixie scoffed and returned the sword to its place on his hip. An uneasy silence stretched between them for a few seconds.

Bella grimaced.“Two hundred fragments?”

Mixie steepled his fingers together and glanced up at the morning sky. “Three hundred and fifty fragments.”

The young woman closed her eyes and sighed. “Three hundred and fifty fragments.”

“And first rights to bid on any treasure you have.”

She nodded, her face scrunched up as if she had just sucked on a lemon. “Deal.”

Mixie clapped in delight and slipped next to her despite her obvious discomfort at his presence. He animatedly began to instruct her on the use of her new weapon in a low whisper.

Roman suspected the shopkeeper had absolutely fleeced her, but he found he didn’t really care. Not his problem, and he certainly didn’t owe Bella any favors. He sighed as he waited for their little transaction to end. He didn’t trust her by any means, and her supposedly doubling her power with one of Mixie’s weapons was potentially a serious problem. He considered refusing to allow the trade to take place, but that would accomplish little but stoke tensions further.

To help settle his nerves, Roman reviewed the most recent changes to his character screen.

Roman Miller

Species: Human (E)

Class: Chaos Disciple (Rare)

Patronage: None (11 Pending)

Level: 5

Nemesis: Nyarlathotep, Mammon

Titles: Savage Survivor, Eligible Bachelor, Shameless Bully, Outlaw Renegade, Pyrrhic Victory (I)

Base Attributes

Strength: 31

Agility: 33

Endurance: 31

Will: 31

Perception: 25

Charisma: 3

Path of the Corrupted Monk, Initiate

Innate: Chaos Touch (II)

Selected: Flash Step (I), Impose Will (I) Discovered: Soul Circulation (I)

Quirks: Hunter’s Eye, Dancer’s Grace

Once Mixie finished his explanation, Bella practiced by pointing the sword up into the sky. Scarlet light seeped from her sigils into the handle, and a moment later a condensed bar of fire extended some ten feet into the air.

“Fuck yes,” she muttered to herself, breathing heavily.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Together, the trio spent a couple minutes ironing out the details of their impending arsonry. The conversation was awkward and hesitant, but the common goal forced an uneasy alliance between them.

Before incinerating the entire building, they circled behind it and Bella sealed the back door shut by melting the frame. No use burning the place to the ground if the abominations inside could flee.

After a bit of consideration, Roman decided to sacrifice Birch’s vehicle to the fire gods as well. His own beat-up truck was still in the parking lot. He’d been living out of it since returning to America to spare himself the cost of rent, and seeing the familiar vehicle still intact filled him with an inordinate amount of relief. He climbed into the truck and was pleased to discover the keys remained in their hiding spot beneath the passenger seat.

Just in case, he left the keys dangling in the ignition before heading back to Birch’s shitty old Corolla. For a moment he considered driving off into the horizon, leaving all these bastards behind. With a sigh, he shifted the car into gear and backed it up as close as possible to the entrance of the restaurant.

Looking through building’s windows revealed nothing but darkness within. To all intents and purposes, it looked like a normal Applebees closed for the night. He half-expected various abominations to flood out of the building at the sight of him, but they seemed to have not recognized the danger quite yet.

Roman parked the car, hauled ass out of it, and activated [ Flash Step ]. He appeared a safe distance away, far behind where Bella raised her new sword to point at the restaurant. She glanced back at him to confirm he’d escaped. Roman nodded, shielding his face with one arm.

Then Bella channeled her power through the sword.

A pillar of bright flame blasted from the tip of the blade, the recoil blasting her off her feet. When it struck the Corolla, the vehicle exploded with a teeth-shaking boom. The thick beam continued through the car, gouging through the restaurant’s facade with devastating effect, setting everything in its path ablaze.

Damn, thought Roman. Wouldn’t want to be on the other side of that.

The fire spread with unnatural haste, consuming the entire front and dancing across the roof within seconds. A blazing figure stumbled through the ruins of the entrance, its inhuman shriek piercing through the gentle morning air. After a few steps it collapsed, twitched, stopped moving.

Roman noted with some disappointment that he received no experience notifications. Not a surprise, since his involvement in burning down the building had been minimal, but the amount of kills would have netted him the better part of a level if he went inside and took matters into his own hands.

Still, the sight of that building burning to the ground filled him with savage glee. He smiled to himself. One day, I’ll torch everything these fuckers have made to the ground.

John materialized at Roman’s side. “We have a problem.”

The guide had been standing watch at the back of the building due to the near-certain possibility of the abominations within breaking through the fused door.

Roman cracked his knuckles, ready to reap the harvest of experience for himself. “I’ll take care of it.”

“When I say it’s a problem, I mean it’s a fucking problem,” said John. “You know how we haven’t seen those carrion golems from the parking lot around? Yeah, looks like they joined up with their buddies inside of that building.”

“So there’s more of them than we thought? They escape out back?”

“Not quite.” John pointed off to the side of the burning building.

At first, Roman saw nothing through the haze of drifting smoke. He flooded his eyes with bronze energy and [ Hunter’s Eye ] penetrated through the physical haze, revealing the underlying threads of soul energy throughout the area.

The unnatural flames of Bella’s skill consumed most of his vision, blazing like a sun, but there was a disturbance in the area John was pointing. The flames seemed to pull away from a section of land around ten paces in diameter, and eddies of smoke swirled around the area as if repulsed by an invisible barrier.

Had the carrion golems erected a magical defense while fleeing? That wouldn’t have been a surprise, but it wasn’t moving like it would if they were retreating. So what were they waiting for?

Then he noticed a pair of eyes, each as large as a fist, floating in the center of the calm zone. Dark yellow, like a cat’s, glowing with a sinister resentment so heavy, so perverse, it made his breath catch in his throat even from a distance.

“What the fuck is that?” Roman whispered.

“That,” said John, “is a gashadokuro. A fused monstrosity, born from a desire for vengeance.”

Roman flexed his hands, the familiar spark of violence igniting within his chest. His attributes--besides Charisma, of course--had essentially doubled since his last visit to this place. Back then the carrion golems hadn’t posed much of a problem. Just how much worse could this pair of floating eyes be?

“How do we beat it, then?” said Roman.

As if it could hear him, the gashadokuro chose that moment to reveal its true form. Its foul silhouette shivered into existence, reality itself shuddering as the monster shed its guise. At least twice Roman’s height, it resembled a perfectly preserved human skeleton, stained yellow with age, standing within the eye of a storm of flame and roiling black smoke.

“You don’t.” John’s voice was low, strained. “You run. Now.”