Jay walked up to Tunstead's gates, followed closely by Xera and Millie. The giant metal gates were guarded by a pair of soldiers, each wearing full plate armor and holding heavy spears. Jay frowned. "Those aren't normal guards."

  Xera looked over. "Tunstead's a big city. They might just be strong."

  Millie looked at them, shaking her head. "Not even the capital has guards that strong. Given, they may have put all their points in strength, but they'd have to have quite a few points in their other stats to be able to hold those so proficiently, though."

  Jay nodded. "Metallic Council?"

  Xera shrugged. "Maybe? Not everyone's from the Council, though. That might be an overreaction."

  Jay scrutinized the guards some more, trying to find an emblem. There was nothing. He shook his head. "Sneak in, just to be safe?," he asked, turning to look at the others.

  "Yeah, probably a good idea."

  "Sure."

  Xera no longer had quite the fiery attitude she had before-this was a more tempered version of her, and it left Jay confused, though he didn't ask questions. Somehow, she was managing to stay unnoticed while carrying a warhammer, and that was good enough for him. They walked in the middle of the crowd, drawing as little attention to themselves as possible.

  Jay felt one of the guards look at him, but the feeling quickly passed. He probably had been noticed, but not as a Gemstone Councilor, given how new he was to the post, and how his onyx was hidden in a pouch. He walked through the gates, seeing a long street with vendors on both sides and intersecting roads spaced at perfect intervals along it. Stepping to the side, he waited a moment to pull Xera to the side. She immediately turned on him before noticing who it was and calming down. He quickly found Millie and pulled her over to where Xera was. "I don't think we've been noticed," Jay began, "I felt his eyes on me, but he shifted his attention away after a moment. I suggest we walk around, see what's happening in the city."

  There didn't seem to be anything of note occurring around the city. Too little, in fact. No one haggled over anyhing, no one fought in bars, no one raised their voice-It was a little too perfect. Amon, what do you think?

  Too perfect. Something's up here, and the civilian population is in on it. The guards are too.

  Jay raised an internal eyebrow. None of her normal snark was there. Where's your snark?

  It must be the town or something. I don't feel like saying anything funny, or even annoying you. Weird.

  He turned to Xera. "Does your personality feel... diminished in any way?"

  "No-wait. Now that you say it. I do feel... kinda less fiery and pushy."

  Jay nodded, turning to Millie. "I don't feel as... me."

  He sat down. Was he affected by this? Jay searched his entire body, finding nothing. Then he thought about what was happening. He was serious, but that was quite normal. Was he more serious than usual? There would be no way to tell, really. He examined his mind, checking for abnormalities. He found nothing, but there was one last place to check. He'd never seen them before, so this should be enlightening.

  Jay sat, with his back to Tunstead's outer wall. Then he reached into his mind, searching for his Chains. They were easier to find than he expected. As soon as he thought about seeing them, they were there, right in front of him. His First chain was in the center, currently with a lot of slack, not holding anything together. He supposed it would lose that slack and hold the consciousness in place when you got through the rest of the chains. His second, third, fourth, and fifth chains also had a large amount of slack, not looking to be doing any work at all. When he got to his sixth chain, there was far less slack. It was still there, but less noticeable. The seventh chain had almost none, almost completely taught.

 Then his eighth chain was completely taught, straining to hold his consciousness down and keep the section it was holding running. He saw power coursing through it, unlike the rest, though he knew they had power to keep their sections active. As he watched, he saw black smoke on the chain attempt to pull it apart, one end of the smoke pulling towards his consciousness, while the other pulled away. The chain was already straining, he saw, and couldn't take too much more.

  Jay rapidly exited his mind. He opened his mouth. "Diamond. We need an out, quickly."

  Somehow, Diamond heard, as he always did, and a portal appeared in front of them. Ignoring the looks from the passerby, all three of them stepped in, disappearing. They appeared in front of Diamond, who was staring at them with a quizzical look. "What are you three doing back here?"

  Jay held up a finger, sitting down. He examined his chain again. The black smoke was still there. Amon, do you have chains?

  Mine are tied to yours.

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  Is there a way for you to access my chains?

  If you drag me there, I should be able to get back later.

  He quickly found Amon, lounging on his soul, taking the shape of a liquid woman, once again. Grabbing her, he pulled her into his mind, quickly finding his chains once again. "Ooh," Amon said, able to pretend to be audible now that they were next to each other in his mind. "That doesn't look good. Neither of us have the skills to remove it."

  Jay nodded. "I'll talk to Diamond about it, then. Speed is of the essence."

  He released himself from his mind, getting up. "Diamond. I have this black mist in my mind which is trying to pull apart my Eighth Chain, and I assume these two have that as well. How do we get rid of it?"

  Diamond's eyes widened. "I never imagined Onyx would go to these lengths. You have to kill the caster, who must always be within the area of the spell. When you find the caster... kill them. They are an amalgamation of five bodies, one for each of the five disciplines."

  Jay quirked a brow. "I've heard 'five energies' a couple times. Why isn't Mana included?"

  Diamond raised an eyebrow. "This is a topic for later, but it's artificial, or so that's how I can best describe it."

  Jay nodded. "So we have no choice but to go as fast as possible for this mission."

  Diamond nodded. "I can't send you backup, either. You're on your own. I have other things to do."

  "Well, send us back, then."

  A portal appeared in front of them, once again. They walked through. Jay felt his personality continue to dull. This would have to be fast. Xera and Millie followed. He waved at them to follow him and started a pace he was relatively sure they would be able to keep up with him at. Xera immediately ran up to his side, running in an loping jog. He eyed her. With how easily she was running at this speed, her form lazy, he suspected Xera's physical attributes far outstripped his. Not that he had numbers, unlike her.

  Millie lagged behind slightly, but he knew that she more than made up for it with her spells. This was a good team. Jay suddenly remembered his Commander class, activating Marching Song. He sped up even further, Millie keeping up with the increased pace due to the song that rang out in all their minds. Jay had to admit, it was pretty catchy.

  They ran around, looking for anything that would be useful. At high speed, Jay ran directly past a noble. Then he stopped, weaving around Millie to run back to the noble. Xera showed up right next to him, her warhammer already in her hands. "Hello. Would you care to answer a few questions for us?"

  The man gulped as Jay touched him, causing his limbs to lock in place due to Crush. Xera raised her warhammer. "S-Sure."

"Great!" Jay grinned a predatory smile.

  Tunstead was run by demons, apparently. Literal demons. They would have to go. Then there were the cults which worshipped them, which, of course, would have to go first. Then there was the lich infestation downtown, apparently. This town was weird.

  Jay stood on a roof with Xera and Millie. It was starting to turn to night, but Jay still felt the tug on his chain. "We can't stop. No sleep."

  Millie's head was already starting to droop. Jay sighed. "Diamond, do you have something for Millie?"

  A vial appeared in front of Jay, filled with a glowing yellow liquid. "This'll keep her up for a while."

  Not questioning him, Jay gave Millie the vial. She downed it and immediately perked back up. "Now we continue."

  Xera walked through the cult's doors. They watched the giant lady with a warhammer walk into the building. "Do you want to join?," one asked, not even looking.

  Xera swung her warhammer, pulping one of the cultists ducking past her. Then she swung it again. And again. The woman who had asked her to join didn't even look over until a bit of blood fell on her cheek. Then she turned, watching Xera bring down her hammer. "Oh," she said.

  Jay walked into a overly-embellished snake's mouth, a cult receptionist waiting for him. She stood up. "How may I help you?," she asked.

  Amon carved a bloody hole through her chest. She fell back, not comprehending what had just happened. Jay stepped past her, walking through a door covered by a myriad of illusions. The rest of the cult stood within. Like the grim reaper, he walked among them, siver liquid carving their heads off their shoulders. Not one survived.

  Millie walked into a cult base, feeling slightly drowsy. A man walked up to her. "Would you like to go out and watch the sunset?," he asked.

  Millie felt some of her personality push through, returning to her. This man had the audacity to ask her to watch the sunset? When she was tired?

  Needless to say, no one ever heard of the man who had angered her or his entire cult again, except for small splatters of blood and the occasional cut-in-half body.

  The trio regrouped. "How many cults did you hit?," Jay asked them.

  "I got all of mine."

  "Same," Millie said, yawning. The left side of her face was covered with blood. At least Xera had bothered to clean up.

  "Me too."

  Millie turned to the sunset. "So, we take out the liches now?," she asked, pointing towards the sun.

  Jay shook his head. "Wrong direction." He grabbed her hand, pointing it all the way behind her. "That way."

  MIllie scowled. They got up, ready to head off again, when Diamond's voice shouted in their ears. "Whoa! Hold up. You're going to go after liches? Don't get overconfident, now. They'll eat you up and spit you back out. Take out the demons and let me handle the liches."

  Jay started. "But we can handle them."

  "Kid, you've won almost every fight you've started. That won't always be the case. Trust me, the liches will destroy you without breaking a sweat."

  Jay turned, his face scrunching up slightly. "So, we go after the demons."

  Jarl coughed. Was someone thinking about him? His tail flicked as he watched the world beneath his tower suffer. So much power, ripe for the taking... "Sire! Three people breached the tower?"

  Jarl turned. "Hm? They don't stand a chance against the Business Demon of Razorpine! Send them in!"

  The servant shuddered. "Sire... they're not applicants. They're killing everyone and casually strolling up the tower. Not even our elites were strong enough."

  "Don't worry, servant. The business demon does not lose in matters of finance. You may have the rest of the day off."

  "Thank you, sire! But how will I get out of the tower?"

  Jarl stared him in the eyes. "You won't."

  The servant shuddered with what seemed to be fear, running off to some dark recess of his rooms. Jarl shrugged. Didn't matter. These people seemed interesting. This might finally be a challenge. Oh! Turning to his desk, Jarl grabbed a few sheets of paper and two pens. These things were always necessary for contracts. Then he sat down, waiting. Waiting was always the most annoying part. Especially since he didn't have fluffy to play with, now that he'd turned him into the Businesslike Black Mist.

  He sat, waiting.

  And then walking.

  And then waiting some more.