It always amazed me how productive evil could be. When you cut corners and didn’t care who you had to step on to steal materials or labor... anything was possible. The knowledge that the Crimson Shadow had managed to produce some manner of fortifications in however many short days was as impressive as it was tiring. Breaking things down didn’t seem like the ‘good guy’ thing to do. They were trying to clog up the System and cause errors in the process of things, and it was up to us to destroy their foul machinations at any cost - in the hopes the System might notice and reward us.

We switched to traveling off the side of the road. It was slower going, but we would hopefully avoid any potential traps. Ren was still a little sour at being called names, despite being the good cop. I was a little sour at not taking the man apart limb by limb, despite being the bad cop. Truth was, I let the sensible Max take the reins. Show to run and yada yada. Other than giving us the brief satisfaction of hurting someone who had hurt us, the man had a greater role he could play being intact. I could be cold, but to let sadism in was a short road into staring into the abyss.

I told Wolf it was a one-time thing, but I don’t think any of us truly believed it. The heavy sling at his side was a testament to how macabre things truly were. How I truly was. If we got through this day, then it just meant the cycle would repeat, surely. Bigger problems for our stronger hands and harder hearts. Perhaps I was giving this more noir overtones than it deserved, but as the dark clouds rolled overhead and brought gloom to the sight before us, I figured the set pieces were pretty on-point. Had to stick to the theme, naturally.

Once again, I found myself shuffling over dirt and wild grass like a worm, attempting not to dirty my suit right before the opening act. It had already been bloodied by the scout, so seemed like a moot point. A small rise in the terrain would offer us a glimpse of what loomed ahead - even though the rough battlements were starting to show between the trees. Normally I tried not to peek out into the audience prior to a performance, but when they held something more dangerous than a poor review over your head, it paid to be well informed.

Ren writhed along aside me - although further away than usual. Whether that was to try to conceal our rather overt costumes better, or she just wanted us to go into this with cooler minds… I didn’t know. Perhaps I should invest in a more covert outfit if we found ourselves the saboteurs on the regular. Put a purple handprint on our foreheads.

The bridge came into view as we crept to the crest of the muddied embankment - or rather; it didn’t. Hastily constructed, a ramshackle fort had been built up around it, obscuring the path across the river. The latter being much wider and faster flowing than I imagined - putting the more sensible option of crossing it elsewhere to bed. The System had designed a funnel, and the Shadows were now blocking it. We were up on the right-hand side, looking down at the construction at an angle.

A barred gatehouse sat in front of the bridge itself. Perhaps they intended to ferry materials, or worse, across the border. There was a higher floor above it to look out over the road, with a roofed area open to the air that was empty aside from one small awning where two figures sat playing… cards, I hoped. I still didn’t have a full normal deck. Either side of the central gatehouse were two extensions with two or three floors each. Slim openings instead of windows, enough to fire arrows through. As we were peering over to the right of the structure, I couldn’t see the entrance to the left side - but on the right there was an open doorway almost at the back of the building, nothing too easily breached. A grand structure, in some ways, even if it did look like a stiff breeze would collapse it.

Three figures stood around the back opening, discussing something, while a wagon and several crates sat beside them. Not only did it not look like the most sturdy of buildings, but it was entirely made from wood - aside from the gatehouse bars. They couldn’t be so blind as to not have something to protect against fire. Surely? The scout had mentioned a barrier or something, so any attack we attempted by range was likely to be thwarted. I imagined a dome held up by some spellcaster in a similar manner to the camp we had attacked. That left us one option. Well, actually, two...

We slunk backwards out of sight again. Back to the waiting bear as he watched us patiently. Although they might not be on high alert due to their scout not reporting anything, it’d be a big disadvantage to be spotted before the show had even started. Especially if there were almost two dozen Shadows in there - or more. We needed every upper hand we could grab hold of.

“Thoughts?” Ren whispered to me as the three of us gathered, sitting down amidst the darkening woods.

“We need to kill any spellcasters first, reduce their defenses.” I rubbed at my chin. “My guess is they’d be above the gatehouse.”

Ren scowled at me. “With the barrier up, I can’t protect you. Not from range and not if you are indoors.”

“We’ll get bogged down in melee if we try to do it head on from the outset.” I understood her frustrations. My option put me out of reach, alone, to fend for myself. Foolish? Perhaps. Bullshit? Inevitable. "That's why I need to take the spellcaster out before anything else."

“Fine. Assuming you don’t throw your life away playing hero, you’ll give us a signal when the barrier is down? I can then hit it with a flame arrow and Wolf can start mauling through the confusion?”

“Sounds like a plan,” I grinned.

“Sounds like bullshit,” she murmured in response.

There was a calm that sunk over me. Normally there would be a brief moment of elation before stepping out on stage, the overwhelming brightness of the overhead lights and roar of the crowd sending adrenaline and dopamine flooding through my system. Nothing now. I didn’t want to impress my audience. I wanted them dead and for me to be flourishing above their surprised corpses. Manifesting.

I turned my gaze away from the pouting elf. “You okay with that, Wolf? Ren will help you get into the building and then you have free rein.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

He nodded. “Don’t die, Max.”

“Ah." I stood up and stretched my back out. “They didn’t appear to have any horses, so I’ll be practically invincible.”

“Don’t try to fist fight Jokkar either.” Ren stood and admonished me. “If he is built like a tank, then trying your tricks will just get you turned into mincemeat.”

Wolf licked his lips.

I withdrew a crossbow into each hand and gave her a tired smile. Despite agreeing to keep things cool until the day was done, part of me still wanted to give a cliche goodbye. Hold or kiss her and tell her I'd be fine. That would be unfair to us both, not knowing truly what was in store. Her eyes were full of concern, and I could see things were going unsaid behind her eyes, too. I gave her a nod. We were both smart enough to read behind the lines.

"Break a leg," I said, with a brief bow to them both.

And then I vanished.

An abrupt rush of air, and then I was atop the battlements. Crossbow triggers pulled toward the shocked faces of the Dazzled guards sitting under the awning as they were trying to catch a glance at the odd colored bird that was just there. The first one took the bolt straight through the neck. The second had a defensive skill that activated just in time and he moved, taking it to the shoulder. In panic, he stood to draw his weapon and went to lean on the chair to come toward me. Chair went straight into my Inventory, and he fell forward, now supported by nothing. Got a good view of my dagger - a little close-up magic that left him wide-eyed. Well, one of them, anyway.

I withdrew it from his socket as he dropped to the floor. Scooped up the playing cards in to my stash to arrange later. They had a different back design, which was frustrating. There was a downward staircase behind me, nearer the back of the fort, which should lead to the floor above the taller gatehouse. I dismissed the dove and narrowed my eyes. Couldn’t see the others out in the woods - which was good. They needn’t get involved until the alarm was raised.

Into my hand, the lit torch, which I dropped to the floor. No oil or accelerant, unfortunately, but the match was struck. Burning the place down from afar and then picking through the rubble had been a consideration - but if they had a mage or other way to put out the fire, then that would be a losing battle once more. The only option was to go all out. Get as close to the danger as our mortality would allow.

Speaking of which… I dropped an Imp+ card and was briefly shocked to see that instead of the pudgy ball demon, they were now a foot taller and in better shape. Still deep red skin, a little tuft of black hair between stubby black horns. Long tail with a barbed end, pitchfork in one hand. I gave him a brief bow and gestured toward the far side of the battlements. On my signal. He nodded and plodded over.

Roger burst from the corpse of the one I had given an impromptu eye exam. He opened his mouth, but quickly closed it in seeing my finger to my lips. From my Inventory I withdrew his mace and handed it over. With a gesture, he followed as I walked over to the stairs. Murmured voices could be heard from below. The quick scuffle up here hadn't alerted them, and I hoped a short burst of violence could silence those below just as easily. Shouldn't wish too hard. I took a breath and powered up a card in my hand.

We descended and came into a wide room dimly lit by a sparse number of wall-mounted lanterns. A handful of figures, two in robes by the far wall looking out the front of the fort - both seemed to be holding a spell each. Another leaned against the wall on the far left by a doorway where someone else was standing and relaying some information. Each of them in drab clothing with a crimson hand-print on their foreheads. The final figure, dressed in thick leathers, was right by the bottom of the stairs. He didn’t seem to be too pleased with my unannounced presence.

His brow furrowed in brief confusion. “Intruder!” he yelled, pushing forward and slashing out at me with an ability.

I backed against the wall of the stairs, Card Fan+ illuminating my vision as the shield of larger magical cards barely absorbed the blow. Any brief thanks to my foresight for upgrading that skill was interrupted as Roger leaped down the stairs and struck the man with his mace. The pair of them both crumpled to the floor in a mass of struggling limbs.

The card I had fired off had gone astray during the interruption, and as one panicked male wizard went to move behind the two Shadows near the doorway, the other spellcaster stood in shock. A crimson gash across the side of her face. I flung a split card toward her as I dove over Roger and his opponent, landing into a roll across the wooden floor. The woman had recovered enough composure to bring up a shield to protect from my attack and they were deflected.

I spun back up to my feet with a twirl of my cape, blocking the sword swung by the approaching fighter from the door as my spear appeared into my hands.

“You got some fuckin’ balls trying this,” the man growled from behind a thick red beard.

“Oh, you don’t even know.” I grinned, as purple electricity began sparking along my arms. The man stepped back, a skill empowering his weapon for the follow-up. Panic flashed across his face as his footing slipped - the floor by my feet now full of marbles.

Dagger in hand, I went to step toward him, before my feet burst into ice, pinning me to the floor. I raised an eyebrow at the female spellcaster to the right. “Really?”

Either this meant that the male wizard was holding the protective enchantments up, or they had dropped them in favor of killing me. I couldn’t take either assumed answer as fact.

“Brett, go raise the alarm,” the red-bearded man growled at the other combatant who was trying to get a gauge on me with a ranged weapon.

I also couldn’t allow that. Clapped my hands together to vanish the spear and instead I held a blood vial in each hand. Immediately caught of all their attention as there was no denying that I held what they coveted most. They could almost sense it, like hot meat to a grizzly bear. I started juggling them. All eyes on me. I held a small hessian bag out as the glass bottles flipped through the air and caught them with a slight clink. Threw it over toward the stairs.

No eyes on me. Lots of Dazzle icons though. What a great crowd. The man closest to me stepped forward and bent over towards the small bag. It had been fun, but now it was time for a brief .

As lights illuminated and crackled through the room, I rolled across the back of the hunched man. Poured all my remaining mana into a card in the process and flung it at the stunned wizard by the door. Straight into the middle of his head. As he dropped, I ran at the one meant to be raising the alarm, leaping from a conjured chair to come down on him with the black-bladed sword. With what meagre Strength the System told me I had, I slammed it down through his chest. Shocked that I found a place between ribs and into his internal organs, but not as much as he was.

I turned to see the bloodied and broken Roger slam his mace into the head of the bearded man, the stun wearing off a second too late for the Shadow to react. His body convulsed as he dropped before my demon gave him a second strike to the back of the head, finishing him off. Behind him, the bloodied eye-sockets of the prior combatant gave away he had taken in his fill of the show. And Roger's thumbs.

With a thought, I unsummoned him from this plane, his energy evaporating just before a spear of magical energy pierced the puppet’s skull.

“Rude.” I tutted and shook my head. A card of bright purple blazed in my hand as I glared at the woman. “No interruptions during the show, please.”

As the magical card turned a bright white, I gave the Imp+ the signal.