Alistair quietly moved around the amphitheater. He went the long way around as he mentally prepared himself for what was about to happen. Ghost continued to rattle off instructions in his head, yet Alistair had a better idea, a better opening attack than to simply bind with Hooty and try to beat Goran down.

“Let me focus,” he told Ghost when he was just about to circle around the corner.

Alistair used Thick Skin. He followed this up with moonlight Eyes of the Assassin, which would allow him to see in a low-light condition. Finally, just as he spotted Kanda and Goran, the skyward girl facing him and just registering his presence, Alistair cast Mistmeld.

He hit Goran with Rain of Blades, yet the big man was already on the move, diving to cover Kanda.

“Al—!” Kanda’s voice fell flat as Goran hit her, the Skyward girl out cold from the sudden impact. A flash of resonant mana returned to her, Alistair assuming this was probably Daisy, her Abyssal Summon.

Rushing into action, Alistair moved toward Goran as the big man was turning to him and swiping the fog away.

Zapp! Zapp!

Alistair blasted him twice with Resonant Pulse and then hit him with Shimmer.

“Alistair!” Goran yelled as he charged at him, the man covering his eyes with his arm.

Alistair used Aerial Burst to leap to the right, sending Goran into a tree. He hit it hard, yet the man never fell. He simply turned and peered into the fog.

Ghost: What are you doing? Grimbeak, now!

“Did Felix send you to do this?” Goran asked into the mist. “You… you hurt Kanda!” Goran grabbed a couple of stones and lodged them into the fog. Alistair dove to his stomach to avoid them.

Goran threw another one and Ziggy swatted it out of the air. Squish! The slime zigzagged his way to the big man.

“I will find you,” Goran roared into the mist, “and when I do… when I do!”

Ziggy lunged toward Goran’s feet.

“What? What’s this—!?”

Squish… squish… Squish!

Ghost: Do it now! What are you waiting for!?

Alistair summoned Hooty in a way that would allow him to bind. He smashed the card on his first try and felt his body instantly fill with muscle, his size tripling as Hooty’s voice appeared.

I’m ready.

Good, Alistair thought back. Let’s take him out!

Now binded with the owlbear, Alistair stomped through the mist to find Goran struggling with Ziggy, who had completely wrapped himself around the Scholarly Mountain’s legs. To distract him, Noctarii appeared and disappeared around Goran’s head, the fae firing arrows.

“You think I can’t take an oversized bastard like you? Think again!” Noctarii shouted at Goran.

The big man swatted at him, which opened his chest just enough for Alistair to dive forward.

Umph!

He slammed into Goran, who immediately started delivering fists to Alistair’s back.

They hurt.

They hurt badly.

Even with his protection in his binded form, Alistair could feel each fist, each pummeling strike as he tried to drive his beak into Goran’s face. This was a new mode of attack for Alistair, one that wouldn’t register with him just yet. Not only had he started the fight his way, Alistair had also gone straight for the kill. Ghost wanted to have the last words with Goran, but Alistair’s instincts took over and it seemed like a beak to the face could end the fight early.

Much to his surprise, Goran shifted to the side and returned fire with a headbutt that felt as if he had put his entire body into it. He flipped Alistair over, slammed his shoulders against the ground, and brought his hands around his neck, even as Alistair tried to beat him off.

SQUISH! Ziggy wrapped his body around Goran’s face, the giant of a man instantly letting up as he was pulled backward by the slime.

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Alistair got to his taloned feet and decided to use them.

Let’s pounce on him, he thought to Hooty.

With pleasure!

Just as he’d seen a bird do before, Alistair jumped onto Goran and drove his talons in while Ziggy continued to suffocate him.

Ghost: Don’t!—

The assassin wasn’t able to finish his command as Goran hit Alistair with a fist directly in the leg, which caused his morphed body to fall to the side. Goran slammed his head back which seemed to hurt Ziggy enough to force the slime off his face.

“You will die for this!” Goran shouted, enraged to the point now that his voice had taken on a new, sinister edge. Noctarii swarmed in again to distract him.

“Missed!” the fae taunted as Goran tried to bat at him. “Come on, fatso, try to—Argh!” Noctarii was slapped out of the air, the fae disappearing in a puff of shadow and returning to Alistair’s chest.

Ghost: My turn. Release Grimbeak and get Ziggy out of the way.

Goran got to his feet. He held Ziggy in both hands and was starting to pull him apart, Ziggy’s slimy tendrils doing their best to fight back yet failing.

It’s the assassin’s turn, he thought to Hooty.

Wish him good luck.

Alistair release Hooty and his form shrank. He shot his hand out and summoned Ziggy back to his chest.

“Good luck,” were his final words before Ghost took over.

Ghost didn’t say a word. He merely extended his right hand and received his sword from Lionel. He did the same with his left and took Senka’s blackened blade out of the pool of shadow forming around him.

He stepped out of the mist and ignored the flashes of pain he felt in Alistair’s body. He thought of telling the boy to be quiet, to let him focus, But Alistair knew better. Ghost had trained him well enough to know that right now, of all times, was not the time to distract the assassin.

There was work to be done.

Goran stumbled out of the fog, the big man breathing heavily, seething with anger. The sides of his turquoise outfit were stained with blood from Alistair’s talon attack. There was also a huge mark of ichor running along his collarbone, where Alistair had hit the big man with his beak.

“You have… swords?” Goran asked. His eyes narrowed on Alistair. “Kang was right all along. Hello, Ghost.”

“Goran,” Ghost said.

“I can’t say that it is a pleasure.”

“It never is in situations like this.”

“I see,” Goran said, the giant suddenly calm. “You have come for your revenge?”

“I have.”

“And you used this poor vessel to extract it?”

“I did.”

“And Hilda, Senka, Kang’s mother… you?”

“Me. And him.” Ghost touched his chest. “Us. And there are three people left on my list, including you.”

“Alistair. Alistair and Ghost, the assassin living in his head. This reeks of fiction, yet it is real.” Goran touched his side and looked at the blood on his fingers. “You have injured me. It has been a long time since I felt an injury. It is invigorating in a sense.”

“Our pleasure. Enjoy the feeling of pain while you still live. You will miss it when you die.”

“Felix must know.”

“What?” Ghost asked, a bit startled by this revelation.

“Felix must know that it’s you. I wondered why he lit into Ghost at dinner tonight. He spoke more of you in that short conversation than I have ever heard from him before.” Goran coughed. He spit blood, and some now trailed down his chin. “It’s not like him to care about someone he has killed. Yet he kept mentioning you. Now, I know why.”

“You think Felix knows?”

“He’s as wicked as he is clever. He knows.”

“You say this, yet you remain by his side.”

Goran spit more blood to the ground. “I promised someone.”

“Who?”

“Felix’s brother.”

“Garulf? Felix killed his brother. Why would you promise to protect Felix, to put up with his abuse?”

“For Kanda. I’m doing this for Kanda.”

Ghost tried to make sense of what he was hearing. “You promised Garulf for Kanda? Speak sense, Goran.”

“Garulf knew Felix would deal with him at some point. Felix wanted full control of the Baroncroft wealth. Garulf wasn’t a weak man, he was very strong-willed, but he wasn’t in this line of work, he didn’t care for it. Then, he was introduced to Kanda. She was young, just a girl, straight out of Felix’s orphanage. Garulf saw the future in her. He thought that she would be able to draw from the horrors she experienced and steer the Bancroft fortune in a different direction.”

“Yet she was wrong. She will become the next Felix.”

“She will. And that’s who I promised to protect, her.”

“Not Felix.”

“Protect Felix so I can protect her.”

“You know this doesn’t change anything, right?” Ghost asked. “I will do the same to you that I did to the others. It is my code.”

“You have your code written in stone. I’m aware. I’m not going to beg for my life. I’m not going to ask that you spare me.”

“I didn’t think you would.”

“And if I kill you, if I kill Alistair, I will protect Kanda and Felix. Do you see now why it is you, not me, who will die here tonight, Ghost? We are fighting for the same thing, to protect something. You are protecting your code, I’m protecting Kanda.”

“Frame it any dumbass way you want, it doesn’t change anything.” Ghost kept his blades pointed at the ground. “This is revenge for revenge’s sake. This is what happens when you stab someone in the back. You won’t live past the next few minutes. But I can tell you this, Goran, old friend, your death will help an entire kingdom you seemingly care little about. With you out of the way, I will move onto Kang and Felix, and this Dracolich madness will be over.”

“For now,” Goran said, the big man suddenly invigorated again.

“For now. Bring it, big man.”