A gut-wrenching sensation rippled through my body. A force on my back ripped me away from the sand arena, ejecting me from the Hall of Heroes with an almost contemptuous violence. As I flew through the air, the Hall of Heroes door flung open behind me and I was cast away into the Personal Space hallway, sliding along my back at high speeds. With a flex of power, I enhanced my friction, pulling to a stop before I clattered against the far side of the hall.

Panting from the undignified ejection out of the Hall of Heroes, I rested my head against the floor. Slowly, I reached for her, knowing but not quite believing that Red would be gone.

When I felt bare floor and my unadorned back, a pain stabbed in my chest.

“I’m so sorry, Red,” I whispered.

The magical cape hadn’t started out as a person in my mind—just a tool to enhance my powers and reach. But with each rank up, she had grown more aware, developing a personality that—while deranged—I had come to appreciate. We had become friends—No, more than friends. She had been a part of my soul.

My eyes went wide as I remembered the depth of our connection. She had been a soulbound entity, nestled inside that space along with my cores.

With a gasping breath, I dived in there, scanning for that familiar presence.

Fate, Friction, and Mass shined bright and heavy in that space, dominating my spirit senses as I searched for lingering signs of Red.

There was nothing…

I sagged against the floor, staring up at the ceiling. She was gone. Somehow, some way, I had imagined her living on in my soul beside my cores. Or that her presence would still exist in my mind, even without the [Progenitor’s Mantle]. But I was just fooling myself. I had known I was killing her to stop Craig. Kurian had said as much when he’d asked if I was willing to sacrifice a portion of myself.

“You went out saving a lot of people, Red. I hope that gave you some comfort in those final moments.”

Thoughts of Red’s sacrifice only reminded me that the threat wasn’t over. Though Craig should have inherited the Mantle and received a drastic power reduction, that didn’t mean he was powerless. In reality, I’d only been assuming he was beatable at half-power, but the possibility that it had only inconvenienced him remained.

Forcing myself out of my self-pity, I rose to my feet. Even with a weakened Craig, there were still an augmented demon horde bearing down on my friends. There was no time to wallow.

As I turned to head back through my Personal Space, new notifications that I had been ignoring continued to flash in my vision. Paying them little attention, I began skimming as I ran.

For your dishonor, you have been forever banned from the [Hall of Heroes]. May your shame—

I waved it away.

New trait! You have received the Betrayal of Responsibility trai—

Item removed: [Progenitor’s Mantle].

Trait removed: Only a Matter of Time I

Trait removed: You Think Your Shit Don’t Stink I (Same Race)

Trait removed: Your Shit Really Don’t Stink I

The list went on, describing just how many traits associated with my Mantle I had lost. Waving them away, I growled to myself. The evidence of sacrificing Red seemed to stack up purely to emphasize my shame.

One last notification lingered and I ignored it as I ran into the training room. Kurian materialized, looking directly at me as I entered instead of his tablet for once. As soon as he saw me, his lips turned down at the corners and he nodded sadly.

“I am sorry.”

The roiling fire inside my chest doubled and I had to look away. It wasn’t his fault Red was gone. Not even a little bit. It was mine. Craig had accumulated so much power because I hadn’t dealt with him from the start. I’d given him his memories of the past redos, only further arming him. At the time, it had seemed like the only way to save Nikki, but now I wondered…had it been worth it? How many lives had he taken because I didn’t have the stomach to let her go? Hundreds? Thousands?

And each one of them was on me.

The guilt filled me to the brim, spilling out on the only other person within my sphere. This is your fault, too, I wanted to say. You should have advised me better! Given me the tools to deal with him from the beginning!

It was stupid, I knew. Just because Kurian was unbelievably old didn’t mean he was infallible or had the answers for everything. Without him, I might never have realized that sacrificing Red could counter Craig’s power.

With a sigh, I turned to the giant Class Guide, then froze.

As I had opened my mouth to speak, that final flashing notification caught my eye.

New item acquired: [Paladiun Symbiotic Spirit (Rank 2)]

***

Her chest swelled with pride as she wielded [Inspiration] like a broad paint brush across the tapestry that was the front line of soldiers. Wherever here focus went, aims improved, trembling limbs steadied, and shouts of defiance rang up.

But the first line had never had hope of holding out against the demon horde indefinitely. Despite her team’s efforts, the order came for an orderly retreat to the second line of defenses. A distant part of her had imagined that her new power would change the tide so dramatically that the soldiers would rout the demons in a storybook ending for the ages.

She tempered her expectations though, when she realized the sheer number of bodies being thrown at the thin line of soldiers. It would take ten times the number of men to keep this horde at a standstill, let alone rout them.

She didn’t despair, encouraging her targets into a calm firing retreat as she and her own team passed through the temporarily opened barricade.

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When they were on the other side of the second line, she refocused her energy on bolstering the surrounding troops. But even with her [Inspiration] ability aiding the soldiers, lives were being lost. In front of her, a Hellhound leaped upon a soldier as his attention was drawn away, its powerful jaws tearing into the man’s neck with finality. The soldier on his left saw his friend taken down and yelled in fury as he fired round after round into the hound. In his blind spot, one of the Overseers threw its weapon, the heavy metal clattering against the soldier’s head and knocking him to the ground.

Lacy cried out as she felt those minds go dim, tears sliding down her cheeks.

Far too close, Craig and his Alpha approached the first line. The giant demon wielded its vehicular shield both as a battering ram and a makeshift weapon, swinging it in wide arcs to clear the razor-wire barricades before snapping it back into position as a rifle shot rang out.

A handful of soldiers turned their attention to Craig, noting the man standing on the Alpha’s shoulder as a priority target. But as soon as their aim shifted toward the man, the Alpha turned and charged, trampling them to death.

It isn’t enough, she realized. It doesn’t matter what I do…it isn’t enough.

Her eyes bored into Craig, damning him for waging war on his own people. She had never wished for another man’s death so powerfully and she wondered if her [Inspiration] ability could be inverted, casting a wave of despair over the man so that he faltered and died.

She immediately snapped herself out of those dark thoughts. That type of power was the antithesis of what she felt. It would be too close to what Craig did for her comfort, even if it meant his death.

As she went to shift her ability to encompass the second line of soldiers, movement flashed behind Craig. Something…familiar.

Was that…Red!

“Dirk’s back!” Byron cheered at her side. Then he faltered as he and Lacy saw the same thing.

It wasn’t Dirk appearing among the demons to strike at Craig…It was Red, slung across that bastard’s back…

“No,” Lacy whispered, her eyes widening in horror. “No!”

Dirk wasn’t dead, he couldn’t be!

Byron clutched her arm tight.

“Wh-what does that mean?” His tone was panicked, desperate for answers.

She couldn’t respond, her eyes locked on that red, billowing cape. If Dirk was dead…then it fell on her.

Anger rose from deep within, an anger so heady that she physically trembled. She took it, shaping it like she shaped her [Inspiration] ability, forming it into an unshakable resolve.

“It’s on us, now,” she told Byron calmly. “It’s on us…”

He looked at her with wide eyes, no comprehension in his face.

“By’,” she said, grabbing his hand. “We can do this.” She held his gaze, willing her resolve out into the space around her, projecting it like a System ability.

He let out a shaky breath, then nodded.

“Lacy!” Amos shouted. “Look at the fecker!”

She narrowed her eyes in confusion, then turned to find Craig in the horde.

The man was clutching his head, his eyes closed tight in concentration. But even more interesting, was the trembling Alpha Brute beneath him. Its head was turned, staring directly at the small human perched on its shoulder.

In its eyes, a fire burned as it seemed to struggle against invisible bonds.

It tilted its head up to the sky and let out a bone-shaking roar. Craig fell from its shoulder, disappearing from sight.

Byron and Amos cheered, but Lacy’s eyes were locked on the wave of demons. She clutched at Frank who was at her side.

“Where is he!”

He shook his head, craning forward to scan the demons.

“I don’t see him! But the threads are dissipating!” He turned to Lacy, his eyes wide past his glasses. “He’s losing control!”

We have a chance, she thought. Thanks to Dirk, we have a chance…

The horde milled about indecisively, only those at the very front attacking with purpose as bullets continued to lay into them. But for those in the middle and back, they glanced toward the Alpha for guidance.

A rifle shot echoed out, causing Lacy to flinch. Her gaze shot toward the roof of the State Capitol building behind her, where the small form of Bobby was barely visible. She turned back to the horde, looking for the man’s target.

The Alpha staggered where it stood, its humvee shield laying at its feet where it had dropped it during the struggle with Craig. Its hand reached up to its chest, where smoke billowed from a smoldering hole. When the demon turned toward Lacy, she could see all the way through the hole to the other side.

The giant demon had wide eyes, realizing that it was in danger. It bent to pick up the humvee at its feet, when another shot echoed out across the horde.

This time, Lacy saw the impact as Bobby’s bullet slammed into the Alpha’s right eye, an explosion of black ichor arcing out from the back of its head. It lingered upright for a moment longer, its body slow to come to terms with its death. Then, almost in slow motion, it collapsed forward, crushing a dozen demons with its heavy body.

Silence hung over the streets, both the human and demon side slow to process the Alpha’s death. Then, all at once, the soldiers let out a ground-shaking cheer, punctuated by the renewed sound of gunfire tearing into the faltering demons.

The demons let out an equally loud sound a moment later. A wave of echoing whimpers sounded as the horde broke apart, losing cohesion within the space of a handful of heartbeats.

The soldiers’ cheers redoubled, firing bullet after bullet into the retreating demons.

A smile touched Lacy’s lips, then turned down into a frown as she realized something.

“Where’s Craig!”

Frank pointed in the distance, toward the edge of the plaza where a narrow road led behind two rows of buildings.

“Mass of red threads in that direction,” he said. “Best bet.”

“Fuck,” Lacy muttered. “Can’t chase him into the horde, even if they are fleeing. Can you keep the threads in sight if we trail behind?”

He shrugged indecisively, but his answer didn’t really matter—they had to try. She flagged down Jerome who had been diverting a small group of demons that had turned to attack the soldiers shooting into their flanks. With the demons routed, he was free to run over.

“Lace? Is it over?”

She shook her head. “That fucker’s fleeing. We think he’s that way.” She pointed where Frank had indicated. “And I don’t intend for him to get away.”

Jerome grunted. “Let’s go.”

***

Fear and fury warred within Craig’s mind. Fury roiled off of the Seed in waves that threatened to boil his mind. Fear clutched at his chest, nearly paralyzing him in place.

But the Seed wouldn’t let him freeze, wouldn’t let him falter. Its purpose was to infect and control. So that is what it did.

Craig felt the Alpha die as he crawled through across the asphalt, the ripples of that death sending a wave of fear through the entire horde. In that moment, his window of escape opened.

As he fled on hands and knees, the Seed lashed out, grabbing the nearby demons to form a shield around its host. Three Overseers and twelve Hellhounds fell under its sway, and another half-dozen demons followed out of simple pack mentality.

Now that he wasn’t on the verge of being trampled, he found the strength to climb to his feet. The Seed’s anger infected his fear, poisoning it until that bone-deep terror shifted into a desperate need to flee.

His small wave of demons forced their way through the chaotic horde, protecting him from the press of bodies that would have seen him crushed. When they finally, desperately, reached the edge of the demon horde, Craig’s own emotions finally synchronized with the Seed.

Fury that he’d only experienced a handful of times in his life flared hot in his chest. The red cloth at his back snapped in the wind and he wanted to scream.

Somehow, that idiot had put him in check, halving his power at the worse possible moment. But he had made a fatal error…check was not checkmate.

He could come back from this defeat. Kneer would still see the benefit of their partnership. And if the Jree Prime didn’t fall into line…well, he’d find one of his closest subjects dealing the coup de grace.

Yes, I can come back from this…

The first step was to find a safe zone and regroup. Once he was back in his Personal Space, he could reconnect with the Jree and prepare for the Second Floor. It would open soon and he needed to be ready to face Dirk and his crew of simpletons on every front. He suspected the man’s time loops were integrally linked to the Tower and he had to be positioned to weather multiple attacks once that Floor opened.

I just need to find a safe zone, then everything will fall into place.

He was running now, his escort of demons keeping pace easily. His eyes scanned every building and every door and he knew it was only a matter of time before he spotted his safe haven.

He would do more than survive this setback—he would make Dirk and his friends pay tenfold. He’d force the man to watch as Jree ravaged his woman, tortured his party—

A flicker of motion was his only warning as one of the Hellhounds lost its footing and collapsed to the street. A voice called out from high up, above their position.

“If this isn’t Fate Herself throwing me a bone, then I’ll eat my shoe.”

A shiver traced up his spine and without even looking, he directed his demons to stall the man as he ran. Nearly twenty demons would be enough to give him a headstart. They had to be.

He took off in a sprint, feeling the Seed direct the demons toward Dirk even as it urged him to run. The Seed was reckless, arrogant, and power-hungry. But even it understood that they weren’t ready for a fight with that man.

A handful of Hellhounds began scaling the building with their powerful limbs, while the rest covered Craig’s escape route. There was no way for him to get Craig without bypassing—

A loud buzzing sound filled the air, moments before he stumbled and missed a step. He collapsed to the ground, not quite realizing what had tripped him.

He looked down at his legs, his mind stumbling over what he was seeing. It looked like…he was missing a leg from the knee down.

That was when the white-hot fire stabbed into his limb, blanking the raging cries of the Seed entirely. Blood squirted from his missing shin and Craig screamed his throat hoarse, clutching at his knee so hard his knuckles turned white.

“Don’t you go bleeding out on me, Craig.” The man’s voice seemed to penetrate through the pain that eclipsed everything. “We’ve still got business.”

The flow of blood cut off, but the pain remained. His panic crescendoed, then he went numb, his vision tunneling in, fading into darkness.