“It also stops when we take him out,” my voice came out with all the warmth of a glacier.

Honestly I wasn’t sure what came over me, but I knew the sight of seeing someone chained and helpless reached a part of me that was not friendly to the one who had done it. So of course I broke ranks and rushed the wannabe Dark One at top speed.

Arya’s voice was the first one I heard through the mental link, and like our first conversation it was vulgar, ”You gods be damned righteous, gangrenous, arse-grabbing, goat humping, brainless idiot.”

“Shouldn’t it be self-righteous,” Jacob’s reply sounded cutting off Arya’s tirade.

“Not in his case, stupid hero complex,” Arya said.

“Well right mentality, wrong tactics. Jerome back him up, he’s fast so keep anything that might pop up off his back; Jacob same for you. Arya you’re on overwatch, if you see it call it out,” Rebecca’s brisk voice commanded the rest of the group.

It only took a handful of seconds to move around the circle that incased Thanatos, but it was a good thing my team was covering for my rash actions. Darth Wannabe raised his black knife and what looked like shadows and blood coalesced around the room forming into four more of the abominations we fought outside. Two were in the path of Jerome blocking him from reaching me, and the other two formed near the rest of the team. Even though I saw this with my radar sense I stayed focused on the leader. Logic dictated that even villains had the same overall setup as we did, but likely a bit stronger since we were going up against this one as a team rather than individually. This guy was a minion master archetype which meant his primary abilities lay in his creations, but he might have a few more tricks but shouldn’t be the same level of threat as a scrapper type boss for me to take on alone.

“Shit, you’re right. It’s really easy to forget how fast your mind works when I stay out of it. Keep the minions off of Alex everyone,” Arya said.

Three seconds to target, my mind kept working as I analyzed a possibility. The flaming sword didn’t fit his character, but Thanatos was often depicted wielding a flaming sword which meant it was likely his. My intent was focused on a particular outcome, and like in the training hall my techniques evolved to show me how to accomplish my goal.

I reached him going at full speed, and saw the slash of his sword coming at me. My motion had already been planned though, expecting the slash, and I slid under it with my leg leading as if I was taking second base. I could feel the heat of the blade as it passed a few inches from my face, but as my foot impacted the wall behind him I pushed off. Like when I redirected the cannon ball in training I sent a palm strike at the pommel of the sword my entire body behind it. I felt a dull pain as my hand struck, but it accomplished the goal as the sword flew from his hand like a javelin and lodged into the stone frame of the door we had come in its entire length.

The dull pain in my hand was replaced by a sharp burning pain as I felt the obsidian blade cut me from shoulder to elbow causing me to recoil back and assume a defensive stance while staring at the black skinned man.

“You will pay for that boy,” he rasped out.

“Eh, maybe, but I really only have one thing to say now,” I responded.

He let out a classic evil laugh and asked, “What’s that?”

I smiled and as I did a standing backflip, enhanced by my kinetic technique, I said, “Switch.”

Jerome rushed under me, his fist leading as he took over the melee fight with the now partially disarmed villain. I had seen him coming behind me after I had taken the cut and known his increased density would make him a better opponent for this guy. I twisted to land facing the dissolving forms of his former opponents. Rebecca was finishing off her opponents while Jacob was holding the flaming sword, its blade now a pale blue flame, and examining the circle and chains that bound Thanatos. Arya stood without focusing on anything leading me to believe she was using my sight to view the battlefield. I still thought that her ability to do that was impressive.

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“Admire later, kick ass now,” she said in my mind, bringing a grin to my face.

I watched as Jerome crossed his arms, not bothering to block, as the dark-skinned man tried to stab him. His blade shattered on the dense brawler and I quipped, “Brings a new meaning to rock hard abs.”

I heard mental laughter and groans from my team as I turned and watched a look of fear cross the ebony face before resolve replaced it. As he took a few steps back I cursed and tried to close on him; only to have him dissolve into black blood and seem into the stone beneath us.

“That could come back to bite us,” Rebecca said.

“It is what it is, anyone have any understanding of these chains though. I’m sure it will become easier if we can free the god of death,” Jacob said.

I spoke aloud for the prisoner’s benefit, “Try cutting the sigils with the sword. Other than it being a symbol of Thanatos’s power I wouldn’t be surprised if he took the sword to prevent him from cutting them.”

Jacob swept the blade at the nearest set of sigils and the blade melted the stone they were inscribed on. A brief ripple of light and shadows rushed around the room and I could sense inside where the circle was. Thanatos lifted himself to one knee, straining the chains that bound him, and Jacob quickly struck twice to sever them.

The god stood slowly and reclaimed his sword. A much more practice set of cuts relieved his arms of the manacles that the chains were attached too. His voice came out much stronger as he said, “I thank you for your aid.”

Jerome replied, “You’re welcome, but I would recommend returning to the castle until your strength recovers a bit more.”

“You may be right champion, but it would ill behoove me to not award a boon to those who saved me from oblivion. Know this; death can make no claim on you whilst you adventure in other realms. Your spirit and body shall return but the transition may be a bit rough. Fight well champions,” Thanatos said before stepping out of the mausoleum and taking wing.

Jacob returned to using the mental link, “Respawn system?”

“Most likely, and a hint at a death penalty,” I replied.

“It would also explain why the fight was a bit easier, we are supposed to be able to win it without it being a lethal challenge,” Arya said.

We started making our way back towards the entrance of the cemetery when Jerome asked, “Wasn’t that a little too easy though? I mean he ran off right after I got in punching range.”

“Alex caught him by surprise when he disarmed him, by the way congrats on the technique evolution,” Arya said.

“What technique evolution?” Rebecca asked.

I answered, guessing at what she was referring to, “When we were training before I gained the ability to see aiming lines for projectile attacks. It seems to have modified for melee attacks as well, which is how I dodged that swing and was knew when to strike to send the blade this way.”

“So a predictive algorithm for combat,” Jacob said.

Arya shook her head and replied, “No, it showed him arcs where the melee attack could go from the point of the knife and sword. He had to judge for himself how to dodge the attacks.”

“Impressive that you managed to dodge Alex,” Rebecca said.

“Not really,” I said playing down my own calculations, “It’s why I slid, it took my body out of the line of every attack but a downward thrust.”

“Still, a technique evolving isn’t like other games. I heard they were working on a new skill system for use in their games but this is impressive,” Jacob said.

My own mental snort drew curious looks from the others and I said, “I had a meeting with William for the offer to join this test. During that meeting I asked him how many birds he was getting with a single stone. He told me as many as he could. What do you want to wager that the technique evolution was one of the birds he wanted to get?”

“Most likely, it will provide an interesting method of leveling up though if we can evolve our techniques to allow for more flexibility, but it will make things more difficult for those use to an action bar,” Arya said.

Rebecca replied, “Yes and no, a friend of mine was in the Alpha test, and he said they had quick slot actions available for the more casual players. I would guess that the choice between control interface can be chosen at the start of the actual games release. Now on to more important question: where to next?”

We had arrived at the gate to find the zombie marine still standing guard and the choice of paths. I said, The park is a central location, and we already know there is something there from that scream earlier. Let’s go there and see what happens. Jacob, side note for you; we are going to need some kind of recon device if we end up with another large area mission.”

“Already planned on it, I have a few different blueprints in mind to create when I get a chance to play with the crafting system,” he replied.

With that we took off, falling back into the movement order we had traveled here in.