Jack of Blades is an ancient cursed mask that possesses its wearer's body. That is his true form. He is not truly immortal, and I bet that if he could not possess a hero, he would have to train the body he resides in just like me. The current incarnation has powers that are indeed terrifying. His worst one is "Drain Life," which saps his enemy's life force to heal himself. The weakness of this skill is that it only targets one enemy and is easy to interrupt. My main countermeasure to this skill is that there are four of us, and I can block it with Time Control.

Jack sent a horizontal energy blade flying towards me, a glowing white and blue triangular attack. I could have blocked it a dozen different ways, but that would fail to give the impression I wanted to convey. I’ve had two years’ worth of time to think about the powers I know Jack used in the game. Unlike in the game, he had already demonstrated with his blazing knife and its ability to explode a stabbed target that he had more tricks up his sleeve.

I knew the energy blade was composed of light, heat, and perhaps electricity. Pointing my hand forward, I took control of the light within and around it. I was able to contain the other forms of energy by surrounding them with light, effectively smothering them. Jack’s expression shifted from confidence to frustration as he realized I had just canceled out his attack as if it were nothing. It may have appeared easy, but I was sweating from the exertion; the energy within that attack was dense and chaotic.

“You think you can stand in my way? I have existed for millennia, and it’s impossible for you to comprehend what I am,” Jack declared, irritation edging his voice.

“You’re just a soulless Will bound to an enchanted mask that possesses mortals,” I snarked back.

Something I realized about Jack was that, before William Black defeated him, he cared for his siblings. Jack in Fable is never seen caring for anyone but himself, depicted as a being devoid of a moral compass, a trait seemingly tied to his condition. The game often states that his soul possessed the mask and that "undead souls" are fed to the ancient Cullis Gate, but that is false. It’s all Will energy; everything here revolves around it! When you kill the undead, their green Will energy feeds the Gate. Jack's body and soul were destroyed, but his Will and mind are bound to his mask. People here don’t truly understand what a soul is and often confuse it with the mind.

Further evidence comes from Scythe, or William Black, who gave his soul to the Sword of Aeons. Yet his mind remained intact, still operating within his body even millennia after his own death. So, while his soul is gone, what’s different about him? His actions following that loss revealed a coldness, a callousness toward those he once loved.

“You seem well-informed, brat,” Jack remarked, anger creeping into his tone.

In a flash, Jack threw one of his spherical energy blades—a white, glowing orb with a bluish exterior that would explode upon impact. This time, instead of wasting energy to stop it, I simply redirected it, making it veer harmlessly into the air above us. Jack attempted to encase me in a cage of Will energy, but I broke through that as well, using the same technique. His powers seemed to share a "domain" with mine; while the Will energy belonged to him, the light they produced was mine to control, allowing me to sabotage his spells before they could fully form.

“You won’t be defeated! Then just die!” Jack snarled as he unleashed his Drain Life spell. It glowed an insidious red color, its lightning-like bolts arcing toward me. I erected a [Time Shield] just in time to block the attack. The red bolts fizzled against the barrier, unable to find their target.

“Impossible!” Jack screamed, irritation boiling over.

“Did you think you would remain the strongest forever?” I mocked.

Theresa, who had been launching multi-arrow volleys at the bandits as Brom and Scarlet blocked the entrance through the ruined gate, took a well-timed shot at Jack. He swatted the arrows aside effortlessly, but the distraction interrupted his Drain Life spell. His frustration grew, but he did not have time to go after Theresa, as I had yet to attack, and so far, I had thwarted everything he could throw at me. He was afraid to turn his back to an opponent who might be just as powerful, if not more so, and one who understood his secrets and weaknesses.

“I am the strongest there is!” Jack shouted as he unleashed “Assassin’s Rush” toward me. Had I used my Time Shield at that moment, he would have severely injured himself, but I reacted a second too late. He zoomed toward me faster than a car on the highway, and although I blocked his strike with my Dollmaster’s mace, the force still hit me, sending me careening back into the town square.

Inspecting my master-crafted Dollmaster’s mace, I noted a deep gash had formed in the metal. The mace was supposedly indestructible, but I supposed that a knife as hot as the sun could still inflict damage. Where even Jack could find such a blade that could withstand that level of heat was a mystery, but it was certainly possible; tungsten came to mind as a metal capable of such resilience.

My mace’s mana enchantment was still functioning, but I did not want to be struck by one of those blades again.

“So, old man’s still got some spunk left in him, huh?” I jeered, brushing dirt off myself.

Jack tried to rush at me again, but this time I expected it. I used [Time Bind] to immobilize him. Some of his body still attempted to move as he cast “Assassin’s Rush” again, but it merely yanked his limbs, causing him to yelp in pain. Ouch, that’s going to leave a bruise!

Unable to free himself, Jack attempted to summon his minions.

“Oh no you don’t; this is a duel!” I declared, using [Time Control] to stop time on a section of his summoning portal. The effect was even better than I hoped; Jack's summon still entered this world, but without a complete portal, it was torn in half. Yay, free experience!

“How can a pathetic being like you stop all my spells?” Jack cursed.

“Wrong question. How can someone who has lived as long as you have failed to master magic?” I retorted.

“You know nothing of true power!” Jack threatened as he flew into the air. A black and red aura formed around him, causing his size to visibly increase slightly. Raising his hands, he unleashed a barrage of energy and fire upon me. I activated my [Time Shield] to block his bombardment, but it locked down my movements. Neither of us could harm the other in this state. My family was successfully holding the line, and even the one town guard was lending his strength. The villagers, for the most part, were hiding in their homes, though a few were brave enough to extinguish the flaming arrows bandits were launching over streams and fences.

Jack must have exhausted the majority of his Will energy because his attacks grew less frequent and more spaced out. I used this opportunity to control time on my boots and walk into the air. It was time to take the fight to him.

The downside of using two different spell worlds is the difficulty of changing focus between them. While I used Time Control to walk on air, trying to control light became increasingly difficult. I could manage it, but it left my head spinning and made me feel light-headed. I cast a short-distance laser at Jack that struck him but was neutralized by his aura. His aura seemed to be dark, which easily countered my light attack, but it must have taken more energy than normal to do so, for I could see Jack’s irritation growing.

He opened a portal nearby, the other end appearing right next to me. He emerged from the portal and lunged at me with his exploding knife. I froze time on the blade and struck his wrist with my mace while he was caught off guard, unable to move his hand. Jack, however, reached out with his other hand and grabbed my neck. He squeezed tightly, clearly believing he could kill me, but to his surprise, I remained standing. As I let time resume on his knife hand, the injury caused him to drop the blade.

Caught off guard, Jack retaliated by seizing the ball end of my mace, pushing himself back into his portal, and closing it behind him. This left me with nothing more than a steel pipe where my mace had once been. This is how you want it, old man? I screamed in my mind, furious that he wouldn’t simply give up!

Jack attempted to reclaim his knife on the ground, but I had placed a time blade between him and his target. He halted momentarily, then opted to go around the invisible obstruction. Somehow, his armor withstood even the sharpest edges. No wonder it always felt like you were beating him to death with a mallet in the game! I leaped down after him, and as I did, Scarlet hurled her axe at Jack. He used some kind of power on the metal armor covering his hand, allowing him to strike with such force that he shattered her axe.

Goddamn, how many aces does he have up his sleeve? His power may be limited by his physical lifespan, but his accumulated knowledge allows him to take a few shortcuts.

Grabbing Jack's knife, I willed it outside of our time, pushing it forward in time. The knife was useless in combat but detrimental to my success. It allowed Jack to cut anything, save my Time Shields. Even the [Physical Shield] might only withstand a single hit from it.

Most of the bandits had been defeated, which is why Scarlet had the opportunity to assist me. That was quicker than I had expected! Taking a closer look, I noted the bandit horde had been routed by another force user. I knew Maze would be present, but I had anticipated him watching the entire battle unfold, too afraid to aid me against Jack. I was right, but the other Will user wasn’t him. It was Elvira, surrounded by ethereal blades from the nether realm! She had summoned a blade-type spell. No wonder she had grown so quickly; she had learned Will powers as well!

I would have asked how, but a punch launched toward my face snapped me back to reality.

I barely dodged the attack by twisting my body, moving my right foot back, and spinning off the ball of my left foot. I lost my balance, but as I hit the ground, I grabbed Jack by his upper arm and torso, throwing him farther away just before I hit the ground.

Scarlet called out to me just before Jack charged at me with [Assassin’s Rush] while I was getting back up.

“Catch!” she yelled.

I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t even register what weapon she threw. I caught its handle and smashed the blunt object down onto Jack’s masked face.

Either from the shock of the unexpected blow or the humiliation of being struck by a frying pan, Jack released a massive amount of Will energy. The sheer force of it knocked everyone around us to the ground. I managed to maintain my footing, feeling the eons of Will energy stored in Jack's mask flowing into the frying pan.

The now-mangled pan transformed, becoming something more. I could feel it! While Jack was momentarily dazed, I stared at the pan. I recognized it as the frying pan from the Lost Chapters, but not the one from the Anniversary edition. The two looked very different, and one could say the first one somewhat resembled Jack's face imprinted in the iron.

So many questions raced through my mind, but I didn’t have the luxury of time to ponder them. Was I somehow responsible for the frying pan’s existence in every Fable game reality? Had it spawned into being in every realm because of me? I was standing right where the pan was unearthed in the game. Was I merely playing into a scenario that always unfolded? Like a crazy cartoon scientist once said, “What about the universe where Hitler cured cancer? The answer is don’t think about it.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The invading bandits were defeated, and my kin approached with weapons drawn or spells prepared. Elvira also came forward, her four ethereal blades hovering beside her, pointed forward. Jack caught sight of this as he began to pick himself up, retreating through one of his portals. Before it fully closed, I heard one final threat.

“You think this is a victory, but I’m used to playing the long game. Victory shall be mine eventually, and you shall be dead then,” his voice echoed ominously.

With Jack finally gone, I returned to my role as the all-powerful mage who had come to save Oakvale. The townspeople began to calm down, realizing the danger had passed and that their children, who had been missing, were now safe. No one had died, though a few had sustained injuries from stray arrows or falls while fleeing. Scarlet had to explain that she was Scarlet Robe, but we managed to keep everything else a secret.

There would be considerable fuss over her revealed identity, but it wouldn’t lead to further complications.

With our concerns addressed and the children sent home from within Nemo, we all gathered inside the demon door.

“Okay, Elvira, what the FREAKING HECK IS GOING ON?” I demanded, feeling the adrenaline still coursing through my veins.

The old version is below.

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With my disguise fully on I stood near the entrance to Oakvale, the Bandits attacked from in the game. Brom had his shield up and Theresa was slightly behind him using him as cover. The guards would have asked questions but Scarlet told them the Guild sent word of a potential bandit attack and she sent them to fortify other areas of Oakvale saying we'd defend the main one. As the Bandits attacked Theresa let loose volleys of arrows. each arrow tore through a bandit. I created a horizontal time blade that severed the body of those that made it past Theresa's volley of arrows. Any that made it past that would face me and Brom directly.

Then I saw him walking calmly towards me, or at least he was pretending to be.

"Oh, very good Hero. I've never met your acquaintance. What do they call you?"

I put up a facade faking a snicker,"Haha the bumpkins of Albion wouldn't know of Heroes from beyond. All you need to know of me is I am greater than you and your anti-thesis".

Jack readies his weapon," Well see about that".

Jack of Blades is an ancient cursed mask that possesses its wearer's body. That is his true form. He is not truly immortal and I bet that if he could not possess a hero that he would have to train the body he resides in just like me. The current him has powers that are indeed terrifying. His worse one is "Drain Life" which saps his enemy's life force to heal himself. The weakness of this skill is that it only targets one enemy and is easy to interrupt. My main countermeasure to this skill is that there are four of us and I can block it with Time control.

Jack sent a horizontal energy blade flying towards me. It was a white and blue glowing triangular energy blade. I could have blocked it a dozen different ways but that would fail to give the impression I'd wanted. I have had 2 years' worth of time to think about the powers I know Jack used in the game. Unlike the Game, he had already shown with his blazing knife and its ability to explode a stabbed target that he had more tricks up his sleeve than in the game. The energy blade though I knew was basically a made up of light, heat and/or electricity.

So pointing my hand forwards I took control over the light in and around it. I was able to contain the other kinds of energy within it by surrounding them with the light and smothering it out. Jack was not happy that I just canceled out his attack like it was nothing. It may have appeared easy but I was sweating from the exchange because the energy within that attack was dense and chaotic.

"You think you can stand in my way? I have existed for millennia and its impossible even for you to comprehend what I am," Jack declared in frustration.

"Your just a soulless Will bound to an enchanted mask that possesses mortals," I snarkily replied. Something I'd realized about Jack was that before William black defeated him he cared about his siblings. Jack in Fable is never seen caring about anyone but himself. Jack is shown to have no moral compass that from information available seems to be related to the soul. The game often said his soul possessed the mask and that "undead souls" are fed to the ancient cullis gate but that is false. It is all Will energy, everything here is all about Will energy! You kill the undead and they're green will energy feeds the gate. Jack's body and soul were destroyed but his Will and mind were bound to his mask. The people here just don't really understand what a soul is and assume it is your mind.

Further evidence is from Scythe/Willaim Black who gave his soul to the Sword of Aeons. Yet his mind remained in his body even millennia after his own death. So his soul is gone but what was different about him? His actions after that suddenly showed him be cold and callous to those he'd once loved.

"You seem well-informed Brat," Jack remarked in anger. Jack suddenly threw one of his ball versions of the energy blade. It's a white glowing ball with a blueish exterior on the outside that explodes once it hits you.

This time instead of wasting effort to stop it I just used my control over light to make it veer out of the way and into the air above us. Jack also tried to use a cage made of Will around me but that to I easily broke down in the same manner. Those three powers of his shared what I guess you could call a "Domain" with my powers. The Will energy was his but the light they produced I could take control over and use to sabotage his spells before they fully form or attack.

"You won't be defeated then you can just die!" Jack said as he cast his drain life spell. It glowed an insidious red and its lightning-like bolts blasted towards me. I put up a [Time Shield] just in time to stop it. The red bolts couldn't find their target.

"Impossible", Jack screamed irritated beyond belief.

"Did you think you would be the strongest forever?" I mocked. Theresa who had been launching Multi-arrow volleys at the bandits as Brom and Scarlet blocked the entrance through the busted gate took one shot at Jack. Jack easily swatted the arrows out of the air but it interrupted his drain life spell. His irritation increased again but he did not have time to go after Theresa as I had yet to attack and so far I'd stopped everything he could throw at me. He was afraid to turn his back to a most likely equally strong opponent. One who knew his secrets and weaknesses.

"I am the strongest there is!" Jack shouted as he used "Assassins rush" towards me. Had I used time shield at that moment he would have hurt himself badly but I reacted a second to slow. He zoomed towards me faster than a car on the highway and even though I blocked his strike with my Dollmasters mace the force still hit me. I was blasted back into the town square. Looking at my master crafted Dollmasters mace I saw it had a deep gash in it. The mace was supposedly indestructible but I guess a knife as hot as the sun itself might still be able to damage it. Not sure where even Jack could find such a blade that could withstand that level of heat but it was definitely possible. Tungsten came to mind as a metal that could do that.

My maces Mana enchantment was still working but I definitely don't want to be hit by one of those again.

"So old man's still got some spunk left in him huh?" I Jeered as I brushed the dirt off myself.

Jack tried to rush at me again but this time I expected it and used [Time Bind] to hold him in place. Some of his body still tried to move when he cast "Assasins rush" again but it just yanked his limbs a bit and yelped from the pain. Ouch, that's gonna leave a bruise later!

Unable to free himself from my hold Jack tried to use his "Minion Summon" spell.

"Oh no you don't this is a duel", I stated as I used [Time control] to stop time on just one part of his summon spells portal. This had an interesting effect. It was better than I hoped too because Jack's summon was still called to this world but without a full portal was ripped in half. yay, free experience!

"How can a pathetic being like you stop all my spells?" Jack cursed.

"Wrong question, how can someone who lived as long as you have failed to master magic?" I retorted.

"You know nothing of true power!" Jack threatened as he flew into the air. A black and red aura formed around him. His size visibly increase a little too. Raising his hands a little he rained energy and fire down upon me. I was able to use [Time Shield] to block his bombardment but it locked down my movements. Neither one of us could harm the other in this state. My family was successfully holding the line and even the one town guard was helping them. The villagers were mostly hiding in their homes but a few were putting out flaming arrows that bandits were launching over the streams and fences.

Jack must have used up the majority of his Will energy because his attack grew less frequent and more spaced out. I used this opportunity to control time on my boots and walk into the air. Time to take the fight to him.

The downside of using two different spell worlds is the difficulty of changing focus between the two. Since I was using time control to air walk trying to control light was hard. I could do it but it hurt my head and made me woozy after a while. I cast a short distance laser at Jack that hit him but was neutralized by his aura. His aura seemed to be a dark element which although easily canceled out my light attack it must have took more energy than normal to do so because it pissed Jack off.

Jack open a portal near him that the other end appeared right next to me. He appeared through the portal and tried to stab me with his exploding knife. I froze time on the object and hit his wrist with my mace while he was caught off guard by being unable to move his hand. Then Jack reached out with his other hand and grabbed my neck. He gave me a tight squeeze that He must have thought would kill most people because he was surprised I was still standing. After I let time resume on his knife hand Jack's busted wrist caused him to drop his knife. Jack, in turn, caught me off guard as well by gabbing the ball end of my mace and pushing himself back into his portal and closing it. This separated my mace turning it into little more than a steel pipe. This is how you want it old man? I screamed in my mind. Why won't you just give up already?

Jack tried to get back to his knife on the ground but I'd placed a time blade between him and his target. Jack stopped momentarily before going around the invisible obstruction. Somehow his armor stops even the sharpest edges from cutting. No wonder it always feels like your beating him to death with a mallet in the game! I jumped down after him and Scarlet threw her ax at Jack as well. Jack used some kind of power on the metal armor covering his hand because it allowed his hand to strike with such force he shattered her ax. Goddang, how many aces does he have up his sleeve? His power is limited by his body's lifespan but I guess his accrued knowledge means he can take a few short cuts.

Grabbing Jack's knife I Willed it outside of our time. To be exact I pushed it forwards in time. The knife was useless to me in combat but detrimental to my success. It allowed Jack to cut anything but my time shields. Even [physical shield] may only be able to take a single hit from it.

My family had defeated most of the bandits which is why Scarlet could take a moment to help me. That was way faster than I'd expected! Taking a slightly closer looked revealed the bandit horde had been routed by another force user. I knew Maze would be here but I'd expected him to watch the whole battle play out too afraid to aid me against Jack. I was right about that because the other Will user wasn't him. It was Elvira who was surrounded by Ethereal blades from the nether realm! It was the blades type summoning spell. No wonder she had grown faster too she had learned Will powers as well! I would have asked how but a punch launch at my face brought me back to my current circumstances.

I barely dodged the attack by twisting my body while moving my right foot back and spinning off the ball of my left foot. I lost balance but as I went down I grabbed Jack by his upper arm and torso. I threw him farther away right before I hit the ground.

Scarlet called out to me just before Jack charged at me with an [Assassins Rush] while I was getting up from the ground.

"Catch!" she yelled.

I was so caught up in the moment I didn't even realize what the weapon she threw was. I caught its handle and smashed the blunt weapon right down on Jack's Masked face.

Either from the surprise of the sudden painful attack or the indignity of being hit by a frying pan caused Jack to release a vast amount of Will energy. So much that everyone else around was knocked on the ground. I had managed to stay in place as The eons of Will stored in Jack's mask preserving it had passed into the frying pan. The just deformed pan had changed somehow becoming more. I could feel it! While Jack was in his momentary daze I stared at the pan. I recognized it as the frying pan from the lost chapters but not the one from the anniversary edition. The two looked very different and one could say the first one kind of did look like it could be Jack's face imprinted in the iron.

This raised so many questions I wanted to be addressed but didn't have the time to look into. Was I somehow the one who caused the frying pan to appear in every Fable game reality? Like it spawned into existence in every reality because of me. I was standing right where the pan got dug up in the game. Was I just playing into a similar scenario to what always happened? Like a crazy cartoon scientist once said, "What about the universe where Hitler cured cancer? The answer is don't think about it."

The invading Bandits were defeated and my kin approached with weapons in hand or spells cast. Elvira also approached as well with 4 blades hovering beside her pointed forwards. Jack saw this as he picked himself up and retreated through one of his portals. Before the portal fully closed I heard one final threat.

"You think this is a victory but I'm used to playing the long game. Victory shall be mine eventually and you shall be dead then," his voice claimed forebodingly.

With Jack finally gone I went back to acting my part as the all-powerful mage who came to save Oakvale. The people were calmed down after realizing the danger was over and their children they could not find were safe. No one had died but a few were injured by a stray arrow or falling while running away. Scarlet had to explain she was Scarlet Robe but everything else we managed to keep secret. There would be much hassle over the fact her secret identity was revealed but it wouldn't lead to more problems.

With our worries taken care of and the children sent home from within Nemo, we all met inside the demon door.

"Okay, Elvira what the FREAKING HECK IS GOING ON?" I demanded.