Lizbet scanned the scene.

The baton smacked menacingly into the officer’s palm in a slow steady rhythm as the stand-off ensued. A slight wind picked up around the Asian guy in the suit; several paper cranes flew around him as his tie blew upwards. He kept a hand behind his back. Cranes continued to manifest and fly around him. She wasn’t sure what they did, but she didn’t want to find out. The tall man had shields ready and had taken a tense fighting stance as -was that the girl they killed earlier!? It couldn’t be! She looked way too short.

Her attention diverted to the thin girl who bounced around on her heels with her fists raised. The boy nearby had dirt or small rocks tightly wound and floating in spherical formation above his palms. What if his power was similar to hers? These people had taken down the berserker for a reason. What were they even thinking charging in to demand food like this!? Even that chubby middle-aged woman with the thorn tattoos on her arm scowled as she made a fist.

None of this could work, Lizbet thought, they had picked off a bunch of chumps by suprise and gained some power. But even with their training, they couldn’t handle this many people.

Several contestants from the queue approached cautiously. Janele stood still but her hand crept toward her belt for the knife.

“I said freeze!” Mark commanded.

His eagle eye activated whenever it came to the possibility of anyone reaching for a weapon.

“Janele! We can’t win this! Let’s make a deal and get out of here,” Lizbet said.

“You stupid! You just said my name, now these people can look us up, LIZBET!”

Lizbet put her free hand in front of her mouth. But this was for the best, they would die if Janele insisted on a fight here. And she still had some supplies in her picnic bag should they leave empty handed.

“I’d listen to your friend, JANELE!” Carson said.

“You!” Mark barked at Megan while pointing with his baton as she cowered behind Darrone, “Make yourself useful and look those two up, Janele and Lizbet.”

Megan took a step back and saluted, “Yes, yes sir!”

She remained behind Darrone’s protection and summoned her holographic interface with the name index.

Janele and Lizbet held their ground, but they had too many people to keep track of and now their powers would soon be revealed. Several people who weren’t in combat stance checked the index and shared the information. The queue lit with index screens. Janele spit.

Janele Belo

Daddy Issues

Skills Description Useless Revival 05

Can revive a target once a day. If the target is killed within ten minutes after revival this skill can be used again. If the target survives past ten minutes, the caster’s heart explodes. Levels into Pointless Revival.

Enhanced Dark Blast Novice 05

Standard darkness blast power increased by five percent. Costs five percent less mana to use. Gains five percent higher resistance to light shields. Levels only by using dark revival skills.

Dark Kicking Novice 05

Your kicks are five percent more likely to land as a critical hit. You can utilize a power kick with five percent increased strength once per day. Levels only by using dark revival skills.

Dark Punching Novice 05

Your punches are five percent more likely to land as a critical hit. You can utilize a power punch with five percent increased strength once per day. Levels only by using dark revival skills.

Nightmare Blade Novice 08

Attacks with short blades have an eight percent power bonus and are eight percent more likely to land a critical hit. Effects are doubled when used in tandem with Dark Revival Skills.

Passives Description Dark Mind Novice 01:

Dark spirit stat growth bonus of 10 percent. Dark spirit energy is five percent less effective when used against you. Dark spirit infused attacks are five percent more powerful.

Curses Description Spiritual Imbalance 01

Your ability to infuse spirit through your body is reduced by half. Your ability to control the flow of spirit other than dark will only be active for one hour daily.

Vital Statistics # Substat # Substat # Substat # Substat # Substat # Substat # Perception 97 Sight 81 Hearing 103 Touch 59 Awareness 99 Spiritual 40 Nil Nil Strength 68 Arms 51 Legs 77 Torso 68 Back 74 Grip 52 Nil Nil Toughness 63 Blunt 85 Slice 51 Pressure 38 Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Stamina 110 Heart 85 Lungs 74 Arms 103 Legs 134 Nil Nil Nil Nil Speed 87 Swim 78 Swing 99 Run 99 Think 75 Nil Nil Nil Nil Agility 85 Arms 89 Legs 96 Torso 65 Back 81 Fingers 66 Nil Nil Fortitude 17 Magic Def 03 Mental Def 03 Stability 13 Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Intelligence 46 Emotional 33 Scientific 06 Spiritual 04 Interpersonal 34 Bestial 55 Creative 68 Magic 30 Fire 30 Ice 41 Water 31 Wind 20 Earth 30 Nil Nil Spirit 95 Restoration 55 Illusion 83 Life 89 Dark 211 Light 09 Resistance 10 Luck 31 Money 01 Combat 73 Magic 55 Relational 15 Nil Nil Nil Nil

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Lizbet Rodriguez

Compulsive Gambler

Skills Description Lucky Coin 05

Manifests a pile of thirteen lucky coins. These coins can be shot with high acceleration at up to two targets with fifteen percent increased accuracy over normal spells. If the target dies within four minutes, the spell can be cast again. If the target lives, the spell goes on cooldown for three days.

Chains of Debt Novice 01

Summons chains from the earth to restrict an opponent’s movement and weight them down. Can only be used if the opponent is indebted to you verbally or by written contract. The power and number of the chain scales with the size of the debt, relevant statitistics, and level of the skill. The chains can not be removed until the debt is released or paid.

Contract of Debt Novice 01

Can make one spiritual contract a month. Chains formed via contract are more powerful than verbally formed chains. The power and ability of the chains depend on the wording of the contract. Lenient contracts provide more power but are easier to break. Harsh contracts are difficult to break but give less power.

Capture Via Contract Novice 01

Can force a non-contestant being into a contract without their consent once a month if their overall level is less than half of yours.

Passives Description Refuse Worker Novice 01:

You can manage to perceive resources ten percent more efficiently amidst refuse, waste, chaos, and filth.

Curses Description Mana Drain 01

Maintaining contracts drains an unspecified amount of mana over time.

Hidden Curse 01

This curse is hidden from the index and can only be viewed by the inflicted.

Vital Statistics # Substat # Substat # Substat # Substat # Substat # Substat # Perception 61 Sight 45 Hearing 55 Touch 45 Awareness 65 Spiritual 60 Nil Nil Strength 50 Arms 50 Legs 50 Torso 50 Back 50 Grip 50 Nil Nil Toughness 50 Blunt 50 Slice 50 Pressure 50 Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Stamina 50 Heart 50 Lungs 50 Arms 50 Legs 50 Nil Nil Nil Nil Speed 53 Swim 50 Swing 50 Run 55 Think 55 Nil Nil Nil Nil Agility 50 Arms 50 Legs 50 Torso 50 Back 50 Fingers 50 Nil Nil Fortitude 50 Magic Def 10 Mental Def 75 Stability 75 Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Intelligence 50 Emotional 10 Scientific 70 Spiritual 30 Interpersonal 90 Bestial 20 Creative 60 Magic 74 Fire 54 Ice 10 Water 12 Wind 109 Earth 130 Nil Nil Spirit 50 Restoration 10 Illusion 70 Life 10 Dark 50 Light 50 Resistance 80 Luck 50 Money 50 Combat 50 Magic 50 Relational 50 Nil Nil Nil Nil

Now Janele took a moment to think. Seeing her name and her stats appear on several different screens didn’t reassure her. Lizbet looked shaken and who knew how that would affect her accuracy when they would need the attacks to kill. This wasn’t an ambush where they had the upper hand and the lie that they could take out a multitude in one shot had been uncovered by those stupid indexes. What was the purpose in everyone knowing about everyone else's power? Even with a good first attack, too many people would close in and overwhelm them. But Janele didn’t want to appear weak. At the very least they couldn’t read mana, health, stamina, and sanity bars without being shown them directly. So, they wouldn’t know that both of them were running on a quarter of a mana bar.

Lizbet slightly raised her hand with the pile of silver coins, “I can take out two people instantly with my attack. Who wants to take a bet that it won’t be them?”

The bluff sent people backing into the line to hide behind others for cover. Janele knew the coins could miss, as she'd seen them fail to finish multiple times. The team facing them didn’t flinch. The Asian man continued manifesting flying cranes as the hoodie boy increased the size of his floating dirt collection. Three members of the line stood firm in the open behind them. The chubby lady with the tattoos held her ground with an angry stance. An intimidating woman with flaming hair and eyes formed balls of fire in both hands. She wore a yellow bandeau with a flame logo. Her pants were baggy and she looked like something out of a fighting anime. The outfit displayed the muscular arms and abs of a power lifter's physique.

Nearby was an Asian woman who looked like the main character of a horror movie with her long black hair and pale skin. She stood angrily with arms akimbo as she shook her head. Her outfit didn't match her appearance because it was some pink and cutesy dress with ribbons, though burns and frayed threads covered the fabric.

Janele returned her focus to the gringo who kept slapping his baton like he was made of steel and narrowed her eyes. Her father’s words played in her head: The iron gets struck when it’s hot and then we take two eyes for an eye. The iron felt cold to the touch right now, frozen. They were surrounded by cold irons.

“You heard her pig cop,” Janele said, “Give us two boxes each and we’ll leave peacefully. We're on the same team after all. Honorary demonians should stick together, right? What good is being on the same team if we can't negotiate a bit? Why kill each other over some boxes? Am I right?”

“Okay, teammates. One box each,” Mark said, “And then I want you to walk slowly into one of those portals with your hands where I can see them.”

Janele took a deep, deep, breath through her nose. She would be seeing this pig again, of that she was certain.

“Fine.”

The boxed arced in the air and Janele caught them with no problem. After catching the boxes she put her hands above her shoulders, but still held the food. Lizbet’s boxes landed at her feet. A small flock of various colored roaches flew past as she bent to pick them up with one hand and stuff them in her bag. The coins stayed tightly clenched in the other. Janele and Lizbet backed away from the group, so many eyes on them. They became the stars of the show. Janele refused to turn her back on the crowd and kept her eyes trained on Mark all the way to portal number five. Lizbet went first, her face lit with a slight smile as she entered the portal. Janele remained serious. They disappeared in a swirl of purple smokey energy.

An assortment of crawling bright blues, oranges, reds, greens, and yellows skittered over the portal doors.