I dropped my sensory spells, allowing the Magister’s Body to chug along and replenish where my energy had been drained, and turned to face the portal. I was tempted to chain some foxsteps and get there quickly, but I didn’t want to leave Araceli and Roh behind.

Still, I moved through the crowd as quickly as I reasonably could until I spotted Liz and Dusk walking through the crowd. When Dusk spotted me, she started running, slipping between people’s legs and under their feet before leaping up and smacking me in the chest with a tiny hug.

I winced a little at that. I was getting… better… about my chest, especially since it had been shrunk by the Magister’s Body and Beast Mage’s Soul spells, but it was still not a great thing for my attention to be drawn to. In all honesty, it was one of my worst sources of dysphoria.

Still, I grabbed Dusk out of the air to stop her from falling and held her to my shoulder in a tight hug. She peeped that she’d missed me, and I nodded.

“I missed you too.”

I gently placed her on the ground and smiled.

“So what is this secret project you were working on?”

Before Dusk could show me, Liz finished walking over, though she limped slightly.

“Are you okay?” I asked her, and she grinned, though it was tired.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Bone just takes a bit longer to heal. How about yourself?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” I said, waving a hand. “No big deal, really.”

“I’m serious,” Liz said. “How are you?”

I paused for a second, then let out a slow breath.

“I’m okay,” I said. “I’m not perfect, but I’m alright. I think I’ll need to talk to my mentalist about this whole situation once it calms down, but it’s… not going to be something I want to think about forever.”

I licked my lips as I considered my last fear, then said it.

“I’m also worried about Kene. They’ve been gone for a while, and I don’t have an easy way to contact them. At least I could reach out to Dusk, even if it took a while. They’re… I’m worried about them.”

“Kene’s a tough one,” Liz said. “They’ve held off their… issue… for years, and if it's what I think it is, they’re doing better than most. Any, really. They’ll make it out of there just fine. Just have some faith in them.”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t that I didn’t have faith in Kene… I was just worried.

“The secret project?” I asked instead.

“Oh!” Liz said, clapping. “That was something, yeah. Dusk, care to do the honors?”

Dusk peeped her agreement and the portal to her realm snapped open. We stepped through, Liz as well, and Dusk closed it.

“Sense,” Liz instructed me.

I tapped into my sensory spells and flared them out around me, and felt… Life.

Dusk’s forests had always had life in them. Plants, a few bugs, a few animals…

But now?

Now they were absolutely teeming with life. There were forest estragon in the trees, alongside soundlight moonbats, solbees, and even dryads.

The ground crawled with rubyworms, the rivers had river estragon, and the sky had deathcrows winging over it. I even spotted a deer that radiated out peak second gate magic that I could only describe as deer magic.

I sucked in a breath and looked at Dusk.

“You… did all this?”

She proudly burbled out that she’d eaten nearly every living thing that was willing to come with them while they were looking for things.

“Not all of them were willing,” Liz said. “And many of them left on their own, especially the things that could fly or swim easily. But… I think we did a good thing.”

Araceli sneezed at that, and I scratched between her horns.

“Definitely,” I said, nodding. Dusk patted my cheek and whistled at me to go to the vault now. With a small laugh, I headed there, moving slowly so that Liz could keep up with us. Dusk sat down outside of the cave with Araceli and Roh, while Dusk and I descended, and Dusk scampered over to a leather bag that sat next to a single, glowing white pearl.

Running my mana senses over the pearl, it felt… Strong. Nearly fifth gate. Yet, despite the fact it was so strong, it was soft, like a fluffy pillow of clouds.

A lot like clouds, actually. In some ways, it reminded me of Araceli’s magic.

“What is it?” I asked, and Dusk laughed, saying that she didn’t know, but she thought that it would help enhance her ability to fly a lot. Probably. She wasn’t sure, which was why she hadn’t taken it yet. But Liz had taken a destructionpetal that would enhance her full gate spell.

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“Impressive,” I complimented.

I opened the bag next, only for my mana senses to be struck with a cacophony of powerful mana sources of all sorts, and even some natural treasures dedicated to the growth of mana for third gate and higher magic.

“Wow,” I said. “That’s… Quite a haul.”

Dusk said she agreed, and she’d be happy to give me some of the natural treasures. But this wasn’t all – she’d found lightbright sunflowers and brainplants!

I stared at her.

“Brainplants?”

She nodded.

“No elaboration?”

She shook her head, and I sighed.

“Alright.”

I tied the bag shut and showed Dusk the I O U from the craftsman, as well as my new groth item. When we finished, we left the vault to find Liz half dozing. I gently poked her shoulder.

“Hey, wake up. Araceli, Roh, and I were about to track down the assassin. Care to join me? Just so long as you promise to stay in the background and not charge in to fight like your life depends on it.”

“Fine, fine,” Liz groused. “But you can’t just dive in to take attacks either. Also, that was a terrible way to wake me up!”

“Sorry,” I said, chagrined. “But in my defense, I thought you were only half asleep.”

“Ah, so it was only half an insult?” she groused as she rose.

“I don’t expect too much trouble, honestly,” I said. “Attacking me in the middle of a forest is a far cry from attacking with dozens of people around. While she might be a menace, I don’t think she’s stupid. It’s more about the principle of the thing.”

“The principle of the thing?” Liz asked, and I nodded.

“Yeah, you can’t just go around trying to kill people for money. There’s a reason that’s illegal.”

Dusk laughed at me, and even Liz shook her head at that as Dusk opened the portal and we headed outside. I closed my eyes and channeled Placid Mind then, as well as my other sensory spells, allowing my power to expand out across as much of the island as I could, until I caught a hint of familiar, strong tempest magic. I made my way over there, but she must have sensed me coming, as she started moving away, trying to get out of my range.

I curled my senses in from all around me and then started streaming them at her, getting the best lock I could on her position, but she was moving fast, slipping through people. I glanced at Liz.

“Catch up when you can!”

Then I chained a series of quick teleports, until I was standing in front of the hired assassin, Dusk on my shoulder. She let out a groan and leaned against her massive hammer.

“You found me,” she said, “Are you ready for a blaze of glory? Or do you really think you can tal–”

I ignored her. She’d nearly caught me with illusions before, after all.

I channeled Witch Eyes, and the image of the woman before me started to warp and bend, until it slowly became apparent that I was looking at a woman, but one with a different face, hair, eyes, and stature than the one that I thought I was.

“Your hair looks different,” I commented. “The natural blonde suits you.”

She froze at that, shifting her hammer.

“You are a good illusionist,” I continued. “Or…”

I focused harder, pushing more power through my Witches’ Eyes, until I spotted a glowing bracelet. It was veiled, but it felt a lot like a growth item.

“Ah, no, it’s just a growth item,” I said.

“How…?” she asked, her voice hoarse.

“It explains why you were so willing to overlook the recording crystal, I suppose,” Liz called out from a few paces behind me. She couldn’t be able to see through the illusion too, but she must have picked up on what I was saying.”

“You… no. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

“Yes you do,” I said. “And the fact you’re using a growth item makes it easier, actually. I’ll report you, and your growth item. It shouldn’t be too hard to get a record on it. You bought it from the Ghost Market, right?”

That was a guess, but an educated one. She’d been wearing a false face before she attacked me in the tower, after all. This identity must be the one she used for wetworks, while she maintained a separate, normal identity. Which meant if I could get records, her entire criminal career would come tumbling down.

It paid off, as her face went even paler.

“How do –”

“How do I know so much?” I continued. “Come on, you should know that I’m not going to answer that.”

“Okay, so what,” she said. “This identity is separate.”

“Separate enough for an investigation to find nothing?” I asked. “Even when they have a record of your real face?”

“Yes,” she said, but her fingers twitched. She was bluffing.

“And to guard against a terragon’s senses?” Liz asked, putting her hand on Araceli’s head. “Do you know how hard those are to fool?”

The assassin took a step back, as if to run, and light instantly sparked itself in Araceli’s throat, while Roh began to glow with blue light. I shook my head.

“Give it up. Your game is over.”

“You don’t get it,” she said, shaking her head. “I have bills to pay. It’s not so simple as –”

“Let’s do a cost benefit analysis,” I said. “First, can I assume your whole ‘going out in a blaze of glory’ was nonsense? You have some sort of item that could pull you out at the last second, don’t you? You’re staggeringly well equipped.”

She worked her jaw for a second before she nodded.

“You’re down and out an arcanist potion, and the mana sources I gave you – which I want back now, by the way – aren’t going to sell as well because the market’s going to be flooded. If you kill me – and that’s a big if – then you get three hundred thousand silver.”

“And why is that a big if?” she asked, hands on her hips.

“Because, idiot,” Liz butted in. “He’s friends with… Four arcanists? Your mentors and my grandpa.”

“Five,” I said. “Wait. No. Six. Does Azalea count? She owes me a favor, but I don’t know if we’re friends. Also, does the witch count? She’s more of a grandmother-in-law than a friend.”

“Alright, jeez, fine, I get your point,” the assassin said, shifting from foot to foot. “But I really do have bills to pay. And it doesn’t seem worth it to upset my guild or the sponsor by reneging on a contract.”

“Like you reneged on our deal?” I asked, and her jaw worked for a second.

“Whatever,” she said.

“Listen, I’m going to report you,” I said. “I know you have bills to pay, you keep saying that, but murder isn’t the answer. The only question is if you’ll come along quietly, or if you want to fight us, activate your escape spell, and live life on the run until a diviner picks up on your growth item and you’re caught.”

She stared down at me, and I stared back, until she eventually sighed.

“Primes kid, I don’t…”

She shook her head and sighed.

“This is why I don’t let people talk. If it weren’t for the fact I was supposed to mock you for being weak… I did gather some stuff towards the end. I’d be willing to give some to you, to pay you back and put the deal back on the table.”

“The deal that you’ve already broken once?” I said. “Destroy the crystal and let you go?”

“And you could expose my real face, or close enough,” she said. “I’ve got a good reason to not, now.”

I considered it. I could, but even if she was good to her word – which there was no guarantee of – I’d still be letting a murderer roam free to continue her work. But if she escaped, she’d definitely continue to try and kill me, if for no other reason than to try and mitigate the number of people with knowledge about her true self.