Pebbles skittered across the ground from where the group's feet fell. The calm, silver moonlight poorly reflected the gravity of the situation, as Synthia and the others sucked in the air to fuel their escape.

On their way to the zeitcycle, a stream of ice shot across the ground, erupting into a large ice wall in front of them. It stretched from one side of the street to the other, completely blocking off their escape. Gritting her teeth, Synthia turned back to see Livian shaking out her arm, teeth chattering.

"Yikes, that spell still bites. Haven't used it in a while. Look, I'm not quite sure what your whole situation is, but we don't need to have this showdown. You can just hand over the weapon to me, and I'll give it to Mr. Moneybags."

"Fat chance," Synthia said, holding the Mioja in a ready stance. Livian scoffed.

"What, you think I really wanna fight a pipsqueak like you? You could barely deal with one shreddermole. And you're clearly exhausted. Give up the weapon and you won't be hurt."

"Then you won't just be fighting her," Iggy said, eyesight fully recovered. She stood on Synthia's right, ready to do battle.

"You've got three opponents to deal with now. Think you can take us?" Christoph chipped in, standing on Synthia's other side.

Livian chuckled. "Your right side's completely screwed up, and I'm guessing it's your dominant one. You go after me, it's not going to be a fair fight. I'm sure neither of us want that."

"I didn't want to be injured in the first place, but here I am all the same. I can fight you with half my body easy."

"We'll see about that." Livian pulled out her revolvers, twirling them again. "I guess there's no other option."

Taking in a deep breath, Livian appeared to be in prayer as she pointed the revolvers upward, eyes closed. The three took this chance to charge, not allowing their opponent any respite. Christoph's left fist welled with Darkness magic, Synthia was preparing to slash from the side and Iggy was a little further back, readying her wind magic.

"Good. You don't hesitate." In the blink of an eye, Livian had deftly aimed her revolvers at Christoph and Synthia. Panicking, the two rolled out of the way. As opposed to the usual Fire-empowered bullets she had been using earlier, two arcs of lightning shot out from the guns. They curved and exploded once they hit the ground.

Livian batted away the Mioja as Synthia reangled it for an attack, spinning perfectly and letting Christoph run past her as he took the chance to charge at her. He tried to swing back around for a hit but found himself dodging her gunfire once again. This time, an icicle nearly impaled itself into his bandaged shoulder. It embedded itself into the wall with a shunk.

Not taking a moment to rest, Livian kicked off from the ground as Iggy fired a burst of Wind her way. Heating up the barrels again, she fired more of her regular fire bullets her way. Iggy yelped as she dodged.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Livian landed on the ground, arms outstretched to balance herself. She gave Iggy a cold stare. "Me? You're the ones completely out of your depth. Especially you. You haven't seen an ounce of hardship in your pathetically easy life, and you want to go on an adventure? This world kills fools like you fast."

Grunting, Iggy clenched her fist. "Shut up! You don't know a thing about what I've been through!" She swiped her hand through the air, sending another gale of wind toward Livian, but not before her legs began shaking. Her exhaustion had kept increasing exponentially, and even simple spells were making her run out of breath.

Whoosh!

Livian had zipped forward until she was right in front of Iggy. She had no time to react as Livian pistol-whipped her with a revolver, collapsing to the ground. She was out cold.

"Iggy!" Synthia swung at Livian in rage, the sword barely missing her as she darted away.

"Now that was fast," Livian said. "Maybe you should've shown more of that during the shreddermole fight. Seeing you actually give a damn would make me feel more conflicted about kicking your ass."

Grunting, Synthia held her sword tight.

"Kicking ass, huh?" Christoph held his right arm in pain, having strained it in the excitement. "You don't plan to kill us, do you?"

"So long as you don't try to kill me," Livian said dully. "But that would make you exceptionally stupid."

"Look, I don't know what he's paying you, but I assure you it ain't worth it," Christoph said. "He's not going to be able to control that thing and his goons will think you set him up somehow when the Mioja turns on him. Let us go and hunt for a job somewhere else."

"I have my reasons for agreeing to his request," Livian said calmly. "Let's not extend this charade any further. I'll defeat you with all I have, just to show the difference between us."

Synthia and Christoph ran after Livian again, swinging and wailing away at her. Christoph sent beams of light her way which Livian easily dodged, while Synthia tried to take that to her advantage and cut at her. Every time she'd get close, Livian would propel herself further with Wind magic, twirling through the air with clear practice.

It was at this time that Synthia realized Livian hadn't fired off any more shots. What was she waiting for, then? She was simply avoiding their attacks. Then that could only mean...

"Dammit, Christoph! She's trying to charge up!"

"I can see that! I can't grab Iggy when I'm like this, you should run away with her."

"We're not leaving you," Synthia said, tone resolute. Livian landed a good distance away, holding her guns tight.

"I really appreciate what you've done for me," Christoph said. "But she has no intention of killing us. Let me distract her while you run away."

"But Christoph—"

"Run?" A crackle of energy ran through the air. Synthia could tell the mana in the area was becoming centered around Livian, eyes burning with focus. "I've made sure nobody can run from this."

"Flames of Asura."

A ring of fire rotated itself around her guns.

"Hellblizzard."

A ring of ice began rotating around it too, intertwining with the fire and somehow not melting or snuffing it out.

"Verdant Gale."

The rings started moving faster now, rotating at a speed too fast for the eye to see.

"This would actually be pretty cool under different circumstances," Synthia said. She and Christoph ran forward again, hoping to throw Livian off even a little. Every time they would get close to her, she'd fly off again up into the air, kicking off the walls for further maneuverability with absolute control.

"Storm's Vengeance."

Lightning began fusing with the rings around her guns, as if they were going so fast they could generate their own electricity. Synthia and Christoph knew they'd never be able to interrupt her. Synthia slung Iggy onto her back, grappling hook at the ready.

"You should be proud you get to see this," Livian said. "I only use it under specific circumstances."

"Livian, enough!"

Evarius was walking toward them, waving a hand. Livian cocked an eyebrow. "What have I told you about interrupting me?"

"You don't want to do this, Liv," Evarius said. "Let's be honest with ourselves: Blanc's not somebody we should've affiliated ourselves with in the first place. Whatever information he has is likely not that impressive either, so listen to me. I have an idea for how everybody can get what they want. And besides, I think you've all attracted a small crowd..."

Some people had indeed been watching. In a town like Doras an Tsaorsa, there couldn't be much excitement to begin with. They stared, intrigued by what would happen next. Uninvolved, uncaring, and unsympathetic. Only curious about what flashy display the fight would bring.

Livian remained silent. She glanced from the crowd to Christoph, and then to Synthia. She dispersed the rings, the mana plateauing back to normal as she twirled the guns into her holsters.

"Fine."

Synthia and Christoph breathed a sigh of relief, although stiffened again at the belligerent voice that sounded out.

"No, no, no! She's right there! It's right there! Why are you stopping?"

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Blanc tore through the crowd, hair still a mess. His bodyguards were behind him. He pointed at Synthia. "Grab her! She's only a little girl! Do it!"

Christoph aimed his left hand at them in warning. Livian, for her part, aimed her guns. She wasn't going to let her partner's proposal be interrupted. The bodyguards looked at both of them carefully. The one closest to Blanc shook his head. "Sorry boss, it ain't worth it. We're going home."

Blanc was left spluttering as his own hired help walked away. "Th-then you're all fired! Fired! I don't care if I have to hire from five towns over, I can replace big lugs like you! Then if you won't do it, and that bitch won't do it, then I'll call on somebody in this crowd who can! A hundred thousand lepta to the man or woman who can bring me that sword!"

The crowd murmured and shifted. They collectively weighed their options, but it wasn't long before a few began breaking off. That escalated into most of the crowd dispersing. Several citizens remained, still curious, but did not seem eager to risk their well-being.

Blanc spluttered as he watched the crowd walk away. Synthia had to stifle a laugh.

"Hey, baldy! It looks like your promise of money ain't enough. If you want this sword so much, it looks like you'll just have to take it."

Grunting, Blanc ran a hand through his paltry hair and straightened himself out. He walked over to Synthia. He ignored Christoph raising hand, prepared to cast a spell at him. While not a tall man, he still loomed over the girl. Synthia simply set Iggy back on the ground and crossed her arms as she returned his glare.

"Hmph. So it wasn't a trick of the light. You really do have demon eyes."

"You jealous?"

"Not at all. But you will hand over that sword."

Synthia grew uneasy. Despite his bumbling con man demeanor, Blanc looked surprisingly sure of himself.

"Why?"

"I'm fairly proficient with Time magic," he sneered, voice low enough that the remaining onlookers wouldn't hear him. "And I've always had a special back up plan for this kind of scenario. You see, those trash disposal tanks I make are normally not dangerous. If most break, the distortion singularity inside simply collapses in on itself. But the bigger the singularity, the bigger the collapse."

Raising a small remote, Blanc's gaze remained cold. "I've set up tanks with a larger condensation of distortions in them all throughout the residential parts of town. Unless you do as I say, I won't hesitate to detonate them. There are several thousand people who live here. I wonder what the death toll would amount to?"

"You son of a bitch," Christoph snarled. Evarius and Livian were looking at Blanc in disgust. Livian aimed her gun at Blanc, who merely waved the remote with a "Tut, tut."

Clucking her tongue, Livian lowered the guns. "Like the pipsqueak said: you're scum."

"I'm scum who stays alive. So what say you? Hand over the weapon now, or everybody in this town will suffer your arrogance."

"Arrogance," Synthia repeated. "You hold a town hostage, and you're saying... we're arrogant?"

She was looking at the remote, gold eyes devoid of emotion. Despite her usual boisterous persona, her voice was now bereft of its normal mischief. There was not an ounce of warmth, playfulness or cheer remaining in it. She didn't even sound frustrated.

Christoph looked at Synthia with concern over her unusual change in demeanor. Livian and Evarius could sense this was a far cry from how the girl normally acted as well.

Blanc scoffed. "Call it whatever you wish. I merely consider this a new part of the deal."

Synthia lowered her head. "A deal. Money, numbers, boiling people down to chips on a board. Is that all life is to you?"

Blanc shrugged. "It's always worked for me. And it's the same reason I know you won't attack. You can't risk me pressing the button. Those deaths would be on your hands."

Christoph saw Synthia's fist clenching behind her back.

"So what say you? Will you hand over the weapon? Or will you resist, and sentence dozens, maybe even hundreds, to an excruciating end?"

Synthia stared at the ground. Blanc was growing impatient. "Hand me the sword or they die!"

Synthia's fist unclenched from behind her back. All tension left her body. She focused on the remote in front of her.

When Blanc blinked, his hand was clutching air. Stunned, he saw Synthia holding the remote instead. She threw it to the ground as hard as she could, the device shattering and wholly incapable of detonating the distortion canisters.

"What—" Blanc gulped as Synthia pressed the Mioja up against his neck, pushing him back. The remaining onlookers screamed but did not rush to help him, choosing instead to run away. Blanc was left entirely to Synthia's discrimination. Looking into her eyes again, there was no pity in their gold depths. Only a cold, merciless fury.

"My fault? You place people's lives on the line because you're weak, because you're selfish, and you think it's my fault?"

Synthia pressed the sword up further, opening a thin cut along Blanc's jugular. The magic emanating from it sucked at his skin, as if desiring to lop off his head. Synthia kept pushing him back. "You feel this? This pain? This discomfort? This fear? Your life is in my hands now, and if I were to kill you here then it would be on me. So here's what you'll do to avoid that: you're going to show us where those canisters are. You're going to guide us to every single one and have us destroy them, safely. And don't lie. I'll know."

"Ugh!" Blanc was trembling, breathing through his teeth. "Skip the charade, I know you don't intend on killing—urf!"

Synthia pressed the sword up again, drawing a second cut. "Try me. See where it gets you."

Livian seemed a little surprised at Synthia's newfound aggression. Evarius watched her silently without comment. Christoph took this chance to step forward. "Synthia... this isn't you."

Synthia said nothing. The sword remained against Blanc's throat.

"We can get him to show us another way. I understand how you feel, but this isn't something I want you to be doing. Ever. I think you're better than this."

Synthia remained quiet for a few more seconds before speaking. "You killed the guys who killed Gren. That's worse than what this is."

"Even so. I think we can solve things another way..."

Blanc forced out a chuckle. "I knew it. You don't have the guts to kill somebody, do you? You're not going to kill me, oh no. You'll let me live, because that's the kind of person you are."

"Shut up! You have no idea what I am!" Synthia's grip on the sword tightened. "You know what I'm gonna be? I'm going to become the biggest, baddest villain this world's ever seen! One who beats down all the other bad guys, so nobody has to worry about dealing with people like you anymore!"

"Then prove it." Blanc pushed himself into the blade, feeling the Mioja pull at his skin harder. Any further and he'd sustain a mortal injury.

Growing alarmed, Synthia drew the blade away before Blanc could harm himself. He skipped a few feet back, cackling with glee. "Oh, you have no drive after all! You don't possess the will to commit murder, to rend a soul away from its body with the swing of a blade! You, a villain?"

He looked at her dully, unimpressed. "Here's what's really going to happen. Since you won't kill me but won't let me go and destroyed my only detonator (a foolish error on my part, I admit), I'll agree to let you walk free. I maintain control of the town, and you all get to run away without a fuss. Deal?"

Gritting her teeth, Synthia's frustration frothed inside her.

"So you're not willing to show us where the canisters are?" Livian eyed Blanc carefully.

"Wellll... only if you were willing to pay me a significant sum for it."

"Ha! A scumbag to the end." Livian pulled out her right revolver, aiming at Blanc. Only a small measure of panic was allowed to stretch across his face before she shot him between the eyes. He fell to the ground lifeless, expression forever fixed in a dull recognition of his own stupidity.

Synthia had jumped at the noise, staring at the corpse in front of her. She didn't resist as Christoph grabbed her hand and started dragging her away from the crime scene.

Christoph headed for Iggy but stopped when he saw Evarius pick her up. The old elf looked down at her with concern. Christoph glared at him, on guard. Evarius tried to reassure him.

"Don't worry, we don't want to cause you trouble. Or any more trouble at least. I have a proposition for you, but we need to get away from here."

Christoph sighed. "Fine. But psycho lady over there isn't killing anybody else in the middle of the street."

"Oi, the name's Livian! And I'm no psycho."

"Enough chatter! We need to move!" And so Evarius led the group, darting through an alley with the others chasing behind him.

Once they'd gotten a good distance away, everybody was a little short of breath. They had stopped close to the edge of town, not too far from where the zeitcycle had been hidden. Everybody squinted at the lamplight shining down on them from inside the alley they were in.

"We should be okay here," Evarius said, still carrying Iggy in his arms. Christoph was glaring at him. He could only shrug in response. "I'm sorry about back there, truly. She only kills who she thinks needs killing. Usually, I think her judgement's correct."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here, yeesh."

Synthia replayed the imagery of Blanc's lifeless body falling to the ground in her head. This was the first time in years she'd seen somebody die. She felt no sympathy for the man but knowing that life would never return to his eyes left her feeling empty.

"You surprised me, pipsqueak. Maybe you've got guts after all." Livian stretched her arms out, nonplussed.

"You just killed him..."

"And those people would've been under his thumb forever. Leave him to rot or for somebody to carry off. Nobody's gonna be eager to give him anything more than a quick burial. Hell, they'll probably just toss the body into a ditch somewhere. If I'm going to get the info I need from a monster like that, I'd rather not know. I make deals with men, not devils."

"I'm not sure about that, Livian." Evarius said. "I won't argue he deserved to die, but he clearly has connections. Killing him might be a problem for us."

"And why's that?"

"Because I plan for us to bring these three to the nearest adventurer's guild. If we get any of his criminal or even police friends on our trail, that could be an issue."

Livian laughed in disbelief. "We're going to what?"

"You heard me. The man over there is an adventurer from what Blanc's men told me before that little altercation there, and if we can just get him to a guild I'm sure he can call in a favour for us and tell us where the airship is. Isn't that right, young man?"

Christoph nodded. "Sure. We could use the extra help for any more trouble we run into. Guilds aren't this far out in Viveld, but after a quick trip, we can find one. Just make sure not to kill anybody else on the way."

"Cross my heart," Livian said, sounding bored. Christoph narrowed his eyes at her but kept speaking.

"I need to be honest with you, Livian. You're really lucky there was nobody else around to see you kill that guy, whether he was a criminal or not."

"Why do you think I ended up taking the shot?"

"It doesn't matter. Blanc still seems to own this town. Or at least, owned. They'll know somebody shot him, and revolvers are a distinct weapon. Pretty soon, you'll be placed under their suspect list. That means we could be charged as accomplices. Right now, we need to leave if you want your info. You guys got a vehicle?"

Evarius nodded. "Yeah, we've got a truck. More than enough room for all of us."

"Then we'll head to our bike first, wheel it over to where you guys parked it along the periphery of town."

Livian clucked her tongue. "Fine, it's a plan. Let's get the hell out of this dump."

Synthia spoke up. "But wait, there's still those canisters. The town's still in danger."

"It would be better if we could dispose of them all, but they won't implode unless they're deliberately destroyed," Evarius reasoned. "And Blanc clearly hid them. This place will be fine even if we don't search for them."

"But still..."

Christoph placed his hand on Synthia's shoulder. "He's right. We'd better get out of here ASAP."

Kicking at the ground, Synthia shook her head. "Fine."

They made their way out of the alley, crossing over into the next one to remain out of sight of anybody. Their group were a strange bunch and would stand out if seen.

Still trying to get over her shock, Synthia asked Livian about what Evarius had meant by airship.

"Ha, we had a pair of wings before it got stolen from us. That's the main reason we were here; we heard Blanc could tell us where it was. That ship's sailed, though."

"Have you been searching for it long?"

"Five or so months. Hopefully not for much longer if we've got the guild owing us a favour." Livian grinned.

"This might actually be fun, pipsqueak. I might start to like you if you keep showing backbone like you did a few minutes ago."

The group continued to navigate through Doras, careful to avoid attention through the criss-cross of streets and shortcuts. The moon lit their way where streetlights could not, untouched by their troubles.