Spotting the Xian amongst the crowd of gathered Heroes wasn’t difficult. For one, they were all dressed in the most ridiculous, over-the-top outfits that made Pechorin’s bright gold and white musketeer disguise look like funeral wear. Using the Use-Rankings, he identified the two men—both wearing multiple layers of robes, jackets, and shirts covered in numerous useless buttons and zippers to nowhere—as Windwalker and Petyr. The two women with them, Haalia and Anastasia, barely had clothes on at all. Every inch of skin that could justify an Ero-Art number was left exposed.

The other thing that made the Xian easy to identify was that they were swarmed by a group of Heroes angry with them for blowing away the dormitory. The perpetrators themselves seemed unconcerned about the mob accusing them of sacrificing their teammates and friends for no reason.

“They will respawn in the morning, same as always, fools,” Windwalker said, his voice deep and resonant like a bison. Rarely did the Yishang allow a male Hero to have a deep voice, so the exceptions were notable.

The crowd didn’t seem to believe him that the special event deaths weren’t permanent, a point which Anastasia responded to by brandishing an FDJ rod and threatening to give them a real death. The rest quieted down after that, though not before Pechorin was able to slip himself into the crowd by imitating their anger.

“Any more problems? No? Good. Anastasia, Petyr, and Haalia are going to section you off into teams and you’re going to search every inch of the Mage’s College until you find the rest of those scientists. Understood?” Windwalker said.

One of the Heroes who disagreed charged out of the crowd and struck him with an FDJ rod. The other Heroes gasped in horror while Windwalker’s teammates burst out laughing. The assassin, who Pechorin recognized as Shinshuu, the Wood Samurai who attacked them in al-Nuwba years ago, stood dumbfounded. A moment later, it was made clear why Windwalker’s teammates were so amused as he respawned back on the surface. Pechorin noted that.

“Xian are immune to dimension-jumping,” Windwalker said, stepping toward Shinshuu who was now cowering in front of him. The rod dropped from her shaking hands. “But you’re not.”

In the blink of an eye Windwalker drew his own rod, deliberately shortened to fit inside his flowing robes, and killed Shinshuu. No one else made a similar attempt, least of all Pechorin who realized his own assassination attempt was going to be a bit trickier than expected. The remaining Heroes were ordered into groups of four. The intact teams stayed together while those who had lost one or more of their friends—including to Windwalker himself—were grouped into ad hoc teams of whoever was left.

“You! Goldie! Over there!” Haalia ordered.

The group he was lumped in posed a problem. Two of the three members Pechorin had never seen or heard of before and would be completely unaware of who he was. However, the third, Gunhilda, was another 1st-gen Hero.

Pechorin had a plethora of options for resolving this conundrum and decided it might be fun to gamble the fate of the world on the most dangerous. Walking up to the team he was assigned to, he grabbed Gunhilda by the arm and gestured to a spot a few yards away. She was smaller and more childish compared to most Heroes, complete with blue, drill-shaped pigtails, but her high-pitched voice carried over crowds.

“H-Hey! What are you— Pe—?”

He slapped his hand over her mouth until they were out of earshot of the others.

“Yes, it is I, Pechorin,” Pechorin said.

“I— I’m glad to see you, but why the manhandling?” she asked.

“Because, I am in disguise.”

She looked Pechorin up and down in his bright gold musketeer outfit. “ But uh… why?”

She was also, as Pechorin was now recalling, not the most intelligent Hero.

“I am part of the resistance to the Yishang,” he whispered.

Gunhilda blinked. “Oh… why?”

“Because they are lying to you all and they intend to shut down the— err, to plunge the world into eternal darkness after they send the Xian to a new world. We are trying to stop them.”

Her mouth formed an O. “Wow, that’s crazy! Why are you disguised then?”

“Because… listen, Gunhilda, I need your help right now. No one else knows I’m here, but if they did, they would attack me because I’m the enemy, so I—”

She gasped in fear. “Oh no!”

“Not your enemy,” he explained.

“Oh, phew! You scared me, Pech,” she said, holding her hands to her chest.

“I am the enemy of the Yishang and the Xian, and if they catch me, they’ll do to me what they did to Shinshuu a moment ago.”

She furrowed her brows. “To who?”

“The samurai.”

She tilted her head.

“The girl they just killed.”

“Why didn’t you just say they’d kill you?” she asked.

“The way I put it was more dramatic and poetic,” Pechorin replied.

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

She nodded. “Gotcha. So what do you need me to do?”

He hesitated. Having her come over to the rebellion was off the table. He didn’t want to drag Gunhilda into something she didn’t fully understand like the other Heroes had done in bringing her here.

“Nothing, really, I just need you to not call me by the name Pechorin. If it comes up, call me Laitan,” he said.

She squinted for a second then nodded sagely. “Because that’s who you’re disguised as.”

“That is indeed why. You’re quite observant, Gunhilda.”

She beamed. “Thanks! My teammates used to say the same thing but they usually pronounced it ‘oblivious’.”

“Mhm. If anyone asks, tell them I brought you over here to ask if you knew a teammate of mine. Sound good?” he said.

“Do you mean Natsuko?” she asked.

“Uhh… no. Tell them I was asking about someone named Ayesha.”

“I thought you were on a team with Shuixing and Natsuko and Hemiola? How are they by the way? I miss Natsu so much!” she said.

Down in the lower city, a cast of Megaton blew apart the gate and threw a mushroom cloud into the air over Vermögenburgh.

“She’s doing well,” he said. “Although it’d be better if you didn’t mention her. Or any of my teammates. Especially Shuixing.”

Gunhilda made a zipper movement across her mouth.

The two returned to their temporary teammates who both appeared shell shocked. Upon Pechorin pressing, they confssed their teammates had been killed by the Non-Heroes while scaling the wall to the sewer grate. Pechorin elected not to tell them this was a good thing for everyone’s long-term prospects. His tact earned him the names of the two Heroes—Shikai and Harun—both from the 4th generation with the characteristic haughtiness of that wave of Heroes. This was a stroke of good fortune, as Laitan was a later summoning, most likely 5th or 6th-generation by Pechorin’s estimate. There was a good chance they wouldn’t know him.

He was saved from the delicate task of coming up with a convincing backstory by the arrival of one of the Top 30, an Earth Ghazi named Leenhardt.

“You four are going to re-check the sewers,” Leenhardt said.

“We came in through the sewers, there’s no one else down there!” Shikai complained.

“Probably not. That’s why I didn’t assign myself there,” Leenhardt replied with a smirk.

While Shikai was busy arguing, Pechorin saw his advantage and got out ahead of everyone by marching straight toward the college.

“See? Now there’s initiative!” Leenhardt said, giving Shikai a hard shove towards Pechorin.

“Prick,” Shikai muttered.

Pechorin made it inside well ahead of the others despite Gunhilda’s best attempt to keep up on her tiny legs. He had a decent idea where Shuixing might be if the Xian hadn’t found her yet, he just needed to get there before everyone else.

“Hey! Hey! Do you know where you’re going? This place is huge,” Harun said, jogging to his side.

Unlike Gunhilda, who was falling behind despite her determined effort, the lanky al-Nuwban Daoshi easily kept pace with Pechorin. Shikai was not far behind. Not an easy situation to slip away from, Pechorin had to admit.

“I remember the way we came,” Pechorin said.

“I have no idea how since we were chasing that freaking raccoon, but sure,” Harun said with a shrug.

Pechorin resisted the urge to ask what happened to ‘that freaking raccoon,’ but a quick check of the Use-Rankings told him that whatever they had done to her was permanent. So too for Margaret, Harald, and Faisal. Shuixing was in quite a pickle without her honor guard.

“I’ve got a good memory,” Pechorin replied.

“Uh-huh. Must have a good Cognition stat then, I guess. Which reminds me, what class and element are you?” Harun asked.

Pechorin pulled his pepperboxes out of his trouser pockets. “Metal Gunslinger.”

“Huh. Interesting combo. Especially with the Cognition pumping,” Harun said.

Pechorin slowed to a walk as the other two caught up. Harun matched his pace while giving his new teammate an uncomfortably close examination.

“Y’know, your aesthetic kinda clashes. Is that your default outfit, or some kinda special event thing?” Harun asked.

“Default,” Pechorin said for the sake of spitting out a quick answer.

“I see… So, here’s the thing…” Out of the corner of his eye, Pechorin watched Harun pull an FDJ rod from the folds of his indigo robes. “I’ve met Laitan, and you’re not him.”

Pechorin stopped. Shikai and Gunhilda stopped a moment later, the former looking concerned, the latter, nervous.

“W-Wait! He was talking to me about someone named Ayesha earlier!” Gunhilda said.

Harun looked at her in confusion and turned back to Pechorin. “Is she working for you, whoever the hell you are?”

Pechorin sighed. “No, I told her a lie to sell my story. She has no idea who I actually am.”

“Yeah! Not a clue!” Gunhilda said a little too enthusiastically.

“Who did he tell you not to tell us he was?” Harun asked her.

“Pechorin. I mean— ah rats!” Gunhilda snapped her fingers. “Sorry Pech, they outsmarted me!”

Harun gazed at Pechorin with an expression of blank intensity, like he was giving the situation its due gravity while also trying to remember if he knew who that was. Eventually, the expression dissolved into one of further confusion.

“Who the hell is that?” Harun asked.

“Me,” Pechorin said.

“Yeah, who the hell are you?” Shikai said.

“A 1st-gen.”

Harun pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let me try again: Why are you pretending to be Laitan and why should I care about who you are?”

Before Pechorin could speak, Shikai’s eyes lit up.

“Wait! He’s the dude who’s been on the bottom of the Use-Rankings forever! You’re like a celebrity, man! My teammates and I used to call it ‘getting Pech’d’ when a boss or something fucked us up!” Shikai said.

The idea that he had been part of another team’s in-jokes was somewhat off-putting to Pechorin, though it was par for the course being the all-time record-holder for longest in the bottom slot and first to 0 emanations. Accordingly, he took a little bow. The tip of an FDJ rod was waiting for him when he came up.

“Very cool, Pechorin. Now tell me why you were pretending to be Laitan. Unless… you wouldn’t be with the Entropic Axis, would you?” he asked.

Gunhilda pouted. “Pech would never side with them! He’s with the rebels!”

Pechorin shrugged and rolled with it. “Yeah, I’m here to destroy the Yishang.”