At some point, the vendors and pedestrians had scurried off into the nearby buildings and alleyways until it was just the four of us in the street. The three aliens were all humanoid in nature, but were from a variety of races. On the left, one man had a boar's snout for a face along with dark, bristly fur instead of skin. On the right, the other had a purple hue and tentacles dangling where his mouth and chin should have been.

Standing in the center of the trio was the Kurian lookalike, his armor a shining plate with gold filigree lining his limbs.

"My name is Turok Lighttouch," the leader said. "We don't wish to fight you, but as you can see, there are three of us and only one of you."

I angled the diskslinger so that they could see the three spinning disks. "I count three disks."

"I'm an entire Stage of cultivation above you, boy. We aren't sadists like the Beasts, but if you do not submit, there will be pain."

"Pain?" I asked with a chuckle. "That's the best you've got? Am I supposed to be shaking in my boots over here?" I felt a rush of excitement from Red. The cape was nearly quivering with bloodlust. But I pushed her from my mind, focusing on the Fate energy and the afterimages dancing across the boulevard.

I was waiting for that perfect moment, the moment when all the afterimages aligned in a way that resonated with my core. I could feel it was close, but I didn't know exactly what I was looking for. The Champion named Lighttouch pursed his lips and nodded.

"Okay, boy, you want it the hard way? We'll do it the hard way." Light began to shine through his skin and his armor, sending a golden-blue haze across the street. I bent my knees, preparing for that moment.

"I only do things the hard way," I shot back. My finger was loose on the trigger, ready to pull, but not over-eager.

The three of them began to approach, and still, my Fate energy bade me to wait. A distant part of me wondered if Fate wasn't screwing me over right now, forcing me into an unwinnable fight, baiting me into not pulling this trigger. And in that moment of self-doubt, I saw Lighttouch's eyes flick away, a glance at something over my shoulder, and that was the moment that Fate whispered in my ear.

Now!

Three buzzing disks shot from my weapon, arcing away in three separate trajectories. An afterimage of myself dodged to the side, and I was quick to follow it. A nearly invisible beam of light passed from Lighttouch right through where I had been standing a breath earlier. I continued to follow the afterimages as they led me to the side of the boulevard and up the nearest building to the roof.

Below, I saw Lacy, Jerome, Byron, Amos, and Frank spreading across the boulevard. My heart skipped a beat at the realization that Lacy hadn't abandoned me, but had instead gone for help.

Then my mind caught up to the reality of the situation and my blood froze.

This was the final run. If they died now, it would be permanent!

I only let myself have a single moment of panic before I turned my full attention to the fight. If we were all going to survive, I needed to be locked in.

Below, Jerome stood in his black Heirloom armor, a palpable wave of terror passing off of his body. Another beam of light shot from Lighttouch's hand, scoring a blow on Jerome's armor plate and sending him stumbling back and to the ground. A finger-width divot splashed across the armor, but Jerome was back to his feet in a moment.

A handful of pigeons darted through the air, flitting around so fast I could barely follow them. A haze began to form over the assembled party as Lacy began working her illusion magic. A separate, illusory image of the five party members formed just a couple of feet off-center. The next beam from Lighttouch passed through the fake version of Byron. At Lacy's direction, I watched the five of them scurry to the side as more beams of light passed through her illusions. She managed to make it seem as if the beams were doing damage, but I could tell that Lighttouch wouldn't be fooled for long.

The real Frank stopped twenty feet from the Champions and began forming his signature wave of frost spell. Byron's boombox began to give off a haze, though I didn't heard the usual thumping bass, and their movements quickened, an unnatural grace and speed inhabiting their limbs. I felt Lex through my connection and found him flying high above, nearly out of sight. My disklinger was almost fully reloaded, and I aimed at Lighttouch, even as the three disks I had fired earlier were finally arcing around to take them from the back.

The Champion with the boar snout must have sensed them because he twirled around and pulled a giant shield from his inventory. It must have been six feet wide and ten feet tall, and he anchored it in the ground, protecting his companions even as my buzzing disks crashed into the metal with echoing clangs.

I fired three more disks, aiming them straight towards Turok and his allies. They flew in low and fast, timed perfectly with Frank's wave of frost. Their feet were frozen to the cobblestones mere moments before my disks were on target. But before they could hit, a blinding sphere of light exploded from Turok, sending my disks flying off and burning away Lacy's illusions. A moment later, one of Amos's pigeons nosedived for Turok's face, but Boar Snout managed to get his shield repositioned, and the tiny bird bounced off the metal and hit the cobblestone.

"Lala!" Amos shouted. As he started to race toward the fallen pigeon, Jerome grabbed him by the back of his collar and threw him to the ground. "Get yer fecking hands off me, mate!"

I desperately rushed to fill my diskslinger, pushing all the energy into the main slot to accelerate the reload. With the illusions dispelled, Turok and his companions turned towards the real versions of my party down on the street below. I felt Fate guiding me in that moment and I leaped off the roof, using Red to help me glide towards the three Champions. Lighttouch's attention snapped from Jerome and Amos to me as I flew through the air toward them. He raised a finger, preparing his beam of light ability, even as I pressed the trigger and fired off a disk straight for his head. There were no words between Red and me, the magical cape just knew exactly what I needed, exactly what my Fate energy was telling me to do. At the last possible second, the cape relaxed, and my glide turned into a heavy fall. A beam of cutting light whizzed right over my head as I clattered to the cobblestone below. Through my Friction core, I felt the disk connect with the alien and begin sawing through flesh and bone, before losing its momentum. I could tell it had done damage, but the job wasn't quite finished.

I was back on my feet in a moment, my diskslinger reloading subconsciously, even as I pulled the katana from my inventory. When I looked at Turok Lighttouch, his face was a rictus of pain, and I could see my disk had nearly separated his right arm at the shoulder. The tentacle-faced alien began to chant something in a language the System didn't translate. The sky turned orange, and when I glanced up, in the distance I could see flaming balls of light falling from the clouds onto our position. In that moment, a sound split the air, beautiful, majestic, and ear-splittingly annoying.

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"HONK!"

The tentacle-faced alien only had a split-second's warning before Lex raked his beak across its face. The flaming meteors in the sky went off course in the alien's distraction, crashing into random spots across the Hold. Boar-Snout pulled his massive shield in tight, made a growling sound deep in his chest that I felt through the cobblestone, then charged me shield first.

I had a single disk loaded up, and I fired it up to angle around the shield, but it was moving too slow. The wall of metal approached me at a dead sprint, and normally would have been an intimidating prospect, but I had never stopped cycling the Fate energy, and I could see all the possible decisions I could make, the repercussions, the rippling effects, and I was able to act in an instant.

I leapt into the air, just barely clearing the ten-foot height of the shield. At the same time, Red gripped onto the top of the shield as the boar-faced alien continued charging past where I had been a moment earlier. The whipshot effect of Red holding onto the shield threw me onto the alien's back. He snorted, reaching up with his free hand to try to pull me free, even as I angled the katana to saw through his neck. He had no leverage, and with the bulky shield on his left arm, I knew there was no way he could dislodge me before the steel did its job.

I finally dropped the Fate energy, needing my Friction energy to enhance the sawing motion of my katana into the side of his neck. The blade sliced through the top layer of his fur and skin effortlessly, and the alien squealed pitifully. Dark blue blood splashed against my chest, even as I continued sawing back and forth. The boar-alien dropped to a knee, and just as I was about to slice through his esophagus, a shout rose up from behind me.

"Stop!" Turok yelled. "Enough, we yield."

I stayed my hand but kept the katana wedged between the boar-alien's clavicle and neck. In my left hand, another disk formed in the diskslinger, and I turned to aim it at Turok. "You think this is a game?" I yelled back. "You think you get to just call mercy and that's the end of it?"

Both of his hands were pointed at me, light formed at the tip of his fingers, but not getting any brighter. "You may kill us," he called back, "but you would surely die as well."

I hesitated, trying to force my heartbeat back into a steady rhythm, bringing my thoughts down from the high of that life-or-death fight. I let the Friction energy go and began cycling back up the Fate energy. I wouldn't put it past Turok to try to catch me off guard, and the Fate energy would let me know ahead of time.

If he tried anything, his boar friend was getting the luau treatment.

The afterimages of Fate were playing across my vision even as I stared at Turok. They moved at regular speed and I couldn't accelerate their pace. If I wanted to watch how the fight would play out, I'd have to sit here for however long to see all the possible outcomes.

Somehow, I doubted Turok would sit by and let me Dr. Strange the whole thing.

Still, I pressed my luck, watching the possibilities play out as Turok stared hard at me. Boar-shout died in the first few seconds and I managed to dodge Turok's retaliatory light beam. I pulled up the giant shield, forced to switch to my Mass core to bump up my Strength. Using the pilfered shield, I was able to block all the incoming light beams and go on the offensive.

Which was when I saw it.

Turok switched tactics, aiming towards Lacy and Frank who were exposed. The tentacle-faced alien stomped Lala to death incidentally even as I rushed to intercept another light beam with my new shield—sorry Amos!

Lacy and Frank managed to dodge thanks to another illusion and I wondered if maybe a fight was for our benefit after all. Though it would shatter Amos, losing a pigeon in exchange for splitting the experience of the three Champions across the party was an acceptable trade.

Though I was on the verge of following through, decapitating Boar-snout and kicking off round two, I continued to watch the fight play out. I needed to be sure.

"Well?" Turok demanded. "Will you parlay?"

Just another minute, dammit! But I felt the eddies of the afterimages begin to shift the longer I waited. By glimpsing the possibilities, I felt myself being corralled into fewer and fewer options. It was becoming clear that if I stalled too long, the choice would be taken out of my hands.

In the last moments of the vision, I saw a beam of light clip Lex's wing, and I knew my decision was made.

I let go of the boar alien's fur and hopped off its back. It clamped a furry hand to its neck to stem the bleeding, though I knew at its level and Stage that it wasn't a mortal wound. I turned to regard Lighttouch, letting my diskslinger aim low, though I didn't store it away. The glow coming from his fingers dimmed, then dissipated.

Boar-snout went to rejoin his leader, but I barred his path with my katana.

"Not so fast, pig boy. I want to hear what your boss has to say for himself first."

The alien glared at me with his beady little boar eyes, but he looked weak from the blood loss, and the memory of me sawing through his neck a minute earlier was obviously still fresh in his mind.

"At ease, Kundar," Turok commanded. He turned to me, arrogance and respect mingling in his eyes. "I see I underestimated you and your kind. Can I assume that was your hand involved in the vermin taking over Astrid's stronghold?"

I nodded and half-lifted the diskslinger. Kundar, the boar-faced alien, flinched and I gave it a wry smile. "She underestimated me, too," I said casually. "So I gave her the D." I deposited my katana and gave the Soulbound weapon a loving pat.

Behind me, Byron snorted humorously. We all turned to look at him and his face reddened. He took a step back and literally put his hand over his mouth as if to contain himself. I winked to let him know he was fine, then turned back to Turok with a straight face.

"Let's talk terms of surrender," I said simply.

Turok's eyes narrowed. "I was thinking more along the lines of an alliance."

That wasn't the answer I had wanted, so I lifted the diskslinger and pointed it at porky. "You and I have very different understandings of the words, 'we yield.'"

Light began to form on his fingertips again, and I tilted my head and gave him a disapproving tsk. "You sure about that?" The triple disks buzzed ominously in their slots, mere inches from his friend's face.

Sudden movement behind me nearly made me flinch-pull the trigger. It was Amos stumbling past me toward Turok and Tentacle-face.

"Amos! The fuck?" I shouted.

"She's hurt," he called back, his words slurring. "Lala, daddy's coming—"

Turok moved without hesitation, sweeping Amos off his feet and repositioning him as a body shield. His finger was pressed to the drunk man's temple, the telltale glow of a building beam of light shining at the end of his pointer.

"Don't you fucking do it!" I shouted, pressing the diskslinger right against Kundar's neck.

Amos was bucking against the alien's grip, but he didn't even have the Body Boon to give him some oomph. He was just an out of shape middle-aged man with a drinking problem. Beside him, Tentacle-face bent down and scooped up Lala, sending him into an apoplectic fit.

"Get yer feckin' hands off 'er." Spittle flew indiscriminately as his face turned an alarming shade of crimson.

"Amos, Amos!" I shouted. "Chill the fuck out and shut up!" His eyes whirled on me, clouded and completely void of any rationality. "You want your fucking pigeon, then shut up and let me handle it!" The unbridled rage shifted and a semblance of clarity returned. He glanced toward his pigeon one more time, his face slipping from rage to concern in an instant.

"What are you proposing?" I asked Turok. Lacy, Byron, and Frank approached me from behind, breaking from their cover now that it seemed the fight was over. I gave them a distracted nod, but turned my attention to Turok and the Fate vision. I had lost focus for a single moment and Amos had nearly ruined everything.

I couldn't let that happen again.

"An alliance," Turok replied. "I will sign a Soul Contract if you desire."

My thoughts turned over and over. An alliance with the only remaining hostile faction of the Hold was good—ideal, even. But how far could we take it? Would the Champions continue to force-conscript others? Would a Soul Contract hold up if it came down to us or them? And then there was the question of his Quest. Was he a prop in this twisted play like Astrid and Yuri? He had to be, right?

"We would consider an alliance," I started. His shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly, his grip on Amos loosening a smidge. But what I said next had his eyes wide and his composure shattered.

"Before that, though, I want to see the conditions of your Quest…and you're gonna tell us a little story. The story of why you signed up to join the Tower."