Kaden was out of options. If he couldn’t resurrect the necromancers here, he’d be stuck with Emir. Then again, he could probably survive against Emir for a very short time. He pulled Skully from his Inventory. “Oh no! One of the Necromancer’s constructs! It’s attacking us!”
Emire glanced out as Skully dutifly tried to scramble onto Kaden’s back. “Shit!”
In a [Blink] he appeared beside Kaden, tearing off the skull. Before he could turn, a shriek rang out. Sara’s guard soul, hovering a few feet away. “They’re coming through the floor!”
Emir grabbed Kaden and Sara, pulling them through the Portal. “That’s not possible. You can’t portal in or out without a Portal Key. When our defenses are active, you can’t use resurrection artifacts or potions or skills you brought in. You can’t anything. Let me explain something. You two so much as glance wrong? I’ll kill you. Your level floor is twenty five, you’re about to take a tier-up scroll, there’s no harm done.”
Only now did Kaden look. This was truly the vault of treasures. Thousands of scrolls. Mounds of weapons. Stacks of spellbooks. Fairy lights gleamed in the distance showing shadows of even larger piles.
“If you touch even one thing here, the alarms will go off,” Emir said. “This is a [Ring of Mortis]. It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t wound. It simply kills, and I have seven charges left. If the alarms go off, I’ll kill you, check your Loot Packages, and, should you be somehow innocent—which I doubt—feed you experience scrolls. Stay right there. Browse all you want. Touch, and you’re dead.”
Kaden immediately wandered left, depositing a Necromancer corpse. His ring of resurrection wouldn’t activate, and his backup potions gave the same error. *Still blocked*.
*Same. I don’t trust Emir. He’s looking for a reason to use that ring. He has the gold. He can keep the scroll.*
Oh, the scroll. *Is the skill book blocked? He’ll have to unlock the restrictions for me to use the Tier Up scroll.* Kaden summoned the skill book.
Sara snatched it, reading it. It crumbled to dust. *I have level one [Rise]. If I try and resurrect a centurion, I’m a dead woman. Remember Eve’s Backlash?*
*Raise the Healer.* Kaden dropped his corpse, hiding it behind a stack of skill books. *I’ll delay Emir and demand to use the scroll in front of him.*
Sara nodded. *The Horror is resistant to status effects, so backlash will be bad but hopefully not fatal.*
Kaden left her there, returning to where they’d arrived. “Emir, I want to use the Tier Up scroll before I leave. I’m not going back into a war zone as a twenty-five.”
“Understood.” Emir [Blinked] into existence, clutching a scroll. “I’m not angry with you. I understand the lure of a thousand gold. And to be honest, without this event, I doubt my benefactor would have approved.”
He held out his hand, clutching a glowing gold scroll. “One Tier Up scroll for you. Just like the one I used a moment ago.”
Kaden tried to hide his horror as he used [Identify]. Emir was now level fifty. “Congratulations?”
He reached for the Tier Up scroll. “I’ll be able to use this?”
“Of course. You didn’t think I’d let you hit fifty and have a ten level advantage on me during the middle of an all-out war, did you?” Emir’s smile could have cleaned up the shit-wagon at Beast Control.
“Can I change my mind?” Kaden asked.
“You have a five second window. If you don’t buy and use that scroll, I’ll make sure you never do.” Emir glanced down. “Four.”
*Now!* Kaden sent to Sara. “Level fifty, here I come.”
Duggarn had never said don’t use the scroll. He activated it. You have blocked all skill use for (60) seconds with [Scroll of Nullification].
“What?” Kaden looked up. And knew the smile was a bad one. “Sara, I think we’ve just been double-crossed.”
“Such a pity,” Emir said. “You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I tried to stop the necromancers from killing you and stealing that gold.”
Kaden had zero options.
He dropped Skully with an order to scatter. Did [Talents] count as skills? Could they be nullified? The [Ring of Mortis] would tell him. If Sara had succeeded in resurrecting the Healer, she probably had terrible backlash, no matter what she claimed.
He needed time for the Healer to take mana and health potions, resurrect and repeat the process. No retreat. No [Split Second] or [Moment of Speed].
The Falcrow swooped down on Emir, who [Blinked] away and touched a ring with his right hand. “Why didn’t that kill it? What did you do to my ring?”
Any mistake an enemy made was worth taking advantage of. Kaden lashed out with the Levicon Blade. Without [Moment of Speed] it felt like his limbs were stuck in tar, moving so so slowly. The short, curved tip of the blade caught on the edge of the [Ring of Mortis] and sparked.
Emire shrieked in pain and stripped off the ring, which glowed and sparked. “You think you’ve been clever.” Emir’s voice trembled with rage.
Kaden had been in this situation before, but Emir didn’t want anything Kaden had and wouldn’t accept the Ghost Seed he carried. But Kaden had also been twelve levels lower at that point. Alone, at that point.
Something shrieked and swept by Emir’s face, drawing blood—and his attention. A [Carrion Crow]! Another, and another, circling Emir. Kaden didn’t dare use Trinity. He might be forced to fall back on [Resilient Constitution].
When Emire lashed out with his whip to explode a [Carrion Crow], Kaden took his chance, grasping the whip and slicing it with the [Levicon Blade]. The severed piece he stuffed in Inventory.
Then cursed as the whip regrew. Emire lunged at Kaden. He had twenty four more attribute points, and it showed in his agility and strength, the way he dodged Kaden’s blows, the way his punches broke bones.
Blow for blow, Kaden didn’t stand a chance. Instead, he gambled everything, stepping in close and taking a punch straight to the metal plate on his chest.
Bones broke—Emir’s bones—and Kaden sliced the inside of the wrist, snagging a tendon. Emir screamed—and flames wrapped around him, sizzling Kaden’s skin. Kaden leaped away and pleaded with the [FalCrow].
“We have a problem!” The Falcrow shouted from far above.
“Deal with it! I’ve got my own—Where did he go?” Emir shouted.
Kaden wasn’t using [Stealth Aura]. He wasn’t even trying to be stealthy, kicking over a stack of wands to keep Emir headed his direction. Every second mattered. He’d lost count but every second was a tick of health a tick of mana, another Necromancer resurrected.
Behind him, a flaming figure with a blazing whip stalked.
If he’d chosen any weapon besides a whip, Kaden would have been cut down, but the whip’s blows took so long to arrive, it gave him just enough time to dodge. Kaden drew Thorn Caster and fired. The shot didn’t hit Emir, but it did make him twist to let the arrow pass. And another. And another.
It didn’t matter if the arrows hit, it mattered that each took time. Every time he tried to activate a skill, he got a notification.
(19) seconds remain.
(15) seconds remain.
Kaden ran, leaping over a pile of spellbooks which caught fire as Emir’s whip hit them, but slammed into Emir as he [Blinked] in front of Kaden and lashed out with a dagger. It sparked off Kaden’s chest and sliced flesh from the edges.
Your skills are restored.
Kaden used [Moment of Speed] to dash forward, slicing with the [Levicon Blade], then [Split Second] let him twist out of the way of Emir’s Blink-Slash. “You only had sixty seconds. And you only have twenty-three levels on me.”
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“You’re insane. This is mercy.” Emir blasted toward him, wrapped in flame.
And tripped over a skeleton-spider. Before he could stand, a carrion crow landed on his head and ripped out a chunk of hair, flying back toward Skully.
*Get Ready*. Sara’s thought almost distracted Kaden to the point of taking a flaming blade to the gut.
The best line would come to him later, when Kaden was sleeping. He’d wake in the middle of the night knowing exactly what amazing response would sound best in stories. At the moment he could only hold on and pray. He drew the kazoo from inventory and hummed a few notes of the Greatest Tune Ever Hummed to Three Green Beetles Held Captive in a Candy Tin. “I stole Echo Beetles and then played kazoo until you released them. Then, I used the beetles to steal the code your employees use to access the vaults. Then I used those codes to empty the scroll vaults. Everything’s already stolen. The vaults are empty. And you helped me do it.”
Emir stopped stock still. “How?”
Kaden shrugged.
Sometimes, Fate turned against you. Every vast once in a while, [Luck] bounced your way. Emir conjured a portal, a portal that led somewhere different, a crisp, dust-free room of white stone. The air that drifted out smelled of ozone. Inside it, thousands of Spell Scrolls sat.
Kaden used [Moment of Speed] and hit Emir upside the head with Remembrance before the man could even speak. The blow sent him flying through stacks of equipment, while Kaden leaped through the portal—and then out as it winked out of existence.
“You’re a dead—” Emire screamed as a [Walking Graveyard] landed on him.
Kaden was never one for joining into pitched battles. He hid.
*Get clear,* Sara sent.
Kaden summoned Wisp 71. “You’ve almost never betrayed me. Take me to Sara? Please?” Then he took off after the wisp, which led him through the vault to where Sara sat, holding her head in her hands. “Backlash?”
“No wonder this almost killed Eve. We need to get out of here. We could steal, but how many axes, or basic fireball spellbooks can one person use?”
“All of them.” Kaden shoveled spell books and robes into his cube, then realized he was going about this wrong. He surveyed the inventory to the sounds of men screaming. “Stay safe.”
All around him stood the least valuable equipment. And a moment later, Kaden found what he needed, as the battle elsewhere exploded. Fire balls rained around Emir, and carrion crows became blazing missiles as they dipped too close. There was no question how the battle would end.
There was a lot of question how many casualties there would be. Kaden spotted what he was searching for and grabbed them. “Stay here.”
“Not happening.” Sara wobbled as she stood up, using the Horror’s pseudopods to steady herself. “Where are you going?”
He formed a portal. “Remember what happened with Eville? How I took everything?”
Sara gasped. “Even you can’t fit all these scrolls in Inventory.”
Kaden handed her a stack of Inventory cubes. “Fill one, stick it in a cube. I haven’t found a limit on how deep you can nest Inventory. And I’ve tried.” As he spoke, he shoveled scrolls into an Inventory cube and then tucked it away.
“You are either a genius or there’s something very wrong in your mind,” Sara said. But she began to work, storing entire cases of scrolls at a time.
Kaden summoned Trinity, putting her near the Portal to watch out, and worked faster. It didn’t matter what a scroll was, all that mattered was that it was taken.
“Kaden, come look at these.” Sara has stopped—and with good reason. The Spell vault air was so dry it made his eye tingle, and most of it was lined with simple scroll stacks, but one corner was lined with dozens of runes across the floor, ceiling and roof. And beyond them sat only three scrolls. Tier Up scrolls. To the right of the three stood a stack of five with sparkling red barriers around each, and a pair of scrolls that floated in orbs of Death Mana.
There was no question the runes were active, only a question of what they would do. “Don’t risk it. When everything else is gone, we’ll try a last-chance effort.”
“What do you mean, ‘when everything else is gone?’ Have you looked?” Sara asked.
Maybe he’d underestimated what all they’d taken. A few scrolls stood alone in various cabinest, but most of the vault was empty.
Kaden dropped Naski, already enforcing his will. “Go get those scrolls.”
She lunged—and fell over, then, with Kaden directing every movement, crawled across the floor. One clawed hand lashed out to rake the stone, throwing sparks from the runes. Then, with jerky movements, he forced her to take one scroll and toss it across the room.
And another.
And the last.
Then, gritting her teeth until her lips bled, Naski pushed the pedastals with the black and red orbs across the line.
“Good demon. That’ll do, demon.” He stuffed her back in Inventory and collected the entire pedastals.
The three tier-up scrolls could make him a centurion now.
“Kaden, we need to leave. Soon.” Sara’s nervous call brought him back to reality. “There are others in the vault, fighting the Necromancers.”
He activated [Stealth Aura] and wrapped it around both of them, and let his Portal close. Sara was right - the Emporium had brought in more guards, more powerful guards, while the Necromancers worked with what they had—and anyone they killed.
Skully followed dutifully, eager to help and yet out of his league.
Kaden kneeled and put all three tier-up scrolls into his Inventory, then picked up Skully and slung him over his back. “I have a plan to get everything out of here. Stack all your inventory cubes in other cubes.”
“Already done.” She handed it over.
He put them into Skully’s Inventory. Only one [Carrion Crow] remained, and the other three eggs weren’t ready to hatch.
That left Kaden with nothing from the Emporium except the two chrono scrolls he’d purchased. With no way to help, he chose a different tact, climbing high on a pile of spellbooks where he could see the battle. Kaden drew Thorn Caster and picked the nearest battle.
A little Poison wasn’t much to worry about. Three stacks of poison were different. Kaden almost felt sorry for the Emporium guard beset by ghouls, skeletons, vengeful spirits and someone who kept raining poison arrows down.
The momentum of battle shifted as guards fell—and rose moments later as skeletons.
The ground shook as a different kind of portal blasted into existence, not round, but with terrible torn edges that bled white light out. Through it came a set of Necromancer Centurions. Duggarn led them, wearing a [Tomb Champion] like an oversized suit of armor, and he showed absolutely no mercy, starting with the weakest guards.
Working his way toward Emir.
“Cease!” Duggarn boomed out.
Even the ten copies of Emir stopped attacking. “Leave the Emporium immediately. Return anything you’ve taken. On my authority, you’ll be granted clemency.”
Duggarn’s cold laughter made Kaden very, very afraid. “Where are the twins?”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t tell you if I did. I didn’t personally particpate in kidnapping them for that ridiculous skull—” Emir’s voice cut out as he realized his mistake. “We are operating under--this is Broker Diggus Bikus’s business by proxy. Striking us is striking him. Choose carefully what you do next.”
Duggarn kept quiet for a moment. “Choose. That’s what he did. You think we care about gear? You think we care about spell books for [Ice Shard] or [Gust]? We care about our own. Return them to us. We’ll leave.”
“That’s not my call,” Emir said. “But if you want to talk to Diggus himself, I can arrange it.”
“I’ll allow it.” Duggarn looked to the others. “Let him call them. One chance to return the twins. One chance to end this.”
Emir took a mirror from his Inventory. “Mirror, Mirror, in my hand, let me call who is known as entity 8675309x10x18.”
The Mirror turned deepest black, and a deep, rich voice boomed out. “Emir, calling so soon? I knew you’d be powerful at fifty. I’m pleased.”
“Not Emir,” Duggarn said. “You looked me in the eye and said you didn’t have the twins. Now I’m going to give you one more chance. Give them back, we leave the Emporium.”
“I don’t have them anymore. And I won’t—” The conversation cut off as Duggan bent and broke the mirror. “Send it all to Mortis.”
One by one, the Necromancers cast spells that opened yawning chasms that gave off a shrill whine. And their skeletons shoveled stacks of equipment into it.
Kaden’s health began to drop even this far away from the rifts. He focused on Duggarn, using mind speech. *That’s hurting us.*
Immediately the portals closed, and the Centurion shouted. “No more, we’ve got friendlies. Come on out.”
Kaden and Sara emerged from [Stealth Aura] and approached Duggarn. “Your gold was here. I swear before the system I don’t have it or know what they did with it.”
Oath heard and acknowledged: Kaden Birch does not have the chest of gold or knowledge thereof.
“Safe. Not as important as the twins but safe. Did he actually sell you a scroll?”
“He swapped it for a scroll of [Nullify] and said he was going to take the gold and blame it on you,” Kaden said.
Emir’s cold stare hadn’t left Sara or Kaden. “When I’m resurrected—”
“Wrong,” Duggarn said. “No resurrection for you.”
“Then when Diggus communes with me, I’ll tell him who—”
“Wrong again.” Duggarn glanced to Kaden and Sara. “He won’t be telling any tales. Come here, both of you, cut him up.”
Sara didn’t hesitate, slicing and stabbing with her swords.
Kaden cut Emir’s throat with the Levicon Blade, then slashed over.
You have killed an [Imperator] Emire Cook.
You have gained experience.
You have gained two levels.
You have attribute points to distribute.
“Two levels,” Sara gasped. “Two.”
Duggarn nodded, grim as could be. “That’s good. Because for both of you, there’s only one way out of this that keeps you safe. I’m so sorry. You weren’t supposed to be here.”
Before Kaden could move, Duggar unleashed a blast of Necro energy at Skully, exploding the skull into a thousand shards. Kaden summoned Remembrance and activated [Moment of Speed]
[Duggarn Gravebreaker has used Class Evolution Skill Mortis’s Grip]
Evasion canceled.
Resistances canceled.
Counter-attack canceled.
GENESIS STATE DETECTED.
ERROR_ENTITY_NOT_IN_NODE.
No Resolution Available…
GENESIS HALTED.
You have died.
You have been resurrected.
You have suffered a level penalty.
Your health is critically low.
You require healing.
Kaden gasped and lurched back to life.
He was in a temple, carved white marble arches soaring overhead, and for once, nothing hurt. Beside him, Sara lay on a table, writhing.
“Hold on, we’re healing you,” The priest said.
Kaden’s health began to tick upward, though his abdomen ached. “Where am I? What happened?”
“You were caught in a war between what was the Salish Sales Emporium and the Necromancers. Corpse Cart workers found you nailed to the wall on the fourth floor with bone daggers through you and a scroll of [Remove Foul Smell] stuffed in your mouth. It’s normal to feel some disorientation.” The Priest helped Kaden sit up.
Sara couldn’t stop crying, and Kaden rose to hug her. “It’s ok.”
“It’s not. I remember it. I remember it all.” Sara wept as she held onto him. “I was dead, but I kept seeing and hearing everything. I saw them drag our bodies out. I saw them nail us there. Something’s wrong with me.”
Kaden had a hunch he knew why. And that was where he was headed next.