Lance slowly woke from his sleep, lying peacefully as his mind fully awoke. Checking the clock, he saw it was only a couple hours since he had laid down. After speaking with Josh and Eve last night, Lance had stayed up late into the early morning revising his notes and plans. The confirmation that human creations can unlock their genetic constraint opened an endless amount of alternative possibilities.

Reaching for his nightstand, Lance grabbed an empty glass and sat it in his lap. His papyrus glowed and shaped into a shifting orb over the glass. Closing his eyes, Lance focused his faith energy in the center of the orb. In seconds drops of clear water fell from the orb, collecting in the glass. Lance continued this till the glass was a quarter filled, sweat forming on his eyebrows at the effort. Quickly downing the drink, Lance dressed himself and stepped out into the hall, directly into Logan.

“Sydney got an email from Tatum last night,” Logan began “She wants them to meet tonight. She said she’s grieving over all the deaths the other night,”

“So Tatum survived last night,” Lance mused, “or someone has access to her computer,”

“Sydney wants to go,” Logan said “Something about needing one of her only surviving friends,”

“I assume you reminded her that just means Tatum is likely a killer,” Lance said

“She started crying,” Logan said

“Why don’t we invite Tatum here?” Lance offered, “With all of us here, Sydney will be safe enough. Just don’t leave them alone,”

“Might as well,” Logan agreed “I want us out of this movie today,”

“We need to be,” Lance said “I received an update from Eve, Louie hasn’t recovered from her awakening. They left her at the preserve so they could travel faster,”

“Why is Eve fine and not Louie?” Logan questioned

“I’m not sure,” Lance admitted, “but whatever is wrong should be easy to fix by God. we just need to end this movie,”

“Well, with Tatum coming, we might be out of here soon,” Logan said

“Excellent! I’m going out for a little while before she comes over,”

“Where are you off too?” Logan questioned

“Eve told me of a stash she left in the motel,” Lance explained “It’s nothing irreplaceable but since I have the time,”

“Just be careful out there,” Logan warned

“I’ll be safe” Lance promised

Lance’s drive to the motel went smoothly, the stash was actually behind the motel near an oak tree. Collecting the few guns and medical supplies was no issue. Lance began the drive back to Sydney’s house and just turned the car around when he noticed a figure in the middle of the road. Dressed in all black, the figure had a white ghostly mask on, concealing their identity. Lance smirked at the killer and turned the car off.

“So you finally made a move,” Lance said, stepping out of the car

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The masked figure didn’t respond, instead pulling a long knife out of his sleeve.

“Do you mind if I refer to you as Stu?” Lance asked. The masked killer froze as Lance addressed him by name.

“Yes, I know who you are, Stu,” Lance said “We have for a while now,”

“Where is the stone mask?” Stu finally spoke.

“Is that all you're interested in?” Lance questioned, “Are you aware a demon created the mask?”

“I don’t care,” Stu said “With power like this I don’t care who is handing it out,”

“Well, he’s not handing anything out anymore,” Lance said “We sent a team to hunt him down and eliminate him. They reported success last night,”

“Liar!” Stu accused “Weaklings like you couldn’t possibly defeat Naga Kurgo,”

“So you know the demon's name,” Lance noted “but it is true. The mask your so desperate to find is slowly running out of power,”

“Where is the mask!” Stu shouted

Lance’s papyrus loosened from around the teen’s arm and spread around him.

“Why don’t you ask a little nicer?” Lance suggested.

Stu took the taunt and charged at the teen, blurring across the grass. The papyrus moved to protect Lance but was too slow. Stu slammed into Lance, shoving the teen backwards and into the car behind him.

“Next time it’ll be a knife through you,” Stu said over Lance’s prone body “Where is the mask?”

Lance laughed as he pushed himself up “You’re strong, that makes this so much easier,”

Reaching into his shirt, Lance pulled out the stone mask and held it in the air. He began channelling his faith energy into his hands. Stu gasped when he saw the mask and removed the plastic mask he was wearing. He looked at the mask with raw devotion.

“Give it to me!” Stu demanded and rushed towards Lance.

As Stu began his charge, Lance released his built up faith energy, creating an orb of radiant light in front of the mask, exactly where Stu focused on.

The crazed killer fell to the ground with an agonizing scream, his momentum bringing him within arm’s reach of Lance. Without hesitation, the teen launched his papyrus and wrapped it around the blinded opponent’s neck. In the breath, Lance pulled his pistol from his pants and fired into Stu’s skull.

Bonus mission completed; Kill unlocked Stu Macher. Rewarded 2000 points and 2 D rank rewards.

Lance froze for a moment. He had gone in with this plan, but he didn’t expect Stu to fall so easily. Lance had only planned to even the playing field by blinding him. He had honestly wanted more of a fight.

“Did the demon cause this much damage to your reasoning?”

Lance mused as he looked at the mask, then turning back to Stu “I should thank you though. I wanted a full story from you but at least I won’t have to lie,”

Lance smiled manically and slowly brought the stone mask to his face.

“Logan, meet my friend Tatum,” Sydney introduced, walking into the kitchen. A blond teen followed behind her with Matt on their tail. Logan observed the girl wearily. Aside from her puffy eyes from crying, she looked exactly as she did in the movie.

“Nice to meet you,” Logan said, offering a hand.

Tatum gave him a weak smile but didn’t take the offered hand. The teens took seats at the kitchen island and began catching up. Matt took a seat on the other side of the island. Logan didn’t interact with the girls, instead continued working in the kitchen on a batch of chocolate chip cookies, his daughter’s favorite. The dragon slayer worked in silence, half listening to the conversation until he heard something strange.

“Yeah, my mom wants me to stay with my dad for a while,” Tatum lamented

“That sounds nice,” Sydney said “You had a lot of fun last time you visited,”

“That was only because of the exhibit he was showing,” Tatum complained

“What does your dad do?” Matt questioned.

“He’s a director at a museum,” Tatum answered with a smile. Instantly the grieving had a knife in her hand and was thrusting at Sydney. Logan frantically jumped over the island and tackled Sydney, getting a knife in his side for the effort. Matt was next to her in a blink of an eye and sent her flying out the window with a kick.

“Go after her,” Logan ordered “I’m fine, I’ll join you soon,”

“I’m on it,” Matt said and pulled his spell book out.

Jumping through the broken window, Matt found Tatum waiting for him. A large knife in each hand.