Things weren’t going to plan.

First, Bram and the rest of his group had gotten a notification as soon as Finch exited the World Store outpost. This wasn’t a problem, and in fact was rather convenient, just strange. And he’d be dead soon, so it wouldn’t matter anyway.

What was a problem was what happened after Finch had used the deck initiator.

Bram had counted on Finch’s abilities being disabled, and that had come to pass.

So far to plan.

What he hadn’t counted on was the effect it would have on their Scion.

When the deck initiator had disabled Finch’s ability, something like the reverse of its activation had occurred, a wave of some power Bram couldn’t identify sucking in from all around and into Finch.

He’d felt it pass through him, but had otherwise been unaffected. Same for the rest of his group.

Their Scion, on the other hand, had not been so lucky.

And that was on top of the complication of the cultivator coming outside with Finch. Looked like they’d become friends. Or at least teammates.

And if they were in a team, that meant she would be a problem.

Their Scion could take her, but for that he would need to be conscious, which, thanks to the effect of the deck initiator, Bram wasn’t entirely sure the man was. His eyes were open, but he was on one knee, staring blankly at nothing.

Complication on top of complication.

But for the power to defy death, Bram was willing to deal with an infinite number of those.

Assuming he could.

His original plan hadn’t had their Scion involved at all, but his third revision of his second backup plan had, and now he had to improvise again, plan for the event of their Scion not being able to help.

Bram was quickly running out of backup plans. There were only so many things one could anticipate. He was pretty sure there was an American military saying for that.

But no matter how many plans failed, Bram would never give up. He would never let himself end up like Lars, Niels, and Daan, who’d become Incarnations, belonging to Osiris in a way even the Scions didn’t.

Of all of his plans, the prime one was never letting himself end up an Incarnation.

He was no one’s pawn.

And regardless of what Osiris had given him, he was unwilling to become its slave.

He needed Finch’s card. Once he had it, he wouldn’t have to worry about that. He could focus only on getting stronger, reaching the end with his wits and will intact.

He could only hope nothing else went wrong. Everything but their Scion was still in place.

But now it was time to act.

He nodded at Olivia, who revealed herself as their aberration shield dropped.

She’d distracted Finch once. Hopefully she could do it again.

He’d only had a few seconds to improvise this part, so he hoped he hadn’t missed anything.

He looked at Ilse as Finch said something Bram couldn’t hear.

“Are you ready?” he said in a quiet voice.

Ilse looked at him blankly, then away. Then, “I kill him.”

“Yes, but first, keep the cultivator occupied. And don’t let Finch near the Store. I don’t need any more complications.”

She moved her head very slightly in what might have been a nod.

As annoying as he’d sometimes found the old Ilse, he preferred that version of her to this brooding, murderous one he was now stuck with.

After losing her brother, he wasn’t sure he could count on her. But he didn’t have many choices left, so he would have to.

He checked on their Scion again. Still incapacitated.

He had no idea what was going on, how the deactivation of a card could cause such an effect.

At least it hadn’t affected them. That would have really ruined his plans, including the backup to the backup.

And the aberration shield had worked against the cultivator. Even the System hadn’t been able to say if it would, what with her Dragon-rank sight and the lack of access the cultivators had so far granted Osiris.

Bram didn’t know exactly what Dragon-sight was, just that it allowed the cultivators who had reached that rank to see beyond and through many things.

But apparently not an aberration shield.

If she had been able to…

Well, no reason to dwell on that. She hadn’t.

Only one thing mattered now: Finch’s card.

It was time to take it.

He reached into the right pocket of his robe and wrapped his hand around the item there.

“Get ready,” he told Ilse, and began counting down.

∎ ∎ ∎

Sebastian quickly took in the scene: Olivia; Bram, the beast-boy; Ilse, the Superhero girl; and a man he didn’t recognize, kneeling on the ground. One moment there was no one, the next there were the four of them. They’d just appeared there, standing between them and the World Store.

He looked around for Sanne, the fire girl, but didn’t see her.

Even without her, he and Eema were outnumbered two-to-one.

Sebastian wondered how the Vassals had been able to hide from him and Eema, but filed it away for later.

“How thoughtful of you,” he said. “Come back so I could finish the rest of you off.” He still had over twenty seconds before the deck initiator was finished and he could die again. He needed to stall as long as possible. Because he was pretty sure running wasn’t an option. Well, not for him anyway. Eema was probably fast enough. But he doubted he could even make it back inside the World Store. Plus, he wasn’t sure he would be safe in there. He hadn’t been able to use the initiator inside, but that didn’t mean it was safe. He tried asking the System, but its only reply was that it had dispensed all information.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Fantastic.

Twenty seconds. He only needed to stall for just over twenty seconds.

“You killed him,” Superhero girl said in a dead voice that sent a chill through Sebastian.

He tried not to let it show. “Not sure which one you’re talking about; I killed a lot of you. But if you wanted to join him that badly, there are surely easier ways to die.” He forced a chuckle. “I’m going to have to start charging you for my services.”

“Shut up,” Olivia snapped, apparently not enjoying it when he was the one hamming it up.

“You lack honor,” Eema told them. “I will not sink myself to your level. Leave now. You are far weaker than I am, and unlike you, I am no murderer.”

He nervously checked his countdown. Twelve seconds remaining.

What a terrible time to get ambushed.

Which was likely why they’d chosen it.

Sebastian wondered how they had known, but didn’t have time to ponder, since, without warning, Olivia, obviously choosing not to take Eema up on her offer, shot an arm out at him that turned into an obsidian spike, bridging the gap between them in an instant.

But Eema was faster, sword summoned from nowhere, deflecting the attack.

Olivia grunted and stumbled backward against the World Store, quickly retracting her arm, which was bleeding.

“Now!” Bram shouted, and several things happened at once.

First, Bram threw an item toward Sebastian which Eema moved to intercept as Ilse floated up into the air, cape and hair fluttering in a breeze that didn’t exist.

Then just as Eema reached for the item, her eyes wide in horror, she vanished, replaced by Sanne, skin shimmering in a weak haze as she grabbed the object from the air.

The Vassal collided into Sebastian just as a message appeared in his mind.

Core deck integration complete

Time to reactivation: 4 seconds

He didn’t have time to savor the victory as Sanne turned to fire and drove both her hand and the object it held into his gut with a scream of pain and anger.

Sebastian joined her, though his cry was mixed with surprise as well.

His gut felt like it was on fire. Which, perhaps, it was.

At least he could die again now that the initiator had finished.

Or so he thought.

Messages flashed in his head, one after the other.

Second core detected, diverting channels

Attempting to integrate core

Incompatible core

Unable to initiate second core

Channels connected

Channels activated

Activating heart card [Death Is Not the End]…

Crap, he needed to hold on just a little longer.

Sanne was unconscious on the ground beside him, her flames gone.

Sebastian realized he was on his knees.

When had that happened?

He felt… strange.

His mind was filled with memories, or images at least. And feelings. But they weren’t his.

He was having trouble telling reality from whatever was going on in his head.

“Ilse!” Bram shouted.

Sebastian’s focus sharpened and he was snapped back to the present in time to see Ilse diving toward him, her face a dead mask devoid of emotion.

Eema was again there in an instant, driving her sword into the girl’s chest.

Then she leapt back, sword vanishing only to reappear in her hand a moment later as Ilse dropped lifelessly to the ground.

“Are you okay?” Sebastian asked Eema.

She looked… broken, but didn’t seem injured.

“No,” she answered, staring down at his stomach.

He looked down to see if he was maybe on fire after all.

He wasn’t, and wasn’t even bleeding. Whatever Sanne had done to him, it hadn’t left a hole.

Bram glanced at the man Sebastian didn’t recognize, swore, then dropped his robe and transformed into a giant monster, charging for Sebastian.

Eema was there to meet him, moving so fast Sebastian could hardly track her.

Then Ilse floated off the ground, her eyes locked on Sebastian.

“Oh great. You’re still alive.”

She flew into him.

Which luckily for him inadvertently saved him from being skewered by Olivia.

Less lucky was his ribs cracking as she slammed him into the World Store.

They crashed through the outer layer of wall, then hit resistance and were flung away.

“Dammit Ilse!” Bram shouted in a deep, distorted voice as he fended off Eema’s attacks.

Sebastian landed on his face as Ilse floated up into the air, completely ignoring Bram.

He rolled over onto his back and found himself staring up into the eyes of someone familiar. Several stories above him, watching from the roof of the former police station and current World Store outpost, was the assassin guy Sebastian had seen inside the Store.

The man smiled and put a finger to his lips.

“The hell?” Sebastian muttered.

Then the assassin’s visage was blotted out by Ilse’s foot flying toward Sebastian’s face.

He barely rolled out of the way in time as her foot missed his head by an inch and slammed into the ground, cracking both it and the girl’s own leg.

She went down while he hopped to his feet, wincing at the pain radiating from his ribs. He quickly got his bearings. Eema was keeping both Olivia and Bram occupied.

He turned back in time to find Ilse floating up, her broken leg snapping back into place. Her superhero suit had a hole where Eema had stabbed her, but the flesh it revealed was unscathed. There wasn’t even any bloodstain.

“You are Wolverine.”

Her face twitched in what might have been a scowl, then she flew toward him again.

He threw himself back to the ground, narrowly avoiding her as she blazed past him, across the canal, and crashed into a building somewhere behind him, shattering a window and disappearing inside.

He popped to his feet ready to dive out of the way again, but Ilse was motionless on the floor inside, her head at a ninety-degree angle.

He hoped she was dead, but wasn’t going to assume.

Then he realized with a start that the shop she had crashed into was the beauty spa next to Anomaly Labs.

He was back where it had all begun.

She hadn’t healed yet, but she might. He needed to do something.

Having no idea if it would work, he grabbed the cards from his pocket, selected the one he wanted, then activated it.

Just a thought was enough to add it to his deck.

Card [Sovereign of Gelandar] added to core deck.

Card [Sovereign of Gelandar] activated.

Synergy with existing deck: Perfect

Synergy Effects: None

“Yes!” His heart card hadn’t reactivated yet, but at least his core deck worked now.

The activation wasn’t nearly as impressive as with his Death Is Not the End card: just a dim, pale flash of light as the card was sucked into his abdomen. Thankfully, the accompanying pain was likewise mild.

He wondered about the synergy bit, but had no time to contemplate it right now.

He checked on Ilse. Still unconscious on the floor of the spa.

He was just about to test out his new ability on her when Bram—still fending off Eema—shouted, “Do something!” in a voice so deep it was barely intelligible.

Sebastian looked around, wondering who he was talking to. He checked the roof for the assassin. Was he a Vassal? Was he with them?

But the roof was now empty.

Then Sebastian spotted the man he hadn’t recognized getting to his feet.

He’d been so still that Sebastian had forgotten about him.

As Sebastian stared, a haze of color flashed around the man.

No, Sebastian realized, not around the man, it was in Sebastian’s head.

He thought it was from whatever Sanne had done to him, but then remembered the aura thing, and narrowed his focus on the man.

His vision bloomed a deep violet as the haze around the man came into focus, accompanied by an even deeper dread at the color.

So that was what the System meant by feeling it, he thought.

And it wasn’t just a color or feeling. There was a helpful nameplate-like message above the man’s head that didn’t help ease his worry.

Scion of the Apocalypse System (E1)

The man was a full rank tier higher than him. And a Scion.

“Well that’s not good,” Sebastian said.

System, he mentally asked, can I take Eema with me if I teleport out of here?

Teleportation of team member Qin Li Eema using title [The First Explorer] requires her permission.

But if she gives it, I can teleport both of us out of here?

Yes.

He grabbed his map card, quickly added it to his deck, grunted as it entered into his core, then imprinted the current zone onto it so he could use his title.

Imprinting current subzone onto card [Map (basic)]

Time to completion: 614 seconds

“Son of a—”