Chorazin ducked and looked around in bewilderment at the ethereal laughter. “Kill him,” I yelled, pointing at the Summoner neophyte. “That one first!”

The giggling crested and waned as if the invisible imp had scampered past us and headed off somewhere else, and my heart sank. Chorazin straightened and turned back to me, his newly-perfect smile widening. Dammit. I have to face him myself. I’d made sure to include zhabit’ and naprietel’ov as centerpieces of the contract. I was fairly sure that if you put those together it meant “kill my enemies,” but apparently I had one of the words wrong, because my enemies were not being killed. If I didn’t move, I’d be the one getting killed.

Chorazin opened his mouth, and I dove toward him, trying to get as flat to the ground as I could.

“Tlacit!” he barked, and a furious wind tore at my back. I felt my tunic shred and tiny pebbles and dirt specks slice at the back of my head and exposed shoulder blades. I clung to the ground, pressing my face into the dirt. The wind grabbed at me like a hand, trying to toss me off the mountain to splat on the stone below. It blew even harder, and I felt myself skidding backward.

Then it passed. He hadn’t adjusted his aim fast enough as I moved, and the bulk of his push had passed uselessly over the top of me. I levered up from the floor and found myself on my knees in front of a very surprised Chorazin. His mouth was hanging open, and concern was just beginning to dawn on his face.

Getting my knees under me, I got right beneath him and punched up into his groin, putting all my weight into it. For all the havoc he’d managed to wreak in the Melee, Chorazin was a weedy little thing; as I pushed up through my hip and shoulder, I felt his feet leave the ground. He screamed and crumpled like a ragdoll, clutching himself.

I didn’t give him any space to recover. Standing over him, I opened my hands and clapped one hard over each of his ears, driving the air down into them, shattering his ear drums. His screams took on a more desperate edge, and his hands flew from his crotch to his head.

Time to move on. The longer I stood there, the more likely a sneak attack from Celeste or that bastard Fargle became. Just because I’d taken down one threat didn’t mean I could rest easy. As much as I’d have loved to make sure Chorazin was down for good, the smart thing was to move fast, climb hard, and do my best to catch up to Sett and Tamra.

But right as I stepped back from the moaning, insensate Chorazin, my little shit-happy demon friend blinked into being right at the poor boy’s head, grinned eyelessly up at me, and tore the ears right off Chorazin’s head. I hadn’t thought the Summoner kid could make more noise, but he did, howling and cursing as blood ran between his fingers and he rolled back and forth.

“Where were you thirty seconds ago?” I demanded. “I need you to kill them before I get there, not after!”

It giggled at me, worried one of the scraps of cartilage and flesh between its pointed teeth, and then casually reached over and tore out Chorazin’s throat with one hand. Blood gouted everywhere, and I backed away, shocked by the red fountain. A quick look around showed me red and green tunics scattering as the other neophytes caught sight of the demon, so at least that was working in my favor. The wizened little imp pointed at the dead Summoner. Somehow it had shat in the dead boy’s mouth during the three seconds I’d been looking away, and now it made an inquisitive sound that could have only been a question. This is what you wanted, right?

“Not impressed,” I told it. “Kill them before they attack me or the contract is void.”

It hissed viciously at me and disappeared, but I wasn’t sorry. Its help wasn’t going to come cheap on my end, and giving it my cornbread had been the least of my payments. If it kept showing up to finish off the students I’d already defeated, its help was worse than useless, and I’d refuse to honor the agreement. It had to know that. Either that, or I’d screwed the process up entirely and it was just here to wreak havoc for its own purposes. I didn’t think the Elders would allow that to happen, but stranger things had happened already.

Satisfied that the other neophytes were keeping their distance from me and finding their own paths upward, I sprinted past Aldric’s and Chorazin’s corpses to tackle the cliff face that separated me from Sett and Tamra. Hopefully they hadn’t died in my absence.

My hands were shaking on the rocks. How many are down? How far still to go? I’d seen no fewer than six other neophytes scatter when my little imp friend killed the Summoner so messily, and there were certainly more up ahead. Focus. Worry too much about how many are left and you’ll get a knife in the eye before you even notice it.

I peeked over the edge of the cliff before I hauled myself up, making sure no one was laying in wait for stragglers like myself, but as soon as I did, I heard screaming and confusion. I expected some of that – this was the Melee, after all – but this was a more tightly-concentrated chaos than I’d ever seen before. Paired-off fights raged everywhere I looked. Three corpses already stained the ground, and as I watched, Fargle slipped behind a Beast Kin girl and planted a dagger in her liver.

At the center of everything, of course, was my contracted demon. Four red tunics had it penned in. Two had swords they must have bought from the Artisans, while one had crystal knuckles and the last had the stiff, hardened skin I’d seen on Sett. They were batting at it ineffectually as it hopped from one foot to the other and screeched in annoyance. From the looks of it, my erstwhile ally had a scrap of flesh stuck between its teeth and was quite upset about it. Useless shit goblin. I go to the trouble of making a demonic contract and still end up fending for myself, it seems. Every neophyte swing and grab seemed to land just to the left or a few centimeters behind the pale, wrinkled thing as it gabbled and whined, turning itself in circles, apparently oblivious to its attackers. Sett and Tamra had avoided the scrum entirely and were halfway up the final slope to the winner’s plinth. I felt a moment’s annoyance – more allies that aren’t helping me! – but I squelched it. They’d hold the top while I climbed. We’d discussed the possibility beforehand in case we got separated.

Celeste appeared out of nowhere just outside the rough circle enclosing the demon, standing in just the right spot so her shadow fell across the imp. I was glad I was still mostly hidden on the cliff’s edge; something was wrong with that girl. She was singing to herself as she focused on the imp, and from the look of rapture on her face, she’d fallen in love with the little bastard.

A moment later I realized her ecstasy was a darker one: she’d found something more interesting to kill than mere neophytes. Her hands clenched into fists, and spears of shadow leapt up from her body’s shadow, spearing the imp through its belly and again through its neck. The others shouted in savage joy, closing in for the kill.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The imp didn’t notice. It was still digging furiously between two teeth with a razor-sharp claw and muttering to itself. Impaled from two directions, it finally held free a little scrap of red, stringy flesh – the remains of Chorazin’s ear, maybe? – and sighed in contentment. Then it broke the shadow blades with a sweep of its taloned hand, apparently none the worse for wear for having been a pincushion, and ran right up the flat of the blade of the stupid Warrior sap closest to it. Its talons flashed as it went, and the sword clanged to the ground, severed fingers falling amid a patter of red rain. The Warrior opened his mouth to scream, but the imp crammed both hands into his mouth, yanking both up and down with savage strength, and tore the lower jaw right off the boy.

From there it springboarded to another red tunic, this one a girl, and proceeded to jam the fleshy, tooth-studded jawbone it still held into her eye socket. Her crystal knuckles broke on her own face as she tried desperately to dislodge it, but then she went limp and fell.

It was as if someone had thrown down an Artisan’s acid bomb – everyone scrambled away as fast as they could, their own duels forgotten. They weren’t fast enough. The wizened, child-sized demon scampered among them like a wolf among sheep, leaving dangling guts, torn throats, and mists of red in its wake. Celeste kept trailing after it, sending spike after spike of her shadow through its feet, its belly, and its head, frustration painting her face.

This is more like it! But I couldn’t just hide and let the demon do everything. Well, I could, but I didn’t want my father or some quibbling Hierophant to disqualify me because I hadn’t been active enough in my own success. I hauled myself up and onto the plateau entirely unnoticed. Another three students were down already. As I bolted for the final climb, I punched Celeste in the side of the neck hard enough to send her to her knees. I might despise that pint-sized shit demon, but I didn’t appreciate her poking it full of holes, not to mention killing Aldric. If I’d had a weapon I’d have slit her throat, but as with Chorazin, anything more complicated would just slow me down. I leapt for the rocks and scrabbled my way upward, heedless of torn palms and stubbed toes.

I was halfway up when I heard Celeste scream in rage, and then the demon made a sound I hadn’t heard before. “Marp,” it squawked. At least, that’s what it sounded like. Unable to contain my curiosity, I craned my neck to look over my shoulder and saw Celeste kneeling in the center of a field of dead bodies. Nobody else was moving, and the demon was squatting on her shoulders, holding her upright by the hair. The tendons in her legs had been slashed, and blood was gushing from a clawed spot in her side. I wasn’t sure how she was still upright, but her face was painted with fury, and she was cursing the imp’s parentage, appearance, and genitals at the top of her voice.

“Marp?” it said again, its eyeless head turned toward me. Is this what you wanted?

“Yes,” I called back to it. “Just like that. Good job.”

With a crow of delight, it took her head in both hands and wrenched it completely off her neck, balancing on her shoulders even as her body fell. It held the head aloft like a trophy and then heaved it out into the seats, where students and teachers alike scurried aside to avoid the grisly fruit.

I reached the top, my heart leaping as I saw the victor’s plinth a few meters away. Sett and Tamra had Fargle pinned between them, and just as I clambered to my feet, Sett wrapped his arms around the boy, trapping his hands – and the daggers they held – at his sides. Fargle screamed in rage and stitched Sett’s unprotected sides with the blades as if they were tailor’s needles, but the metal scraped on Sett’s toughened skin until one of the knives broke. Sett was squeezing for all he was worth, and Tamra stepped in and drove her bonded sword into Fargle’s back. He arched and went still, and then he slid out of Sett’s grasp.

Sett felt at his belly, concern etching his open, honest face. “Your sword went all the way through. It actually penetrated my toughened skin a little.”

“Poor baby,” Tamra sneered, slapping her hand on the victor’s plinth. The two lines of fire crept down the sides of the pillar on their way to the ground.

I looked around. “Are we the last?”

Tamra swung around, sword at the ready. “Hey, it’s the useless kid. How nice of you to join us once we’d done all the work.”

“We didn’t do all that,” Sett said in an awed voice, looking down over the edge.

“Blessed, shitting Saints,” Tamra murmured, impressed in spite of herself. The plateau below was a mess of body parts and vivid splashes of blood. Not a soul stirred. Apparently my little friend had decided to play with his prey after he’d killed them.

I felt a great weight lifting from my shoulders. “I made the top five.” My knees buckled, and I leaned on the plinth. “Aspects be praised. We did it. Thank you both so much.”

“No sweat,” Tamra said cheerfully. “I get to kill you now, though.”

“Wait,” Sett objected. “Shouldn’t we make it fair?”

“Let her have it, I won’t fight,” I said. I was lightheaded. Out in the tiered seats, I saw my father arguing and gesticulating at the Alchemist Hierophant, who was shaking his head. I’d never seen such a beautiful sight, and even a sword through the gut couldn’t ruin my day now.

Then that high-pitched giggle sounded and my contract demon clambered over the edge, its mouth and claws dripping gore.

“Leash your dog, Maphen,” Tamra said, her sword coming up at the ready. She didn’t sound nearly so confident now.

“Leave these two,” I commanded it. “They’re friends.”

It cocked its head and sniffed its way toward Sett, a tiny growl escaping its throat.

“No,” I said firmly. “You’ve fulfilled the contract. Begone, or whatever. You’re done.”

“I don’t think it’s listening,” Sett whispered.

The beast sprang for him, and I bulled him out of the way, putting out my hands to intercept this avatar of chaos. I cursed myself for a fool even as I did it, but Sett had done everything for me. He’d worked nearly as hard for my success as I had myself, and I wasn’t going to let this shit-goblin have him.

It knocked into me full force, bowling me over onto my back. It scrabbled and screamed, slicing my arms and belly, but not nearly so deeply as I thought it would. It had disemboweled several of the others just like this, but all it did was leave painful cuts instead.

“Stop it!” I screamed. “You’re done. Take your payment and go!”

Gabbling and shrieking, the imp latched onto my right hand, spread my fingers wide, and engulfed my pinky finger into its razor maw, biting down hard right at the bottom knuckle. Blood spurted around its lips, and my finger was gone. The pain was incandescent, and I lost track of several seconds.

When I returned to myself, the weight on my belly was gone. I jammed the gushing stump into the tattered cloth of my tunic right at my belly, pressing the wound against myself to stanch it. I nearly fainted again, but I fought off the dizziness and staggered to my feet. The imp was right there, watching me eyelessly.

“Go on, then,” I groaned. “You’ve had your snack.” This had been the heaviest part of my payment in the contract, and even though I’d agreed to the clause readily the night before, it was almost a relief to have it over with.

Once it perceived that it had my attention, it spit my pinky out into its grubby, taloned hand, and with great ceremony pinched two talons together right at the bloody, bone-jutting end of the finger. A gossamer thread of red light shimmered into existence between the points of those claws, one end attached to my severed finger and the other spinning from nothingness out from its talons like new thread off a spindle. It made a long loop and attached the other end to the finger as well and then hung it around its neck.

The demon imp had made a necklace out of the finger it had bitten off me and was wearing it. I wasn’t sure whether to be honored or frightened. Before I could decide, it inclined its horned head to me and vanished.

“That was weird,” Tamra said.

I turned around, and she was leaning on her sword. The other end of it was planted in Sett’s chest, who was dead on the ground. She hadn’t wasted any time. She saw me looking, rubbed her jaw, and shrugged self-consciously. Sett’s training ring shone on her ring finger. She’d yanked it off him while I was busy trying to save her life alongside the life of the friend she’d just skewered.

“It was always going to be this way,” she said. “You had to have known that. No hard feelings, though.”

Before I could even gather my thoughts she kicked me in the chest and sent me sailing over the edge of the precipice. I saw nothing but sky before the black took me.