> May the rains renew your spirit

>

> - A prayer said in the Battos region

Falur stuck his head over the edge of the roof.

“We got lucky, one street over, in an alley,” he jerked a thumb to the side, indicating the direction. “He’s got two flags, orange.”

“Good work,” I nodded, turning to the rest of our group. “We’ll pincer him. Dan, Johan, you two will be the walls, while Falur and I will go for the flags.” There were nods and noises of agreement. “Then let’s move out.”

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The shadows enveloped me as I clung to the side of a building. From my vantage point, I could see the Vagabond, Dan silently stalking him.

The man came to a stop. “You’re sloppy,” he said, loud enough that everyone on the team could hear him. He turned around, facing Dan. “But I’ll give you a pass, since you aren’t the sneaky type.”

“Thank you kindly,” Dan replied. “Say, you wouldn’t mind handing over those flags, would you?” he asked.

“Do you really think that such a–”

The man spun around, raising his arm just in time to take the hit from Johan’s staff on his leather bracer. He grimaced; that strike must have hurt quite a bit, armor or not.

“Oh? It’s rare to see a kid get this strong,” he remarked.

The Vagabond, pincered by the two fighters, took the only other method of escape available to him. He had been led into a situation where only one favorable option was left to him.

He backed up and got a running start, leaping at the side of the building. He started scaling it, already fifteen feet or so up.

It was the very same build I was currently hanging on to. I released a shadow towards him, a long snaking cord of darkness aimed straight at his wrists.

“Huh?! Agh!” he cried out, belatedly realizing that he had been caught. I pulled down, trying to throw him off the building. Frustratingly, I wasn’t strong enough to break his grip, but I did manage to prevent him from climbing any higher.

Falur picked up the slack, firing from his shortbow arrows designed in such a way that they could only leave wounds a half-inch deep at worst. Two arrows nicked his bracers ineffectively, while the third sunk into his shoulder. I could see the Vagabond grimace in pain.

The Vagabond looked at the shadow wrapped around his wrist. He followed the whip to its source. Our eyes met. “Lloyd, right? Nice to meet you! The name’s Eustius,” he said with a mock smile before twisting his bound hand, reaching for the black cord. He was going to crush it. I immediately released the binding and pulled it back, not wanting to lose the invested Anima.

Johan chose that moment to take a few steps back. He then got a running start before leaping at the side of the building.

Eustius hesitated; his attention divided between my shadow cord still threatening him and Johan approaching from below. “Tch,” he scoffed. Then he dropped straight down, turning as he fell, and landed on a stunned Johan’s shoulders. Eustius then leapt, launching himself away from the building we had been fighting on, hitting the roof of the building opposite ours, mitigating the impact by rolling.

I leapt after him, creating a second cord. I barely had enough Anima left as is, so the cord had virtually no strength behind it. It would still serve an important purpose, though.

I sent them after Eustius. They came at him from the sides, aiming for the flags at his waist. The weaker cord arrived first. He twirled around, batting it away with a swing of his arm. But he hadn’t been expecting there to be another one. Three things happened in quick succession. The first is that the weak cord broke apart as I retrieved the Anima from it. The second was that aforementioned Anima was transferred to the remaining cord. Finally, from the end opposite me, a single point abruptly ballooned into a sphere twice the size of my fist. It cracked open and bared its jagged fangs.

It bit down on one of the bright orange flags at Eustius’s waist. Like a fisherman who just hooked a fish, I pulled back on the cord. The flag was pulled free, the cord tracing an arc as it flew my way. I caught it, retrieving the contents of the shadowy maw.

Flag in hand, I gave a wide-eyed Eustius a mock-salute before making my escape.

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He was still chasing us. Dammit, Cadius! That stupid fucking rule. Eustius was after the flag we had just stolen, and he wasn’t giving up.

There was simply no reasonable way to obtain more flags while being chased non-stop across the city. Which left us only one choice. Though we couldn’t severely injure anyone, the rules hadn’t forbidden incapacitating them. Knocking Eustius out wasn’t feasible, he was just too skilled for us to take on, even as a group. Restraining him was our best bet.

“Dan, Johan,” I shouted as we ran, “We need to deal with Eustius!” They nodded and we all came to a stop. Dan and Johan stood at the front, while Falur and I stayed behind them. I grabbed a shadow and hastily molded it into a specific configuration. I hadn’t tried something like this before, so I wasn’t sure how effective it would be.

The resulting creation looked like an ordinary sphere. Even though I had tried to make it as slowly as possible, it still ate up nearly all of my Anima.

Eustius approached at top speed. Dan and Johan prepared to intercept. Eustius wasn’t slowing down. Johan swept his staff high, while Dan crouched with his arms spread wide, ready to grapple Eustius if he went low.

Eustius chose to instead skid to a stop, sidestep Johan’s sweep, and then used that opening to dash past him, putting Johan between Dan and himself.

I had been watching carefully for this moment. I didn’t know how he’d do it, but I anticipated Eustius would ignore the two fighters. He couldn’t afford to waste the energy fighting every group he came across. It was more efficient to just steal the flags back and escape.

I threw the shadow sphere at Eustius. It burst midair, revealing a mass of writhing, bladed tentacles. It slammed into Eustius’s leg. The tentacles flailed for a grip, curling around the leg, burying its blades into the skin, tightening the grip.

If he tried to remove the creature by force, it would leave innumerable lacerations behind.

“Freeze,” I commanded. Eustius obeyed, hands in the air. He understood what would happen if he didn’t. It wasn’t that Eustius was scared, rather, he probably didn’t want to suffer through the pain and treatment just to get the flag back.

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“Nicely done. I think I can see why Cadius favors you,” Eustius said.

I grumbled, trying to hide the embarrassment that came from being sincerely praised by someone I respected.

I ordered Dan to retrieve the other flag while Falur tied him up, using the rope he had in his pack. Once that was done, I carefully recalled the shadow creature and treated his wounds. We didn’t want to get disqualified because he bled out or got an infection.

“Good work, everyone,” I praised the team. “Just two flags left.”

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“Lloyd! There’s another team chasing after someone! There’s three players!” Falur shouted.

“What direction? How many flags does each side have?” I asked.

“The Vagabond has three flags. I can’t tell how many the players have.”

I took a moment to think of our next steps. A temporary alliance was an option. We could even swoop in and steal the flags, then offer them in exchange for working together temporarily.

“Go ahead of us and tell the team that help is on the way,” I ordered Falur. He nodded, disappearing from the edge of the roof.

I started running, Dan and Johan following after me. “You’re not going to ask first?” Johan questioned me.

“No,” I shouted, twisting my head to the side so he could hear me a bit better. “I don’t care if they want the help or not. If we get the chance, we’ll take two of the flags and leave them one, they’ll be less likely to make a fuss that way.”

“I didn’t peg you as the villainous type,” Dan commented. He sounded a bit impressed. Did he really think I was a good person?

“I’m a thief, remember?” I smirked.

We rounded a corner and saw a group of three surrounding what I assumed to be the Vagabond. She had voluminous, dark brown hair and wore an orange tunic; baggy, dark-brown pants tied at the ankles; and a red sash. Three light-blue flags were held against her waist by the sash.

I recognized her as Dafni, an information broker for the Vagabond Spirits. We had met one afternoon for tea. She was nice enough, but she had no filter; she spoke without reservation.

Dafni was grinning and her body lacked any tension, though she never stopped observing her surroundings. She had a handle on what each of her three opponents were doing.

“Oh, hey, Lloyd!” She called out with a wave, having noticed our presence. “Fancy meeting you here. Where’s the hubby? Did you have a little spat already?”

I felt my face heating up.

Mercifully, one of the group members chose that moment to close in on her, reaching for the flag. She took a single step back and to the side, grabbed the man’s wrist, and used his momentum to pull him to the ground. She skipped backwards towards the newly made opening in the formation.

Falur dropped down right behind her, snatching one of the flags on her waist. Before he could abscond with it, she spun around to face him. Then, Dafni’s entire demeanor changed. All the tension instantly left her body. Her posture shifted, and she wrapped her arms around Falur, pulling herself up against him. I couldn’t tell what kind of face she was making, but it was easy to guess. Falur froze, eyes wide and face flushed.

The one-sided embrace lasted for all of three seconds before Dafni snaked a leg behind his, placed her hands on his chest, then shoved. His knees buckled, and he toppled backwards. She then casually leaned over and retrieved the flag from the stunned Falur.

I couldn’t help but place a hand on my face and sigh. Unbelievable…

Dafni turned and posed, one hand on her hip, the other shaking the flag tauntingly.

I frowned, bringing out a shadow and forming the now familiar cord. It wasn’t as strong as before, since I created it too quickly, but it was enough to deal with her. I had it writhe, testing its maneuverability to ensure it functioned properly.

Dafni whistled. “Neat trick,” she commented nonchalantly. Her smile returned, though her eyes were slightly narrowed, weary of me.

Johan stood over with the other team, as per my instructions. He was to assist them in subduing Dafni. Dan stood to my side. We had ended up spread out in a semi-circle around Dafni, who now had her back against a building.

“Hmm. How will I escape?” she pondered out loud.

Someone on the other team made the first move, rushing at her with a wooden shortsword, the kind used for training. Dafni brought her hands up and dropped her stance. Martial arts? I hadn’t expected that. Her practiced movements stood in stark contrast to her earlier carefree attitude, she didn’t look as though she had the patience for it.

I had to remind myself that this was a literal city of thieves and rogues. Not even brothers-in-arms are going to wear their heart on their sleeve.

The man swung his sword, and Dafni bent backwards to avoid it. The man raised his sword above him. The moment the first swing passed her, Dafni stepped towards the man, then danced around him. She slammed a boot against the back of his knee, causing the leg to give out from under him. Dafni casually stepped back as the man collapsed. Unable to bring his arms forward to break his fall, the man’s face slammed against the ground.

“…He’ll be fine,” Dafni muttered to herself. “… I think.”

She’s untouchable. What a monster…

I looked up at the sky, checking our remaining time.

Fifteen minutes.

Shit.

We wouldn’t have enough time to find another target. Even if we did find another target, there would be no guarantee that they would be less difficult than Dafni, nor that they’d possess at least two flags.

We need a plan of attack. Pulling together what I’ve seen so far, our strategy should focus on slowing her down and hindering her movements.

“Dan! Grab her!” I shouted.

“On it!” he replied.

Like the explosive movement of a snake stretching out to deliver its venom, I sent the cord after Dafni while Dan approached from another angle. She reached out, trying to snatch it out of the air, only for it to stop abruptly, just out of reach. She hesitated, and I took that moment to have the cord target her legs. She scowled, stepping back…

…Right into Dan’s outstretched arms. He caught her in a bearhug, lifting her up off the ground.

“… I didn’t expect that to work,” I admitted, a touch incredulous.

Dafni huffed. “The stupid shadow noodle distracted me. I sort of forgot about everything else…” she admitted.

“I’m not complaining,” Johan smiled.

“We’ll be taking the flags now,” I said. I reconfigured the cord, changing it to its chomper form I used against Eustius. I was feeling a bit petty, so I used it to collect the flags for me.

Her eyes lit up, watching intently as the flags were taken from her.

The man with the sword stepped forward, then stopped, as if holding himself back. He clenched a fist, and his whole body tensed, shaking. But instead of blowing up in anger, he slumped over, all the emotion draining from him. He turned wordlessly and started to walk away.

If I had to guess, he was about to claim those flags as belong to his team. He stopped himself before he could say it, having realized how stupid that sounded.

“Here,” I said, balling up one of the flags and tossing it to him. “We only needed two.”

He perked up a bit, and he nodded in thanks.

“Ok, we’ve got what we needed. Tie her up,” I told my team.

“Wait, no need for that! I’ll play nice!” she begged, squirming in Dan’s arms. I narrowed my eyes at her. “No! Really! I do have one condition though…”

This is going to be something stupid, isn’t it? It was the same thing I felt whenever Von was about to say something inane.

She grinned mischievously, “I won’t chase you for the rest of the round if tell me all about that shadow of yours,” she proposed.

“No,” I instantly responded. I was not going to give an information broker details on my power. At least, not for free.

Dafni pouted, puffing out her cheeks. “Please?” she drew the word out.

“No.”

“I’ll be silent!”

“No.”

“Ugh!” she groaned in frustration. “Then just let me ask you a question instead, then I’ll leave.”

“…Fine,” I reluctantly agreed. “Release her,” I ordered Dan. He let go, and she dropped to the ground.

“Could have been a bit gentler there,” she grumbled as she stood up and readjusted her clothing. “Now, for my question!” she said excitedly.

She’s almost as much of a wierdo as Von.

“Ahem,” Dafni cleared her throat, “Besides molding shadows and moving them around, what other shadow-related abilities do you possess?”

…Fuck. That was the perfect question to ask as someone who deals in information. I couldn’t help but hesitate, unwilling to answer.

“Oh, you think I’d sell you out? Honey, I’m not that stupid. Cadius would have my head on a pike if I even joked about that,” she told me.

“That’s true,” I agreed. “Fine, I’ll tell you.” I leaned forward, talking in a low voice as not to be overheard. “I can travel through shadows, though I don’t really know the details since I haven’t tried it yet. It’s something like disappearing and then reappearing somewhere else.”

She nodded vigorously. “That’s so cool!”

“Ok, I told you, now please leave.”

“Will do!” she grinned before prancing off into the distance.

Knowing my luck, I’m going to have to see her again at some point.

Bluh.