A piercing shriek rent the night air. Levi sighed. “So much for that.”

Guests rushed toward the rear door. Levi grabbed Colin and whirled, running for the exit to the alley. Not the one toward the restaurant’s entrance, but deeper, toward the direction he’d found the chicken kabob.

Another door opened further ahead. Men and women streamed out, blocking his way.

Levi swept Colin up over his shoulder. He reached out the Armalgam’s arms and pushed its palms into either side of the wall. Putting his mana into the construct, he scurried up the two walls toward the ceiling.

“Freeze.”

Energy gripped his body and the Armalgam together. Levi struggled against it, to no avail. Whoever had caught him was far more powerful than him.

Oh, fuck. He glanced at Colin. “How do you feel about a second cast of Miracle?”

Colin grimaced.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

The power drew Levi and Colin down, back to the ground. A young woman with pure white hair glared at them, her eyes flared wide. Her chest heaved. “You foolish heretics dare interrupt our dinner?”

“Heretics? What? Murderers I get, but heretics…” Levi trailed off. His eyes lit up, and he tried to snap his fingers, only to fail under the immobilization magic. “You’re the Death Cult!”

“That’s right,” a soft voice said.

The young woman turned. She quickly scurried backward and bowed. “Your Holiness!”

A man in long dark robes embellished with skulls and purple embroidery drew close. He looked down at Levi and Colin. “What were you two doing?”

“Er, just trying to grab a bite, Your Holiness. If you don’t mind, we’ll go ahead and get out of your sight forever,” Levi promised with a smile.

The man peered over at the gnawed corpse. He smiled back and raised his staff. A vicious green light swirled at the staff’s tip.

“Wait, wait, wait. Your Holiness! Are you really going to kill a promising young talent like me?” Levi asked.

The man hesitated. He tilted his head. “Promising young talent?”

“That’s right, that’s right! I was just an ordinary boy until I unraveled the secrets of nec…of Overbringing all on my own. I raised this corpse,” he tried to pat Colin, and when that failed, turned his eyes toward the zombie, “and brought it all the way here to show the Cult. It got hungry at the last minute… I’m so sorry, Your Holiness! I’m just a young Overbringer. All I wanted was to join the Death Cult.”

“Overbringer? I’ve never heard of such a thing,” the man mused.

“Ah, yes! In my town, it’s an honor for it to be brought back to life by an Overbringer. It was suppressed by Ician when they conquered us… maybe that’s why you’ve never heard of it?” Levi said quickly.

“Interesting. A primitive form of true necromancy…” The man raised his eyebrows. He turned to an older woman beside him. “Is this Shaheed’s one to keep an eye on, do you think?”

“He could very well be, Your Holiness.”

Levi beamed, waiting. He looked from one to the other, almost like a puppy looking for a treat, with the same brainless desperation behind it. What the fuck is gong on. What are they talking about? Do I want to be Shaheed’s eyes-on-guy, or whatever?

The man cast a glance at the gnawed body. “I did find our host rather tasteless.”

“My zombie didn’t! I mean, haha, forgive me, your Holiness,” Levi mumbled, voice fading.

“You wish to join the Death Cult?” the man asked.

I wish to survive. Levi nodded eagerly. “Yes, sir!”

The man snapped his fingers. Green light flew from the large dark gem at the tip of his staff and seared toward Levi. Levi flinched away, but to no avail. It burned into the back of his hand, forming a primitive skull brand.

He winced. Yikes. Now I have a tacky tattoo forever. Aloud, he laughed in joy. “Thank you, sir!”

The white-haired young woman clicked her tongue. “Inducted by His Holiness himself? You should be groveling on your knees!”

“I’m being immobilized by you. What the fuck do you want me to do?” Levi snapped.

The man chuckled. He patted the white-haired girl on the shoulder. “Release him, Demi. He’s one of us, now.”

Tsking again, she snapped her fingers. Motion returned to Levi’s limbs. He quickly stood, offering Colin a hand up. Wary, Colin stood, then shuffled behind Levi.

“I’m looking forward to great things from you, young man.”

Levi bowed. When he stood, the man in ornate robes had left. The old woman remained. She handed Levi a piece of paper. “Recruitment starts at dawn. Arrive on time, or we will leave you behind. Don’t think you have any special status just because His Holiness inducted you.”

“Nah, I’m used to that.” Levi took the paper. He gave it a cursory glance, then stuffed it in his pocket. The men and women filtered back into the room, leaving him and Colin alone in the alley.

All alone, Levi sighed. “Fuck.”

“That bad?” Colin asked.

“Nah, it’s not actually that bad. I mean, easier to destroy from within than without, right?” He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “Isa’s gonna rip us a new one, though.”

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Colin tensed. His eyes widened. He nodded, slowly.

“Oh well. What’s done is done! Let’s go get you washed and scurry on home. Sooner we get it done, the sooner we get it over with.” Returning to his usual upbeat self, Levi clapped Colin on the shoulder and led the way down the road.

He glanced back. “I think you know, but around them…”

“Don’t talk, act like a brainless zombie. Yep. I’m not stupid.”

“Last thing we want is for them to figure out… well.” Levi shook his head and walked on. He threw up his hands. “Fuckin… terrible dungeon design, man.”

“What do you mean?”

Levi gestured. “This world, you know? It’s got all the trappings of a game. Magic, a system, levels, skills… but who the hell throws the final boss right at the start of the dungeon? That’s not my fault.”

Colin snorted. “It isn’t a game, though.”

“Yeah. That’s the problem, isn’t it? The final boss can just walk out of the dungeon and go wherever he wants.”

“At least we learned a lot. We know what he looks like. And what his bodyguards look like. So we know who to avoid, now,” Colin pointed out.

Levi snorted. “So we’re calling this one a scouting run?”

“Yeah! That’s the word I was looking for.”

He shook his head. “No. You’re right, though. Not a total loss. And actually… Isa aside…” He waggled the back of his hand at Colin. “I can get some mileage out of this one.”

Colin tensed. He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Why does that make me worried?”

“Shouldn’t make you worried. It should make the Death Cult worried, though.” He grinned and walked away, leading the way through the town.

--

They arrived back at the inn well after dark, Colin and Levi both sopping wet. Using the key Isa had given him, Levi let himself in the back door and led the way up the stairs. He unlocked the door to their room and peered inside.

Isa sat in the window, one leg propped up in the frame, the other dangling in the room. She stared out at the night, letting her breath fog on the cool air. As the door creaked shut, she sighed. “You’re late.”

“Yep.”

She turned, then did a double take. “And wet.”

Levi shrugged. “Little Timmy fell down the well, so…”

Colin glanced at Levi. “I needed a wash, and he joined in for fun, I guess.”

“What? What ‘for fun.’ I’m disgusting. We’re all disgusting. How long has it been since any of us bathed? I figured I might as well get a bath, as long as Colin was washing up.”

Isa raised her brows. She nodded slowly.

He shook himself and shot a hopeful look at the Count. “I don’t suppose you have a spare set of clothes?”

“Not for you.” She went to turn back to the window, then froze. She turned, oh-so-slowly. Isa narrowed her eyes, glaring at Levi’s hand.

He laughed coquettishly and flipped his wrist at her, showing her the brand. “Do you like my new ink?”

Her jaw worked. Her hand clenched on the windowsill, and the wood cracked.

Levi glanced at his hand, apparently blissfully unaware of Isa’s growing anger. “It doesn’t wash off, by the way! I tried.”

“You joined. The Death Cult. The Cult I told you not to—”

Levi put his hands up. “Okay, okay. Wait, wait, wait. Listen. Here’s what happened.” He quickly explained the situation, including the party in the restaurant and their near escape. At last, he finished, “…and that’s how Colin got over his fear of eating people!”

Isa lowered her head slightly. She glared. “Is that all?”

Levi shook his head. “Of course not. That’s the funny part. The important part is that we’re gonna break this thing open from the inside. We could just attack the cult, but that’s boring. Why not tear them apart slowly? Turn them against one another. Let them do some of our work for us. Plus, it plays to my strengths.”

“How so?” Isa asked. Her voice remained cold, but a bit of intrigue glittered in her eyes.

“If we infiltrate the Death Cult, I can slowly convert our fellow cultists to zombies, and use them to further spread the zombification throughout the cult. Once we have enough of the cult zombified, we can start sowing the seeds of fear among the cult. Make them question who’s zombifying them. Who the true culprit is. Plant evidence on some high-rank cultist and then…” He waggled his brows.

Isa considered. At last, she stood and dusted her pants off. “It’s a bit crude, but it has the makings of a good plan. I certainly appreciate that you put some thought into this, rather than merely attempting to take on the Death Cult head-on. You’d certainly die if you tried that. Instead, you’re just somewhat certain to die.”

“What? Certain to die? And you were just going to let me?”

She shrugged. “It sounded amusing.”

Levi sighed. He shook his head. “Sending me to my death for your amusement. How original.”

“But I can’t enter the Death Cult like this. Someone would surely recognize me.” She stretched, leaning left, then right and bent over, touching her toes.

“So… you gonna turn into a bat, or something?”

Isa laughed. “Or something.” She lifted her cloak and spun it around her, obscuring her body from view. When it settled back around her shoulders, a younger, fresh-faced Isa stood before them. She was flat-chested and her hips were thin as well, and there was more muscle on her body than before.

Levi blinked. He looked Isa up and down, then turned over his shoulder at Colin. He pointed. “Is she a dude now?”

“Yes,” Isa said, in a deeper voice. “One of my skills lets me freely modify my body shape. I could have turned into a child, an elder… a wolf…”

“One of these things is not like the others,” Levi muttered.

Ignoring him, she continued. “I turned into a boy your age. The kind of person the cult recruits. And of course, I already have the mark.” She lowered her collar to her shoulder, showing him an identical skull mark to the one on his hand.

“Why a boy?” Levi asked.

“Because there are cultists who might remember what I looked like as a girl.” She touched her head, feeling her long hair, then frowned and focused. Her hair shortened to jaw length. Drawing out a ribbon, she tied it up into a very short ponytail. Long bangs hung to either side of her eyes. The resulting look reminded him of characters from colonial-era dramas, except she had natural dark hair in the place of a powdered wig.

She looked down at her baggy suit and frowned. Pinching and patting, she reshaped it to fit her new body. She changed its detailing, too, turning the fine suit into a much cruder, simpler one. In a few moments, a handsome boy in a slightly ragged suit stood before them.

“Fair enough. Er. Pronouns?”

Isa gave him a look. “I’m disguising myself as a boy. Obviously, use ‘he.’”

“Hey, just checking. It’s polite to check,” Levi said, shrugging. He paused again. “Even in private?”

“Nothing is private within the cult.”

Levi gasped. He staggered back and grabbed Colin’s shoulder.

Isa and Colin both looked at him. Colin sighed. “What?”

“We’ve downgraded to a sausage party,” Levi said, distraught.

Colin rolled his eyes.

“I’m still a woman. I’m just a man right now,” Isa pointed out.

“But physically. Wait. Physically…?” He squinted at Isa.

“No.”

“No? Not a sausage party?”

“No, you won’t find out,” Isa replied, grinning.

“Damn. Hey, speaking of. What’s your boy name?”

He tossed his hair—or tried to. It was too short to toss. “Isadore. You can carry on calling me Isa.”

“Convenient, having a masculine version of your name one letter away,” Levi remarked.

“Indeed it is. Not the first time I’ve taken a masculine form. I’ll have to reveal myself as a vampire sooner or later, but as long as I get past the entrance exam without being revealed, I’ll be fine. I doubt the low ranking members of the cult have been around long enough to remember my first time through. It’s only the older, high-ranking members who might recognize me.”

“Only the dangerous ones? Got it, got it.” Levi adjusted imaginary glasses and pretended to take notes. “Anything else?”

“This skill takes a great deal of mana, so don’t expect me to cast it at will. Only if you have an excellent reason to require shapeshifting, will I consider using it.”

Levi saluted. “Yes, sir!”

Isa gestured at the beds. “Go to sleep, so we can join the Death Cult.”

“Uh… let me dry out first,” Levi said, looking at himself.

Isa snapped his fingers. A wind gusted, blowing fiercely around Levi and Colin. It whipped their clothes against them and rushed through their hair. When it passed, their hair and clothes were both dry.

“Wow, thanks,” Levi said, looking over himself. He flopped down into the bed and curled up. “Nighty night.”