My hands went to my hips as I stood and pulled a face at the assassin. Despite the weather being pleasant, there was now a singular dark cloud hanging over the appearance of this man standing casually in front of us and promising death.

“Well,” I said, “I appreciate you being forthright. Are you planning on doing it right now… or is there some sort of foreboding quota you need to meet?”

A glance over to Ren and she didn’t look too pleased, either. Hadn’t drawn her weapon, but I knew it was only a short second that she’d need to try to put a bullet through him.

“You’ll be happy to know I’m declining the contract.” Leon smiled and leaned back against the stone wall.

I nodded slowly, unsure if this was still a bit. “So you came here to tell us, because…?”

“Oh, you misunderstand.” He smiled. “Up until this very moment when I greeted you, I had the full intention of assassinating you. However, now that I see you all, I have changed my mind.”

“Sudden burst of empathy?”

“Self-preservation, actually.” He rubbed at his nose and gave each of us a once-over. “Two of you I could take, easily. The bear… maybe if I could keep him at range. But you two…” he pointed between Ren and I. “Not a chance - especially if all of you are working as one.”

I exchanged a glance with Ren. She mirrored my current disbelief that our potential killer would be so forward - the alarm signaling caution in the back of my head was loud enough to drown out my ego bristling at his silvered words. Might be pragmatic to kill him, but that seemed like paranoia trying to shuffle in front of the controls.

“Was it the Lady in Red who gave you the contract?” Quinn asked, not looking too pleased to be one of the easy marks.

“Not something I can answer, friend. You seem like intelligent folk, however.” His eyes went back to me. “Quick with your hands too. Two magical spells out while my attention wasn’t on you. A bird above me, and an attack that is powering up behind you.”

“I like to be well prepared,” I replied. Impressive that he had caught them both, despite me being certain he wasn’t paying attention.

“Indeed. Max, isn’t it? This just goes to further drive home that my decision was a smart one.” He put his hands on his hips and grinned. “I do enjoy it when I am correct.”

Ren crossed her arms. “Can we hire you? To kill the Lady?”

“Yes, and no.” He raised an eyebrow. “She is just as dangerous as you and surrounded by twice as many competent people. I will decline that outright.”

If not to kill us, and not to trick us or use a sneaky way to get rid of one or two of us… what was his game here? Maybe he was fishing for work, and figured we might have something worth his time.

“How about this, then?” I allowed the card held behind my back to vanish away. “A bounty on anyone who has joined with the Crimson Shadow?”

He nodded slowly, his eyes going back and forth. “What are you offering?”

I shrugged. “As many dead bodies as all the gold I own can buy?”

Leon rolled his eyes. “Gold is pretty worthless. Power Tokens are preferable.”

With a tut, Ren shook her head. “Ah. So that you can get more powerful and take on the Lady’s contract afterward? She probably wouldn’t mind you killing off her minions if we died at the end.”

What social graces and faux friendliness the man had thrown in front of us from the outset seemed to be waning. Perhaps we were a little too smart… or this was some manner of test. Part of me didn’t trust anyone who had the slightest notion of killing us. I looked behind the curtain to see what this performance was really about.

A solo player not aligned with the Lady, who had been making a living as a contracted assassin? The metal pole groaned under the weight of all those red flags. There can’t have been that many clients before the Crimson Shadow started to gather in the world, and traveling alone was a recipe for danger.

I could thread plenty of assumptions together, but as of yet, there wasn’t much to show for my efforts. An empty tapestry. While Ren haggled on pricing, I allowed the world to dull around me as I tried to look for… the sparks.

Some sign of the other game afoot. Movements or the hint of magic. Eyes from odd angles. Something worse hidden away or gathering intel on us. Being static was a mistake - our time being wasted at the least.

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Nothing particularly odd about our location. Cobbled road had no raised parts or discoloration. The wall behind Leon was too short and decrepit to be hiding a full Party - unless they were all exceptionally small. Even then, Wolf would be able to smell them. I glanced over at the bear to read his current expression.

He seemed on edge. Not particularly aggressive toward the man standing in front of us… but he could sense something wasn’t right.

“Why don’t we walk and talk?” I suggested, gesturing down the path and interrupting whatever the group had been talking about.

Leon shrugged. “The day is nice, friend. I’m in no rush while it’s peaceful here in the shade.”

“You won’t negotiate while we’re on the move?”

His tongue ran across his teeth. “I’m sure we can come to an agreement shortly. Then you are free to do as you please.”

There was his mistake. Subtle, but something changed in his eyes - if only briefly. His mind was cycling through an inner monologue that was telling him to keep us here. But be subtle about it. He was being affable enough, for certain.

“Perhaps you’re right.” I smiled. “We’ve had a rough week and I get testy when tired.”

I watched the story play out before me, even as my ears put the next bullshit from his mouth on mute. Two icons appeared over his head, plain as day for me - again, I had been underestimated.

Physical Damage Resist. Explosive Damage Negation.

[Max: Showtime imminent.]

[Ren: Understood.]

Her reply came back almost as instantly as mine sent out - more fuel for the assumption she had taken my Inventory manipulation skill. I thought it might be fair that I’d take some of hers too - although I didn’t know what I’d really make use of from her abilities.

“Sorry, one question, Leon,” I interrupted again. “Was it worth it?”

His mouth opened and closed, a frown across his eyes. “What?”

“Dying for a cause you’re not even part of.”

An explosion rocked the area - high up in the sky. My cannon spun away from the object it had intercepted, a stream of dark smoke hissing from its damaged shell as it careened off into the treeline.

“Shit,” Leon said, and went to move.

Ren already had her rifle out, her shot cracking out toward him. A spray of blood painted the gray stone wall as he blurred away - not quite fast enough to dodge a bullet. His skill had him moving quick, but before he could get out of the area, he tripped on some stone debris I had made invisible, hitting his head on a reappearing tree that had the same treatment.

I shook the pain from my hand in extending the size limitations further than I should, as Wolf stomped down on the man’s head.

“Came from the north,” I said, stretching my neck from side to side. “He planned to keep us in place and bomb us from afar. Resistances so that he’d survive.”

Ren kept her eyes on that direction, her foot up on part of the wall as she stared down the scope. “And the cannon?”

“The card behind me was actually a mundane one. When I sent the dove up, I gave it the cannon card to hold with it's feet. He could sense the energy but not the right location. Activated it when I had… a feeling. Actually blocking the projectile was just luck.”

Tanya swore under her breath. “Good to know our continued existence runs off of random acts of chance… but then, what’s new?”

With a tearing noise, Wolf removed the would-be assassin’s head from the rest of his body, but spat it out. He’d been a lot better about his dietary choices lately, and his health had improved in bounds. Back to the energy levels when we had first met him.

Quinn had his eye narrowed out to the sun-kissed woods, hand resting against his Class weapon - the once-a-day explosive boomerang. “Should we chase them down?”

“No point.” I shook my head. “They’d be running if they were smart, and setting up a trap if they weren’t.”

“Allow me.” Ren stepped away from the wall. “Been wanting to try this… if I fuck it up and die, then I love you, Max.”

I raised an eyebrow and watched her remove her hat. Hand went in and she withdrew a pure white dove, setting it free immediately. The realization of what she was about to do hit me a little too slowly as I was busy patting myself on the back, knowing that she most likely did take my summon skill.

Ren vanished, and the dove appeared in her place. My heart dropped straight through my stomach and onto the ground. Eyes went up to the sky to see her floating there, rifle up. A blast rang out from the long gun, before a deep rumbling shook the earth further away.

As she started to fall, she switched back onto ground level, spinning in place out of balance before falling into my arms.

“Bet you thought I didn’t have the upgrade that allows me to switch back, huh?” Her bright blue eyes were burning with excitement, a shit-eating grin across her face.

“Caught me,” I said, too flustered to put up a lie. I stood her back up to her feet, and she gestured back to the woods with her thumb.

“No chance I’d hit one of the idiots even with my accuracy, so I just shot their explosives stockpile instead.”

I peered back into the sky, where dust clouds of dark gray had started to rise in the distance. Looks like they might have even set a fire off.

“Can’t just have one normal day,” Tanya said as she shook her head. “Let’s get moving then. This area makes me antsy.”

“Lead the way, Wolf.” I nodded to the bear, and he turned back to the road. Sure - the rest of Leon’s Party might be an issue for us in the future, but we weren’t about to chase down everyone that hated us. We’d given them a second chance to live a better life… and stay out of our way.

Assuming they hadn’t just been exploded or burned to death, at least.

I put my arm around Ren as she put her rifle away. “So. Summoning, Transposition and return, Sleight of Hand... and?”

“Mana Manipulation.” She pouted. “It allows me to dump mana into my heals and shields to make them stronger, which is pretty overpowered.”

“But you were hoping to be able to take some of the cooler things?”

“You have so much bullshit,” she said and sighed. “But I’m happy with my choices.”

I was about to ask what she had given up to copy over those abilities, when Tanya called me over. She was kneeling down by the headless body - checking to see if there was anything worth looting.

“You’ll want to see this.” She held up an envelope.

“From the Lady?” Had to be. I stepped over and took it from her with a brief nod. Just as I was about to pop the seal, Quinn stepped to my side and placed his hand on it.

“There is a curse on it. Do not move,” he said, sweat starting to form on his brow.