And like that, the air of comradery between the two groups was gone.

Thomas quickly shifted behind Darryl, who took out his shield and faced Corey. The hooligan was ironically the calmest person in the hallway, white knuckles being the only hint that he was ready for action. Bea mirrored Thomas and got behind her own big guy, drawing five cards out of thin air.

The two others, Tall and Small, were stranded amongst the rest of Darryl’s party, quickly standing back to back while drawing their respective weapons. Tall held his broadsword more as a shield, while Small slowly looked around for sudden movements.

Elise was the first of their group to react, pulling Alexa away and positioning herself between the kid and the others. Cuddles reacted a moment later, producing aggressive hawk squeaks while looking around. Fortunately, it clearly didn’t know who they were fighting or it would’ve attacked already.

Ben and Carter were slower to react. They both drew their weapons, but took a few heartbeats before they realised that Martin wasn’t their only foe. Remy didn’t, focusing entirely on Martin. Jude moved to cover his back, but the lack of weapons suggested that she couldn’t do much more than stand in the way of incoming attacks.

The last to react were Corey’s beta-team. Poncho had an arrow on his bow but didn’t yet draw, and Gunther pointed his pike, the tip shifting from target to target without lingering too long on anybody in particular. Seith and Earl were even slower to react, Seith by taking three steps back before he brandished a dark metal mace and Earl drawing his knife while needing a moment to realise that he might want to get up on his feet before the fight started.

Darryl glanced around. Everyone was mixed up, creating several fronts. Martin was standing the closest towards the camp up north, followed by the wall-talkers. Small and Tall were in the middle of that group, but more towards Darryl than Martin. Then there were Corey and Bea, standing in between Darryl and Thomas and the rest. And finally on the other side were the four beta-survivors.

Not an amazing layout for anyone, least of all Thomas. Darryl could only cover one side and Epsilon surrounded them, and too many of his team would have to get past those two hooligans that didn’t seem like they’d go down easy.

“Simmer down, Martin.” Corey bellowed. “No one here wants to fight the others, so don’t make us.”

“Shut up, you’re not the one in charge here, Corey! I am!” Martin snapped. “And I won’t fight anyone, as long as you don’t stand in my way!”

“We’re not going to just let you go!” Remy said. “You killed too many people for us to just believe you, to just let you guys do as you want!”

“Yeah! No one cares for your wants after what you did!” Carter said.

“Calm down, you lot! Especially you, Martin.” Corey said. “Acting like a madman will only make things worse.”

Martin didn’t listen. The description of a madman wasn’t misplaced, as he did look frantically confused and wide-eyed at the moment.

“No! No, no, no!” Martin said. “You’re going to stop me? No, I can’t allow for that to happen! I won’t let you keep me from seeing her! I’ve killed… These hands have taken four lives! I won’t let their deaths be over some misunderstanding! I won’t allow it! And I won’t allow you to corrupt my mission! I won’t allow you to stop me!”

Corey sighed. “If we’re going to fight, then invite everyone to your party first. These people shouldn’t have to bear the burden of being branded with skulls for killing your insane ass.”

Martin seemed confused at first, and then conflicted. The answer came from the other side of the hallway, though.

“Oh fuck you!” Gunther said. “You’ve been treating us like shit and we’ve had to earn everything ourselves, and now you’re helping these people to kill us easier? No, fuck you! Fuck your shit and fuck your selfish decisions! I’ve had it!”

There was some nervous scuttling around Gunther after that statement, but Seith added his voice to the rebellion and the other two seemed indecisive but not opposed.

“Martin! You’re a crazy son of a bitch, but you’ve done right by us!” Gunther said. “Meanwhile this asshole has been nothing but treating us like shit and expecting us to thank him for it! Fuck Corey, and fuck how he’s pretending to be in charge! You’re the team leader, Martin, so kick that bastard off his high throne!”

Martin seemed confused and conflicted for a moment, but then looked at Corey and there was a semblance of self-convincing in his eyes. “You have been acting as if you’re in charge. As if our last battle suddenly decided that I’m no longer the leader. We’ve had a deal, Corey. Remember?”

“I do, but I don’t recall agreeing to you being the actual boss!” Corey said. “You’re wearing that ring and giving us the tickets, but none of us sold our soul to your crazy cult for that! Especially if you, YOU of all people, flinch in the face of the dangers that this dungeon will throw at us!”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“I never planned…” Martin said. “No! I don’t need to explain myself to scum like you! Acting like you’re better than me, while killing people for the loot boxes all the same! Parading your violent past as if it’s a medal of honour! Trying to steer my mission to your whims and turning me into a puppet! You’re the demon corrupting my plans! Enough of it! Gunther is right! I’ll take back control, starting by getting rid of you!”

“The fuck are you talk-” Corey said.

Martin tapped his boots together, and teleported. Corey couldn’t even react before Martin appeared behind him, stabbing him at the same moment.

Corey swung around, his chained fist headed straight for Martin’s face. Before Martin grasped why his dagger failed to pierce Corey’s skin, his reflexes took over and made a shiny golden shield appear in his hands.

The shield flashed brightly as Corey’s fist connected, blinding Darryl before he could look away. Even his HUD disappeared, except for the status condition itself.

You’ve been blinded! 6 sec.

Seems like someone flashed you with something incredibly pale, ugly or bright! It might’ve been your father’s ass, untouched by the sun since the day he was born! Or maybe a picture of your stepmother’s feet! Whatever it is, blinding effects are rarely alone! So if you’re feeling something sharp in your chest, it’s probably not excitement!

Darryl shook his head to get rid of the stars dancing in front of his eyes, and vague blurs slowly became general shapes. Then he blinked a few times, and saw that everyone else was still blinded.

Martin hadn’t looked away from his own shield, and now slowly stepped back holding out his knife for Corey to walk into if the big lug would try to rush him blindly. Which he didn’t. Corey held a defensive position squinting through his eyes, ready to blindly retaliate if he were attacked. Behind him, Bea was covering her eyes with her arm as if she could retroactively block the light.

“Damn it, I forgot about those damned pants of yours.” Martin grunted. “Complete immunity to piercing damage is bullshit!”

There were a few people that hadn’t looked at the light, but no one really began fighting yet. Small was covering the blinded Tall, aggressively waving his lead pipe at Ben and Carter. Carter retaliated with aggressive jabs, but Ben turned to face Martin.

On their other side, Earl was asking the blinded Gunther what to do, but he and Seith didn’t seem inclined to take the initiative. But amongst those that were blinded, Darryl seemed to be the first to snap out of it.

“Thomas?”

“15 seconds left.” Thomas answered. “You?”

“Done.” Darryl said.

“Based on constitution, then.” Thomas said, trying to regain his composure despite the lost sense and ruckus around him.

“Go to your left and follow the wall.” Darryl said. “I don’t think Corey is going to attack us, so you should be safe going past him rather than staying in between Martin and Gunther.”

Thomas nodded and slowly walked towards the wall on his left. Once he found it, Darryl left him to his own and stepped to get in between Martin and Corey. The latter of which regained his sight, but found Darryl in his way before he could see what was going on.

“We’re not going to kill each other. None of us.” Darryl said. “You’re not getting past me.”

“No? You told that to Ben too?” Corey grunted and nodded to Martin.

It was one of the oldest tricks in the book, but Darryl looked when Corey told him to look behind him. And as it turned out, it wasn’t a trick.

“Ben, don’t!” Darryl said.

“Too late!” Ben said while reaching out to Martin, only for nothing to happen.

…

“Aw man, I was sure that was going to work.” Ben said. “Given how the dungeon doesn’t actually do random chance, I thought that I was going to take away that shield of his for sure. Or maybe his skull ring. But I just got some random ticket.”

Martin turned around and wildly lashed out to Ben, his sight only partly restored. “You! Give it back! Give me back her ticket!”

“Dude, chill!” Ben said, easily dodging back. “So I tried to pickpocket you, sure, but I failed. I drew some random expired ticket anyway. It’s of no use to you now anyhow.”

Martin lunged at Ben, who jumped back. The next slash was parried by Ben’s Rendering Knife, but Martin didn’t let up. He overextended as he kept slashing and stabbing at Ben leaving himself wide open, but without a desire to kill the old man Ben could do nothing but fall back and dodge.

“No! Not her! I won’t let you!” Martin said, almost frothing at the mouth.

With a few quick leaps, Ben got behind Darryl, who readied his shield. Martin ran at him, but stopped a few steps away. His eyes darted from Darryl to Corey, who stepped past Darryl and was ready to strike if Martin got too close.

“Give it back!” Martin shouted, almost desperately. Too desperately.

“Ben, is that Kate’s ticket?” Darryl asked, thinking about all the possibilities that could rattle the old man this much.

“Kate Shatner, yeah.” Ben said, taking out the small green strip of paper. “How did you know that?”

“She’s Martin’s daughter-in-law. He mentioned that before, back when he was preaching his grand plan in the Safe Zone.” Darryl said.

“Damn. It doesn’t excuse your behaviour, dude, but condolences.” Ben said.

“What?” Martin said, paling a little. “You don’t- What?”

“She’s dead?” Darryl asked.

“The ticket says so, yeah. Killed by a vespa about four hours ago.” Ben said.

“No. It can’t be. The tickets don’t say…” Martin said, his eyes distant as he browsed through his inventory reading descriptions. Then he gasped, looking as if someone punched the wind out of him.

“Sorry, but yeah…” Ben said softly. He handed the ticket to Martin, who immediately swept it out of his hand.

“No…” Martin said. “No! All of this… All of what I did was for her… To protect… To…”

Darryl could almost hear it, the sound of Martin hitting rock bottom. Of him hitting it hard and relentlessly.

“No! No, no, no, NO!” Martin said, falling to his knees clutching the ticket with both hands as if it was trying to escape. “If she’s gone, then… She was all I had left. I was doing this so I could protect her, and… If she’s dead, then what…”

“What the hell does it all matter, then?” Martin whimpered. “Why am I even doing all this. Why…”

On their one side, the not quite battle ended as Elise and Carter stopped facing off against Small and Tall, and even Gunther’s side stopped pumping themselves up to fight.

Everyone looked at the crying old man in their midst, snottering on the dungeon floor as the last shard of his old life had been violently ripped away from him.