Chuck hummed to himself, something tuneless, while his eyes occasionally went into his Architect STAR menu - before back to the fight.

The zombie rolled her eyes and tutted. “The fight of the century, and you’re too busy staring at your phone.”

“What can I say? I’m a workaholic.” He glanced at her and smiled. “I’ve honestly never seen Dent on the back foot so much. Refreshing, in a way.”

Sally pulled a face. “The more the fight drags on, the angrier Humphrey is getting that he can’t come and tell fangs off for smooching with me.”

“If only our enemies of the past year or two were worthy of facing his full wrath, rather than him saving his energy for being mad that his adoptive adult daughter has a normal… has a stable relationship.” Chuck grimaced at using the word normal to describe them, before changing tact. “I don’t know where he gets any of it from.”

“Strange how the Uniques are vaguely well-adjusted, considering. Like their education and pre-built life experiences must come from somewhere, right?”

The Architect nodded as the flash of blades reflected in his eyes. “Uniques are borne from something in the fabric of our System. Despite us having control over most things Monster related, new ones just keep popping up here and there.”

“Like fully grown babies.”

Chuck grunted. “The errors they have are less extreme and varied compared to the ‘older’ Uniques, but we accept them as they are. As one of us.”

“Softy.” She smiled and nudged him with her elbow. “I’m glad the power hasn’t gone to your head. Archie doing okay? He hasn’t shown up since I got back from our new island.”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah.” He closed away his intangible windows to focus on the arena. “He’s been almost as full on with tinkering as I have. We… well, let’s save the business talk for tomorrow?”

Sally nodded, but narrowed her eyes at him. If she didn’t know any better, it sounded like they had something new going on - or at least their meeting would be going in a different direction than she had been anticipating.

“Just one thing, though. You’re not going to drop us after the meeting, right?”

He shook his head. “If you’re eager, then the day after.”

She exhaled through her nose until her lungs were fully empty. Just two short days.

----------------------------------------

Dent had never sweated this much in his life. Fire coursed through his muscles as adrenaline was burning away. Fights were usually long decided by this point, even ignoring the wounds he had sustained.

Yet he was having the time of his life.

Expecting the Death Knight to run out of steam after his initial burst had petered out had been a mistake. For he had not. Like a steam engine, his lack of victory was just adding more coal to the furnace. He didn’t seem to tire, and had all but ignored the damage wrought to his armor.

Dent narrowed his eyes. If he didn’t do something soon, then he’d lose just due to attrition. Sally’s sword was uncomfortable to wield, even in his mechanical hand. He was unused to the weight, and he doubted she had even sharpened it since acquiring it. Still, only a bad craftsman blamed their tools.

This blade had a destiny to fulfill, after all. He was the Will of Blade, and just a courier to deliver it to its final resting place.

Unless he died first.

As their swords clashed and he rolled away from a potentially devastating upswing, he decided it was high time to get this finished up. After all, there was only one way this could end. While Humphrey didn’t exactly have a set routine, there were a number of directional attacks he preferred. Mostly because of the size and reach of the weapon - it was easy to keep Dent far away and on the defensive with the continual strikes.

Their swords rang against each other as clouds of dust gathered around their movements. It was all about movement and expectation. They’d both fallen into a rhythm - a stalemate intended to wear him down. A mistake was more likely than an opening - oh, and there it was.

Dent’s footing slipped on the loose sand, worn thin by their constant movements. The Death Knight saw the opportunity and twisted his blade to bring it down on the swordsman.

A last-ditch attempt to dodge - or so it seemed.

The greatsword bit into his shoulder, tearing through flesh and shattering the bone from the impact. His left arm split and dropped from his body as he slid to a stop, close to the plated figure.

Humphrey looked down at him. “Huh. How very unlike you.”

With a smile, Dent took a couple of steps back, leaving Sally’s sword embedded in place in the Death Knight’s chest. A pained look darkened any elation he felt at winning. “Holyyyy shit, this hurts,” he whispered, trying to maintain composure. “How the hell did she continue fighting after this?”

Humphrey did not reply. Instead, the large, plated figure dropped to his knees and deflated to the ground. His sword gave off a soft thud as it found a place to rest.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

[Dent wins!]

The fanfare was deafening as the crowd cheered. Dent couldn’t really enjoy it as much as he’d like, as he felt cold and wished for the teleportation to take him away already so that he could be healed. Ironic that he’d need to use one of Sally’s moves to fell Humphrey, but it was so out of his normal style that it was the only way to surprise the angered figure.

With one last pained bow, he got his wish and was taken away from the arena.

----------------------------------------

Theo blinked his eyes and frowned. This was no longer the field that he had fallen asleep in. Perhaps Sally was playing a trick on him - oh, no. He was in the VIP Suite again. The ambient sounds and smells of the place were familiar.

He wondered how the fights were progressing. How long did he even sleep for?

As he turned his head, the wide figure of the Death Knight was sitting right beside him. An intense glare in his empty sockets. The red flame behind his helmet flickered back and forth.

“…Hello,” the vampire said, his eyes looking around the room to see if anyone else was still present. Didn’t seem like it. The tournament was perhaps long over, as darkness now seeped in through the window.

Humphrey exhaled through his clenched teeth. “I just wanted to have a little chat with you, Theo. About what you’ve been getting up to with that tongue of yours.”

“Oh.” He pursed his lips together and raised an eyebrow. “You’ll have to be a little more specific.”

The crimson flame rose even higher.

----------------------------------------

Sally smiled to herself as she stared up at the plain ceiling of Lucius’ office. For the rest of the day yesterday, the Death Knight refused to speak with Theo, and wouldn’t even look her in the eye. She probably shouldn’t enjoy winding everyone up so much, but they’d forgive her in time. Chuck said he would speak with Humphrey, so hopefully the meeting later wouldn’t be too awkward.

The Shade tapped his pencil on his pad. “How did you find the tournament yesterday?”

“It was fun.” She squirmed on the long couch. “I think if the rules weren’t so boring, then I would have won. Maybe I’ll ask Chuck if we can do this every so often, but mix it up.”

“Good distraction from thinking of leaving? Last time we spoke, you said you weren’t looking forward to missing everyone.”

“Mmm.” It was no secret that she had more fun when she was around her friends and associates. That had been part of their fight - to make a world they could all be safe and live happily ever after. Now she wanted to chew on bigger problems once again. But… alone?

She sighed. “Honestly, it’s not even working away from home that is getting me blue. It’s… well, I don’t do very well on my own. I need grounding, so I don’t act like such a villain.”

Lucius nodded and a thumbs up emoji appeared beside him. “That is part of why Chuck wanted you to have Archie, rather than being completely solo.”

“I suppose he can always point me at worlds that need an anti-hero that errs on the side of villainy.”

“Has he mentioned at all what you’ll be up against?”

“No.” She sighed and crossed her arms. “Both he and Dent have been tightlipped about what they’ve been up to. All he mentioned was that I have a phrase to bring me back here in an emergency, rather than having to find some way to die.”

Sweat drops appeared in the air. “That’s ominous.”

“Makes sense.” She smiled and closed her eyes. “I’ll be going to wild and broken worlds. There’s bound to be things that would make even me tap out.”

“I shudder to think.”

Sally was amused at how Dent had used such an unorthodox attack as to give up his arm to create an opening where he could stab the Death Knight in the heart. Despite losing most of his other arm back in the fight against Ruben, it still shook him to have that amount of bodily harm wrought upon him.

She had been lucky to avoid dismemberment throughout her pre-world-saved career. As a zombie, she wasn’t too sure how it would even work. Could she just staple a new arm on and it’d work? Would she have been stuck without? The new worlds wouldn’t have the luxury of regeneration auras or respawning back whole again, she was sure of that. If she became too maimed, or was trapped, or imprisoned… it was nice to have a get out of jail free card. Assuming she kept her tongue, anyway.

“Other than that, I’ve been pretty swell, Lucy. The last few days have been fun, and as uncertain as the future is… I’m ready for it.”

“That’s fantastic, Sally.” Lucius made some notes on his page. “Now if we could just-”

“Montage!”

----------------------------------------

The zombie swung her feet back and forth alternatively as she sat in the waiting room of the Architect’s Tower. Theo was beside her, his eyes closed behind his crimson glasses. They had perhaps expected Lana or one of the other employees to be manning the reception desk, but they had arrived and been left to their own devices. While usually this was a recipe for disaster, she was far too distracted by the potential details of the meeting.

“Not like them to make us wait,” she murmured.

Theo stretched out and put his arm around her. “No doubt they’ve got something interesting planned for us, but aren’t sure if it’s too soon.”

“Well, I’m antsy.” She leaned into him. “I just want to murder and carve open skulls already.”

“We can go train later?”

“Ugh, training.” She pulled a face. “Let’s see what they say first.”

As if they had been heard, the door hissed open and Dent stuck his head in. “Alright, come on in, you two.”

Into the larger meeting room with the round table, the pair sat at the closest end. Opposite them was Chuck, with Archie laying about atop the table surface, while Dent walked around to sit beside the Architect.

“Morning to you both. Humphrey will be joining us a little later, but I wanted you both in first for a couple of things.”

“How is pops after your talk?” Sally shot the vampire an awkward glance.

Chuck cleared his throat. “He is… fine. You’ll find he is less prudish about your… relationship. That’s as far as I am willing to discuss that subject. For all eternity.”

Sally nodded her head slowly. Leaving it up to her imagination was a bad idea, but thankfully her mind was pretty blank with the actual subject of their meeting about to seep from the lips of the man opposite. The Death Knight would need to learn to accept Theo eventually. The undead side of her found the living gross, and the human side of her found the undead unpalatable. The vampire was the perfect match in that he was just as split as her.

The Architect rubbed his hands together and furrowed his brow, looking between Dent and the cat before back at the undead pair.

“One of the hardest decisions about going to other worlds is… which are worth it. Not only in regards to... the selfish points about the scale of the land or what we could acquire. We also consider the state of their System and any present Players. Threat level plays a part…”

“What Chuck is trying to say,” Dent interrupted, “is that there are a hundred and one options, and only two of you.”

Chuck nodded. “Instead of laboring with you the decision making, we are just going to present what option we feel is best—all things considered—and you can give us a yes or no.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Sally said and shrugged. Theo nodded along with that statement.

“Great. Then we have this for you consideration, Sally.” He brought out a folder and placed it on the table, ready to send it across to her.

Dent shuffled. “And also this, for you to consider, Theo.” The swordsman placed another folder on the large table.

“Two folders?” Sally narrowed her eyes.