Ike dashed in. The man lifted his hand, tossing a dozen talismans at him. The talismans burned more quickly than the previous ones, already fizzling before they left his hand. Ike raised his arms, coating them with layer after layer of Ice Armor. The fireballs blasted against him, smashing into his body and jostling him around. His armor melted. Water soaked into his arms, heightening the heat of the fire. Scalding water burned past his face.

Pushing the pain away, Ike added more ice and pressed on, running with the full force of his lightning surge. He burst through the fireball and out the other side. Steam streaked after him, pouring from his arms and shoulders.

The man stared at him, shocked, frozen for a moment. He shrieked, then threw up a handful of talismans.

Ike slashed the talismans before they could light. Popping and fizzling, they fluttered to the ground, no longer any more than paper. Ike slammed into the man, slapping his hand onto the barrier. He pushed Ice Armor onto the man’s barrier, then slammed it with a Shockwave Punch.

A hole opened in the barrier. In the next, it already began to recover, but too late. Ike drew his fist back and punched again, landing a blow directly on the man’s body.

The man flew in the opposite direction. Wisp stood there, waiting, a grin on her face. She leaped into the air as he soared at him. Latching on with all four limbs, she dipped her head down. Two massive fangs appeared for just a moment as she bit the man through the hole in his barrier, then vanished as she retracted her head.

The man screamed. Purple spread from the point of the bite. His flesh boiled, burning away. It surged over his whole body, from his chest to his head, all the way to his hands and feet. He grabbed at his robes, searching for something. The purple turned to black. His movements slowed. He fell against a tree, then sagged slowly down it. His breathing grew labored, slowing, until it finally went still.

Wisp trotted over. Ike followed her. The both of them peered down at the man.

“Well. That whole battle was weird,” Wisp said.

“Rich people are insane,” Ike said, shaking his head.

“Yeah.”

They both stared at the man. Ike wiped his face, taking both perspiration, steam, and burned skin with him. He shrugged at Wisp. “Well. I guess it’s time to take his shit.”

“Yeah. Might as well.” She reached through the hole in the barrier and yanked the man’s barrier necklace before it could close around his body again. Wisp offered it to Ike. “Here. You want this?”

Ike shrugged. “Sure, I guess. Seems nice.”

As she handed it over, the necklace burst. Blue light spiraled on the air, then went dark. The barrier vanished.

Stolen story; please report.

“Welp,” Wisp said. She shrugged and tossed it away.

Ike grabbed it. “That’s silver, at least! I can sell it for good money.”

“If you melt it down first, sure. Whatever we take from this guy is going to be hot as hell. His parents, clan, whatever—someone this rich has backers. They’re going to come after whoever killed him with a vengeance,” Wisp said.

“True,” Ike muttered. He tossed the barrier necklace into the Abyss. Better not to carry anything too hot. “We can throw him into the Abyss once we’re done, too.”

“Good idea. Better that he simply goes missing than if someone finds a body,” Wisp said.

Ike tilted the man’s body back and forth, but saw no skill orbs anywhere. He pulsed aether into the man’s corpse, but got no response. Can’t win them all. Giving up on skill orbs, he popped a few gems off the man’s gear. He picked up a few of the talismans, then paused. He held them up for Wisp to see. “What do you think? Are these too obvious?”

“Yeaaaah. Probably not worth the risk. As you saw, they’re kind of the loser’s fighting method. Serious mages don’t need a crutch like that.” Wisp went to toss them away, then shrugged and put them under her arm. “Well, but then… hmm. If we need to put suspicion on someone else, they’re an easy thing to slip into someone’s gear.”

“Good point. Plus, we can burn them if we need to, destroy the evidence.” Ike grabbed a few talismans and slotted them into his storage ring.

“Oh, here.” Wisp twisted a ring off the man’s finger and passed it to Ike. “All for you.”

Ike peered inside. A mountain of gold met his gaze. He startled and almost dropped the ring. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. You can buy things for me. After all, I can’t exactly walk into cities,” Wisp said.

“I thought monsters could pass through the barriers if they were in human form,” Ike said, confused.

“Sure, but that’s for outposts, slums, and little cities. Big cities will sense monsters one way or another.” She paused. “Well, some of the big cities are friendly toward monsters, so it doesn’t matter for those, but…”

Ike raised his brows. “Really?”

Wisp nodded. “I was born near a few that were like that. Back then, I was a baby monster, but basically, if you reached human form and were willing to behave well and cooperate with society, they’d let you in.”

“Huh,” Ike said.

She shrugged. “But then you have to act like a human, and that’s utter bullcrap, so I’m not really interested.”

Ike snorted. “You seem pretty human to me.”

“Yeah, but you’re also feral and deranged.”

They looked at one another. Ike broke first, Wisp giggling madly seconds later. The two of them cackled over the corpse, their hands full of the possessions of the dead man below them.

At last, Wisp wiped her eyes and clapped. “So, we tipping him in the Abyss?”

“Yeah. I thought we agreed on that?” Ike asked, tilting his head.

Wisp pursed her lips and shot him a mischievous look. “I could eat him.”

Ike picked up the man’s body and carried it over to the Abyss.

“Aw, come on. I was joking. Joking!” Wisp said.

“Were you?” Ike asked. He dropped the corpse into the Abyss, then walked over to the axe-wielder.

“Not even him?” Wisp asked.

“See, this is why I’m not sure if you’re joking,” Ike said. He exerted some of his strength to lift the axe man, going back to grab his axes. The axe man’s gear was all rough. There was nothing worth taking from him. No response from his body, either; no skill orb. The axes were nice, but it’d be an absolute giveaway to show up somewhere holding the rich kid’s bodyguard’s axes. He dumped the axe-wielder and his axes into the Abyss as well.

“Too bad. He looked like he had good meat on him,” Wisp said.

Ike gave her a look.

“Joking, I’m joking,” she said, grinning.

“Are you?”

“Yeah!”

Ike shook his head. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before someone shows up.”