Zed got up from his knees.

Each blow to the head had left him with nothing but a flicker of pain. A few months back he had no doubt that each one would’ve hurt. Now, they were merely inconveniences.

Was this how the powerful felt when attacked by those weaker than them? Was this how Ivan had felt each time they’d sparred and Zed had tried to beat him?

It was like fighting with a child. Like being hit by a child.

Tired of the farce and the games, he’d allowed his aura flare out. He hadn’t just released it, he’d executed it. He pushed it out and as far reaching as he could.

When the men with the guns hit the ground, he’d known. He’d also sensed something else that made him want to speed this entire even up.

“Now,” he said. “Where were we, oh king?”

The man whose name he still didn’t know stared at him in barely hidden terror. There was confusion in his eyes, and hate. Perhaps those were what helped him hide the fear.

Zed found the man’s fear to be odd, however. From flaring his aura out, he’d gotten the brunt of the man’s and had found that the man was a Rukh.

So why is he scared?

“You know,” he told him. “If this was a cut scene in a video game I’d be smashing that skip button, because this whole thing,” he gestured around them, “it’s just giving me bad vibes. It’s like a really poor video game.”

The man frowned.

Zed shook his head. “I know you were playing some kind of persona so I took out your goons so we could see the real you, not the you still stuck in fantasy land.”

“You will not insult me!” the man snarled.

“I can, will, and have.” Zed looked around, took in the room. “You really can’t tell me that living in a room like this is making you feel powerful. Dude, I know there’s a chandelier and a whole dining set, but even you’ve got to admit that it’s quite shabby.”

He looked back at the others already getting to their feet. “Doesn’t this place look like somewhere a failed thief tries to hide their loot? And you, oh king, it’s rude to keep captives and not even tell them your name.”

The man’s frown was becoming a scowl. “You might have runes but I know your rank. You’re just a Beta. I am a Rukh. You will not disrespect—”

“Or was it because of this place; this town? Did being the man in charge of such a decrepit place really make you feel powerful? Dude, I know people who lead bigger and nicer places than this, and none of them played king… Well, there was that one guy that tried to play king over a girl’s life. But I like to think he was more of an outlier. Or is it a Rukh thing? Does evolving to Rukh make you feel god-like?”

“I can confidently say it doesn’t,” Eitri said, then added to the man: “Thanks for everything, though. You raised fine men. They were mean and all that, but at least they didn’t pick on the short guy. You have no idea how many dwarf jokes I’ve had to sit through in my life.”

“And before you get very confused,” Zed said. “Yes, we are confident. Why? Because you’re one Rukh and we’re three Betas and a Rukh. I’d say you’re outclassed.”

“Outclassed?” the man snorted. “Do you think I don’t know the dwarf’s puny rank?”

Eitri smacked a palm to his forehead. “And you just had to go and spoil it. Was it me? Did I jinx myself?”

“Silence, midget!”

Eitri’s jaw dropped. He looked at the others. “Did this overgrown imbecile just call me a midget? You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to call up a portal, and stick it up your ass then link it all the way to your mouth. If you’re going to talk shit, the least you can do is taste it!”

Zed stared down at him. “Weren’t you supposed to be the civilized one?”

Eitri flipped his middle finger at him.

Zed nodded. “Touché.”

Beside them, Kid and Ronda were already in combat stances.

“In case you’ve forgotten,” Ronda whispered, “we’re attribute mages. He’s got a bit of a distance on us. You don’t want—”

The man appeared in front of her suddenly, hand swinging in a backhanded slap.

Kid reacted before the slap could land. He stepped into the small space between Ronda and the man and blocked the blow with raised arms.

The slap struck his defense, gave off a loud sound, and sent him staggering. Eitri was already acting, casting an incantation that made the air shimmer and filled Zed’s head with squiggles.

Zed looked away from the incantation in time to duck beneath a high kick.

He bounced away, increasing the space between them as Eitri pulled a gun from a portal he’d opened.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I’m practically out of bullets!” Eitri announced, loud enough for all of them to hear.

The man raised his hands in front of him and started chanting a quick spell.

“Of course,” Zed said. “Let the bad guy know you’ve got no bullets.” He pulled [Force shield] to mind but didn’t cast it. “Does anyone in this group even know when and how to bluff?”

The man’s incantation was quick. When it finished, he held in his hand a black spear. Zed assumed it was a spear even though it looked like a staff that had been sharpened on one end.

“That’s just wrong.” Zed swapped out [Force shield] for a new rune.

Ronda was slowly inching back. “I don’t like the aura coming out of that thing.”

Eitri leveled his gun at the man. “Careful bob. Whatever you’re doing, I don’t think it’s safe for any of us.”

“He knows your gun’s empty.” In Kid’s favor, he didn’t look like he was shying away from the man.

“Yea,” Zed agreed. “You literally told him. On another news, I think we can take him.”

The weapon was letting out a visible aura, black and thick. It reminded Zed of shadows, if they had tentacles and could move. Around them were broken lines.

Is this going to be a new thing? He wondered, struggling not to pay too much attention to the lines. Each time his mind accidentally wondered what line linked with what, it gave him a mild touch of migraine.

The man struck the butt of the weapon or whatever it was on the ground and cracks of black rippled through the air.

“Are you ready?” he asked, voice ominous.

“Maybe the whole thing wasn’t an act?” Zed said, going for a friendly approach. “We can still talk about the whole thing. You wouldn’t hurt a guy surrounded by your minions, would you?”

The man leveled the spear at him, Eitri pulled the trigger of his gun, and Zed cast a rune.

The actual sound of a gunshot startled Zed, but not enough to distract him from the rune he cast. His finger didn’t move as fast as it would when he cast runes like [Force] and [Force shield] but it was quick.

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

* You have cast rune [Pain].

* Rune [Pain] has applied effect [Pain] on Rukh mage [Babajide].

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

The mage, Babajide, staggered back. But it was only by a single step. From the spear in his hand, a length of black line slapped Eitri’s bullet aside. Only the sound of the bullet pinging off the ground or one of the walls—Zed wasn’t sure which—was heard.

The initial contact the bullet made with the whip was without sound.

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

* Rukh mage [Babajide]’s will is too high.

* [Pain] does not take effect.

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

Zed stared at the notification in mild confusion. All he got was a step back? And why will? He had expected maybe endurance. It was pain after all.

Or does it work on principles of the mind? Is it illusory somehow?

Eitri fired off a few more shots. Each one was silently slapped aside by a length of darkness, like a really strong, black scarf.

“I thought you said you were out of bullets,” Zed asked Eitri, preparing a new rune.

Eitri kept shooting. “I lied. Besides, don’t you see all these guys around us?”

Zed saw all the guys around them.

And so did Ronda and Kid. Each of them was already picking up a gun of their own.

Zed only gave it a moment’s thought before reaching for a machine gun. He hadn’t fired a gun since waking up but he knew the basics, the principles. Half of the memories that weren’t his had made a living for themselves using guns.

As Ronda, Kid and Eitri kept Babajide at bay with gunshots, Zed checked the gun he’d picked. He checked the magazine, then the chamber. Everything was functional. Some parts of the weapon were already rusting, and it showed further signs of a lack of maintenance.

It could’ve been better, but it was good enough.

He would’ve preferred going for a more active mage combat, throwing runes at their opponent, but when he’d flared his aura out a while ago, he’d sensed something that told him that he would need all the mana he could get. [Regenerate] was a powerful attribute, but it only played a part in the healing of injuries. It did not regenerate mana lost.

And [Pain] took a huge chunk of his reserves.

Zed hefted the weapon and aimed. “Meet my new friend.”

Then he pulled the trigger. He wasn’t sure what exactly he’d been expecting, but the weapon had no recoil. To be more precise, it had a recoil, he just didn’t feel it.

Wow.

He kept his hand on the trigger, never letting up as sprays of bullets from four guns kept Babajide at bay.

“You think he’s using mana for that?” he asked in a loud voice, so that it reached over the sound of gunshots.

Eitri slipped his gun into a new portal he called up and picked one from the men around them.

“Whatever that spear is, it doesn’t feel like mana,” Eitri said. “It’s too fast for any spell I’ve ever seen. Even for an Overdrive.”

Zed’s gun clicked empty as Kid picked another.

He dropped the gun. “I think these guys only have a single magazine to spare, each. It’s like they loaded their guns and got no backup.”

“I’m on the last one!” Ronda announced.

In front of them Babajide looked angry with his staff of darkness in hand and flailing lengths of darkness slapping away bullets like the blades of over-active propellers.

He looked angry, but not tired.

“I was really hoping we could end this fight without magic,” Zed muttered, knowing his knew weapon was already reaching its limits.

“Why?” Eitri asked. He was no longer firing.

Zed dropped his gun as it ran out of bullets. “No real reason. Just really wanted to kill a mage with simple bullets.”

His own response gave him pause. In just a short period of time he was already changing, having a simple conversation about being curious of ways to kill a person.

A bad person, he told himself.

The click of Ronda’s gun was a herald to the grave silence of empty guns. Each of them stood, a line of assailants, side by side.

“You know,” Zed said, already picking runes in his mind, “when you look at it like this. Four of us standing against one of him, we kind of look like the bad guys.”

“He’s got a staff of darkness with many black limbs that stopped all our bullets,” Kid said.

“So you think it’s a staff not a spear,” Zed said. “Good to know.”

Kid visibly fought the urge to take his eyes of Babajide to look at Zed. “What does that have to do with anything.”

“Just saying. It’s got a pointy end.” Zed shrugged. “Most people would call it a spear.”

“Are you done saying your goodbyes?” Babajide asked, voice slightly deeper, odd.

Zed frowned. “What happened to your voice, dude? It sounds like you’ve got a cold.”

“Silence!” Babajide struck the but of the staff and a ripple went through the air.

It was strong enough to ruffle Zed’s hair.

Alright, that’s a bit worrying.

“You’ve chosen the wrong enemy,” Babajide continued. “With this lance, I am invincible.”

Zed groaned. “Can we all agree on one weapon of choice? Please. It’s kind of hectic changing the name all the time in my head. Is it a lance or a spear or a sta—”

Something struck him like a battering ram.

He felt bones shift on impact as he went through one of the walls in the building. Blood filled his lungs and he felt like he was drowning. The air around him wobbled and darkness clawed at the edge of his vision. Whatever had hit him, it had broken a few ribs.

“If you’re going to fight,” Babajide said in an ominous voice, “fight, don’t talk.”