Nathan rolled to the side and pulled out his fishing rod from his inventory. His eyes snapped toward the source of the sound.

John was clutching his arm, blood dripping from his fingers onto the ground. In his uninjured hand, he held a long, wicked-looking dagger. Chad stood nearby, katana outstretched, his expression distinctly unamused.

"How did you know!?" John shouted. "My disguise was perfect!"

Chad's gaze slowly shifted to Nathan, then back to John.

"Uh, call it a hunch," Chad said.

John growled. "I won't go down so easily!"

He flickered and vanished before Nathan's eyes.

Nathan's instincts screamed at him from the right. His fishing rod whipped out, deflecting the dagger's strike to the side.

"There was another guy who tried the same thing on me,” Nathan said. “And I beat him back in the first circle. Do you actually think you stand a chance against me?"

John clenched his teeth. "Stop underestimating me."

Nathan stared back at him.

With a scream, John lunged forward with his dagger. Nathan sidestepped and kicked with his right foot. The kick landed, and Nathan felt something snap under his strength. For a split second, nothing seemed to happen—then John was sent flying into the wall, through it, and through another wall into the street outside. He crashed into another building before tumbling down into the alleyway below.

"Dude, we needed him alive,” Chad said.

Nathan chuckled awkwardly. "I thought he was a bit stronger than that."

They walked over to the holes in the wall and stepped outside, dropping down into the alley. John was crawling away, little more than a bloody heap at this point.

Nathan tried to summon some empathy but found himself unable to do so.

"So, are you gonna tell us who you work for?" Nathan said.

The man wheezed. "Go die."

"We all die eventually," Chad said. "But depending on your answers, that death could come much sooner rather than later."

The man rolled onto his back, revealing bloodied teeth and tear-filled eyes.

"You're so arrogant, aren't you?" he spat. "You think just because you're strong, you can do whatever you want!”

He smilied, wide and red. Nathan furrowed his brow.

"I wouldn't say that," Nathan replied.

"Don't you get it?" the man said. "We'll keep coming. We know your weaknesses now. Your family. Your sister."

Nathan froze.

What?

"We'll keep sending people after you, and guess what? You need to keep winning. Over, and over, and over. Us? We only need to get lucky."

A loud click echoed through the alley. Nathan felt a chill run down his spine. He jumped back.

"Chad, get back!"

Chad took a few steps back. "What the—"

A fiery explosion erupted from the center of the man's chest, tearing through the alleyway. Glass shattered, and Nathan was blinded by the light. Burning heat ripped through his body and he flew backward and hit the ground hard. The only reason he remained conscious and steady was due to his experience with the Pandora.

A second later, it was over. Nathan opened his eyes and looked around. The walls surrounding the man had been obliterated, and the man himself was gone.

Chad lay on the alleyway floor, his face charred and covered in ash.

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Nathan jumped to his feet and ran forward. "Chad!?"

Chad coughed and groaned. "I really need to up my situational awareness," he muttered.

Nathan let out a relieved laugh and reached out his hand. Chad took it and pulled himself to his feet. The two of them stared at the spot where the man had been.

"So... that happened," Chad said.

----------------------------------------

[You have leveled up!]

[Skill learned: Basic Maelstrom]

[Skill learned: Coral Protection]

Nathan blinked.

He’d gotten the skills so easily? Normally, it took so long… There had to be a catch.

“Let’s head to that survivor’s camp that John mentioned,” Nathan muttered absentmindedly.

Chad turned to Nathan and stared. “Are you crazy? If they’re all nuts like that guy—”

“They mentioned my sister, Chad. If they know a single thing about her…”

Chad frowned. “What if it’s just a normal survivor camp, and they don’t know anything about your sister?”

“Then we might be able to find some allies—maybe even Emi or Bjorn. Either way, it works for me.”

Chad didn’t say anything. Nathan looked back to see a worried expression on Chad’s face.

Nathan sighed. “I won’t go in guns blazing. I promise. We’re just going to see what’s going on, then figure something out. Okay?”

Chad slowly shrugged.

“If you say so, man. It’s not like I have anywhere else I need to be, I guess.”

The two set off toward the north, their walking pace steady. As they walked, Nathan held out the palm of his hand and looked down at it.

Basic Maelstrom.

As expected, it didn’t work. He clicked his tongue.

“So…” Chad said. “You got a sister, huh?”

Nathan tugged at his core, that familiar place where his skills seemed to activate. “Yes.”

“What’s she like? Is she hot?”

Nathan mechanically tilted his head back toward Chad.

“I’m not answering that.”

Chad coughed into his hand. “Yeah, that was a bad question. But seriously, what’s she like? You two tight?”

There was a glint of light in Nathan’s palm as he attempted to activate the skill. Almost there, but something had gone wrong.

“Nathan?” Chad said.

Nathan’s lips drew into a thin line. “I guess we are.”

He turned his attention back to his skill. He had to get this right—it was the only chance he had of protecting her—

“You seemed pretty ticked off when that guy threatened her.” Chad tilted his head. “But you sounded like you had a gun to your head just now.”

Maybe Nathan was approaching it the wrong way. He’d manipulated his internal energy into his fishing rod. What if he did the same thing… but with his skills?

“I’m sure that’s just your imagination,” Nathan said.

“No, it’s not. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s reading people. You’re mad at her. Or maybe you’re mad at yourself—it’s hard to tell. But there’s something messed up about your relationship—”

Nathan’s head snapped toward Chad. He turned and marched up to the man.

“I don’t know how much clearer I can make this. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Nathan,” Chad said.

“I don’t see why you suddenly have this weird interest in my sister. It’s none of your business.”

“Nathan—”

“This is my personal life, not yours. Stay out of it.”

“Nathan!”

Chad had a pale face and was looking at something directly behind Nathan, not at Nathan himself.

Nathan stopped. “What?”

“You need to calm down and turn around slowly.”

Nathan shuffled his feet slowly, rotating his head. There was a noise coming from behind him, something like swirling water.

When he saw what it was, his jaw dropped.

A massive, swirling vortex of water hung in midair, easily dwarfing the surrounding buildings, white foam coming off it in droves. It roared like a storm at sea, only getting faster and faster by the second.

Was that me?

“Nathan, can you unsummon that thing?” Chad said.

Nathan’s jaw flapped about. “I don’t know. I didn’t even notice that I used the skill.”

Chad’s voice turned higher and squeakier. “It’s getting faster!”

Nathan reached onto the thin tendril between him and the storming maelstrom in front of him. He gave it a tug, commanding it to go to the right.

It did exactly as he said.

The vortex snapped to the right and slammed into a building, blowing it to shreds in a single attack. Pieces of rubble flew everywhere.

Nathan reached into his core and activated his old Tidal Shield skill. In an instant, a flickering, translucent barrier appeared in front of both him and Chad. A second later, a piece of rubble smashed into it and evaporated into dust from the sheer force.

The rubble flew around for a while before it finally stopped. In the background, a building collapsed in the distance.

Nathan winced. “You think that attracted any attention?”

"My brother in Christ," Chad said. “If there was a single living thing within five miles, they heard us.”

“Ah.”

The sound of footsteps perked Nathan up. His head swiveled around, searching for the source of them.

"You hear that?" Chad whispered. "Who could've possibly seen this coming? Oh wait—"

“I had it under control. There wouldn’t have been any issues if you hadn’t insisted on trying to be my streamer-therapist hybrid.”

Chad reached into his inventory and pulled out his katana. “Sure, buddy. Tell that to the gigantic stack of rubble over there.”

Nathan rolled his eyes and focused on the source of the sounds. For whatever reason, they felt off. Muffled. It was like they were being dissipated through the ground.

The footsteps stopped.

Nathan’s pupils dilated.

“Dodge!” he said.

Both of them jumped to the side, barely avoiding a spiked pillar of earth that rose out of the ground.

Nathan rolled along the ground and faced toward it.

If I hadn’t had practice with the Dustend, I would’ve never seen it coming. It was ridiculously stealthy.

A droplet of sweat rolled down his back.

Who is this guy?

Vibrations went through the ground again, but this time they were surrounding him.

Six figures burst through the ground. After them came the last person—a stout woman with a body like iron and eyes as hard as steel, her choppy brown hair flopping against her back.

“Hands in the air,” she said. “This doesn’t have to end in violence.”