“I’ve got you down, Korath,” Castien said as he sent a bolt of magic his way. “You played me. Excellent, honestly. I applaud it. And Amelia, I’m genuinely glad you didn’t die in a pointless sacrifice to a man who detests your existence.”

Even in the middle of a battle, this man was still trying to play Amelia and Korath off against each other.

It wouldn’t work this time, not by a longshot.

Castien was clearly extremely tired, or he would have already teleported far away from them, off to some other part of the tower. He took out the Vortex Amulet from a hidden drawer and activate it, but the gust of wind barely knocked Amelia back more than a foot. Thankfully, because an activation at full power would have obliterated the entire penthouse.

He was still extremely formidable, to be sure. But after a long night’s chase and a an even longer night failing to regenerate, Castien was starting to fail.

He was a glass cannon. A rapid-fire magic machine that could take either of them out in just a few lucky strikes. He was truly an impressive mage, an exemplary icon of the North Sunwell Corporate Style. But Amelia and Korath had something on their side that his speed and power simply could not keep up with—the sheer wrath inside their hearts. And when a glass cannon could not hit its targets, there was only one thing left to do with it.

Time to shatter.

A few guard golems finally burst into the penthouse to perform their sole duty. They blasted away, destroying bits of furniture and generally causing mayhem. But, in the end, they were little more than nuisances. They slowed Castien down, making him hesitate to blast at his real foes so as not to his his supposed allies. The hesitation cost him some precious seconds, but in the end it wore off and he sent magic bolts flying indiscriminately.

In a matter of moments, he had destroyed most of his own guard golems. Those that remained, Amelia silenced for good with a few well-placed punches.

Korath was clearly getting tired, too. These elves weren’t designed for sustained combat like this. Hours and hours of fighting and running were clearly weighing on him.

If Amelia were a little bit more treacherous, she would have taken this moment to finish the necromancer off. But she knew her own limits, and capturing Castien without help would have been a major risk. So she decided to bail him out. This fight was about to end.

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She launched her fist from her arm like a projectile and it smashed into a painting right beside Castien’s head. The shock of it sent him reeling for a moment, which allowed the two of them to advance through the room and back him further into a corner.

Castien failed to notice how close he was to losing it all. Kept that smug look on his face.

“I’m impressed you found me,” he said, “but I’m starting to realize some hurtful things about all this.”

“Yeah? What might that be?” Korath asked, reaching out his hand to suck out Castien’s life force but missing by inches.

“If you’re here, someone on the inside must have betrayed me.” Amelia got up close to him, but he slapped her away with a quick shield. “I wonder who it might have been.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Amelia growled.

“Barbara Gawain, perhaps? Not that she came along with me so willingly, but I doubt it. Was it Rair Soulborn?” He examines their faces and shakes his hand. “Not them.”

The fight dragged on into the bedroom. Castien would have like to have gotten in here a lot earlier and a lot cleaner. That was the plan, to give him some action. And he got it.

“Lancaster? No, couldn’t have been. Teri Klew? Channor Eron? Ed Winback? Florina Lynson? Really, I don’t—” He noticed the flash of anguish, the flare-up of anger in Amelia’s face. And his smug face turned entirely too happy. “Just kidding. I already figured it out a while back, Amelia. It took a lot of digging to really get to the bottom of you.”

“What’s he talking about?” Korath asked Amelia.

She ignored him. “Don’t you dare think about touching—”

“Don’t need to do anything. I’ve already got Fleet’s Pride on that one. You were a few hours too late to deal with it. Once I found out you were responsible for those attacks around the country, it was just a matter of time. But maybe we could strike up a deal? I call Fleet’s Pride off, and you surrender?”

Amelia’s response to that was utterly drastic.

She hopped back, out of the bedroom and back into the living room. She looked at that floating, unconscious server golem right in the middle of the penthouse, and decided she was no longer going to let it slumber in service of Castien’s subterfuge.

“Sorry about this.”

She broke through the barrier, smashed her way in, and grabbed ahold of its core.

She absorbed it all into her body at once. No incorporation, no mercy. Just plain power.

Amelia was overloaded beyond what she ever should have been. And as soon as Castien realized what was going on, it was too late.

She let out a massive [Mana Burst] that took over his entire being. A surge of energy so powerful he could not have even attempted to block it in his current state. He was left injured, barely mobile, and lying on the floor.

Korath stood over the man and extended his hand once more. He gently sucked out much of Castien’s life force into a spare soul gem with an anti-mage absorption spell, leaving the elf entirely unable to fight back.

Castien was now theirs. Captured alive, against all odds.

Now what were they going to do?